Friday, February 4, 2005 by The Brown Daily Herald

F R I D A Y FEBRUARY 4, 2005

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXL, No. 8

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APPRENTICE OF THE NORTHEAST Providence ranks No. 1 in reality TV consumption, marketing survey finds A R T S & C U LT U R E 3

VA-VA-DOOM Eddie Ahn ’05: Department of Visual Art needs more resources to accomodate barrage of students O P I N I O N S 11

SPORTS WEEKEND GUIDE Six Brown teams play at home this weekend, including w. hoops Ivy League showdown S P O R T S 12

Transfer student financial aid in proposed budget BY ERIC BECK SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Financial aid will be available to transfer and Resumed Undergraduate Education students starting in Fall 2005 if President Ruth Simmons and the Corporation approve the latest budget proposed by the University Resources Committee, officials said Thursday. Simmons first announced the provision of funds for transfer and RUE students at her Spring Semester Opening Address on Tuesday. Provost Robert Zimmer, who chairs the URC, confirmed to The Herald that the URC’s budget recommendation to Simmons and the Corporation includes an allocation for transfer and RUE financial aid, though he declined to provide any details, including the amount of the allocation or how it will be distributed. The budget, which must be approved by the Corporation at its meeting this month, is for the University’s fiscal year 2006, which covers the 2005-2006 academic year. The funds would be available for transfer and RUE students starting in Fall 2005, Zimmer said. “We currently don’t have any financial aid for transfer students, and we are trying to make that better,” said Director of Financial Aid Michael Bartini.

Student positions for Community Council to be filled by midFebruary BY ANNE WOOTTON STAFF WRITER

The Undergraduate Council of Students will fill four student positions in the coming weeks for the newly created Brown University Community Council, which will begin meeting in March. The group is meant to serve as a Universitywide forum for discussing the social and academic climate on campus and making policy recommendations to the administration. The council will be chaired by President Ruth Simmons and will be comprised of members of the president’s Cabinet, tenured and nontenured faculty, undergraduate students, graduate students, medical students, staff and alums of the University. Simmons circulated a draft of the council’s charge to the leaders of the governance organizations of these groups last spring to gauge their interest. “I would say that she was and is the driving force behind it,” said Vice President and Secretary of the University Russell Carey ’91. “She felt (a council of this sort) was missing from the governance structure of the University — as she spent more time at see BUCC, page 9

Some financial aid is currently available for RUE students, he said. “The URC has to look at all the priorities of the University. In making budget recommendations, they really look at everything. The fact that the URC did recommend an allocation of funds to help support transfer and RUE students is an indication of how seriously the URC took the issue,” Zimmer said. “I personally was very happy, as the president was, that the URC would make this recommendation,” he said. Bartini called the addition an important step toward the University’s goal of improving financial aid for all — culminating in need-blind admission for all students. Zimmer said the University does not normally release any details about the budget until it is approved by the Corporation. “In this case, (because) we felt very confident about it and we know it has been a general concern, we felt comfortable talking about this (before the Corporation approved the budget). We knew the community would be very interested to hear it,” Zimmer said. The budget must first be approved by

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CNN correspondent says media images affect global perceptions BY LOIS SALDANA CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The way Americans perceive global events often differs substantially from the perceptions of citizens of other countries. The diparity is caused in part by news outlets’ choices of which images to use, said Ralph Begleiter ’71, a professor of communications at the University of Delaware. Begleiter brought his experience as a former CNN world affairs news correspondent to a group of about 25 people in a Watson Institute-sponsored lecture titled “Global Media and the Power of Images (What They Think of Us and Why It Matters).” Begleiter focused his presentation on the “power of images.” “(The choice of images) is important, it’s political, it makes a difference,” he said. To emphasize his point, he presented a slide show using pictures of recent events such as the conflict in Iraq and the bombing of Afghanistan. He compared images

used extensively by U.S. media with pictures available to the rest of the world to underscore how images can be manipulated to shape viewers’ perceptions. Such visual comparisons resonated with many members of the audience. Stephanie Morin ’05 said pictures of Iraqi civilians during the war were “incredible … the images that I have never seen before, like the children in the hospitals.” Begleiter said these pictures of injured children “were not widely shown in the United States but were extremely heavily broadcast by Al-Jazeera and other news organizations that published in Europe and the Arabic and Muslim worlds.” The same trend occurred during the war in Afghanistan, Begleiter said. While Americans were fixated on pictures of soldiers waving goodbye to their families before departing, the rest of the world was seeing thousands of refugees fleeing their see IMAGE, page 4

see AID, page 4

Students advocate stronger black community at Brown BY JANE TANIMURA STAFF WRITER

Blackness has mental, physical and cultural dimensions that are irrevocably intertwined. That was the theme of Thursday night’s Black History Month disBLACK HISTORY cussion, “What is MONTH 2005 Blackness?” A panel of seven Brown students shared its experiences of what it means to be black, both at Brown and in the outside world. Makini Chisolm-Straker ’05 led the discussion. Nods of agreement and the shaking of heads could be seen throughout the auditorium as panelists and those in the audience discussed flaws and ways to improve the black community at Brown. “A strong black community would be one that focuses on each other’s success,” said panelist Chazz Woodson ’05. He added, “I don’t think that it’s the case at Brown.” One of goals for the discussion was to “get people to start talking” and to “have it mean something,” Chandra Singh ’05, co-programmer of Black History Month, told The Herald. Singh said she wanted to address topics that were silenced in the black community and start a discussion that would unite the Caribbean, African and African-American students at Brown as one group. “We want to use this as a way to enhance the dialogue within the black community,” agreed co-programmer Basirat Ottun ’05.

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As part of the Black History Month celebration on campus, SOCA, ASA, OUAP and the Third World Center sponsored a panel on “What is Blackness”. Patience Agbenyadzie ’08, a first-year born in Ghana who moved to New Jersey as a child, questioned whether blacks on campus want to identify themselves with the black community. She said black students at Brown have the opportunity to understand their backgrounds but don’t always have the drive to do so. She cited that only two students in her Africana studies class are black. “Do we really care?” she asked. Panelists and audience members argued whether attendance in an Africana studies course or a black student organization could really reveal how a person feels about being black. Audience member Jamal Shipman ’07 said he didn’t need to take courses in Africana studies to understand his “blackness” because he learned what it means to be black from his parents. Although arguments ensued over how to define and determine blackness, most students said the state of the black community at Brown needs improvement, especially in terms of faculty-student relations. Panelist Shanna Bowie ’05 said professors cannot be blamed for “falling by the

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wayside.” Given that the Africana Studies Department was established through a late1960s student movement, if students want more out of it they have to push for it, she said. By the end of the discussion, the question of what blackness is could not be answered in one neat package, but the discussion was “as good as it could be,” Chisolm-Straker said. Agbenyadzie said she had hoped for a more diverse crowd at the event, but generally thought the discussion was effective. The event was co-sponsored by the Third World Center, the Organization of United African Peoples, the Students of Caribbean Ancestry and the African Students Association. Singh said the TWC does a good job of bringing minority communities together, but she said she hoped there would be more co-sponsorship among even more diverse student organizations in the future to expand the scope of the discussion. “I hope the conversation continues after this event,” Singh said. News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com

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THIS MORNING FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2005 · PAGE 2 Coreacracy Eddie Ahn

TO D AY ’ S E V E N TS HOUSING FAIR: ALTERNATIVES TO THE LOTTERY 4:00-6:00 p.m.3 (Sayles) — Come learn about different housing options, including program houses, Greek houses and joining a co-op. BLACK MEN’S APPRECIATION DINNER 6:00-8:00 p.m. (Smith-Buonano 106) — Part of Black History Month, sponsored by the Black Sistas United. CAREER PLANNING FOR SOPHMORES INFORMATION SESSION 12:00 p.m. (Career Development Center) — Begin to develop an academic and career path that fits with your interests in the first of two sessions.

Jero Matt Vascellaro

“GUISES OF THE HISTORIAN IN EARLY CHINESE HISTORIOGRAPHY” 8:30 - 9 p.m. (Salomon 001) — Wai-Yee Li of Harvard University will deliver a lecture as part of the Kirk Lecture Series, this year on “Writing History in the Ancient World.”

