Thursday, February 26, 2004

T H U R S D A Y FEBRUARY 26, 2004

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXIX, No. 20

An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891

www.browndailyherald.com

UCS examines campus life plans, considers club sports

BY KRISTA HACHEY

Interim Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services David Greene and Executive Vice President for Planning Dick Spies presented a plan for implementing the campus life components of the Initiatives for Academic Enrichment at the Undergraduate Council of Students’ Wednesday meeting. Greene and Spies fielded questions from a vocal audience of UCS members and the greater Brown community.

“I was excited to see the student turnout at this meeting,” said UCS President Rahim Kurji ’05 afterward. “It is of prime importance that students have a voice in the implementation of these improvement plans,” he said, adding that students need to help decide which of the 10 initiatives should take highest priority.

Spies and Greene gave a PowerPoint presentation outlining general goals for campus improvements over the next 15 years. Among these goals were expanding and diversifying sources of revenue.

“If we don’t give fundraising the same kind of attention as we do other parts of this vision, those other projects will fall short of our goal,” Spies said.

Better financial aid, competitive compensation and resources for faculty and staff, and increasing collaborations with area schools were among the highlighted goals. Other broad aims were to increase the sense of community between undergraduates, graduate students and medical students.

Greene called the University a “campus of many centers and no center.” He said creating a central space that allows both academics and culture to flourish is among the key focuses of the plan.

Student pathways on campus have been analyzed and have been an integral factor in planning the potential location of a center, Greene said.

“It’s like deciding where to place a retail store,” Greene said. “You have to make sure it is strategically placed in terms of walking paths so that enough people pass by it easily.”

A comprehensive slide presentation of campus and fitness centers at other colleges such as Smith College, Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania illuminated the possibilities for the future Brown's infrastructure.

“Even MIT has a big fitness center,” Spies said. “That should put us to shame.”

Greene noted “the transparency in design” that gave newly constructed buildings a greater feeling of openness and “facilitated chance encounters.”

Greene and Spies anticipate an endorsement at this weekend’s Corporation meeting for the framework see UCS, page 9

Nick Neely / Herald

Students in VA10:“Studio Foundation” draw during class Wednesday.The Department of Visual Studies does not have enough studio space to accommodate many of the students who want to take upper-level art courses.

VA department unable to meet demand for classes

BY ROBBIE COREY-BOULET

Space limitations and a shortage of professors have forced the Department of Visual Arts to restrict opportunities for non-concentrators, as faculty members struggle to keep junior and senior concentrators on track for timely graduation.

Heightened interest in the department exacerbated the problem this semester, resulting in the worst semester yet for students trying to find space in visual art classes, said Department Chairman Richard Fishman.

About 10 years ago, the department responded to a demand for more sections of its introductory course, VA10: “Studio Foundation,” Fishman said. This increase has led to a larger pool of potential concentrators in recent years, he said.

Recent cultural trends place a higher value on art and its contributions to society, increasing demand on campus and compounding the problem, Fishman said.

“Visual art has become an extremely popular area of engagement for the whole culture,” Fishman said. “The notion of creativity has become a very important thing” for members of the Brown community, he said.

The department currently has 168 concentrators divided between visual art and art semiotics. Faculty members took on 70 independent study projects this year, Fishman said.

The need for one-on-one instruction in many art classes, especially studio classes, means sections must be kept very small, Fishman said.

“I think the department has done as much as it can,” said VA concentrator

Arthi Sundaresh ’05. “People are working in spaces that used to be closets, and people have built walls to partition bigger spaces and make spaces for independent-study students.”

Sundaresh said the six full-time and five visiting faculty members are working “at their max” to instruct as many students as possible.

Professor of Art Wendy Edwards said she agrees professors are working beyond their capacity in an attempt to accommodate both concentrators and non-concentrators.

“We’re just sort of bursting at the

RISD Student Alliance approves funding for AS220 darkroom RISD news, page 3

Regular inspections aim to eradicate asbestos, mold found in some dorms campus news, page 5

see VISUAL ARTS, page 4

New Career Services employee plans communication and outreach efforts

BY SARAH LABRIE

Jennifer Muldoon, new communications and publications officer for the Career Development Center, is planning the creation of “a visual ID” for the office, the improvement of technological resources and the marketing of career-focused programs to students, said Director of Career Services Kimberly DelGizzo.

Muldoon was hired as part of DelGizzo’s effort to increase student contact with the Career Development Center.

“Her job is to serve as a communication person for our office in other places on and off campus,” DelGizzo said.

Muldoon’s main goal right now is to finish redesigning the Career Development Office’s Web site.

I N S I D E T H U R S D AY, F E B RUA RY 2 6 , 2 0 0 4 RISD encourages graduates to build Providence’s creative economy RISD news, page 3

seams, and this has been going on for years,” Edwards said. “More space and more faculty would make it easier for everyone.”

Edwards said she thinks non-concentrators offer an outside perspective that fosters a healthy dialogue among students.

But Dean of the College Paul Armstrong wrote in an e-mail to The Herald that the department’s space limitations make the desires of non-concentrators a secondary concern.

“It will assist us in our communications efforts to better reach students, Brown constituents and employers by offering a tool that is more userfriendly and offers easier access to career resources and information,” Muldoon wrote in an e-mail.

Muldoon will also work to craft “a visual ID” for the CDC, giving the office a consistent and recognizable visual image on campus.

Muldoon said she was not available to speak to The Herald in person.

Muldoon’s main task will be to make sure students are aware of the opportunities available to them through the Career Development Center.

“She won’t just be doing standard see CAREER, page 4

TO D AY ’ S F O R E C A S T Stephen Beale ’04 says he can debunk the myth of gay marriage column, page 15

Gymnastics finally defeats University of Rhode Island in weekend meet sports, page 16

sunny high 42 low 21

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

THIS MORNING THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2004 · PAGE 2 Coup de Grace Grace Farris

W E AT H E R THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

High 42 Low 21 sunny

High 42 Low 26 sunny

High 44 Low 28 partly sunny

SUNDAY

High 46 Low 32 partly sunny

GRAPHICS BY EDDIE AHN

Four Years Eddie Ahn

TO D AY ’ S E V E N TS HILLEL BUILDING DEDICATION 3:30 p.m. (Glenn and Darcy Weiner Center, 80 Brown St.)

BOBBY JINDAL ‘92 SPEECH 4:30 p.m. (Salomon 001) — A Brown alum’s experiences running for statewide office. Sponsored by the College Republicans.

“PAN-AFRICANISM, INTERNATIONALISM AND CIVIL RIGHTS: RESTORING CONNECTIONS” 4 P.M. (List 120) — Lisa Brock, Charlie Cobb Jr., and Bill Minter, who played integral roles in the civil rights movement and in the pan-African movement. Sponsored by the Department of Africana Studies.

My Best Effort Nate Goralnik and Barron Youngsmith

MENU SHARPE REFECTORY

VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALL

LUNCH — Vegetarian Squash Bisque, Kale and Linguica Soup, Hot Turkey Sandwich with Sauce, Corn Souffle, Sugar Snap Peas, Chocolate Krinkle Cookies, Lemon Ricotta Cheese Cake, Pumpkin Pie. DINNER — Black Heritage Dinner Special

LUNCH — Vegetarian Mexican Bean Soup, Lobster Bisque, Barbecue Beef on a Bun, Eggplant Parmesan Grinder, Cauliflower, Chocolate Krinkle Cookies.

DINNER — Black Heritage Dinner Special

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

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Wade noisily 6 Many Riyadh residents 11 Half a mint 14 First name in medieval traveling 15 Cooperative spirit 16 “...__ vales and hills”: Wordsworth 17 See 64-Across 19 No-win situation 20 In abundance 21 Admit, with “up” 22 Ground breaker 23 “I didn’t __!”

25 Avoid shipping out?

27 __ Miguel, largest of the Azores 30 Attract 32 Was indebted to 33 Cronies 35 Formal agreement 37 Supermarket section 40 About 41 Chops down 42 National competitor 43 Showdown time, in a 1952 film 44 Man, but not woman 45 Snoopy One, e.g.

46 Close 48 Reduced-rate event 50 Set down 51 Open-sided trailer 54 Claudius I’s successor 56 Rapper __’ Kim 57 Osaka sashes 59 Collect 63 Bordeaux bud 64 “Careful!” (and key to this puzzle’s theme) 66 “Big Blue” 67 Enthusiastic 68 Bizarre 69 Reiner of “All in the Family”

70 Walk heavily 71 Sipped DOWN 1 Urban pollutant 2 Etna output 3 City south of Moscow 4 Young codfish 5 Fast cars 6 Type of group 7 Sea hazard 8 Peru’s peaks 9 Influential ones 10 Vacillate 11 See 64-Across 12 Alphabetical sequence 13 Advance slowly 18 Executor’s concern 24 Records for later 26 Piano part 27 Glance at 28 Tongue-incheek “I see” 29 See 64-Across 31 Places for portraits 34 French landscape artist 1

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ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: A V O I C I N D H E E E F A O B I R E F I R E T R T H E

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52 Transitional state 53 Wild dog of Australia 55 Wise starter?

58 Flower holder 60 Zeus’ wife 61 “__ Brockovich” 62 Exude 65 Aggregation: Abbr.

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

RISD NEWS THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2004 · PAGE 3

RISD works with city to build ‘creative economy’

BY MERYL ROTHSTEIN

With student painters, sculptors and designers, RISD is an undeniable hub of creativity, and according to Rhode Island policymakers, it is time to mine this creativity for the economic well-being of the city and state.

This past summer, local cultural, city and higher education officials published a report titled “Call to Action,” outlining ways Providence could build its “creative and innovative economy.”

The “Call to Action” is part of a recent nation-wide emphasis on building so-called “creative economies,” a concept coined by the book “The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It’s Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life,” by Carnegie Mellon University Professor Richard Florida.

In his book, published in 2002, Florida argues that creative thinkers are essential to economic growth. In order to attract these creative people, a city needs tolerance, eccentricity and diversity.

The “Call to Action” describes RISD as a crucial player in the development of the Providence’s own creative economy.

The most important thing RISD can do to build the creative economy is to encourage alumni to stay in the area, said Patricia McLaughlin, RISD Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations. RISD wants to “make sure that Rhode Island is a strong, viable choice for students as they graduate,” she said. “We think it’s a good fit.”

The school is currently working with state and city officials to increase connections between students and local companies and institutions. The theory behind this initiative is that a strong tie between the RISD and Providence communities will increase the number of alumni that stay in the city, she said.

