Friday, November 12, 2004

Page 1

F R I D A Y NOVEMBER 12, 2004

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXIX, No. 109

An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891

www.browndailyherald.com

Upstaged by new fitness centers, Bear’s Lair could see further renovations in next few years BY ERIC BECK

Even with the introduction of two new satellite fitness centers and the intention of constructing a new $20 million fitness facility, administrators indicate that they are still committed to maintaining the Bear’s Lair and making it available to students. The Bear’s Lair, located in the Graduate Center, has an expanded schedule that went into effect Monday after months of erratic and limited hours. The Bear’s Lair will be open between 7 a.m. and midnight Monday through Thursday, between noon and 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and between noon and midnight on Sunday. The University’s three other fitness centers — at the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center, Keeney Quad and Emery Hall — all have slightly different hours. The varied opening and closing times of the four facilities are designed to ensure that at least one is open at almost any time a student wants to work out, said David Greene, vice president for campus life and student services. The expanded schedule is the result of an assessment of student demand for the fitness facilities, Greene said. After the opening of the satellite fitness facilities in Keeney and Emery, “we did not know what the demand would be and what the effect would be on the Bear’s Lair by having a new fitness center with newer equipment a block away,” Greene said. “We thought for sure that the most heavily used facilities would be the two new ones and that they would detract

Juliette Wallack / Herald

Taking advantage of newly extended hours at the Bear’s Lair, Scott Wolin ’07 joined a friend to play pool shortly before midnight Thursday. Two new satellite fitness centers opened this fall, and administrators hope to renovate and expand the Bear’s Lair in coming years.

CNN correspondent headlines Southeast Asian Week convocation tonight BY ANNA ABRAMSON

When Lynsey Le ’06 visited Brown as a prospective student, she attended a student multicultural show and remembers thinking, “This is what I want to do.” Three years later, Le is following through on that impulse — along with Jennella Sambour ’07, she is serving as co-coordinator of Southeast Asian Week, a series of events celebrating

see BEAR’S LAIR, page 4

Southeast Asian culture that starts today and will run through Nov. 21. Organizers of the week aim to raise consciousness of the Southeast Asian student population on campus as well as global issues concerning Southeast Asians. The various discussions and shows will “represent the underrepresented,” Sambour said. The week is also

Poker fever is sweeping the nation, and the bug has hit students at Brown, who have set up regular games in the Lower Blue Room and dorm lounges around campus. But as popular as poker is — ESPN and Bravo both air shows featuring the game — students playing the game on campus might not know one important thing: playing poker for money is illegal in Rhode Island. Terry Addison, associate dean for judicial affairs, said it is illegal to play poker for money on campus and urged all students to stop gambling. “Whether it’s betting money or betting clothes ... as long as there is a prize in the context of the game, then it’s a form of gambling, and any gambling not licensed by the state is prohibited,” he told The Herald in an interview. “I would strongly recommend the cessation of poker games for money or any article of value,” he added later via email.

Addison said that this law is not limited to public places, but also applies to private property. “If you and three of your buddies were sitting in your basement off campus playing poker, it wouldn’t be legal,” he said. Chapter 11-19 of the Rhode Island General Laws covers state gambling and lottery laws. It states that any type of gambling, except for state-approved lotteries, is prohibited. Anybody who participates in a game “for the purpose of exposing, setting for sale or disposing of any money, houses, lands, merchandise, or articles of value ... shall be deemed guilty of a felony and shall be imprisoned not exceeding two years or be fined not exceeding two thousand dollars,” RIGL 11-19-1 states. Addison said he wasn’t sure how the University would punish students who did not comply with the law, but he said DPS officers would probably try to stop the illicit activities.

“If a DPS officer saw what he considered gambling, I would assume they would say, ‘That’s an illegal activity, you have to break that up,’” he said. Despite the illegality of gambling, Addison said that Brown administrators do recognize the recent surge in the popularity of poker and are looking at modifying University policy to possibly allow for poker playing. Students who have played poker for money in the past were surprised to hear that the law existed and are now thinking twice about playing for money in the future. “We have games in the Lower Blue Room and we always have people walking by and no one really has an issue with it,” said Scott Goldberg ’05. “Some DPS officers on duty may have walked by when we were playing, and they didn’t seem to have any problems with it.” Goldberg added that he will probably

see POKER, page 8

see LIASSON, page 6

see SE ASIAN, page 7

W E AT H E R F O R E C A S T

I N S I D E F R I D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 0 4 Poet-in-residence shares work, which contemplates the role and responsibilities of being a poet arts & culture, page 3

Sock & Buskin’s mesmerizing, compelling “Fucking A” draws full house on opening night arts & culture, page 3

Production Workshop’s “The Great Show” features clever script and story, good direction arts & culture, page 3

BY CHRISTOPHER CHON

National Public Radio political correspondent Mara Liasson ’77 is still digesting the results of what she described as the longest, most expensive, nastiest and most important election of our time. Liasson, whose reports can be heard on NPR’s “All Things Considered” and “Morning Edition,” as well as on Fox News Channel’s “Special Report with Brit Hume” and PBS’ “Washington Week,” gave what was billed as a “Washington insider’s view” on the presidential election Thursday afternoon in Salomon 101. “It will have enormous consequences for both parties, for the future composition of the Supreme Court, and perhaps — we don’t know yet, but perhaps — it is the beginning of what Karl Rove had called the ‘rolling realignment of this country’ through perhaps permanent or long-standing Republican majority,” she said. According to Liasson, Bush and the Republicans succeeded in keeping the focus of the election on terrorism, national security and “moral values,” while Kerry’s downfall was his inability to shift the focus to jobs, the economy and health care. Exit polls showed that “moral values” was the most important factor in determining how voters made their decisions. Behind moral values were jobs, the economy and Iraq. Moral values “meant gay marriage, abortion, maybe a general cultural affinity for George Bush over John Kerry,” she said. “The simplest way to explain this is that (Kerry) was a New England senator with a left-of-center voting record on defense and

On-campus poker games play with the law BY STU WOO

NPR’s Liasson ’77 says presidential election came down to ‘values’

Tamilla Mamedova ’07 writes of the fear that non-Americans have of a second Bush administration column, page 11

Swimming and diving teams prepare for coming seasons after losing key members to graduation sports, page 12

FRIDAY

rain high 46 low 36

SATURDAY

rain / snow high 41 low 26


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