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By Katrina PhilliPSSenior Staff Writer

The Undergraduate Council of Students approved a resolution calling for a $72 increase to next year’s student activities fee at its general body meeting last night. UCS originally suggested a $22 in-crease, but Jason Lee ’12, chair of the Undergraduate Finance Board, made an impassioned plea for a larger increase.

The resolution calls for raising the total fee to $250.

Student Activities Chair Mae Cadao ’13, a Herald senior finance associate and sponsor of the reso-lution, said Margaret Klawunn,

vice president for campus life and student services, had ex-pressed support for an increase. Cadao said she hopes Klawunn will advocate the increase in her upcoming discussions with the University Resources Committee.

She said Klawunn encouraged her not to “lowball” the increase. In the past, the URC has often approved much smaller fee in-creases, so the council determined it would be preferable to ask for more money.

Students at Brown pay far more in student activities fees than their counterparts at wealthier institu-

UCS votes for $72 activities fee hike

By Margaret nicKenSContributing Writer

When Professor of Economics Glenn Loury first heard about

Occupy Wall Street, he was not surprised. In fact, he was amused.

“The first thing I thought was, ‘See, I told you so,’” Loury said.

In an August conversation for video discussion blog Blog-

gingheads.tv, Loury predicted the Occupy protests when he said he

Housing lottery may face overhaul

The Residential Council is considering overhauling the housing lottery process and will be holding three forums to discuss possible changes with the student body.

At the forums, ResCouncil will also seek feedback on the possibility of extending gender-neutral housing to first-year students, said ResCouncil’s policy committee member Maggie Tennis ’14.

The board will also discuss modeling a new system off peer universities’ housing processes, Tennis said. Unlike Brown, other schools do not usually allow students to pick their exact rooms, a privilege Brown students may not want to give up, Tennis said.

ResCouncil is also considering moving the lottery process online, but ResCouncil Chair Sam Barney ’12 said such a shift could present “catastrophic problems” if the system crashed.

Tennis said the forums are a step toward increasing the board’s presence on campus. Students may not know they can contact the board directly with housing concerns as an alternative to contacting the Office of Residential Life, she said.

Two panels aimed at rising sophomores will be held Nov. 6 and 10, and a third geared toward upperclassmen will be held Nov. 8, Tennis said. ResCouncil is still determining the locations for the forums.

Barney said ResCouncil is also organizing a survey to gauge student opinion about the lottery process and suggestions for the new housing lottery.

— Caitlin trujillo

N e w S i N B R i e f

By Dan JeonStaff Writer

With a new pension reform bill now under consideration in the General Assembly, competing groups converged on the State House rotunda Wednesday to make their voices heard.

The public employee union op-posing the bill — Council 94 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — and EngageRI, an advocacy

group backing the legislation, held back-to-back rallies. Gov. Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14 and Gen-eral Treasurer Gina Raimondo spoke at the EngageRI rally.

Current Rhode Island state-run and municipal pension plans have a combined shortfall of about $9.4 billion.

As the joint House and Sen-ate Finance Committees reached the end of the first of three hear-ings on the legislation yesterday, Rhode Island Council 94 rallied in opposition to the bill. The union is denouncing the new pro-posal because it will “eliminate

the retirement security of tens of thousands of Rhode Island work-ing men and women,” according to the union’s press release issued yesterday.

“It’s unfair to everyone,” Rhode Island Council 94’s State Vice President Lynn Loveday told The Herald. “The retirees take a certain hit, and (the state gov-ernment) is asking people at the worst time in history to take a risk,” she said. Loveday added that she represents over 4,000 state workers, all opposed to pension reform.

The proposed legislation, the

Rhode Island Retirement Security Act of 2011, would freeze cost-of-living-adjustments and reduce guaranteed benefits paid to pen-sioners by placing state workers in a new hybrid plan. The plan would combine a reduced de-fined contribution payment — a defined benefit account similar to a 401(k) — and regular Social Security payments. All state em-ployees, teachers and municipal employees excluding police and fire departments would be en-rolled in the plan, which will also

Pension reform draws competing rallies

By Kate nuSSenBauMContributing Writer

More than 150 state employees, teachers and municipal employees addressed lawmakers at the first of three public hearings of the joint

Rhode Island House and Senate Finance Committees on pension reform legislation Wednesday. The hearing, which lasted nearly 11 hours, concluded around 10 p.m.

The Rhode Island Security Act of 2011, proposed by Gov. Lin-coln Chafee ’75 P’14 and General Treasurer Gina Raimondo, would

dramatically alter public sector employees’ pensions to reduce the current $9.4 billion shortfall in state and municipal pension systems. The bill’s supporters say it is necessary to avoid sharp tax increases and budget cuts to state-funded programs.

The bill would freeze cost-of-living-adjustments for 12 or 19 years depending on the value of a pension and raise the retirement age from 62 to 67. It also would change the state-run system to a new hybrid pension plan, giving retirees both a small, guaranteed benefit and an individual invest-

Marathon hearing addresses pensions

Rachel Kaplan / HeraldOver 130 faculty members have pledged support for the Occupy movement.

