Friday, September 26, 2003

F R I D A Y SEPTEMBER 26, 2003

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXVIII, No. 80

An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891

www.browndailyherald.com

T. F. Green Hall gets renovated with new sound and mirrors

BY LISA MANDLE

Sound proofing. Card access. Mirrors for the dance studios. A state-of-the-art sound system. And lots of storage. All these requests from student groups were included in the renovation of T.F. Green Hall, a building used by groups such as Production Workshop and the Coalition of Bands at Brown.

Though the building opened officially on Monday, “for the next couple of months, we’ll have to find out what works,” said Director of Student Activities David Inman.

After T.F. Green closed for renovations last November, many student groups lacked adequate rehearsal and performance space. PW produced shows in Bigelow Lounge in Keeney and was without a secondary performance space, said PW board member Dov Lebowitz-Nowak ’04.

Dance groups lacked a non-department-affiliated practice space, Inman said.

PW has already begun to move its scene shop, props and electrical equipment into the new space. The company’s first performance, an original play written and produced by Leah Mann ’03.5, is planned for mid-October, said PW board member Matt Biagini ’05.

COBAB is waiting to test the efficiency of the soundproofing before they can begin practicing there, Inman said.

Members of the affected student groups said they are excited about using the space.

“They did a great job,” said COBAB President Natalie Combs ’04.

Combs said she was sad to lose the “romantic appeal” of the old building but was looking forward to being able to offer extended practice hours to bands in soundproof practice rooms.

“The building is gorgeous,” Lebowitz-

Marissa Hauptman / Herald

The Undergraduate Finance Board contributed more than $100,000 to pay for features including mirrors and curtains in the dance studios and soundproofing in the renovated T. F. Green Hall.

Architects enter third day of campus discussion

BY CARLA BLUMENKRANZ

Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, the architects often credited as the founders of postmodernism, entered their third day of meetings with campus groups and administrators today as they prepare to transform campus life space at Brown.

Working with two associates, Venturi and Scott Brown have been charged with

see T.F. GREEN, page 4

Brown re-ups with newly eco-friendly Boise-Cascade; BEAN satisfied

BY ELISE BARAN

The Brown Environmental Action Network is feeling oddly victorious — after a year of pressuring Brown to abandon its paper contract with the Boise Cascade Corporation, the University renewed its agreement over the summer.

That’s because Boise Cascade, which supplies Brown with all of its office materials, drastically improved its environmental policies to transform themselves into a model for eco-friendly logging, according to BEAN representatives.

Brown’s contract with Boise was up for renewal last year. BEAN seized the opportunity to push for Brown to use a more environmentally responsible company for its office supplies.

But this summer, Boise changed its policies just in time to renew its contract with Brown.

BEAN sees the relatively short twoyear contract — a typical contract would cover three years — as a test period, said Noah Fulmer ’05, a BEAN organizer. It gives Boise enough time to implement the changes it has promised, while at the same time sending the signal to Boise that the University expects the changes in two years, he said.

Boise has pledged to stop logging from endangered forests, to only use suppliers that harvest timber from government-certified logging forests and to

creating a coherent vision for campus life spaces that will include social, dining and fitness facilities, said David Greene, interim vice president for Campus Life and Student Services. Following this week’s round of meetings and several months of planning, Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates expects to present an initial plan to the University in February, Greene said.

No stranger to campus planning, the firm has worked with a number of universities, including Dartmouth College, Williams College, the University of Michigan and Bryn Mawr College on projects that unified and expanded their campus spaces. At Brown, the firm’s prospective work fits under the umbrella of the master plan conceived by architect Frances Halsband last year.

Halsband’s plan assessed the University’s current facilities and the best ways to prepare for its physical needs in the decades to come. Venturi and Scott Brown’s work on campus life facilities is only one aspect of a major overhaul of the campus that the University expects to undertake in coming years, Greene said.

Scott Brown described the campus life project as one of several subsystems within the larger system of the Brown campus, as conceived by Halsband’s master plan. Although her work principally involves “thinking through the

Brown faculty, students donate less than $4K to 2004 candidates

BY SARAH LABRIE

Candidates in the 2004 presidential election will have to find the money to fund their campaigns somewhere besides Brown University.

According to the Federal Election Commission’s online database of campaign contributions, Brown faculty and students have so far donated less than $4,000 to the election, and University political experts do not expect the numbers to grow in the future.

“This proves that academics are not big campaign donors,” said Darrell West, professor of political science and director of the Taubman Center for Public Policy. West is a political analyst who appears regularly on both local and national media outlets to discuss the political campaign.

While some universities such as Harvard have contributed as much as $50,000, as reported by the Harvard Crimson, other Ivy League schools including Princeton and Yale have also fallen short of the $5,000 mark, according to the FEC web site.

The FEC lists donations from three members of the Brown faculty and one student for the 2004 election. The donations listed from Brown toward next year’s

see BOISE, page 4 see ARCHITECTS, page 4

I N S I D E F R I D AY, S E P T E M B E R 2 6 , 2 0 0 3 Celebrities hit campus for Brown’s first annual Brazilian Film Festival arts and culture, page 3

Former UCS President Feliz ’03 has internship in the president’s office page 5

The argument, “Religion made me do it,”is no excuse for bigotry, says Rainey ’04 column, page 11

see CAMPAIGNS, page 4

TO D AY ’ S F O R E C A S T Women’s soccer goalie Sarah Gervais ’04 earns Ivy League Player of the Week sports, page 12

Josh Troy ’04 gives us his picks for week for of the National Football League sports, page 12

rain high 75 low 55

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

THIS MORNING FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2003 · PAGE 2 Coup de Grace Grace Farris

W E AT H E R FRIDAY

SATURDAY

High 75 Low 55 showers

SUNDAY

High 71 Low 57 wind

MONDAY

High 76 Low 63 t-storms

High 73 Low 58 cloudy GRAPHICS BY TED WU

Three Words Eddie Ahn

MENU THE RATTY LUNCH — Vegetarian Vegetable Soup, Rhode Island Quahog Chowder, Honey Mustard Chicken Sandwich, Apple, Rice & Raisin Casserole, Spinach with Toasted Sesame Seeds, Sugar Cookies, Pound Cake with Strawberries, Chocolate Cream Pie.

V-DUB LUNCH — Vegetarian Broccoli Cheese Soup, Roasted Corn Chowder with Bacon, Chicken Fingers, Stuffed Shells with Sauce, Whole Kernel Corn, Sugar Cookies.

DINNER — Vegetarian Broccoli Cheese Soup, Roasted Corn Chowder with Bacon, Country Style Baked Ham, Mexican Cornbread Casserole, Roasted Rosemary Potatoes, Cauliflower in Dill Mustard Sauce, Sugar Snap Peas, Pueblo Bread, Poundcake with Strawberries & Whipped Cream.

DINNER — Vegetarian Vegetable Soup, Rhode Island Quahog Chowder, Fried Scallops, Cider Glazed Turkey, Manicotti Piedmontese, Cranberry Wild and White Rice Pilaf, Mashed Butternut Squash, Italian Green Beans, Pueblo Bread, Sugar Cookies, Pound Cake with Strawberries, Chocolate Cream Pie.

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Parts of blackjacks 5 Military nucleus 10 Shoemaker’s set 14 Pip 15 Medicinal shrubs 16 Japheth’s father 17 Start of a quip 19 Pressure unit 20 Kind of suit 21 It’s found in veins 22 Annoyance 23 Actor Wynn 25 Quip, part 2 27 Philanthropist Yale 30 WWII costregulating agency 31 Liable 34 100 yrs.