One clear link between the arts community and the local economy is the Center for Design and Business, a joint venture between RISD and Bryant College.

Through services such as classes, roundtable reviews and on-site tours of design-driven companies, such as a greeting card manufacturer, the center aims to “bring business to design and design to business,” helping artists become businesspeople and businesses become designoriented, said the center’s director, Cheryl Faria. see ECONOMY, page 6

Student Alliance approves AS220 renovation, considers 24-hour studio space

BY ALEXIS KUNSAK

The RISD Student Alliance approved a plan to fund the renovation of the AS220 darkroom, continued its discussion on implementing 24-hour studio spaces and addressed the lack of departmental funding for senior shows at its Wednesday evening meeting.

The Alliance also distributed written guidelines for student departmental representatives and advised Computer Network Services administrators on the best way to communicate with RISD students about mandatory computer purchases.

Blair de St. Croix, director of the Office of Student Life, asked for a vote on the proposal to fund a renovated darkroom at AS220, the downtown arts cooperative, and the motion was approved.

When the darkroom is completed, RISD students will have the opportunity to purchase a four-month membership to the facility at a 75 percent discount. For an annual fee of $25, RISD students will be able to access the darkroom, performance and gallery spaces and computer labs at AS220 year round.

In an extension of a discussion on 24-hour studio places that took place at the last Alliance meeting, Claudia del Castillo RISD ’06 told the Alliance she had met with Jay Coogan, the associate provost for Academic Affairs, to discuss the issue.

“Generally it seems to be an issue of budget and safety — there are worries about higher risks of theft and other incidents,” Castillo said.

“Safety is definitely the biggest issue,” Ned Dwyer, associate provost for student affairs, told the Alliance.

“Several years ago, when we conducted a survey of late night studio use, we found that the only studio always in use was the Architecture Department. We are planning another survey soon, but as buildings slowly become accessible by ID cards, they will become more safe.”

Lizzy Cross RISD ’04 told the Alliance her department, Painting, doesn’t provide any funding for senior shows, despite the fact that the OSL will match departmental funds for senior shows in order to raise the quality of the events.

“But if the department gives zero money, then OSL gives zero also,” said Lia Cinquegrano RISD ’05.

Cinquegrano said her department, apparel design, also does not fund senior shows.

Undergraduate department representatives will have to meet with their department heads to discuss budgets, St. Croix said, but in the meantime, he promised the

Office of Student Life would match any funds students raise on their own.

Undergraduate departmental representatives will facilitate communication between the Alliance and departments, said Alliance President Suzannah Park RISD ’05.

Several departments, including industrial design,

“Students need to know about upgrades and ownership rights, also exactly what it is they are getting for their dollar,” said Associate Vice President of Computer Network Services Ralph Fasano. architecture, furniture and graphic design, require incoming sophomores to purchase specific types of laptop computers with specific software. Computer Network Services Laptop Coordinator Erik Quimby asked the Alliance what the best way would be to communicate with these students about their computing problems and questions.

“Students need to know about upgrades and ownership rights, also exactly what it is they are getting for their dollar,” said Associate Vice President of Computer Network Services Ralph Fasano.

Park suggested that CNS work through the Alliance to reach students, using the new departmental representatives to keep students informed about computing issues.

A “town hall meeting” will take place in the Tap Room March 3 at 6 p.m., said Director of External Relations Ann Hudner. The purpose of the meeting is to facilitate communication between students and the administration, Hudner said.

“The meeting is not intended to deliver news, only as a time for Roger Mandle and other administration to listen and answer any questions from students,” she said.

Herald staff writer Alexis Kunsak RISD ’05 can be reached at akunsak@browndailyherald.com.

PAGE 4 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2004

Visual Arts continued from page 1 “I agree that it is a good thing to welcome all students who wish to take a studio course,” he wrote. “But in my opinion priority should go to students who need a course to meet concentration requirements.”

Fishman called Armstrong’s efforts “very helpful” but added that he “would like to see (administrators) make a greater effort.”

Several measures have been taken to address the problem, focusing primarily on enrolling seniors in upper-level courses required for graduation, Armstrong wrote.

The administration provided one-time funding so seniors could enroll in an extra painting section at RISD this semester.

Armstrong also plans to meet

Career continued from page 1 fare and filling up mailboxes,” said Executive Associate Dean of the College Karen Sibley.

Instead, Muldoon will use the Web and other technological resources to facilitate student access to Career Development.

She will also work on promoting career fairs and the Career Week Conference, she wrote.

Muldoon will also work to

with the department to determine a more lasting solution to the problem, one that will address the needs of all students, he wrote.

All students who faced the danger of delayed graduation this semester have been placed in the necessary sections, Fishman said.

Alternatives for students who are denied enrollment in Brown classes include independent study projects, but the small number of faculty greatly restricts this option, Fishman said.

Space issues also pose a challenge for these projects, Sundaresh said.

“I know some people who are painters who want to take an independent study, but there’s nowhere in the building to have a canvas,” she said.

Brown students can also enroll in RISD studio courses,

but Sundaresh said these offerings do not always meet their needs. Students often settle for introductory classes or electives at RISD, because spaces in upper-level requirements are typically taken by RISD concentrators, she said.

One option the department is considering is reserving a certain number of spots in each class for junior and senior concentrators, and then holding a lottery for underclassmen and non-concentrators for the remaining positions, Fishman said.

“I think there has to be a better system of allocating studio spaces than the current one, given the anxiety and frustration I know students have experienced,” Armstrong wrote.

connect the office with alumni, parents and prospective students. Providing a link between current Brown students and others who are interested in the University will increase accessibility to opportunities for everyone in the Brown community, Sibley said.

Muldoon helped to expand the annual Outcome Survey, Sibley said. The survey, distributed to all graduating seniors, polls students on their postgraduation plans.

“The survey this year is more comprehensive in that it asks graduates to reflect on experiences they might have had with regard to public service, study abroad programs, fellowships or scholarships,” Muldoon wrote.

She also wrote that the survey will encourage communication between alumni and undergraduates. It will also be made available to graduates on the

Internet, starting with the Class of 2004, Muldoon said.

Muldoon’s activities at the Career Development Office are all part of the Career Development Center’s ultimate goal — to convey to the student population that the Center is there to serve them, DelGizzo said.

“We want to educate all of our constituents about how we operate,” Sibley said. “We really want to work with students early on.”

Muldoon will serve as an access point for students, Sibley said.

“We are communicating with students, and we welcome conversations,” DelGizzo said. “We want to make sure the doors of communication are open.”

Herald staff writer Robbie CoreyBoulet ’07 can be reached at rcoreyboulet@browndailyherald.com.

Herald staff writer Sarah LaBrie ’07 can be reached at slabrie@browndailyherald.com.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

CAMPUS NEWS THRUSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2004 · PAGE 5

Asbestos still present in dorm rooms, lounges

BY KATE GORMAN

The asbestos removed from 58 basement rooms in Wriston Quadrangle last year was not the last asbestos in campus dorms.

All dorms that were built before the mid-1980s have asbestos in them, according to Stephen Morin, director of environmental health and safety. Asbestos was used as insulation and to bind tiles to floors and shingles to roofs.

It is more often found in mechanical rooms, but asbestos is also present in individual dorm rooms and lounges, Morin said.

“Asbestos only needs to be removed from a room when it becomes impacted and asbestos particles are released into the air. That’s the only time asbestos becomes a health and safety hazard,” Morin said.

When asbestos was removed from rooms in Wriston buildings two years ago, many students who lived there were not informed that their buildings contained damaged asbestos until after it was removed, The Herald reported in December 2002.

“It is the job of the (Office of Residential Life) to inform students that something of concern was found in their rooms,” Morin said. Morin said that if there is a problem that will require students to vacate their rooms, those students will be notified, although other dorm residents will not formally be made aware.

Full building inspections for asbestos are done on campus once a year by Facilities Management, Morin said. The focus of the inspection is to look for friable asbestos.

Friable asbestos becomes airborne more easily and can be dangerous to people’s health, Morin said. Non-friable asbestos cannot become airborne.

“The custodial staff undergoes annual training on how to identify an asbestos problem,” Morin said. If suspect material is found, it is reported to Service Response and then the Office of Environmental Health and Safety hires outside specialists to remove the asbestos safely, as was the case last year.

Lead paint is also a potential health risk in buildings on campus. “Lead paint, like asbestos, was also used extensively years ago, particularly in New England but also in the rest of the country. A lot of buildings on campus do have lead paint,” he said.

It is acceptable to have lead paint in buildings as long as it is intact and not peeling, Morin said. “The state of Rhode Island requires that lead paint be removed from surfaces that encounter a lot of friction such as doors and windows and the University is in compliance with that law,” he said.

Windows with lead paint are replaced, which also reduces energy loss and ensures greater security, Morin said. “Lead paint on doors is removed down to the wood of the door and is then repainted,” Morin said.

Lead paint only poses a significant health risk to children six years old and younger, Morin said. When lead gets into their system it can affect their development. “There are not many University residences with young children, and the ones that do have young children living there have no lead paint," Morin said.

The University has a lead exposure control program in order to ensure that Facilities Management staff do not endanger themselves or others, Morin said. Peeling paint is tested by Facilities Management, and if lead is detected, an outside source is hired to remove it, Morin said.

“This is a large campus, and we do frequently see paint that is not intact and is peeling, but that does not necessarily mean that it is hazardous. If there is ever a concern about lead poisoning, an air quality test is performed,” Morin said.

Mold has also been a concern on campus in the past, Morin said. “The high humidity levels in the summer and roof leaks are the ways in which moisture can get into buildings. Mold needs moisture and food such as paper or gypsum to grow and that can be found easily in buildings all over campus,” Morin said.

Mold was found in Wriston buildings last summer, but was removed before school started, Morin said. “Facilities Management cleans what it can, and then we turn to outside help,” Morin said.

When there are any dangerous airborne substances such as asbestos or mold, the OEHS restricts access to those areas and a negative air machine with a heap-filter is used to ensure that no air from the room can get out, Morin said.

METRO SPECIAL

Carcieri presents state budget with broad cuts

BY SARA PERKINS

Gov. Don Carcieri ’65 presented a belt-tightening budget for fiscal year 2005 to a joint session of the Rhode Island General Assembly Wednesday night, emphasizing that dim economic prospects leave the state with few alternatives.

Carcieri proposed to “spread the cuts fairly over all sectors of the community” while seeking new revenue sources and not raising general taxes.