Dan Jeon / HeraldSome critics of the Chafee-Raimondo bill argue it limits retiree buying power and disproportionally burdens female public employees.

continued on page 4continued on page 2

Hundreds turn out to weigh in on reform

continued on page 3

continued on page 3

city & state

city & state

A more learned occupationProfessors support Occupy movement by teaching, speaking, signing

Ben Schreckinger, PresidentSydney Ember, Vice President

Matthew Burrows, TreasurerIsha Gulati, Secretary

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Campus news2 the Brown Daily heraldthursday, october 27, 2011

12 P.M.

Napoleon’s Death Mask,

John Hay Library, Lownes Room

2:30 P.M.

Poetry Reading by ed Broberson,

McCormack family Theater

8 P.M.

wind Symphony Concert,

Grant Recital Hall

5 P.M.

film Screening: “The Doctor,”

CareerLAB

SHARPE REFECTORY VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALL

LUNCH

DINNER

Grilled Marinated Boneless Pork Chop, Tortellini Angellica, fresh

Collard Greens, Carrot Cake

Tequila Lime Chicken, Grecian Zucchini Bake, Tomato Basil infused

Rice, Carrot Cake

Chicken Milanese, Vegan Tacos, Vegan Nuggets with Dipping Sauce, Vegan Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies

Chicken Caesar Salad wrap, eggplant Parmesan, Vegan Oatmeal

Cranberry Cookies

THURSDAY OCTObER 27 FRIDAY OCTObER 28

C R O S S w O R D

S U D O K U

M e N U

C A L e N DA R

believed it was time for a mas-sive social movement to “get our money back from these suckers.” One month later, Occupy Wall Street began.

Though Loury may have been the only Brown professor to have publicly prophesied the rise of the movement, others have since rallied to its banner. Over 130 fac-ulty members signed a petition in support of Occupy two weeks ago, and professors have visited the encampment in Burnside Park, spoken at Occupy Boston, par-ticipated in a campus teach-in and brought the movement into the classroom.

rallying the troopsAssociate Professor of History

Naoko Shibusawa thought up the petition after receiving an email from a former student, Derek Se-idman GS, who is now a visiting assistant professor of history at Trinity College. Seidman asked her to sign a faculty petition from the New School supporting the Occupiers. This sparked Shibu-sawa’s interest in the attitudes of professors closer to home, and she began feeling out her colleagues about the possibility of a similar petition at Brown.

The idea behind the petition was, “Let’s see how we can get involved. Let’s not just sort of be here, up here on College Hill. Let’s see how we can try to contribute towards something that might work towards a greater social good,” Shibusawa said.

Shibusawa said she has circu-lated many faculty petitions be-fore but has never received such an immediate, positive response. She said the petition’s reception has led her to believe Occupy “might turn out to become a dif-ferent sort of moment … in which we can have a more just society.”

Shibusawa’s queries also gave rise to the Oct. 11 teach-in, orga-nized by Vazira Zamindar, associ-ate professor of history.

“We had this great sort of show, which was really wonder-ful, really sort of exciting,” Shibu-sawa said of the teach-in, which featured professors and commu-nity members. But she said she was disappointed the organizers scheduled community members to speak after the professors had finished their presentations, by

which time nearly half the audi-ence had already left.

Loury said his name is not on the faculty petition because he was not aware of it until it was too late to sign it. Though he has vis-ited Occupy Boston and discussed the protests in another Blogging-heads.tv video Wednesday, he said he has not seriously discussed the movement with colleagues in the economics department.

Why they signedProfessors cited a variety of

motivations for supporting the Occupy movement, though many pointed to increasing inequality as their primary concern.

As students at an elite univer-sity should be aware, education is a facet of American life espe-cially characterized by inequality, and Zamindar said he hopes the movement will work toward mak-ing educational resources more widely accessible.

Professor of Sociology Patrick Heller, who spoke at the teach-in and signed the faculty petition, pointed to political inequality in America, saying the wealthiest 1 percent “exerts undue influence over the political system.”

Though some have claimed the movement lacks direction, Heller said its amorphous nature makes historical sense. “No movement in its infancy has a platform. Movements start as reactions to something,” he said. “Maybe over time, as they consolidate and as they organize, they may start to generate specific proposals.”

Lynne Joyrich, associate pro-fessor of modern culture and me-dia, said she signed the petition and spoke at the teach-in because she believes the movement is try-ing to deal with the integration of many issues, including gender, race and class disparities. Joyrich has also visited the Occupy Provi-dence encampment in Burnside Park to show her support.

She said the media has over-simplified the Occupy protests in order to sell a product.

Some media only give a story serious consideration “if it can be quickly encapsulated into a sound bite,” Joyrich said. “The fact that (the Occupy movement) does not do that means that people dismiss it by saying, ‘Oh, it doesn’t have a message.’”

She said she hopes the move-ment will push the media to re-

consider the definition of “mean-ingful conversation.”

In addition to signing the petition, Bianca Dahl, postdoc-toral fellow in anthropology and population studies, discussed the movement in class with students. During her lecture, she presented articles, statistics and anthropo-logical theories published about the Occupy movement. By spark-ing an in-class discussion about the media portrayal of Occupiers, Dahl said she hopes students will apply the theoretical tools they have learned in class to gain a bet-ter understanding of the protests.