35 Mandola maker 39 Quip, part 3 43 Boxer’s need 44 D.C. setting 45 Big foot?

46 Junior’s junior 47 Kent portrayer 50 Quip, part 4 54 Like cookie dough 58 Scruffs 59 One with a beat 62 One way to hang?

63 Use stets, e.g.

64 End of the quip 66 Jay seen at night 67 Plant with sword-shaped leaves 68 Look for 69 Long haul 70 Alice’s adventure, for one 71 Blunders

1 2 3 4

DOWN Dismayed cry Nobelist of 1903 École attendee Lethargic

5 6 7 8

Geo or Reo To boot Saloon swinger Agree to more issues 9 Back road feature 10 Come before 11 Swain 12 Insect stage 13 Nag 18 Israeli flier 22 Unexpectedly materialize 24 Cyprus’s capital 26 Arm holder?

28 Mag founder of 1953 29 Racing family name 31 Back at sea 32 Stock word 33 Fort Worth inst.

36 Hard water 37 __-Foy, Quebec 38 When repeated, an African peril 40 ’40s-’50s bomb test atoll 41 Frontier trader’s goods 1

2

3

4

42 Employ 48 Electrical unit 49 Plaza Hotel imp 50 Made a proposal, maybe 51 “Unsafe at Any Speed” author 52 Speak out 53 Search thoroughly

H A I R

E Y R E

S T O I C

N A V A L

A M A N A

T B A R

H A T E

O K R A

H O M E R U N F O R E P A W

6

7

8

25 28

29

10

U N C L E

T A T E R

R U S K

A C T E

S T A R

11

12

13

Jero Matt Vascellaro

26

35

41

36

37

38

56

57

42

43

44 46 51

P I N O T

Hopeless Edwin Chang

30

34 40

G O R Y

22

24

39

I D E S

19

27 33

R E V S

16

21

32

U T T N E R A N E U S S A R A N M O U T A B D E F U O S M R O S O O T R A I P R O D H C E S T A

09/26/03

9

18

23

50

D A S A E S S H O W D Y K P E E R E D R E R T I O N A E S S R O C O S R N T E S H O U T A M H E

xwordeditor@aol.com

20

31

55 Any of three semifinalists 56 Perfume compound 57 Some secretaries 60 As soon as 61 South American rodent 64 Dancer Charisse 65 49er rival

15

17

My Best Effort Andy Hull and William Newman

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: T H A T

5

14

Greg and Todd’s Awesome Comic Greg Shilling and Todd Goldstein

45

47

52

48

53

58

59

49

54 60

61

55 62

63

64

66

67

68

69

70

71

By Ed Early (c)2003 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

65

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD, INC. 09/26/03

tabooze.

Editorial Phone: 401.351.3372

The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is published Monday through Friday during the aca-

Business Phone: 401.351.3260

demic year, excluding vacations, once during Commencement, once during Orientation and

Elena Lesley, President

once in July by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. POSTMASTER please send corrections to P.O. Box

Kerry Miller, Vice President

2538, Providence, RI 02906. Periodicals postage paid at Providence, R.I. Offices are located at 195

Jamie Wolosky, Treasurer

Angell St., Providence, R.I. E-mail herald@browndailyherald.com. World Wide Web:

Joseph Laganas, Secretary

http://www.browndailyherald.com. Subscription prices: $179 one year daily, $139 one semester daily. Copyright 2003 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

ARTS & CULTURE FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2003 · PAGE 3

Best of Brazilian film come to U. in annual festival

BY RACHEL AVIV

Sara Perkins / Herald

Fernando Henrique Cardoso, the former president of Brazil and a Brown professor of political science, opened the series of talks last night with a confession: "I have wanted two things in my life: to work in film and to be able to sing songs."

Rio de Janeiro, the plastic surgery capital of the world, has a culture of intense beauty and constant self-criticism. The films that come out of the city’s thriving film industry reflect that culture and are faced with a constant barrage of critique.

“Filmmakers are held with the impossible task of conveying in a 90-minute story the image of an entire country,” said Paula DeMello ’03.5, director of the Brown University Brazilian Film Festival. DeMello said she hopes viewers at this weekend’s festival will be able to understand the films not as microcosms of a culture, but as individual pieces of art.

The festival, which began last night with a showing of Bruno Barreto’s 2000 film “Bossa Nova” and continues through Sunday, features eight contemporary feature films and five short films. Filmmakers and stars such as Katia Lund ’89, the director of “City of God,” Amy Irving, the star of more than 40 films including 2000’s “Traffic” and 1997’s “Deconstructing Harry,” and Candice Bergen will be on campus to give talks throughout the weekend.

Fernando Henrique Cardoso, the former president of Brazil and a Brown professor of political science, opened the series of talks see RIO, page 4

PAGE 4 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2002

T.F. Green

The UFB contributed

Rio

Architects

As a result, Scott

continued from page 1

more than $100,000

continued from page 3

continued from page 1

Brown said she was

Nowak said. “We’re really very happy with the renovations.

There’s drastically reduced square footage, but it’s much more useful because it’s specially designed.”

He said PW had three times as much space before renovations.

Representatives from student groups using the renovated space met with Project Manager for Facilities Management David LaPlant, Inman and architects from Margulies and Associates, the Boston-based firm, to design a space that met their needs, Inman said.

Student input led to many of the changes to the building, including the placement of doors and specialized storage space, he said.

“The students really know what they’re doing — I couldn’t tell an amplifier from a snare drum,” Inman said.

The Office of Student Life funded the structural renovations, while the enhancements to the building came from the Undergraduate Finance Board, Inman said.

The UFB contributed more than $100,000 to pay for features including mirrors and curtains in the dance studios and soundproofing.

Before renovation, T.F. Green had been under the management of PW, Lebowitz-Nowak said. The Office of Campus Life and the Student Activities Office gave PW free reign of the building, leaving PW also responsible for custodial care and maintenance, he said.

T.F. Green will now be man-

to pay for features

last night with an upbeat confession.

“I have wanted two things in my life,” he said. “To work in film and to be able to sing songs.”

Although the latter wish, Cardoso conceded, has gone largely unfulfilled, he said he has gone a long way in accomplishing the first. It was during Cardoso’s eightyear administration that a viable Brazilian film industry was established, largely due to his program of tax incentives for private companies to invest in national films. In 2001, he issued a decree that Brazilian theaters must show a certain number of national films or else face a fine.

Now Cardoso is making news for his work with the Brown Brazilian Film Festival.

According to DeMello, the festival made the front page in the Brazilian equivalent of the New York Times.

“For us,” she said, “a thirdworld country, visual culture is the most powerful way to get noticed. Today marks the beginning of a new cultural exchange.”

The film schedule is posted at brownbrazilianfilmfestival.org.

implications of what’s needed physically,” Scott Brown said it also demands an understanding of what the campus needs on a more abstract level.

Considering this, Venturi, Scott Brown and their associates undertook “a lot of reading about the Brown culture” before they arrived this week, she told The Herald.

As a result, Scott Brown said she was not surprised to hear from many community members that her team should forget about Brown’s culture, and instead think about the University’s more immediate physical needs.

“That might be part of the Brown culture to be skeptical about over-defining the Brown culture,” she said.

