W E D N E S D A Y OCTOBER 1, 2003
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXVIII, No. 83
An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891
www.browndailyherald.com
West Nile on the rise; DEM warns students against bites
More questions about athletes and student life after new policy
BY JULIETTE WALLACK
BY CARLA BLUMENKRANZ
With mosquitoes in Rhode Island testing positive for encephalitis and West Nile Virus in the past week, students should make sure to minimize the risk of bites, according to one Department of Environmental Management official. Eastern equine encephalitis virus has been found in mosquitoes in nearby Washington County, and West Nile virus has been found statewide, according to Stephanie Powell, a spokeswoman for DEM. “So, absolutely in the area of Brown,” students should take care to minimize risk, she said. As of Monday, the DEM has not found mosquitoes carrying Eastern equine encephalitis in Providence, Powell said. But “we don’t know” whether it could be in bugs in the area. The possibility of transmission will remain until the first frost kills active mosquitoes, Powell said. In Washington County, which includes South Kingstown, residents are being advised to avoid outdoor activities, many of which have been cancelled. Students can help prevent exposure by avoiding standing water, where mosquitoes breed, she said. Though there is no standing water on campus, Powell said, it’s feasible that mosquitoes could breed near the Providence River downtown. “The best thing for people anywhere in Rhode Island until the first hard frost is to protect themselves by wearing long pants and long sleeves,” she said. There are also certain types of conditions that encourage mosquito activity, which students should consider. Those conditions include shady areas and high humidity. “If you’re just walking around the Brown campus at noon on a sunny day, and it’s windy, there’s less chance than if you’re taking a walk in the woods” of being bitten, Powell said. There have not been any cases of Eastern equine encephalitis or West Nile
The recent relaxation of last year’s sevenweek rest policy for Ivy League athletes has reopened the conflict between the demands of Division I athletics and attempts to integrate Brown athletes into the full range of student life. The seven-week rest period, instituted by the Council of Ivy Presidents in June 2002, mandated that Ivy teams break from team-related activity for seven weeks per year to allow athletes to pursue other aspects of campus life. Following widespread complaints from coaches and athletes, the Council modified the policy this June. Teams are still required to take off seven weeks per year, but may break them up by days, rather than weeks. Athletics Director David Roach said he believes the rest period is fundamentally unfair to athletes, no matter how the seven weeks are divided. It hampers their ability to compete with non-Ivy League teams, which are not required to take time off from practice, and “takes away from the individual’s right to be able to improve himself,” Roach said. “People make decisions about what they want to do during their four years at college, and everyone should be given
see WEST NILE, page 6
Sara Perkins / Herald
West House resident Elizabeth Ochs '06 writes chalk poetry Tuesday morning. see ATHLETES, page 8
Brown’s Watermyn Co-op: vegan dining, communal living and Bob Marley BY MERYL ROTHSTEIN
Bob Marley blares as Jodie Miller ’05 scrapes remnants of vegan eggplant lasagna into the trash. The lasagna, complete with tofu ricotta “cheese,” was part of the dinner she and two others had cooked for roughly 25 people Monday night at the Watermyn co-op. Watermyn, one of Brown’s two housing cooperatives, includes 15 residents and eight non-residential food co-opers.
Located on Waterman and Governor streets, the house provides a communal living and vegetarian/vegan dining experience. Each night, three co-opers, including food co-opers, cook dinner, said Andrew Fox ’06. Preparation for the meals, which are all vegetarian and always include a vegan option, begins at around 5 p.m., and are usually served around 7 p.m., when a horn, likened to a “wounded buffalo” by
New Brown-Woods Hole affiliation creates research opportunities, classes for undergrad and grad students BY JONATHAN HERMAN
A newly-created affiliation between Brown and the Marine Biology Laboratory at Woods Hole will create new graduate and undergraduate research opportunities and several new courses. The affiliation joins Brown and MBL’s research and education in biology, biomedicine and ecology. MBL Director and CEO William T. Speck and Provost Robert J. Zimmer signed the official agreement Sept. 7. MBL at Woods Hole is a world-class biology, biomedicine and ecology labora-
tory dedicated to cutting edge research and education, according to Speck. MBL started as a summer laboratory and teaching facility, located on the intersection of two major oceanic currents. “A large fraction of the leaders in biology have spent some time at MBL,” Zimmer said. The University and MBL will first create a joint graduate program — giving graduate students an opportunity to work with both Brown and MBL scientists, Zimmer said. Students of the graduate program will be granted Brown degrees
and have the chance to work at both educational institutions. “I believe this is really an extraordinary event for Brown, and I know the people at MBL feel the same way,” said Biology professor Mark Bertness, one of the designers of the partnership. “Graduate students at Brown will be very different (from) graduates from anywhere else in that the graduates in the Brown MBL program will not only have exposure to the Brown faculty and the
housemates, notifies the house that dinner is ready, Fox said. Most of the house gathers to eat at the large, hand-painted table in the dining room, lined with bookshelves as well as hand-written notes from previous co-op residents. These scribblings also line the kitchen walls, as well as bumper stickers encouraging co-opers to “Be Green” and “Abolish Nuclear Weapons.” “The house has a lot of character to it,” said resident Pablo Gaston ’05. “It’s a really chill environment.” Dinner conversation ranged from the benefits of omega-3 — an essential fatty acid found in fish — to the food requirements of one wheat-allergic co-oper to the sizes of slices of the vegan pumpkin pie, an unusual treat made by one of the two Johnson and Wales culinary students residing in the house. Sonya Goddy ’06 said she liked the house because of the independence it demands. “This is completely student-run,” she said. “We’re doing it ourselves. And it’s working.” Goddy called it an “ideal lifestyle” but said that “there are times when the communal aspect can get annoying,” like when house meetings take hours in order to take
see WOODS HOLE, page 6 see WATERMYN, page 6
I N S I D E W E D N E S D AY, O C T O B E R 1 , 2 0 0 3 Dartmouth implements high-tech device for free long distance calls campus watch,page 3
Women are too obsessed with body image, says Alexandra Toumanoff ’06 column,page 11
Christopher McAuliffe ’05 takes a closer look at Gorbachev’s speech and reputation column, page 11
TO D AY ’ S F O R E C A S T Volleyball earns first win against St. Peter’s, but loses to UNH and Georgia State sports, page 12
M. water polo finishes fourth of 10 in tournament, defeating Harvard rivals sports, page 12
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