As of last Thursday, Dahl said she had not yet visited an Occupy encampment.

“In some sense, (lecturing about the movement) is the stron-gest vote of solidarity that I can give,” Dahl said.

Beyond the hill Mark Blyth, professor of politi-

cal science, has also lectured on the movement — not in a class-room, but at Occupy Boston. Blyth, who hails from Scotland, told Occupiers he immigrated to the United States in search of a “multi-cultural, exciting society” that no longer exists.

“This isn’t the place I joined 20 years ago. This is Brazil in the 1960s. This is Mexico in the 1970s. This is the income distri-bution of a developing country,” Blyth said in his speech. The Con-gressional Budget Office issued a report Tuesday confirming that income inequality and the relative affluence of the top 1 percent of earners continues to grow.

Professors at other schools, in-cluding Columbia, Oberlin Col-lege, the University of California at Berkeley and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, have also signed petitions supporting the Occupy movement.

Ania Loomba, a professor of English at Penn, organized a faculty petition in support of the movement at her school to pro-mote “greater consciousness about what is the problem in America,” she said. The petition received over 100 signatures, mostly from humanities professors. A few Penn students expressed discon-tent with the wording of the peti-tion. In an Oct. 16 editorial in the Daily Pennsylvanian, senior Brian Goldman wrote that Loomba’s pe-tition expressed a number of po-litical beliefs, such as anti-war and anti-Medicaid sentiments, that he believes are unrelated to the Oc-cupy movement. Goldman told The Herald he feels the profes-sors are imposing a “democratic wish list” on a financially focused movement.

Across the board, professors expressed a desire to see more campus engagement with the movement.

“We, as scholars, as research-ers, as students, have a particular burden to pay attention, to en-gage more, to learn more from a movement like Occupy rather than judge it at a distance,” Za-mindar said.

Faculty sign Occupy petitioncontinued from page 1

City & State 3the Brown Daily heraldthursday, october 27, 2011

ment account that would contrib-ute to their income.

Witnesses represented a diverse array of organizations, including the AARP and prominent public employee unions such as the Na-tional Education Association of Rhode Island — the state’s larg-est teachers union — and Coun-cil 94 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Rhode Island’s largest public employee union.

Public school teachers and re-tirees — almost all of whom spoke against the proposed bill — com-prised the majority of witnesses.

Phil Keefe, president of the Service Employees International Union and a member of the pen-sion advisory group tasked by the governor and treasurer with examining reform options, was the first witness to address the finance committees. He stressed the importance of ensuring that reforms avoid “draconian changes” and provisions favoring special in-terest groups.

“The bill has failed miserably on both accounts,” he said. He explained that the bill would not force the highest wage earners into the hybrid program, and that only the “serfs” would suffer. He added that though the current bud-get shortfall is a serious problem, claims that it is a crisis requiring immediate action are exaggerated.

Maureen Martin, director of political activities for the Rhode

Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals and secre-tary-treasurer of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO, addressed the increase in the amount of work hours per week required to be eligible for a pension. The increase from 20 to 35 hours would significantly hurt female employees, who make up the majority of workers depend-ing on low-wage, part-time jobs, she said.

One witness claimed it would reduce retirees’ buying power and ultimately hurt the state’s economy. Others said it was unfair to health care workers who took state jobs for less pay than they could have received elsewhere in exchange for retirement security and argued that it undermines the value of work in unfair and inequitable ways.

“The bill has been characterized as a math problem, but right now, it’s a civil and human rights prob-lem,” said Frank Flynn, president of the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals.

The speakers were not all against the bill. More than 20 in-dividuals signed up to testify in favor of the reforms, including many small business owners.

The hearings will continue to-morrow and next Tuesday. Public safety employees, correctional of-ficers, state police and judges will address the committees during the second hearing, and the third hearing will focus on independent pension plans that are not included in the Municipal Employee Retire-ment System.

continued from page 1

Public workers wary of ‘draconian changes’

increase the retirement age from 62 to 67 for workers born during or after 1960.

Joe Cassady, a teacher at Ports-mouth High School, stressed that reform is a drastic step.

As a teacher, he said he felt the legislation would significantly re-duce his pension benefits. “I want them to work with us, not around us,” he said.

EngageRI held its own rally shortly after Rhode Island Coun-cil 94’s. With roughly 150 people, EngageRI outmuscled the last

remnants of the union rally. Hold-ing signs featuring slogans such as “Save R.I.,” “Fix my Future” and “Youth for Pension Reform,” ralli-ers called for immediate pension reform for the sake of all Rhode Islanders. EngageRI supports pension reform in order to sus-tain services, such as education and transportation, according to its website.

Chafee made an appearance and asked EngageRI ralliers for their support to pass the bill. Ralliers greeted Raimondo, who spoke after Chafee, with thunder-ous applause. She expressed her

gratitude to every person at the rally for “coming for the future of the state.”

“We owe it to you to pass this bill and provide the action you demanded,” Raimondo said. “We will rally to the finish line until this bill is passed.”

