Wednesday, March 2, 2005

W E D N E S D A Y MARCH 2, 2005

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXL, No. 24 HIGH HORSE Equestrian team opens its spring schedule by taking the lead in regional standings S P O R T S 12

THE NEW CURRICULUM A look at the origins of Brown’s defining philosophy — and where it stands in practice today INSIDE

U. ‘taking a look’ at aid for current transfers

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TODAY

TOMORROW

snow shower 35 / 17

flurries 32 / 13

SciLi to get nightlife

JAM ‘HOUR’

BY KIRA LESLEY FOCUS EDITOR

CONTINUING CORPORATION COVERAGE TODAY: SciLi study space and transfer financial aid.

TOMORROW: Cogut Humanities Center established.

BY STEPHEN NARAIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The Corporation earmarked $400,000 for the first stage in the process of providing financial aid for all incoming transfer and Resumed Undergraduate Education students at its February meeting.

That amount is expected to fund incoming transfers as they move through the University for two to three years, supplemented by further increases over the longer term, according to Provost Robert Zimmer.

“The University Resources Committee made a commitment to the Corporation” to increase financial aid for transfer students, Zimmer said, “and we intend to follow it up with further increases through the years.”

As for transfer students currently enrolled at Brown, Zimmer said the administration is still “taking a look” at financial aid options.

Increasing financial aid availability was a major issue in drafting budgetary plans for the University, according to Zimmer, who chairs the URC. “The decision was a priority of both (President Ruth Simmons) and myself, the URC, and it was something that was well received by those in the Corporation. … There is a clear consensus of the importance of financial see TRANSFER, page 4

Matt Lent / Herald

Alex Hogg ’08 on bass, Jake Izenberg ’08 on saxophone and Paul Lowe ’07 on clarinet performed for the Hourglass Café’s Tuesday night jam sessions featuring free jazz and hip hop music.

In its efforts to urge the University to support renewable, or clean, energy, the Brown Environmental Action Network has decided to get creative.

Renewable energy sources include wind and solar power and are considered more sustainable and environmentally friendly than fossil fuels.

The group took advantage of Feb. 14 to create environmentally oriented valentines for to raise awareness of its campaign.

“We had some posters and Valentine’s Day cards — we were just out there trying to raise awareness about Brown purchasing renewable energy,” said Noah Fulmer ’05, organizer of the event.

BEAN also collected dollar bills to be used for investment in renewable energy, according to BEAN member and Herald contributing writer Emily McAteer ’07.

Valentine’s Day cards addressed to President Ruth Simmons are still waiting to be delivered.

“Our next step would be to go to

Brown’s Sciences Library just may be the most talked-about building on campus.

Some love its functional modern countenance, some hate its incongruousness with the small shops of Thayer, and some just appreciate its function as a repository for public art. Love it or hate it, the SciLi is a favorite topic of conversation. Soon, the towering concrete structure may also be a favorite hangout spot.

The University announced Saturday its plans to build a new 24-hour study space in the bottom of the SciLi. The announcement came after the February Corporation meeting, in which the Corporation accepted a $5 million donation from Susan Friedman ’77 and Richard Friedman ’79, $4 million of which will go to the new Friedman Study Center.

The Study Center will occupy approximately 14,000 square feet on the basesee SCILI, page 4

Filmmakers say public uninformed about slavery

BY AUDREY JAYNES CONTRIBUTING WRITER

For race relations in the United States to continue to progress, Americans need to understand the institution of slavery, James Oliver Horton, professor at George Washington University and president of the Organization of American Historians, told audience members in SmithBuonanno Tuesday night.

“We know a lot about interracial hostility in this country,” he said, “but what we do not know is that there is a strong historical context of interracial cooperation.”

The professor and his wife, Lois Horton, a professor of sociology at George Mason University, led a discussion last night after the screening of their new PBS documentary, “Slavery and the Making of America.” The event followed their Monday night lecture “Slavery in American Memory.” The Committee on Slavery and Justice sponsored both events.

According to the Hortons, there is a lack of knowledge in the public about slavery.

The film, narrated by recent Oscar win-

BEAN pushing University to go clean

BY JONAH STUART BRUNDAGE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

www.browndailyherald.com

An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891

(President Simmons’) office hours and bring the money we raised,” McAteer said.

“Renewable energy has taken off at tons of colleges around the country,” McAteer said, citing Harvard and Duke as examples. However, Brown currently purchases no clean energy, she added.

But clean energy is something the University has already been thinking about.

According to Resource Efficiency Manager Kurt Teichert, most schools that make the switch to clean energy do so simply by purchasing Renewable Energy Certificates from clean energy sources.

“Because there is a market for certificates, you are encouraging renewable energy,” Teichert said. In other words, when universities purchase RECs they are creating an incentive for an increase in the supply of clean energy.

But Teichert said “It’s important that the campus community has a much deeper understanding of what it means when we say we want to buy green power.”

RECs — often purchased from com-

Editorial: 401.351.3372 Business: 401.351.3269

panies thousands of miles away, according to Teichert — have no effect on the local power grid from which Brown gets its energy. This grid is primarily the product of nuclear, coal and natural gas sources, Teichert said.

In addition, RECs would result in higher energy prices for the University because it would be paying for both the certificates and the energy it already gets from the power grid.

Teichert supports alternative solutions that would more directly affect the energy supplied to Brown and in the New England region. The University has been working on what Teichert called a “Contract for Differences,” a contract with a local clean energy source that would provide for the construction of a new renewable energy plant. This would allow a higher percentage of the energy supplied to the region to come from clean sources.

RECs, however, are the primary concern for BEAN, according to McAteer.

Teichert agreed that such certificates

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

see BEAN, page 4

ner Morgan Freeman, consists of both reenactments and interviews. It weaves together the individual historical experiences of blacks from the beginning of slavery through reconstruction into a four-hour documentary.

Viewers learn things from the film that most Americans do not know, James Horton said. For one, there is a history of interracial cooperation in America that often gets overlooked.

Slavery began as indentured servitude.

Beginning in the early 1500s, whites and blacks often shared common struggles and participated in the same rebellions, he said.

Many people also do not know that slavery was “phased” into American society — there were no laws or legislation governing slavery when it first appeared, and Americans had to make it up as they went along, he said.

“People tell you, ‘Wow, I never knew those kids of things,’ ” he said.

Many view slavery as north versus south and right versus wrong, but in 1740, New York City had the second largest slave population in America, James Horton told the crowd.

Both the Hortons’ film and book unfold as a series of individual historical anecdotes. With film, one must keep things “nice, clear, inspirational and rousing,” Lois Horton said. They had more freedom to delve into the complexities of the issue in their book, also titled “Slavery and the Making of America.”

What came across from the discussion is that the average American citizen does not have full understanding of the history of slavery in America.

James Horton’s motto is “AfricanAmerican history is American history made by Americans in America.”

“If you take African-American history out of American history, it is no longer American history,” he said.

News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

THIS MORNING WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2005 · PAGE 2 Coreacracy Eddie Ahn

WORLD IN BRIEF Supreme Ct. halts death penalty for juveniles LOS ANGELES TIMES WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday abolished the death penalty for juveniles, ruling that it is excessive and cruel to execute a person who was under age 18 when the crime was committed.

Juveniles are less mature than adults and, no matter how heinous their crimes, they are not among “the worst offenders”

who deserve to die, the 5-4 majority said.

Three years ago, the court struck down the death penalty for mentally retarded criminals; the logic of that ruling called for a similar ban on capital punishment for juvenile offenders, the court said.

Tuesday's decision means that 72 convicted murderers on death row in 12 states will be resentenced.

Jero Matt Vascellaro

TO D AY ’ S E V E N TS THE INDIAN OCEAN TSUNAMI 5-7 p.m. (MacMillian 117) — Learn more about the underlying Earth Science and the ongoing relief effort.

Featuring Jeff Albert, AAAS environmental fellow, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, who recently returned from the affected region, and Karen Fischer, professor of geological sciences, who studies earthquakes.

CARIBBEAN HERITAGE WEEK CONVOCATION 7-9 p.m. (MacMillian 117) — Featuring keynote speaker Donna Hope and a Trinidadian steel band performance.

CENTER FOR LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES FILM: AFROARGENTINES 6:30 p.m. (Smith-Buonanno 106) — This film unearths the history of black people in Argentina and their contributions to Argentine culture and society.

Chocolate Covered Cotton Mark Brinker

MENU SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH — Beef Tacos, Spanish Rice, Refried Beans, Spinach with Toasted Sesame Seeds, Raspberry Squares, Chocolate Frosted Brownies.

VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALL LUNCH — Vegetarian Mushroom Barley Soup, Potato Vegetable Chowder with Ham, Beef Tacos, Vegan Burrito, Vegan Refried Beans, Corn and Sweet Pepper Saute, Frosted Brownies.

DINNER — Filet of Sole and Lemon RollUps, Vegetable Risotto, Beets in Orange Sauce, Broccoli Spears, Sourdough Bread, Chocolate Sundae Cake, Italian Beef Noodle Casserole.

DINNER — Vegetarian Mushroom Barley Soup, Potato Vegetable Chowder with Ham, Rotisserie Style Chicken, Spinach Quiche, Spanish Rice, Broccoli Cuts, Polynesian Ratatouille, Sourdough Bread, Chocolate Sundae Cake.

How to Get Down Nate Saunders

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Harsh barks 6 1968 US Open champ 10 Word that can follow the last word in 17-, 24-, 47- & 60-Across and 3- & 34Down 14 One of the Allens 15 Farm calls 16 Word with gray or Bay 17 Strong bridge opener 19 Depend 20 It may be hard to swallow 21 Commanded 22 Collared 23 Hershiser of the diamond 24 Sign of cyberhumor 26 Tide type 28 Calm side 29 Services’ counterpart 31 “28 Days” setting 34 Not to 37 Public hangings?

38 4:00 p.m. in London, perhaps 40 Crude stuff 41 “Golly!”

