From snow to Sex Power God, from Clinton to Kerry, from donations to the University to donations to a professor, The Herald's 121 issues in 2005 saw a lot of news. Below is a selection of some of the most significant events from the past year as reported in The Herald. For links to each story, visit us on the Web at www.browndailyherald.com. (Dates indicate the issue of The Herald, not necessarily the date of the event.)
JanuaryJan. 26: Students' paths back to campus are snarled by plane and train cancellations due to near-record-breaking snowfall from a northeaster. (Link) (Link)
Jan. 28: In the wake of the Dec. 26 tsunami that struck countries on the Indian Ocean, the Brown community confirms the safety of students studying abroad as well as students and their families in the affected region. (Link)
FebruaryFeb. 2: In her Spring Semester Opening Address, President Ruth Simmons discusses intellectual diversity, creating a "Kaleidoscope Fund" to bring conservative speakers to campus. Simmons also creates the Brown University Community Council to improve discourse at Brown. (Link) (Link)
Feb. 9: Administrators realize that Spring Weekend will overlap Passover. Administrators would later move the times of concerts and other events to try to accommodate Jewish students observing the holiday. (Link) (Link)
Feb. 14: Anti-Racist Action, the Democratic Solidarity Committee and Brown Alumni for Divestment hold the first in a series of protests aimed at convincing the University to divest from Israel. Their proposal is eventually rejected. (Link) (Link)
Feb. 15: The new Proofpoint spam filtering system blocks 90,000 e-mails in its first 24 hours of operation. (Link)
Feb. 17: Barbour Hall and Morriss-Champlin are victims of bizarre vandalism, including a urine-soaked oven and profanities written in wine and dish soap on hallway carpets. (Link)
Feb. 23: In a WebCT vote, an instant-runoff voting system for Undergraduate Council of Students elections fails to win the two-thirds of the student vote required to implement the system. Voters endorse new TV channels, and 66 percent appear to support the return of kegs to campus despite a longstanding ban. UCS supports a lift on the ban, but no change results. (Link) (Link)
Feb. 25: The Corporation approves the University budget, including a new allocation for financial aid to transfer students. Current transfers would later complain that only giving aid to new transfer admits does not respond to their concerns. The Corporation also set student tuition and fees above $40,000 for the first time. (Link)
MarchMarch 8: A student foils a Playstation theft by chasing a Grad Center intruder down the street while wearing flip-flops. (Link)
March 11: ResLife approves expansion of coed housing in Grad Center. (Link)
March 14: Ethan Ris '05 says he is contemplating a challenge to city Councilman David Segal in Ward 1. He officially announces his candidacy in October. (Link) (Link)
March 16: Wrestling coach Dave Amato draws ire from Delta Tau alums for discouraging wrestlers from pledging the fraternity. Amato agrees that his efforts may have crossed the line. (Link)
March 16: Due to a loss of professors in the interdisciplinary concentration, Biomedical Ethics stops accepting new concentrators. (Link)
March 18: Mark Porter, then director of public safety at University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, is named the new chief of police and director of the Department of Public Safety. He is the first black police chief in the state. (Link) (Link)
March 23: Longtime Director of Admission Michael Goldberger is named athletic director - and the "best class ever" tradition ends. (Link)
AprilApril 12: The newly revitalized Student Union, an umbrella organization of student groups, discovers $70,000 in an old account and announces it will sponsor a Fall Weekend. (Link)
April 13: Jennifer Lawless, an assistant professor of political science and public policy, reveals in an e-mail to colleagues that she intends to challenge incumbent Rep. Jim Langevin for the Democratic nomination in 2006. (Link)
April 15: Students launch campaign to "save" the American Sign Language program from being transferred to the Continuing Studies program, where it would not be offered for credit. The University would later decide to keep and expand ASL as a for-credit program. (Link) (Link)
April 20: Brian Bidadi '06 wins the UCS presidency, succeeding Joel Payne '05. (Link)
April 21: Sharpe Refectory worker Valdi Williams, fired for not washing her hands after entering the bathroom, is reinstated after an outcry by student activists and labor officials. (Link)
April 25: Spring Weekend includes performances by Ben Folds (above), the Shins and Talib Kweli. (Link)
April 26: Students camp out overnight on the Main Green, skip classes and wait in line all day for tickets to see former President Bill Clinton's speech in Meehan Auditorium (right). His speech would draw over 4,000 (below). (Link) (Link)
SummerAug. 11: Rafe Judkins '05 prepares to enter the world of reality TV on CBS's "Survivor: Guatemala." The show's final two episodes, which were previously taped, air tonight and Friday, with Judkins still alive with five contestants left. (Link) (Link)
SeptemberSept. 1: Brown welcomes 1,443 first-years to campus, but housing shortages claim some dorm lounges. Hurricane Katrina delays some students' returns, but all eventually arrive safely. (Link)
