T H U R S D A Y NOVEMBER 6, 2003
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXVIII, No. 108
An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891
BEAN plans campaign against table-slips
UCS passes file-sharing measure BY KRISTA HACHEY
in the rural areas, exacerbating the problems many immigrants face after they are detained, she said. Nancy Prerk — who came to the United States as a refugee from Cambodia — said in her experience, one of the greatest difficulties for immigrants is the language barrier, especially in the health care legal systems. She works at the Cambodian Society in Providence with Kagnaone Som and Sarath Suong, who were also on the panel. Som spoke of her experience growing up in the United States as the child of Cambodian refugees and of her work with the Providence Youth Student Movement. She said her mother was taught to accept minimum wage
The Undergraduate Council of Students passed a resolution on file sharing at its Wednesday night meeting that it plans to present at the Ivy League fall conference in two weeks. The document urges the Recording Industry Association of America and university administrators to seek legal alternatives to illicit file sharing on university campuses. It was drafted by Council members Charley Cummings ’06 and Luke Meier ’04, a Herald sports columnist. “UCS wants to recognize the interests on both sides, but we want to protect individual students from being made examples of and being fined huge sums of money,” Meier said. The RIAA prosecuted four undergraduates at three colleges in April, eventually forcing them to pay fines ranging from $12,000 to $17,000. To steer Brown students away from such consequences, Computing and Information Services is looking into a program that would require students to pay a fee in order to access a file-sharing network with other Rhode Island schools. Kate Wolford, project director in the Office of Campus Life and Student Services, and Phil O’Hara, acting director of the Student Activities Office, attended the UCS meeting to increase visibility of the SAO and the duties it undertakes. “We realize that not everybody is aware of what SAO does,” Wolford said. The office is a hub for financial services and helps student groups plan lectures and parties, save money and connect with each other, she said. “We’re also trying to reduce the amount of red tape students have to go through to get things done,” Wolford said. After constituting six new student groups, Student Activities Chair Rob Montz ’05 presented a list of student groups that no longer receive official
see IMMIGRANTS, page 8
see UCS, page 7
BY MONIQUE MENESES
Students are used to seeing the tables in the Ratty littered with table-slips — but if BEAN gets its way, groups might have to find alternative means of publicizing campus events. The Brown Environmental Action Network is currently laying the groundwork for a proposal aimed at eliminating table-slipping in campus dining halls. Allison Silverman ’05, co-president of BEAN, said the goal is part of the group’s conservation effort. “We’re trying to save paper and tableslips are extremely wasteful,” she said. “You find about 15 table-slips on a table per meal. That’s three meals per day, seven days a week.” Although the organization is still in the planning stage of the campaign to eliminate table-slips, Silverman said the campaign has a lot of potential and has been on the group’s agenda “for some time.” Many student groups and Universityaffiliated services rely on table-slipping to promote and inform students of events happening on campus. Ollie Rasini ’04, a member of the sketch comedy group IMPROVidence, said the group relies “heavily” on tableslipping to promote its weekly shows. The number of students that attend a show on a given night is directly correlated with how many table-slips are churned out to promote the event, she said. “The weeks that we’ve table-slipped less, we seem to have less of a turnout,” she said. Christopher Yee ’04, coordinator of the Asian American Student Organization, said his group table-slips for general body meetings and events the group puts on for the whole campus. Table-slips usually target students who want something to look at or read while they are eating, he said. “It’s just a great way to enjoy eating your lunch or dinner — when you’re eating your food you get to see everything that’s going on, on campus,” he said. He said table-slipping is an “effective” way of publicizing events, particularly for freshmen and sophomore students. Benjamin Schnapp ’07 said he usually reads table-slips at meals. “Sometimes I read them for the entertainment. It’s something to do while eating, but most of the times I read them to find out what’s going on,” he said. But table-slipping is not the only way to “get a group’s message out,” Silverman said. Radio, newspapers and the Daily Jolt are alternate ways to promote and inform students about events. “Paper does not necessarily have to be used,” she said. But Frances Mantak, director of health education, said she disagreed. see BEAN, page 6
Sara Perkins / Herald
Students filled Lower Salomon for "The War on Immigrants," a panel discussion on immigrant rights in the United States.The event was part of Asian American History Month.
Immigrants faced challenges before Sept. 11, panelists say BY ELISE BARAN
A professor, a refugee, two students and a first-generation American — all had their own stories, but could also speak to the plight of immigrants since Sept. 11, 2001. “The War on Immigrants: A Discussion Panel on Immigrant Rights in the U.S.” was held last night in honor of Asian American History Month. Andrew Leong, a professor at University of Massachusetts-Boston, began the panel. He has a law degree and has been studying and advocating immigration rights throughout his career. The 1996 legislation, named “Contract with America,” hindered immigrants’ access to health care and increased the kinds of situations in which they could be deported. Leong said the Patriot Act, enacted after Sept. 11, 2001 to expand government surveillance powers, is like the JapaneseAmerican internment laws during World War II. “We simply don’t learn from our mistakes,” he said. Sangeeta Tripathi ’04 followed Leong with a different view. She spent the last year in New York City working with immigrants from Pakistan and other countries suspected by the United States to harbor terrorists. She emphasized the new, stronger, postSept. 11 relationship between immigration agencies and the New York Police Department. Tripathi also stressed the recent industry of private prisons, which are not as expensive to run as federal ones and are often in rural areas. It is difficult for detainees to get representation
Yale union workers describe strike BY DANIELLE CERNY
A panel of five representatives involved in the recent Yale University labor strikes spoke to the Brown community last night about the evolution and implications of Yale’s labor movement. The rift between Yale administrators and union workers that culminated in a three-week strike this past September stems from a deep-rooted history of tension, said organizer for Local 34 Adam PaHen. Yale’s first labor union was formed in 1968. The year brought a sudden change in the work force and the job positions being filled that caused many workers to feel their contracts were unfair, PaHen
I N S I D E T H U R S D AY, N O V E M B E R 6 , 2 0 0 3 Musician and lecturer covers 1,000 years of music in one night at RISD performance RISD news, page 3
RISD strikes partnership with Hope High; will teach, give scholarships RISD news, page 3
www.browndailyherald.com
Intellectual diversity at Brown is a debate worth having, says Rosengard Subotnik column, page 11
said. As a result, strikes broke out that year and again in 1971, 1974 and 1977 — making labor protests at Yale “pretty routine,” he said. Antonio Lopes, autopsy technician in the Department of Pathology at Yale, said the relationship between laborers and the administration in the past 20 years has been “horrific.” “Yale is first in labor discord in the nation,” he said. Lopes holds two jobs: one for Yale and an equivalent part-time job for the state of Connecticut. He said it was the see YALE, page 7
TO D AY ’ S F O R E C A S T Dems’ bickering may help them see where the party stands, says von Oeyen ’05 column, page 11
Sabermetrics can be applied to football as well as baseball, Perlmutter says sports, page 12
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