42 First-stringers 43 Split to be joined?

45 Televise 46 Caspian feeder 47 Program interruption, at times 53 River of Flanders 56 Crop up 57 “The Waltons” daughter 58 Eye with ideas 59 Fit to be tried 60 Package-mailing option 62 Seeks information 63 “That’s ___!”: “No way!”

64 One into sniggling 65 Not as much 66 Thieves’ hangouts 67 __ forth: et cetera

DOWN 1 “The best is __ come” 2 Fighting 3 Stemless musical symbol 4 Like some finished basements 5 __-cone 6 President Garfield’s middle name 7 Riyadh resident 8 Veronica of “Hill Street Blues” 9 Medium talent?

10 Jug cousin 11 Fan site 12 Memento 13 “Tell It to My Heart” singer Taylor 18 Cookbook abbr.

22 Brewpub offering 25 Oater actor Jack 27 “Funny Face” costar 29 Comical bit 30 Lucky strike 31 Actress Charlotte 32 LAX datum 1

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33 “She Done __ Wrong” 34 Forty-niner’s disappointment 35 Snorter starter?

36 Chihuahua cheer 39 Raison d’__ 44 Expose 45 Size up 46 Magazine founder Eric 47 Stuffy-sounding 48 Clear the tape

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49 Flirtatious signals 50 Noted positive thinking proponent 51 Hatch from Utah 52 Puts through a food press 54 “It’s nobody __ business” 55 Fashionably oldfashioned 60 Pen partner 61 Idyllic setting

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03/02/05

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2005 · PAGE 3

The New Curriculum back then...

...and now

BY BEN LEUBSDORF SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Toward the end of the 1960s, Brown students were dissatisfied with the University they knew and were ready to do something about it.

“I think I was like a lot of kids coming into school,” said Elliot Maxwell ’68, who was unsure at the time what a college education was supposed to mean.

“We didn’t know what the principles were that Brown stood for,” he said.

“We felt that the education could be better. It was too rote and not enough creativity and giving respect to students and so on. I think we were just motivated by our own experiences,” said Ira Magaziner ’69 P’06 P’07.

According to a paper by George Borts, a professor of economics here since 1950, the Brown curriculum then required proficiency in English composition; proficiency in reading in a foreign language; a distribution of four courses each in sciences, humanities and social sciences; an eight-course concentration track with a C average; a senior comprehensive exam; physical education courses and the completion of a 100-meter swim test.

Large lecture courses were the rule, distribution requirements “artificially homogenized what options were open to students,” and there were few opportunities for students to work across insulated disciplines, Magaziner said.

Things could be better, thought Magaziner, Maxwell and others. They would become the primary architects of the New Curriculum of 1969.

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had articulated. “Initially we went dorm to dorm” educating students, he said, then began to engage professors in discussions of reform, and organized protests on the Main Green to force action.

The Herald reported Nov. 5, 1968, that 700 students had rallied on the Main Green the day before, and a month later University President Ray Heffner appointed the Special Committee on Curricular Philosophy to develop specific curricular reforms.

Chaired by Paul Maeder, assistant provost and professor of engineering, the committee included faculty, administrators and undergraduates, and was the first University committee to include students, according to Magaziner. The committee released the Maeder Report recommending specific reforms Apr. 14, 1969, and May 6 - 8 saw marathon faculty meetings to discuss and vote on its proposals.

The unusually large meetings — according to the minutes there were 260 professors present at the start — were held in Sayles Hall and were partly broadcast over loudspeakers on the Main Green. Classes were cancelled on May 7 for an all-day meeting, and hundreds of students gathered outside Sayles cheering and booing as faculty members addressed the core philosophy and mission of Brown University.

The meetings were “heated and long and intense,” said William Crossgrove, professor emeritus of comparative literature. “I remember it as a time of great excitement, and I don’t think faculty meetings were ever as exciting as they were those three days,” he said.

“It was very intense. It was one of those instances where legislation was made by the people with the strongest bladders,” said Borts, who described himself as a “bemused observer” of the proceedings.

“There was a lot of politicking” by Magaziner and other proponents of reform, said Jerome Grieder ’56, professor emeritus of history. They held “negotiat-

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BY MARY-CATHERINE LADER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

It is alternatively referred to as the Brown Curriculum, the New Curriculum and the Open Curriculum. The admission Web site says it has three principles, but Dean of the College Paul Armstrong says it has five. Nuance aside, many agree the New Curriculum is a vibrant philosophy that transcends these details.

“The New Curriculum is a set of beliefs about education and the goals of liberal learning that are widely shared among faculty, students and alumni, and have evolved over the 36 years since its inception,” Armstrong said. “There is no document. It’s a tradition. It’s kind of like British common law.”

Professor of Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences Sheila Blumstein, who has been at Brown since 1970 and oversaw a major review of the curriculum as dean of the college in 1990 before serving as interim provost and president, emphasized that despite its intangible nature, the curriculum’s philosophy is clear.

“It may sound nebulous, but it’s not minor,” Blumstein said. “If we succeeded, you come out not only knowing something really well, but knowing about how to approach different content areas.”

Fundamentally, the curriculum provides students with “a template for a rich education in liberal arts and sciences,” Blumstein said. She refers to the system as the Brown Curriculum — an official change that was made nearly a decade ago.

Despite the official renaming, many still call it the New Curriculum, including Dean of the College Paul Armstrong. “(The name) will continue to be used for as long as people find it useful,” he said.

While it still is referred to as “new,” there have been four major reviews of the New Curriculum since its inception, the most recent led by Blumstein in 1990.

Despite these reviews, the increase in the required minimum number of courses (from 28 to 30) and elimination of AP credits and Modes of Thought courses are the only major alterations that have been made since 1969.

But according to members of the College Curriculum Council — which is responsible for continued assessment of the academic program — the importance of the curriculum to Brown’s identity does not impede discussion of future changes.

“It’s not a sacred cow,” said Armstrong, who chairs the CCC. “It’s a tradition that is strong because it’s open to change and scrutiny.”

“The ideas of the New Curriculum haven’t changed, but there are so many new curricular initiatives,” said CCC member Freya Zaheer ’06, citing new concentrations and course offerings.

Debate within the CCC and faculty over the past few years has included the possible use of pluses and minuses in grading, but the issue was resolved in favor of keeping the current system.

Although individual professors may disagree with aspects of the grading system, the fundamental principles are not seriously questioned. “ ‘Requirements’ is almost a four-letter word around here,” said Executive Associate Dean Robert Shaw P’03. Shaw, a professor in the Department of Education, said he personally favors including failing grades in transcripts.

“It’s never going to be like we’re going to disband the New Curriculum,” Zaheer said. “It creates a strong brand for Brown.”

Director of Admission Michael Goldberger agrees the New Curriculum is a powerful part of the Brown “brand.”

“There is absolutely nothing that compares with the impact the New Curriculum has on applications,” Goldberger wrote in an e-mail. Goldberger estimates that over half of Brown’s applicants each year mention the curriculum as one of their most significant reasons for applying.

But without a required core, Brown students face a multitude of academic choices that can be daunting and difficult to navigate. “We all realize it’s not for every student, and that’s the challenge for admissions,” Shaw said.

Goldberger emphasized the importance of selecting students who will be able to handle the responsibilities of the curriculum and consequently succeed at Brown. “This sense of match probably falls second in our selection protocol with academic excellence being the most important criterion,” Goldberger said.

To support students as they navigate the curriculum and make a multitude of decisions, the original New Curriculum emphasized close advising relationships — an area that the CCC and administration continue to address.

“I think we can always do better with advising,” Armstrong said. He said he believes the first-year advising system is strong but wants to improve sophomore advising in the future.

“In our curriculum, if advising is poor, then students will not be able to make good, informed decisions,” Blumstein said.

“Encouraging students to make course decisions earlier is one of the big thrusts (of the CCC’s current agenda),” said Associate Professor of Computer Science Tom Doeppner, a member of the CCC for the past three years.

Although members of the CCC foresee no drastic changes to the curriculum, there are minor challenges.

Registrar Michael Pesta worries that the New Curriculum mantra of free-

How it happened “We were sort of stumbling through” questions about the nature of a college education before like-minded students decided “a group process would allow us to … work together and organize our activities,” Maxwell said. October 1966 saw the beginning of the first Group Independent Study Project at Brown, consisting of 80 students and 15 faculty members, including Magaziner and Maxwell.

“It was a discussion of education at Brown,” Magaziner said, and the proposals that came out of the GISP found expression in the 418-page “Draft of a Working Paper on Education at Brown University,” written by Magaziner and Maxwell and released in March 1968.

The paper represented “a very traditional, academic approach” to the issue, said Luther Spoehr, currently a lecturer in education and an expert on higher educasee THEN, page 6 tion in the 1960s. “They were being good students,” he said — discussing the history of higher education, critiquing existing policies and suggesting reforms.

The report broadly called for Brown to reorient its undergraduate curriculum to “put students at the center of their education” and seek to “teach students how to think rather than just teaching facts” through smaller courses, independent studies and interdisciplinary efforts, Magaziner said. Specifically it called for an end to letter grades and for small, interdisciplinary “Modes of Thought” courses to be taught for the first two years of college.

Maxwell graduated that spring, and Magaziner, by then president of the Cammarian Club — a predecessor to the current Undergraduate Council of Students — began organizing the student body to press for the curricular reforms they The Herald printed this photo on May 8, 1969, as faculty members debated the New Curriculum for three days.

see NOW, page 6

PAGE 4 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2005

SciLi continued from page 1 ment, first and second floors of the library, according to David Greene, vice president for campus life and student services.

The new center will help fulfill student desire for more 24hour study spaces. “Study centers, study spaces have been a fairly high priority in the Initiatives for Academic Enrichment and with students,” said Mark Nickel, director of the Brown News Service.

According to Greene, the SciLi is a prime location for such spaces. As part of a study of Brown’s physical campus, the Office of Campus Life and Student Services and architectural firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates evaluated “how important (the SciLi) was for students in how they live their lives and where they’re traversing morning, noon and night,” Greene said. The study pinpointed the library as a hub of student activity and likely candidate for improvements.

