Monday, March 7, 2005

M O N D A Y MARCH 7, 2005

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXL, No. 27

www.browndailyherald.com

An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891

‘THAYER’ REVIVED BTV’s “Thayer Street” returns with more puppets for Wednesday’s third episode A R T S & C U LT U R E 3

MONEY ISN’T EVERYTHING Hunter Bergschneider ’05: Tsunami relief benefit could have raised awareness, not just funds O P I N I O N S 11

Rubida ’05 remembered at memorial service for love of life, team

RENSSELAER POLI’ED Chris Poli ’08 nets game-winner in OT to secure m. ice hockey sweep over RPI S P O R T S 12

TODAY

TOMORROW

mostly cloudy 44 / 37

wintry mix 43 / 15

GET YOUR KICKS

BY STEPHEN NARAIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

On Saturday, the Brown community joined family and friends of Lawrence Rubida ’05 in Salomon Hall to celebrate the football tricaptain’s bravery as well as his ordinary love for Chinese food and video games.

Rubida died of to Ewing’s Sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer that usually affects children, in January at the age of 23.

Featuring photo montages that made the crowd both laugh and cry, as well as a performance of “Ever True to Brown” by the Jabberwocks, the service was filled with moments of deep reflection. Though the sadness of losing a young and promising life was inescapable, there was a sense that Rubida’s life needed to be celebrated and remembered.

Salomon Hall was turned into a solemn memorial with photographs of Rubida as a child and on the football field proudly wearing brown and red. Members of the Brown football team ushered attendees during a classic guitar prelude by local musician Dennis Costa.

In her invocation, Janet Cooper Nelson, chaplain of the University, said Rubida leaves a “formidable legacy” for those both in and out of the Brown community.

“Lawrence brought our community together in new ways. … He has inspired us to confront challenges with intelligence, see RUBIDA, page 4

ConnectU and Thefacebook face off Discovery phase in lawsuit begins this month, but trial uncertain

BY HANNAH MILLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Will facebook-messaging and compulsive profile-checking soon become activities of the past? A lawsuit filed by ConnectU.com, a social networking Web site for college students, has put Thefacebook.com on the line — the founders of ConnectU claim that Mark Zuckerberg, a Harvard sophomore and the mastermind behind Thefacebook, stole the technology for Thefacebook while working for ConnectU in late 2003.

The lawsuit’s discovery period, when both sides request pertinent information and documents, will begin this month. If there is to be a trial, it will happen within the next two years. Chris Hughes, Thefacebook’s co-founder and spokesman, said he was skeptical the case would go to court. Over 90 percent of cases like this one never go to trial, he said.

Thefacebook.com is an online directory that connects people through social networks at 431 colleges and universities in the United States, the U.K. and Canada, allowing students to view other students’ photos, hobbies, political views and dating prefersee FACEBOOK, page 7 Editorial: 401.351.3372 Business: 401.351.3269

Juliana Wu / Herald

Brown Tae Kwon Do black belt Mike Hoe ’08 and red stripe Sharon David ‘06 performed in the annual Asian Arts Fest sponsored by the Asian American Students Association on Saturday night.

ResCouncil’s Room Review Web site designed to be the ‘Critical Review of dorm rooms’ “Scrabcake” described Minden 306 as “the presidential suite of dorm rooms,” a large single with a private bathroom. “This surprisingly large double resembles a prison cell upon first entrance,” noted “Chalkazulu,” writing about Archibald 125.

To “Timmy,” Caswell 311 has “arguably the best view on campus.”

Scrabcake, Chalkazulu and Timmy all reviewed their rooms on the Room Review, a new Web site run by the Residential Council to help students research on-campus housing options in preparation for the annual housing lottery.

“The Room Review is exactly designed to be a Critical Review of dorm rooms,” said Adam Deitch ’05, chair of the ResCouncil, referring to the semi-annual student review of courses.

The Review, available on the ResCouncil Web site, offers official information about dorm buildings and floor plans as well as student reviews of individual rooms. The reviews can be searched by building, type of room, room rating or by keywords in the review text itself.

The site was designed by Brendan Hargreaves ’06, chair of the lottery committee on ResCouncil, and went active about a month ago. Currently there are about 75 reviews posted, and the site is visited approximately 20 times per day, according to Hargreaves.

“Brown’s current system allows students to pick the actual room they want,” Hargreaves said, but variation among the rooms across and within buildings can cause confusion or unexpected consequences. The site, with its reviews of individual rooms, addresses that need.

“Our review allows you to review a room even if you don’t live in it,” Hargreaves said.

“It’s an open forum for both positive and negative feedback.”

Deitch and Hargreaves both said current first-years, the students least familiar with the housing lottery, will get the most out of the Review.

“I think the site … will most benefit rising sophomores, for sure,” Deitch said.

Hargreaves agreed, noting that “a lot of upperclassmen know what kind of room they want,” but “a lot of the rising sophomores have to take what they can get” and will benefit most from knowing more about their options.

The Review will also provide a source of information about student housing and problems that should be addressed to ResCouncil.

“It’s beneficial to get feedback from stu-

dents, and this is one method to get feedback from the whole campus,” Hargreaves said.

ResCouncil intends the Room Review to be a long-term resource for Brown students looking to navigate the often-intimidating housing lottery.

“I think it will be more useful in years to come than it will be this year,” Deitch said, since over time more students will add to the database and eventually, it is hoped, it will have one or more reviews for every room on campus.

“Every person who enters the housing lottery will have a good idea of the rooms” available, Deitch said.

— Ben Leubsdorf

Soph. group wins coveted ‘first pick’ A group of four sophomores who created a “Real World”-esque satire of their friendship have won first pick of oncampus housing in this year’s lottery.

David Greis, Kent Haines, Kevin Sieff and Herald Graphics Editor Matt Vascellaro, all ’07, won in an online vote by a margin of 12. Over 950 people viewed the videos, photos and essay finalists and voted on the Residential Council Web site between March 2 and midnight Sunday, according to ResCouncil member Brendan Hargreaves ’06, who said he was pleased with the number of students who participated.

“I have to go shake 12 of my friends’ hands now,” said Haines of his group’s margin of victory. “We are ok with winning by just one vote. I mean, how many votes did George Bush win by in 2000?”

The idea for their video was one of several thrown around, Haines said, “but it just seemed like it was a little easier to film than some of our other ideas.”

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

Vascellaro is also the creator of a Brown Television show, “White Brown Friends.”

The second-place group — Colin Gordon, Sam Novacich, Mike Kadin, Grant Garcia, Tobin Marcus, Sergey Stavisky, Rob Ranney and Young Hwan Kim, all ’08 — made a movie about each group member’s deficiencies as a roommate in a plea to be placed together, but in singles.

Haines said the winning group is probably looking at the same Vartan Gregorian Quad suite picked by last year’s first-pick winners.

One losing entry this year dramatized the harrowing experience of participating in and losing last year’s “first pick” scavenger hunt, while others argued for first pick by highlighting the total inadequacy of their current domiciles.

“We thank all our competitors, especially that girl in the ‘Orgasm’ video,” Haines said.

— Herald Staff Reports

News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

THIS MORNING MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2005 · PAGE 2 Coreacracy Eddie Ahn

AT A G L A N C E Response to terrorism: one year after the train bombing page 5 Connecticut ponders civil union bill page 5 Bush, GOP temper anti-tax ambitions page 6

TO D AY ’ S E V E N TS “MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS IN GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE” 4 p.m. (McKinney Conference Room, Watson Institute) — David Levy, professor of management at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, will discuss the way United States and Europe-based companies in the oil and auto industries have responded very differently to the climate change issue.

Presented by the speaker series on Corporate Power in Global Governance.

Sponsored by Brown University Faculty Lectures.

Jero Matt Vascellaro

RED BULL KITEBOARDING DVD SCREENING 8 p.m. (Salomon 001) — Kiteboarding is a dynamic convergence of windsurfing, wakeboarding, surfing, paragliding and power kiting. For the sixth time, the world’s kitesurfing elite came together in Hawaii, their sport’s birthplace, to compete at Red Bull King of the Air. Sit back with a red bull as you watch their crazy tricks high in sky. Also, special skateboarding film preview by Reece Pacheco. Sponsored by the Brown Outings Club.

Chocolate Covered Cotton Mark Brinker

MENU SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH — Country Wedding Soup, Broccoli Noodle Polonaise, Creole Mixed Vegetables, Vegetarian Six Bean Soup, White Pesto Pizza, Barbeque Beef Sandwich, Chocolate Chip Bars

VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALL LUNCH — Vegetarian Harvest Corn Chowder, Beef Noodle Soup, Buffalo Wings with Bleu Cheese Dressing, Baked Macaroni and Cheese, Stewed Tomatoes, Sugar Cookies

DINNER — Rotisserie Style Chicken, Artichokes with Stewed Tomatoes and Wine, Zucchini Lasagna, Vegan Roasted Vegetable Stew, Strawberry Jello, White Chocolate Cake

DINNER — Country Style Baked Ham, Tortellini Angelica, Mashed Red Potatoes with Garlic, Spinach with Lemon, Brussels Sprouts, Squash Rolls, White Chocolate Cake

How to Get Down Nate Saunders

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Graceful steed 5 Abandon, as a lover 9 Stats for A-Rod 13 Gambling game 14 Actress Falco 15 Drum out 16 Comic strip in which Popeye debuted 19 Gaucho’s weapon 20 Bureaucratic rigmarole 22 Street urchin 25 Per person 26 Air quality org.

