Rhode Island College Digital Commons @ RIC What's News? Newspapers 1-24-2005 What's News At Rhode Island College Rhode Island College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.ric.edu/whats_news Recommended Citation Rhode Island College, "What's News At Rhode Island College" (2005). What's News?. 56. https://digitalcommons.ric.edu/whats_news/56 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Newspapers at Digital Commons @ RIC. It has been accepted for inclusion in What's News? by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ RIC. For more information, please contact [email protected]. What’s News at Rhode Island College Vol. 25 Issue 7 Circulation over 50,000 January 24, 2005 Highlights RIC is first higher ed institution in nation In the News to offer class on disability law changes RIC first to offer class on Qualified plans, to lighten the paperwork revised disability law by Rob Martin Teacher load and allow more time for teach- ing. R.I. congressional delegation What’s News Managing Editor requirements of the No Child Kane, who oversees due pro- awards College $325,000 Left Behind cess and dispute resolution issues to restore former orphan’s Act with those at RITAP, said that making the The course – currently being of IDEA. And course available is “an example of cottage taught at RIC– is based on the lat- a new pilot the ongoing efforts of the College est revisions to the Individuals Pulitzer Prize winning author IEP program to address the diverse needs and with Disabilities Education Act (awarded to 15 responsibilities of students and Nick Kotz speaks at RIC (IDEA), the landmark federal leg- states) will be educators.” Feb. 3 islation that mandates public edu- an option for As instructor of the class, Kane cation equality for children with Actor-author Ron McLarty ’69 parents and will provide an analysis of each sec- special needs. DAVID KANE takes on new role of novelist educators to tion of the federal statute along with consider. The an in-depth study of the changes to n the morning of Dec. 3, Black History Month events program would create multi-year be carried out at the state and local President Bush signed into IEPs (not to exceed three years), law the Individuals with Features O instead of the traditional one-year Continued on page 7 Disabilities Education Improve- Grad student’s film airs on ment Act of 2004. That afternoon, local PBS television station David Kane’s class at RIC about the RIC Equestrian Club mak- changes in the new law was up and running – making it the first in the ing strides in its second year country of its kind. of existence The three-credit graduate-level course, “IDEA Reauthorized 2004,” Creativity is subject of RIC is facilitated by the Northern Rhode professor’s class Island Collaborative in partnership with RIC. Foundation/Alumni Kane, legal affairs coordinator U pdate on Foundation for the Rhode Island Technical Town Jay by Photo Assistance Project (RITAP) at RIC, activities believes that a course offering on RIC on the ROAD stops in the IDEA reforms is valuable to Florida this month those involved in special educa- tion. Sports “An initiative like this ensures that in Rhode Island, educators and Basketball alumni ceremony families of students with disabili- set for Feb. 19 ties are offered the most current and comprehensive review of the RIC sports live on the opportunities that exist within the Internet special education laws in our coun- Where Are They Now? Chris try and our state,” said Kane. IDEA, a federal law first enacted Blanchette ’98 and Michelle in 1975, mandates that children (Pelletier) Blanchette ’00, ’04 with disabilities have access to a free, appropriate public education Arts/Entertainment that meets their particular needs Boston Symphony Chamber and readies them for a career and independent living. In addition, Players, Jan. 31 the act requires school systems to Growing Stage’s The Chairs, develop Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) for students. Feb. 2-6 The latest version of the law cre- Soweto Gospel Choir, Feb. 10 ates increased opportunities to meet the needs of the student pop- RIC Theatre’s To Kill a ulation with disabilities, according Mockingbird, Feb. 17-20 to Kane. One of the significant changes to IDEA is an ability to reach enforce- Index able agreements in a more stream- Looking Back 2 lined manner – if a parent decides The World at RIC 2 to choose that route. The law places “an emphasis on dispute resolu- Focus on Faculty/Staff 2 tion and increased opportunities Foundation/Alumni News 4 for parents and school districts to approach differences of opinions (Not Just) Academically in a less formal setting than tradi- Speaking 5 tional hearings,” explained