The library was singled out because of its potential for open space, Greene said.

Although the plans for the center are still in the preliminary stage — no architect has been hired for the job — construction will probably include moving the office of circulation and other administrative offices that currently operate on the building’s ground floor, he said.

In their place, the new center will house “a very open, interactive space, possibly with a café,” Greene said. The basement and second-floor mezzanine will also be turned into open spaces for studying and meetings.

The new study area will not serve as a student center, another potential campus improvement identified in the physical campus study. In addition to new and revitalized study spaces and the construction of a student center, the study suggested renovating the Sharpe Refectory and building a new fitness center. Of the four major areas of improvement identified in the study, “two of them we’re getting under way,” Greene said.

In deciding to construct the new center, “one of the things we really wanted to do is identify projects we could start right away,” he said.

Time was a major consideration for the Friedmans, too.

Transfers continued from page 1 aid and its continued improvement,” said Zimmer.

Zimmer noted that undergraduate financial aid is one of the fastest-growing elements of the University’s budget. The total undergraduate financial aid budget will jump by $3.77 million in fiscal year 2006, an increase of 9 percent.

Director of Financial Aid Michael Bartini said that although the Corporation approved the financial aid funds for transfer and RUE students, senior administrators are still in the process of working out the details.

Financial aid for transfers has

Richard Friedman said that when he and Susan Friedman began discussing possible projects for their donation, the study center was appealing because students would be able to use it relatively soon.

According to Greene, a student center would take many years to complete, whereas the study center will be an asset to current students.

Friedman said he wanted to invest in a project with tangible benefits, “a distinctive one that you can really see and feel.”

In order to create open space, some SciLi materials will be relocated to Brown’s new Libraries Collection Annex about four miles from campus.

Some of these materials include science periodicals, many of which are now online, Greene said. Librarians will evaluate which materials students use infrequently and choose the materials to be relocated accordingly, he said.

Although the study space’s date of completion is not certain, Greene called the project “one of those near-term improvements that will have a significant impact on students who are here now.”

Friedman echoed this sentiment, saying he was glad current students will be able to reap the center’s benefits. He said creating a tangible improvement that current students will be able to enjoy greatly appealed to him.

“Plus, the SciLi hadn’t changed in 25 years,” he said.

Bean continued from page 1 are the most immediate step the University can take in supporting clean energy.

Both Fulmer and Teichert see the clean energy campaign as connected to a broad spectrum of environmental activities on campus.

According to Fulmer, students are involved in many other campaigns that — although not specifically related to renewable energy — will nevertheless help the University reduce its fossil fuel consumption.

Initiatives that seek to reduce the demand for electricity have been the University’s primary energy concern, Teichert said.

However, interest on the part of students has forced the

been a major concern for many in the University community.

Many students made appeals for improvement to the administration last semester.

“It is important to hear very broadly from all constituents of the University — students, faculty, alums — and consider their arguments,” Zimmer said.

Though they welcomed the increase in financial aid, some students on campus said they were concerned for currently enrolled transfers, many of whom were behind the push for transfer aid.

“I definitely feel that the students who fought to get transfer student aid should get a part of the money that’s set aside,” said Libby Lucas ’08.

Transfer student Emilee Trower ’05 said that transfers

Commission continued from page 5 Environmental Studies Steven Hamburg believes the creation of the commission could be valuable. “Our forest cover has steadily declined over the last couple of decades, and we need to focus more on increasing the environmental considerations of projects and ongoing activities,” he said. Currently, Hamburg said, there are no regulations regarding the width of sidewalks, and consequently Providence road workers pour more concrete than necessary. This increases runoff and decreases the water quality, as well as impedes the growth of street trees.

“The Conservation Commission, if it were involved in looking at those types of activities, can point out to the city how we can improve the environment and reduce cost.

But if it’s just another group that has no influence, then it’s not worth the effort,” Hamburg said.

Williams hopes that the commission will not be an impotent organization, and is looking to Brown for volunteers as well as to the community at large. “There are ways Brown can get involved, and that’s something that will have to be explored,” she said.

University to pay more attention to initiatives, such as RECs, that emphasize the supply side of energy efficiency, he added.

Fulmer believes that the University can solve the problem of clean energy’s increased costs by implementing a small fee of a few dollars per student. If such a proposal went into effect, it would include an option allowing students to opt out of paying the fee, Fulmer said.

Fulmer was optimistic about the University’s potential for making the switch to clean energy, citing the ease of such a switch and the broad student and faculty support it has received.

However, he said the process will take some time. “One hundred percent is not going to happen right away,” he said.

provide a unique addition to the University community and should be provided with the same financial aid opportunities as their peers.

“I feel like current transfer students at Brown bring a lot to the table, and that should be acknowledged by financial help, especially with all the increases in financial aid put toward incoming students,” Trower said.

Zimmer said the University will make a “huge commitment” to improve financial aid across many levels.

“I think that it’s important, given the nature of the community we are and the educational experience we advocate, that students should have the chance to go here independent of financial need,” Zimmer said.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

METRO EXTRA WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2005 · PAGE 5

Segal, two years in office, focuses on social justice

BY JONATHAN HERMAN STAFF WRITER

While Ward 1 City Councilman David Segal’s 2002 campaign may initially have attracted Brown students because of his advocacy for increased parking on College Hill, he has spent much of his term thus far promoting causes that expand the scope of the Green Party’s presence in Providence.

Many of Segal’s platform issues have been addressed or are soon to be voted on, he said.

Some of the primary issues that contributed to his 2002 election included affordable housing, community policing and external review of Providence police, according to his 2002 campaign Web site.

Parking on College Hill was a major issue for students in the 2002 Ward 1 City Council race.

However, Segal said it was only one of his campaign issues.

“It was a piece of the campaign,” he said. “It was an important one, but it was by no means the bulk of it.”

“He’s tried to broaden the appeal of the Green Party beyond the environmental issues to a range of social justice concerns,” said Darrell West, professor of political science.

“That’s been effective because it put him in sync with the people in his district.”

The major issue Segal admits he has failed to enact is the Living Wage Ordinance. This type of ordinance, which has been adopted by cities across the nation, raises the minimum wage paid by city government institutions.

“The living wage’s defeat was hugely depressing, but there are powers in the city more powerful than a single person,” Segal said.

“The Chamber of Commerce and the Providence Journal made a point of killing it, and then the mayor withdrew his support.”

Though discouraged by the living wage’s defeat, Segal said he hopes to accomplish similar goals through his promotion of the Providence WORKS! campaign, a coalition of local organizations attempting to ensure Providence residents benefit from economic development projects.

“A lot of the ends of the Providence WORKS! campaign are the same as the living wage campaign” and aim at “making sure that projects of development in Providence go to Providence residents who need them more than anyone else regionally,” Segal said.

Segal and fellow Ward 9 Councilman Miguel Luna are two of the major backers working in concert for the campaign.

Segal has proposed an inclusionary zoning ordinance that would force residential development projects of 10 or more units to set aside 10 percent of the units for affordable housing in exchange for the right to building higher and more dense-

ly than zoning would normally allow.

Not all members of the Providence community support Segal’s plans for creating affordable housing.

Associate Professor of Sociology Hilary Silver, who teaches an urban studies seminar on housing markets, expressed concern about implementing a measure like Segal’s in Providence’s real estate market.

Silver said the proposed rezoning might discourage developers interested in promoting upscale projects in the city’s downtown district.

“It probably makes sense not to kill the development by the bud,” Silver said. “This doesn’t mean we have to give (developers) a tax abatement or tax incentive, though.”

Rigid regulations that discourage continued residential development could be a detriment to the city by shrinking its tax base, Silver said.

“The city needs more people who own homes and pay taxes.

This (development) is a way of creating more homeowners to pay taxes that will allow the city to function better,” Silver said.

Another measure critical to the Providence WORKS! campaign is the First Source ordinance, which was passed in 1985 but has languished and been ignored since its initiation. This ordinance declares that any project receiving indirect or direct funding from Providence can employ non-Providence residents only if no Providence residents are qualified, Segal said.

“If anybody had decided to sue the city, he would have had an easy case,” Segal said, adding the ordinance may not have been fully enforced because of “who was governing Providence in the past 20 years,” referring specifically to former Providence Mayor Vincent “Buddy” Cianci Jr. In justification of the First Source ordinance, Segal said, “We are much needier than the surrounding cities, and a dollar is much more valuable to a poor man than a rich man. It’s basic utilitarian theory.”

Segal said he faced opposition in finding the initial funding to commission a study exploring how to enforce and fund the First Source initiative. He said the research process may involve updating sections of the ordinance to the current demographics of Providence.

Campaign issues Segal has successfully promoted include the creation of the affordable housing trust fund, implementation of the community policing strategies and passing an ordinance promoting city purchase of fuel-efficient cars.

Segal and Luna have also helped to establish a trust fund to promote affordable housing, which is often funded by payments made to the city by develsee SEGAL, page 9

Williams pushing for Providence Conservation Committee

BY AIDAN LEVY STAFF WRITER

Diseased trees, untended bushes and loose gravel were all that graced Blackstone Boulevard’s median strip until last year, when a group of environmentally savvy citizens united to refurbish it, along with other Providence green spaces. The Friends of Blackstone Park, in conjunction with Citywide Green, a group comprised of Providence citizens and public officials who are committed to preserving the city’s natural ecology, have planted hundreds of trees and bushes in addition to repairing the walking path that spans the boulevard’s 1.7-mile length.

Funds were last appropriated for the area’s upkeep in the late 1990s. Recently, the Providence City Council introduced legislation to provide long-term funding for the maintenance of everything green in the city.

Providence Councilwoman Rita Williams, who represents Ward 2, has championed the initiative, which if passed will establish a Providence Con-

servation Commission. Out of the 39 Rhode Island municipalities, Providence is one of only nine without such a commission. If the bill is passed, Williams anticipates the cost to be negligible, since volunteers will fill most of the positions.