27 Dieter’s mantra 30 Rude starer 32 Did a number 33 Affectionate greeting 34 Dugout VIP 35 Number of hits Roberto Clemente had in his career 40 GI show sponsor 41 Boob tubes 42 Not e’en once 44 Tour of duty 47 “End of discussion” 49 Reviewer of tax returns: Abbr.

50 Greek deity of desire 52 Actor’s remark to the audience 53 Exchange, as an old car 55 “Beat it, feline!”

57 Scanned quickly, as book pages 62 Get beaten 63 Run the country 64 Hawaiian island 65 Cornerstone abbr.

66 Finish third 67 Second to none

4 B-52 mission 5 Congeal 6 Thought 7 Set on fire 8 Iran’s capital 9 Highway monopolizers 10 Joke victim 11 Golda Meir’s land 12 Siberian plain 17 Knock on the noodle 18 Common Mkt. 21 Oft-pierced body part 22 Fast sports cars 23 At the drop of __ 24 Ho Chi __ City 25 Quarter halves 28 Prefix meaning “god” 29 Primitive shack 31 Monument in Manhattan’s Riverside Park 34 Is obliged to 36 Put on a pedestal 37 Reproductive cells 1

2

3

4

38 Classic grape soda 39 In need of recharging 43 Numbered hwy.

44 Took a load off 45 Aquarium reptile 46 Some potatoes 47 Copier liquids 48 German coal region 51 Josh

I H O P

S C R A P M E T A L

T O E T H E L I N E

V E E M H A D N O I T H E R S M E S S P I N Y E R E O H M E S P A P S P A G T Y S I C A N A C E R E C T S O P S H T E F A F R S T

6

17

23

53

65

Raw Prawn Kea Johnston

11

12

31

34 38

41

46

39

42

47

43

48

51

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD, INC.

52

54

62

10

37

40

50

A N T S

26 30

33

45

T O R E

21

29

36

49

A T O D D S W I T H

03/07/05 9

25 28

32

I S M E L L A R A T

18

24

35

S E T F O R M Y U I L P A S P A S T A A T

20

27

44

8

A Z A L E A

15

55

57

DOWN 1 Toward the rudder 2 Cheering word 3 “Exodus” protagonist

7

19 22

E L L D E A D A Y A W O S A M E N S N A I T I S T E E S E L B Y T I E P E A T E N S E L S E S E E S T

xwordeditor@aol.com

14

16

Homebodies Mirele Davis

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: G I M P

5

13

54 Check for fingerprints 55 WWII battle site 56 Enjoy, as gum 58 “Like, I knew that!”

59 Persian Gulf fed.

60 Astronaut Grissom 61 Unit of Google success

56

58 63 66

By Doug Peterson (c)2005 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

59

60

61

64 67

03/07/05

Editorial Phone: 401.351.3372

The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is published Monday through Friday during the aca-

Business Phone: 401.351.3260

demic year, excluding vacations, once during Commencement, once during Orientation and

Jonathan Ellis, President

once in July by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. POSTMASTER please send corrections to P.O. Box

Sara Perkins, Vice President

2538, Providence, RI 02906. Periodicals postage paid at Providence, R.I. Offices are located at 195

Ian Halvorsen, Treasurer

Angell St., Providence, R.I. E-mail herald@browndailyherald.com. World Wide Web:

Daniel Goldberg, Secretary

http://www.browndailyherald.com. Subscription prices: $179 one year daily, $139 one semester daily. Copyright 2005 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

ARTS & CULTURE MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2005 · PAGE 3 EDITORS’ PICKS, MARCH 7-13 Monday Screening of “Unbought and Unbossed: The Story of Congresswoman Shirley Chisolm’s Run for the U.S. Presidency” Monday, March 7 7 p.m.

Wilson 302

Thursday Multimedia Across Campus Showcase Student Video and Web site Projects Thursday, March 10 3:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

CIT, 2nd floor Reading by Pulitzer Prize-winning Journalist and Brown alum David L. Marcus ’82 Thursday, March 10 4 p.m.

Brown Bookstore Poetry Reading by Brian Henry and Andrew Zawacki Thursday, March 10 8 p.m.

McCormack Family Theater, 70 Brown St. Compleat Female Stage Beauty Thursdays - Sundays, March 10-19 8 p.m.

March 20 3 p.m.

Stuart Theatre

Downcity Poetry Series features Penn and RISD professors

BY ROBIN STEELE STAFF WRITER

The Iraq war, the Rhode Island State House and the poetry of Frank O’Hara are among the diverse subjects to be covered by poets Bob Perelman and Mairead Byrne in the March 8 second installment of the Downcity Poetry Series, co-sponsored by the Brown Literary Arts Program.

Perelman, a professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania, has published over 15 volumes of poetry and books of literary criticism. “I am interested in poems that straddle boundaries,” Perelman said.

Perelman’s half-hour reading will feature approximately 10 poems of varying length and will include mostly new work.

Perelman will read “Against Shock and Awe,” an anti-

war poem about the United States’ Iraq ARTS & CULTURE PREVIEW Downcity Poetry Series policy. He will also present “The Past Is Readings by Bob Perelman and Mairead Byrne Tuesday, March 8 at 7 p.m.

No Place For a Person TAZZA, 250 Westminster St. Like You,” which Free addresses several important poets, including Frank O’Hara and H.D. — Hilda Doolittle — and questions the type of role literary predecessors play for a poet.

Perelman considers himself a “language writer,” referring to the U.S. poetry movement that emerged during the 1970s. He has been writing since adolescence and published his first book around age 27, he said. His intersee POETRY, page 7

‘Thayer Street’s’ third episode moves beyond puppets

BY MARY-CATHERINE LADER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Wednesday at 10 p.m. puppets, sketch comedy, a Get Him Eat Him concert and “Pregame: the only news show on earth you can drink to” will fill the halls of Smith-Buonanno. The event is the premiere of the third episode of the BTV show “Thayer Street.”

Luke Harris ’07, the show’s official creator, started the show last year, but did not fully anticipate what a serious commitment it would become. “It started because I wanted to have the experience of working from complete scratch instead of trying out for something like a play. It was almost like a dare or test,” Harris said.

Harris first turned to high school friend David Dryer ’07 and began brainstorming ideas for a TV show,

bringing in Jon Magaziner ’07, Wade German ’07, Lizzie Vieh ’07, Thyra Heder ’06 and C.J. Hunt ’07 as additional writers and cast members.

The show’s 55-minute pilot, broadcast on BTV last spring and produced over an entire semester, garnered praise from friends and plenty of laughter, but had “no rhyme or reason,” Heder said.

“It started out as sort of a present to our friends,” Heder said, but those involved soon realized the potential of their product and humor, and decided to continue the show this year more seriously. “We were getting positive feedback, and for a lot of us it was like, ‘This is what we want to do in our time at Brown,’ ” Heder said. see BTV, page 6

PAGE 4 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2005

Rubida continued from page 1 dignity and resolve,” Nelson said.

Phil Estes, head football coach, likened Rubida to the Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortez for his intense loyalty to his teammates and his “complete commitment to victory.”

Estes read from an e-mail that Rubida wrote to his teammates while undergoing treatment.

Rubida wrote that his “entire soul wants Cornell to lose every game they play,” and that the team needed to focus on the future.

This “honesty, commitment and belief in team” defined Rubida’s character, according to Estes.

“Lawrence experienced more in 23 years than most people do in a hundred,” Estes said.

Richard Dresdale ’78, who was both mentor and friend to Rubida, praised his passion for Brown, for life and for food.

“He consumed a lot of Chinese food at all hours of the night, which fit my family well,” Dresdale said.

Dresdale said even while undergoing treatment at Stanford University’s Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, Rubida still wanted to help ill children.

“When someone passes who is so young, you can’t help but ask why do bad things happen to good people,” Dresdale said.

He reflected on Mitch Albom’s book “Tuesdays with Morrie,” which deals with coming to terms with death while keeping close to the spirit of those who have passed away. Dresdale said it is important to talk about Rubida, remember his accomplishments and celebrate his legacy.

“Death ends a life, not a relationship,” Dresdale said.

Daniel Startsman ’03.5 and Timothy Goobic ’04, two of Rubida’s closest friends, remembered summers with Rubida training and playing video games for “way too long.”

Startsman said Rubida sometimes felt he did not belong at Brown, despite success both on the field and in the classroom.

“It’s funny that the kid who felt like he didn’t belong became a leader … and an inspiration,” Startsman said.

In a reflection written jointly by Rubida’s mother and girlfriend, they said, “Lawrence enjoyed eating Ramen noodles with eggs, Chinese food and Egg McMuffins while playing Madden Football on his X-Box. He experienced a dip or two in his educational journey but was uplifted by episodes of ‘The Family Guy.’” Startsman echoed this love of life and its simplicity.