Now in Providence, Venturi and Scott Brown are attempting to “absorb the quality of the campus as it is,” Venturi said. In the process, they have been on the receiving end of a barrage of voiced needs and demands, Greene said, often in direct contradiction with one another.

One of the central questions in many of the team’s discussions has been whether to develop a single campus life center or more decentralized facilities, Scott Brown said.

Several of the groups the architects have met with have noted that the University already has a large athletic complex that cannot be decentralized, and that smaller facilities might be more difficult to maintain.

On the other hand, if each of these smaller facilities provided a variety

not surprised to hear

Boise continued from page 1 implement a chain of custody in the Pacific Northwest that would tell customers the source of all paper products.

Ellen O’Connor, vice president for finance, who worked closely with BEAN to pressure Boise, said that this year has been a “real adventure.”

She also said that there would not have been a change in Brown’s environmental responsibility had it not been for BEAN. The contract that Brown has now is as financially beneficial to the University as the last one, even with the environmental

including mirrors and curtains in the dance studios and soundproofing. aged by the Student Activities Office, Inman said.

Now the building will be the “central student art center on campus,” Lebowitz-Nowak said.

The space will be shared by groups such as Fusion, MEZCLA, Musical Forum, Shakespeare on the Green, a cappella, martial arts and ballroom dancing, LebowitzNowak said. “Now it will be accessible to many more people,” he said.

The renovations have improved accessibility in several ways. An elevator has been added, making the building wheelchair accessible, Inman said. Cardswipe access through two entrances will eliminate the need for keys and allow all group members to use the building, he said.

Though scheduling all the needs of the many groups involved may be challenging at first, “there’s really nothing negative I can say,” Lebowitz-Nowak said. “I’m confident that it will all fall into place by the spring semester.”

Herald senior staff writer Lisa Mandle ’06 can be reached at lmandle@browndailyherald.com.

policy changes, she said.

O’Connor said that BEAN has set a precedent that the administration and students can work together to accomplish tasks that benefit the whole university.

Fulmer said that his experience working with the administration has been “inspiring.”

Michael Moser, environmental communication manager for Boise, said that three groups drove Boise’s environmental policy changes — Boise’s forestry experts, Boise’s customers, and conservation and environmental groups.

Brown falls into the categories of customers and, because of BEAN’s hard work, conservation and environmen-

Herald staff writer Rachel Aviv edits the Arts & Culture section. She can be reached at raviv@browndailyherald.com

tal groups, Moser said.

Along with Brown, 50 other colleges pushed for Boise to change their policies. The effort was coordinated nationally by the Rainforest Action Network.

Brown will continue to buy products from Boise, but BEAN’s responsibilities are shifting as the administration takes on the role of environmental watchdog.

Instead of pressuring Boise, they say they will educate the administrators who do the purchasing for their departments on the most environmentally responsible choices.

This experience “could change the culture of purchasing (at Brown),” said Deborah Lapidus ’05, another organizer for BEAN.

Campaigns continued from page 1 election were given to Democratic candidates only.

“Brown is a liberal campus,” West said.

Candidates for the 2004 election received a total of $3,250 from members of the Brown community. The donations were generally given in small sums of up to $500. The contributions went to Democratic candidates Howard Dean and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

Brown faculty might be taking a less than active role in donating to the 2004 election because “professors are generally more inclined towards philanthropy,” West said.

But Stanley Stowers, a professor of religious studies who donated $500 to former Vermont governor Howard Dean, disagrees.

“An important part of citizenship is constant political involvement,” said Stowers, who estimates that he has donated to every presidential campaign in the last 20 years. Stowers’ son is a political activist currently working for the Howard Dean campaign in New York.

Stowers proposed that one reason for the lack of campaign donations coming out of Brown is a general lack of interest in politics among Americans. It is that same lack of interest that results in chronically low voter turnout, he said.

“The Brown student population reflects the country,” he said.

Stowers chose to support Dean

from many community members that her team should forget about Brown’s culture, and instead think about the University’s more immediate physical needs. of services — including dining and fitness, for instance — then their maintenance might be more manageable, Scott Brown said.

As she retraces her steps on Brown’s campus, architect Sylvia Fuster ’96 said she has come to realize how much its physical structure — the places she ate, the route she took to pick up her mail — determined the course of her experience.

Such is the case on any campus, Scott Brown said, and the intent is always “to grow a system that’s unique for the place we’re working with.”

Herald staff writer Carla Blumenkranz ’05 edits the campus watch section. She can be reached at cblumenkranz@browndailyherald.com.

because of his political track record and his “clear Democratic identity.

“He’s very articulate about his position,” Stowers said.

Dean received $1,150 in donations from members of the Brown community, according to the FEC Web site. Three of the four contributions from Brown for the 2004 election were given to the Dean for America fund. Dean, once widely recognized as the 2004 election’s dark horse, leads the Democratic candidates in fundraising nationwide.

“Dean is raising a tremendous amount of money from grassroots organizations,” West said.

He attributed Dean’s success to nontraditional methods of soliciting donations from grassroots campaigns and through the Internet rather than television ads.

Stowers contributes money to campaigns because he feels it is the most effective way for him to influence the outcome of the presidential election, he said.

The largest contribution to come out of Brown, $2,000 given

by Mark McNellis ’03, was made to John Kerry’s campaign. Kerry, a Vietnam War veteran, was the first Democrat to announce his candidacy.

The rest of the Democratic candidates, including former Illinois senator Carol MoseleyBraun, who spoke at Brown earlier this month, have not received any financial support from members of the University community.

Mark Nickel, director of the Brown News Service, said Brown has no official policy on individual campaign donations.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

CAMPUS NEWS FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2003 · PAGE 5

Feliz ’03 serving as Brown’s first intern to the president

BY MERYL ROTHSTEIN

He may be an intern, but Allen Feliz ’03 will not be seen getting coffee or making photocopies. It’s more likely he’ll be conducting research in his own office in University Hall or attending meetings with President Ruth Simmons.

Feliz, who last year was president of the Undergraduate Council of Students, is now serving as the first presidential intern to Simmons.

This year, Feliz has been working directly under Simmons and with Assistant to the President Marisa Quinn in a new “experimental” position, assisting on projects regarding state and city concerns, as well as student activities, Feliz said.

Feliz is currently doing research for a panel headed by Simmons examining a recent police raid on a smoke shop operated by the Narragansett Indians for possible civil liberties violations, he said.

Simmons wrote in an e-mail to The Herald that she also plans to have Feliz help with administrative tasks and to serve as a liaison between the student body and the Office of the President.

She created the internship to provide the “chance to have a recent student informing policies, programs and interactions with students and student groups,” Simmons wrote.

Feliz said he will help Simmons identify major student events on her calendar as well as sit in on the president’s office hours.

Simmons and Feliz both said his prior position as UCS president made him particularly well-suited for the job. “I Nicholas Neely / Herald

CACTI COLLECTION: Students could purchase cacti, among other plants, at a sale in Faunce Thursday.

see FELIZ, page 9

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

WORLD & NATION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2003 · PAGE 7

Arnold will not terminate his movie references — As Arnold Schwarzenegger has moved from actor to candidate, he has brought with him the character that he made famous in the “Terminator” movies, frequently invoking the deadly cyborg as a metaphor on the campaign trail.

Schwarzenegger speaks of his intent to “terminate” the car tax and says he’ll be known as “the Collectionator” as governor because he will squeeze more money out of the federal government.