“This is gonna be a tough year,” he said. “We have drained the cupboard bare … We now face a deficit of $105 million in fiscal ’05.”

Carcieri remained committed to not raising taxes, asking the legislature to repeal last year’s 1 percent sales tax increase on meals and beverages effective July 2005.

“These taxes hurt our economy; they hurt working families. The meals tax, paid equally by everyone regardless of income, is regressive,” he said. He suggested a 75-cent increase in the cigarette tax, one of several new sources of revenue he said he is seeking.

Program cuts in the Department of Human Services and the Department of Mental Health, Retardation and Hospitals, though difficult to make, are unavoidable, Carcieri said. The departments’ budgets will increase by a combined $64 million, but rising medical costs and the loss of federal support mean that cuts in program eligibility are still necessary.

Carcieri’s budget would increase copayments or disenroll higher-income Medicare enrollees. He said targeted changes aim to preserve the program’s benefits for the neediest.

“We are going to continue to support (Human Services) programs, but we’ve also got to find ways to slow down the growth in cost,” he said. “Every program can be made more efficient.” The Department of Human Services, which makes up almost 40 percent of the annual budget and includes welfare and Medicaid programs, is the fastest-growing segment of the budget, he said.

Carcieri pledged to increase the penalties for welfare recipients who do not follow the program’s rules for job searching.

But the governor had good news for the education sector, one of the few sectors that earned a major spending increase. $11 million allotted to elementary

and secondary education will go to school construction costs and continue the funding of public charter schools.

Need-based scholarships for higher education will maintain last year’s increases.

Carcieri placed particular emphasis on the economic potential of biotechnology research, centered at the state’s universities. He proposed $1.5 million in “seed capital” to attract scientific grants and a new Center for Biotechnology at the University of Rhode Island.

The governor’s proposals elicited mixed responses.

Rep. Edith Ajello, a Democrat whose district includes the University, said she felt the Governor’s priorities were skewed.

“I was taken by his saying that we overspent,” said Ajello. “It wasn’t that we overspent.” Cuts to corporate, income and capital-gains taxes have reduced the state’s revenue and are “hurting property-tax payers in the City of Providence,” she said. “It’s just interesting how fundamentally differently we approach public policy,” she said about Carcieri.

Carcieri’s proposal to roll back recent eligibility expansions for Temporary Aid to Needy Families and Medicaid programs also struck Ajello as wrongheaded.

“Families on TANF have not had an increase in 15 years,” while rents and the cost of gas and electricity have grown, she said. “And the governor is talking about lowering the eligibility level.”

Providence Mayor David Cicilline ’83 released a statement with Mayors Scott Avedisian of Warwick and Ralph Mollis of North Providence criticizing Carcieri’s changes to the budget for the education sector.

“How is it that neighboring Massachusetts and Connecticut are increasing their states’ share of state aid to education — to ease the pressure on resident property taxpayers — while Rhode Island is decreasing theirs,” Avedisian said in a press conference following Carcieri’s speech, in according to a press release from his office.

The budget proposal will go to the House Finance Committee, which will produce an amended version to be discussed and voted on in the House and then sent to the Senate.

Herald staff writer Sara Perkins ’06 edits the Metro section. She can be reached at sperkins@browndailyherald.com.

PAGE 6 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2004

Economy continued from page 3 Founded in 1997, the center’s goals parallel those of the creative economy, and though the “Call to Action” hasn’t affected the way the center functions, “it’s exciting and refreshing to see so many people embracing the concept,” Faria said. “The time is right.”

RISD also reaches out to the city through art education programs, the RISD Museum and community service programs, McLaughlin said.

One such program is Catalyst Arts in Pawtucket, an after-school studio arts program partnering RISD with the city of Pawtucket and Tolman High School.

Founded and directed by Seth Goldenberg RISD ’03, Catalyst Arts encourages students to get involved in their local art and design communities, McLaughlin said.

Similarly, RISD’s Department of Art Education has an after-

school program at Hope High School, an effort to bring art and design education to the highschool level, she said. RISD also offers two scholarships to Hope students.

Once students feel a strong connection to the community and a desire to stay in Rhode Island, it is important that exciting job opportunities are available to them, said Kip Bergstrom, executive director of the Rhode Island Economic Policy Council. The Council is engaged in work to that end, including a focus group of local adults between the ages of 25

and 35 in an effort to learn “what makes that group tick,” he said.

Through the work of the state, RISD and institutions including Brown, Providence can become an increasingly desirable city, McLaughlin said. “Artists and designers add to the quality of life. Providence and Rhode Island wouldn’t be where it is without the presence of its artists and designers.”

Herald staff writer Meryl Rothstein ’06 edits the Arts & Culture section.

She can be reached at mrothstein@browndailyherald.com.

Moviegoers flock to Gibson’s ‘Passion’ (Los Angeles Times) — Across the nation, the religious, the skeptical and the merely curious turned out en masse Wednesday to give Mel Gibson’s film “The Passion of the Christ” an opening day that appears on track to rival box office giants such as “Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.”

The crowds ranged from groups of rabbis and Christian interfaith leaders in New York to Southern California suburbanites to Catholics fresh from Ash Wednesday services across the nation.

Some industry sources said the movie looked as if it could gross more than $20 million by Wednesday night — on par with such blockbusters as “Clones” and “The Matrix” sequels. Rival studios said the figure could go higher.

“This kind of want-to-see in advance sales places it in the realm of the biggest blockbuster films,” said Russ Nunley, marketing and communications director for Regal Entertainment Group, which is playing the movie at 460 of its 550 locations nationwide.

“The big question today was how it would do in terms of foot traffic and we’ve seen a lot of it on day one. The movie is living up to its advance sales, which have been hot and heavy.”

It remains to be seen how long the movie, which has received mixed reviews, will continue on

the same pace. In the short run, it clearly has benefited from heavy publicity generated by the controversies surrounding it and from a broad outreach campaign to evangelical Christians.

The base of support for the Rrated film appeared to be a large Internet- and media-savvy conservative Christian audience.

Thousands of Christian moviegoers bought out entire theaters, sent e-mails encouraging people to come out opening weekend and even offered baby-sitting services for parents eager to get out to a show.

“When you go to a movie opening weekend, it’s as if you’re casting a vote for that movie,” Wendy Wilmowski, a Washington D.C. resident and self-described a movie producer and Catholic, wrote in an e-mail to 50 friends that was later broadly circulated on the Internet.

“If you want to see the Passion open huge (as it has every chance of doing), if you want to see it rock Hollywood back on its heels in surprise ... Let’s prove it to those antichrist that we love Jesus more than anything in this world,” her message read.

At the sold-out midnight screening of “The Passion of the Christ” at Arclight Cinemas’ Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, no one came in costume but many brought with them an opening night giddiness reminiscent of “Star Wars” and “Lord of the Rings” fans.

People said they came to the first screening so they could see for themselves what the controversy was about and speak with an informed opinion. The film focuses on the last 12 hours of Jesus’ life and has been criticized for graphic violence as well as images that some fear could foment anti-

Jewish sentiment.

Once the film began, the intensity of the violence caused many to turn their heads from the screen.

During the real-time scourging scene, where Jesus is whipped to a bloody pulp, many began to openly weep. “It was completely powerful and heartbreaking,” said a visibly shaken Amee Akers. “It touched me more than anything I’ve ever experienced. I think one viewing may be enough.”

But others, including Daryl Pine, were incensed. Pine, who is Jewish, felt the violence of the film was presented without any context for the life of Jesus, and found the depiction of the Jewish high priests anti-Semitic.

“The violence was stomped down on top of us,” she said. “And (Gibson) made the Jews look like dirty, evil scoundrels.”

Aspiring Mexican actress Isabella Buenfil, who describes herself as “very Catholic,” shrugged her shoulders when asked about the film’s portrayal of Jews.

“The truth hurts,” she said.

In New York, the debate also raged. Jewish and Catholic religious leaders attended a noon showing of the film together at the United Artists complex on 2nd Avenue on the Upper East Side.

The American Bible Society bought 8,000 tickets to New York area showing this week and distributed them free to churches, walk-ins and others who responded to their ads on Christian radio stations. All the tickets were long gone by Wednesday, the society said, and the only part of the promotion that didn’t pan out was a plan to bring 200 youth offenders to see the film: It was too violent, authorities decided.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

WORLD & NATION THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2004 · PAGE 7

Bush seeks constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage Washington (L.A. Times) — President George W. Bush on Tuesday called for a constitutional amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, as he expressed alarm at the gay marriages conducted in San Francisco and the potential for same-sex weddings soon in Massachusetts.

In backing an amendment, which his conservative supporters regarded as long overdue, Bush thrust the gay marriage issue squarely into the presidential campaign and all but ensured that the controversy would remain alive well beyond the November election.

“If we are to prevent the meaning of marriage from being changed forever, our nation must enact a constitutional amendment to protect marriage in America,” Bush said in a statement that he read at a hastily arranged appearance in the Roosevelt Room of the White House.

He emphasized that he understood the historical consequences of his stance, declaring: “An amendment to the Constitution is never to be undertaken lightly. The amendment process has addressed many serious matters of national concern. And the preservation of marriage rises to this level of national importance.”

The president exited the room abruptly after his fiveminute statement, leaving the shouted questions from the reporters hanging in the air.

Bush’s announcement drew lavish praise from social conservatives, who form the core of the president’s political base, and condemnation from civil rights advocates and gay rights activists.

The president’s call to ban gay marriage came only a day after he had abandoned his abovethe-fray stance in the presidential campaign and openly attacked Sen. John Kerry (DMass.), the Democratic front-

runner for that party’s nomination.

Both Kerry and his leading challenger in the race, Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.). oppose gay marriages but say the issue should be left to the states. The senators separately accused Bush on Tuesday of playing politics with the controversy.

“All Americans should be concerned when a president who is in political trouble tries to tamper with the Constitution of the United States at the start of his re-election campaign,” Kerry said. He said Bush was “looking for a wedge issue to divide the American people.”

Edwards said in a statement: “We have had our Constitution for more than 200 years. We amended it to abolish slavery and to ensure women could vote. We should not amend it over politics.”

While the president said the Constitution should restrict marriage to the union of a man and a woman, he also said state legislatures should be free to “make their own choices in defining legal arrangements other than marriage,” such as civil unions. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.) and 115 cosponsors already have introduced a proposed amendment in Congress that they say would take that approach.