“Life should not be … about arriving safely in an attractive

and well-preserved body, but about skidding in sideways, chocolate in one hand, martini in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming, ‘Woo-hoo, what a ride!’ ” Startsman read from a passage that he said reminded him of Rubida.

Kimberly Highlund ’04, Rubida’s girlfriend, emotionally remembered Lawrence as “Ltrain,” a nickname given to him in high school for his “speed, agility and size” on the field.

Highlund said the name also represented more about Rubida.

“He sped into life and captured your heart going 110 miles per hour all the way.”

However, Highlund said during the last days of Rubida’s life, he especially “wrestled with God and his inner demons.”

“The Wednesday before he passed on, (Lawrence) accepted the Lord … he died with dignity, respect. … He was more at peace,” Highlund said.

On the flight to Providence, Highlund said she wrote a letter to Rubida she wished she had the chance to read to him.

“You gave my life purpose,” Highlund wrote in the letter.

Born in San Francisco in 1981, Rubida grew up in Arlington, Va., and blossomed as a force to be reckoned with at Yorktown High School, where he lettered in football and basketball, all while serving as senior class vice president.

This prowess landed him at Brown, where he became Second Team All-Ivy in his junior year and eventually the team tri-captain.

With one semester left as a political science concentrator, Rubida succumbed to Ewing’s in January after being diagnosed in spring 2004.

“The Providence Journal headline … said Lawrence lost (a) battle with cancer,” Estes said. “But the battle never got to his soul.”

WRITE FOR SPORTS! features

profiles

recaps sports@browndailyherald.com

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

WORLD & NATION MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2005 · PAGE 5

Connecticut Ponders Civil Union Bill

BY ELIZABETH MEHREN LOS ANGELES TIMES

HARTFORD, Conn. — Lawmakers here will soon take up a bill legalizing civil unions for same-sex couples. The measure would make Connecticut the first state to sanction gay and lesbian unions through legislative action rather than court order.

If enacted, it would extend all the rights and benefits of marriage to same-sex couples, except for the right to obtain a marriage license. The bill passed a key hurdle last month when it was approved, 25-13, by the Legislature’s Joint Judiciary Committee.

In Massachusetts, an order last year from the Supreme Judicial Court made that state the first to legalize gay and lesbian marriage. In Vermont, the civil-union concept was introduced five years ago when the state’s highest court ordered the Legislature to extend the privileges of marriage to same-sex couples.

“In Connecticut, it is a ground-up, grass-roots, legislative-based process. Nobody is twisting our arm,” said state Sen. Andrew McDonald, a Democrat who is one of three openly gay state legislators here.

State Sen. Michael Lawlor, a Democrat who chairs the Joint Judiciary Committee, said he was confident that the civil-union bill would pass the state Senate and House of Representatives, possibly within a matter of weeks.

Gov. Jodi M. Rell, a Republican, said Thursday that although she would need to study the specific language of the civil-union bill, she was “generally comfortable with the concept of legislation to recognize civil unions.”

Opponents of same-sex unions condemned the legislative initiative and vowed to fight the move to recognize gay and lesbian partnerships. They were joined initially in their see CIVIL UNIONS, page 8

Response to Terrorism: One Year After the Train Bombing

BY SEBASTIAN ROTELLA LOS ANGELES TIMES

MADRID, Spain — The Moroccan wanted to die as much as he wanted to kill.

When Abdenabi Kounjaa helped unleash al-Qaida’s jihad on Europe last March 11, the drug dealer-turnedholy warrior got both his wishes.

Traces of his DNA turned up in a van that terrorists used before planting backpack bombs that killed 191 people aboard four commuter trains here. And four of his fingers were found in the rubble of a hide-out where seven barricaded fugitives immolated themselves three weeks later, capping a rampage that helped topple Spain’s government.

Almost a year later, European investigators are still sifting through the trail of human debris and other evidence to better understand the enemy within. The trail leads to locales as disparate as Casablanca, Morocco, Paris, Damascus, Syria, and Amsterdam, Netherlands. It traces the rise of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, or GICM, the organizing force for militants whom police have battled in the wake of the deadliest terrorist attack in Europe’s history.

Many of the extremists are either European-born or longtime immigrants from North Africa. Police see this generation as simultaneously more improvised and more violent, more tactically primitive and more politically sophisticated, than ever.

Nihilistic rage filled a letter that Kounjaa, the thickbearded, 29-year-old train bomber, wrote to his family in Morocco before the deadly showdown April 3.

“I ask you to have faith in God and that you follow your brother mujahedeen in all the world and that perhaps you join them, since that is what I expect of you,” Kounjaa told

his daughters in the three-page letter found in an accomplice’s gym bag, according to a Spanish police report dated Oct. 17. “Religion has come with blood and dismembered (bodies). ... I cannot stand to live this life as a weak and humiliated person under the gaze of the infidels and the tyrants.”

Some fundamental questions endure about the Madrid case, chiefly whether Kounjaa and his bosses followed orders or merely an ideological line from al-Qaida masterminds. In either scenario, the attacks reflect an increasingly calculated political strategy, said Jean-Louis Bruguiere, France’s top anti-terror magistrate.

“It’s not the result of a command structure giving direct orders, but of people talking: scattered networks in which operatives talk and a strategy develops,” Bruguiere said. “It focuses on political agendas of Western nations. ... It was as if the terrorists kicked down the door and invited themselves to the table along with politicians and diplomats. It’s a sophisticated approach. The paradox is that the methods and the suspects in the field were rustic.”

The low-tech, high-impact bombings in Madrid connect to the ritualistic assassination in November of Theo van Gogh, an Amsterdam filmmaker who had denounced Islamic fundamentalism. The young, amateurish suspects in that case also are charged with planning to assassinate Dutch politicians.

Their crime showed how even a single murder can trigger “fitna,” an Arabic word for strife, in the West. In the wake of the killing, Dutch society was convulsed by arson attacks on mosques and churches and angry debate about Islam and immigration. see SPAIN, page 8

PAGE 6 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2005

Bush, GOP temper anti-tax ambitions

BY JIM VANDEHEI THE WASHINGTON POST

WASHINGTON — President Bush and Republican lawmakers are being forced to temper their anti-tax ambitions as the party that consolidated power in Washington by promising to shrink government grapples with the high cost of its efforts to expand the Defense Department and the nation’s two largest entitlement programs.

The president’s only new tax initiative for the second term — a broad restructuring of the tax code — will be crafted in a way that results in a simpler system, not lower taxes, White House aides said.

At the same time, Bush’s call for Congress to make permanent all the tax cuts enacted in his first term faces increasingly strong resistance among some Republicans concerned about rising deficits. The chairmen of the Senate Budget and Finance committees said in interviews last week that Republicans might wait until next year, or

later, to consider the Bush plan, because the cuts do not expire until the end of the decade.

And, for the first time in years, Sen. Lindsey Graham, RS.C., and others are advocating increasing taxes — as a way to pay for a restructuring of Social Security. Bush has not ruled out backing the effort.

“What is different this year is deficits loom larger over the debate in the Senate,” said Graham, who opposes extending some of the Bush tax cuts he supported. “I believe senators will be more balanced in what we can afford.”

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan last week warned Congress that rising deficits beg new scrutiny of tax cuts. “Addressing the government’s own imbalances will require scrutiny of both spending and taxes,” he said.

To be sure, Bush and most congressional Republicans, especially in the House, remain committed to cutting taxes as a guiding principle. Some leaders are considering pushing this year to extend some of the tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003, including those for capital

gains, at the very least. But after cutting taxes aggressively over the past four years, a growing number say it would be unwise to reduce the amount of money the government is taking in at a time when bills for Medicare, Social Security and the Iraq war are piling up.

The shift is pragmatic, not philosophical, and reflects a trend playing out around the country. Many governors are facing large deficits and rising costs, especially for Medicaid, which provides medical coverage to low-income Americans.

Indiana Gov. Mitchell E. Daniels Jr., R, Bush’s budget director in the first term, recently drew the wrath of conservatives by proposing a 29 percent increase in the state income tax rate on the richest residents. Republican governors in Colorado and Alabama have championed tax hikes, too.

“The large deficits and apparent inability of Republicans to constrain spending has made it impossible for sensible folks to advocate big” tax cuts, said Kevin A. Hassett, of the conser-

BTV

has encouraged its staffers to experiment with different styles of humor and reach their ultimate goal of integrating “Thayer Street” into Brown’s cultural consciousness.

Harris said gauging the size of their audience is difficult.

“Sometimes you think there’s all these strangers watching it, and other times I wonder, ‘Am I making this for my home DVD collection when I’m 40?’ ” Harris said.

Broadcasting at infrequent intervals on BTV presents a challenge to increasing the audience. Given that students spend more time in front of computers than TV screens, Norton hopes an upcoming Web site will make the episodes more accessible.

Harris, who is developing the site as part of a RISD Web design class, expects it will be running by the end of the semester. He has also been producing DVDs of the first few episodes and hopes to sell more in the coming months. “The more it’s in the public eye, the more we can know whether we’re doing a good job,” Harris said.

Making their premiere a distinctive social event is the group’s current priority, and how they hope the show will gain more exposure. “Things that build their way into the culture at Brown are based around events like a cappella and improv,” Hunt said.