In an op-ed article published Wednesday in The Wall Street Journal, he referred to the tax increases proposed by Gov. Gray Davis and Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante as “the androids that I fight in the ‘Terminator’ movies, which I keep shooting dead, but keep coming back to life.”

During the debate Wednesday among the major candidates running to replace Davis, Schwarzenegger told independent candidate Arianna Huffington that he had a good role for her in “Terminator 4”— a comment she immediately condemned as offensive.

By playing up his alter ego for a media-saturated audience, Schwarzenegger is cloaking himself in “the Hummer image of the world in which raw power rules,” said University of Southern California English professor Ron Gottesman, who studies media, film and violence. “It’s a kind of myth of the West where only the strong and brutal survive.”

Those frequent references are “very much a double-edged sword,” Gottesman said. “Or, rather, a two-ended automatic weapon.”

The candidate’s advisers say they view the movie lines as an asset, a reminder to voters of what separates him from other politicians. His opponents, by

(L.A. Times)

contrast, have seized on the movie references as evidence that he is an actor who does not understand the complexities of government.

In the campaign’s view, the movie lines are “popular, redmeat-type language that the troops like to hear,” said Schwarzenegger spokesman Rob Stutzman. Talking about “terminating” the car tax “creates a little more of a forceful picture than (state Sen.) Tom McClintock saying he’s going to repeal it before lunch.”

The campaign has embraced the candidate’s Hollywood persona. The lobby of his Santa Monica, Calif., headquarters is decorated with a mural of the actor dressed as the Terminator, shooting through a brick wall.

And many large audiences respond when Schwarzenegger delivers his signature lines, in part because a good portion of those who flock to his events are young, male movie fans.

Young men tend not to vote in large numbers, and if the movie references could cause them to turn out more heavily than normal, Schwarzenegger’s campaign presumably would benefit.

In a rally at a Fresno, Calif., mall last month, Schwarzenegger declared he was not coming “today as the Terminator, or the guy who fought the Predator” — but then alluded to his movie career a half-dozen times, each time drawing huge ovations. A group of ROTC cadets chanted, “Kill ‘em, Arnold! Kill ‘em!”

During a visit to Long Beach State Sept. 3, Schwarzenegger drew a roar from the crowd of 700 when he called Davis and Bustamante the “Twin Terminators” of Sacramento.

But as he delivered his standard stump speech, devoid of movie references, a few hundred students drifted away.

Another judge blocks “Do Not Call’’ list WASHINGTON (Washington Post) —

A federal judge in Denver late Thursday ruled that the government’s plan to curb unsolicited telemarketing calls was unconsitutional, another blow to plans to implement a national do-not-call list next week.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham was announced just minutes after Congress, in a rare display of speed and bipartisanship, voted to overturn another federal judge’s decision on the matter.

Since late June, consumers have registered more than 50 million phone numbers on the Federal Trade Commission’s anti-telemarketing list. Under the agency’s plans, enforcement was slated to begin Oct. 1, with telemarketers marketers risking an $11,000 fine each time they called a number on the list.

But Nottingham found the do-not-call plan unconstitutional on freedom of speech grounds because it would have allowed telemarketers for charitable organizations to continue to call numbers on the list, even though commercial firms would be barred from doing so.

“There is no doubt that unwanted calls seeking charitable contributions are as invasive to the privacy of someone sitting down to dinner at home as unwanted calls from commercial telemarketers,” Nottingham wrote. By exempting charitiable solicitations, the FTC “has imposed a contentbased limitation on what the consumer may ban from his home ... thereby entangling the government in deciding what speech consumers should hear.”

“The First Amendment prohibits the government from enacting laws creating a preference for certain types of speech based on content, without asserting a valid interest, premised on content, to justify its discrimination,” the judge said.

The ruling was one more twist in an intensifying legal battle, just one week before the do-not-call list was to take

The decision by U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham was announced just minutes after Congress, in a rare display of speed and bipartisanship, voted to overturn another federal judge’s decision on the matter. effect.

Thursday, a little more than 24 hours after legislators learned of an Oklahoma City federal judge’s ruling invalidating the FTC national registry, the House approved, by 412 to 8, a measure giving the agency the go-ahead to launch its antitelemarketing program. Five hours later, the Senate followed suit, voting 95 to 0, to approve the identical bill.

Congress’s goal was to have the measure on President Bush’s desk for his signature Friday, so Americans could start getting fewer telemarketing calls starting Oct. 1. President Bush issued a statement saying he looked forward to signing the measure. “The millions of people who have signed up for the list have the right to reduce unwanted telephone solicitations,” he said.

Congress was responding to a decision issued by U.S. District Judge Lee West of Oklahoma City. West ruled that the FTC lacked specific authority from Congress to develop and enforce the do-not-call list.

In approving its legislation Thursday, congressmen sought to tell the judge otherwise. “We should probably call the bill ‘This Time We Really Mean It Act,’” said Rep. Billy Tauzin, RLa., who as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce committee, spearheaded the congressional move to adopt legislation.

“The court decision was goofy,” said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. “Fifty million people can’t be all wrong.”

Thursday night after Nottingham’s ruling was released, Tauzin spokesman

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD lecture series presents “I Used to Be a Committee: Standards and Values at The New York Times” Allan Siegal, Standards Editor and Asst. Managing Editor talks about Talks about post- Jayson Blair fallout at the Times October 4

Ken Johnson, said the committee was reviewing the decison.

“We will begin exploring our options tomorrow. If the decision is based solely on constitutional grounds, we’re confident it will be overturned.”

FTC officials were unavailable for comment Thursday night to say what the agency’s next step would be.

The Denver case was brought by the American Teleservices Association, which represents the telemarketing firms. Even before Nottingham issued his opinion Thursday, the association’s executive director, Tim Searcy, had been advising members that, in light of the Oklahoma ruling, they should continue calling numbers on the do-not-call list beyond Oct. 1.

The Oklahoma suit against the FTC was brought by the Direct Marketing Association.

In spite of the court ruling, this group issued an advisory to its members Thursday telling them to “respect the wishes of consumers who have placed their phone numbers on the FTC list.” The group’s president Robert Wientzen said, “We have always said we do not want to make calls to people who do not want to receive calls.”

Congress’ action Thursday was unusually swift; congressional historians could only recall times of financial crisis and war when Congress ever acted so quickly before. Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., said the record speed was equivalent to breaking the record of a 4minute mile. Congress, he added is moving faster “than a consumer can hang up on a telemarketer at dinner time.”

PAGE 8 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2002

Levi Strauss shutters last of North American plants (L.A. Times) — Levi Strauss & Co.,

maker of a jeans brand so allAmerican that it became ingrained in the nation’s identity, said Thursday it will close the last of its North American manufacturing plants, laying off almost 2,000 workers.

The announcement came just two weeks after the San Francisco-based company, which is struggling to cut costs and stay competitive, said it would lay off 7 percent of its U.S. work force.

Levi now says it will shutter two plants in San Antonio by the year’s end, displacing 800 workers there and marking the end of its U.S. manufacturing operations. It will discontinue its Canadian operations in March, erasing 1,190 jobs at three plants in Alberta and Ontario.

Its goal, the company said, is to focus its resources in other

areas, including product development and marketing.

“We’re in a highly competitive industry where few apparel brands own and operate manufacturing facilities in North America,” Chief Executive Phil Marineau said in a statement.

“In fact, we are one of the last companies to do so.”

Levi’s announcement, while it involved relatively few jobs, in many ways symbolizes the struggle of an industry that has been clobbered by cheap overseas labor.