Civil unions, legal only in Vermont, offer same-sex couples the identical state rights and benefits that married couples enjoy. But because civil unions have no federal standing, same-sex couples cannot take advantage of an array of federal benefits, such as filing joint federal tax returns and receiving survivors’ Social Security benefits.

Kerry said Tuesday that while he opposes gay marriage, he sees civil unions as an appropriate way to extend legal protections to gays and lesbians. Bush opposes civil unions, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said, although the

president believes that states should decide individually whether to allow them.

Historically, proposed constitutional amendments face long odds, even when they have presidential backing. They require the approval of both houses of Congress — by a two-thirds majority — and ratification by three-quarters of the state legislatures. Over the years, thousands of amendments have been proposed but only 17 have overcome those high hurdles since the original 10 were enacted as the Bill of Rights.

On Capitol Hill, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said his subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee would hold hearings on the issue, starting next week.

“It is very likely that we will act,” said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) although he declined to predict whether the Senate would vote this year on an amendment.

One prominent Republican, David Dreier (R-Calif.), said he would not support an amendment.

“I believe that this should go through the courts,” said Dreier, the influential chairman of the House Rules Committee. “We’re at a point where it’s not necessary, from my perspective.”

The current controversy erupted when the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, in rulings in November and earlier this month, said that the state Constitution guaranteed same-sex couples the right to wed. The court said marriage licenses could be given to gay couples as early as May. Afterward, Bush said in a statement: “If activist judges insist on redefining marriage by court order, the only alternative will be the constitutional process.”

Conservatives immediately began pressing Bush to back such an amendment, but until see MARRIAGE, page 12

S. Korea proposes deal between U.S., North Korea Bejing (L.A. Times) — South Korea attempted to broker a deal between the United States and North Korea on the first day of six-nation talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programs, proposing “countermeasures” if the North Korean government froze all its programs as a verifiable first step toward dismantling them.

Speaking to reporters after the opening session of the talks here Wednesday, South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-hyuck declined to elaborate on what the “countermeasures” might include. But he said the proposal, which also included beginning regular, working-level discussions within two weeks, would be discussed further

when the talks continue Thursday.

North Korea has offered to freeze its nuclear weapons programs in exchange for “compensation,” including security guarantees and economic aid. But the Bush administration has said a freeze is inadequate, insisting that Pyongyang must pledge to dismantle its programs before it receives security guarantees and begin dismantling them before it receives economic aid such as fuel oil.

The vague language of the South Korean proposal appeared aimed at bridging the wide gap between the sides, but it was unclear whether either country was interested. U.S. and North Korean negotiators held direct

talks alone after the opening sixparty session, and no information on the session was immediately available.

One obstacle to progress is a dispute over whether Pyongyang is trying to build nuclear weapons by enriching uranium.

North Korea has denied U.S. accusations that it has such a program, acknowledging only an older program to produce nuclear bombs using plutonium extracted from spent fuel rods at a facility in Yongbyon.

Lee said he urged North Korea to clear up concerns about its alleged uranium-based weapons program, but indicated that North Korean officials did not depart from their government’s “basic position.”

Rumsfeld praises Kazakhstan on Iraq, nonproliferation Astana, Kazakhstan (L.A. Times) — The military unit was small, but danger constantly accompanied its task: helping to deactivate and remove bombs, mines and other ordnance from Iraqi roads and fields.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld thanked leaders of this oil-rich Central Asian country Wednesday for sending a platoon of 27 soldiers to assist the military campaign the United States began in Iraq last year.

In a 3 1/2-hour visit, Rumsfeld also praised Kazakhstan — one of five Central Asian republics created out of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 — for its record on nonproliferation.

Kazakhstan turned over its nuclear weapons to Russia after gaining independence, and in 2002 negotiated an agreement with the four other Central Asian countries to create a zone free of nuclear weapons.

“It’s interesting, when one thinks about the problem of Iraq and their unwillingness to disarm, that Kazakhstan stands as an impressive model of how a country can do it,” Rumsfeld said. “Had Iraq followed the Kazakhstan model, after 17 United Nations resolutions, and disarmed the way Kazakhstan did, there would not have been a war.”

Rumsfeld met with Kazakhstan’s prime minister and defense and foreign ministers. President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has ruled since 1990 and tightly controls the secular, autocratic government, was not present.

The country’s capital was moved here from Almaty in 1997. The defense ministry’s headquarters is unfinished, but a gigantic portrait of Nazarbayev dominated the marble lobby where Rumsfeld and the defense minister,

Mukhtar Altynbayev, held a brief news conference.

One major topic of the meeting, officials said, was the security of the Caspian Sea, which borders Kazakhstan and four other countries.

On Wednesday, just before Rumsfeld’s visit, the Kazakh government and a consortium led by an Italian company announced an agreement to develop the Kashagan oil field — the world’s largest oil discovery in the past 30 years — in the northern Caspian. The deal, which anticipates delivery of oil by 2008, resolved a lengthy standoff over the project’s timetable.

“Caspian security, the western portion of Kazakhstan, is important to this country, and it is important to the world that security be assured in that area,” Rumsfeld said. Aides said U.S. assistance could include patrol boats and radar equipment.

Rumsfeld previously visited in April 2002 to thank Kazakhstan for allowing the U.S. free use of its airspace during its campaign to oust the Taliban government in Afghanistan in 2001. The U.S. has no troops in Kazakhstan but is giving the country $4.2 million for military equipment and training this year.

Rumsfeld did not address corruption, political persecution or human rights violations, problems that have been widely noted in Kazakhstan.

The U.S. ambassador, Larry Napper, said in an interview that “the building of protection of human rights” is a key part of a “big, broad relationship with Kazakhstan.”

Ilyas Omarov, an official at the Foreign Ministry, said the government had reduced censorship and encouraged the development of new associations, including feminist and environmental groups.

PAGE 8 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2004

W. tennis continued from page 16 Kim Singer ’06 fought out a tough, three-set match at No. 3, defeating Hannah Hinton 26, 6-3, 6-1. Rounding out the singles for the Bears were wins

by Amanda Saiontz ’07, Michelle Pautler ’07 and Kerry Meath ’05. Saturday marked Pautler’s return after a back sprain sidelined her during the spring season’s first matches.

On Sunday against UMass, Brown won its first doubles point of the season. This time, Beck and Falconi’s strong performance at No. 1 was complemented by an 8-4 win by Arlak and Pautler in the No. 2 slot.

The Bears dropped only one singles match, as Pautler fell to the undefeated Dorothy Iwanowics at No. 4. Falconi had split sets with Jenny

W. hockey continued from page 16 The floodgates opened in the second period, with four Bears contributing five goals.

Amy McLaughlin ’05 found the net first, scoring off Guay’s assist at 5:30. Marguerite McDonald ’04 scored next, scoring her first goal of the year with an assist from McManus.

Ramsay added her second of the game at 7:42, followed by another first-ever career goal, this time from Lauren Deebs ’07 at 13:59.

Ramsay clinched her hat trick with two minutes remaining in the period to give Brown

Munroe before Munroe retired early in the final set.

Illness sidelined Singer on Sunday, and Daisy Ames ’07 stepped up to win a three-set match at No. 6. Arlak, Saiontz and Meath again posted strong straight-set wins, none of them dropping more than five games.

“We’re definitely playing a lot better now,” Beck said. “The first matches are always tough, but now we’re getting our confidence up.”

But Beck acknowledged the need to improve doubles performances. “We were lucky to win the doubles point” against UMass, she said.

Herald staff writer Robbie Corey-Boulet ’07 covers women’s tennis. He can be reached at rcoreyboulet@browndailyherald.com.

the 7-0 advantage going into the third, and scored again in the final period to make the score 8-0.

A second Brown goalie netted her first collegiate shutout, as Jodi Blustin ’06 had 10 saves.

“This weekend boosts our energy and focus for the final weeks of the season,” Ramsay said.

The Bears will return to action this weekend when they play the University of Vermont and Dartmouth College on the road.

Herald staff writer Lexi Costello ’06 covers women’s ice hockey.

She can be reached at acostello@browndailyherald.com.

W. hoops continued from page 16 shooting. Sarah Hayes ’06 recorded a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Apart from statistical achievements, Head Coach Jean Marie Burr noted the defensive pressure applied by Lena McAfee ’07 and Ragan Kenner ’04, and rebounding by Ashley KingBischof ’07, who came off the bench and grabbed eight boards.

Tanara Golston ’04, whose performance in both games netted her Ivy League Player of the Week honors, had an especially impressive game, scoring 17 points and adding eight assists.

Golston, who went on the next night to chip in 15 points and dish out eight assists, is only 26 assists away from Brown’s singleseason assist record. Her average of 6.5 assists per game ranks her first in the Ivy League and 15th in the nation.

“Golston delivers the mail,” said Head Coach Jean Marie Burr.

“She consistently gives the ball in stride.”

“All weekend (Golston) had put pressure on herself to add an offensive threat to her game,” Burr said. “She was the answer to a lot of Penn’s runs.”

The next night, the Bears faced the Princeton Tigers, avenging their 66-53 loss three weeks earlier. There was no question as to which was the better team Saturday — Princeton never led, and the only tie occurred at 2-2.

In the last 10 minutes of the first half, the Bears went on a 193 run, with a three-pointer by McAfee just before the buzzer putting Brown up 35-16. In the second half, Brown again proved too much for the Princeton team, which never came within 17 points.

Burr said she saw both games as examples of the Bears’ ability to play as a team.

“It was a whole team effort regardless of the combination on the court,” she said. “They all connected and communicated well.”

The third-place Brown squad will travel to second-place Dartmouth College Friday and fourth-place Harvard University Saturday.

The Bears must win this weekend to achieve their goal of taking second place in the Ivy League behind Penn.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2004 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 9

UCS continued from page 1 they presented Wednesday. If given that official consent, they will continue the process of site selection, fund-raising and assessing student feedback.

Louella Hill ’04 voiced concerns about the possibility of converting the Urban Environmental Lab and neighboring community garden into a student center. “Students remodeled that building 20 years ago, and today, it is used 24 hours a day by (environmental studies) concentrators and non-concentrators alike,” she said.

“We will protest its destruction until we can fight no more,” Hill said.

Spies said project planners have met with faculty members in the Department of Environmental Studies and that their voice will be incorporated into the overall assessment of potential locations.

Student Activities Chair Rob Montz ’05 inquired as to whether there was space to build a whole new central building, to which Spies said, jokingly, “In Pawtucket.”

Students expressed concerns about preserving open spaces on campus and the need to put faculty recruitment above changes such as satellite fitness centers.