MENU Penguiner Haan Lee SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH — Noodle Kugel, Oven Browned Potatoes, String Beans La Belle, Vegan Lightburgers, Onion Rings, Black Bean Gardenburgers, Chicken Fingers, Roasted Eggplant and Tomato Sandwich

VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALL LUNCH — Vegetarian Caribbean Black Bean Soup, Manhattan Clam Chowder, Popcorn Chicken, Vegan Vermicelli with Garlic Sauce, Sugar Snap Peas, Chocolate Chip Cookies

DINNER — London Broil, Garlic and Butter Infused Rice, Lima Beans, Cherry Jello, Anadama Bread, Applie Pie, Shoepeg Com Casserole, Baked Sweet Potatoes

DINNER — Vegetarian Caribbean Black Bean Soup, Manhattan Clam Chowder , Honey Dipped Chicken, Corn Souffle, Mushroom Rissotto, Fresh Sliced Carrots,Whole Green Beans, Anadama Bread, Apple Pie

Chocolate Covered Cotton Mark Brinker

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Not dig at all 5 Dele killer 9 Hazel tree relative 14 In __ 15 Cpl.’s squad 16 “A Confederacy of Dunces” author 17 Kind of scheme 19 Safe places? 20 Echo 21 Man or self attachment 22 Words of concession 23 “Break __”: Donne poem 26 Bill bundle 29 Form 1040 info 30 First name in TV talk 31 Ristorante offering 32 Source of support 34 Almond-flavored liqueur 36 Settle down 40 Departs unobtrusively 41 It may get bruised 42 Perk up 43 Sci-fi figure 45 Director Craven 48 Nord’s opposite 49 Common news hr. 50 Cut taker 52 Senator Cochran of Mississippi 54 Bank figure 56 Pun response, perhaps 58 One-up 60 Barely maintaining, with “out” 61 Iranian bread? 62 Graph leader? 63 Hotsy-__ 64 Italian noble surname 65 Gun whose name is an acronym DOWN 1 Poll cat? 2 Sharon and others

3 Gadsden Purchase city 4 Spirit of a people 5 Like cotton candy 6 Ricky Nelson was one 7 Abbr. after a comma 8 “That wasn’t nice!” 9 Cornered 10 Something to shoulder 11 Finish 12 Caribou kin 13 Legal thing 18 Prov. on the St. Lawrence 21 Supervised 24 Bygone hair style 25 Loaner car, perhaps 27 Pot starter 28 It’s open and shut 30 Made cryptic 31 Put the kibosh on 32 Worry 33 Some batteries 35 Prem. alternative 36 Trees with red berries

xwordeditor@aol.com

37 Diamond Head locale 38 Adapt 39 Spoil 44 “What an exhausting day!” 45 Charged 46 Extra number 47 Austrian biographer Zweig 49 Having a bit of a kick 50 Pub order 51 Pants

30 32 37

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Raw Prawn Kea Johnston

Homebodies Mirele Davis

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: S A F E S T N A P A C U T I T A L I A I D I D O N E N E I L D I A M O N D L D S C S T W E B W I G O U T E T H M A R I A H C A R E Y H O R N S E T S R A I N S C O P E O B E Y E L L A J E W E L H I V E B A L D E D E N H O L E S A T T A S I L L G A R T H B R O O K S Y M A R E H E A L V I E J A M O R E N A T A L I E C O L E W I T E C O L N A V E L S L E T S K Y S S T I L E S

53 One of the Katzenjammer Kids 55 Adroit 56 Word needed to complete five answers in this puzzle 57 Former MGM rival 58 Amount past due? 59 “__ Master’s Voice”

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ARTS & CULTURE FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2005 · PAGE 3

RISD museum to host bard of Providence loves reality TV Harlem’s poetry BY KIM STICKELS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

MERYL ROTHSTEIN ARTS AND CULTURE EDITOR

Being a reality TV viewer may say more about you than you think. Most likely it means you have a taste for schadenfreude — taking pleasure in misfortunes of others. Less obviously, it may mean you like Chinese food. And, perhaps most curiously, it may suggest that you live in Providence. Providence is the national leader in reality television viewing, with 30 percent of viewers watching reality TV compared to the national average of 23 percent, according to marketing consultants at Scarborough Research. Providence, along with Raleigh, N.C., is the top market for reality-talent shows, with 14 percent of consumers watching “American Idol” and similar shows, compared to the national average of nine percent. Providence also leads, along with Cincinnati, in the reality-adventure genre, with 21 percent of viewers tuning in to shows such as “Survivor,” compared to the national average of 15 percent, according to the Scarborough results. The results of the study tell advertisers how different local markets use television, Cheryl Greenblatt, senior vice president of broadcast television for Scarborough, told the online magazine MediaPost. According to Scarborough’s research, “half of (reality television) consumers have been to a Chinese/Asian restaurant, and one-third ate at a Mexican restaurant during the past month.” Scarborough also found that reality TV watchers see REALITY TV, page 4

“I’ve known rivers/ Ancient, dusky rivers/ My soul has grown deep like the rivers.” So go the smooth, resonant words of poet Langston Hughes, whose work will be recited at the 10th Annual Langston Hughes Poetry Reading at the RISD Museum of Art, Sunday, Feb. 6 from 1 to 3 p.m. Guest reader Andrew P. Jackson, executive director of the Queens (N.Y.) Library’s Langston Hughes Community Library and Cultural Center, will be the centerpiece of the two-hour program, which will also include approximately 40 readers from the greater Providence community. Students from Central High School will also read from Hughes’ work.

Along with reading two poems, Jackson will “talk about the library and the importance of the work it does in the city and nationally,” said James Montford, community programs coordinator for the RISD museum. The program will be “very spirited,” said Montford, who organized the event. “Some readers are actors who read in a dramatic way, and others will read in a passionate way.” He expects about 150 people to attend. Founder and Director of the Langston Hughes Center for Arts and Education Anne Clanton, who co-coordinated the event, said she believes Hughes’ poetry is as relevant today as when it was written. “There’s a message in almost every poem. They are written with see RISD, page 4

Englander P’03 documents poverty relief BY JOEL ROZEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

In collaboration with the Creative Arts Council, Brown Hillel upheld the University’s longstanding tradition of sponsoring art with a social conscience last night with its unveiling of “Acts of Charity, Deeds of Kindness,” a photographic essay by Manhattan resident Caryl Englander P’03. The exhibit, which will be on display at Hillel’s Glenn and Darcy Weiner Center until March 7, consists of several dozen photomontages, each documenting a different function of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, a New York-based humanitarian project dedicated to fulfilling the Jewish commandment of Tikkun Olam, or repairing the world.

The collection introduced viewers to a vital player in the fight against Jewish urban poverty that might otherwise go overlooked. “This exhibit proves that art and Hillel should come together,” said Creative Arts Council Director and Professor of Visual Art Richard Fishman during his preliminary remarks, “and we believe in bringing excellent art that tells a story.” The story told in Englander’s compelling exposé centers around the estimated 226,000 Jews in the United States who live at or below the federal poverty level — one out of every five in New York alone. Working to ameliorate this urban predicament, the Met Council endeavsee POVERTY, page 9

PAGE 4 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2005

Image continued from page 1 homes towards the Pakistani border, he said. “This gap of image-making, of image portrayal of the very same events” occurs often in the news media, he added. Begleiter’s lecture was the result of Watson Institute efforts to host guests not only with aca-

demic expertise, but also with real-world experience. “We’re trying not to bring in just other scholars … but people who participate,” said Thomas Biersteker, the institute’s director and professor of politcal science. The Watson Institute is looking for presenters “who can give us insights not just into the events themselves but into the process of covering (those events),” Biersteker said.

RISD continued from page 3 rhyme, rhythm, blues, and jazz.” Both Montford and Clanton noted the popularity of the “bard” of Harlem, even 40 years after his death. Hughes gained fame for his portrait of AfricanAmerican life from the 1920s to the 1960s, creating powerful metaphors such as, “Love is a naked shadow/ On a gnarled and naked tree.” Originally part of the Langston Hughes Center for the Arts, which dissolved in 1998, the program is now in its ninth year at the RISD Museum.

