News

Serving Silently: Military culture on a civilian campus

Slavic studies enrollment drops 75 percent in four years

The Department of Slavic Studies has seen enrollment in its courses decrease about 75 percent over a four-year period, from 1,153 students in the 2009-10 academic year to a low of 287 students in the 2013-14 academic year, according to data from the Office of Institutional Research. This decline resulted ...

Post-Election Roundup: Nov. 11, 2014

One week after Democrats swept elections across the state, securing the gubernatorial and Providence mayoral seats as well as many smaller offices, winners, losers and pundits have already started discussing Rhode Island’s potential over the next term.   Raimondo readies agenda Governor-elect ...

U. sees second-largest early decision pool

The University received 3,016 applications for admission to the class of 2019 under its binding early decision program, a 2 percent dip from last year’s record high, said Dean of Admission Jim Miller ’73. Though smaller than last year’s pool of 3,088 early decision applicants, the number of students ...

R.I. prepares for third marijuana dispensary

The Summit Medical Compassion Center, Rhode Island’s third and final medical marijuana dispensary, will soon open for use by registered patients in the state. Though the Providence Journal reported last week that the center would open Nov. 10, Terence Fracassa, Summit’s legal counsel, confirmed ...

New storefronts set to bring change to Thayer landscape

After the closing of Tedeschi Food Shop in 2012 and Symposium Books, Sahara Hookah and Squires Salon — among others — in 2013, Thayer Street is continuing to see business turnover. A new restaurant will soon occupy the space that used to house Thayer Street Cleansers and Launderers between Angell ...

Student tests positive for GHB in spiked drink

One of the two students who reported consuming drinks spiked with date-rape drugs at a fraternity party Oct. 17 has tested positive for the drug GHB, wrote Russell Carey ’91 MA’06, executive vice president for planning and policy, and Margaret Klawunn, vice president for campus life and student ...

Model UN conference draws more than 800 participants

Eight hundred forty-two suit-clad high school students congregated on College Hill this weekend, bumping up campus standards for attire and diplomatic discourse as they participated in the 18th annual Brown University Simulation of the United Nations. The event, run by approximately 80 Brown students, ...

Undergrads back student rep. on Corporation

Roughly 60 percent of undergraduates believe a voting student trustee should be added to the Corporation, and about 22 percent support a non-voting student representative, according to a recent Herald poll conducted Oct. 22-23. Only 5 percent of respondents think there should be no student representation ...

U. signs Dynamo House lease

The University signed a lease for space at the Jewelry District’s South Street Power Station, known as the Dynamo House, with private developer Commonwealth Venture Nov. 5, Executive Vice President for Planning and Policy Russell Carey ’91 MA’06 announced Nov. 7 at the Providence Preservation ...

Panel talks racial stereotypes in media

Gangsters, gardeners and gold-diggers were just some of the television tropes explored during “Scandal(ous) Realities: Black and Brown Images in TV and Hollywood,” a panel discussion presented by the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America on the misrepresentation of blacks, Latinos ...

Cohort tenure rate drops 20 percentage points

The University’s cohort tenure rate — the percentage of tenure-track junior faculty members hired in the same academic year who are granted tenure eight years later — has declined 20 percent, from 81 percent for those hired in 1999-2000 to 61 percent for those hired in 2005-06, the year for which ...

A Neighborhood Unmoored: Harboring Cape Verde in Providence

URC opens discussion on budget deficit

The University plans to balance its $10 million structural operating budget deficit over the next three to five years, Provost Vicki Colvin announced to a crowd of about 100 at a University Resources Committee open forum Thursday in the Petteruti Lounge. The forum, as opposed to regular URC meetings, ...

Poli sci professors analyze midterm election results

“You don’t have to be a political science major to be interested in politics,” said Rebecca Mears ’15, head of the Political Science Departmental Undergraduate Group and the host of Wednesday’s lunch discussion about the results of the 2014 midterm elections. About 60 students gathered in ...

Israeli author defends Zionism, discusses security challenges

Ari Shavit, senior correspondent for the liberal Israeli newspaper Haaretz and author of the 2013 book “My Promised Land,” spoke to an overflowing Wilson 102 Wednesday night about Israel’s past, present and future. His wide-ranging lecture touched on Zionism, his personal experiences living in ...

Providence Talks literacy program to expand beyond pilot phase

Providence Talks — a literacy program aimed at increasing reading readiness in lower-income children — plans for expansion as its pilot phase, which began Feb. 3, comes to a close, said Rob Horowitz, spokesperson for Providence Talks. The program was inspired by research that suggests the existence ...

SLA protests review of mail workers’ driving routes

In response to the University’s decision to conduct an external review of two unionized mailroom workers’ driving routes, the Brown Student Labor Alliance hosted a demonstration outside J. Walter Wilson Wednesday. About 50 students, staff and community members rallied to show solidarity for University ...

Undergrads critique sexual assault policy

Undergraduates and other community members voiced concerns and suggestions about the University’s sexual assault policies in a two-part forum Wednesday night co-sponsored by the Undergraduate Council of Students and the Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Relationship Abuse. The first part of the ...

Paxson aims to double underrepresented minorities on faculty

President Christina Paxson announced at a faculty meeting Tuesday that she aims to double the percentage of underrepresented minority faculty members within the next decade. Faculty members and administrators discussed faculty diversity  at length during the meeting while also touching briefly upon ...