Academic and Administrative Affairs Chair Charley Cummings ’06 asked the two administration representatives to articulate what they felt was Brown’s “biggest weakness.”

“A lot of people have stopped asking for money,” Spies said. “We used to assume we didn’t have the resources to do what other campuses have done. I think we just have to use our resources strategically, including our human resources, which are unmatchable.”

Greene said “Brown has an endearing modesty — it doesn’t have quite the swagger that it deserves.”

Tim Kessler ’04, captain of the men’s club tennis team, attended the meeting to address the club sports proposal UCS debated last week. “Cooperation with the school should increase student benefits, not eliminate them,” he said.

Kessler said the administration must officially recognize club sports “so the Athletic Department cannot arbitrarily ignore our existence.”

While other Ivy League universities boast an average of 34 club sports teams, Brown currently has

Nick Neely / Herald

University administrators respond to questions about a proposed fitness center at Wednesday’s UCS meeting.

16, seven of which would automatically be cut if club sports came under the purview of the Department of Athletics, Kessler said. The department would only recognize club teams for sports for which Brown does not have a varsity team.

Montz said a UCS task force will create a system that fosters club sports but makes sure there is space and money to adequately maintain them.

According to Class of 2007 Representative Ethan Wingfield ’07, Computing and Information Services is developing a plan to cut printing expenses by $20,000 by implementing a printing quota for students and charging for each additional page beyond the user’s quota.

The quota amount, which is currently being projected at 250 pages, would be placed on students’ vending stripe.

“Once a student has exceeded the quota, they would only pay around 5 cents a sheet,” Wingfield said.

Members discussed alternative ways of conserving paper and using money saved via the new system to help subsidize costs for

course material at Allegra.

Because not all students use large amounts of printing paper at the libraries, UCS agreed that statistics need to be compiled and analyzed to see what groups of students print the most and how the quota can best reflect student needs.

Class of 2007 Representative Johnny Lin ’07 and Paul-Emile Dorsainvil ’07 brought UCS’s attention to one of several racist comics circulating on Columbia University’s campus and detailed a pattern of racism that has been developing there throughout Black History Month.

According to Dorsainvil, Columbia students held an “affirmative action bake sale,” which sold goods at prices determined by students’ ethnic background, as students have at a number of other colleges, including the University of California-Irvine.

“I think it goes without saying that members of an institution of higher learning should be more intelligent than this and that this type of garbage is not acceptable,” said Secretary Joel Payne ’05.

Payne urged UCS to construct

an official statement voicing disapproval and to encourage discussion on Brown’s campus regarding the event in the larger context of plurality.

Next Tuesday, UCS will sponsor a campus-wide scavenger hunt in place of the annual lip-sync contest to award the first pick in the housing lottery.

Representative Sonia Gupta said the hunt “will be the greatest event of the year.”

Council members observed a moment of silence for Masha Dexter ’06, who died Tuesday.

Herald staff writer Krista Hachey ’07 can be reached at khachey@browndailyherald.com.

PAGE 10 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2004

Kerry attacks Bush on jobs record Toledo, Ohio (Washington Post) — Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry (DMass.) Wednesday accused the Bush administration of indifference to the plight of U.S. workers who have seen their jobs shipped overseas and offered steps to deal with a problem that has dominated this year’s Democratic campaign.

The Massachusetts senator also vowed not to cut Social Security benefits to help reduce the federal budget deficit, a direct repudiation of a recommendation offered Wednesday on Capitol Hill by Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan. He was joined in this by his sole major rival, Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) who lauded the attention the Fed chairman shined on deficits during the Bush administration, but said in a statement “it is an outrage for him to suggest that we should extend George Bush’s tax cuts on unearned wealth while cutting Social Security benefits that working people earn.”

With Edwards and Kerry sprinting in the remaining days before next week’s 10-state “Super Tuesday” primaries, new polls suggested the daunting task Edwards faces to keep his candidacy viable. The Field poll in California, where Edwards spent the day campaigning, showed him trailing Kerry by 41 percentage points.

Public polls showed gaps of 20 points or more in Ohio and New York, two states where Edwards has hoped to run strongly and has spent considerable time in recent days.

There was somewhat better news in Georgia, where a poll showed Edwards trailing by eight points.

Kerry was on the second day of what his campaign billed a “jobs tour,” to highlight what has happened economically in Ohio and other battleground election states. “Under this administration, America’s middle class has been abandoned, its dreams denied, its Main Street interests ignored and its mainstream values scorned by a White House that puts privilege first, and we must change that,” he said at the University of Toledo.

Kerry highlighted corporate greed and CEO misbehavior for part of the problem and said workers who have played by the rules have suffered, citing a case where one firm dismissed

22,000 employees and the CEO left with a $9.5 million severance package. If he becomes president, Kerry said, “Our government won’t provide a single reward for shipping our jobs overseas or exploiting the tax code to go to Bermuda to avoid paying taxes while sticking the American people with the bill.”

Kerry’s speech, however, underscored the challenge for Democrats as they grapple with the issue. The only new proposals he offered would do nothing to stop companies from moving jobs overseas but would give government and workers more advance notification.

Kerry said he would require companies to give three months’ notice before moving jobs abroad to workers and to government agencies tasked with offering laid-off workers assistance and training. He also said he would require the Labor Department to gather statistics on the number of jobs that have gone overseas, by company, and to report them to Congress on an annual basis, as well as an analysis of why the jobs have been moved.

The Kerry campaign estimated that about 1 million jobs have been moved overseas since Bush took office. Gene Sperling, a top economic adviser in the Clinton administration, who briefed reporters, acknowledged that the steps Kerry proposed Wednesday will not, by themselves, do much to change the behavior of companies, noting that there is not a “silver bullet” when it comes to outsourcing.

Sperling, however, said Kerry has made other proposals, including a manufacturing tax credit, a health care plan that he said would cut corporate costs and an energy plan that would lower production costs for U.S. companies and make it more attractive to keep their plants in this country.

Kerry sought to steer a course between Bush administration economic policies and calls for greater protectionism within his own party, saying workers deserve the truth about what government can and cannot do.

“They don’t have a lot of patience for those who tell them everything is going to be fine if only we have a little more tax cuts for the wealthy or if we cut off trade with the rest of the world,” he said.

Edwards spent the day striksee JOBS, page 12

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2004 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 11

PAGE 12 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2004

Marriage continued from page 7 Tuesday he refrained, saying that he was monitoring events around the country.

In the meantime, more than 3,000 gay and lesbian couples obtained marriage licenses at City Hall in San Francisco, Calif.

In Sandoval County, N.M., a county clerk last week issued marriage licenses to about two dozen gay couples, although the state’s attorney general later issued an opinion saying the licenses were invalid under state law.

Reacting to those developments, Bush said Tuesday: “After more than two centuries of American jurisprudence, and millennia of human experience, a few judges and local authorities are presuming to change the most fundamental institution of civilization. Their actions have created confusion on an issue that requires clarity.

“Decisive and democratic action is needed, because attempts to redefine marriage in

a single state or city could have serious consequences throughout the country,” the president said.

He warned that without a constitutional amendment, gay couples would argue in court that marriages conducted legally in one state, such as Massachusetts, must be considered valid in all states. Under the “full faith and credit” clause of the U.S. Constitution, public acts and judicial proceedings of one state must be recognized by the others.

Legal experts said Bush was correct in asserting that current law could allow courts beyond Massachusetts to endorse gay marriage — but not necessarily for the reason he cited.

Rather than draw on the full faith and credit clause, they said, federal courts and possibly a future U.S. Supreme Court might decide that refusing marriage licenses to gays is discriminatory and denies them equal protection of the law. A constitutional amendment prohibiting gay marriage would eliminate that possibility.

Congress in 1996 overwhelmingly passed the Defense of Marriage Act, which banned federal recognition of same-sex marriages and allowed states to disregard gay and lesbian marriages performed in other states.

Bush vowed to “vigorously defend” that law, but noted that it does not “protect marriage within any state or city.” He also warned: “There is no assurance that the Defense of Marriage Act will not, itself, be struck down by activist courts.” Bush ended his remarks by urging all sides to “conduct this difficult debate in a manner worthy of our country — without bitterness or anger.”

His comments drew sharp and immediate criticism from the Log Cabin Republicans, the

Jobs continued from page 10 ing similar themes in California.

At Pomona College in Claremont, he outlined a wideranging series of steps that he said were designed to lift 10 million Americans out of poverty.

Edwards has touched on his proposals previously, but his theme — that Americans have a moral responsibility to the poor — was striking on a verdant campus where students pay $38,000 a year to attend.

The goal, he said, was to create 5 million jobs, particularly in poor communities. Among

oldest organization of gay conservatives. Its executive director, Patrick Guerriero, characterized an amendment as “writing discrimination into our Constitution” and said the group’s members were “outraged” by Bush’s effort to please his conservative allies by using the Constitution “as a way of scoring points in an election year.”

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (DMass.) said Bush had “betrayed his campaign promise to be ‘a uniter, not a divider.’”

But there was plenty of heartfelt praise for the president as well.

Matt Daniel, head of the Alliance for Marriage and one of only a handful of activists invited to Bush’s speech, expressed his gratitude to the president and added: “Americans believe that gays and lesbians have a right to live as they choose, but they don’t have a right to redefine marriage for our entire society.”

Earl Black, a political scientist at Rice University in Houston, Texas, said Bush’s move may risk the wrath of some centrist voters. But he said the issue may prove more problematic for Democrats, whose rank-and-file supporters include many bluecollar, Catholic voters who likely are “with the president on this one.”

At the same time, Black said, Bush’s position could strengthen the GOP’s hold on the South, where Democrats hope to make inroads in November.

Harvard University’s Robert Blendon, a public opinion specialist, noted that many polls have shown that while most people oppose same-sex marriages, many also are dubious about a constitutional amendment to ban them.

other proposals, Edwards advocated raising the minimum wage by $1.50 per hour, which would raise the earnings of a person making minimum wage by $3,500 a year.

He also advocated eliminating the marriage tax penalty for the working poor, investing in public health centers and public transportation, giving tax credits to companies that create jobs in rural and disadvantaged communities, and creating a government-run venture capital fund to help companies locate in these communities.

“The best anti-poverty program is a good job,” he said. “But we have to do more than that.”

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

OPINIONS EXTRA THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2004 · PAGE 13

BRIAN RAINEY

Looking at my faith in a time of loss Working in the Chaplain’s office, I often hear about student deaths, and I know that this year has been particularly difficult for Brown. But when I heard about the death of Masha Dexter, it hit close to home.

