W E D N E S D A Y NOVEMBER 19, 2003
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXVIII, No. 117
An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891
www.browndailyherald.com
Mass. court ruling spurs statehouse rally BY JULIETTE WALLACK
Brown’s LGBT community showed its support of gay marriage at a rally yesterday evening that drew more than 50 people from around the state. The rally in front of the statehouse was organized after the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled state laws preventing same-sex marriage are unconstitutional. Marcy Feibelman ‘04 was one of the Brown students who convened on the lawn of the statehouse to show support for the decision. “Cars would go by and honk, and we would cheer,” Feibelman said. “To say, ‘We know why you’re there, and thanks for standing outside.’ It was back-and-forth support, to say, ‘We believe what you believe in.’” Feibelman said she saw several Brown students she knew at the gathering, and she also encountered people she knew through Rhode Island Pride Committee. “It was nice to have those kinds of support,” she said. Members of the Brown Democrats and Queer Alliance who support gay marriage also attended the rally, but the turnout was smaller than Feibelman hoped, partly because the unexpected announcement of the ruling meant the rally was organized quickly. “I wanted it to be a huge thing, but it still was really meaningful for me. In my littlekid mind, I was picturing tons of people all over the state coming,” she said. Despite the somewhat smaller turnout, the show of support was good to see. The court handed the ruling down Tuesday morning, and the decision in Goodridge et al. v. Department of Public Health clears the way for same-sex couples to apply for civil marriage licenses. The state of Massachusetts has 180 days to change civil marriage laws to reflect the new allowance. A change in civil marriage laws means that same-sex couples in Massachusetts would be afforded the same rights as traditional married couples. Couples with civil
Marshall Agnew / Herald
Geoff Gusoff '07 (left) speaks with Rabbi Alan Flam, a senior fellow at the Swearer Center for Public Service, and Brad Brockman '76 at a discussion on "Interfaith Perspectives on Faith and Activism," sponsored by the Student Housing and Hunger Action Coalition.
Local program supports doctors working abroad BY KATE CUSHING
In developing countries throughout the world, 35,000 children under the age of five die every day. A doctor in Malawi earns only $70 per month, so doctors only practice medicine there for an average of three years. In Liberia there were 100 doctors working in the public sector in 1990. Today, there are only 25 doctors for the country of four million. Adopt A Doctor, a Rhode Island-
see BOSTON, page 6
Need-blind admission and faculty growth top budget challenges BY LISA MANDLE
Supporting the costs of need-blind admission and a growing faculty will be two of the greatest challenges to the 2004-2005 University budget, said Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration Beppie Huidekoper. The University Resources Committee, a group of faculty, staff, administrators and students who present an annual budget proposal to President Ruth Simmons, has already heard reports throughout the semester from Facilities Management, the Vice
President for Research, the Office of Financial Aid and most academic departments, Huidekoper said. The URC will report its recommendations to Simmons in February, she said. The final budget will be set at the Corporation meeting then. Huidekoper said the University is “trying to do a lot on a lot of different fronts” and must “allocate carefully.” There is “nothing unusual” about this year’s budget pressures, but there are a lot of things to consider, she said.
based organization founded in June, is seeking to reverse this “brain drain” that pulls doctors away from the world’s poorest countries by offering physicians financial incentives to stay. The project is the brainchild of Ray Rickman, a former Rhode Island State representative who currently serves as diversity director for Providence. While sick in bed with the flu, Rickman listened to a radio interview with a physician working in Central Africa, and he was deeply affected by the physician’s struggle to provide even basic health care to his patients due to a lack of supplies and medicine. “I had talked with my doctor and he said, ‘Stay in bed for two days, drink tea and you will be fine,’ and at the same time this young woman (in Malawi) had died because the physician there runs out of medicine on the 15th of every month, and her flu had become pneumonia,” Rickman said. “When the sadness subsided, I conceived the idea of helping support doctors who are working in the poorest countries in the world. ... In the developed world, we seldom die because we get a cold. Once our program succeeds in our mission, thousands in the developing world will no longer die this way either,” Rickman said in a statement on the organization’s Web site. Adopt A Doctor aims to double a
Brown employees receive more benefits than free flu shots and access to the OMAC. Faculty and staff are eligible to receive funds to help put their children through college. The Tuition Aid Program offers employees up to $10,000 per year per eligible child for undergraduate tuition at Brown or another institution. Drew Murphy, director of the Benefits Office, which administers the program, said aid was given to 294 participants in fiscal year 2003. Professor of Neuroscience Justin Fallon, whose daughter is a first-year at Brown, said, “the tuition benefit is an extremely important and highly valued program among the faculty and staff.” “It is a very useful recruitment and retention tool — certainly in the case of staff I’ve hired,” Fallon said. Toni Tinberg, benefits compliance manager, said that since July 2002, the $10,000 has been the same for all employees — from tenured faculty to chefs at the Ratty. Stephen Foley, associate professor of English, who has two sons at Brown, said he is also pleased with the tuition benefit. “The benefit was raised recently to make it equal for everyone,” Foley said. “It’s the best since I’ve been here, which is 21 years.”
see DOCTOR, page 9
see TUITION, page 7
Simmons and other notables make early U. of Tenn presidential search committee list campus watch, page 3
BY JUSTIN ELLIOTT
see BUDGET, page 7
I N S I D E W E D N E S D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 9 , 2 0 0 3 Stanford Daily receives heat on campus for “insensitive” ads campus watch, page 3
Brown employees get $10K a year for kids’ college
Democratic hopeful Wesley Clark is a Clinton-esque phony, Nate Goralnik ’06 says column, page 11
TO D AY ’ S F O R E C A S T Ninth-ranked Dies leads wrestling in first tournament of the season sports, page 12
M. icers defeat Ivy rivals in weekend play, earning Ihnacak ECAC Rookie of the Week sports, page 12
showers/wind high 61 low 51