“The only constraint on it is that we’re all in college, and have full lives,” Norton said.

Like any college students, the people behind “Thayer Street” are not entirely sure whether their lives after Brown will follow this path into the entertainment industry. Regardless, they agreed, the show is an invaluable experience. “If you can produce a TV show, you can do anything,” Norton said.

continued from page 3 Last semester’s two episodes retained the pilot’s puppet and sketch combination, but each revolved around a general theme as the team worked to find a balance between sketch comedy and the plotline of a TV show.

Although the show’s content has evolved, Harris said the group has learned just as much about the production aspect of a TV show as what jokes resonate with their audience. “The production quality is continually going up because we’re constantly comparing it to the production value of our last show,” Harris said.

Taylor Friedman ’07 produces the show with Ali Trustman ’07, and Phoebe Lapine ’07 joined the cast this semester while Scott Norton ’08 began as director of photography.

Harris and Heder both direct and Norton assists them in the editing process, but the group collaborates on virtually everything and is hesitant to designate specific roles. “We are a complete group,” Harris said.

“A big thing I’m learning from the show, which a film class can never teach you, is how to sacrifice, and look at product and understand that it’s not 100 percent of what you thought (it might be),” Harris said. But Harris and Norton try to deal with technical limitations as creatively as possible, once using a wheelchair from Health Services to get the effect of a moving dolly shot.

The upcoming episode includes scenes from the MetBar in Boston and Campus Market, and an iPod commercial parody.

The show’s varied format makes it difficult to pigeonhole, but according to Hunt, “What we’re all about is letting the Brown community laugh at itself.”

Hunt said incorporating the show into a GISP this semester

see TAXES, page 9

“Thayer Street” premieres Wednesday, March 9 at 10 p.m. in Smith-Buonanno 106. Get Him Eat Him will also perform.

MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2005 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 7

Poetry continued from page 3 est in exploring different possibilities through poetry allows Perelman to draw inspiration from all events, both large and minute, that occur in his life. He uses poetry to identify things he thinks are wrong or need to be addressed.

“I don’t disdain ordinary language. I am trying to use the language we speak to say things that are new,” Perelman said.

Perelman is hopeful that the work he presents in the upcoming reading will be a little more straightforward and accessible than his previous work, he said.

He hopes that his poems will hold the interest of his audience and finds it difficult to summa-

Facebook continued from page 1 ences. Current membership exceeds 2 million users and the current growth rate is estimated at 10,000 new members per day, according to Hughes.

In a face-to-face comparison, ConnectU.com is almost identical to Thefacebook.com, offering many of the same features.

ConnectU was founded by a group of recent Harvard graduates, who allege that Zuckerberg stole the exact source code and business model from them while working for ConnectU before the site was launched.

After developing the idea for ConnectU, which was then called HarvardConnection, founders Divya Narendra, Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss hired Zuckerberg to work as a programmer for their site, according to a complaint filed Sept. 2, 2004, in Massachusetts District Court.

The ConnectU creators claim that they had an oral contract with Zuckerberg, who signed on to the project in late 2003 but was not paid. By early 2004, Zuckerberg was purportedly neglecting his responsibilities as programmer, thus delaying ConnectU’s launch.

Then, in February 2004, he launched Thefacebook.com.

ConnectU was launched in May. Since its launch at Brown in April 2004, Thefacebook has risen to become one of the most popular procrastination methods on campus, as well as a reference tool and a means for communication.

“Thefacebook has really helped me keep in touch with all my friends from high school,” said Christine Chen ’08.

“I use the Thefacebook to get the phone numbers of people I need to contact for rehearsals and class projects,” said Katie Meister ’06.

Since its inception, Thefacebook.com has dominated the online networking scene for college students, surpassing Friendster.com as the most popular online social directory. While ConnectU is available at many of the same schools as Thefacebook, ConnectU’s membership is only about 5 percent of Thefacebook’s, according to Hughes.

However, were Thefacebook forced to shut down, students would likely turn to other directory Websites like ConnectU, which now conveniently utilizes a dataimport program called Social Butterfly Processing.

Social Butterfly shortens the registration

rize a theme in his work. “The answers are in the poems, not in these little remarks,” Perelman said.

The second poet of the evening, Dublin native Byrne, is an English professor at the Rhode Island School of Design. Byrne, who associates her work with standup comedy, will read for about 25 minutes.

Byrne will likely present part of an ongoing work in which she writes down a line about the Rhode Island State House every day and compiles them into a poem at the end of the month.

Among other poems she will read are “Things I’m Good At” and “Baghdad,” which is part of a larger manuscript called “Broken” that deals with different states of brokenness. “Baghdad” is made up of phrases from news reports, she said. Her second

manuscript is SOS poetry.

Byrne has been writing in some form since she was about 15 years old, but did not publish her work until she was 30. In terms of her evolution as a writer, Byrne believes that her current work is easier to grasp and more open and entertaining than her previous work.

Byrne said she draws inspiration from everything — the daily practice of writing, the State House, the daily weather. She does many poetry readings across the country, but is delighted to participate in the Downcity Poetry Series, as she has not read in Providence for over a year, she said. Byrne was contacted to participate in the Downcity Series by event organizers Michael Gizzi of the Literary Arts Program and RISD Adjunct Professor of English Michael Magee.

process for users who want to switch to ConnectU from other social networking sites by allowing new users to import profile information and friends lists from friendster.com and Thefacebook.

Narendra and the Winklevosses were furious when they saw Zuckerberg’s site and immediately requested via e-mail that he develop it no further, according to their complaint. Zuckerberg replied, denying any wrongdoing, and continued to expand the site.

The ConnectU creators brought their complaint to Harvard’s Administrative Board in spring 2004 but were told that it was beyond the body’s jurisdiction.

In an e-mail to The Herald, Hughes called ConnectU’s claims “absolutely unfounded.” He noted that HarvardConnection.com, the original version of ConnectU, was very different from Thefacebook — it was focused on dating, and was exclusively for Harvard students, whereas Thefacebook is more of a social networking site than a dating service. “Mark (Zuckerberg) did about six hours of work for a site that was much different than the current ConnectU,” Hughes wrote.

According to Hughes, who

has never logged into ConnectU, “Thefacebook is much more widely known and more widely used because students think it a better service.”

Neither the founders of ConnectU nor their lawyers returned phone calls or e-mails last week.

Zuckerberg and Thefacebook team filed a counterclaim on Nov. 18, contending that ConnectU is abusing the legal system for its own ends.

Thefacebook estimates that the lawsuit is going to cost the company around $200,000 in defense costs. “It will be financially damaging,” Hughes said.

Moreover, if ConnectU wins, Thefacebook may be forced to close and award its profits, gained from online advertising, to ConnectU. “The ConnectU boys want to shut us down, but I strongly doubt that will happen,” Hughes said.

When asked what he would do if Thefacebook shut down, Tom Ghiden ’08 said he would “fall into a serious depression.”

Other enthusiasts said that they would be disappointed, since other sites like ConnectU don’t offer the same features and aren’t as easy to navigate.

LIKE SPORTS? WRITE SPORTS! The Brown Daily Herald is looking for new sports writers contact sports@browndailyherald.com

PAGE 8 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2005

Civil unions continued from page 5 opposition by a grass-roots organization that has worked for four years to promote legalizing same-sex marriage in Connecticut.

But, in an op-ed article Thursday in the Hartford Courant, the president of that organization, Love Makes a Family, declared that although “a civil union law is not enough,” the group would not try to block the legislation.

“We don’t support it,” Anne Stanback said in an interview.

“Our opponents don’t support it because they think it is the same thing as marriage. And we don’t support it because we know it is not the same thing as marriage.”

Indeed, Brian S. Brown, executive director of a group

that opposes the issue, the Family Institute of Connecticut, said: “The civilunion question is trying to provide same-sex marriage, but give it a different name. Some voters may be convinced that this is something really different than same-sex marriage.

But that is ridiculous. If you are going to run legislation like this, call it what it is. It is samesex marriage.”

Marie T. Hilliard, executive director of the Connecticut Catholic Conference, which also opposes the civil-union legislation, said her organization expected as many as 15,000 people at a rally next month at the state Capitol to “protect traditional marriage.”

“Any other group that sees their relationship as equivalent to same-sex couples or heterosexual couples can now claim that they do love each other and have created a family — and can demand the rights of marriage,” she said. “It could be two people who are related, three people, four people. Anyone could redefine marriage.”

In November’s elections, 13 states passed constitutional amendments limiting marriage to a union between a man and a woman.

Spain continued from page 5 European authorities have responded to the threat with unprecedented cooperation, carrying out round-ups in half a dozen countries and averting a planned bomb attack on Spain’s High Court in the fall.

But despite political rhetoric, despite the realization that March 11 was a watershed comparable to Sept. 11 in the United States, persistent conflict and fragmentation in Europe’s law enforcement systems exacerbate the region’s vulnerabilities, top officials say.

And for better or for worse, Europe largely has refrained from the kind of legislative and security crackdowns that transformed U.S. society during the past three years.