Kane. Sports 6-7 It also gives parents and teachers more flexibility and control by mak- Faces of RIC 9 ing it easier to make improvements GREAT GOSPEL: The Soweto Gospel Choir, winner of an American Arts/Entertainment 10-11 to a child’s educational program Gospel Music Award for Best Gospel Choir in 2003, will appear at without unnecessary meetings or RIC on Feb. 10 as part of its debut North American tour. See page 11 Dean’s List 14-15 excessive paperwork. The revised to learn more about this exciting ensemble, which features 26 sing- act brings into alignment the Highly ers, musicians and dancers. Page 2 — What’s News, Monday, January 24, 2005 Looking Back The World at RIC Here at What’s News we will feature historical photos from the Col- This regular feature of What’s the Hermitage lege’s past. Please go to your scrapbooks and send us photos with as News looks at the links between the Museum in St. much information as possible. All photos will be handled carefully and world and Rhode Island College. Petersburg, Rus- returned to sender. The story below was written by sia, two libraries Meradith T. McMunn, professor of in Krakow, the English, who has a particular inter- National Library of Poland in War- est in language and its origins as saw (the only time I have had my well as medieval literature. hand kissed by a librarian), the law When I was a graduate student libraries of Gray’s Inn in London preparing for a career teaching and and the National Assembly in Paris researching medieval literature, I (where I perched on a step ladder imagined that my professional life to photograph the manuscript bal- out of the classroom and lecture anced on a window ledge), a pri- hall would be spent at rare book vate library in Switzerland where repositories such as the British I had to sign a document agreeing Library, the National Library of to pay for “any change in the pres- France, the J. Paul Getty Museum ent condition of the manuscript” and the Pierpont Morgan Library, (whose value was more than twice in quiet rooms lined with priceless that of my house), the elegantly manuscripts. While I have spent furnished living room of a Ger- many happy and occasionally fran- man manuscript collector, and the tic and frustrating hours in these crowded offices of several rare famous institutions, I have also book dealers and auction houses. followed the trails of my research Researching rare medieval art into public and private manuscript objects has sometimes brought me collections all over Western Europe face to face with modern law en- and the U.S., sometimes under con- forcement, another subject not on ditions surprisingly different from my graduate school syllabus. On my expectations. In a small public the Island of Jersey I discovered a library in southern France I had cardboard box in the local histori- to go on a day when the library cal society with glass plate nega- was “closed” so that the librarians tives taken in 1929, now the only could properly supervise me while evidence of a manuscript stolen I sat on a small plastic child’s chair in 1955. My publication of those and examined a beautiful 14th- photographs will help identify the century manuscript on a two-foot manuscript when it emerges from high table. This experience con- obscurity. I have accidentally set off security alarms at Sotheby’s in AT THE SENIOR SEMI-FORMAL on May 23, 1985 at The Castle restaurant in trasted dramatically with a visit to London and the National Library Bristol, Mark Bulger is pleasantly accompanied by Nancyann DePalma and Jena a château where I was installed in of Spain in Madrid (fortunately Marie Carey. According to the 1985 yearbook: “Everyone seemed to have a good an elegant 18th-century salon sur- with no lasting consequences), and time, even the band, who refused to leave when it was time and continued to play rounded by gold framed mirrors I have been personally responsible and congratulate the graduating seniors.” and 16th-century tapestries and seated on a chair with its original for adding two years of jail time 18th-century silk upholstery. to the sentence of a convicted When I began working on a international manuscript thief. Re- study of the 248 illustrated manu- cently, I was asked by Interpol to scripts of the Roman de la Rose, a identify a manuscript which had Focus on Faculty and Staff 13th-century bestseller, I did not been confiscated from a suspected imagine that it would take me to felon in Germany and I was able to Faculty and staff are encouraged to submit items about their profes- 111 public and private collections help restore it to its legal owner in sional endeavors to What’s News, Office of News and Public Relations, in 91 cities in 17 countries and France.