“When you have a lot of community development, they tend to destroy parks,” Williams said. “Now the city is surrounded by green space, which is wonderful for a city.”

While approval for the legislation is pending, that has not prevented Citywide Green and other environmental advocacy groups in Providence from implementing an extensive revitalization project that includes Blackstone Park, Neutaconkanut Hill and Canada Pond. The group has also organized a substantial initiative to purify the Woonasquatucket River, which was contaminated after years of factory waste dumping.

“It’s an important safeguard to look at what’s happening with development and consider the natural resources,” said Jenny Pereira, a representative

of Citywide Green and executive director of the Woonasquatucket River Waterside Council. “I think people have been concerned about the parks for a while. It’s such an important feature for any city, but there aren’t enough resources right now to do the job that needs to be done.”

Establishing a Conservation Commission, Pereira said, would give Citywide Green the leverage necessary to fully revitalize Providence parks.

Williams expects that Blackstone Park will be more attractive to residents after the commission is formed and functional, she said.

The bill must pass through the Ordinance Committee, and then the council must arrive at a consensus before it is referred to the mayor, Williams said. It may take several months for the commission to be established, but Williams is optimistic that there will be no opposition.

Associate Professor of see COMMISSION, page 4

PAGE 6 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2005

Then continued from page 3 ing sessions” with skeptical members of the faculty in the Blue Room during recesses.

May 7 saw the passage of the reforms that would become known as the New Curriculum: an end to all distribution requirements, the adoption of “concentrations” instead of majors, the adding of a “Satisfactory/No Credit” grading option for all courses, the reduction of the number of required passing grades to 28 and the adoption of optional Modes of Thought courses — a compromise measure in the face of overwhelming faculty opposition to mandatory MOT courses. May 8 saw the passage of a new statement of academic principles for the University.

The MOT courses would wither away for lack of funding in the 1970s, and the faculty would not remove the swimming requirement for another few years.

The next day, May 9, President Heffner resigned for personal reasons, saying at the time, “I have simply reached the conclusion that I do not enjoy being a University president.” But he has said, both then and now, his decision was unrelated to the passage of the New Curriculum.

“Seldom in the history of Brown University have so many worked so long for so much,” declared The Herald of May 9, paraphrasing Winston Churchill.

A student-led movement had brought about fundamental changes in the Brown curriculum — “the faculty never would have done anything that sweeping on its own,” Crossgrove said.

But why was it so successful — and peaceful — at Brown?

Why it happened “We did a number of things, not just educational reform” at Brown, Magaziner said. Students

Now continued from page 3 dom might have led to some “bad habits,” such as delayed decisions during shopping period.

His office processes 12,000 adds and 11,000 drops in the first four weeks of classes — a sign that students are crafting their academic programs carefully — but students continue to add and drop courses in significant numbers past the fourweek deadline.

The curriculum’s philosophy of trusting students with the design of their own education does allow room for exploitation.

“It is a danger,” said CCC member Christopher Elias ’05.5. “But you can’t mandate liberal learning.”

Elias’ personal opinion that most students study broadly and use the S/NC option with good reason is well supported.

Armstrong cited a recent University study that found the overwhelming majority of students take classes outside their area of study — for example, 87 percent of science concentrators took three or more humanities courses, and 90 percent of humanities concentrators took at least one science course.

The curriculum’s flexibility allowed 23 percent of the class of 2004 to complete multiple concentrations. But Pesta said stu-

were active in protesting the Vietnam War, attempting to remove the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps from campus and protesting racial discrimination at the University.

Dec. 5, 1968 saw 65 black students walk out of the University in protest of the campus’s lack of diversity. According to Edward Ahearn, professor of comparative literature, students and faculty went on strike for several weeks in 1970 after the U.S. bombing of Cambodia.

“The ferment caused by these other things also made people think about” curricular reform, Maxwell said, adding he thinks many students saw “the possibility of this institutional change (in the New Curriculum) as part of a larger change in society.” The energies of the 1960s found expression at Brown in, among other things, a movement for curricular reform, as it did at other institutions as well.

But in sharp contrast to events on many campuses across the nation, movements at Brown remained largely peaceful.

“Comparatively, the Brown confrontations were terribly civilized. It was nothing like the violence that happened at Columbia, Harvard and Cornell,” said Heffner, who led Brown from 1966 to 1969.

Spoehr said Brown’s small size made it possible for administrators and students to have face-toface relationships, and made it difficult for either side to demonize the other and create an “usand-them” mentality.

“In terms of making a conversation possible, it was pretty close to an ideal environment,” Spoehr said.

Another factor was the character of the University leadership.

Grieder and Borts described previous presidents, such as Henry Wriston and Barnaby Keeney, as “autocrats” with domineering styles and personalities. In contrast, President Heffner was “not

a strong authoritarian leader,” Grieder said.

“I was certainly not an autocrat. I was willing to listen to both sides of any argument,” Heffner said. “I would hope our willingness to discuss and compromise was helpful” in preventing violence, he added.

“He was a person you could reason with, and he was flexible and respectful of what students had to say, and so on, so I think in a way he was a very good president for that time,” Magaziner said.

Another distinctive feature of the curriculum reform movement at Brown was its actual success in convincing the University to make fundamental and lasting changes.

Grieder said the faculty seemed to sense that change was necessary, and Spoehr agreed that “Brown was a place that was ready to hear this … so the suggestion fell on fertile soil.”

But the key to the movement’s success seems to have been Magaziner’s leadership — helping to develop the proposals for reform, organizing the student body to push for action and guiding the proposals through passage by the faculty.

“His leadership was crucial,” Heffner said.

Magaziner “managed to politicize the issue without forcing it to become stridently ideological,” Grieder said, and was “an astute politician” in terms of harnessing the energy of the student body and directing it for change.

“Ira was definitely the one,” Crossgrove said.

The curricular reforms of 1969 have proved especially durable, and have been largely unchanged for over 35 years. The energies of the turbulent 1960s — at least in part — found a peaceful and ultimately successful outlet at Brown in the New Curriculum.

“This was a godsend for us. It was Brown’s lightning rod that kept the building from being struck and burning down,” Grieder said.

dents often use the flexibility to “credentialize” by adding a second concentration in their eighth semester, often after realizing they have unwittingly fulfilled all the requirements in another concentration. “But you can’t legislate against abuse,” Pesta said. “You can waste your education anywhere. It doesn’t matter where you go.” The faculty voted last month to require undergraduates to declare second concentrations by the end of preregistration period during their seventh semesters in response to this concern.

Last semester, Benjamin Bright-Fishbein ’07 wrote a column in The Herald arguing that without a core, the Brown education was too easy to squander.

“People think that a core deprives you of your individualism,” Bright-Fishbein said. “But there is some sort of commonality that we should have to our education.

There is something to be said for a universal standard of pedagogy, and I just don’t think Brown offers that.”

Judging from the response to his column, Bright-Fishbein suspects most students disagree with him. “People reacted to it very violently,” he said. “One person even wrote me an ad hominem attack on Thefacebook.com.”

But Bright-Fishbein’s belief in the necessity of a specific body of knowledge directly contradicts the New Curriculum phi-

losophy.

“Our curriculum is about encouraging students to think creatively, to learn to think, and not about assembling a great tradition or core set of texts,” Armstrong said.

Despite general satisfaction with the New Curriculum — even after 36 years — Armstrong said he hopes to continue to expand the Brown undergraduate academic program in new ways.

“The role for faculty and students now is to try to keep pushing, to explore the potential of the New Curriculum, and to try to keep discovering things that (its) framers wouldn’t have thought imaginable,” Armstrong said.

Ira Magaziner ’69 P’06 P’07, a creator of the New Curriculum, said there is one thing he might not have imagined.

“We would have been shocked to have the New Curriculum survive as long as it did,” Magaziner said. “We would have expected a new group would have come together and looked to sort of question everything and so on.

We certainly would have been shocked to hear it still called the New Curriculum after all these years.”

Perhaps Magaziner simply did not anticipate how much the New Curriculum would become a part of the University’s identity.

“It has defined Brown,” Blumstein said. “It will continue to.”

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2005 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 7

U.S., France demand Syria’s complete withdrawal from Lebanon

BY ROBIN WRIGHT THE WASHINGTON POST

LONDON — In a tough warning to Syria, the United States and France on Tuesday demanded an immediate and total withdrawal of all Syrian troops and intelligence agents from Lebanon.

They also urged other nations to help chart a more stable future for Lebanon, including sending international monitors to observe its crucial spring elections.

At a news conference with French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also said that the United States and France were looking at what could be done to “stabilize” Lebanon if Syria leaves, hinting at possible support for an international presence to ease the transition or fill the security void. But she said discussions had just begun and would not comment on reports circulating here that the two nations were exploring the option of a U.N. mission.

The new diplomatic offensive comes as the Bush administration levies new charges that groups based in Syria helped plan Friday’s suicide bombing that killed five Israelis in Tel Aviv.

The allegation was originally made by Israel, but Rice said Tuesday it was supported by “firm” new evidence.

“There is evidence that Islamic Jihad, headquartered in Syria, was in fact involved with the planning of those attacks in Tel Aviv, and so the Syrians have a lot to answer for,” Rice said in an interview here with ABC News.

“We don’t know the degree of Syrian involvement, but certainly what is happening on the territory of Syria, in and around Damascus, is clearly threatening to the different kind of Middle East we’re trying to grow.”

Rice said there is “firm evidence that Palestinian Islamic Jihad, sitting in Damascus, not only knew about the attacks but was involved in the planning. We will be prepared to talk to others — the Israelis, the Palestinians, with others in the region — about this.”

In an interview with Time magazine released Tuesday, Syrian President Bashar Assad said his forces would be out of Lebanon in a few months. He said Syria would discuss its plans with Terje Roed-Larsen, the U.N. envoy special envoy to the Middle East who is scheduled to return to Syria this month. He also said withdrawal “should be very soon and maybe in the next few months. Not after that.”

