Tuesday, March 15, 2005

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T U E S D A Y MARCH 15, 2005

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXL, No. 33

www.browndailyherald.com

An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891

SOBERING STATISTIC R.I. ranks first in percent of traffic fatalities caused by alcohol; some pols want sobriety checkpoints METRO

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BLOGS TRACKBACK Nicholas Swisher ’08: Independent bloggers aren’t corporate shills, but they can be bloodthirsty O P I N I O N S 11

COLGATE BRUSHES OFF BEARS M. ice hockey season over after Red Raiders sweep weekend ECACHL quarterfinal series SPORTS

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TODAY

TOMORROW

partly cloudy 40 / 25

mostly sunny 40 / 24

D’Souza tackles U.S. foreign policy BY NICOLE SUMMERS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Statesmen must make practical decisions based on imperfect information, and “retroactive judgment” by critics with the benefit of hindsight is an inappropriate fallacy, according to author Dinesh D’Souza. D’Souza, a fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and a former senior domestic policy analyst under President Ronald Reagan, promised a mostly-full Salomon 101 that he would cut through “a squid-like cloud of rhetoric” in his lecture, titled “In Defense of American Empire.” He recognized that President George W. Bush’s original rationale for the war in Iraq

as a search for weapons of mass destruction no longer holds, but he said that a “statesman is in the moving current of events. The statesman has got to make decisions based on the information that is available at the time.” D’Souza said Bush acted rationally in deciding to invade Iraq by weighing the costs and benefits of acting versus not acting. According to D’Souza, Bush had to ask, “What if I do nothing and Saddam has or is able to get (weapons of mass destruction) and a dirty bomb were to go off and kill 300,000 people? ... Well, who’s going to take the responsibility for that?” “It’s not in the realm of theory, but in the realm of practical decision-making,” he

said. The Brown College Republicans invited D’Souza to speak at Brown, but a large portion of the funding for the lecture came from President Ruth Simmons’ newly created fund for intellectual diversity, which is designed to bring a wider variety of speakers to campus. D’Souza is the first conservative speaker brought to campus with resources from this fund. The College Republicans invited D’Souza to speak because they wanted to bring a conservative to campus who was well known and would speak from an academic perspective, according to Chris see D’SOUZA, page 5

Infrastructure overhaul needed to move building plans forward BY LOIS SALDANA CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Because of President Ruth Simmons’ Plan for Academic Enrichment and recent contributions from alums, the physical landscape of the Brown campus is undergoing a radical transformation. In addition to more obvious changes such as the construction of new buildings, the University’s infrastructure is also expanding. The result will be an innovative system in which energy and utilities are sourced more efficiently and cost-effectively. According to Richard Spies, executive vice president for planning and senior adviser to the president, these efforts could not have been more timely. “Both in terms of (the infrastructure’s) age and its capacity, it is approaching the end of its useful life,” he said. Spies added that much of the University’s infrastructure has not been updated since the 1960s. Even though “the system has served us well,” changes are needed to accommodate the increasing energy needs of the campus. He said these changes are driven in part by the consumption habits of today’s generation of college students. Though in the past students might have brought a small television and fridge to campus, today dormitories are filled with a variety of electronics ranging from computers to DVD players. In an effort to accommodate these needs, the University began planning the infrastructure overhaul in the beginning of 2002. The majority of the work to implement the changes is expected to begin this summer and will take place over the next several years, he said. The planning process has been a deliberate one because of the large number of details that have to be considered. “(It makes) you realize how complicated institutions like universities are,” Spies said. “We’re like a little city.” John Noonan, vice president of see UPGRADE, page 4

Gabriella Doob / Herald

Former senior domestic policy analyst for the Reagan administration Dinesh D’Souza offered his perspectives on U.S. foreign policy in the post-Sept. 11 era to students in Salomon on Monday night.

Clinical professor’s condition unclear after collision with drunk driver BY JONATHAN HERMAN STAFF WRITER

The medical status of Dr. Pablo Rodriguez, clinical assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology, remains unclear after a Feb. 27 accident in the Dallas-Fort Worth area left his son in critical condition and killed his 13-year-old niece, Brianna Titcomb. The Dallas Morning News reported March 7 that Rodriguez was in serious condition after he suffered a cracked bone in his neck and underwent abdominal surgery. But since then, Parkland Memorial Hospital will not release his status, and sources close to the Rodriguez family have opted to keep his condition private. WJAR Channel 10 reported on its Web site that Rodriguez had been released from a Texas hospital, but that report could not be confirmed. Rodriguez is a prominent Latino political activist and doctor in the Providence community. A Democrat, he was the founder and first president of the Rhode Island Latino Political Action Committee, according to the Providence Journal. In the early hours of Feb. 27, a black pickup truck heading in the wrong direction on a Texas highway collided with an airport shuttle transporting Rodriguez and several family members, despite the driver’s attempts to evade the oncoming truck. The accident injured all the shuttle’s passengers except for Rodriguez’s wife, Diane, and the driver. The shuttle was en route to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on the last leg of the family’s trip to Belize. Rodriguez’s office at the University declined to comment on his or his family members’ status. The early morning collision threw Brianna Titcomb from the shuttle. She see RODRIGUEZ, page 5

SSDP and Health Ed to open new drug education center BY NICOLE SUMMERS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Students for Sensible Drug Policy and Brown Health Education are combining their efforts to create a student-run Drug Education Center for Brown students. The center, which will open later this semester, will provide students with information on the effects of drug use and referrals to drug abuse counseling services. The impetus for the center came from SSDP, said Trevor Stutz ’07, president of SSDP. “I think it’s important for people to look at drugs objectively and look at why they’re using them and what they’re using,” Stutz said. “We don’t want people just relying on their friends’ experiences and maybe some government Web site” for information about drug use. The center is intended to serve as a safe and confidential space where students can go to ask questions about drug use and receive accurate, scientifically-based information. Resources will be offered with information about the effects of a

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wide variety of drugs and substances, including marijuana, tobacco, prescription drugs, alcohol and caffeine. The center represents a new approach to drug education because it is studentrun. Frances Mantak, director of Health Education, and SSDP hope the center will be an effective and worthwhile resource because students will feel more comfortable talking to their peers about drug use rather than to adult professionals. “After DARE (and other governmentsponsored drug education programs), people have mistrust of information (about drug use) coming out of institutions,” Stutz said. The Brown Drug Education Center is being modeled after the Drug Resource Center at the University of California, Berkeley, which was started a few years ago and has proven successful. Both Mantak and Stutz emphasized that the center is not to promote drug use or provide counseling services. If students wish to speak to a professional

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

about their drug use, volunteers at the center will be able to provide them with referrals both within and outside of the University. Trained and experienced volunteers will run the center with a system of walkin hours a few days a week. Most of the volunteers will have prior experience in peer counseling in programs such as the residential counseling program. SSDP and Health Education are currently in the process of training student volunteers and working out the logistics of the center, including issues surrounding liability and confidentiality. The center, which will be located in Faunce House, is expected to open sometime this semester, although the exact date is uncertain. While the Drug Education Center is fully supported and has been approved by the University, it will not receive specific funding because most of the resources already exist within the University and it will be staffed by volunteers. News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com


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