Brown students have a penchant for ignoring all-campus emails. Sometimes we’re lazy, sometimes we don’t care, but oftentimes we are so busy reading our Foucault that we just can’t stand to read another paragraph dense with information. This weekend, the Brown Corporation (which functions as the board of directors of this University) met for one of its tri-annual meetings to discuss policy and the state of Brown, accept gifts and approve capital projects. So what’d you miss in President Simmons’ Saturday email? We got your back.

Residence Halls WILL BE RENOVATED. Miller, Metcalf, Andrews, Keeney, Em-wool, MoChamp, Perkins, Hope, Hegeman, Vartan Gregorian Quad (known as New Dorm). They knew better than to go near Wriston Quad with those funds, but hallelujah!

The VDub will be getting a facelift. After a debacle like last Friday’s Chicken Finger Friday confusion, we can’t afford to have any more mechanical issues.

Andrews Dining Hall will become a common space. This space is likely to become the “And-rue the day you went to Whiskey” morning-after destination for all Pembrokers. Three cheers for north campus pride! [Read more →]

In an interview on televangelist Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network, Jindal–formerly a PLME, currently the Republican governor of Louisiana and a potential 2012 presidential contender–criticized Brown’s political correctness and liberal bent. “I wasn’t the traditional Brown student,” Jindal told Robertson.

The good stuff starts at about 7:00, with anecdotes about how Jindal’s freshman RC criticized him for “opening doors for the ladies” and refusing to attend a “mandatory” orientation session (we have those?) on diversity.

Weirdly, Jindal doesn’t mention that he once liked Brown enough to be a trustee. We’re hoping his new book answers our burning questions about his time at Brown, like which part of his bio education at Brown convinced him that intelligent design counts as science and whether he ever tried to hold the door for Ruth Simmons.

Courtesy of Brown Auxiliary Housing

An email from our favorite prez, Ruth, just announced some exciting news from the Corporation meeting this weekend:

The Budget & Finance Committee approved funding for renovations, beginning next summer, to 315 Thayer Street to expand campus housing. Currently an apartment building, the project will result in a 66-bed dormitory within the residential hall system.

Props to the Corporation for actually doing something about our housing crisis, even if it may just be a band-aid for the problem.  Here’s hoping a newly constructed dorm is soon to follow!