On Tuesday, bioethicist Peter Singer delivered a talk on the ethics of human-animal relations. He contended that humanity has unjustly ignored the interests of animals for the sake of producing meat, and indicted in particular the modern practice of factory farming, which crowds huge numbers of animals ...
This year has been tough for queer Americans. In the past two election cycles, campaigns for marriage equality in California and Maine, two of the country's most progressive states, have been defeated at the ballot box. President Obama, who many in the gay community had hoped would effect an about-face ...
Lawmakers in the Rhode Island House of Representatives voted last Wednesday to hold a statewide referendum on the state's official name. The Ocean State is technically called the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. In November 2010, residents will vote on whether to remove the controversial ...
The Rhode Island General Assembly has sent Governor Donald Carcieri '65 a bill that would require that U.S. Senate vacancies be filled by special election rather than gubernatorial appointment. We believe Carcieri should sign the bill, though it could be improved.
David Dooley, the new president of the University of Rhode Island, has grand plans for increasing collaboration with Brown. He'd like the two universities to share research sites and equipment, work together on projects and grant proposals and allow students to cross-register for classes. We're all ...
On Oct. 19, the Justice Department circulated a memorandum to federal prosecutors in Rhode Island and the other 13 medical marijuana states instructing them not to prosecute individuals using medical marijuana or those involved in dispensary operations that are "in clear and unambiguous compliance" ...
Over the past two years, Rhode Island has given $87 million in tax breaks to businesses, with the goal of creating jobs and encouraging business expansion. So have these tax breaks actually had their intended effect? Sadly, nobody really knows for sure.
There will be no quick and easy resolution of the struggle between municipal officials, University administrators and state legislators over proposed development in the Jewelry District of downtown Providence. Along with Johnson and Wales University, Brown is considering whether to acquire properties ...
Professors in the physics and engineering departments must have been surprised when they arrived at their building last spring and found the parking lot closed to accommodate a crane. They must have been even more surprised to find out that the crane was there to install a T-Mobile cell phone tower ...
Brown's athletics department recently partnered with an outside company, Nelligan Sports Marketing, to increase advertising sales and sponsorships. The company has done well for us so far, bringing in corporate sponsorships from Dunkin' Donuts, AT&T, Domino's Pizza and Taco Bell. Sponsorship funding ...
Last week's contract negotiations between the University and Brown Dining Services workers made for a surprisingly tense drama. BDS workers threatened to strike on Parents' Weekend, and the two sides came to an agreement at 2 a.m. the night before the strike would have begun. Students held multiple ...
The U.S. News and World Report college rankings are a subject of scorn for most Brown students. Unable to believe that we're the "worst" Ivy (yes, Cornell was a spot above us this year), we fulminate about how the rankings overweigh endowment size and ignore Brown's unique academic philosophy. So we ...
According to the College Sustainability Report Card released earlier this month, Brown is about as eco-friendly as universities get. Consider some of the initiatives that contributed to our A-minus grade this year. We've committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 42 percent below 2007 levels ...
Brown made the grade for the second consecutive year, scoring an A-minus on the College Sustainability Report, an assessment of environmental practices at hundreds of colleges. Brown's grade was set back slightly by the B's it received in two categories: Administration and Endowment Transparency. Regarding ...
Last Monday, a motley crew of kooks and food vendors, watched by a handful of bemused students, gathered on the Main Green to protest the University's renaming of Columbus Day as Fall Weekend. The congregation was heralded by an ingeniously postmodern flier campaign that omitted outmoded, deterministic ...
We don't generally have a high opinion of harsh underage drinking laws. Students under 21 have, and always will, get away with flouting them, and harsh penalties for this behavior can have disastrous consequences. Arrests for even minor infractions can destroy students' chances of being admitted to ...
Brown's administration, like any other, has its successes and its failures, and it deserves to be congratulated for the creation and continued improvement of the Target of Opportunity hiring program.
Cooler weather and midterms signal that the fall semester is now well underway. As students' memories of a hectic shopping period and expensive textbook purchases start to fade, we would like to remind faculty members of an important matter of principle: No Brown professor should profit from the book ...
There is no question that Brown could use more money. Over the past several weeks, The Herald has reported huge losses in the endowment, suspension of scholarships and the removal of academic support programs. But regardless of the financial state of the University, the chance to save money is no excuse ...
This fall the number of Brown students studying abroad sunk to 199, down from 220 last fall. The University reported a more pronounced decrease in study abroad figures for the spring — 268 students went abroad last semester compared with 366 in the spring of 2008. In light of the downward trend, ...
Solutions by The State News