Masha was someone whom I worked with, talked to and who said “hi” to me when we passed each other on campus.

Masha was originally in the Class of 2004 but had to take time off due to her illness. Masha and I knew each other on a professional level — the word “colleague” probably describes our relationship much better than the word “friend.” But that does not mean she had no impact on me.

I got to know Masha our first year through work in the LGBTA. Last year, Masha committed herself to helping a campus resource center for the LGBT community become a reality, and some of the fruits of her labor can be seen in the new resource center in Faunce. Her thoughtfulness and commitment were clear to me because, despite being wrapped up in work for the Sarah Doyle Women’s Center and the Queer Alliance, she would always find time to ask for input about the resource center.

After hearing about Masha’s death, I was shocked, but most of all I was angry. And when I thought about Masha’s long battle with Hodgkin’s Disease, I became even angrier. For God’s sake, no college student should have to go through pain and suffering like that.

In the British film “Priest,” the protagonist, Father

Greg Pilkington, hears a confession from a young girl who reveals that she is being raped by her father. But Rev. Pilkington can do nothing because he is bound by the confidentiality of confession. The atrocities against the girl continue, and in one scene a frustrated and powerless Pilkington, with tears in his eyes, screams at the top of his lungs to a wooden crucifix: “Do something!” I had several Father Pilkington moments this week. I wanted to shake my fist in the air and scream, “Do something!”

Examining personal faith during a tragic time here at Brown.

In fact, at times I was ashamed to be a person of faith. The reality is that the God I worshipped was ultimately responsible for cutting the life of a bright, talented young woman cruelly short, and there really was no explanation for it. That’s pretty embarrassing.

But then, I began to realize why I continued to believe even though I wrestle with God (Gen. 32:2232). I have known several people with life-threatening illness, and I am always fascinated by how they

squeeze so much out of every drop out of life. If I had a terminal disease, I do not think I would feel like doing anything. I would just want to go into a dark corner and drink. But those I know who lived with the spectre of death over their heads assure me that I would not sit in a corner and drink. I would live more fully than I ever had before and appreciate every single moment — just as Masha did.

In first grade, I went to a small evangelical Christian school. One day an elderly woman whom my class had been visiting in a local nursing home died. The problem was that we did not know if she had “accepted Jesus as her personal savior.”

When I reflected on Masha’s life Tuesday, I was grateful I did not subscribe to such a heartless theology, a theology that makes the sum total of a person’s life amount to whether or not they said some magic buzz-phrases to get them into heaven. Masha’s passion, her kindness and her bravery in the face of death itself were, to me, unequivocal proof of a divine presence in her life.

One New Testament writer said that “everyone who loves is born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7).

Though Masha did not see God with the same Christian constructs and symbols that I see him with, that she was born of God and knew God is clear in how she lived and through the love she exhibited.

Brian Rainey ’04 is a religious studies concentrator.

PETER IAN ASEN

Organized labor’s primary problem Organized labor is at risk of dying in America, and you don’t need to look far to see it. Thirteen percent of American workers belong to a union today, whereas about 35 percent belonged to one as recently as the 1960s, and concessionary union contracts are the order of the day.

Of course, big business and politicians are partly to blame for this set of circumstances. However, labor leaders themselves are far from faultless, having eschewed militancy in recent years for safer poses and forsaken prophetic criticism of politicians for an entrée with power. I believe that last Thursday’s AFL-CIO endorsement of Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) for President is yet one more decision that reflects this sort of exasperating thinking atop the House of Labor. It is a decision that will weaken labor’s cause, particularly in industry.

On the one hand, the AFL-CIO, a federation of 60 unions whose 13 million members make up most union workers in America, strikes a pose suggesting that it is unwilling to accept the onward march of the “new economy” that has been heralded by most Republicans and a good chunk of New Democrats. In the months leading up to the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit in Miami this fall, the federation and member unions collected ballots in opposition to the agreement to present to the trade ministers in attendance and helped turn out people for a 20,000-person anti-FTAA march during the summit on Nov. 20.

But getting part of a 20,000-person crowd to Miami was not exactly a singular accomplishment. There is a smell in the air that the unions may have accepted defeat on this issue. And the AFL-CIO’s unqualified marriage to the Democratic Party is not helping matters.

There are significant divisions among elected Democrats on the issue of trade, but the AFL-CIO’s support for the party has become so taken for granted that it has little leverage to try to bring about a more united front for fair trade. Early in the primary campaign, a number of unions threw in their lot with Rep. Dick

Gephardt (D-MO), overlooking his blandness because he had been such a longtime, committed opponent of unfettered free trade.

While Gephardt led the fight against NAFTA in 1993, John Kerry was on the other side, supporting the agreement in the Senate. Kerry also supported Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China in 2000, despite the absence of annual reviews of China’s trade status in the bill and with memories of Kathie Lee Gifford handbags being made for 3 cents an hour in a Qin Shi factory still fresh in American minds.

In July, when Congress approved proposed agreements with Singapore and China, 24 Democratic sena-

The AFL-CIO exposes its weakness by endorsing Kerry. tors, including John Edwards, along with seven Republicans and one independent, voted against each agreement, while Kerry sat the votes out.

The issue is not that of opposing trade at all costs, but opposing agreements where little or no thought is given to environmental standards and worker’s rights. When Democrats afraid of being branded anti-trade or simply unconcerned with fair trade jumpstart the neoliberal gravy train, the possibility of agreements that take such standards seriously becomes ever more unlikely.

Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) is not labor’s messiah. But so long as he is in the race and remains a viable candidate, he is a much better choice than Kerry for the labor movement. Edwards’ lifetime 94 percent AFL-CIO rating is extraordinarily impressive considering that he comes from the state with the lowest union density in the coun-

try (3 percent). Although Edwards was not in Congress when NAFTA came up for a vote, he has been harshly critical of the agreement during his campaign, a stance that is lent some credibility by his votes on Singapore and Chile. Kerry, meanwhile, has been muddled. While he has been unwilling to retract any of his previous trade votes, Kerry panicked last week under Edwards’ attacks on the issue, which may have helped the Southerner come within six points in Wisconsin, and said the pair had “identical positions” on trade. Kerry’s Web site says that the senator “believes all new trade agreements must have strong labor and environmental standards,” a stance that raises the question: What about the old ones?

I’m not saying that the AFL-CIO should have endorsed Edwards at this point, though I do think such an endorsement would send a strong message that the federation cares about more than anointing a winner to the Democratic primary as quick as possible. Even withholding support for Kerry until the race is really over would have constituted some sort of stand.

Of course, ending the race quickly is, according to conventional wisdom, best for the ultimate goal of beating the President. Yet the myopic nature of the Beat Bush philosophy reveals inattention to the deeper question: Are things going to get better for workers in the United States under a John Kerry presidency, or is the bleeding just going to slow down?

In the not-so-long term, this is a crucial question for the AFL-CIO. Given the continuing shift of much of the Democratic Party away from fair trade, the AFL-CIO’s unqualified commitment to the Dems is looking like a great way for labor to finish digging its own grave. John Kerry can only laugh as he watches AFL-CIO President John Sweeney crawling into his camp, hoping for recognition, shoveling dirt into the air over his head at a breathtaking rate.

Peter Ian Asen ’04 is a member of the Brown Student Labor Alliance.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

EDITORIAL/LETTERS THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2004 · PAGE 14 S T A F F

E D I T O R I A L

Paint the walls A number of significant works of art currently grace the Brown campus. The trouble is, there’s no room here to teach us how to produce them.

The Department of Visual Art can hardly meet demand for studio classes among its concentrators, according to Department Chair Richard Fishman. As for first-years and non-concentrators who want to take an art class beyond VA10: “Studio Foundation,” they are simply out of luck.

Central to this problem is the lack of studio space in List Art Building.

This weekend, University administrators will present to the Corporation a campus life plan that includes construction of a student center, among other campus facilities. And while the amenities of this student center have yet to be determined, we hope art studios will find their way into student center blueprints, whenever they are drawn.

Students have made it clear to the University what their most pressing needs are — a fitness center, 24-hour study spaces and improved dining facilities among them. But undergraduates’ recent difficulties enrolling for art classes leave us convinced that studio spaces should also be added to the list.

Art studios are remarkably versatile rooms: during mornings and afternoons, they could accommodate painting, drawing and sculpture classes.

At night, the spaces could double as classrooms for sections, rehearsal rooms, meeting rooms and informal performance and study spaces.

Considering the massive construction projects administrators and architects envision, it is easy to conceive of studio spaces being slipped into the plans.

And while it’s true that increasing studio space is not foremost among campus life priorities, there is something to be said for giving students room to be artists, as well as students, athletes and organizers. A multi-talented group of students deserves a multi-faceted environment, just as the capacity to make art demands some spatial versatility.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD EDITORIAL Juliette Wallack, Editor-in-Chief Carla Blumenkranz, Executive Editor Philissa Cramer, Executive Editor Julia Zuckerman, Senior Editor Danielle Cerny, Arts & Culture Editor Meryl Rothstein, Arts & Culture Editor Zachary Barter, Campus Watch Editor Monique Meneses, Features Editor Sara Perkins, Metro Editor Dana Goldstein, RISD News Editor Alex Carnevale, Opinions Editor Ben Yaster, Opinions Editor Christopher Hatfield, Sports Editor PRODUCTION Lisa Mandle, Design Editor George Haws, Copy Desk Chief Eddie Ahn, Graphics Editor Judy He, Photo Editor Nick Neely, Photo Editor

BUSINESS John Carrere, General Manager Lawrence Hester, General Manager Anastasia Ali, Executive Manager Zoe Ripple, Executive Manager Elias Vale Roman, Senior Project Manager In Young Park, Project Manager Peter Schermerhorn, Project Manager Laird Bennion, Project Manager Bill Louis, Senior Financial Officer Laurie-Ann Paliotti, Sr. Advertising Rep. Elyse Major, Advertising Rep. Kate Sparaco, Office Manager POST- MAGAZINE Ellen Wernecke, Editor-in-Chief Jason Ng, Executive Editor Micah Salkind, Executive Editor Abigail Newman, Theater Editor Josh Cohen, Design Editor Allison Lombardo, Features Editor Jeremy Beck, Film Editor Jessica Weisberg, Film Editor Ray Sylvester, Music Editor

SHANE WILKERSON

LETTERS Career Development Center has specific goals To the Editor: The Herald’s effort to inform the Brown community about the Career Development Center is to be applauded (“New career director tries to increase office visibility,” Feb. 19). However, the editorial that ran concurrently (“Performance evaluation,” Feb. 19) offered some misconceptions, and we feel it would be helpful to clarify some additional information.