European authorities still emphasize domestic spying and traditional prosecutions over fortifying borders or extraordinary responses comparable to the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Britain is struggling to pass a new law permitting house arrest of terror suspects without charges.

Spain has approved an amnesty

M. lacrosse was not able to score.

The first pair of goals came off of Hofstra penalties. The opportunity to score on extra-man offense energized the offense, and the Bears performed brilliantly on two 30-second penalties to take a 2-0 lead.

“We weren’t surprised, but we were very happy,” Nelson said when asked about the performance of his extra-man offense.

Hofstra scored a goal before the end of the quarter to cut the lead to 2-1, but the Bears took control in the second quarter, limiting Hofstra possessions and finally breaking through with another pair of goals. With 7:16 left in the quarter, co-captain Britton Derkac ’05 scored on an assist from Kyle Wailes ’06, one of three Wailes would dish out over the course of the game. Next, with just over two minutes left in the quarter, David Madeira ’07 scored on another assist from Wailes to send the Bears into halftime with a 4-1 lead.

The Bears dominated play in the third quarter, scoring four goals and dispelling all doubt as to which was the better team on the field. Co-captain Chris Mucciolo

’05 scored first, netting his first goal just over two minutes into the quarter. Alex Buckley ’07 scored on another extra-man opportunity four minutes later, and Woodson put on a dazzling display of athleticism late in the quarter, scoring two goals less than a minute apart to give Brown an airtight 8-2 lead.

Mucciolo notched two goals and an assist, and Woodson added three goals for the Bears. “(Woodson) played very well,” Nelson said. “It was definitely an emphasis for him to get more shots. He’s fun to watch.”

The Bears eased up somewhat during the fourth quarter, holding onto the ball more and concentrating on moving it around and creating a flow in their offense.

The defense weathered a minute of man-down due to the Bears’ lone penalty, and the offense scored another pair of goals to give them their final margin of victory.

The Bears continue their season Wednesday against Hartford University at 3 p.m. on the new FieldTurf field behind the OlneyMargolies Athletic Center. The Bears will look to play a more crisp game against Hartford, polishing their ball-handling and cohesion in preparation for their upcoming games.

for hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants, many of them Muslims. Italian anti-terror investigators aggressively are investigating an alleged abduction by U.S. spies of a suspected extremist in Milan.

It is difficult to say whether the Madrid bombers intended or expected such a remarkable impact from the explosions on a commuter train. No mastermind has been identified beyond jailed or slain field-level leaders of a quintessentially local group.

“A terrorist act is like a work of abstract art,” said Spanish Sen. Ignacio Cosido, formerly a senior official of the paramilitary Guardia Civil. “Sometimes there is less to it than you might think. It might be more accidental, more haphazard.

It’s like Sept. 11: Did bin Laden really expect to bring down both the twin towers?”

A possible ringleader under scrutiny is Amer Azizi, a veteran Moroccan jihadi who has suspected ties to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a leader of al-Qaida’s faction in Iraq.

Azizi fled to Iran in 2001 after being indicted as a member of a support cell of the Sept. 11 hijackers, but prosecutors think he might have returned secretly to oversee the bombings because of his “experience and technical preparation,” according to court documents.

Another name in the case file: Karim Mejatti, a GICM leader on the run from Moroccan, European and U.S. agents. Mejatti could be “Abu Dujana al Afghani,” the nom de guerre of a mysterious al-Qaida chief in Europe evoked by the Madrid cell in communiques, a top French intelligence official said.

“The important thing is this: Madrid first seemed to be a purely autonomous cell,” the intelligence official said. “But we now think it was controlled by al-Qaida leaders because of the links the investigation has found. That does not mean Osama bin Laden pushed a button. It does not work like that anymore. There is no evidence of a direct order from outside.”

In the late 1990s, both Azizi and Mejatti attended the Martyr Abu Yahyia training camp in

Afghanistan, the forge of the GICM, whose founders have spent time at Koranic schools in Syria, documents say.

The GICM erupted into action in May 2003 with suicide bombings in Casablanca. It operates in Europe, Turkey and especially Syria, a terror crossroads through which jihadis reach Iraq.

Raids across Europe this year revealed strong ties between the Madrid attacks and the GICM. In December, police in the Canary Islands arrested Hassan Haski, a top GICM operative who had shuttled between Paris and Belgium and, according to testimony of an accomplice, knew in advance about the train bombings.

“The Moroccans are much more important than we thought,” Bruguiere said. “They have significant finance and logistics cells.

And they turn out to be more structured and organized than other networks.”

The ferocity of the train bombers stunned police. Stocked with drug profits, guns and explosives, they planned a wave of follow-up attacks and blew themselves up when cornered, killing a policeman. Similarly, two Dutch suspects linked to the network defied police in a daylong standoff in November, wounding three officers with a grenade before a SWAT team stormed their hideout in The Hague.

“This is a new aggressiveness not just in the terrorist attack itself, but the determination not to be arrested, the readiness to become martyrs,” said Stefano Dambruoso, now Italy’s judicial attache at the U.N. in Vienna, Austria. “In Madrid, the aftermath was almost more alarming than the attack itself.”

As security forces prepare for a grim anniversary, they are haunted by memories of Madrid. And by voices of men who massacred to reach Paradise.

“If my enemies jail me it will be my retreat and if they free me it will be tourism and if they kill me it will be martyrdom,” Kounjaa wrote in his farewell letter. “I prefer death to life. ... May God curse the tyrants.”

continued from page 12

MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2005 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 9

Taxes continued from page 6 vative American Enterprise Institute. “Sooner or later government has to pay for everything.”

Nicolle Devenish, a top Bush adviser, said the tax cuts enacted in Bush’s first term jumpstarted the economy and are ample to keep it humming, as long as Congress makes them permanent. “We cut taxes when the economy needs it,” she said.

“Recent (gross domestic product) figures and job stats show a healthy, growing economy. For that reason we strongly believe the tax cuts must be made permanent so we don’t backslide.”

This is no easy task for Bush, especially in the Senate. Several Republicans are voicing opposition to making permanent some or all of the first-term cuts, which include reductions in tax rates on income, dividends and capital gains. To hold down the cost of the cuts to $1.7 trillion, Republicans designed the tax cuts to expire no later than 2010.

Extending the 2001 and 2003 cuts for five years beyond 2010 would cost more than $1 trillion, according to White House figures.

Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio, one of several Republicans who voted for some or all of the tax cuts, is expressing serious concerns about making them permanent this year.

Voinovich, who bills himself as a deficit hawk, believes the nation cannot afford to run up large short-term deficits, especially with projections that spending on Medicare and Social Security will explode in coming decades, his spokesman Scott Milburn said. Voinovich believes “any cuts need to be offset,” by reduction in spending elsewhere, Milburn said. “If they are not, he has made it clear to people he will not be there for them.”

In the next 75 years, the government will fall $3.7 trillion short of meeting Social Security’s needs and nearly $28 trillion shy of Medicare’s growing demands, according to the Government Accountability Office. The GAO, a nonpartisan entity, estimates Bush’s plan to provide prescription drug coverage to seniors is responsible for more than 25 percent of

M. hockey continued from page 12 the skaters. That’s what made the difference tonight.”

With 10 minutes left in regulation, assistant captain Gerry Burke ’05 demonstrated what was required to pull off a win.

Burke, a defenseman, received the puck from a scramble, took several quick strides towards the net and rifled a wrist shot into the bottom left hand corner, sending the game into overtime.

The extra period was all Brown, as the Bears seemed better rested, remaining several strides ahead of the exhausted Engineers. Brown outshot RPI 61 in overtime and had some good scoring chances before

Medicare’s projected shortfall.

Many Republicans said Bush’s decision to increase spending during the first term will make it much harder to reduce taxes in the second. After overseeing a large expansion of government over the past four years, especially for the Pentagon and other agencies involved in fighting terrorism and the war in Iraq, Bush is pushing a Social Security plan that Vice President Dick Cheney said would cost “trillions of dollars” in the short term. Many Republicans are expressing reservations about the plan to carve private Social Security accounts out of the current system because it would drive up deficits unless benefits are slashed or taxes raised.

This has put Republicans such as Voinovich and Graham in the uncomfortable position of having to abandon, to some extent, their anti-tax inclinations and infuriate some fellow Republicans in the process. “If you are serious about Social Security, you are going to have to say no to other things,” Graham said.

“The spenders are fighting back,” said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, which advocates lower taxes. “The deficit is the word they use because they think it sounds more acceptable than saying they want to spend more money.”

Senate Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said at least six Senate Republicans have signaled opposition to extending the cuts. “They could keep it from getting done,” he said. “But I think most people would like to make them permanent.”

Of most concern to Norquist and other longtime advocates of lower taxes are calls by Graham and others to consider raising taxes to help finance Social Security changes, Bush’s top domestic priority. Graham proposes subjecting more of a person’s income to the payroll tax, which funds Social Security.

Under current law, $90,000 is subject to the tax. If the cap were raised to $140,000, millions of Americans would be hit with a $3,000 tax increase, or $6,000 if they own their business.

To help pay for other programs, Bush, in his budget plan, proposed raising “user fees” for airlines, explosives makers, and others, which some conservatives consider akin to tax increases.

Poli ended RPI’s season 5:33 in.