At the same time, the closures heap more pressure on the Bush administration as well as Congress to do something to help U.S. textile and apparel manufacturers, who claim they have lost 2.5 million jobs in recent years. On Thursday, several manufacturers and labor leaders announced the forma-

tion of a group called the Free Trade for America Coalition to lobby for changes in trade policy. That followed the bankruptcy filing Wednesday by Cone Mills Corp. of Greensboro, N.C., the largest U.S. denim-fabric maker “There’s a lot of saber rattling going on right now on trade,” said Kevin Burke, president of the American Apparel and Footwear Association, an industry trade group.

“Politicians have to answer to constituents who are wondering where the jobs are going.”

Last year, 96 percent of the apparel purchased in the United States. was made in other countries, up from 93 percent in 2001, according to Burke’s group. Through June of this year, U.S. apparel imports increased 16.7 percent, with much of the clothing coming from Mexico, Central America and China.

For Levi, turning off its factory lights in North America is part of an ongoing process for the parent for the Levis and Dockers brands. After hitting all-time record sales of $7.1 billion in 1996, the company has seen its business slide. Over the past seven years, Levi has closed dozens of plants in North America and Europe and slashed thousands of jobs as it struggled to reorganize. Last year, it posted sales of $4.2 billion.

The jobs lost at Levi plants in North America are likely to shift to Latin America and Asia, Levi spokeswoman Linda Butler said.

Levi now works with about 500 contractors, producing apparel in 50 countries.

Levi is simply adapting to a reality that many other U.S. apparel makers have had to face, Burke said.

“What you’re seeing with Levi is just the economic reality of our industry,” Burke said.

“American consumers, when shopping for these products look at price and quality, and they don’t necessarily look to where the product is made.”

But marketing experts say few, if any, brands are as linked to the American landscape.

Levis has been a symbol of a boundless American spirit since prospectors rushed into California 150 years ago, wearing Levi jeans with copper rivets.

“As the miners went into the Sierra Nevadas to pan for gold, Levi stood the test,” said Peter Sealey, adjunct professor of marketing at the University of California, Berkeley and former marketing head of Coca-Cola Co. “That was what created the whole image and history of the company.”

The company also began synonymous with ethical business practices. In the 1950s, Levi stood apart from other factory owners in the 1950s when it integrated its work force at its Virginia plant, refusing to create separate work spaces or accommodations for its black workers, despite protests from the local white establishment.

The company, while expressing concern about the jobs lost, said the final plant closures are just a continuation of a basic shift in direction for the company that began in the late 1990s, when Levi decided to transform itself from a domestic manufacturer to a company focused on product design, sales and marketing. The San Antonio plant was producing less than 5 percent of the product needed for U.S. market, Butler said.

While Levi has continued to

struggle with intense competition and downward pressure on prices, it has also said it expects improved sales and earnings for the third quarter, which ended Aug. 24.

For that period, Levi has said it expects to record profit of $24 million to $28 million, up 75 percent to 104 percent over $13.7 million earned in the same period last year. Sales are expected to rise 6 percent to 7 percent to between $1.08 billion and $1.09 billion.

But Levi’s debt also has increased. The company said debt was an estimated $2.37 billion, compared with $1.85 billion on Nov. 24, the end of the last fiscal year. Marineau said the higher debt was due to the launch of the new brand and disappointing sales in the first half of the year.

Sealey said Levi has not had enough of its own stores to control pricing and presentation, as Gap Inc., the nation’s largest specialty apparel retailer, might do, Sealey said. Nor did it have the power and marketing muscle to strong-arm retailers, as could athletic shoe giant Nike Inc. Levi’s American roots has been a profoundly important part of its marketing in the past, said Stephen Walker, president of Headmint Inc., a New York marketing company. Walker, formerly with the London-based Bartle Bogle & Hegarty advertising agency, helped plan Levi’s European marketing campaign in the mid- to late-1980s, when the brand was flagging there. He worked on the brand for four or five years.

“The brand had just sort of grown old in the tooth,” Wallker said. “It wasn’t relevant, it wasn’t really competitive,” he said.

“They were on the brink of ceasing to trade in Europe. It was that significant of a decline.”

To revive the brand, the agency focused on the company’s heritage and authenticity, he said.

“We managed to quite romantically link it with other American imagery, which in Europe is very, very positive ... cowboys and cars driving in the desert and Harley Davidsons and sort of rebellious young men,” he said. “For Europeans, this was very, very potent and powerful imagery ... No other brand could have been put into those scenarios. No other brand had the authenticity.”

There’s a distinction between what people buy and what they “buy into,” he said.

The same agency is now creating ads for Levi in the United States, he said.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2003 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 9

Troy

Feliz

continued from page 12

continued from page 5

RAMS (-10.5) over the Cardinals – Arizona winning last week is paralleled only by the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Cubs and Red Sox making the playoffs in the same year.

The devil should be collecting Jeff Blake’s soul sometime within the next 10 days. It is a busy time of year for him with elections in November. Even without Kurt, Marshal, and Dick (not extras on a porno film, but a quarterback, running back, and a head coach) the Rams can still beat the Cardinals.

TEXANS (+3) over the Jaguars – The vote to recall Mark Brunell is scheduled for October 8, but it looks like it may take place sooner.

Hopefully, Byron Leftwich and not Cruz Bustamante will be chosen to replace him. Houston is developing a solid QB-to-WR combo and should now put up a 70-yard TD pass any week.

Chargers (+7) over the RAIDERS – Sadly, the advanced stages of aging are already setting in and now Rich Gannon, Jerry Rice, and Tim Brown are forgetting how to play football.

Gannon thought he could not use his hands and tried kicking the ball to his receivers last week. San Diego needs this game more and frankly, “Martyball” is usually better after being blown out in three straight games.

JETS (-3) over the Cowboys – If the Jets knew what was good for them, they would go 2-14 and draft Roy Williams. They still need to pick up two wins along the way and one of them might as well be this week against the coach who abandoned them and traded KJ. If Parcells had stayed, New York could have won a Super Bowl, instead of being forced to play a year under Al Groh.

Lions (+12.5) over the BRONCOS – Denver may be 3-0, but Clinton Portis is softer then Play-Dough. Instead of picking this game, I should just pick how many plays it takes before Portis leaves with an “injury”. If Detroit could have scored with four downs inside the one, last week could have been a division win. This week, success will be measured by not losing badly.

Colts (-2) over the SAINTS – Somehow Indianapolis is 3-0 with its offense playing worse than Carl Lewis singing the National Anthem. Against the Saints, a touchdown each from James, Harrison, and Wayne should be enough to guarantee victory. On the plus side for New Orleans, its defense could not be much worse.

Packers (-4) over the BEARS – Brett Favre is suffering from Dan Marino Syndrome. It is the disease that causes aging quarterbacks to throw interceptions by forcing balls into coverage when other players are open.

Vinny Testaverde is already in the latter stages of the syndrome. Fortunately for Favre, the Bears are now the worst winless team in football. At least Brian Urlacher is able to party with the Hilton sisters between giving up 30 points per game.

Feliz said he

Joshua Troy ’04 once filled seats at the Academy Awards.

greatly appreciates the mentoring role Simmons has undertaken, adding that she will pause during staff meetings to explain things to him. understand how things work in this office more than most students,” Feliz said. “The learning curve is not so steep.”

Quinn said the position is valuable for the Office of the President because it provides a “touchstone for student issues,” and for Feliz because it introduces him to “higher education from a different perspective.”