Aid continued from page 1 Simmons, who presents it to the Corporation for official action. “I think we feel confident” that the Corporation will approve the financial aid provision, Zimmer said, adding that he thought

Along with the poetry reading, there will be a reception with soul food, jazz music and a slideshow. Jan Howard, curator of prints, drawings, and photographs at the RISD Museum, will open the prints classroom, which showcases pieces by African-American artists. The reading is one in a series of events that will highlight contributions of African-American artists to celebrate Black History Month. The RISD Museum is located on 224 Benefit Street in Providence. There is no charge for the event and museum admission is free on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. For more information, contact the museum at (401) 454-6500.

Simmons “had a generally positive reaction” to the URC report. “We took this issue very seriously. We knew that there was considerable concern on the part of the community. Both the president and I were concerned about it. There are a lot of competing priorities, so I think it is particularly significant that we were able to do this,” Zimmer said.

Reality TV continued from page 3 were more likely than other consumers to buy a new car and to switch their cell phone carrier in the next year. It is important, however, that one “approach these results with a grain of salt,” said Modern Culture and Media Associate Professor Lynne Joyrich. Joyrich, who has taught a class on reality television, said though she doesn’t doubt statistical correlations between reality television viewing and consumption, one has to be skeptical of market research. Such research, she said, raises “chicken and egg problems.” For example, it is difficult to determine if viewers buy certain items because they watch certain shows, or if they watch certain shows because of their pre-existing tastes. Furthermore, “market research pretends to be a neutral science,” she said, “but it’s also a commodity.” Many studies only examine desirable demographic groups, bringing studies’ scientific neutrality into question. As for Brown students, many confess to a love of reality television, but less so to their consumer profile. Brandon English ’06 — who does not, in fact, plan to lease a new car this year — said he watches about four to five hours of reality television each week. And while reality TV gets a bad rap, English, an MCM concentrator and producer of the Brown TV reality show “You’re F*cked,” says he’s not ashamed. “I am a very proud viewer,” he said. “’Cause it’s amazing!” English, who thinks “Paradise Hotel” is the “greatest show ever to have existed,” watches reality TV because “fiction has become too predictable.” Joyrich said she thinks viewers enjoy reality television for the “illusion of immediacy and familiarity” it provides, as well as the opportunity it gives them to determine fact and fiction. “Viewers are sophisticated and know that it’s not reality,” she said. “It’s like a game in a way that viewers can play.” As for what makes Providence residents so drawn to reality TV, Joyrich said she could only speculate. Joyrich, a self-proclaimed “Rhode Island and Providence lover,” described Providence as a city “very embracing of oddballs in the best possible way. … I guess I have to see it in relation to that — an appreciation for quirky human qualities.” Victor Ning ’07, another reality TV fan, had his own interpretation: “I don’t know, I guess people just have more free time on their hands?”

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WORLD & NATION FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2005 · PAGE 5

Report cites corruption in United Nations program BY MAGGIE FARLEY LOS ANGELES TIMES UNITED NATIONS — The head of

the Iraqi “oil-for-food” program helped steer lucrative oil contracts to a relative of former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, a conflict of interest that “seriously undermined the integrity of the United Nations,” a U.N.-commissioned investigation stated Thursday. An investigative panel, headed by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, also noted that the United Nations’ awarding of other key contracts was “tainted.” Among the questionable deals was one in which a U.N. official colluded with a former British ambassador to the United Nations so that a British company would win an inspection contract. Boutros-Ghali has also been questioned about circumventing U.N. procedures to hand the management of Iraq’s multibillion-dollar escrow account to a French bank. U.N. officials may also have shielded auditors from key information, and the problems auditors found went largely uncorrected, the report said. Secretary-General Kofi Annan pledged Thursday to waive diplomatic immunity for any U.N. staff who may face criminal charges, and said he would remedy the world body’s defects highlighted by the report. The findings, he said in a written statement, were “especially uncomfortable reading for all of us who love this organization and have done our best to serve it over the years.” Annan also announced that he had started disciplinary proceedings against the oil-for-food program’s chief Benon V. Sevan and another U.N. official named in the report, Joseph Stephanides, the former chief of the U.N. sanctions branch. But Annan’s new chief of staff, Mark Malloch Brown, conceded that the punishment applicable to Sevan, who is all but retired, was limited. The United Nations retains Sevan on a $1 a year salary to make him available to investigators; that dollar also

buys him diplomatic immunity. On Thursday, Sevan’s lawyer issued a lengthy denial. “It is unfortunate that the (panel) has succumbed to massive political pressure and now seeks to scapegoat (Sevan) for problems within the oil-for-food program,” the statement said. “Mr. Sevan never took a penny.” Volcker was appointed last April to take an independent look at charges of corruption and mismanagement in the $64billion oil-for-food program, which was set up in the 1990s to allow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s regime — then under U.N. sanctions — to sell oil and use the revenue to import food and other humanitarian goods for the Iraqi people. Volcker said his 219-page report was “preliminary” and the final conclusions won’t be ready until midsummer. The investigators have yet to address the alleged role of Annan’s son in winning a lucrative contract for Cotecna, a company that employed him, or wrongdoing by other companies. “This is not the whole story by a long shot,” Volcker said. While the Volcker report did not identify any criminal wrongdoing, violations it described highlighted what many say is the United Nations’ culture of political favoritism. U.N. officials colluded with diplomats to ensure contracts went to favored companies, ambassadors negotiated on behalf of national companies, and political concerns short-circuited competitive bidding. “The result was a selection process that whatever the motivation, failed to meet the organization’s own standard of fairness objectivity and transparency,” the report stated. Volcker called revelations about Sevan’s role “the most disturbing finding.” Despite Sevan’s denial of wrongdoing, the panel said it had evidence that Sevan solicited an oil contract in 1998 for “a friend” who ran a small Geneva-based company, African Middle East Petroleum Co. Ltd. Inc. The company is headed by

Boutros-Ghali’s cousin, an Egyptian named Fakhry Abdelnour. The company earned $1.5 million from sales of the oil it received as a result of Sevan’s alleged intervention, the report said. Volcker’s panel did not show that Sevan received payment for the favor, though it expressed doubt about $160,000 he received in cash over four years that he reported as gifts from an aunt in his native Cyprus. The committee concluded that the aunt, a retired government photographer who died last year after a fall down an elevator shaft, did not have the means to make such gifts. The report suggests that Iraq granted AMEP a contract to reward Sevan after he helped persuade the Security Council to allow Iraq to buy spare parts for its faltering oil industry. Baghdad added the company to its list of approved buyers after Sevan’s visit to Baghdad two weeks after the Security Council resolution. “At that time in the program, it was highly unlikely that Iraq would sell oil to a company such as AMEP unless sponsored by a beneficiary that Iraqi officials

wished to favor,” it said. The report also found “convincing and uncontested evidence” that contracts awarded to Banque Nationale de Paris, Saybolt Eastern Hemisphere B.V. and Lloyd’s Register Inspection Limited were made for political reasons that overrode U.N. regulations. Boutros-Ghali allowed Iraq to choose BNP to be the program’s bank, even though it did not make the United Nations’ initial short list of institutions to manage Iraq’s escrow account, and was not the lowest bidder. In an interview with investigators last month, he said it was “a political choice” because it satisfied Iraq, the United States, the United Kingdom and France. In the selection of an inspection company to monitor imports of humanitarian goods to Iraq, Stephanides, the chief of the U.N. sanctions branch in 1996, tipped the U.K. ambassador how much Lloyd’s Register needed to lower its bid to beat out the French front-runner for the contract, the report stated. Stephanides told investigators he did it because France already held the banking contract, and he wanted to ensure the U.N.’s

business was not concentrated with one country. His collaboration with the British ambassador was designed to get a lower price for the United Nations, he said. In a similar case, the U.N. official in charge of procurement, Allan Robertson, manipulated the competition for a contract to inspect oil exports so that a Dutch company, Saybolt, would win, the report stated. Although Volcker said that his intention was to reform, not destroy, an institution he regards as essential, the report may add fuel to calls by some Republican leaders for Annan to step down over the program’s mismanagement. “The interim report paints a picture of mismanagement, neglect and political manipulation that resulted in significant corruption of the oil-for-food program,” said Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill. He heads the House International Relations Committee, one of five congressional committees conducting investigations into the oil-forfood program. The U.S. Justice and Treasury departments also have investigations under way.

