T H U R S D A Y OCTOBER 24, 2002
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXVII, No. 98
An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891
www.browndailyherald.com
Library staff agrees to deal, won’t stage Friday walkout BY JULIETTE WALLACK
University officials and union representatives reached a tentative agreement late Wednesday night that should prevent a Friday walkout by library staff members. Ninety union members will vote on the agreement at 11:30 a.m. today, said Karen McAninch, business agent of Service Employees International Union Local 134, but the union will recommend to its members that they not walk out. Though the five union representatives involved in negotiations have the authority to approve the agreement without a vote, McAninch said they felt it was important to consult with the members, who make up more than half of the library system’s staff. It took nine hours of negotiations for the University and the union to come to the tentative agreement, the details of which McAninch declined to reveal until after today’s vote. But the lengthy discussions left the two entities “in a more positive place,” she said. The union’s goal in negotiating was “to figure out a way to put a more positive focus on the whole process,” McAninch see DEAL, page 7
Across the East Side, Universityowned buildings sit vacant
Jason White / Herald
Poet Staceyann Chin, right, a Jamaican national of Chinese and African descent, performed for a packed audience in Salomon 101 Wednesday night. Senior Waciuma Wanjohi ’03, left, also spoke about his experience as a multiracial student at Brown.
Exploring multi-heritage Poet Staceyann Chin wowed a Salomon crown Wednesday night with her performance of poems that addressed issues ranging from racism to sex to family life
BY ZACH BARTER
BY JULIA ZUCKERMAN
In the midst of growing talk of a housing shortage, the University currently controls 14 vacant or unused buildings scattered around College Hill that have fallen into various stages of disrepair. “Some of them are in pretty bad shape,” said Michael McCormick, director of planning in the Office of Facilities Management. “It would take a lot of work and money to reoccupy any of these buildings.” The buildings, 13 of which are houses, were at one time inhabited but have not been occupied in the recent past, said Thomas Raso, assistant director of the Office of Rental Facilities, which currently manages 35 occupied off-campus properties. The unused buildings include four houses on Benevolent Street; three houses on Charlesfield Street; two houses each on Brook, Brown and Waterman streets; and the Old Stone Bank on South Main Street,
Performance poet Staceyann Chin brought a packed Salomon audience to its feet Wednesday evening at the convocation for Multiracial Heritage Week. Chin, a Jamaican national of Chinese and African descent, performed several poems on topics ranging from racism to sex to her relationship with her family. She talked and joked with the audience in between the poems. In “Cross-fire,” she described her multifaceted identity: “Most people are surprised my father is Chinese / like there’s a preconditioned look for the halfChinese / lesbian poet who is also Jamaican but lives in Far Rockaway, Queens.” Chin often abandoned the microphone to perform and at times left the stage to interact more directly with audience members. Some of her poems incorporated humor and references to pop culture, which drew loud appreciation from the audience.
“I believe Pinky and the Brain are revolutionaries, because every night they try to take over the world,” she said in one poem. “Like them, I believe there will always be something to fight for.” Chin has performed in one-woman shows Off-Broadway and won slam poetry competitions in New York and Chicago. She performed on HBO’s “Def Poetry,” and is currently rehearsing for a live version of the Russell Simmons show on Broadway. In a question-and-answer session, Chin said she has a strained relationship with the predominantly white lesbian community. She said she struggles to bring up issues of race in the queer community but is not accepted as a lesbian in minority communities or in Jamaica, where she grew up. “I have pieces of me that belong to different places,” she said. “I feel like I don’t fit in anywhere.” Now that she is successful and gaining fame, Chen finds herself accepted and “claimed” by many communities, including Chinese Americans and Jamaicans, she said. But she said she wonders if those communities would accept her if she were not as successful. The theme for the 12th annual Multiracial Heritage Week is “Unweaving the Myth.” Programmer Megan Asaka ‘03, introduced the evening’s speakers. First-year speaker Bali Kumar ’06 and
Senior Reflections Speakers Sidra Durst ’03 and Lenox Waciuma Wanjohi ’03 spoke about their own experiences as multiracial students. Members of the Brown Organization of Multiracial and Biracial Students read a compilation of poetry and statements BOMBS members wrote in response to the question, “How do you identify today?” The speakers all emphasized the difficulty of finding a place in a society that requires clear divisions between racial categories, with many expressing frustration at having to choose just one racial identity for the U.S. census. Durst said multiracial people all find different answers to questions of identity. She said to multiracial students who are beginning to ask these questions, “Remember that there are no boxes, and you need to shape your identity as your own.” Chin ended the convocation on the same note, with her poem “If only out of vanity.” The poem ended: “I want to go down in history / in a chapter marked miscellaneous / because the writers could find / no other way to categorize me. / In this world where classification is key / I want to erase the straight lines / So I can be me.” Herald staff writer Julia Zuckerman ‘05 can be reached at jzuckerman@browndailyherald.com.
see EMPTIES, page 4
I N S I D E T H U R S D AY, O C T O B E R 2 4 , 2 0 0 2 At best U.S. state schools, budgetary crises force cut backs, tuition hikes page 3
Minden Hall residents say lack of interior suite doors makes for lack of privacy page 5
For Hope College first-years, environmental interest is a way of life page 5
TO D AY ’ S F O R E C A S T Nick Noon ’05 says student workers deserve respect from their peers column, page 11
Scoring goals from Brazil to Brown, Eduardo Romaneiro ’03 stars for men’s soccer sports, page 12
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