Feliz said he greatly appreciates the mentoring role Simmons has undertaken, adding that she will pause during staff meetings to explain things to him.

Feliz said his internship is also a “natural next step” toward learning more about advocacy. After his work at Brown this year, he said he plans to attend graduate school for a master’s degree in public policy, a law degree, or both.

The internship is funded by “discretionary funds” in the Office of the President rather than being a permanent feature in the University budget, Simmons said. She will decide whether or not to continue the internship in April, “after we have been able to assess whether it is beneficial and adds to what our office is able to do,” she wrote.

“If we continued the internship, we would look for intelligence, independence of work habits, maturity, interest in non-profit management or education, ability to maintain confidential information, a high level of integrity and the ability to work collegially with a wide variety of people,” Simmons wrote.

Herald senior staff writer Meryl Rothstein ’06 can be reached at mrothstein@browndailyherald.com.

Report deems financial ties such as Cheney’s with Halliburton to be continuing interest WASHINGTON (Washington Post) — A Congressional Research Service report released Thursday concluded that federal ethics laws treat Vice President Cheney’s annual deferred-compensation checks and unexercised stock options as continuing financial interests in the Halliburton Co. Democrats have aggressively challenged Cheney’s claim that he has no financial ties to Halliburton, despite those arrangements.

The Houston-based energy conglomerate has been awarded more than $2 billion in contracts for rebuilding Iraq, including one worth $1.22 billion that was awarded on a noncompetitive basis.

The report, from the law division of the congressional research arm of the Library of Congress, said deferred salary or compensation received from a private corporation — as well as unexercised stock options — may represent a continuing financial interest as defined by federal ethics laws.

The seven-page report, dated Monday, did not name Cheney or Halliburton, but addressed the general legal question. It was prepared at the request of Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., who said Cheney should “stop dodging the issue with legalese, and acknowledge his continue financial ties with Halliburton to the American people.”

Cheney, who was Halliburton’s chairman and chief executive, has disclosed the payments and the 433,333 options. The report suggests no illegality.

Catherine Martin, Cheney’s public affairs director, said: “The vice president has no financial interest in Halliburton. He has no stake in the company. He will in no way benefit from the rise or fall of Halliburton’s stock price or the success or failure of the company.”

Cheney said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sept. 14 that he has “no financial interest in Halliburton of any kind and haven’t had now for over three years.” His assertion came during a discussion of Halliburton’s contacts in Iraq. Cheney said he had “severed all my ties with the company, gotten rid of all my financial interests.”

Democrats disputed that, since Cheney received deferred compensation of $147,579 in 2001 and $162,392 in 2002, with the payments scheduled to continue for three more years.

In response, Cheney’s office said he had purchased an insurance policy so he would be paid

Cheney, who was Halliburton’s chairman and chief executive, has disclosed the payments and the 433,333 options. The report suggests no illegality. even if Halliburton failed. And his office also has announced he has agreed to donate the aftertax proceeds from his stock options to three charities.

But the congressional report said that neither the insurance policy nor the charity designation would change public official’s obligation to treat the pay and options as ties to a private corporation.

The continuing controversy over Cheney’s statement puts him in the position of drawing criticism to the White House. In the past, White House officials have considered him a reassuring figure for viewers and voters.

Bush issued what amounted to a correction of another statement Cheney made on “Meet the

Press.” When asked about the possibility of a connection between Saddam Hussein and the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Cheney said, “We don’t know.”

Three days later, Bush said in response to a question that the government has no evidence of such a link.

The liberal group American Family Voices has spent more than $300,000 to run ads about Halliburton’s connection to the administration. The group said the commercials are effective for raising money. The ads — on cable in Washington and on broadcast television in New Hampshire and battleground states of the Midwest — began last week and will run for at least another week, the group said.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

EDITORIAL/LETTERS FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2003 · PAGE 10 S T A F F

E D I T O R I A L

Diamonds and coal A diamond to Paula DeMello ’03.5 and the other organizers of the Brown Brazilian Film Festival — Rodrigo Santoro is the only person who could make us wait a day to see “Lost in Translation.”

A cubic zirconium to Brown for selecting Venturi, Scott Brown to design the future of the Brown campus. What, Frank Gehry was busy?

Coal to the sinister RodentGate coverup. (But a diamond to Deep Squeak.)

A diamond to Alix Olson, and the groups that brought her “red hot, fire-bellied feminsmo-spewin”-self to Brown. But coal to anonymous forum posters who deny that sexism exists.

Coal to SexKola. Sure, it tastes alright, but we’re opposed to spelling c-words with a K as a matter of principle. You also haven’t sold us on the idea of soda as a “sexy” beverage. We’ll stick to martinis, thanks.

A diamond to WaterFire’s smoky-flavored popcorn. But coal to middle-aged people making out under the bridge.

A cubic zirconium to the grade change option. If only the deadline was two weeks later … after we failed the first exam.

ANDREW SHEETS

LETTERS

Coal to the general lack of photo booths in Providence. We need more excuses to “sit on” other people and make “wacky” faces in a standardized way, with permanent record of such.

A diamond to Tabooze! — taking geek chic to a whole new level of unspeakable fun. Alcohol plus board games equals pure brilliance.

Coal to people with ridiculously long voice mail messages. People know the drill by now — you really don’t have to remind them what information you need. And unless you’re the president, your six other phone numbers, e-mail address and AIM screen name where you can be reached are a little unnecessary too.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD EDITORIAL Elena Lesley, Editor-in-Chief Brian Baskin, Executive Editor Zachary Frechette, Executive Editor Kerry Miller, Executive Editor Kavita Mishra, Senior Editor Rachel Aviv, Arts & Culture Editor Jen Sopchockchai, Asst. Arts & Culture Editor Carla Blumenkranz, Campus Watch Editor Juliette Wallack, Metro Editor Jonathan Skolnick, Opinions Editor Philissa Cramer, RISD News Editor Jonathan Meachin, Sports Editor Maggie Haskins, Sports Editor

BUSINESS Jamie Wolosky, General Manager Joe Laganas, Executive Manager Joshua Miller, Executive Manager Anastasia Ali, Project Manager Jack Carrere, Project Manager Lawrence L.Hester IV, Project Manager Bill Louis, Project Manager Zoe Ripple, Project Manager Peter Schermerhorn, Local Accounts Manager Elias Roman, Local Accounts Manager Laurie-Ann Paliotti, Sr. Advertising Rep. Elyse Major, Advertising Rep. Kate Sparaco, Office Manager

PRODUCTION Zachary Frechette, Chief Technology Officer Marc Debush, Copy Desk Chief Yafang Deng, Copy Desk Chief Grace Farris, Graphics Editor Andrew Sheets, Graphics Editor Sara Perkins, Photo Editor

P O S T- M A G A Z I N E Alex Carnevale, Editor-in-Chief Dan Poulson, Executive Editor Morgan Clendaniel, Senior Editor Theo Schell-Lambert, Senior Editor Micah Salkind, Features Editor Ellen Wernecke, Features Editor Abigail Newman, Theater Editor Doug Fretty, Film Editor Jason Ng, Music Editor Colin Hartnett, Design Editor