About 15 Brown Democrats at-tended the EngageRI rally. Shawn Patterson ’12, the club’s president, said failing to address the pension shortfall could have consequences for all Rhode Islanders.

“Social services will be cut, and taxes will be raised,” he said. “Something needs to be done.”

Rallies critique, support pension reformcontinued from page 1

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tions such as Harvard, Princeton and Yale, where most funding comes from the administration.

UCS President Ralanda Nel-son ’12 said student activity fund-ing will continue to lag until the student activities endowment reaches its $17 million fundrais-ing goal.

Lee, the UFB chair, told the council that UFB can currently only fund student groups’ bud-get requests up to 60 percent. He said a larger fee could bring about an increase in the $25 publicity limit for larger events, funding of coaches for competitive groups such as debate and chess and larg-er travel allowances. He also said more funding would improve the quality of Fall Concert and Spring Weekend.

UCS Vice President David Rattner ’13 said the $72 increase request is “as much a statement as it is anything.” He said it should send a message to the URC that this is something students are

passionate about and referenced the 2007 budget debate, when UCS requested a $54 increase and only received an increase of $18. A higher student activities fee would not raise tuition but instead would divert funds from the total tuition increase already set by the URC.

Representatives from the Fall Ivy Policy Conference — held this year at Brown — and the Brown Mock Trial team spoke during community time, expressing their support for an increase and their frustration with the limited funds available for travel and event host-ing.

Bonnie Kim ’12, Ivy Council policy chair, said last weekend’s policy conference had a budget about 10 percent the size of those for Ivy Council policy conferences hosted at other universities.

Following the passage of the resolution, the council held its semiannual vote of confidence in Rattner and Nelson, before which council members unanimously praised their leadership.

Campus news4 the Brown Daily heraldthursday, october 27, 2011

continued from page 1

UCS approves increase to student activities fee

Anna Migliaccio and Julien Ouellet

Total paid to DPS and Facilities Management by all student groups

Past requests approved by UCS to increase the Student Activities Fee

5the Brown Daily heraldthursday, october 27, 2011

Fraternity of Evil | eshan Mitra, Brendan Hainline and Hector Ramirez

CO M i C S

Ghouls abound on school’s grounds

By ana colonblogDailyHeralD Staff Writer

Have you ever wondered why some places on campus are so creepy? Here are speculations about places on campus that may or may not be haunted.

93 Benevolent St.Officially named Edward Ban-

nister House, it served as the main residence for Edward Bannister and his wife, Christiana, from 1884 to 1899. The building was pur-chased and renovated in the 1930s by Euchlin Reeves, who turned it into a museum that housed his per-sonal collection of antiques. Brown bought the property in 1989, and it had a brief stint as a rental property for student housing. It was closed in the mid-1990s and subsequently fell into severe disrepair.

Why it’s probably haunted: If you have ever walked down Be-nevolent Street at night, it is hard to ignore the chilling aura of its barred windows and boarded up entrance. The spooky house has a mysterious appeal worthy of an R. L. Stine series.

annmary Brown MemorialThe Annmary Brown Memo-

rial’s history stems from a love story. Rush Hawkins, devastated by the death of his wife, and grand-daughter of Nicholas Brown 1786, Annmary, built a mausoleum for her remains to rest in peace. Now, both of them are entombed at the very end of the memorial, which also houses an exhibit of European and American paintings from the 17th to the 20th centuries.

Why it’s probably haunted: It’s a tomb. There are skeletons un-derneath the stone floors. That’s the first sign of ghosts roaming around.

Keeney tunnelsThe underground tunnels that

connect many University build-ings are not limited to Keeney and Wriston quadrangles. The oldest ones are on Pembroke campus, right underneath Andrews Hall. Though the tunnels were originally intended to be used for mainte-nance and convenient access to important buildings when the weather was rough, they were con-verted into bomb shelters in the 1960s in the midst of the Cold War.

Why it’s probably haunted: Many have tried to stealthily sneak down to the tunnels, only to be dis-appointed by the obstacles imped-ing the journey. The spook factor of the Keeney tunnels is one of those first-year thrills that will never get old. And with rumors of muggings, rape and other illegal behavior, one cannot help but wonder what re-ally went down underground after hours.

Machado houseBuilt for the family of Ellen

Dexter Sharpe in 1912, the house became an extension of RISD after Sharpe’s death in 1953. Brown got its hands on the house shortly after, in 1955, making it an all-female dormitory. An extension, known as the New House, was added in 1975 to accommodate more stu-dents into the building. Then in 1989, the Sharpe residence’s name was officially changed to Antonio Machado House, in honor of the Spanish poet. A bust of Macha-do that now sits comfortably on the front entrance driveway was originally in the Annmary Brown memorial but was moved for the renaming of the building.

Why it’s probably haunted: New house members are forced to sleep with one eye open by haunting tales of whispers in the dark, mys-

terious screams coming from the hallways and supernatural forces that seem to inhabit Old House rooms.

university hallUniversity Hall was the first

building on campus, constructed in 1770. During the Revolutionary War, the hall was used as barracks

for American troops and then converted into an army hospital. According to Providence Ghost Tours, the contorted face of a sol-dier can be seen out a second-floor window.