“We kept trying to force (them) into making a bad play, but we just couldn’t really sustain any good pressure or get two men deep enough into the zone,” Poli said. “But then Rugo Santini (’05) was finally able to get in on one of their defensemen, and when the other player got close to him, he threw me the puck. I was in the right place at the right time. When I got it, I shot, and the puck went above their goalie’s blocker — top right shelf.”

Poli, who had been a contributor but not a superstar during the regular season, attained legendary status for the first round, receiving the First Star of the game honor for the second night in a row.

Grillo was pleased with his

W. hoops continued from page 12 with hopes of stealing it at the end, but Cornell did not have enough offensive firepower or an answer to Robertson, who scored a team-high 18 points in her last Ivy game.

“They definitely wanted to upset us,” Conrad said. “They had a lot of offensive rebounds, and they definitely took advantage of it, but we never lost our composure offensively or defensively.”

The staple of the Bears all season has been their smothering defense, and that was no different against the Big Red. Cornell shot a paltry 21 percent from the field in the first half.

Brown was able to open things up in the second half, increasing its 30-21 halftime lead to 16, but the Big Red went on a 16-3 run to keep things close. Down the stretch, though, the Bears were able to execute offen-

M. hoops continued from page 12 Cornell guard Cody Toppert’s pocket at midcourt and raced down the floor, bypassing an open Forte to throw down a one-handed jam as the halftime buzzer blew.

Unfortunately, the momentum accumulated before the half fizzled at the beginning of the second period. Cornell claimed a two-point lead four minutes in and never looked back, pushing the lead to 18 late in the game. The Bears struggled to respond to some dead-on shooting by the Big Red, who shot 57 percent in the second half, and made six threes. At one point in the run, Cornell made five straight shots plus a free throw.

With Yale in town tomorrow evening to close out the season, the Bears will be honoring their lone senior, Forte, who has ended his final season with a bang, turning in four straight 20plus-point performances.

Tipoff is at 7 p.m. at the Pizzitola Center.

team’s effort this weekend.

“I think D’Alba was outstanding all weekend,” he said. “Our freshman class is pretty good all around, so that was a positive factor for us, and the senior class has done a really great job.

Obviously, Michael Meech had a great weekend, and Gerry Burke had a great goal tonight. He played really hard in the third period.”

This weekend, the team will travel to third-seeded Colgate University. “I think that we just need to capitalize on what we do well, our strengths, next weekend, and we should do well,” Grillo said. “If we just keep playing our game — take advantage of our speed and our offensive forecheck. We just need to build off Saturday’s performance as we enter the next round.”

write for sports — contact sports@browndailyherald.com

sively and finally put the Big Red away.

“We had a lot of poise down the stretch. We did a decent job of controlling tempo, and Holly was just huge for us all game,” Burr said.

The win on Saturday marked the final game for seniors Conrad and Robertson. Conrad had 13 points, six rebounds and two blocks on the weekend, while Robertson tallied 33 points, 18 rebounds and three blocks.

“When you have been playing for so long, and you realize that it is your last game, you just play your heart out,” Conrad said.

The seniors’ workmanlike attitude has been a given for the Bears all season. “Ace (Conrad) had huge baskets in the Columbia game and some huge defensive stops,” Burr said. “She has done all the little things that have gone unnoticed, but she has been an unbelievably valuable part of this team,” Burr said.

ww w. br ow nd ail yh er ald .co m

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

EDITORIAL/LETTERS MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2005 · PAGE 10 S T A F F

E D I T O R I A L

Communication key for housing As if midterms weren’t stressful enough, now is the time when students start forming their “Survivor”-esque alliances in anticipation of the housing lottery. No other time of the year causes as much stress among Brunonians. The diversity of Brown’s housing options makes the process even more difficult, as rooms and suites in the same hallway are often quite different.

The Residential Council has tried to help alleviate the stress of finding out what hides behind door number 305 by creating the Room Review Web site. The site taps into the best resource for finding out about a certain room — past and present residents.

It’s amazing that nobody thought of doing this before, and students in the lottery this year should take full advantage of the site when picking their rooms for next year.

But for a resource this valuable, it would have been nice to see a bit more publicity. That the site is only getting 20 hits a day this close to the housing lottery is quite surprising — word must not be getting around about the site. A simple e-mail, or perhaps a batch of table slips, when the site was launched would have given students ample time to write more room descriptions for students, especially first-years, who need them now.

For some students, the nightmare of the housing lottery has been avoided by procuring off-campus housing. But even that is not stress-free. Students diligent enough to read Morning Mail regularly may have noticed the multiple recent notices of the “final showing” of the off-campus housing video. This video is ostensibly required viewing for students who wish to live off campus. But each time the Office of Residential Life offers to show the video one final time, some students find out after the fact, panic, contact ResLife and arrange for another “final” showing. ResLife needs to understand that the majority of students delete Morning Mail as soon as they receive it. An e-mail directly to all students with off-campus permission announcing the last showing of the video would have saved both students and ResLife time and anxiety over a simple requirement for living off-campus.

ResCouncil and ResLife are taking steps to make the housing lottery as simple as possible for students, and they have made remarkable progress. Each year, this process gets incrementally easier to navigate. But it could be much easier for both students and administrators if students were better informed about the resources available. Though it is easy to criticize decisions in retrospect, we hope the basic lesson here is clear: the more communication concerning the complex housing process, the better.

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

Jason Lee, Night Editor Allison Kwong, 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, Shawn Ban, 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, 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

DANIEL L AWLOR

LETTERS Princeton, Mahoney, and that kid from Dartmouth To the Editor: I haven’t read Neale Mahoney’s ’05 column (“Dismissing the anti-Brown,” Feb. 24) because he is my roommate, and therefore I already know better than to listen to his opinions. However, I was distressed that Josh Lerner ’07 thinks anybody should feel bad about making fun of Princeton (“Why can’t we be friends?” March 3). I, for one, know for a fact that all the other Ivy League schools suck. Strap one on, Josh Lerner, and defend Brown. Sure, it’s stupid and ignorant, but that’s half the fun of college pride!

And to the kid from Dartmouth (“Dartmouth student weighs in on the anti-Brown,” March 3), I have only this to say. Are you serious? Who reads other colleges’ student papers? Is there really that little to do in Hanover? Dartmouth sucks, and if you and your pong-playing, moose-violating friends ever want to come down from the mountains and question me, I’ll be waiting in my parking lot with a Brown sweatshirt, a baseball bat and Neale Mahoney’s dumb ass backing me up.

Jon Miller ’05 March 3

Write guest columns opinions@browndailyherald.com

Write Letters letters@browndailyherald.com we welcome your comments our job is covering the Brown community. let us know how we’re doing. herald@browndailyherald.com 401.351.3372 CORRECTIONS POLICY The Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible. Corrections may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication.

CO M M E N TA RY P O L I C Y The staff editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial board of The Brown Daily Herald. The editorial viewpoint does not necessarily reflect the views of The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Columns, letters and comics reflect the opinions of their authors only.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY Send letters to letters@browndailyherald.com. Include a telephone number with all letters. The Herald reserves the right to edit all letters for length and cannot assure the publication of any letter. Please limit letters to 250 words. Under special circumstances writers may request anonymity, but no letter will be printed if the author’s identity is unknown to the editors. Announcements of events will not be printed.

ADVERTISING POLICY The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. reserves the right to accept or decline any advertisement at its discretion.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

OPINIONS MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2005 · PAGE 11 SAMANTHA PLESSER

Fundraising vs. awareness-raising

Open the gym earlier

GUEST COLUMN BY HUNTER BERGSCHNEIDER

This column is dedicated to all of those poor souls who have hauled their butts out of bed, thrown on workout clothes, trekked to the gym and then have had to sit there and wait because all of the machines were taken. I was once like you. Now at 7 a.m. on weekdays, you will see me and a few other brave souls waiting outside in the bitter cold for the door to unlock so we can come inside. By 7:05 a.m., well, you’re screwed. All of the machines are gone for at least a good 30 minutes, occupied by us crazy souls who waited in our shorts and sneakers so we could be the first to enter.

I am well aware that on the weekdays, 7 a.m. is more than fair as an opening time for the gym. I am not really quite sure why the gyms can’t be open 24 hours a day as they are at some state schools like the University of Michigan and University of Wisconsin. I mean, it’s not like the attendant is all that qualified to help out in an emergency, and half the time in the morning they get there an hour to an hour and a half after the gym opens its doors to the waiting public. I’m sure the reason there must be an attendant in the gym has to do with legal liability. If someone got hurt, the University probably would want to have an employee at the scene to make sure they are covered. Yet at least 75 percent of the time, the attendants aren’t there anyways. They are just students who want to work out and sleep and watch those new TV’s. Now I’m all for campus jobs and money for nothing, but honestly, I don’t think those who are in the gym are really that much more protected by the attendants’ presence. If the University was really concerned with legal repercussions surrounding the use of the gym, they should hire someone to be at the gym 24 hours a day who is trained in basic EMS stuff.

Additionally, the gyms open on a time lock — the attendant doesn’t let us all in every morning.

However, the real travesty is on weekends.

Picture that same scene in front of Keeney.