PAGE 6 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2005

Watergate papers go public BY SYLVIA MORENO THE WASHINGTON POST AUSTIN, Texas—Thousands of pages of notes, memos, transcripts and other materials collectively known as the Woodward and Bernstein Watergate Papers open to the public Friday at the University of Texas, minus the most fascinating detail connected to the demise of the Nixon administration: the identity of Deep Throat. The name of the executive branch source — as well as dozens of other confidential sources — will remain secret until their deaths, as promised to them by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, whose reporting for The Washington Post led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in August 1974. “We would have thought many of these people would be dead by now, but people just live longer,” Woodward, an assistant managing editor at The Post, said at a media briefing on the papers, archived at the university’s Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center. “It’s amazing how long people live today.” But what is in the collection reveals publicly for the first time that even Nixon’s closest aides and senior Republicans on Capitol Hill shared “doubts, worries and suspicions” about Nixon. They were concerned, Woodward said, both about the president’s involvement in the criminal Watergate cover up and his fragile psychological state toward the end of his presidency. As Republican senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona so succinctly said about Nixon, according to the newly available documents: “I began to think that he was off his head” and “lying all the way through.” Goldwater died in 1998 at the age of 89. The collection was culled from 75 file-drawer-size boxes accumulated during Woodward and Bernstein’s reporting and writing for The Post, for the book and movie versions of “All the President’s Men” and for the book “The Final Days.” The University of Texas paid Woodward and Bernstein $5 million for the collection last year.

The collection includes a meticulous record from the beginning to the end of the Watergate scandal. The documents range from Woodward’s hand-scribbled notes from the preliminary court hearing for the five men arrested June 17, 1972, after a break-in at Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate office complex to 42 pages of typed notes gleaned from eight extensive interviews with one of Nixon’s principal Watergate lawyers, J. Fred Buzhardt. According to a synopsis of the Buzhardt interviews that is included, the lawyer said that 10 months before the president resigned, “I concluded ... that Nixon would not make it.” He described in detail to the reporters how Nixon resisted disclosing to him and other lawyers the contents of the secret Oval Office tape recordings that eventually led to his downfall. Instead, Nixon ordered them to leak stories about how Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson reportedly resisted disclosing their own tape recordings. “I was given screaming instructions to leak it,” Buzhardt said about purported Kennedy tapes. Buzhardt said he eventually understood why. After the Supreme Court ruled on July 24, 1974, that Nixon had to turn over the tapes to the Watergate prosecutor and Buzhardt heard the June 23, 1972, recording, he said he “at once ... realized it was over.” In that recording, six days after the breakin, Nixon plotted with aides to use the CIA to divert the investigation and cover up White House involvement. Buzhardt died in 1978 at the age of 54. Ransom Center Director Tom Staley called the archive “an unparalled, behind-the-scenes perspective into the nature of investigative journalism, the American political process and the Nixon presidency.” University President Larry R. Faulkner said that consolidating the files of Woodward and Bernstein while they are still alive is important and will provide a “rich tool” for researchers for years to come.

“There are few people who would debate that this was one of those important chapters in the history of American journalism and the history of American politics,” Faulkner said. The identities of some sources remain with Woodward and Bernstein, including that of the famous Deep Throat, the Nixon administration official whose deep-background information was crucial to The Post’s pursuit of the story. Bernstein said the materials pertaining to those sources are housed in a Washington vault and will not be released to the Ransom Center until the deaths of the sources. Attempts to uncover the closely guarded identity of Deep Throat, known only to Woodward, Bernstein and former Post executive editor Ben Bradlee, have been the subject of books and college journalism class projects for years. One book, “In Search of Deep Throat,” published in 2000 by former Nixon aide Leonard Garment, speculated that White House colleague John Sears was Deep Throat. Sears and Woodward denied it. In 1999, Bill Gaines, a journalism professor at the University of Illinois and a former investigative reporter for the Chicago Tribune, began a class project to solve the mystery. Four years later, he and his students concluded that Nixon White House deputy counsel Fred Fielding was Deep Throat. Fielding also has denied it. Undeterred, Gaines is still on the case. He and three of his students left Champaign, Ill., at 7 a.m. Thursday so they could be the first in line when the Ransom Center opens the Watergate archive at 9 a.m. Friday. They will spend two days copying material and looking for what’s there and not there. Highlights of the collection can be viewed at www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/online. An online finding aid at www.hrc.utexas.edu/research/fa/ woodstein.hp.html provides a description of the papers.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2005 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 7

Summit comes at critical time for Mideast peace BY LAURA KING LOS ANGELES TIMES JERUSALEM — After more than

four years of relentless bloodshed, prospects for a historic breakthrough in the IsraeliPalestinian conflict have probably never been higher, as the two sides lay final groundwork for their summit next week in Egypt. The gathering in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheik has the great advantage of momentum already generated by significant reciprocal gestures. In the mere four weeks since the election of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Israel and the Palestinians have made more concessions to each other than they had in the entire course of the conflict that has gone on for 52 months. Israel on Thursday announced plans to withdraw its forces from five Palestinian cities in coming weeks, free 900 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails and weigh amnesty terms for wanted fugitives. Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will be meeting for the first time since Abbas took office. Although the summit is welcomed on both sides, Israelis and Palestinians are keenly aware of the inherent artificiality of such an event, so at odds with the visceral reality of Palestinian suicide bombings and massive Israeli military raids. “I understand why a summit is needed and desired,” commentator Smadar Peri wrote in the mass-circulation Yediot Aharonot daily newspaper Thursday. “But when the cameras are turned off, we will have to return to a certain reality.” In June 2003, optimism greeted a four-way summit held in Aqaba, Jordan, to formally inaugurate the “road map” peace plan. Placing his own prestige on the line, Jordan’s King Abdullah II played host to President Bush, Sharon and Abbas, who was then Palestinian prime minister. Less than two months later, the promise of that moment had dissolved in a new round of recriminations and bloodshed. The key difference now is the absence of Yasser Arafat, who died Nov. 11. Israel accused him of sabotaging the Aqaba summit by systematically undermining Abbas and giving Palestinian militant groups the go-ahead to press on with attacks against Israel. “The last few years made it clear to most living here, and neighboring countries, that the true obstacle in the way of a reasonable, regulated process that will result in a two-state solution was Arafat, and now the arena has changed,” said Gilad Sher, an Israeli official and veteran negotiator of past peace accords. The Sharon of today is different, too. At the Aqaba summit, he had yet to unveil his plan to relinquish the Gaza Strip against the wishes of Jewish settlers and their right-wing supporters, who were once his most loyal partisans.

In the wake of the Aqaba summit, the Israeli leader chipped away at Abbas’ standing by refusing to grant concessions that would have given him much-needed credibility among his people. Israel, too, sloughed off its early obligations under the road map, including the dismantling of illegal settlement outposts in the West Bank. This time around, Abbas is likely to be far more guarded in his public dealings with Sharon. Analyst Shalom Harari, a brigadier general in the Israeli army reserves, said he believed the decision to have their initial post-election encounter take place in the context of a fourleader summit was aimed at quashing any notion that Abbas was kowtowing to the Israeli leader. “For the time being, it’s better for him not to even be seen alone with Sharon, if it’s under the umbrella of (Egypt’s President Hosni) Mubarak and Abdullah, it’s OK,” Harari said. “They can talk freely on the phone, sure, but Abu Mazen knows that appearing too close to Sharon too soon could be very damaging.” Still, Abbas surprised Israel with the speed of his moves to quell attacks by militant groups. Within days of taking office, he deployed Palestinian paramilitary forces and negotiated a tentative truce with militant groups such as Hamas. In response, Israel dramatically decreased military activity and made pledges to increase Palestinian freedom of movement and reopen a key commercial checkpoint into the Gaza Strip. While little substantive negotiation is expected at the summit, both sides hinted Thursday that its centerpiece might be a declaration of truce, built on

nearly three weeks of relative calm. “I hope there will be an official declaration of an armistice, on the cessation of all acts of violence,” Shimon Peres, Israel’s vice premier, told Army Radio on Thursday. Abbas echoed that, telling reporters in Ramallah: “We hope to God this will happen.” Few consider it a coincidence that the hastily convened summit will come on the heels of a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories on Sunday and Monday by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, which all sides hope will signal the start of a period of intensive U.S. engagement. Palestinian officials were heartened by President Bush’s pledge in his State of the Union address of $350 million in aid to the Palestinians for security and economic development, and by his assertion that the goal of Palestinian statehood was “within reach.” Palestinians see a renewed opening to strongly press their cause with Rice, banking on Bush’s desire to help counter Arab-world anger over the U.S. occupation of Iraq with a success in the Israeli-Palestinian arena. “Nobody can afford failure now,” said Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian negotiations minister. As part of the package of presummit confidence-building measures announced Thursday, Sharon’s senior advisers approved the formation of a joint Israeli-Palestinian committee to work out terms for an amnesty for some wanted fugitives. Israel already indicated it would temporarily halt its hunt for wanted men, although it reserved the right to target “ticking bombs.”