Why it’s probably haunted: Ev-ery hospital has its horror stories. And it’s also the oldest building on campus.

Herald file photoAs the first building constructed on campus, University Hall has a better-than-average chance of being haunted.

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editorial & Letter6 the Brown Daily heraldthursday, october 27, 2011

L e T T e R TO T H e e D i TO R

C O R R E C T I O N S P O L I C YThe Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible. Corrections may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication.

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ROTC decision inspires Brown prideTo the Editor:

While I strongly, but respectfully, disagree with the editorial pleading for ROTC’s reinstatement on campus (“A plea for ROTC’s reinstatement,” Oct. 20), I do agree that respecting people from different backgrounds is integral to Brown’s identity. This is exactly why I do not believe that Brown should reinstate ROTC.

ROTC is a discriminatory, disrespectful institu-tion. Allowing it back on campus sends a message to transgender students that we do not view them as worthy of the same respect as those who possess cisgender privilege. The discriminatory institution of ROTC essentially states that transgender students are inherently flawed, defective human beings who are too damaged to serve their country. While I believe that students should have the opportunity to pursue

whatever they choose, I do not believe that this should supersede the right of all Brown students to basic human dignity.

Transgender people are arguably the most margin-alized individuals on this campus. Their human rights and dignities are often ignored and pushed aside, even by the most liberal. The debate on this issue begs the question: Would we even be having this conversation if ROTC discriminated against women or people of color? I doubt it.

Personally, I’m glad that President Ruth Simmons takes discrimination against transgender individuals as seriously as she would any other, more prominent minority. Simmons’ well-reasoned and noble stance makes me even more proud to be a Brown student.

Kyle Albert ’15

eDiTORiAL CAR TOON by a n d r e w a n ta r

“The first thing i thought was, ‘See, i told you so.’”— Glenn Loury, Professor of economics

See oCCupation on page 1.

e D i TO R i A L

Medical students studying pathology are often warned not to self-diagnose, lest they find themselves suffering from full-blown hypochondria. Yet one area of illness that is too often overlooked by medical students is deterioration of one’s mental health. Though rates of depression and anxiety among students upon entering medical school are comparable to that of their peers, medical students suffer disproportionate increases in prevalence of depression during the course of their education. Students often fall into patterns of chemi-cal dependency to cope and must conceal their behavior to avoid damaging their chances of advancement in the field. Moreover, left unaddressed, depression and burnout have serious adverse effects during postgraduate years on empathy and rates of medical error.

There is an unfortunate irony in the fact that those charged with the duty of caring for the health of others do so to the detriment of their own well-being. Given the taxing nature of training for a career in medicine, it is up to schools and policymakers to ensure medical students have the resources they need to prevent and remedy unhealthy ways of dealing with mental distress. The Journal of the American Medical Association recently published a study indicating that the majority of medical schools do not offer adequate insurance coverage for mental health and substance abuse treatments. Furthermore, ac-cording to an Inside Higher Ed article, many plans send students to providers within the institution, meaning mental health professionals available to students are the same individuals who are preceptors and academic advisers for them, posing a threat to confidentiality. Considering that students may already lack motivation to seek help for fear of punishment or stigma, the added disincentive of financial burden associated with treatment must be mitigated. Elevated need among medical students warrants an extended provision of access to treatment for this population, and it is crucial that medical schools take steps to ensure adequate support for their students.

It is heartening to know that here at Brown, Alpert Medical School has instituted a Student Health Council to address many of these is-sues. The explicit mission of the council is to help students address issues of distress and chemical dependency without fear of repercus-sion. It is organized such that impaired students can seek help from the faculty or other medical students on the council without having their identity known. Decisions to seek treatment are recommended by and accessible to only council members, and penalty through the Dean of Medicine’s office only arises when treatment is refused. We find this an exemplary program, and we hope it takes root at other institutions.

Given the serious nature of mental health needs among medical students, we encourage Alpert and other medical schools to make it a priority to share the financial costs of seeking treatment. Expand-ing insurance coverage for mental health care for students may incur costs, but the costs of not adequately supporting future physicians is certainly greater. There is a demonstrated deficiency of resources for medical students seeking to maintain their emotional well-being, and we hope medical education administrators actively seek to redress it.

editorials are written by The herald’s editorial page board. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.

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opinions 7the Brown Daily heraldthursday, october 27, 2011

The University’s “Emergency Access to Ac-counts and Information” policy grants Uni-versity administrators and law enforcement officers unfettered access to seemingly pri-vate information stored in student, faculty and staff email, calendar and document ac-counts, and does so with an alarming lack of transparency.

Although public information on this priv-ilege is limited to a Herald article from last semester (“University officials read Brown e-mails,” Feb. 25), a vague description on the CIS website and a few sentences buried in a July email to the student body, here is how we believe the policy operates. A department head may send an access request to the chief of public safety, the directors of Health Ser-vices or Psychological Services, the vice presi-dent for campus life and student services, the assistant vice president of human resources, the provost or the vice president of adminis-tration. One of those administrators then has complete discretion to order CIS to grant ac-cess to data. That is all.