Sept. 1: Brown drops two spots to No. 15 in the 2006 edition of U.S. News and World Report's annual ranking of "America's Best Colleges." Meanwhile, the Princeton Review ranks Brown No. 3 for happiest students. (Link)
Sept. 6: President Ruth Simmons announces that the University will assist students displaced from colleges and universities shuttered by Katrina by offering tuition-free admission for a semester. She later announces a $5 million gift from Sidney Frank '42 to support the University's hurricane relief efforts. (Link) (Link)
Sept. 6: In an attempt to curb illegal music downloading over the residential network, the University offers the Napster music service to students for free in a trial program. (Link)
Sept. 8: Internet Protocol Television gives students the option of viewing cable television over the Internet. (Link)
Sept. 15: Brown officials announce the University will join Princeton University in a significant effort to rebuild the hurricane-ravaged campus of Dillard University. (Link)
Sept. 20: Sen. John Kerry P'97, D-Mass., criticizes the Bush administration's response to Katrina during a speech given in Salomon 101. (Link)
OctoberOct. 3: Members of the David Lynch Foundation for Conscious-ness-Based Education and World Peace address a full Salomon 101, discussing Lynch's advocacy of transcendental meditation. (Link)
Oct. 6: In testimony before the federal district court in Harrisburg, Pa., Professor of Biology Kenneth Miller '70 argues that the theory of intelligent design has no support in the scientific community and does not belong in the public school science curriculum. (Link)
Oct. 6: UCS announces that a J-term will be available to students in January, consisting of mostly off-campus activities. (Link)
Oct. 12: Online course registration is still years away and will cost millions more than originally anticipated, Provost Robert Zimmer says at a faculty meeting. Officials revamp the project's management and oversight, blaming delays on unrealistic expectations. (Link) (Link)
Oct. 17: Candice Bergen P'08 delivers the keynote speech at a rain-soaked Parents Weekend. (Link)
Oct. 17: Campaign finance reports show that Jennifer Lawless, who had officially started her congressional campaign over the summer, received substantial campaign contributions from two students for whom she was serving as an honors thesis reader. That week, Lawless decides to return the contributions from the students, but keeps two larger contributions from family members of one of the students. (Link) (Link)
Oct. 20: UCS votes to pass a resolution to raise the student activities fee by $54, to $190. The resolution must still be approved by the Corporation. (Link)
Oct. 24: The University officially kicks off its most ambitious fund-raising campaign in its history, announcing plans to raise $1.4 billion by December 2010 to improve its endowment, facilities and current programs. (Link) (Link) (Link)
NovemberNov. 2: University officials tell Lawless that they want her to return contributions made to her campaign by family members of one of her students. Later that week, an internal University memo shows that Lawless is resisting the University's effort to make her return and decline future campaign contributions from students' families. (Link) (Link)
Nov. 9: Brown students in France appear to be safe from the widespread rioting that prompted the French government to declare a state of emergency. (Link)
Nov. 14: Articulate dog Brian Griffin returns to Brown to attempt to complete his degree on an episode of Fox's animated hit "Family Guy." (Link)
Nov. 14: No injuries are reported after several shots are fired on the corner of Brown and Benevolent streets after a Friday night Alpha Phi Alpha party in Sayles Hall. Chief of Police Mark Porter later says two Department of Public Safety officers witnessed the incident but were unable to pursue the perpetrator due to the department's current policy of disengagement. (Link) (Link)
Nov. 14: David Greene, vice president for campus life and student services, writes in a campus-wide e-mail that University policies concerning parties and events sponsored by student groups will be reconsidered in light of physical altercations and medical emergencies at on-campus events, including Sex Power God, which took place in Sayles Hall the night after the Alpha Phi Alpha party. (Link)
Nov. 15: Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor" airs footage of Sex Power God taped by a producer who attended the Queer Alliance event but did not identify himself at the time (bottom of page). (Link)
Nov. 16: Calling Simmons and other administrators "pinheads," Bill O'Reilly lambastes the University's administration on his nationally syndicated radio program "The Radio Factor." But students and University officials dispute O'Reilly's claims that the party was funded by student activities fees and that students used ecstasy at the party. (Link)
Nov. 21: The football team caps one of the most impressive seasons in University history by claiming its first-ever outright Ivy League Championship with a 52-21 rout of Columbia (above). (Link)
Nov. 30: The 59 undergraduates and 27 graduate students the University accepted as part of its hurricane response effort are told that they will have to return to their home institutions next semester. (Link)
DecemberDec. 5: Brown's early decision applications increase 16 percent over last year, the second-largest increase in the Ivy League. (Link)
