One of these two people is a Brown student, hopefully.

Let it be known that yes, I know I could have begun this post with a shitty sexual innuendo playing off a term like “long-swords” (not an actual type of fencing equipment) but I’m above that. I think. Time will tell. Anyway, here’s something you probably didn’t know unless you’re on the Brown fencing team: Brown fencing had its first, last, and only home meet of the season over the weekend. It was greatly exciting, and not just because I spent most of the time on my phone following Brown basketball’s overtime barnburner with Yale (we lost–and just when I thought March Madness was calling to us!).

What you get at a fencing meet is roughly 90% chaos and 10% swordfights. I don’t know which part is more elemental to the fencing meet ecosystem, but probably both are necessary. Basically, the OMAC turns into what appears to be a large slumber party between a collection of medieval knights, some of whom are having horseless jousts around the perimeter of a circle of backpacks and other shit that six colleges worth of fencers have deposited in the middle of the gym. (That was probably the worst description ever given of anything, not just a fencing meet, but basically it’s really hard to figure out what’s going on, where Brown’s fencers are at any given time, who’s winning, and why fencing uniforms are so ugly.)

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Check your inboxes — President Simmons has delivered a significant announcement about the short-term future of Brown athletics.

Eight days after the Athletics Review Committee released its recommendations regarding the future of Brown athletics and two days after Governor Chafee ’75 P’14 and others met with committee members, a major change to the recommendations has been made.

Citing “the incongruity of having a discussion that is in part about how to align the athletic program more effectively with academic programs and priorities at the precise time that the press of academic work is the greatest,” committee Chair Richard Spies recommended today to postpone any final decisions about the four teams slated to be eliminated from the May Corporation meeting to the October Corporation meeting. That means that these teams will remain as varsity programs for the 2011-2012 academic year.

In her email, President Simmons thanked the “wrestling, skiing and fencing students and their many supporters for their efforts to collect information and to offer testimony to the committee.” She said they “conducted themselves with great poise and intelligence” — and this work has evidently led to some major results.

Check The Herald’s website throughout exams for breaking news on the athletics situation.

Kathryn Hawrot ’14, a foilist on the Bruno fencing team, was honored for her performance at this weekend’s Ivy League Championships with a spot on the First-Team All Ivy squad. Hawrot went 11-4 overall, including a victory over Princeton fencer Lucile Jarry in Round Two seen here. Hawrot led the Brown’s women foil squad to a 2-4 record, good for fifth-place overall.

Full results from the weekend can be found here. Check Tuesday’s Herald for more coverage of Brown’s performance!