The policy includes no guidelines for use of this privilege against students, no require-ment that students be notified when their data has been accessed and no provision for community oversight. Additionally, the ex-pansion of Brown’s electronic services with the migration to Google Apps puts even more private data under the purview of this policy.

Administrators now have access to calendar items stored in Google Calendar, documents produced in Google Docs, even photos in Pi-casa and articles in Google Reader.

Brown operates with many of the trap-pings of the criminal justice system — in-cluding a police force and a disciplinary pro-cess — and should offer similar protections. In the real world, police would need a search warrant from a judge prior to accessing sim-ilar information. There is no analogous re-quirement for independent authorization at Brown. While we recognize that the unique circumstances of a university environment may necessitate less stringent protection, the current system gives no protection.

The University wields a great deal of pow-er over its students, who can be arrested by the Department of Public Safety. The admin-istration can expel students from the Univer-sity. With this degree of power, some level of due process and oversight is warranted.

The administration defends the policy by asserting that it is infrequently used. Because there is so little transparency, we just cannot be sure. Regardless of frequency of use, this power is still an egregious violation of stu-dents’ privacy.

Fortunately, some simple reforms would produce a privacy policy that balances im-portant privacy protections with the school’s

interests in providing a secure community and managing its resources.

One of the primary challenges in re-searching this policy was the sheer lack of transparency related to it. Community mem-bers have only very limited information on the policy’s history of use and mechanism of operation. The University should publicly provide basic, non-identifying narratives on all instances of email access by administra-tors at the conclusion of every semester. This requirement would not be difficult to imple-ment. CIS already records these non-identi-fying narratives in its help desk system. This reporting mechanism is also analogous to the one used by the University’s disciplinary ap-

paratus and DPS, so it is certainly not unprec-edented. With the implementation of this re-porting system, community members would be able to monitor the privilege’s use, which would help to preclude any possible instances of inappropriate use.

As stated above, analogous searches by lo-cal, state or federal law enforcement would require the acquisition of a search warrant, which requires law enforcement to justify a need for a search to a judge. The process of acquiring a warrant helps to prevent unjus-tified invasions of privacy by requiring inde-pendent authorization. It would be difficult, however, to implement a warrant system in

the context of the Brown community, because we do not operate a judicial system analogous to the state or federal systems. In addition, a requirement to seek a warrant may create un-necessary hurdles in contexts where protec-tions are not warranted, such as invocation of the email access privilege at the request of a student who forgets his or her password.

In order to provide the protections of the warrant system while preventing unneces-sary hassle for administrators, attempts to use the email access privilege for purposes that may lead to disciplinary proceedings should require authorization by the University Disci-plinary Council. Since the privilege is appar-ently rarely used in disciplinary proceedings, it should not be too onerous to seek authori-zation in the rare instances where violation of privacy may lead to substantial consequences for a community member.

If the University were to implement the aforementioned reforms, it would be the first of its peers to do so. The fact that Brown would be unique should not dissuade reform, however. Instead, it should be incentive to pursue it. Brown is no stranger to novel re-form that has improved the lives of its stu-dents. From its founding as the first non-denominational university in America to its introduction of the New Curriculum, Brown has consistently pursued potentially contro-versial innovation. University Hall should continue this tradition and implement a fair email privacy policy.

ian eppler ’13 is the president of the Brown chapter of the American Civil Liberties

Union. The ACLU meets Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. in wilson 106.

Reform Brown’s email privacy policy

Last Thursday night, students almost over-flowed Salomon 001 to hear a speech by Jus-tin Lin, the current chief economist and se-nior vice president of the World Bank. The title of his talk was “Demystifying the Chi-nese Economy.” It was a very insightful and inspiring speech, but I find Lin’s personal story even more interesting. This expert on China’s economy was actually born in Tai-wan.

Before coming to mainland China, Lin was a captain in the Republic of China Army, which is part of the Taiwanese military. But he saw the mainland as his motherland and wanted to go back. When he was 27, he swam across the Taiwan Strait from the is-land of Kinmen to Xiamen, which is in the Fujian province of the People’s Republic of China. With only two basketballs as flotation devices, Lin swam 8 kilometers to the other side of the strait. Soon after, he went to Bei-jing to get a master’s degree in political eco-nomics at Peking University. The Taiwanese military, unable to track him down, declared him missing after one year and compensated his family.

Lin has stated that “based on my cultural, historical, political, economic and military understanding, it is my belief that returning to the motherland is a historical inevitabil-

ity. It is also the optimal choice.” Lin and his family gave up a lot for this belief. He went to mainland China to pursue his personal aspi-rations, but because of his identity, his deci-sion could not stay personal.

His story proves how difficult it is for someone from Taiwan to assert his Chinese identity. The gap between the two identities is definitely wider than a 8-km swim in bit-terly cold water and life-threatening danger. Lin left behind his pregnant wife and a three-year-old son, only to unite with them after years in the United States. The Taiwanese government has branded him a traitor. He was not permitted to travel back to Taiwan to attend his father’s funeral.