Multiply it by 100. That’s how the outside of Bigelow Lounge looks at 10:55 a.m. on Saturday morning. There are rows of people stacked up against each other. It looks like we are all waiting to get into to see some all-powerful speaker. It’s more crowded outside of Keeney than when we were all waiting to see Spike Lee speak in Salomon. We jostle, we glare at each other, potential catfights flare up as we vie for a place closest to the door so that we can scamper in and grab a machine. Sadly enough, even those who are waiting outside before the gym opens don’t always get a machine. Forget about if you come at 11:05 a.m.

You might as well come back at 6. Saturdays and Sundays are prime workout days for the campus community. The congestion at the gyms, even with the new satellite ones in place, is ridiculous.

We need to have the workout facilities open at 8 a.m. on Saturdays or Sundays. That way, we weed out the early risers, (i.e. me), and allow everyone else to enjoy their workout when they wake up.

I am a huge fan of the fact that the University has invested some of its nonexistent funding into new workout facilities. When I first got here, only having the OMAC was depressing. Old machines thrown in the corner of a big dark cave-like area wasn’t what I was expecting for my $32,000-a-year education. The cost of Brown has increased by more than $8,000 since I matriculated. I think that for the amount of money we pay, we could at least get the benefit of working out when we want to.

The new gyms are great and much appreciated by the student body. Yet we need extended hours at these new facilities to make them accessible. If we can’t have the gyms open 24 hours, than at least we should open them earlier on the weekends. That way, there won’t be a lot of very cranky girls waiting in the bitter cold outside of Bigelow Lounge on Saturday morning to work out.

Samantha Plesser ’05 makes a dash for the ellipticals.

The Feb. 26fundraiser for tsunami relief was both a success and a missed opportunity. While raising $7,500 is great, and the money will be appreciated, that sum of money in the world of humanitarian aid is mere peanuts. Where the real potential success lay in such a project was the possibility of raising the awareness on campus of global catastrophes and what all of us can — and only some of us do — do about them.

Let me tell you about my experience that Saturday night.

I walked into the ballroom with high hopes, dressed for the occasion and excited at the possibility of discussing such issues with my classmates and members of UNICEF and other humanitarian aid organizations. However, it soon became apparent to me that this was simply another opportunity for Ivy League students to gather “for a good cause” and to “have a good time.” When the Third World has a catastrophe, the First World throws a banquet.

The night was rife with laughter and drinking, merriment and pleasure. Jazz and rock blasted from the speakers, yet there was no moment of silence for the victims. There was little if any overt concern for and awareness of the fact that we had gathered in an attempt to help the victims of the tsunami. Our hosts thanked various groups who championed the cause, but mentioned nothing of the actual victims of the crisis. There was little, if any, discussion of the problems that confront humanity at this time.

Recall that this event lasted five hours. Yet for only roughly eight minutes were we given a shoddy-at-best presentation by an unprepared and uninspiring speaker from UNICEF — and she actually skipped a number of her slides in an effort to save time for our own personal enjoyment. Worse still, most of the crowd was too self-absorbed to actually pay attention to the woman’s feeble attempts to inform us about UNICEF’s relief efforts in regard to the tsunami, as evidenced by their rude chatter during the presentation.

There is nothing wrong with celebrating life together and congregating in the name of a good cause to eat, drink and enjoy music. My point is simply that raising money is not enough. If we are to positively affect the constant change of

our world, we need to raise awareness, too.

I would have liked to see a representative from UNICEF or other humanitarian aid organizations at every table. Even volunteers from the Swearer Center would have been nice.

What for? To discuss the practical opportunities to distribute real aid and raise awareness, opportunities available to students in a privileged place. Note that this happened last semester when a group of students brought the Bangladeshi Workers Tour to Brown, a panel of sweatshop workers who stimulated riveting discussion and brought many to tears — though the event was not covered in The Herald. The point of that event was to hold meaningful discussion and actually augment the consciousness on campus, instead of holding the standard Dionysian college ball attended by the carefree princes and princesses of our generation. Sure, the cost of the ticket to the tsunami relief dinner may have had to been higher to invite a panel or group of distinguished guests from UNICEF and other aid organizations, but the people who would have come would have actually been concerned with the issue at hand, instead of themselves. I guess raising awareness wasn’t the point —and it isn’t the point of most fundraisers — which is a real tragedy.

Note that my intention is not to reduce everyone present at the event to zombie-like status, or to dismiss them as selfish. For those of you who genuinely care about humanity, I support you and I applaud your noble efforts to fight for the sustainable general welfare of our species. This is merely a reflection of the general atmosphere at the event, and my perspective on the matter.

In sum, UNICEF could do with more than just our financial support — it has plenty of contributions from people like Sir Bill Gates and others making donations with seven digits. However, humanity is bleeding in vain for our awareness and actions based on a well-informed moral consciousness. That is something that organizations like UNICEF, and those affected by events like the tsunami, desperately require.

When the Third World has a catastrophe, the First World throws a banquet.

Hunter Bergschneider ’05 loves you.

GAVIN SHULMAN

Topical miscellany I feel like being Topical. Like a warm paradise. Like an island. Like a storm. I feel like talking about what’s happening. Now. I feel like being dated.

The Oscars were a disappointment. “Million Dollar Baby” is a bad movie. Jude Law does suck. Chris Rock’s been funnier in commercials.

Hunter S. Thompson blew his brains out while he was on the phone with his wife. Now he’s officially gone-zo. I think he would have liked this though. Me trying to make a deadline and writing by the seat of my assless chaps. I think he would have appreciated the sentiment.

Arthur Miller also died. He was real old though. He had outlived the American dream. “The Crucible” is hands-down the best play ever written. And for a Jew to sleep with Marilyn Monroe — you know he’s resting in peace.

A third writer will probably die soon.

That’s how these things happen.

Jose Canseco wrote a best-seller. Maybe it will be him.

50 Cent dropped his protégé The Game from his G-Unit records because The Game refused to take his side in his beef against Jadakiss and Nas. That’s too bad. I thought those two got along so well.

“NYPD Blue” finally turned in its television badge after 12 years of dramatic crime-stopping and fascinating crimesolving. I never really watched. I am sad, however, that Zach Morris will be out of a job again.

Kegs are coming back to campus. So are cups I guess. And ice.

Bill Clinton is coming here to speak soon. It’s good to see that he is no longer glued to the side of former President Bush. I hope he brings his sax. And comes our to party afterwards. We have kegs.

Ben Folds is ready to rock all of our respective socks off with his brand of piano-powered pop. Give me my money back you… .

Some nuts writing out in Los Angeles believe Bono should

be the next president of the World Bank. What idiots.

Obviously it should be The Edge.

Or me. Graduation is coming up, I need a job. I know about foreign affairs and the like. I am well-versed in the issues and such. I can solve problems, sort of. I won’t work weekends though. If I did, what would I have to work for? But Monday through Friday, I would be there for the world. As long as they worked around my touring schedule.

How long did that pizza-grill place off Thayer last? Five days and a minute? It didn’t even make it to the Freshmen 15.

You know what Thayer needs? Another over-priced, semithemed restaurant. Something like the two that are opening up next to each other now.

I, for one, am psyched about Subway. Not Jared-psyched. But pretty psyched.

Why is Prince all over the place again? I thought he went weird. But now he’s at the Grammys, he’s at the Oscars; he’s going by a name. I liked him when he was mysterious. And symbolic.

The war in Iraq is still going. Still grabbing its share of headlines. I think Iraq only makes the front page on a slow news day. When nothing really out of the ordinary happens. No celebrity passing away, no terrorist arrested, no murder committed, no new discovery unearthed. There’s always Iraq.

I don’t think it’s fair that Ken Jennings gets a bye to the finals of the “Jeopardy!” Ultimate Tournament of Champions.

I hope he wins though.

The Kings of Leon rule.

Anyhow, those are the topics on my mind right now. Both the Cancer and the Capricorn. Here and in the world.

Hopefully next column I’ll have something worth writing about.

Some nuts believe Bono should be the next president of the World Bank. What idiots. Obviously it should be The Edge.

Gavin Shulman ’05 rides the wave of the news by the seat of his assless chaps.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

SPORTS MONDAY MARCH 7, 2005 · PAGE 12

Offense paces m. icers to firstround sweep over Engineers

BY ELIZA LANE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The men’s ice hockey team’s exceptional first-year class, combined with strong senior leadership, helped propel the Bears to a sweep of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the first round of the ECACHL playoffs on Friday and Saturday.

“Saturday night was a lot better than Friday,” said Head Coach Roger Grillo. “Actually, it was the best game we’ve played in the last three weeks.”

Friday’s 7-4 victory answered any doubts about Brown’s depth, as six different Brown skaters knocked pucks past Andrew Martin, RPI’s first-year goaltender.

Ashley Hess / Herald

Chris Poli ’08 scored three goals in two first-round games, including the game-winner on Saturday night.

“We really stepped it up in the offensive end,” Grillo said. The relentless offense was primarily responsible for the win because the Brown defense showed some significant lapses in judgment that might have been more costly, had the forwards not showed such grit, Grillo added.