PAGE 8 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2005

W. Hoops continued from page 12 “We want to shoot better in the games this weekend,” Conrad said. “We didn’t shoot as well in our games last week and we want to redeem ourselves. We want to continue to be a good defensive team, but if you don’t make shots you aren’t going to win, no matter who you play.” Saturday night, the Bears welcome Columbia to the Pizzitola Center. The Lions come into

Preview continued from page 12 sweep of Ivy rivals Cornell and Columbia. Last season, the Bears fell to the Bulldogs in New Haven despite the efforts of Liz Daniels ’04, who placed first in four events for Bruno. Friday, 5 p.m., Smith Swim Center Men’s Tennis: Last weekend, Bruno did not lose a match, notching two 7-0 wins over Hartford University and Lehigh University. Hartford failed to show up for its matches, giving the host Bears the 7-0 victory by default. Against Lehigh, Brown was paced by Adil Shamasdin ’05, who posted wins in both No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles. Also performing well were Richard Moss ’06 and Luke Tedaldi ’06, who picked up an 8-6 victory at

Super Bowl continued from page 12 year — good, but not in the same category as Montana. The Patriots took Brady in the sixth round of the draft and currently pay him $4 million a year. By comparison, Peyton Manning cost the Colts $8 million against the cap this year. Brady wasn’t selected as a top quarterback, isn’t paid like a top quarterback and doesn’t put up numbers like a top quarterback. He owes his fame to being a quality role player and the public face of the NFL’s most successful franchise. CM: Let’s say the jury’s still out on the issue, seeing as he’s only 27. But anyway, let’s talk about the Super Bowl instead of beating a dead horse. BG: It will be interesting to see how the Eagles’ defense will perform. While the Steelers had the number one defense in the NFL this year, I think the Eagles pose a bigger problem for the Patriots’ offense. The Eagles have the best secondary in the

Saturday’s contest 9-8 overall and 2-2 in the league. The Lions run a spread offense, which requires three-point shooting and sharing of the basketball. “It will be very important to keep Columbia off the boards if we want to win this game,” Conrad said. The Lions do not have a player scoring in double figures, but they have five players averaging at least seven points per game. “Playing against a team that doesn’t have one go-to player is interesting, but we will adjust to what we see on the floor and the personnel of the

opponent,” Burr said. The Lions will also be a test for the third-ranked Bears offense, as they boast a defense that is fourth in the league in scoring defense. With the Bears scheduled to hit the road for the next two weeks, it is important that they win at home. “Playing in the Ivy League with no playoffs makes every game very important, especially the home games,” Conrad said. “Protecting the home court is something that everyone sees as important.”

No. 2 doubles. Each also went on to take their respective singles tilts, Moss at No. 2 and Tedaldi at No. 3. This weekend the Bears play host to Colgate University on Saturday and North Carolina State University on Sunday. Saturday, 10 a.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m., Pizzitola Sports Center, fourth floor

Men’s and Women’s Squash: Brown men’s and women’s

squash have picked up considerable steam in the past week, each winning four of their last five competitions. Their victories have moved both squads up into the national top ten, with the men ranked No. 8 and the women No. 7. Both teams had won three straight competitions against Bates College, Colby College and Williams College before being dealt identical 8-1 setbacks against powerhouse Trinity College on Sunday. Despite the loss the men and women rebounded to beat up on Bowdoin College, 9-0 and 8-1, respectively. This weekend both the men and women host Tufts Unversity, and the men host MIT directly afterward. Victories in those matches will be important for both teams, who have one more week of competition before the postseason begins. Friday, 5 p.m. Smith Swim Center (men), Pizzitola Sports Center (women); 7 p.m. Pizzitola Sports Center (men)

NFL, with three members starting in the Pro Bowl. With the return of Jeremiah Trotter, the Eagles have tightened their run defense up front and allowed their secondary to dominate opposing receivers. The Patriots have a well-coached receiving corps, but none of their receivers has the moves to pull away from the Eagles’ defenders. Many of the Patriots’ passing yards come after the offensive line has given Brady enough time to allow zone coverage to break down, but Jevon Kearse and Derrick Burgess should apply enough pressure to force some early throws. By forcing quick throws into their superb secondary, the Eagles should be able to create some turnovers and put their offense in a position to score.

line, a heat-seeking Pro Bowl middle linebacker in James Farrior, and a very good secondary. All the Patriots offense did against them was score 34 points. If there’s an offensive coordinator that knows how to add an additional wrinkle in preparation for a big game, it’s Charlie Weis. That’s what makes the Pats so dangerous and extremely difficult to stop. And despite what you think, Deion Branch is more than capable of pulling away from whatever defensive back is covering him, as evidenced by his torching of the Steelers for 116 yards on just four catches. More importantly, the Pats never commit turnovers in big games. If the Steelers couldn’t force them into turnovers last Sunday, no one will.

CM: I seem to remember the press saying the same things about the Steelers two weeks ago. If you think about it, the Eagles play a defense that is incredibly similar to their Keystone State neighbors. Like the Eagles, the Steelers had lot of exotic blitz packages that augmented a fabulous defensive

BG: The Eagles are not the Steelers, and I think that the secondary will make the difference on Sunday. My pick: Eagles 28, Patriots 24.

Women’s Tennis: After a threemonth layoff, Brown returns to action this weekend with a match against Colgate University on Saturday afternoon. With the exception of captain Alex Arlak ’05, the roster is completely made up of underclassmen, including four first-years. The young Bears will gain experience quickly with the next five competitions on the road following Saturday’s face off with Colgate. Saturday, 3 p.m., Pizzitola Sports Center, fourth floor

Got an idea? Write and tell the Herald what you think.

CM: I will never underestimate the Patriots. Their history suggests that it’s just something you don’t do. My pick: Patriots

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2005 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 9

BUCC continued from page 1 the University, she felt there was a need for (one).” Responses from the various constituencies on campus were positive, and in October, Simmons made a slightly revised version of the council’s charge available to the public. In a letter addressed to the entire Brown community and delivered through Morning Mail, Simmons wrote that the council would serve as a further alignment of the University’s governance structures with its mission. “A governance body with a University-wide perspective is especially important in times of difficulty on the campus to provide a means through which we can all come together … to raise and discuss issues of mutual and institutional concern,” she wrote. Issues of mutual and institutional concern vary widely — hence the necessity of a university-wide council to discuss them — but the topics covered by Simmons in her Second Semester Address Tuesday night will probably be some of the first tackled by the council, including the state of intellectual diversity on campus and tolerance and support for different kinds of views, Carey said. The council’s six annual meetings will be open to the public, and members of the Brown community will have opportunities to have items placed on the agenda, according to the charge. “I think in a lot of ways it’ll be a work in

progress as it unfolds,” Carey said. Although after this year undergraduate students will serve staggered terms of two years, written applications are being accepted through Monday for both oneand two-year terms. Members of the UCS Executive Board will conduct interviews with the students whose applications they think are strongest during the week of Feb. 14, and the appointed students will be announced by Feb. 23. “We’ve been receiving applications since Sunday — a week early, that was pretty good,” said UCS Appointments Chair Ben Creo ’07, who said he expects at least thirty students to apply. Unlike other committees to which UCS is responsible for appointing students, the Community Council will be comprised of four strictly non-UCS members, in addition to UCS President Joel Payne ’05, whose position on the council is a provision of the charge. “Since it is going to be such a prominent committee and given how many students expressed interest (in the council) … it’s a little different,” Creo said. Creo hypothesized that future issues addressed by the council might include abolishing the University’s SAT requirement for applicants, arming University police or the conduct of the University Steering Committee for Slavery and Justice. “It’s a phenomenal opportunity for students,” he said. “You’re getting to know University administrators. Ruth Simmons is going to know you by name, and inherently respect your opinion.”