It seems that some students expect the CDC to serve as a placement agency or headhunter service.

While many want this office to provide the perfect internship or job, in fact, we serve students most effectively if we provide you with the strategies, tools and resources to identify and develop your individual career path. We believe that career development is an ongoing, integrated part of the Brown learning experience. Your commitment to this process will serve you most successfully not just in your first position beyond Brown, but throughout your lifetime.

Career Development offers more than just investment banking or consulting jobs. Did you know that our office is hosting organizations as diverse as Pixar Animation Studios, Ruder Finn Public Relations and Microsoft? Our active recruitment calendar continues to bring a variety of industries to campus, including non-profits, communications, publishing, engineering and technology, education, and law. Students must learn to access opportunities through our on-campus recruiting system Brown JobLink/eRecruiting. Currently there are over 4,500 full-time positions and 2,400 intern-

ships posted on this network, and more than 120 “Brown only” positions on the Brown-to-Brown ListServe. We are happy to receive contact information from students, faculty and administrators who have information to help us build our network.

The use of peer counselors throughout the University is a widely used and highly valued Brown practice. Our Peer Career Counselors receive ongoing training and supervision, and they staff the walk-in hours with a professional Career Counselor.

They offer students feedback on resumes and cover letters, as well as help them navigate the Career Development Resource Library. Students are strongly urged to work with the professional counselors by scheduling individual appointments.

The Career Development Center offers a plethora of resources for career counseling, internships and graduate school preparation as well as employment opportunities. The process of career decision making and securing a meaningful job is one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences students will face. Many students choose Brown because they want to accept the opportunity and responsibility to design their own academic program. A similar opportunity awaits you as you consider career opportunities. We invite you to work with us to prepare for life beyond Brown.

Kimberly DelGizzo Associate Dean of the College Director, Career Development Center Feb. 20

Udit Narayan, Night Editor Jennifer Resch, Amy Ruddle, Melanie Wolfgang, Copy Editors Staff Writers Kathy Babcock, Zaneta Balantac, Elise Baran, Alexandra Barsk, Zachary Barter, Hannah Bascom, Danielle Cerny, Robbie Corey-Boulet, Lexi Costello, Ian Cropp, Sam Culver, Gabriella Doob, Jonathan Ellis, Justin Elliott, Amy Hall Goins, Dana Goldstein, Bernard Gordon, Krista Hachey, Chris Hatfield, Jonathan Herman, Miles Hovis, Robby Klaber, Kate Klonick, Alexis Kunsak, Sarah LaBrie, Hanyen Lee, Julian Leichty, Kira Lesley, Allison Lombardo, Chris Mahr, Craig McGowan, Lisa Mandle, Craig McGowan, Jonathan Meachin, Monique Meneses, Kavita Mishra, Sara Perkins, Melissa Perlman, Eric Perlmutter, Sheela Raman, Cassie Ramirez, Meryl Rothstein, Michael Ruderman, Emir Senturk, Jen Sopchockchai, Lela Spielberg, Adam Stern, Stefan Talman, Joshua Troy, Schuyler von Oeyen, Jessica Weisberg, Brett Zarda Accounts Managers Daniel Goldberg, Mark Goldberg, Victor Griffin, Matt Kozar, Natalie Ho, Ian Halvorsen, Sarena Snider Pagination Staff Peter Henderson, Lisa Mandle, Alex Palmer Photo Staff Gabriella Doob, Benjamin Goddard, Marissa Hauptman, Judy He, Miyako Igari, Allison Lombardo, Elizabeth MacLennan, Nicholas Neely, Michael Neff, Alex Palmer, Yun Shou Tee, Sorleen Trevino Copy Editors Katie Lamm, Asad Reyaz, Amy Ruddle, Melanie Wolfgang

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

OPINIONS THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2004 · PAGE 15

ELLEN HUNTER

The economics of electability Great speculative episodes are the most ridiculous of recurring phenomena in modern history. One of the first was Tulipmania, when 17th-century speculators in Holland drove the price of a single flower bulb to 3,000 florins, the equivalent of $50,000 today. Unable to sustain overvaluation, the market crashed, tulip prices plummeted, and investors went belly up. According to economist John Kenneth Galbraith, “the speculative episode always ends not with a whimper but with a bang.”

Yet here we are again in the midst of a great speculative episode, the Democratic primaries. And thus far Democratic investors and the speculative media have grossly overvalued Sen. John Kerry’s (D-Mass.) chances in November. Consistent with Galbraith’s account in “A Brief History of Financial Euphoria,” the first two stages of speculation, Euphoria and Overvaluation, have occurred.

Only the Crash — the Election Day realization that John Kerry cannot defeat George W. Bush — remains if Galbraith’s formula is correct and applicable. But the speculation phase of the frontloaded Democratic primaries is now dying down. Neither the media, shocked

by Wisconsin’s results, nor anti-Bush Democrats can ignore the early misalignment of Kerry with electability, for the race may be changing course.

If Democrats send Kerry’s challenger to battle in November, realizing that Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) has the best chance of overthrowing President Bush, this will be more than a primary result; it will be a milestone for human history. For the first time, investors will gently deflate a speculative bubble before it pops.

Consider the progression and end to the primaries in light of Galbraith’s stages of speculation.

Stage One: Euphoria. John Kerry’s value, his perceived electability, boomed from Iowa to Nevada. The media deemed Kerry electable after surprising victories in Iowa

and New Hampshire (38 and 39 percent), and he has won 18 of 20 primaries on a wave of electability. Kerry has commanded over 70 percent of voters mainly seeking a candidate who “can beat George W. Bush in November.” Since Iowa, euphoric Democrats have hyped Kerry’s ability to defeat Bush.

Stage Two: Overvaluation. Bandwagon investors, antiBush Democrats in this case, artificially inflated our sense of the frontrunner’s chances come November.

Galbraith cautions that overvaluation occurs when investors predict future value on the basis of other investors’ present actions. More and more Democrats have invested in Kerry’s electability, and as a result, Kerry

Speculative episodes all have a similar result. appears electable.

Kerry’s true chance of defeating Bush is unchanged by this speculation. Anti-Bush Democrats will throw their support behind the eventual nominee, but, by definition, swing voters swing. The preferred candidate of independents and conservatives, not of the mass of Democrats investing in Kerry’s electability, is most electable.

Undeniably, Kerry does have some appeal with swing voters. He gets high marks for being a veteran and for having experience. The media and Democratic speculators justify equating Kerry with electability using these facts. But these considerations cloud our understanding of what lies beneath the data, truer indicators of a candidate’s odds come November.

This is where things get really crazy. Throw out the

Democrats who say electability is most important, and John Kerry might not even be the front-runner in the Democratic primaries.

According to MSNBC’s exit polls, Kerry would have lost to Senator John Edwards in Tennessee (31 to 34 percent) without voters whose top priority is electability.

Edwards would still have won South Carolina by a slightly larger margin. Both Edwards and General Wesley Clark would have defeated Kerry in Oklahoma (32 to 32 to 19 percent). In New Hampshire, Kerry and Howard Dean would have tied at 29 percent. Kerry would have won several states with tremendously lower margins: Delaware (with 35 instead of 50 percent), Missouri (with 39 instead of 51 percent), Arizona (with 32 instead of 43 percent), and Virginia (with 42 instead of 52 percent).

Most importantly, Edwards is slaughtering Kerry among independents, Republicans and conservative Democrats. While closed primaries do not offer precise measures, Edwards carried a large part of the 30 percent of independents and 10 percent of Republicans in Wisconsin’s open primary.

To this point, foolishly euphoric investors, using each other and the media’s determination of electability, have made Kerry the frontrunner, while the truest indicators suggest that John Edwards is most capable of defeating President Bush.

Stage Three: The Crash. Thankfully, the wave of speculation around John Kerry is dying before he can ride it all the way to the nomination. Thanks to Edwards’ strong showing in Wisconsin, Democrats and the media must second-guess the false association of John Kerry with electability and may actually select John Edwards, the candidate with the best chance of beating Bush. If they do, the Democratic party will avoid the fate of speculators throughout history.

Ellen Hunter ’04 is a political science concentrator.

STEPHEN BEALE

The gay marriage myth The nationwide campaign to extend marriage to homosexuals cannot escape a fundamental paradox: activists are now agitating to be included in the very institution that they have been attacking for decades.

The 1972 Gay Rights Platform, for example, called for the “repeal of all legislative provisions that restrict the sex or number of persons entering into a marriage unit.”

Likewise, in the early 1990s attorney Paula Ettelbrick chastised fellow activists who had become enamored of same-sex marriage, reminding them that marriage “has long been the focus of radical feminist revulsion.” Even the prominently pro-marriage Andrew Sullivan confessed that the “truth is, homosexuals are not entirely normal; and to flatten their varied and complicated lives into a single, moralistic model is to miss what is essential and exhilarating about their otherness.” The statistical evidence reinforces these statements. The case of Vermont, which recently passed a civil unions law, is especially instructive. Last month, USA Today reported that civil unions have a “limited appeal” to homosexual couples, only half of which have entered into civil unions.

In America, marriage both denotes a system of legal benefits and refers to a particular form of social organization that bears the stamp of approval from the state. It is the desire for this latter privilege that drives the crusade for gay marriage. Again, the example of Vermont is revealing. A psychologist at the University of Vermont who conducted a study of civil unions found that only 20 percent of the civil union couples surveyed were motivated by “legal reasons.”

The issue of gay marriage is therefore part of a broader agenda that involves far more than just mere tolerance. It is an agenda that strives for unconditional acceptance on the part of all who might harbor homophobia — the military, the Boy Scouts and churches that receive federal funds. It is an agenda that may very well end in the destruction of the traditional family and the dissolution of marriage as a meaningful institution in American society.

These sexual revolutionaries have wrapped their case for gay marriage in the rhetoric of rights and responsi-

bilities. Andrew Sullivan is the foremost advocate of the “conservative” case for gay marriage, which focuses on responsibility. Sullivan argues that gay marriage merits the support of “those conservatives who deplore promiscuity among some homosexuals.” This claim, however, does not address the argument that the success of marriage depends in large part upon the ways in which the male and female genders complement each other.

Again, the evidence favors the conservative case against gay marriage.