On the sidelines of the conference, Rice also laid out U.S. thinking on how the United States and Europe can create incentives to ensure that Iran permanently abandons any ambitions to subvert its peaceful nuclear energy program for military use. Rice had a working dinner with her European counterparts to discuss how far the Bush administration may be willing to go.

Rice is expected to return to Washington with European feedback for a second White House session later this week. The administration’s goal is to come up with a formula to offer the Europeans within days, U.S. officials said.

“We still need to explore, we need to discuss and see how we can come further together to support talks with Iran led by Britain, France and Germany,” Rice told reporters at her own news conference.

Javier Solana, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, told reporters traveling with Rice that the United States and Europeans now have “good vibrations” and are headed in the same direction on Iran. He said the Europeans hope to have an answer soon from the United States “on questions we may need after our next talks with Iran.” France, Britain and Germany are negotiating with Iran on its nuclear program.

Rice appeared with Barnier early Tuesday to blast Syria for its refusal to abide by U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559, which calls for all foreign troops to leave Lebanon. The reason for the unusually pointed call to withdraw intelligence agents is U.S. and French concern that a pullout of the 15,000 remaining Syrian troops — down from a high of 42,000 — will not eliminate Syria’s enormous influence over Lebanon’s political and economic systems.

“The Lebanese people are beginning to express their aspirations for democracy” and their wishes to “carry out their political aspirations without foreign interference. This is something that we support very much,” Rice said.

France and the United States will “intensify” their dialogue about Lebanon, Rice said, noting that she and Barnier have direct-

ed their staff members to begin talks on how to further support the elections, remove foreign “elements of interference” and help achieve the goals of the U.N. resolution.

Barnier added that Syria has “absolutely no excuse” for postponing its withdrawal.

In a subsequent statement, the United States and France also called for a “full, credible and transparent” investigation of the Feb. 14 assassination of Rafik Hariri. The former Lebanese prime minister and 16 others died in a car bombing in Beirut, triggering the outpouring of calls for Syria’s withdrawal and leading to the resignation of Lebanon’s prime minister.

Citing full support for the Lebanese people’s pursuit of an “independent, democratic and sovereign” nation, the U.S.French statement said President Bush and President Jacques Chirac have agreed to work “urgently together” and with the international community to help Lebanon “reach that fundamental goal.”

The two nations, which were deeply divided over Iraq policy, said they are united in their insistence that the Lebanese people “must have the opportunity to make their own political choices, without threats of violence or intimidation,” the statement added. “They must have the opportunity to chart their own course through free and fair parliamentary elections this spring, bolstered by an international observer presence.”

Minding the cost of Boston’s Big Dig

BY JONATHAN FINER THE WASHINGTON POST

BOSTON — Keeping the price tag at $14.6 billion on what is already among the most expensive public works projects in U.S. history may not seem like a very ambitious goal.

But in the nearly two-decade history of Boston’s Big Dig and its unparalleled list of missed deadlines, cost overruns and, most recently, leaky tunnels in need of repair, simply holding the line would be a first.

The buck — and, he hopes, the bucks — now stop with Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Reilly, D, who in February took over efforts to recover state and federal funds allegedly misspent and mismanaged by the massive highway project’s dozens of contractors.

“Congress and taxpayers throughout this country and in this state have a right to be upset by what has happened here with this project. I know I am upset by it,” Reilly said in an interview. “It is in everyone’s interest to reach some resolution as soon as we possibly can.”

Reilly, who was first elected in 1998, is circumspect on many details of his strategy, such as which contractors he plans to target, how much he thinks he can recover and when he might produce results.

Because Congress has contributed about $8.5 billion to the Big Dig — which buried

Boston’s Central Artery, a section of Interstate 93 — just less than two-thirds of the money Reilly recovers will be returned to the federal government. The project was initially budgeted at about $2.5 billion and scheduled to finish years ago.

“It won’t be billions (that are recovered), but we will be more efficient,” he said. “But we would consider it an important accomplishment if we hold the bottom line right where it is, at $14.6 billion.”

Previous attempts to win concessions from Big Dig contractors have been plagued by what critics say was a process shielded from public view and a lack of persistence among those seeking to hold private firms accountable for the overruns.

Reilly’s predecessor in the cost recovery effort, retired family court judge Edward Ginsburg, led a seven-member team for two years and retrieved about $4 million.

About $8 million was spent in the process.

Reilly’s team has just one lawyer and two engineers, and he said its independence from the state turnpike authority will be an asset.

He said he will focus only on battles he thinks he can win, and has hinted he may soon drop the state’s largest pending lawsuit, a $150 million mismanagement case against the see BIG DIG, page 9

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2005 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 9

Big Dig

Action delayed on Social Security

continued from page 7

BY KEN FIREMAN NEWSDAY

project’s main contractor, Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff.

His first priority, Reilly said, will be to ensure that the cost of fixing hundreds of recently discovered leaks is born entirely by private companies. Auditor Deloitte and Touche is working to determine the cost of the repairs.

U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General Kenneth Mead said last month that he is holding up $81 million in federal funding due this year until state officials put forth a plan to fix the leaks and determined how much it might affect the project’s overall cost.

On Monday, Reilly briefed Mead on his efforts. “I was impressed that he appears to have a staff on the ground fully engaged,” Mead said. “I am glad to see a process in place that ought to yield more than the small amount of recovery that they’ve arrived at so far.”

When the leaks were disclosed last year, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, R, called for the resignation of Turnpike Authority Chairman Matthew Amorello, who remained in office but relinquished control over cost recovery to Reilly.

The episode intensified a stigma of mismanagement that has dogged the project from its inception. “After all that has happened, and the finger-pointing back and forth, what’s very clear is taxpayers are entitled to the walls and tunnel they paid for and didn’t get,” Reilly said.

He plans to eschew binding arbitration and to push for agreements with contractors through mediation or litigation.

His budget is limited: Nearly half of the approximately $20 million allocated for cost recovery has already been spent.

The Big Dig is scheduled for completion by the end of 2005, but the cost recovery process could continue for years. Reilly is widely rumored to be planning to run for governor in 2006, which led to suggestions that his involvement in the cost recovery process could become too politicized.

Tennis continued from page 12 is working her way through the lineup,” Wardlaw said. He praised her and Arlak, both of whom “turned it around (in singles) after losing first doubles.”

BU won by taking the third, fifth and sixth singles spots. Anita Ivancevic ’08 fell to freshman Gina Sabatino 6-4, 6-4, in the second spot, and Pautler lost in the fifth spot to junior Monica Shepherd 76 (4), 6-3.

Pautler set an example for her team, especially the first-years, who “saw how she was able to get over her loss and cheer Kelley (Kirkpatrick) on in the deciding match,” Arlak said. In that match, Kirkpatrick put in a tenacious effort, taking the first set before succumbing to freshman Katie Draganova 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Despite the loss, the players were quick to point out the squad’s increasing team spirit and cohesiveness, which has allowed younger players to flourish. “For

WASHINGTON — Leading Republican lawmakers said Tuesday they would delay action for some months on the Bush administration’s plan for private Social Security accounts — and possibly not act this year — because the public has yet to be won over to it.

Returning to the capital after meeting with constituents during last week’s recess, several Republican senators acknowledged that they detected no groundswell of support for the administration proposal.

As a result, they said, there was no political pressure on Democrats to budge from their near-unanimous opposition to private accounts. And since some Democratic support is essential for a Social Security measure to pass the Senate, that means any legislative action is a ways off.

“I’m going to have to sense the rate, the rhythm, the sort of pulse of the American people,” said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. “I don’t want to take something to the Senate floor where

Segal continued from page 5 opers receiving tax abatements, Segal said.

Segal was a major proponent of the community-based policing initiative that has established nine distinct policing districts within Providence.

“The city (under Cianci) as a whole was much top-heavier.

Decentralization meant less control for the administration and those at the top of the police force,” Segal said.

“Community policing decreases crime because people become familiar with their police officers and that makes them more of a part of the community.”

West said Segal is the only Green Party politician to be elected in Rhode Island, a state traditionally Democratic.

“He was representative of an East Side district that is liberal and environmentally aware, so there was a good match between what he was willing to do and what his constituents

the freshmen, being on the team has given them additional support in such an individualized sport,” Arlak said.

“It’s still a work in progress, but I think the freshmen are doing a good job in terms of finding their role on the team,” Wardlaw said, “and the upperclassmen have done a good job making the freshman feel part of the team.”

While this week’s singles matches show room for improvement among the young players, they have already built an impressive resume this spring. First-years are currently 8-4 in singles play, and the BU match was the first time all season a first-year did not win at least one singles point. The firstyear doubles team of Kirkpatrick and Pariser has four wins to its credit, the one loss coming in Bruno’s 5-2 loss to Syracuse University.

Brown will look to bounce back next week as it heads to the Garden State to face Rutgers University on March 6.

I’ve got every one of the members across the aisle saying there’s no problem.”

Frist declined to offer a timetable for Senate action and even suggested that it might not come this year.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay also indicated uncertainty about the timing. Asked whether he expected action this year, he said only, “I hope so.”

Democrats, in contrast, expressed optimism that they had gained the upper hand and would not relinquish it. They called on President Bush to drop his proposal for private accounts financed by Social Security taxes, saying that was a precondition for any serious discussion of a bipartisan compromise to overhaul the system’s finances.

“The only question left is when the president comes to his political senses … and says, ‘Let’s get rid of privatization,’” said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. A newly released Gallup poll seemed to support the Democrats’ optimism. It found that public approval of Bush’s handling of Social Security had

dropped over the past three weeks, with 56 percent of those surveyed in the Friday-throughSunday poll disapproving while 35 percent backed Bush. That represented an 8-percentagepoint decline for the president from a poll taken in early February.

Despite that political tide, Republicans and Democrats alike said it was too early to conclude that Bush’s proposal was dead, especially because the president plans to campaign hard for it in the weeks ahead. “I don’t think it’ll succeed — but I wouldn’t put anything past this group,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.