Today’s your lucky day

Poverty continued from page 3 ors to house the recent homeless and supply food to those in need. Met Council Executive Director William Rapfogel, who has spent 13 years working on behalf of the program after a stint with the Pro-Israel Advocacy campaign in Washington, derived more immediate satisfaction aiding the destitute in his hometown. “In New York, things are tangible,” he said, pointing to a nearby photograph of a woman delivering groceries to a new homeowner. “You can see and feel the impact you’re having on these people. I didn’t get any of that when I worked for the Advocacy.” Each year, Rapfogel oversees the distribution of 1,100 housing units to the elderly, mentally ill and homeless, and rounds out his time fighting proposed budget cuts at Brooklyn’s Borough Hall for those on the brink of despair. It was Meryl Tisch, a chairwoman on the Met Council board, who proposed that they bring Englander in to immortalize the organization’s 270 employees, 2,500 home intendants, and countless clients. The Florida-born photographer had been serving the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan for years, both as a portrait artist and a teacher of digital photography. Having

completed her B.A. and taken time off to raise her children, one of whom graduated from Brown two years ago, Englander rediscovered her passion for taking pictures. She now has a Master’s of Photography from a dual program at NYU and the International Center of Photography, where she serves as a board member. “I see extraordinary people who help one another,” she said of the exhibit, adding that she felt instantly intrigued by the assignment and will continue to work in conjunction with the Met Council as long as she can. The digital photographs on display show a colorful cast of characters including trauma counselors, repairmen and Emergency Food Program coordinators. But central to the series’ large-scale portraits are shots of the grateful owners of new homes and resources. The photographs are arranged in little scenes across the wall of Hillel’s ground floor and provide a glimpse into the daily affairs of several destitute New Yorkers as they receive treatment. “Zakhar Babyov,” for instance, presents an elderly Russian immigrant left to fend for himself after the death of his wife. Unable to afford rent, Babyov was picked up by the Met Council a few years ago. He currently resides in Canasie, Brooklyn, where he — according to Englander’s photographic account — lives happily with his pet fish and eat-in kitchen. In another, perhaps more striking vignette, a long line of

down-and-out immigrants wait in line for the organization’s weekly allocation of food. As Englander explained, New York’s Food Bank donates meal staples to help the povertystricken observe the Jewish Sabbath. “For many of these people,” she said, “it’s the only contact they have with the outside world all week.” Not all the scenes have happy endings, and while each story told includes a form of charity, some of the results are clearly bittersweet. The two miniatures “Ashamed” and “Anonymity” demonstrate that while all applicants receive the treatment they deserve, not all wish to have the proceedings recorded. The images of an abuse victim in counseling and a man shamed by his inability to pay for his son’s cancer treatment both convey the more unspeakable aspects of abject poverty, and the subjects requested that they not be identified. To signify the selfimposed taboo of their positions, Englander sensitively reveals no more than the backs of her subjects’ heads. Creating an intimate rapport with her subjects is a crucial component of the photographer’s methodology. “Look at Boris,” she exclaimed, gesturing at a snapshot of what appeared to be a baby-faced octogenarian. “107-years-old, and isn’t he beautiful? No wrinkles!” The exhibit will run through March 7 at Brown Hillel’s Glenn and Darcy Weiner Center.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

EDITORIAL/LETTERS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2005 · PAGE 10 S T A F F

E D I T O R I A L

Diamonds and coal Coal to illness, but a diamond to the rough-and-ready Health Services staffer who responded to a call with a weary “You, too?” A diamond to Brown Concert Agency for a less-controversialthan-usual Spring Weekend Ben Folds coup. People will grumble, but they’re wrong, and if you promise to tip us off next time, we promise not to bring up Luna, Joan Jett or The Wallflowers ever again. A diamond to PW’s “Cannibal: the Musical!” Brown’s legacy as a clearinghouse of brilliant, marginal musical theater is now assured. Coal to Dick Cheney. We know the State of the Union was long, but unless those things you were periodically popping into your grimacing maw were nitroglycerine, you could have waited to enjoy the breath-freshening goodness of Tic Tacs until the President was done. NICK SCHADE

A diamond to liaising; coal to having no idea what that means. Diamonds and coal to intellectual diversity. Sorry, cubic zirconium — we’re not that diverse. Coal to Roger Williams University President Roy Nirschel’s confident neo-colonialism. Opening a Western-style private school in Vietnam will absolutely help everyone forget why they don’t love America. A crushed diamond to URI students, and to their newspaper, the Good 5¢ Cigar, which helpfully ran a Jan. 28 story titled “Students advised not to jump in front of RIPTA shuttles.” A diamond to Punxatawney Phil, the enigmatic groundhog whose charms we find irresistible, even when he is smugly dooming us to six more weeks of tiptoeing along tiny canyons through the four-foot snowbanks. And a diamond to Subway’s imminent arrival on campus. Though the editorial board has bemoaned the loss of independent stores on Thayer Street, we do look forward to slimming down to a smaller size after getting real big on burgers and fries.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD EDITORIAL Jonathan Ellis, Editor-in-Chief Sara Perkins, Executive Editor Dana Goldstein, Senior Editor Christopher Hatfield, Senior Editor Lisa Mandle, Senior Editor Meryl Rothstein, Arts & Culture Editor Melanie Wolfgang, Arts & Culture Editor Justin Elliott, Campus Watch Editor Robbie Corey-Boulet, Metro Editor Stephanie Clark, Focus Editor Kira Lesley, Focus Editor Te-Ping Chen, Opinions Editor Ari Savitzky, Opinions Editor Chris Mahr, Sports Editor Ben Miller, Sports Editor PRODUCTION Peter Henderson, Design Editor Katie Lamm, Copy Desk Chief Lela Spielberg, Copy Desk Chief Matt Vascellaro, Graphics Editor Ashley Hess, Photo Editor Juliana Wu, Photo Editor

BUSINESS Ian Halvorsen, General Manager Daniel Goldberg, Executive Manager Mark Goldberg, Senior Financial Officer Lisa Poon, Marketing Manager Abigail Ronck, Senior Accounts Manager Kathleen Timmins, Senior Accounts Manager Laird Bennion, Senior Project Manager Elias Roman, Senior Project Manager Jungdo Yu, Senior Project Manager Laurie-Ann Paliotti, Sr. Advertising Rep. Susan Dansereau, Office Manager POST- MAGAZINE Fritz Brantley, Editor-in-Chief Adrian Muniz, Executive Editor Sarah Gordon, Calendar Editor Abigail Newman, Theater Editor Josh Cohen, Design Editor Marissa Hauptman, Photo Editor Ruthie Baron, Features Editor Jeremy Beck, Film Editor Paul Levande, Assistant Film Editor Jesse Adams, Music Editor

Deepa Galaiya, Night Editor Eric Demafeliz, Copy Editor Senior Staff Writers Camden Avery, Alexandra Barsk, Eric Beck, Mary-Catherine Lader, Ben Leubsdorf, Jane Porter, Stu Woo Staff Writers Marshall Agnew, Zachary Barter, Hannah Bascom, Danielle Cerny, Christopher Chon, Stewart Dearing, Gabriella Doob, Amy Hall Goins, Kate Gorman, Krista Hachey, Jonathan Herman, Leslie Kaufmann, Allison Lombardo, Meryl Rothstein, Jen Sopchockchai, Jonathan Sidhu, Lela Spielberg, Stefan Talman, Jane Tanimura, Jessica Weisberg, Melanie Wolfgang, Anne Wootton Sports Staff Writers Kathy Babcock, Zaneta Balantac, Stephen Colelli, Lexi Costello, Ian Cropp, Justin Goldman, Bernard Gordon, Katie Larkin, Matt Lieber, Shaun Macnamara, Chris Mahr, Ben Miller, Eric Perlmutter, Jilane Rodgers, Marco Santini, Brooke Wolfe Accounts Managers Steven Butschi, Rob McCartney, John Nagler, David Ranken, Joel Rozen, Rukesh Samarasekera, Ryan Shewcraft Project Managers In Young Park, Libbie Fritz Design Staff Deepa Galaiya, Allison Kwong, Jason Lee Photo Staff Marissa Hauptman, Ashley Hess, Matthew Lent, Bill Pijewski, Kori Schulman, Sorleen Trevino, Juliana Wu Copy Editors Chessy Brady, Jonathan Corcoran, Eric Demafeliz, Leora Fridman, Allison Kwong, Katie Lamm, Suchi Mathur, Cristina Salvato, Sonia Saraiya, Lela Spielberg, Zachary Townsend, Jenna Young