According to a report released by the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, male homosexual unions in Sweden are 50 percent more likely to end in divorce than heterosexual marriages. The corresponding statistic for female same-sex marriages is 170 percent.

The same pattern has repeated itself in Vermont: nearly 40 percent of the civil union homosexual couples have had a previous heterosexual marriage. Even if marriage did foster responsibility among homosexuals, that alone

An institution in jeopardy. would not justify extending marital rights to them, for responsibility is only one dimension of the web of social and personal connections embodied in marriage.

In contrast to this distinctly libertarian perspective, social liberals have presented gay marriage as one of the constituent rights of citizenship. Yet complex social arrangements cannot always be reduced to simple legal formulas. The Goodridge decision in Massachusetts provides one possible legal approach — an application of the idea of equal protection of the laws. This phrase first appeared in the 14th Amendment as essentially a restatement of the basic concept of citizenship: equality before the law. The framers of the amendment merely intended to ensure that the fundamental rights of citizenship were applied to newly-free slaves in the South.

Contemporary laws relating to marriage already satisfy the requirement of equal protection: Everyone has a right to marry someone else of the opposite sex. Thus, the issue of gay marriage revolves around the definition

of marriage — not the rights of citizenship. The argument of the liberals is therefore not with the law; it is with tradition, for the law merely recognizes a pre-existing social reality.

The traditional definition of marriage is as follows: Marriage is the union of a man and a woman for the purpose of begetting and raising children. Marriages that do not have children still count as marriages because they retain the procreative potential. While liberals counter that the definition of marriage is constantly changing, this is not really true. The biblical concept of marriage has governed Western societies for millennia. And although the Romans and the Greeks experimented with forms of homosexuality, these relationships were never equivalent to marriage.

The institution of the marriage has been the one social constant that has survived the fall of the Roman Empire, barbarian invasions, the disorder of feudalism and tumult of modern social and political revolutions.

The family precedes the nation-state, democracy, rights and citizenship. It is the first institution of civil society and therefore something not to be trifled with. Until the left offers its own definition of marriage, social conservatives have secured the moral and intellectual high ground in the culture war. Even if radical liberals do formulate an alternative definition, the burden of proof is on them to demonstrate why their definition should prevail over centuries of tradition.

As it now stands, the casual conception of marriage as a contract between two adults — suggested by the liberals and libertarians — is even more arbitrary than the current definition. It would not withstand further expansion of marriage. The cumulative effect would be to eventually define marriage out of existence.

As marriage encompasses increasingly diverse sexual relationships, it depreciates in value and its appeal declines. Indeed, every time social norms regarding sexuality have been relaxed in the past century, the family has suffered. That is ultimately why gay marriage is so dangerous.

Stephen Beale ’04 is a classics and history concentrator.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

SPORTS THURSDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2004 · PAGE 16

Gymnastics sweeps events, beats URI for first time in 25 years at home meet

BY BROOKE WOLFE

The Brown gymnastics team defeated the University of Rhode Island for the first time in almost 25 years in a Sunday meet at the Pizzitola Sports Center.

Final scores for the meet were Brown 190.025, URI 187.525 and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 185.275.

Co-captains Gina Verge ’04 and Jayne Finst ’04 each had two first-place finishes, sweeping all four events. They also placed first and second in the all-around, with scores of

38.600 and 38.375 respectively.

On the uneven bars, Verge had a flawless performance and finished in first place with a score of 9.750. She finished the routine with a difficult twoand-a-half twist layout on her landing. Verge also won the beam with 9.700. Other strong performances in the event came from Mandi Baughman ’06, who took second with 9.550, and Katherine Slawsky ’07, with a score of 9.425.

The floor routine was the final event for Brown and one of the most exciting. Melissa

Forziat ’05 led the team off with a solid performance. Verge was able to take third with 9.725, despite a taped right ankle. One of the last routines of the day was Finst. Her routine included a two-and-a-half double twist and a double back pike, earning her a first-place finish in the event with 9.850.

Team members said they were excited about the win and look forward to traveling to Cornell University for the 2004 Ivy Classic. Their next home competition will be March 14 at the Pizzitola.

Michigan road trip produces split for surging m. tennis

BY CRAIG MCGOWAN

Aditya Mohan

The women’s tennis team came on strong this weekend, taking matches from the University of Cincinnati and University of Massachusetts-Amherst, both by scores of 6-1.

Cincinnati, UMass prove no match for w. tennis

BY ROBBIE COREY-BOULET

The women’s tennis team scored its first two wins of the season in dominating performances against the University of Cincinnati and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst at home last weekend. Coming off two tough losses at the start of the season, the team used the strength of its healthy lineup and improved doubles play to beat both teams by a score of 61.

Against unranked Cincinnati, the Bears were unable to secure the doubles point despite a solid performance by Captain Victoria Beck ’04 and Stephanie Falconi ’06 at the No. 2 position.

Beck’s solid net play wore down the groundstrokes of the Cincinnati team, securing an 86 win in the final games.

Coach Norma Taylor expressed disappointment with Saturday’s doubles play.

“I think the doubles point was very winnable against

Cincinnati,” she said. “However, our No. 1 and No. 3 teams did not play and execute their shots well.”

But Brown overcame this initial setback with the help of six strong singles performances, only one of which was pushed to three sets.

After struggling through the beginning of the first set, Falconi eventually found the rhythm of her baseline game to defeat Lyndsey Maloney 6-4, 63. At No. 2, Alexandra Arlak ’05 used her movement and speed to counter the heavy-hitting Cristina Reyes in straight sets.

Taylor said she was impressed with Arlak’s play against a solid opponent.

“She competed well, executed her shots well and made good choices,” Taylor said. “She has definitely matured as a competitor.” see W. TENNIS, page 8

The men’s tennis team took to the road last weekend for a pair of matches against Michigan State University and the University of Michigan. The 49th-ranked Bears defeated No. 47 MSU on Feb. 21, 6-1, before falling the next day to Michigan 4-3. Brown is now 5-1 this spring.

In its first match against a ranked opponent this spring, Brown came out blazing.

Doubles play has been a strength of the Bears all year, and, at MSU, they swept the doubles. In singles, 86th-ranked co-captain Jamie Cerretani ’04 won a hard-fought match against Andrew Formanczyk 67(2), 6-1, 1-0(10-5).

Nick Goldberg ’05, Adil Shamasdin ’05 and Eric Thomas ’07 all won their singles matches in straight sets, and co-captain

Using great offense, the women’s basketball team (1310, 6-4 Ivy) knocked off the University of Pennsylvania, 8575, Friday and Princeton University, 59-39, Saturday at the Pizzitola Sports Center to reach third place in the Ivy League. The weekend sweep extended the Bears’ winning streak to three games.

Penn came into the Pizzitola

previously undefeated in Ivy play at 7-0. At their previous meeting, Jan. 31, the Quakers had defeated the Bears, 73-63, never letting Brown get within five points the second half.

Things were different this time around, as Brown started out the game quickly and took a 7-2 lead. Penn tied the game at 18 midway through the first half but was unable to take the lead, and the Bears went into

41 team of Anthony Jackson and Brian Hung 8-5.

But in singles play, Michigan came back strong. Cerretani fell to No. 40 Michael Rubin 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, and Brier lost 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 to Ryan Heller. Though Goldberg and Shamasdin were able to win their singles matches, losses by Pasanen and Thomas sealed the victory for Michigan.

“We got into the singles, and Michigan just really showed how tough they are,” Harris said.

“Our expectations kind of held us back, and we let one slip away.”

Brown looks to rebound against Hofstra University Feb. 29 in a home match at the Pizzitola Sports Center.

Herald staff writer Craig McGowan ’07 covers men’s tennis. He can be reached at cmcgowan@browndailyherald.com.

W. icers take weekend series, beating Union by combined 18-0

BY LEXI COSTELLO

The women’s hockey team defeated the Dutchmen of Union College 10-0 Friday night and 8-0 Saturday afternoon to sweep its weekend series at home.

A little offense, then a little defense do the trick as w. basketball takes two

BY BEN MILLER

Ben Brier ’04 tacked on a 4-6, 64, 1-0(8) victory over Eric Simonton.

Zach Pasanen ’06 suffered the only loss of the day for Brown, dropping a 6-1, 6-4 decision to Joseph McWilliams.

The Bears’ victory was all the more impressive considering that MSU had defeated 2003 NCAA runner-up Vanderbilt only a week earlier.

“We went in and played well, competed well, and along the way realized the high level our team is at right now,” said Head Coach Jay Harris.

Unfortunately, that high level of play could not lift Brown to victory the next day against Michigan. Once again, Brown doubles were triumphant, winning two of the three matches. In a battle of ranked teams, the ninth-ranked team of Cerretani and Shamasdin defeated the No.

halftime up 31-24.

In the second half, Brown extended its lead to as many as 16 points, ultimately defeating the Quakers 85-75.

The final score set a season high for the Bears, who had four players score in double figures. Leading the offensive charge was Nyema Mitchell ’04, who scored 25 points on 11-18 see W. HOOPS, page 8

In Friday’s game, Brown cruised to a 4-0 advantage in the first seven minutes of play.

Krissy McManus ’05 led the assault, scoring the opener at the 7:29 mark. Assistant captain Katie Guay ’05 scored the Bears’ second goal 25 seconds later, with Ashlee Drover ’06 and Margaret Ramsay ’06 earning assists. Jessica Link ’05 extended the deficit to 3-0 with a quick shot to the corner at 8:11, and Bruno finished its opening attack as Ramsay found the top shelf at 14:22 to put Brown up by four.

The Bears kept up the attack in the second, doubling their lead with four more goals.

McManus and Link each scored twice in the period, earning a pair of hat tricks in a dominant performance. Keaton Zucker ’06 and Myria Heinhuis ’06 earned assists on Link’s goal, her 21st of the season.

Zucker and McManus scored in the third to make the final score 10-0.

“After three tough losses, two easy wins were just what we needed,” McManus said.

“Without the pressure, we found our momentum and confidence easily.”

Marie-Pier Desbiens ’07 made 15 saves to earn the shutout in her first start as goalie for the Bears.

The following afternoon, the Bears picked up where they left off, scoring a pair of quick goals in the opening frame. Brown had 26 shots on goal in the first period, while the Dutchmen only managed three. Katie Lafleur ’04 scored her first goal of the season, and 20 seconds later Ramsay extended the lead to 2-0 with the first of her four goals in the game. see W. HOCKEY, page 8