W

rite

letters

Antonio Gaudí, Night Editor George Haws, Copy Editors Senior Staff Writers Zach Barter, Danielle Cerny, Dana Goldstein, Lisa Mandle, Monique Meneses, Joanne Park, Meryl Rothstein, Ellen Wernecke Staff Writers Kathy Babcock, Hannah Bascom, Carla Blumenkranz, Philissa Cramer, Ian Cropp, Jonathan Ellis, Stephanie Harris, Hanyen Lee, Julian Leichty, Allison Lombardo, Jonathan Meachin, Sara Perkins, Melissa Perlman, Eric Perlmutter, Cassie Ramirez, Lily Rayman-Read, Zoe Ripple, Emir Senturk, Jen Sopchockchai, Adam Stern, Stefan Talman, Joshua Troy, Schuyler von Oeyen, Juliette Wallack, Jessica Weisberg, Brett Zarda, Julia Zuckerman Accounts Managers Laird Bennion, Eugen Clifton Cha, In Young Park, Jane C. Urban, Sophie Waskow, Justin Wong, Christopher Yu Pagination Staff Lisa Mandle, Alex Palmer Photo Staff Gabriella Doob, Benjamin Goddard, Marissa Hauptman, Judy He, Miyako Igari, Allison Lombardo, Nicholas Neely, Michael Neff, Alexandra Palmer, Yun Shou Tee, Sorleen Trevino Copy Editors Emily Brill, George Haws, Katie Lamm

COMMENTARY POLICY The staff editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial board of The Brown Daily Herald. The editorial viewpoint does not necessarily reflect the views of The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Columns and letters reflect the opinions of their authors only.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY Send letters to letters@browndailyherald.com. Include a telephone number with all letters. The Herald reserves the right to edit all letters for length and cannot assure the publication of any letter. Please limit letters to 250 words. Under special circumstances writers may request anonymity, but no letter will be printed if the author’s identity is unknown to the editors. Announcements of events will not be printed.

ADVERTISING POLICY The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. reserves the right to accept or decline any advertisement in its discretion.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

OPINIONS FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2003 · PAGE 11

Religion made me do it When making moral decisions about modern society, it’s not enough to just rely on sacred texts This becomes quite obvious when lookTHERE HAS BEEN AN IMPORTANT public discussion over religion in the ing at the issue of slavery.

It is often assumed that American pages of The Herald this week. The recent debate over the Vatican’s anti-gay theology Christians were evenly divided over slavraises issues far beyond the topic of ery. The truth is that major dissent over human sexuality. It raises important and slavery did not happen until it had been an institution for centuries. Until fundamental questions about the late 18th century, white religion’s relationship to sociChristians in the U.S. almost ety and culture. In fact, it raisuniversally accepted slavery. es questions about the nature Not even Quakers opposed of religion itself. slavery en masse until after the The recent debate centers American Revolution. Even on the argument that the after the Revolution, the vast Vatican’s recent document majority of Christians supportshould not be “dismissed as ed slavery until the abolitionist bigotry” simply because it movement of the 1830s. Of implied that homosexuality course, there were always diswas “evil” and argued that gay BRIAN RAINEY senters, but anti-slavery posiand lesbian families would do TILL JUSTICE ROLLS tions were on the fringe and “violence” to children. The DOWN LIKE WATER marginalized.

Vatican isn’t bigoted; it’s simKatie Geneva Cannon, a theply being loyal to its tradition. ologian specializing in AfricanThis contention is not unique to apologists of the Vatican. Protestants use American biblical interpretation, notes the same kind of rhetoric when they appeal that until the abolitionist movement of the to what the Bible “clearly says” about the 1830s, “the white church evaded responsitopic. They’re not bigots; they’re just fol- bility and surrendered prerogatives to slavlowing “clear” biblical teaching. Similarly, ocracy. For most of the years that chattel anti-gay Jews and Muslims defend their slavery existed, the mainline Protestant positions by claiming that they are inno- churches never legislated against slavery, cently reading what the Torah and Qu’ran seldom disciplined slaveholders and most gently apologized for the ‘peculiar institu“clearly say” about homosexuality.

These kinds of “religion-made-me-do- tion.’”

Lester Scherer recounts the sorry state it” arguments assume that theology exists in a vacuum and is untouched by popular of Christianity in his book, Slavery and the prejudices, politics or society. People make Churches in Early America 1619-1819 these arguments as if there were not a (Eerdmans, 1975): “Like Hebrew, Greek, mountain of historical examples showing Roman and Muslim civilizations, Christian that the prejudices and assumptions of our society also failed to produce any tradition society will always play an intrinsic role in of dissent in the matter of slavery. This absence of an ‘abolitionist’ tradition made hermeneutics and interpretation. it hard for persons of a later time to find Christian language for expressing a radical Brian Rainey ’04 is willing to debate or dis- anti-slavery position.” And indeed, major church figures like Augustine and Thomas cuss this issue in a public setting. If anyAquinas, several church councils (particuone is interested, drop him a line.

No one can hide behind Bibles, Talmuds or Qu’rans to say,“religion-made-me-do-it.” Theology is a political act.

Theology takes sides in ideological conflicts. It both reflects and reinforces popular prejudices. larly Gangra and Toledo), countless papal edicts, and the Bible itself supported slavery. The Christian tradition was so proslavery that abolitionists had to practically construct anti-slavery theology from whole cloth!

But somehow Christians did construct anti-slavery theology despite overwhelming odds. So how did that which was “obvious” and “clear” to almost all Christians before, suddenly become less obvious and clear? Did some Christians wake up one morning and suddenly decide that two centuries of Christian doctrine was wrong? Did they just open their Bibles one day and determine that almost all of their Christian peers were mistaken?

The answer lies in the social situation of the United States Towards the latter part of the 18th century, the institution of slavery was dying out, which created an environment more favorable for abolitionism. So it is at this time that abolitionist ideas became more prevalent — though certainly not popular. In the 1830s, however, the invention of the cotton gin made slavery profitable again and slavery expanded. This proliferation of slavery exacerbated the massive tensions between northern capitalism and the southern slaveocracy, which led to major political conflict. As people took sides in this political conflict, ideology became extremely important. Thus religion, which is such an important part of American life,

was an ideological weapon in a political battle between north and south.

Clearly, Christian theology changes with the social climate. When slavery was in its heyday from the 17th to the early 19th century, Christianity was overwhelmingly supportive of the institution and Christian hermeneutical strategies and interpretations supported the prevailing sentiments. Slavery was such a given that its harmony with natural law and God’s design was “obvious.” When that sentiment changed due to political developments, Christian interpretations changed as well. Suddenly, the Bible and church tradition were not so obvious.

Now that slavery has been relegated to the dustbin of history and is seen as “intrinsically evil” (as John Paul II put it, contradicting Church doctrine which universally held that slavery, in and of itself, was not wrong), these pro-slavery passages and edicts are ignored or reinterpreted — often in creative ways that make no sense of the original text.

As a result, no one can hide behind Bibles, Talmuds or Qu’rans to say, “religion-made-me-do-it.” Theology is a political act. Theology takes sides in ideological conflicts. It both reflects and reinforces popular prejudices. Theology, hermeneutics and interpretations of tradition are not self-contained, autonomous phenomena; and there is no such thing as “just” engaging tradition or a sacred text.

be heard. opinions@browndailyhearld.com

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

SPORTS THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 26, 2003 · PAGE 12

Carl Lewis, Hilton sisters and the NFL Week 4 picks THESE PICKS HAVE BEEN MADE against the Skybook odds and as always are for recreational purposes only. I will be making picks for “The Bachelor” in my column for The Providence Journal. (Home team in CAPS) Last Week – 6-8 (6-1 in the early games, 0-7 afterwards) Season – 25-192 Lock of the Week – 2-1 REDSKINS (-3) over the Patriots – Currently, the JOSHUA TROY Patriots’ defense SPREADING THE LOVE has more holes in it then the plot to “Jurassic Park III.” The way off-season acquisitions are falling, Rodney Harrison may want to start sleeping with a leprechaun for good luck. Washington, on the other hand, has its offense clicking on all cylinders and would have won last week if football games were five quarters long.

