For those of you who were eagerly awaiting the release of the 2011 US News and World Report college rankings (USNWRCR for the true ranking aficionados), your long wait is over.  The new list is up, placing Brown at number 15 in a list of several hundred national universities.  This new position represents a one rank increase from last year, tying the Bruins with our Ithacan friends to the West.  Once again, Harvard took the top spot, followed by Princeton, Yale, Columbia, and Stanford.

Remember the last time that you paid $40 for a magazine? Well, you can say “Sayonara” to those pesky overdraft fees, thanks to new federal guidelines that went into effect yesterday. The new rules state that people with debit cards must now opt into overdraft coverage. In other words, if you try to spend more than you have in your checking account in a debit transaction, your card will simply be rejected, instead of your bank paying the difference and charging you a hefty fine. Any consumers who want to retain so-called “overdraft protection” must now specifically request it from their banks.

Those of you following every last development in the three-year-long Thayer St. Chipotle saga (we know you’re out there) have probably already noticed this sign gracing the building across from the Brown Bookstore. But while the burrito chain is set to open this fall, it’s met yet more opposition from its future neighbors. The restaurant, which had applied for a license to sell liquor until 2:00 am, met with opposition from businesses, homeowners, and the cops–as well as our very own Brown University.

According to the ProJo, “Marisa A. Quinn, a Brown vice president, said in a letter that yet another liquor license in the area will cause more consumption of alcohol and more incidents of disorderly conduct.” Ten restaurants on Thayer currently hold liquor licenses.

At a hearing on Wednesday, Chipotle backed down, offering a compromise in which it would stop serving liquor at 11:00 pm. The issue goes before the Board of Licenses again on August 25, but at this point it looks like those who want to wash down their burrito with a sweet and salty margarita will have to stop by pre-fiesta.

— Emma Berry

The last item in today’s Morning Mail quietly announced the beginning of service in the newly renovated Blue Room in Faunce!! Monday, August 16th!! Did we mention we’re excited?

Any devotee will surely be eager to stop by and relish the return of the Blue Room to its rightful location.

If you’re within Blue Room range, send us your comments, discoveries, impressions, and/or pictures – for all those not fortunate enough to be in Providence for opening day.

Happy muffin buying!

Brown’s football team has placed third in a poll of reporters who frequently cover Ivy League football meant to predict the standings for this fall season. Brown received no first place votes.

Harvard is predicted to win the championship, followed in the rankings by defending champion UPenn.

Harvard’s coach is ready to take the championship again. Are we gonna let them sail to victory (or tie) again?!?

A lot of Brown students may not care a lot about sports, but we can’t share victory with Harvard (or Penn, for that matter)!

Go Bears! or something…

If you’re concerned about making good money at any point in your career, you might want to look at a list compiled by payscale.com, highlighting the eight lowest paid majors.
Brown only actually has three of them — art, education and religious studies. Does that mean we’re doing better than average?
Probably not, as more than half the concentrations Brown offers are not terribly career-relevant. Maybe Brown students are just better at spinning their bizarre courses to potential employers.

Citizens Against Government Waste, a watchdog group, called out Rhode Island representatives and Brown University in its “Pork Alert” covering House appropriations for energy and water for fiscal year 2011.

One earmark, sponsored by House Reps. Patrick Kennedy and Jim Langevin will give Brown $1.2 million to research carbon sequestration. CAGW complains about the funding because,

“With an endowment of $2.04 billion, Brown could surely afford its own research.”

Well, we’d like to beg to differ. In case you hadn’t heard, Brown’s endowment has suffered “horrendous” losses lately. As have university endowments all across the country.

Besides, the government has always supported research in the arts and sciences. Federal agencies like the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation are primary sources of funding. It’s even in the Constitution (with selective reading). If the government stops funding university research, who’s going to find solutions for global warming?

CAGW needs to stop pretending universities don’t need support from outside.

Trust us, the only pork at Brown is in the form of hot ham on a bulky roll.

Feeling Brown-sick because you’re missing all those theme parties and FishCo nights? Live vicariously through the posts on Sorry I Missed Your Party, while you’re at home pretending to your parents that you’re not a bro.

And listen to the global conversation.  Students and faculty who are abroad this summer are contributing photos, videos, and stories to “The Global Conversation,” a (fellow) daily blog that is run by students at the Watson Institute for International Studies.   The front page currently features stories from students in South Africa, Mali, Tanzania, the Czech Republic, Rwanda, and Canada.  For those of you who are more network-inclined, they also have Twitter and Facebook pages.

Brown University has topped Princeton Review’s list of the colleges with the happiest students for the second year in a row!

Princeton Review’s annual list of the Best Colleges in the country, this year 373, will be released in book form tomorrow. It ranks the top 20 schools in 62 categories.

Brown’s also ranked on four other lists: Best College Radio Station (#5), Best College Theater (#17), Lots of Race/Class Interaction (#18), and Best Quality of Life (#18).

I don’t think anyone really knows how they tabulate these things, some kind of survey, but good for Brown students for being (perceived as) happy. This is one ranking we kick ass at (unlike cough cough US News and World Report). Not that anyone cares about that sort of thing….