Grit was the perfect way to describe Brown’s offensive performance, especially during the third period. First, Brian McNary ’08 scored off a direct head-on pass from Brian Ihnacak ’07. Shortly thereafter, Mike Meech ’05 sped down the left wing into the offensive zone on an oddman rush. After realizing no passing lane existed, Meech fired the puck into the upper left corner of the net for a two-goal lead.

Bruno’s seventh goal, an empty-netter late in the game from Chris Swon ’05, not only sealed RPI’s fate for night one, but it also bolstered Brown’s confidence as the hosts left Meehan Auditorium primed for the following night. The underclassmen credited their success to the play of leaders Meech and captain Les Haggett ’05.

“You have a bunch of guys like Les and Meech, and no wonder you’re going to win,” said Chris Poli ’08. “These are guys who really know how to put the puck in the net.

They’re finishers.”

Four of Brown’s seven goals

came from first-years, with Poli netting two and Sean Hurley ’08 picking up three points with one goal and two assists. Poli was named First Star of the game, and Hurley was Second Star.

Saturday night’s match-up ended the series and chased away any doubts about the team’s future.

Jeff Prough ’08 sparked Brown’s offense, capitalizing on a man-up advantage four minutes into the game for his ninth goal and 20th point of his stellar first season.

True to form, RPI answered Brown’s test shortly afterward, slipping a puck past another of Brown’s phenomenal first-years, goalie Adam D’Alba ’08, during a Brown penalty kill. But RPI’s momentum ended quickly when Meech tallied just two minutes later, restoring Brown’s lead to 2-1 before the end of the first period.

The second period was scoreless, but the third period showed RPI’s desire to extend the series to a third game. The Engineers exerted offensive pressure and forced two goals to take a 3-2 lead.

“We’ve come back from behind a few times this year, so we knew what we had to do if we wanted to win,” Poli said. “D’Alba is always going to keep us in the game, so it just takes a little extra from all

M. hoops splits home series with NY schools

BY STEPHEN COLELLI SPORTS STAFF WRITER

Co-captain Jason Forte ’05 led the men’s basketball team to a split in the final weekend of Ivy League play. On Friday, the Bears streaked past Columbia 80-56 behind Forte’s 20-point, six-rebound effort. The following night, the Bears struggled in the second half, allowing Cornell to turn a three-point halftime deficit into a 77-61 triumph. Forte added another 20 points in the loss while James Daniels ’08 and Damon Huffman ’08 chipped in nine apiece.

The weekend action leaves the Bears at 11-16 overall and in seventh place in the Ivies at 4-9, with one game to play.

Brown swept the season series with Columbia on Friday night, having won in New York 54-52 earlier in the season on Forte’s jumper in the closing seconds. The second time around, Keenan Jeppesen ’08 and Huffman helped defeat the Lions, recording career highs with 16 and 17 points, respectively. Jeppesen went 7-of-9 from the field, while Huffman

made five three-pointers.

The Bears also snapped out of the shooting funk that has plagued the team recently, converting on 58 percent of their attempts from the field against the Lions.

The accuracy displayed Friday night failed to carry over to Saturday, however. A 10-of-28 effort in the second half allowed the Big Red to claim its second victory over Bruno this season.

Although the Bears found themselves behind most of the first, a furious late rally allowed the Bears to storm into the locker room at the half with a hardearned 31-28 lead.

Daniels and Forte triggered the rally with a few timely hustle plays. With 4:30 left in the half ,Daniels collected an offensive rebound and fed Forte for a jumper to cut Cornell’s lead to five. Daniels sank a jumper two minutes later, followed by a nifty no-look pass from Forte to Marcus Becker ’07 for another easy two and the lead with only 12 seconds remaining. To close out the half, Daniels picked see M. HOOPS, page 9

see M. HOCKEY, page 9

No. 19 m. lacrosse routs Hofstra in season opener

BY BERNIE GORDON SPORTS STAFF WRITER

The men’s lacrosse team opened its 2005 season with a dominating 102 win over Hofstra University on Saturday. The game had the feel of an early season contest — the overexcited Bears had some problems holding onto the ball — but their effort more than made up for it.

“I thought we really hustled all day,” said Head Coach Scott Nelson. “(We were) a little sloppy at times, but hustle makes up for a lot of things.”

The Bears looked improved allaround from last year, possessing the ball for most of the game and dominating the ground-ball and penalty battles. The team had an energetic, although occasionally off-cue, performance on offense, leaving the team happy with the showing but knowing that there are better things to come.

“One of our goals (at the start of the season) offensively was to score at least 10 goals (a game),” said cocaptain Chazz Woodson ’05. “We have a very good offensive unity, individually, and we are looking to bring it together collectively. Once that happens, (we will score) a lot more than 10 goals.”

On defense, the Bears looked cohesive from the start, nullifying Hofstra’s early push, in which it held the ball for the first seven minutes of the game. The defense kept the Pride out from easy shooting range for the most part, and goalie Nick Gentilesco ’06 made some dazzling saves to keep the Pride off the board while the offense gathered itself.

Ashley Hess / Herald

Chazz Woodson ’05 outscored Hofstra by himself, netting 3 in Brown’s 10-2 victory over the Pride Saturday.

“I thought our defense was outstanding,” Nelson said. “They kept us in the game for at least the first quarter.”

Gentilesco has been competing with Chandler Clarke ’07 for the starting goalie spot vacated with the graduation of Mike Levin ’04.

Although neither saw significant time during Levin’s tenure, both have been performing excellently in practice, and despite Gentilesco’s performance on Saturday, the starting job is still up for grabs.

After the initial push by Hofstra, the Bears settled down somewhat and began to take better care of the ball. The offense managed to hold the ball and run its sets, although it see M. LACROSSE, page 8

W. hoops finishes with third most wins ever

BY JUSTIN GOLDMAN SPORTS STAFF WRITER

The women’s basketball team finished its season with 18 wins, its most since the 19931994 season, as it completed season sweeps of Columbia, 66-56, on Friday and Cornell, 67-63, on Saturday.

The two wins guaranteed that the Bears will finish third in the Ivy League at 10-4. The Bears had been in the thick of the hunt for the Ivy League title until last week’s 77-69 setback against Harvard. The Crimson will take on Dartmouth Tuesday to decide the championship.

The Bears beat the Lions on the strength of pressure defense, as well as three players scoring in double figures. Holly Robertson ’05 led Brown with 15 points, while Lena McAfee ’07 and co-captain Sarah Hayes ’06 added 11 and 10, respectively.

The Lions were forced into long scoring droughts as they were held without a field goal for six minutes in the first half.

The Bears were able to cause turnovers and score in transition, something they had not done a lot of in previous games.

“Our defense sparks our

offense,” said co-captain Andrea Conrad ’05. “We were able to get a lot of defensive rebounds and push the ball. We also knew that we were more athletic than they were, so we wanted to take advantage of that.”

Brown was able to dictate tempo, as well as hold the Lions to 37 percent shooting from the field.

Ashley King-Bischof ’07 continued her hot shooting, scoring eight points — six from beyond the arc — and grabbing six rebounds. “Ashley has been a solid spark for us all year,” said Head Coach Jean Marie Burr. “She creates havoc offen-

sively and defensively. She comes in with solid offensive skills. She is very difficult to defend.”

Brown kept the Lions at arm’s length throughout the second half. With just under three minutes to play, Columbia came within seven points, but a basket from Jackie Vocell ’06 and two Bruno free throws proved to be insurmountable.

Despite being 1-13 in the league, Cornell came out looking to upset the Bears on Saturday night. The Big Red was able to keep the game close see W. HOOPS, page 9

WEEKEND SPORTS SCOREBOARD FRIDAY, MARCH 4 Men’s ICE HOCKEY: Brown 7, RPI 4 Men’s BASKETBALL: Brown 80, Columbia 56 Women’s ICE HOCKEY: Brown 3, St. Lawrence 0 Women’s BASKETBALL: Brown 66, Columbia 56 Men’s TENNIS: No. 63 Brown 5, No. 60 Old Dominion 2 BASEBALL: North Florida 10, Brown 2 at Kennel Club Classic SATURDAY, MARCH 5 Men’s ICE HOCKEY: Brown 4, RPI 3 (Brown wins best of three series 2-0) Women’s ICE HOCKEY: St. Lawrence 3, Brown 0 Men’s BASKETBALL: Cornell 77, Brown 61 Women’s BASKETBALL: Brown 67, Cornell 63

Men’s SWIMMING: Seventh out of nine at EISL Championships Men’s LACROSSE: Brown 10, Hofstra 2 Women’s LACROSSE: Holy Cross 6, Brown 5 BASEBALL: Western Michigan 13, Brown 1 (Game one), Western Michigan 14, Brown 12 (Game 2) at Kennel Club Classic WRESTLING: 10th out of 14 at EIWA Championships SUNDAY, MARCH 6 Women’s ICE HOCKEY: St. Lawrence 5, Brown 2 (St. Lawrence wins best of three series 2-1) GYMNASTICS: Brown 185.025, West Chester 177.975 Women’s TENNIS: Brown 7, Rutgers 0 BASEBALL: Michigan State 19, Brown 7 at Kennel Club Classic Women’s WATER POLO: Brown 6, Harvard 4