Republicans said they took comfort from the fact that many constituents were beginning to recognize that Social Security faced a financial problem because of the imminent retirement of the Baby Boom generation. They called that an essential prelude to winning public support for Bush’s plan, which would allow wage earners under age 55 to divert up to two-thirds of their Social Security taxes into a private investment account.

were willing to support,” West said.

Contrary to his Green Party affiliation, much of Segal’s effort on the Council has been dedicated to non-environmental issues. Segal proposed and secured the passing of an initiative that “required government departments to consider fuel efficiency when purchasing a vehicle,” he said.

Providence Water Supply Board’s purchase of two gaselectric hybrid automobiles is the first success of Segal’s environmental ordinance, according to a press release from the Water Supply Board.

Segal said he is currently pursuing efforts to limit energy costs in schools, exploring more renewable energy sources for Providence and ensuring Providence’s small amount of green space is preserved.

The hotly contested issue of overnight parking continues to make headway through the Council. Segal has not yet created a policy to allow students to legally park on the streets overnight, though he did limit the increase in penalty for

overnight parking. The parking fine used to be $10.

“They could be getting a $25 ticket, but instead they’ll be getting a $15 ticket and maybe one day they’ll have a way (to park legally overnight),” Segal said.

Segal said he was working on a pilot program for overnight parking, though students will most likely be unaffected.

Though the plan for a pilot parking permit program is still in the conceptual stage, it will require Rhode Island license plates and will largely be implemented in neighborhoods uniformly receptive to the idea, he said. These neighborhoods include West Broadway, the West End and the South Side.

“It’s just more controversial here (in College Hill). There are many residents who are strongly supportive, but there are portions of the city in which every member, regardless of socioeconomic spectrum, (is) supportive,” Segal said, explaining why College Hill was not chosen as a possible participant in the pilot overnight parking permit program.

Equestrian

Fencing

continued from page 12

continued from page 12

just as strongly. Marissa Geoffry ’07 took first in Intermediate Flat and second in Intermediate Fences, Morris garnered top honors in Walk Trot, and Jenny John ’06 was second in Walk Trot Canter.

Despite taking second on Saturday, Brown still holds the lead in the region by five points over UConn. The team is in prime condition to gain a berth at Nationals, according to Peddy. “Now that the rest of our shows are at other schools (besides UConn) where we are on equal footing, we are perfectly positioned to win the region,” she said.

The team’s next show is March 19 at Johnson and Wales University.

probably going to lose to, you just go out there and do your own thing, and I guess that’s what happens,” Leong said.

In her first IFA tournament, epeeist Christine Livoti ’08 garnered several impressive victories that placed her 14th.

Her best performance was a 52 victory against Alexie Rubin of Columbia, an All-American who finished 12th in the NCAA Championships last season.

In addition, foilist Jennifer Hausmann ’07 gained the second most touches against Haravard’s Emily Cross, the top foilist in the nation. Hausmann lost to Cross 5-4, but was the only Brown fencer to make it to the second phase of the directelimination round. She ended the day in eighth place.

February ‘sweep’ for Fox is super

BY SCOTT COLLINS LOS ANGELES TIMES

Back in the fall, Fox was in miserable shape, with postseason baseball its only saving grace in the ratings. But thanks to this year’s Super Bowl, not to mention the reality smash “American Idol,” Rupert Murdoch’s broadcast network has come roaring back to life.

For the February “sweep” — one of the quarterly rating periods that help local stations determine ad rates — Fox will crush rivals in both total viewers and adults ages 18 to 49, the demographic most important to advertisers.

Through Monday night, Fox had a sweep average of 15.4 million total prime time viewers, cruising past CBS (12.4 million), ABC (11.1 million) and NBC (10.3 million), according to figures from Nielsen Media Research. The sweep officially ends this week, but the numbers are unlikely to change significantly. It will be Fox’s most dominant sweep victory since the network launched in 1986.

Fox’s telecast of the Feb. 6 Super Bowl, which averaged 86.1 million viewers, deserves much of the credit. Without the game, Fox would have logged 10.6 million average viewers per night and landed in third place behind CBS and ABC. But “American Idol” has proven so potent among young adults that even without the Super Bowl, Fox would have won in that demographic category.

“We’re winning handily without (the Super Bowl) and winning extraordinarily well with it,” Fox entertainment president Gail Berman said in an interview Tuesday.

The good news comes just in time for Berman, whose job security was subject to the Hollywood rumor mill as recently as two months ago. Her contract is due to expire later this year.

Despite the sweep victory, Berman said she hasn’t forgotten about Fox’s lackluster summer and fall, when highly touted premieres such as the boxing show “Next Great Champ” and the reality contest “The Rebel Billionaire: Branson’s Quest for the Best” bombed.

On the men’s side, A-strip saberman Dan Dorsky ’05 and Jeremy Adler ’06 also had a great showing, ending the day 10th and 14th overall. Dorsky defeated the A-strip fencers from both the Yale and Princeton saber squad.

“I have been training hard with Coach Tass and Assistant Coach Friedman all year, and having the meet at home truly motivated me to perform well in front of the home crowd,” Dorsky said.

The next competition for the fencers will be the upcoming Regional Championships on March 5.

“We’ll need to face (the Regionals) like we did the IFAs,” Edson said. “We know we’re up against very strong people, so we make ourselves as strong as we can be and focus on touches, not bouts. I think they will fence their best, no matter where they end up in the final rankings.”

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

EDITORIAL/LETTERS WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2005 · PAGE 10 S T A F F

E D I T O R I A L

Instant gratification For current students — particularly upperclassmen and transfers — the news from Corporation Weekend has been a compromise of emotions. On first hearing all of the Corporation’s announcements, we’re thrilled: Flashy SciLi study center! Classy new buildings! More professors! More financial aid! But current students know we won’t be enjoying much of this bounty until our fiveand 10-year reunions. Current students can’t help feeling a bit forgotten, but such is the nature of improving a University.

When it comes to buildings and amenities, of course, we have little to complain about. We chose Brown on the strength of the community and curriculum. Since arriving here, we have been gratified by near-term improvements. Study spaces, dorm furniture, fitness facilities and an improved meal plan are just the beginning. Even those of us on financial aid have felt supported while we salivate with jealousy of the Sidney Frank Scholars of the Class of 2009, who will have no loans at all.

And unlike many of the building plans announced recently, the designation of the first three floors of the SciLi as 24-hour study space will have benefits for some current Brown students.

By prioritizing such projects that can be completed in a relatively short amount of time — at least compared to Frank Hall and the Nelson Fitness Center, which will not even break ground for two years — the University is keeping current students in mind in the middle of a particularly important long-term planning period.

Transfer and Resumed Undergraduate Education students, however, have compellingly made their case this year for receiving financial aid, only to see a preliminary $400,000 investment promised to future transfers. Altruism aside, students are only here for four years — transfers for less. When students get powerfully involved in advocating for a campus change, they would like to see the effects in their everyday lives.

We applaud the URC for taking the first step toward relieving transfers and RUEs of their second-class citizenship, but we wish they had given more consideration to current transfers.

Yes, they came to campus knowing they wouldn’t receive University aid, just as we arrived knowing we were passing up flashy niceties at other institutions. But addressing transfer student wants does not require cranes or infrastructure upgrades.

Provost Robert Zimmer told The Herald that the administration is still “taking a look” at financial aid options for current transfer students. We hope the administration will find a way to make a direct improvement to current transfer student aid. At this point, anything would be better than the status quo.

JOSEPH NAGLE

LETTERS DeBoer and Teutsch misrepresent divestment proposal To the Editor: James DeBoer and Zachary Teutsch (“How the ACCRI works,” Feb. 28) misrepresent the AntiRacist Action Israel divestment proposal in their Herald guest column. It is not incorrect to say we target non-military contractors such as Microsoft and AOL-Time Warner. However, we explicitly target military contractors as well, such as Textron, Raytheon and Caterpillar, which has been underreported by the Herald. This lack of coverage could contribute to the divisive notion that this divestment campaign has no intelligent strategy.

Targeting non-military contractors as well is no mistake. But the focus on the entire economy of Israel is consistent with a perspective we have maintained all along. All of Israel is an apartheid

and colonial state and therefore is occupied territory. We oppose its Zionist ruling class. This regime needs to fall. To suggest divesting from merely military contractors in order to “end the occupation” contributes to the incorrect idea that only the West Bank and Gaza are colonized and that Israel proper, which is the overwhelming part of occupied Palestine, is a democratic nation.

Yesenia Barragan ’08 Feb. 28

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD EDITORIAL Jonathan Ellis, Editor-in-Chief Sara Perkins, Executive Editor Christopher Hatfield, Senior Editor Lisa Mandle, Senior Editor Meryl Rothstein, Arts & Culture Editor Melanie Wolfgang, Arts & Culture Editor Justin Elliott, Campus Watch Editor Stephanie Clark, Focus Editor Kira Lesley, Focus Editor Robbie Corey-Boulet, Metro 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 Business Consultant Rob McCartney, Senior Accounts Manager David Ranken, Senior Accounts Manager Kathleen Timmins, Senior Accounts Manager Laird Bennion, Senior Project Manager Elias Roman, Senior Project Manager Ryan Shewcraft, Chief Technology Officer 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

Annie Koo, Night Editor Taryn Martinez, Sonia Saraiya, Copy Editors Senior Staff Writers Camden Avery, Alexandra Barsk, Eric Beck, Mary-Catherine Lader, Ben Leubsdorf, Jane Porter, Stu Woo Staff Writers Marshall Agnew, Justin Amoah, Zachary Barter, Danielle Cerny, Christopher Chon, Stewart Dearing, Gabriella Doob, Kate Gorman, Jonathan Herman, Leslie Kaufmann, Aidan Levy, Allison Lombardo, Joel Rozen, Jen Sopchockchai, Jonathan Sidhu, Lela Spielberg, Robin Steele, Laura Supkoff, Stefan Talman, Jane Tanimura, 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, Charlie Vallely, Brooke Wolfe Accounts Managers Alexandra Annunziato, Zaneta Lei Balantac, Steven Butschi, Jennifer Kuo, Ashfia Rahman, Joel Rozen, Rukesh Samarasekera, Mitch Schwartz Project Managers In Young Park, Libbie Fritz Design Staff Geolani Dy, Deepa Galaiya, Annie Koo, Allison Kwong, Jason Lee Photo Staff Marissa Hauptman, Judy He, Matthew Lent, Nick Neely, Bill Pijewski, Kori Schulman, Sorleen Trevino 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

Election reform continues at meeting tonight To the Editor: In The Herald’s editorial of last week (“Election aftermath,” Feb. 23) you persuasively argued that “the results of the referendum should not mean the end of election reform — indeed, UCS has dozens of other ERC (Elections Reform Commission) recommendations to consider.”

