M O N D A Y MARCH 8, 2004
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXIX, No. 27
An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891
www.browndailyherald.com
Cornel West stresses critical thinking in Tikkun conference speech Cornel West, renowned public intellectual and Princeton University professor of religion and African American studies, spoke Friday night to a packed Salomon 101 as part of the Tikkun Community’s National Student Conference. West, the co-chair of national Tikkun, gave an animated speech, arguing that Judaism is a religion with an inherently revolutionary ideology and positing that people of all religious faiths need to reclaim spirituality from the right wing in order to advance a worldview of peace and justice, as opposed to one of preemption and exploitation. Progressive American activists need not be afraid of embracing spirituality, West said, but should not forget “secular footnotes” in history, such as “the best of Marxism” and liberalism. During the question-and-answer session, West cautioned against a “colorblind” world and said that because of the history of U.S. slavery and the Jim Crow era, which persisted until 1967 when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down laws prohibiting racial intermarriage, he would rather be seen as a black man than just as a man. When a student asked during the question-and-answer period if affirmative action contributed to resentment between people of different races, West said it would not if it were implemented in such a way that race was not used to boost up unqualified applicants but only to differentiate within large pools of qualified applicants. In response to a student who asked about a “no state” solution in IsraelPalestine, West said there was much to be learned from anarchist thinkers but cautioned against underestimating the tendency throughout human history for
Nick Neely / Herald
Cornel West, the co-chair of the national Tikkun Community, which advocates a middle path in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, gave the keynote address at Tikkun’s National Student Conference this weekend.The conference also featured workshops on peace and spirituality and an address by co-chair Rabbi Michael Lerner (page 5).
Strike at Penn keeps grad student unionization in spotlight BY MELANIE WOLFGANG
A recent graduate student strike at the University of Pennsylvania has had a mixed impact on graduate student unionization efforts at Brown. Implemented by Graduate Employees Together-University of Pennsylvania, the strike occurred Feb. 26 and Feb. 27. Close to 300 members of GET-UP voted Feb. 23 in an 83 percent majority to strike. Small groups of protestors picketed at six areas around campus, and at the end of the day, approximately 85 people gathered to hear speeches from GET-UP leadership, the Daily Pennsylvanian reported. “This is not a small, vocal minority. This is a large, pissed-off majority,” GET-UP Chairman David Faris told the Daily
see WEST, page 8
People at the training school can write for a publication called the Hidden T.R.E.W.T.H., and students on the outside can contribute to Muzine, both of which are published by the Broad Street Press. “These workshops also have performances every eight weeks that showcase kid’s art, so they start getting a feel of sharing and really putting something together and working towards something as a project,” Gonzalez said. Since students at the training school are already familiar with the instructors,
should preclude their status as university employees. Supporters saw the strike as the next step in GET-UP’s effort to have the National Labor Relations Board count graduate student votes from one year ago regarding the ability of grad students to unionize. Initially, the NLRB classified graduate students strictly as students, but it later reversed its decision, stating that many grad students could actually also be considered university employees, given their role as teaching assistants, teaching fellows and graduate student proctors. As such, they had the right to organize and bargain collectively with the university administration. In December 2002, the Penn administration appealed the NLRB decision, though the board has not yet announced its evaluation of this appeal. Brown issued a similar appeal to the NLRB in December 2001, requesting that the board outlaw graduate student unionization. The board is still considering the appeal. Like GET-UP, the Brown Graduate Employee Organization, which has been campaigning for unionization under the United Auto Workers since 2001, is also waiting for votes to be counted from their own unionization vote. Unlike GET-UP, however, BGEO/UAW has not indicated that a strike would be appropriate at this time.
see BROAD STREET, page 4
see UNIONS, page 4
Pennsylvanian. Penn administrators told the Daily Pennsylvanian the strike was minimally disruptive, although several classes were canceled. The strike rekindled campus dialogue on the unionization issue. In a statement issued Feb. 25, Penn Vice President of Communications Lori Doyle wrote, “Penn and the other private universities (including Brown, Columbia and Tufts universities) have maintained that graduate students are students, not employees, and that teaching, as a longstanding requirement for doctoral programs, is an essential component of graduate students’ educational experience.” The Penn administration also holds that students’ financial aid packages
Arts and community bloom at Broad Street Studios BY AMY RUDDLE
Against the backdrop of a city skyline at sunset, arms branch out from a pillar of brick, remnants of chains clinging to wrists. Fists clutch the weapons used to break free — paintbrushes, pencils, microphones and a self-created magazine. Surrounding the pillar are freed people taking pictures, painting and rapping. This is the Broad Street Studio. Created three years ago by AS220 as a program to employ Providence youth for working with the arts, the BSS has come to be an oasis of creativity and ideas for teenagers in South Providence.
The studio has seven different youthrun programs, each tailored to fit a different creative niche. While BSS was designed for use by all city youth, there is a special emphasis on teenagers guided by the Department of Children, Youth and Families and individuals at the Rhode Island Training School, the state’s juvenile detention facility. “We have workshops in the training schools on Fridays that mimic all the programs that are going on here, so the kids start building relationships with the programs and also the instructors,” said BSS Performance Director David Gonzalez, an adult staff member.
W E AT H E R F O R E C A S T
I N S I D E M O N D AY, M A RC H 8 , 2 0 0 4 Orchestra’s elaborate performance of “Ellis Island” pleases crowd downtown arts & culture, page 3
AS220 exhibit features work of incarcerated teens from the Rhode Island Training School arts & culture, page 3
Tikkun co-chair advocates tolerance of opposing views on Middle East conflict campus news, page 5
Emir Senturk ’05 says Brown must offer students on-campus summer storage column, page 11
W. basketball has big weekend, defeating Columbia and Cornell universities sports, page 12
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