On Valentine’s Day, New York Times Op-Ed page readers may have been surprised to find columnist John Tierney’s piece rich with relationship advice.

Internationally renowned Taiwanese artist T.F. Chen spoke Thursday night in Starr Auditorium to kick off an exhibition of his work, which will be in the Watson Institute Nov. 10-13. Chen’s appearance at Brown is part of “Strait Talk,” a student-run conference on U.S.-China-Taiwan relations that calls for peace among the nations.

The Student Union, an umbrella organization of major student groups that was revitalized last fall after a long period of inactivity, is planning and sponsoring the first Fall Festival, which will take place from Wednesday, Oct. 26 to Monday, Oct. 31. Joshua Russo ’06, chair of the Student Union, said he hopes this festival will become an annual Brown tradition.

As part of a more targeted approach for recruiting students in math and the sciences, the University is in the process of creating the Science Cohort program to attract the nation’s top science undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds. At the September faculty meeting, President Ruth Simmons expressed her support for such efforts to address what she called “a national problem.”

At Tuesday night’s panel, “The International War on Drugs: Plan Colombia and Beyond,” Peter Andreas, assistant professor of political science and international studies, admitted that he once inadvertently contributed to Bolivia’s cocaine economy by agreeing to sit on top of a large stack of toilet paper on a public bus.

Last week, the Undergraduate Council of Students endorsed a proposal to move administration of club sports from the Student Activities Office to the Department of Athletics and Physical Education, allowing for the allocation of increased funding to club teams to provide them access to varsity athletic trainers.

Alan Wallace, one of the most preeminent Western scholars of Tibetan Buddhism, stressed the importance of introspection as a mode of academic inquiry in the first annual Mary Interlandi ’05 Lecture on Contemplative Studies on Monday night. Wallace’s lecture, “Observing the Mind: A Buddhist Approach to Exploring Consciousness,” focused on the interface between traditional Buddhist methods of introspection and conceptions of the mind, and the modern Western scientific approach to neuroscience and physics.

The Student Union, an umbrella organization of major student groups revitalized this year after a long period of inactivity, recently discovered $70,000 in its account. Ricky Gresh, director of student activities, discovered the money just before spring break, when he was reviewing the accounts of various student groups.

Soulful vocal harmonies combined with powerful photographs to captivate the audience at the packed opening of “Abayudaya: The Jews of Uganda” at Hillel Thursday night. The musical style was distinctly African, but soon many audience members found themselves wanting to sing along, as they knew every word of a song’s Hebrew lyrics.

A tracking feature built into WebCT allows instructors to monitor student use of their course’s page, unbeknownst to many students and even some professors. With the introduction of an updated version of WebCT at Brown next year, instructors’ capabilities for surveillance will become even more extensive.