And indeed, we do: Should we offer the undergraduates a referendum on a plurality-based electoral system before this April’s student government elections? Should we allow the use of e-mail during the campaign period? Should we adopt a publicfinancing scheme? How do we prevent seats from going uncontested in the upcoming elections?

All of these questions fall on the shoulders of the Spring Elections Board. One of the most important reforms suggested by the ERC this fall was a change in the composition and selection of the Elections Board; UCS has acted upon this recommendation and transformed an undemocratic, highly enigmatic group (that unquestionably engaged in what you accurately refer to as “unconstitutional back-room deals”) into a transparent and democratic one.

Previously made up entirely of self-appointed UCS members with no accountability to the UCS code or to the student body, the Board will not only consist primarily of non-UCS members, but they will be elected in an internal election by the UCS General Body.

You asked, “What will guarantee that students will have confidence in the process and results of the elections?” The answer, quite honestly, is nothing, unless undergraduates choose to engage themselves in the process by seeking a spot on the Elections Board.

I implore you, if you are interested in running for the Spring Elections Board, to please come to our General Body meeting tonight at 8:00 p.m. in Petterutti Lounge. Be prepared to give a 1-2 minute speech.

Charley Cummings ’06 Vice President and Chair of the Spring Elections Board Undergraduate Council of Students March 1

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

OPINIONS WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2005 · PAGE 11 JULIA GREGOIRE

Bring community courts to Providence In Providence, someone arrested for a felony offense is likely to spend at least six weeks in jail before being sentenced. If this person is represented by a public defender, his case is one of 80 pending felony cases for which his attorney is responsible — double the number recommended by the American Bar Association. High caseloads for public defenders mean that clients receive less effort from their attorneys and are unable to develop an understanding of the criminal justice system.

How can we expect people to obey laws and respect the criminal justice system if they are not granted respect from the system and their attorneys?

Last fall, I worked as an intern at the Rhode Island Public Defender’s Office.

Over the summer, I interned at Legal Aid in Brooklyn. As part of my internship there, I helped out at the Community Justice Center in Red Hook, a port neighborhood of Brooklyn known for high crime rates, especially leading into the 1990s. A community court would do wonders in Providence.

All it takes is a walk through the hallways of the court, the office of the public defender, the cellblocks, and the courtrooms to realize that the Garrahy Family Court building downtown on Dorrance Street is operating far over capacity.

According to the Deputy Public Defender Barbara Hurst, it was immediately obvious upon the court’s opening in 1985 that it would cater to 3,000 people, double the number originally intended. The court was built in order to consolidate the smaller Providence, Cranston, Pawtucket, Woonsocket and Central Falls courts. The

Red Hook court, on the other hand, is presided over by one judge and looks as if it were modeled after a “one-room schoolhouse.” The community court has jurisdiction over crimes that would normally be treated separately in civil, criminal or family courts, like prostitution, small drug possession and landlord-tenant disputes.

Speaking to the results of the court, James Brodick, director of community programs at Red Hook, stated that 10 years ago, at the start of the project, “you couldn’t even get a cab to Red Hook.” The neighborhood’s status had improved at least enough for an Ivy League student from lit-

Criminal Court. Whether this is through treatment for drug users or health education and job training for women charged with prostitution, the emphasis is placed on avoiding the “revolving door” trend at all costs. Such a perspective is difficult to take for judges working in larger courts.

In Red Hook, drug tests are conducted on the premises of the Justice Center.

Judges are able to keep closer contact with defendants and are thus more likely to avoid unproductive and costly jail sentences that often do not prevent repeat offenses. According to annual surveys conducted by the Center for Court Innovation,

According to the Deputy Public Defender Barbara Hurst, it was immediately obvious upon the court’s opening in 1985 that it would cater to 3,000 people, double the number originally intended. tle old Providence to have no fear upon entering it by city bus and walking around the area freely. Brodick concedes that New York City’s overall crime rate has dropped over the same period but attributes a general feeling of increased safety in Red Hook to the proximity of the Court and community center.

Community and social services penalties (as opposed to jail time) are much more commonly imposed for all charges at Red Hook and its “sister” community court in midtown Manhattan than at Brooklyn’s

Red Hook residents feel safer in their neighborhood and have more confidence in the police and other law enforcement mechanisms than they did five years ago.

New York City is not alone in the movement towards neighborhood courts.

Similar multi-jurisdictional community courts have sprung up in Austin, Texas, Memphis, Tenn., and Portland, Ore., among other cities. Establishing such a justice center in Providence’s lowest income and most crime-ridden neighborhood, South Providence, would make

sense. According to a Providence Plan report from the end of 2003, South Providence (upper and lower combined) consistently ranked highest in rates of vandalism, drug-related crimes, simple assault, larceny, motor vehicle theft, aggravated assault with or without a firearm, robbery with or without a firearm, forcible rape, and murder. Fiftynine percent of South Providence males between 18 and 64 are either currently serving a sentence at the Adult Correctional Institute or are on probation or parole. Compare that to second-place Olneyville, where 20 percent are serving time, or on parole or probation.

Establishing a court exclusively to deal with issues such as re-entry, drugs and community safety in South Providence is vital to the neighborhood’s survival. Such a change would also relieve Providence courts of a significant percentage of their current caseload.

The only alternative solution to the problem of saturated courts and insufficient attention from attorneys to clients is to legalize drugs, a move that would quickly shave off a significant part of caseloads and solve the problem of overcrowded courts.

Since it could be a long way until the end of the “war on drugs,” I say we push for the first option: decentralized, friendly community courts that increase personal accountability, grant defendants time and education about the criminal justice system and make justice more visible in crime-ridden communities.

Julia Gregoire ’05 watches “Law and Order” on TNT.

DONALD TETTO

A spoonful of sugar makes “intellectual diversity” palatable A good lie, the wisdom goes, is based in the truth. When framed by accepted facts, even otherwise apparent falsehoods may gain credence by association.

This is exactly the strategy prominent conservative David Horowitz used when he drafted his “Academic Bill of Rights,” a thinly veiled conservative agenda coated in saccharine common sense.

The spoonful of sugar, as it were, is comprised of such commonsensical gems as, “Students will be graded solely on the basis of their reasoned answers and appropriate knowledge of the subjects and disciplines they study, not on the basis of their political or religious beliefs.” Or, “While teachers are and should be free to pursue their own findings and perspectives in presenting their views, they should consider and make their students aware of other viewpoints.”

Horowitz would like to believe that academic institutions skew left because “the governance of American universities has fallen into the hands of a selfperpetuating political and cultural subset of the general population, which seems intent on perpetuating its control.” A sense of victimhood is important to Horowitz’s cause — you can’t have righteous indignation if you’re not oppressed — and accusations of an academic conspiracy are meant to stoke these flames the same way that the “liberal media” remains a buzzword even in the days of Fox News and CNN.

Groups such as Students for Academic Freedom — a Horowitz-founded group with as many as 150 school chapters, including one at Brown — need a liberal conspiracy to rail against, and so look for one where it does not exist.

However, I am not going to dispute the charge that Brown is a liberal school.

One needs to look no further than our

whether its author supports the war in Iraq.

While, in letter, the Academic Bill of Rights opposes hiring or firing any faculty based on political beliefs, Horowitz and his Students for Academic Freedom are implicitly suggesting that Brown and other schools make a concerted effort to do just that.

While, in letter, the Academic Bill of Rights opposes hiring or firing any faculty based on political beliefs, Horowitz and his Students for Academic Freedom are implicitly suggesting that Brown and other schools do just that. laundry list of left-leaning groups to see that. I would argue, though, that Brown’s liberal tendencies are not a problem, per se, but a matter of course.

The political leanings of the faculty at Brown reflect the political leanings of the field. When Brown takes on a new professor or evaluates a candidate for tenure, the administration does not ask for his or her voting history. There are no political code words hidden in a dissertation on the longevity of the adult damselfly, and a thesis on self-awareness in Hamlet’s soliloquies says little about

This insistence on intellectual diversity among the faculty is an especially ironic one coming from such staunch conservatives — it amounts to no less than a call for affirmative action.

While affirmative action, in the traditional sense, seeks to make reparations to historically maligned ethic groups, supporters of academic diversity instead suggest that schools seek out Republicans in their applicant pools based on ideology alone.

I appreciated Ruth Simmons’ efforts to address the concerns brought to her

by Brown students, parents and alums in her Spring Semester Opening Address, but I’m afraid that she was tricked by the sugar. Brown need not make an effort to hire more conservative professors or less liberal ones, but should stick to its present criteria: hiring the best ones.

The “Academic Bill of Rights” seems noble but is needless. Most troublingly, it has given birth to bills before several state legislatures, such as one in Ohio that would prohibit professors from presenting opinion as fact or assigning controversial materials unrelated to the course. If legislated, such laws would be only subjectively enforceable, and in the end threaten more speech than they might protect.

I’ll put forth a simple alternative that requires no self-important documents or declarations: If a professor uses his or her own ideology to stifle class discussion or make students feel uncomfortable, it’s not a sign of a liberal conspiracy — it’s just a sign of a bad professor. If you feel you’ve encountered this kind of academic bias in the classroom, by all means let the University administration hear about it.