Chiefs (-3) over the RAVENS – Kansas City should just start every game with a 14-point lead, because trying to stop Priest Holmes from scoring two touchdowns a game is like trying to stop the “Governator” from making T-2 references in campaign speeches. Plus, Dante Hall is the Second Coming of Desmond Howard.

As for Baltimore, Kyle Boller should consider returning to college, because Jamal Lewis can only run for 200-plus yards once every three weeks.

BILLS (-3) over the Eagles – This is a transitive property of the NFL game: The Eagles were routed by the Patriots and the Patriots were routed by the Bills.

Therefore, the Bills will rout the Eagles. It is just so simple sometimes.

STEELERS (-3) over the Titans – Flying must be difficult for Steve McNair; because with all of the screws holding him together, the metal detector and strip search are probably longer than for most people. This week he is trying to play with his left hand stapled to his wrist and his index finger Krazy Glued to his hand. Unfortunately, Joey Porter has a lot of built up hostility after being shot in the derriere and would love to take it out on McNair.

Bengals (+5.5) over the BROWNS – After 13 years of losing, Cincinnati is due for a win or a loss by less then six points.

Cleveland took a page out of “Ocean’s 11” and somehow stole a win last week in San Francisco. Kelly Holcomb taketh and now must giveth. Look for Tim Couch to start next week.

PANTHERS (-6) over the Falcons – If I were GM of Atlanta, I would try playing Mike Vick even with a cast on his leg. He has to be better then Doug Johnson. Also, if Peerless Price does not start improving, he may have to start repaying some of his signing bonus. During the bye week, Carolina took the opportunity to really contemplate how it could have blocked three kicks against the Bucs. It is like trying to explain to yourself that it somehow makes sense that athletes make millions of dollars, while teachers are paid $40,000 a year. see TROY, page 9

Fresh faces step up for M. golf

BY ADAM ROYSTER

dspics

Sarah Gervais ’04 makes one of the many saves that have led to her five shutouts

Sarah Gervais ’04 leads an impenetrable D for W. soccer

BY ROBBY KLABER

Brown women’s soccer goalie Sarah Gervais ’04 is the real deal.

Last week she earned Ivy League Player of the Week and was selected as one of the top 11 Division I women’s soccer players for the week, meriting a spot on the Soccer Buzz Elite Team.

Gervais led Brown to back-to-back shutouts, winning against Northeastern 3-0 and 2-0 against New Hampshire. En route to the victory over Northeastern, she stopped a season high 14 shots, and then recorded eight saves against New Hampshire.

This year, Gervais leads the league with five shutouts and 47 saves, boasting a 0.54 GAA, which places her second in the Ivy League. She allowed just 4 goals through 7 games, recording a .922 save percentage.

Although quiet off the field, Gervais is an intimidating force when she steps into the game.

“Simply put, she just gets the job done. She gets it done every game, every season, and she continues to get better in every way possible,” said Coach Phil Pincince. “One of the biggest advantages for Sarah is that at 5’11” she has an outstanding physical presence in goal”.

Gervais, however, is hesitant to take credit for all her successes.

“Winning these awards is a team thing. Our defense this year is really strong, so that has helped me out a lot,” Gervais said. She attributes their tough defense to the strong core of girls from last year as well as to the freshman girls.

Gervais split time as the team’s goalie during her freshman and sopho-

more year, but has been the starter the past two seasons.

“The little things have made her the player she is now,” Pincince said. “She has great strength and distributes the ball extremely well. She is always reacting, always moving around. She worked hard to improve her vertical leap, and it shows. She is the complete player.”

More important than the personal accolades she receives, Gervais says she is determined and focused on winning the Ivy League Championship for the 13th time in school history.

“Princeton won the title the past three years, so every game against other Ivy League schools is crucial,” Gervais said.

“Winning the Ivy League championship is so important because it guarantees an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament,” she added. “We need to make sure we do not become complacent throughout the season, and that we constantly tune-up our game.”

Pincince acknowledged the fact that the goalie is one of the most important positions in the game because the goalie acts as the last line of defense and the first line of attack.

“Sarah is much more confident in her game now than ever before,” Pincince said. “She is constantly calling for the ball. Part of the responsibility of the goalie during the game is to act smart, and Sarah has consistently shown to be a smart goalie.”

The Bears have a record of 4-1-2 and, with 10 games remaining, start the Ivy League season this week with their first game at home against Dartmouth on Saturday.

The Brown men’s golf team had an impressive outing in its first tournament of the year at the Dartmouth Invitational last weekend, finishing tied for 10th with Fordham University out of the 19-team field. Ivy League powerhouse and rival Yale led the pack with a team score of 585, defeating second place finishers Army and Hartford who ended up the weekend 11 points behind the Bulldogs at 596.

Brown had a promising start at the Hanover Country Club in New Hampshire, as the first day saw four out of the five golfers shoot in the 70s. Rob Chen ’05 and Danny Mowlds ’06 walked off the 18th green with scores of 75 apiece while Jason Ricketts ’04 and newcomer Lanny Benson ’07 both shot 77s. Rounding out the field was the other fresh face on the team, Dave Cangemi ’06, with his score of 83. After the first 18 holes of the season, the men’s golf team was in contention with a team score of 304, just behind Boston College and host Dartmouth College who wrapped the day up with scores of 303, and within reach of Yale’s team total of 289.

The ensuing day saw improved scores by both Benson and team captain Jason Ricketts. Lanny Benson, only a freshman and starting in his first collegiate golf tournament, showed poise and promise by concluding the final 18 holes of the tournament with an outstanding 74, ending the weekend with an overall score of 151 to top out with the team’s lowest mark. Veteran leader Ricketts was close behind with his total of 152, knocking two shots off of his Saturday score to end Sunday with a 75. Chen and Mowlds dipped a little on their second day, finishing with 80 and 83 respectively, while Dave Cangemi improved upon his first day with an 80 on Sunday. The Bears’ total of 304 on Sunday, giving them 613 overall, was good enough for a tenth place tie, just three shots behind ninth place Columbia.

“The efforts and attitudes are very encouraging,” Head Coach Ed Hanley said. “We are a young team and with 3 players seeing the course for the first time I feel we played within our capabilities.

Could we have finished higher? Yes. But, we played well enough to beat 10 other teams.”

Heading into the Toski Invitational this weekend in Amherst, Mass., where the Bears placed seventh out of 25 teams last year, coach Hanley has his players improving their efforts when closer to the flagstick, something that would have helped the team this past weekend.

“Everyone had his fair share of bad bounces along the way,” Hanley said. “A couple of putts here and there and we would have faired much better. We will be working on our short games and doing some video work this week in order to prepare for the Toski on Sunday and Monday.”

With a few players facing academic commitments, the team may be traveling to Amherst with as many as four freshmen. If the remaining three can perform as well as Benson did this past weekend, that may not be such a bad thing.

However, until everyone has at least one tournament under their belts, Hanley predicts that “the growing pains will continue as these guys get comfortable playing college golf.”

write sports