Does one always have to choose between Taiwanese and Chinese identities? It is al-ready difficult to be a Taiwanese American, but to be Taiwanese Chinese is almost im-possible. Between 1945 and 1991, the gov-ernment in Taiwan claimed that it was the only lawful government for mainland China. But the One-China policy, supported by the People’s Republic of China and many other countries, asserts there is only one China and Taiwan is part of it. The People’s Republic of China thus disputes Taiwan’s sovereignty by claiming Taiwan is ethnically Han and there-

fore culturally related to the Chinese nation. But Taiwanese history, culture and ances-

try are much more complicated than they seem to be. Other than the Mainlanders (waisheng ren), Taiwan has many other eth-nic groups, including the Hoklo (fulao ren), the Hakka (kejia ren) and the Aborigines, which includes the Plains and the Moun-tains. Taiwanese identity has also developed over the decades. Since the political and economic transformations of the 1980s and 1990s, Taiwanese identity has become more inclusive and nationalistic.

On the other side of the strait, the Chi-nese portray their Taiwanese brothers main-ly through imagination. Teachers tell stu-

dents that Taiwan is historically a province of China and all they want is to get it back, while the Taiwanese tend to imagine the mainland as much more underdeveloped and totally authoritarian.

But reality contrasts with these imagined depictions. Chinese travelers find Beijing more modern and attractive after taking in the urban landscape of Taipei. The Taiwan-ese report similar experiences and senti-ments: They sometimes find the mainland-ers to not be very civilized and hesitant to follow some rules. The derision runs both

ways. The way to resolve this problem is

through communication. But both groups need a neutral understanding of each other’s cultural and historical background in order to begin the process. Strait Talk, a non-par-tisan dialogue program founded by Brown undergraduates in 2005, seeks to resolve the conflict by bringing together people from both sides of the strait. The topics of Strait Talk’s speaker panels have included peace and stability, law and society, culture and identity and business.

The program focuses on dialogue rather than on pushing political agendas. Although the Taiwan Strait issue is supposed to be a flashpoint that can trigger confrontation be-tween the U.S. and China, it is not purely po-litical. By maintaining a dialogue, Strait Talk gives participants a chance to stand in each other’s shoes before making abrupt judg-ments.

The 2011-12 academic year is Brown’s Year of China. The themes of this series of events include China’s cultural production, its place in the world and its future. But be-fore we look at these themes, we first need to understand what we mean by “China.” What is Taiwan’s place in this discussion? Is it pos-sible to be both Chinese and Taiwanese? The Year of China and Strait Talk both provide us an opportunity to reflect on these questions.

Jan Cao ’13 has never been to Taiwan. She loves Taiwanese cuisine, especially o-a-

chian (oyster omelet), san bei ji (three cup chicken) and bubble tea.

Across the strait: Chinese, Taiwanese or both?

The gap between the two identities is definitely wider than a 2.3-kilometer swim in bitterly cold water and

life-threatening danger.

fortunately, some simple reforms would produce a privacy policy that balances important privacy

protections with the school’s interests in providing a secure community and managing its resources.

By JAN CAOopinions Columnist

By iAN ePPLeRGuest Columnist

Daily Heraldthe Brown

City & Statethursday, october 27, 2011

By SoPhia SeaWellStaff Writer

As part of a program connecting Brown faculty and high school teachers from the Shenzen district in China, 23 teachers from Shenzen visited the Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center, a pub-lic school in Providence, to observe American teaching and classroom organization styles yesterday.

The program, an eight-week training institute for the visiting teachers, was organized by Ken-neth Wong, chair of the Education Department. He said he hoped the program “would allow the education department at Brown to have a global impact.” Wong called the program, which began at the end of September, “an exciting initiative.”

At the start of their visit yesterday, the teachers were welcomed by Den-nis Littky, a co-founder of the MET schools, and then split into groups — each with its own student guide — to visit different buildings.

One group was taken to the Equality building, where Steven Bartholomew, MET Equality School administrator, gave teachers a tour and explained the building’s layout. The group was then split up and sent to two different advisories, where they were able to observe classes.

Denise Ramos, a teacher at the school, said she believes the most valuable lesson the visiting teachers could learn from the MET was its focus on teacher-student relation-ships. “I’m with the same group for all four years,” Ramos said. “The abil-ity to build a relationship with them is the secret.”

The visit was one in a series of seven to a variety of schools, includ-ing charter schools, independent schools and public schools.

“They are coming from a system where there is strong standardiza-tion,” Wong said of the visiting pro-fessors. He cited the higher teacher-student ratio in Shenzen — about 50 students to one teacher — as another major difference between the schools in China and those in the United States.

Cai Mao Zhou, a professor of Chinese in Shenzen, believes the American and Chinese school sys-tems will “meet in the middle,” he said through an interpreter.

“Chinese schools are looking at American models, and American schools are looking at Chinese mod-els,” he said. “American education en-courages the students’ individuality, capability and creativity,” he added.

The program includes two other components. At the beginning of the program, teachers attended a series of 12 lectures by Brown faculty that focused on topics such as using new technology, the history of Ameri-can education and organizational methods for classrooms and school governments.

“The university professors gave very high-quality lectures,” Zhou said. “They brought theory and prac-

tice together to show us the system of education here.”