In looking for solutions, though, let’s attack the problem at its root — and hire better professors, not more conservative ones.

Donald Tetto ’06 does not know whom his professors voted for.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

SPORTS WEDNESDAY MARCH 2, 2005 · PAGE 12

Fencing finishes 10th at IFACs

BY ZANETA BALANTAC SPORTS STAFF WRITER

Competing at home for the second time this season, the fencing team finished 10th overall at the Intercollegiate Fencing Association Championships on Saturday. Against elite competition, the men matched last year’s ninth-place finish, while the women dropped two spots to finish 11th out of 12 teams.

“The IFA tournament is incredibly difficult each year,” said epeeist Shauna Edson ’05.

“Most of the best teams in the country are there, so the goal for us is to fence the best we can, make the most good touches and the smartest attacks. If we go in expecting to win by the numbers, then we’ll be disappointed. But if we go in knowing these people are strong, and we focus our energy on making good attacks and figuring out the opponents as we go, then we are successful.”

The 18 fencers who represented the Bears were among over 300 participants facing nine rounds of team competition and one large individual direct-elimination round.

The women struggled early on in the first four rounds of competition, falling quickly against Cornell, Boston College, New York University and the University of Pennsylvania 6-3, 7-2, 6-3 and 8-1, respectively. Their only victory came in the fifth round when they defeated Vassar College 8-1.

On the other side of the strip,

the men faced a similar struggle. They defeated both BC and Vassar 6-3, but struggled against powerhouses Harvard, Columbia, Princeton and Brandeis University.

For some fencers, the tournament was a learning experience. For others, like Edson, the competition was a final goodbye to their teammates.

“The nice thing about the Brown team, as opposed to other Ivies, is that we’re not all hotshots who are headed for the Olympics,” Edson said. “No matter how experienced you are on the Brown team, you’re appreciated and you feel like a part of a whole. Everybody watches and cheers when they’re not fencing, and that’s what creates the sense of unity that I will miss most about the team.”

In her last collegiate competition, C-strip saber fencer Hwei Xianne Leong ’05 defeated fencers from hard-hitters Cornell, Columbia and Princeton.

“This was her first meet back this semester … but she came back so strong,” Edson said.

“She … beat a Columbia (fencer) who is really not used to losing. She kicked her mask after the bout and sulked for a full half-hour.”

Leong, meanwhile, was humble about her success.

“When you have nothing to lose and you’re up against a fencer whom you know you’re see FENCING, page 9

Saturday, March 5, the Brown community will hold a memorial service for football tri-captain Lawrence Rubida ’05, who succumbed to Ewing’s Sarcoma on Jan. 29. The service will be held in Salomon Hall at 10 a.m. For additional details, call the Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life at 401.863.2344.

Narrow one-match loss to Terriers drops w. tennis to 3-2 on season

BY MATT NICHOLSON CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Ashley Hess / Herald

Alex Arlak ‘05 won at No. 2 singles in Sunday’s 4-3 loss to Boston University.The loss left the Bears at 3-2 on the season.

The women’s tennis team dropped to 3-2 in the spring season, losing a narrow 4-3 match at Boston University this weekend.

BU jumped out to an early lead, winning No. 1 doubles 8-2 against captain Alex Arlak ’05 and Daisy Ames ’07 and securing the point in No. 2 doubles with an 8-6 win against Amanda Saiontz ’07 and Michelle Pautler ’07. Kelley Kirkpatrick ’08 and Ashley Pariser ’08 earned a hard-fought 9-8 win in third doubles, but Brown still went into the singles competition down a point.

Arlak said that such a close loss illustrates “how important the doubles point is for a match.”

“We don’t have a mentality of needing to win the doubles point in order to win the match, but the doubles match does give a team

The gymnastics team posted its highest team score this season at the Ivy League Classic held at Yale. Brown finished Saturday’s meet with a score of 186.050, taking fourth out of four teams. Yale won the competition with 191.525 points, while Cornell placed second with 189.075 and the University of Pennsylvania took third at 188.525.

“Overall, this was our best meet of the season. Score-wise, we are doing better, and we are stepping up our routines. More people hit (their routines) who haven’t before,” said Head Coach Sara CarverMilne. “(This meet) was positive, and it showed us we’re just getting better.”

Several individuals earned All-Ivy honors. Amber Smith ’06 led the squad with a 37.375 in the all-around, good for secondplace overall. She also placed sixth on the floor exercise with a 9.600. Smith was named First Team All-Ivy for her all around performance and Second Team All-Ivy for her floor routine.

Sarah Durning ’08 also had a strong meet, earning Second Team honors for

see TENNIS, page 9

Equestrian takes over points lead in northeast

BY MADELEINE MARECKI SPORTS STAFF WRITER

The equestrian team opened the second half of its season in strong fashion, posting a huge win over rival University of Connecticut on Feb. 19, topping a field of 10 other schools.

Saturday, the Bears took second by only two points to Roger Williams University.

In the UConn show, Brown surprised the hosts, winning by nine points, the Bears’ first triumph over the Huskies at UConn since 2002. With the win, Brown also took the lead in the regional standings.

The high finishes of Bruno’s point riders were a key to the team’s success. Co-captain Jamie Peddy ’06 highlighted the squad’s effort with a first-place

finish in Open Flat and a thirdplace finish on a difficult horse in Open Fences. Peddy competed as point rider in both of these classes, earning valuable points for Brown.

Co-captain Galyn Burke ’05 and Sarah Morris ’08, two other point riders, took first place in Novice Flat and Walk Trot, respectively. Grace Peloquin ’07 took second in Intermediate Flat, and Gabriela Garagano ’05 followed up with a second-place finish of her own in the Walk Trot Canter. Garagano’s ride was notable, as she worked with “a very quick and challenging horse that had been giving higher-division riders trouble all day,” said Burke.

Burke also noted the mental boost winning against UConn

Gymnasts step up at Ivy Classic to post highest team score of season

BY MADELEINE MARECKI SPORTS STAFF WRITER

the momentum going into singles,” she said.

Bruno split the singles matches, confirming Arlak’s statement. BU seemed to carry just enough momentum into singles to eke out the close victory. However, the competition was not without impressive performances by Brown players.

Saiontz, for example, handed a loss to BU junior Laura Ahmes in first singles. After starting the year at No. 3, Saiontz has moved up to the team’s No. 1 spot. “Amanda is playing really well right now,” said Head Coach Paul Wardlaw.

Arlak, playing second singles, turned in a confident 6-3, 6-4 win over sophomore Erin Katims.

Ames docked the final Brown point from the fourth spot with a tough 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 victory. “Daisy

her performances on the vault and floor, in which she placed fourth and fifth, respectively. Co-captain Melissa Forziat ’05 made Second Team for her fourthplace floor routine.

Forziat pointed to Jessica McNell ’06 and her performance on the vault as a motivating factor. “Jessica opened the meet for us. … When we saw her hit, it was a huge motivation for us,” Forziat said.

Hannah Goldstein ’08 followed McNell with a similarly good showing.

“Hannah had an unbelievable meet.

After her performance, we kept rolling from there,” Forziat said. “The first two events were just unbelievable.”

Due to illness, Brown went into the bars with only five people. Yet all five would contribute to the team score as every athlete hit her routine.

“It was a huge motivator. It probably was the best thing that happened all season,” Carver-Milne said.

However, the next event, the balance beam, proved to be Brown’s weakest area again.

“We had more falls on the beam than we could afford to have,” Carver-Milne said.

The floor went better for Brown, as Bruno regained its momentum. Led by Forziat, Durning and Smith, five tumblers scored 9.075 or higher in the event.

Forziat attributed this weekend’s success to experimenting with routines during the past week.

“After the last home meet, we asked ourselves why we were hitting more routines in practice than in meets. … We tried to experiment this week, and that really paid off,” she said.

However, both Forziat and CarverMilne were not completely happy with the team’s performance at Ivies.

“I think we can still do more. We need to prove to ourselves that we can hit in a meet. We want to have an awesome showing in every event,” Forziat said.

Carver-Milne echoed the same sentiment. “We made too many mistakes,” she said. “We’re looking forward to meeting the same teams at ECACs.” The gymnastics team will host its final home meet against West Chester University next Sunday. The meet will serve as both a reunion for alums and a send-off for the seniors on the team.

gave the team. “Not only was Saturday’s victory significant point-wise, it provided a huge boost in morale, and hopefully a momentum change for the remainder of the season,” she said. “UConn’s most significant step in taking the lead in the fall was an 11-point victory at their home. By dominating at UConn’s home barn, we sent a clear message about our intent, and ability, to capture the regional title.”

Saturday, the team headed to Wesleyan to compete against the same teams. Peddy had another outstanding day as point rider, placing first in Open Fences and Open Flat. Most of the other point riders placed see EQUESTRIAN, page 9

IVY LEAGUE “BASKETBALL U.” POWERPOLL

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

PENN QUAKERS (26) 17-8, 8-1 IVY 208 POINTS / PREVIOUSLY #1 HARVARD CRIMSON 12-13, 7-5 IVY 157 POINTS / PREVIOUSLY #5 CORNELL BIG RED 12-13 / 7-5 IVY 155 POINTS / PREVIOUSLY #3 DARTMOUTH BIG GREEN 10-15, 7-5 IVY 151 POINTS / PREVIOUSLY #4 PRINCETON TIGERS 13-12 / 4-7 IVY 92 POINTS / PREVIOUSLY #6 YALE BULLDOGS 9-14 / 5-6 IVY 88 POINTS / PREVIOUSLY #2 BROWN BEARS 10-15 / 3-8 IVY 50 POINTS / PREVIOUSLY #8 COLUMBIA LIONS 12-13, 3-9 IVY 35 POINTS / PREVIOUSLY #7

Voting for the PowerPoll is conducted by a panel of 28 voters, consisting of the four senior Basketball U. staff members and three members of the media from each school. http://www.basketball-u.com/