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OPINIONS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2005 · PAGE 11

The flawed politics of masculinity GUEST COLUMN BY SARAH GOLDSTEIN I read Joel Silberman’s “The Rhetoric Gap” (Opinions, Feb. 1) looking for new insight as to how the Left in this country could indeed overcome the currently bleak political landscape in which Republicans hold such an upper hand. However, I was disappointed to learn that his suggestions were merely that the Democrats grow bigger, more fortified cojones — in Silberman’s words, “balls of steel.” I’m tired of reading this sort of John Wayne-cumSaturday Night Live humor that tries to pass itself off as a political agenda, and also tired of how used to it we have become. Such is the extent of my numbness to this kind of material that it didn’t even initially strike me odd that an article about political weakness should be based on some hackneyed metaphor of having “balls.” I agree with Silberman when he says that “liberals could learn a lot from conservatives.” After all, they have the incredible ability to repackage issues around the appealing ideas of family values and traditionalism — as seen last year when the push for a gay marriage ban became a political firebrand garnering enormous support for the Republicans. Even the seemingly innocuous phrasing of the title of the No Child Left Behind Act demonstrates what conservatives excel at: spin. For in a two-party system steeped in corruption and slander, it is not the ability to appear manly, but rather honorable that gives conservatives their present currency. The “dirty trick” Silberman claims the Republicans won the election by was less their pugilism than their conservative rhetoric of integrity and conviction. This, of course, is nothing new. But instead of letting Republicans hold their monopoly on integrity and policyas-morals, the Democrats should also work into their agenda the simple, effective and obviously persuasive lan-

guage of morality. Failing to do so only allows Republicans to continue manipulating our political landscape through catchphrases such as the “axis of evil” and President Bush’s black-and-white binaries.

The Democrats’ problems go far deeper than whether party is or is not pulling punches. Rather than asking the Democrats to grow bigger balls in order to overcome the “rhetoric gap,” let’s start being aggressively concerned with the fallacy of the “ownership society.” Silberman warns, “Don’t let yourself be one of those liberals who is too sweet to stand up for herself.” To be fair, Silberman does tack on “Or himself,” but I found this reference to the clichéd so-called ‘feminization’ of the Democratic Party misplaced. I cannot help being reminded of the way the media slaughtered Howard Dean last year when he “stood up for himself” after losing the Iowa

Primary. Or the backlash that belligerently liberal talking heads such as Al Franken and Michael Moore receive. A more antagonistic attitude is not what is truly needed to reinvigorate the Democratic Party. One of the reasons millions of people tune in to the likes of Bill O’Reilly and Rush Limbaugh day after day is because they break the issues down into the appealingly aggressive language of right and wrong. That is exactly the kind of language that peppered Silberman’s piece and why I found reading it so particularly frustrating. Such language may be able to fire people up, but the Democrats’ problems go far deeper than whether party is or is not pulling punches. Rather than asking the Democrats to grow bigger balls in order to overcome the “rhetoric gap,” let’s start being aggressively concerned with the fallacy of the “ownership society” or the pitifully under-funded state of public education. And let’s couple this concern with the moral justifications that the Republicans are so adept at utilizing for their party’s advantage. We should continue to critique and try to change the shortcomings of the Democratic Party. But I wonder if, in addition to lauding the Republicans for knowing how to be men, we could get involved in determining what that manhood should look like — and more importantly, in what kind of country men will live. And if I’m missing — or perhaps purposely overlooking — the reality of a patriarchal culture dominated by a politics of “masculinity,” I’m not sure how much my oversight matters anyway. The kind of culture Silberman describes does not hold a place for me — I was castrated before I even entered the game. Sarah Goldstein ’05 doesn’t need a soldier.

Visual Art classes are overcrowded, underfunded GUEST COLUMN BY EDDIE AHN There is a certain temptation to rail against the system when it comes to the shortage of classes in the Department of Visual Art. Over the five past semesters in which I’ve repeatedly tried to get into various VA courses and failed, I’ve seen plenty of disappointed faces and heard many muttered obscenities from those who share my frustrating experiences. Yet, I’ve also witnessed the extraordinary character with which some students manage to deal with this problem. Take, for example, what happened in the first class of VA 111: “Beginning Drawing.” With over 50 people vying for 20 spots, the instructor apologized, saying she would have to prioritize certain students above others. Senior VA concentrators were guaranteed a place in the class; junior concentrators were next on the list. That left 10 precious spots remaining, which would be given away through a lottery. Everyone else, from underclass concentrators to senior non-concentrators, wrote his or her name on slips of paper, threw the slips into a brown paper bag, and nervously watched as they were drawn. Feeling a little like a lemming, I put my name in as well, but with low expectations. A senior non-concentrator, my odds weren’t better than anyone else’s. As the lottery began, I could sense the familiarly resigned exasperation of other senior non-concentrators whose names were not picked. Like me, for four years these students had failed to win the lottery and been told “try again next year.” Now they would have no more chances. Yet three acts of incredible generosity happened. After winning seats in the class through the lottery, two sophomores and one junior gave their positions to three senior non-concentrators. Unfortunately, there were four senior non-concentrators in the room, and I was left without a space. Nevertheless, this kind of charity still overwhelmed me—though the fact that students were put in this situation in the first place left such a sour taste in my mouth that I had to leave the room. For as long as the Department of Visual Art continues to suffer a systemic lack of resources, those who volunteered their spots in

Most importantly, an inherent good exists in offering more visual arts courses for students who specialize in fields ranging from computer science to political science. the course might never have another chance at any upper-level VA course again. This kind of shortage becomes even more painfully apparent in other upper-level VA courses. For example, 77 students pre-registered for the 15 seats in VA 151: “Beginning Photography.” And these numbers don’t even take into account the few dozen additional naïve students who show up on the first day to try “shopping” these classes. To be fair, the University has tried to address this long-standing chronic shortage. In response to many students’ and parents’ complaints, President Ruth Simmons made the Department of Visual Art a priority when she took office four years ago. Over the last two years more resources were given to the department, nearly doubling the number of introductory-level courses such as VA 10: “Studio Foundation.” Recently, the University hired one new, full-time professor. Unfortunately, as another visiting assistant professor left at the same time, the total number of faculty capable of teaching these upper-level courses remains the same. And simply offering more introductory courses has exacerbated the overcrowding of upperlevel courses, since more students than ever are now trying to get into them after completing classes such as VA 10. In the words of one instructor, the department has “shot itself in the foot.” Without more resources, Brown students will continue to face extremely limited options. Already, many feel misled by the Admission Office after facing enormous difficulty in trying to get into a Rhode Island School of Design class (see “Enrolling in a RISD class is mission impossible,” John Nagler, Sept. 17, 2004). In the first

place, Brown and RISD do not coordinate their academic calendars or class times — RISD’s classes run longer and its semester ends later. And even if Brown students do manage to structure their class schedules around the hours of a RISD studio class, they have to scramble to find housing when the Brown semester ends (see “Out of Sync,” Staff Editorial, Oct. 7, 2004). Expanding the art courses available at Brown would save its students having to beg and machinate, usually to no avail, for arts instruction at the bottom of College Hill. Most importantly, an inherent good exists in offering more visual arts courses for students who specialize in fields ranging from computer science to political science. Professors in the Department of Visual Art tend to appreciate the different perspective non-concentrators bring to their classes, but given the lack of VA funding, non-concentrators are virtually barred from enrolling in the department. Were the University to better support the student population’s great diversity of artistic talent, the Department of Visual Art could foster a more creative environment for its concentrators while more fully enriching the broader experience of other undergraduates. Brown University prides itself in creating a diverse population of students that exercises many talents. But when enrolling in an arts course becomes a heartbreakingly worthless endeavor, students like me can only feel increasingly disappointed by the University’s limited educational opportunities. Herald comic artist Eddie Ahn ‘05 is half-aspiring artist.

