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Opinions

Opinions

Editorial: The other Watson

This fall, Michael Kennedy, formerly a sociology professor at the University of Michigan, takes over as the director of the Watson Institute for International Studies. The previous director, David Kennedy '76, resigned this summer after overseeing the Institute on an interim basis for just over a year. ...


Opinions

Letter: URL citations not the solution

To the Editor: Regarding Tuesday's op-ed ("Rethinking citations," Sept. 15): Dan Davidson's '11 point about hyperlinked citations is a good one but in a sense moot, since most citation style sheets I'm familiar with would require you to use a URL for any online source you cite anyway. I would take ...


Opinions

Will Wray '10: Fair by whose rules?

When you take a sip of coffee bought from Brown Dining Services, Blue State or the Bookstore, you may notice a unique flavor. The brew itself is unremarkable, mediocre or worse, but it's fair trade coffee. That pleasant aftertaste is entirely psychosomatic. You have just bought coffee with an injection ...


Opinions

Kate Fritzsche '10: The secret life of Catholics at Brown

I am a practicing Roman Catholic. I am also a practicing Brown student. These identities are not incompatible, despite what many students on College Hill might have you believe. However, my fellow students rarely make it easy for me to practice my faith on campus, nor do they even understand why I would ...


Opinions

Editorial: Seniority and its discontents

Last Friday, the East Providence School Committee declared that it would seek to replace its district's existing seniority-based salaries with a system that financially rewards high job performance; the details would be determined through negotiations between parents, teachers, administrators, union ...


Opinions

Dan Davidson '11: Rethinking citations

It would be overly dramatic to say that citations are the bane of students' academic existences. Nevertheless, I don't believe I'm alone in finding them a time-consuming annoyance. It may simply be reflective of living on the country's happiest campus that I want to address this minor aspect of our ...


Opinions

Susannah Kroeber '11: Thanks, Ted

If you have driven through Massachusetts on Interstate 95 recently, the new highway billboards that mark out the miles cannot have escaped your notice. The recurring mantra, "Thanks, Ted," is but one of a small set of commemorations of a man important beyond his role as senior senator of Massachusetts.The ...


Opinions

Editorial: Measuring student opinion

As of June 30 the endowment stood at just over $2 billion, in line with the University's January projections. Over the next few years the sharp drop in value — a loss of about $740 million — will limit Brown's ability to draw on the endowment to pay for its annual operating expenses. More ...


Opinions

Sean Quigley '10: Doing our part

The tax man cometh, yet both Brown students and the administration are not inviting him in for tea and crumpets, as is usually the case. Indeed, the response to the tax has been decidedly negative, with most opinion-makers decrying the proposed $300 per annum fee on out-of-state  private college ...


Opinions

Julian Park '12: Calling out the misinformed

This past Monday, Jonathan Topaz '12 wrote a column ("SDS' golden opportunity," Sept. 14) urging Students for a Democratic Society to organize against the U.S.'s occupation of Afghanistan. As a member of that organization, I too have a "quick piece of advice to the new Class of 2013": be wary of uninformed ...


Opinions

Editorial: Playing politics with prostitution

Many Brown students recite the fact that a loophole in Rhode Island law allows indoor prostitution as a piece of amusing trivia about our quirky little state. However, it's no laughing matter for state legislators. The House and the Senate have both passed bills that sponsors claim close the loophole, ...


Opinions

Editorial: Rhode Island's homeless

Brown students who go for a night out at Fish Co. may notice a sign that reads "No Trespassing Per Court Order" in front of a grassy area just across the street. A few weeks ago, this area underneath an old I-195 overpass was home to a community of 80 homeless people.


Opinions

Ethan Tobias '12: A truly open curriculum

At the start of the fall term, many Brown students will have to make difficult decisions about which classes they plan on attending. Shopping period is an essential part of Brown's open curriculum, as it allows students to experience a multitude of classes before deciding which ones would be best to ...


Opinions

Jared Lafer '11: Dorm shopping

Let's go back in time to the summer before your freshman year. You've just received your housing assignment and find that you've landed in some residence hall — let's call it "A" in the spirit of non-discrimination.


Opinions

Michael Fitzpatrick '12: A beak critique

This summer, the students of the incoming freshman class were told to read "The Beak of the Finch" by Jonathan Weiner in preparation for their entrance into Brown University. The book tells the story of Rosemary and Peter Grant, evolutionary biologists whose research with Darwin's finches in the Galapagos ...


Opinions

Editorial: College confidential

Brown began assigning summer reading three summers ago at the behest of Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron. All incoming first-years read the same book, "How Proust Can Change Your Life," and wrote letters to their advisers discussing the book and their academic goals at Brown. Freshmen and their ...




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