The other portion of the pro-gram focuses on exposing teachers to American culture. The Chinese teachers have visited museums and other universities in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Teachers also receive English lessons twice a week.

“The cultural activities help us understand U.S. society from a dif-ferent angle,” Zhou said. “They show on a deeper level how the education system was formed.”

The 23 teachers in the program were chosen from a pool of 4,000 ap-plicants. Those selected were picked based on several factors, such as their communication skills, professional credentials and recommendations from supervisors.

The University also hosted a sum-mer institute for 24 school heads from the Shenzen district in June and July.

Approximately half the visiting teachers are fluent in English, and the rest have varying levels of pro-ficiency. “The teachers organized themselves so people fluent in Eng-lish are paired with those who are not so they can support one another,” Wong said. An interpreter also ac-companied the teachers.

Program administrators chose the Shenzen district for several rea-sons.

“It’s a district that is very progres-sive and open to new ideas in terms of improving teaching, documenting and tracking student learning and using technology,” Wong explained. “This is a good match for us — we are also very innovative.”

Wong said he hopes the pro-gram is the beginning of a strong relationship between Brown and the Shenzen district. “We hope it will go on for a few years,” he said. “There is strong interest from the urban school district to send teach-ers to get some of the best and most innovative ideas.”

Ed dept. hosts teachers from China

By Sarah ManconeStaff Writer

The case of Jessica Ahlquist, a ju-nior at Cranston High School West, who demanded to have the prayer banner hanging in her high school’s gym taken down, was argued Oct. 13 in federal court and is under consideration by U.S. District Judge Ronald Lagueux.

Ahlquist filed the case with the American Civil Liberties Union against the city of Cranston and the Cranston School Committee in April, calling the display of a prayer banner in a public high school unconstitutional.

Steven Brown, executive direc-tor of the Rhode Island affiliate of the ACLU, said he hopes Lagueux hands down a ruling within the next two months.

The ACLU originally became involved in the case in July 2010, when a parent filed a complaint with the organization about the banner, Ahlquist said.

When the ACLU asked the school to take it down, Ahlquist vocally supported its removal, she said.

According to an April 21 ar-ticle in The Herald, the case was originally filed by Ahlquist in ear-ly April following the Cranston School Committee’s 4-3 vote to keep the banner on display. It was then that the ACLU asked Ahlquist to be the plaintiff for the case.

ACLU members spent the time between the filing of the suit and the court date in October filing briefs, preparing the case and re-searching the history of the ban-ner, Brown said.

Ahlquist has been a tremen-dous help during the process, Brown said. “She shoulders this case,” he said, adding that “she is a marvelous example of fortitude and eloquence in defending her position.”

Over the course of the case, Ahlquist has faced harassment, Brown said.

Ahlquist said students have written and talked about her and have approached her directly to tell her they think what she is doing is wrong. “The most vocal people are against me,” Ahlquist said. “People who support me are quiet.”

Despite the backlash, Ahlquist said she feels positive about the case.

After the creation of a Facebook group in support of her cause, Ahlquist has received support from over 2,200 group members. “That is my biggest support group,” she said, adding that it makes her feel she is not alone.

The judge did not give any indi-cation of how much time his ruling would take, Brown said.

For now Ahlquist and the ACLU are “playing the waiting game,” Ahlquist said. Her lawyers have told her that, with the pos-sibility of appeals after the ruling, the case could go on for a year.

Ahlquist’s suit seeks the re-moval of the banner and damages.

Prayer banner case awaits ruling a p r o ’ s p r o s e

Madeline Schlissel / HeraldAuthor Michael Stein read from the rape of the Muse, his new novel depicting art world rivalry, at the Brown Bookstore wednesday.

G r i p e s w i t H p i p e s

Courtesy of Angel MojarroStudents on the Main Green protest the Keystone XL proposal, which would expand the existing Keystone pipeline.

On Oct. 27, 1991Thirty students marched to the state capitol from faunce Arch to join

protests of the “Gag Rule,” a proposal backed by former President George H. w. Bush to prohibit federally funded health centers from discussing abortion with clients. “it’s really scary that they can control what you say,” said Sarah Heiberger ’95, a student attending the march.

On Oct. 27, 1981The Undergraduate Council of Students voted 11-7 against

supporting disciplinary action for six student protesters charged with disrupting an Oct. 15 lecture by william Casey, the director of the Central intelligence Agency. The students interrupted Casey, a speaker in a series of talks on national security issues, with a reading of the nonsense poem “Jabberwocky.”

On Oct. 27, 1966The Pembroke College Student Government Association voted in

favor of eliminating a rule banning students from staying overnight in hotels and men’s apartments in Providence. The decision was spurred by student complaints over having to “sneak around” the rule by listing a false location in the school’s mandatory evening sign-outs.

On Oct. 27, 1941Leland Goodrich, professor of political science, delivered a lecture

discussing the “consequences of a German victory” in world war ii. Goodrich said the United States would be “an island in a hostile world” if the Nazis won and predicted a German invasion of South America that would cut off imports into the United States. Goodrich stated his support for U.S. aid to Britain to prevent German expansion.

TO D Ay i N B R O w N H i S TO R y