half-lemming,

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

SPORTS WEEKEND FEBRUARY 4, 2005 · PAGE 12

This weekend at Brown: M. icers fight for seeding

N.Y. weekend: W. hoops looks to down Cornell and Columbia BY JUSTIN GOLDMAN SPORTS STAFF WRITER

After splitting last weekend’s games, the women’s basketball team (11-6, 3-1 Ivy League) welcomes Cornell tonight and Columbia tomorrow for two important Ivy League games. Both games tip off at 7 p.m. at the Pizzitola Center. Although Cornell is winless in the league and only 2-15 overall, the Bears are not taking them lightly. “You play the team and not the record,” said Head Coach Jean Marie Burr. Offensively, Cornell is led by freshman Lindsay Krasna and sophomore Claire Perry. Krasna was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week for the fifth time this season for her performance last weekend, and is leading the Big Red in scoring with 12.0 points per game. Perry is the team’s second leading scorer at 10.8 points per game and is second in rebounding at 4.9 per game. She is also the team’s leading deep threat, shooting 35.2 percent from behind the arc. Judy He / Herald The Bears intend to alternate between Sarah Hayes ’06 leads the Ivy League in various types of defenses to confuse the steals with 3.18 per game. Big Red and keep Kransa and Perry on for the Bears this season. Robertson is their toes. “They have a lot of freshmen and second in the Ivies in scoring with 14.7 sophomores we haven’t played against, points per game, while Hayes is two so they aren’t the easiest team to game- spots behind with 13.9 a contest. Hayes plan against,” said co-captain Andrea has also been a defensive stopper, leading the league in steals with 3.18. Conrad ’05. In Ivy League play, the Bears have held The Bears will continue to rely on their defense to keep their opponent’s scoring opponents to 59 points per game and 38 and field goal percentages down. percent shooting. What has gone unnoAlthough the Bears have traditionally ticed is that they have been scoring 62 been known as a very good defensive points a game, third in the Ivy League. team, they still want to exhibit their Burr has been very happy with the team’s offensive skills and show that they have offensive firepower so far. “We have lots of depth, and lots of more options than Holly Robertson ’05 people that have stepped up,” Burr said. and Sarah Hayes ’06. If the Bears want to continue their Both Hayes and Robertson are shining success, they will need better offensive Women’s Basketball production than they had last Saturday against the University of Pennsylvania. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4 The Bears shot only 29.1 percent for the CORNELL, 7 P.M. game and missed easy shots in a 47-43 SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5 setback. COLUMBIA, 7 P.M.

Judy He / Herald

Sean Hurley ’08 leads the Bears in assists with 12. His 14 points are third best on the team. WEEKEND SPORTS PREVIEW SPORTS STAFF REPORTS

In addition to the women’s basketball team, here’s a fan’s guide to the teams playing at home this weekend. Men’s Ice Hockey: A week after taking down Yale and Princeton on the road, the 11-6-3 Bears return to Meehan Auditorium for two games that will be crucial for determining playoff seeding. On Friday night, the Bears will face the University of Vermont Catamounts, who at 9-4-2 are in fourth place in the ECACHL, two spots ahead of the Bears. Bruno swept Vermont last year by scores of 3-1 and 6-0. Look for SPORTS WEEKEND SCHEDULE FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4 MEN’S ICE HOCKEY: Vermont, 7 p.m., Meehan Auditorium WOMEN’S SWIMMING: Yale, 7 p.m., Smith Swim Center MEN’S SQUASH: Tufts, 5 p.m., Smith Swim Center, MIT, 7 p.m., Pizzitola Center WOMEN’S SQUASH: Tufts, 5 p.m., Pizzitola Center MEN’S BASKETBALL: at Cornell, 7 p.m., Ithaca, N.Y. WOMEN’S ICE HOCKEY: at Dartmouth, 7 p.m., Hanover, N.H. WRESTLING: at Princeton, 7 p.m., Princeton, N.J.

the game to be lower scoring this time around, as the Hockey East-bound Catamounts have given up only 26 goals on the year, third best in the league. The next night Dartmouth comes to town looking to win its fourth straight game (including playoffs) against the Bears. The Big Green are two points ahead of the Bears in the ECAC, but are three points behind Bruno in the Ivy League. A win for Brown will keep them in third place in the Ivies, just behind Harvard. Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m., Meehan Auditorium Women’s Swimming: The Bears round out their regular season schedule this Friday night at 5 p.m. against Yale. Bruno has been on a roll of late, defeating their last four opponents to run their record to 5-3 overall (4-2 Ivy). In their last outing, the Bears captured nine of 16 events in a

Both games at the Pizzitola Center

see PREVIEW, page 8

see W. HOOPS, page 8

Point-counterpoint: The Super Bowl

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5 MEN’S ICE HOCKEY: Dartmouth, 7 p.m., Meehan Auditorium MEN’S TENNIS: Colgate, 10 a.m., Pizzitola Center WOMEN’S TENNIS: Colgate, 3 p.m., Pizzitola Center WOMEN’S SQUASH: Yale, 1 p.m., Pizzitola Center MEN’S SQUASH: Yale, 1 p.m., Pizzitola Center MEN’S BASKETBALL: at Columbia, 7 p.m., New York, N.Y. WOMEN’S ICE HOCKEY: at Vermont, 4 p.m., Burlington, Vt. MEN’S TRACK: at URI Invitational, 4 p.m., Kingston WOMEN’S TRACK: at URI Invitational, 10:30 a.m., Kingston MEN’S SWIMMING: at Yale with Columbia, 12 p.m., New Haven, Conn. GYMNASTICS: at Rutgers with Pittsburgh & Brockport, 1 p.m., New Brunswick, N.J. SKIING: at MIT Carnival, Tenney Mountain, N.H. SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 6 MEN’S TENNIS: N.C. State, 11 a.m., Pizzitola Center SKIIING: Brown Carnival, Loon Mountain, N.H. FENCING: at MIT, 9 a.m., Cambridge, Mass.

WINNER

Bernie Gordon: We’re just days away from the Super Bowl, which can only mean that the two of us are yakking at each other more and BERNIE GORDON more. As CHRIS MAHR POINT-COUNTERPOINT long as we are above g r o u n d , there will never be anything upon which we agree. With that in mind we present you with a point-counterpoint. Chris Mahr: Good, because you’ve been underestimating Tom Brady since the start of the season and I’d like this opportunity to flay you publicly, your

Jets fandom notwithstanding. Despite the fact that I may be speaking from a biased perspective, I feel that the recent comparisons of Brady to his boyhood idol, Joe Montana, are legitimate. Please don’t give me this garbage that Brady is a product of the team he plays with. Montana had a very good 49ers team as his backdrop, and like Brady, he benefited from the genius of his head coach. You also can’t argue with Brady’s 8-0 playoff record and uncanny ability to summon gutsy performances on the big stage. If you watched last year’s Super Bowl you know that Brady carried the Pats when the defense laid an egg. In addition, his

performance against the Steelers in the AFC Championship Game the day after battling a 103-degree fever is the best off-the-sick-bed, onto-the-gridiron performance since — well, Montana did the same thing in the 1978 Cotton Bowl. If Brady has not been Montanaesque, then he’s the closest anyone will ever get. BG: Even Brady has admitted he is not Montana. The media and fans may think so, but no one inside professional football does. Brady threw for 28 touchdowns and 14 interceptions this see SUPER BOWL, page 8

HERALD SPORTS STAFF SUPER BOWL XXXIX PREDICTIONS BEN CHRIS H. IAN ERIC STEPHEN

SHAUN

Eagles 20-17

SCORE POSITION Sports Editor

Patriots 30-20

Patriots 31-17

Patriots 31-20

Patriots 35-17

Patriots 77-2

Senior Editor

Blue Mouse

Foreign Desk

Pats Insider

Legit Gentleman