Last week, President Obama announced he would nominate Janet Yellen ’67 to be chair of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. We commend this well-considered choice, made after months of confusion and national speculation. The move has seen widespread approval, with the Washington Post, for example, ...
Enrollment in computer science classes at Brown has doubled in the past eight years, a recent Herald article reported. Not only are 12 percent of all undergrads enrolled in computer science classes this semester alone, but the number of concentrators has also increased by 35 and 22 percent in the past ...
Even before the government shutdown, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — nicknamed “Obamacare” by many — had entered the national spotlight. On Oct.1, we saw one of the first major effects of the Affordable Care Act, where conditions of the individual mandate supplemented the creation ...
The face of Thayer Street has changed significantly this semester, with storefronts previously situated around Meeting Street moving further down the street or shutting down completely. Construction on new luxury apartments is underway, and community organizations seek to revitalize the area around ...
This past week, the Education section of The Atlantic published a piece critiquing the philosophical nature of essay prompts in school-specific college application supplements. In addition to commenting on questions from Tufts University and the University of Chicago, the author cited Brown’s question ...
As many on campus are already aware, Fox News’ “The O’Reilly Factor” correspondent Jesse Watters made another visit to College Hill this past week. When Watters came to Brown, in 2005, he infamously infiltrated and filmed Sex Power God, leading to a controversial segment on the show. His return ...
The realm of academia can appear sheltered from the rest of the world, secluded in a bubble of knowledge accumulation and dissemination. But with Tuesday’s shutdown of the federal government — the first in 17 years — the world of real politics is currently intruding on the realm of higher education ...
A renewed focus and approach to environmental studies — “Sustaining Life On Earth” — is one of the seven major themes identified in the University’s new strategic plan. President Christina Paxson and the Corporation have aptly recognized that environmental change is a pressing issue that “can ...
Building relationships between students and faculty members is crucial to maximizing the college experience. Indeed, most universities can proudly boast of their deep advising programs, many of which consist of some form of an established network between a first-year, a faculty adviser and possibly ...
This past week, a defining piece of the University’s identity changed. President Christina Paxson told students at a campus forum that Brown is no longer a “university-college” in the model first established by former President Henry Wriston, though she added that the principle remains “in spirit.” ...
This week, Providence College, a Roman Catholic institution, canceled a lecture that was to be given Thursday by John Corvino, a gay philosophy professor at Wayne State University who supports same-sex marriage. After receiving national attention and criticism, PC released a statement alleging the cancellation ...
As we approach the last week of September, many seniors have already begun setting their post-graduation plans — especially with the fall recruiting season well underway for a number of top consulting, banking and technology firms. Amidst the chaos, it is easy to forget about another significant sample ...
Though Rhode Island decriminalized marijuana in April of last year, more drastic state action could be the on the horizon. The Marijuana Policy Project, an organization set on working state by state to progressively change marijuana laws, is leading the cause, and Karen O’Keefe, the organization’s ...
As technology becomes ever more omnipresent in the modern age, universities have begun experimenting with digital strategies to expedite and accelerate their students’ learning. The most notable example is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s OpenCourseWare, which, according to its website, ...
Yesterday, President Christina Paxson emailed the community with the proposed strategic plan that, if approved, will guide Brown’s trajectory for the next decade. We urge all who are interested in the University’s future to read the plan in its entirety and to attend upcoming community forums in ...
This past week, the U.S. News and World Report released its annual ranking of colleges — though as usual, little change is discernible between this edition and the last. The usual big players top the lists, with Princeton, Harvard and Yale leading the national universities, and Williams College, Amherst ...
As the University weighs and looks to further its commitment to internationalization, the concept of studying abroad — and the way in which it is actually practiced at Brown — merits fresh scrutiny. Though opponents of studying abroad characterize programs as endless parties or continuous field ...
The Herald reported this past week that the hiring of new Chief Information Officer Ravi Pendse may spur an increased emphasis on corporate funding of university research. Such funding is particularly attractive during this period of economic hardship — federal research agencies experienced significant ...
There is one magical moment in the academic year when students gather together to learn from the past, relish in the present and prepare for the future. Though the answer — the housing lottery — should be obvious to all, the night’s magic seems to have been forgotten by administrators and the ...
We stand at a pivotal moment as President Obama bids Congress to support a diplomatic — or, if necessary, military — intervention in Syria to halt President Bashar al-Assad’s regime’s reported use of deadly chemical weapons. While we may feel detached from the conflict or powerless to influence ...
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