W E D N E S D A Y MARCH 16, 2005
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXL, No. 34
www.browndailyherald.com
An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891
FOCUS ON: BROWN WRITERS Check in with Pulitzer winner Eugenides ’83 and three up-and-comers INSIDE 3
BREAKING THE SURFACE W. water polo, 2-1 on the weekend, flush with new talent but still finding its legs on defense O P I N I O N S 11
SAVE THE LAST DANCE Don’t forget to enter The Herald’s Division I Bracket Challenge — get yours in before 11 a.m. Thursday! INSIDE 9
TODAY
TOMORROW
mostly sunny 40 / 23
mostly sunny 41/24
Wrestling coach under fire from DTau for ‘ultimatum’ BY JUSTIN ELLIOTT CAMPUS WATCH EDITOR
Dave Amato, head coach of Brown’s wrestling team, came under fire beginning last week from current and former members of the fraternity Delta Tau for what they consider intimidation and an ultimatum to first-year wrestlers: either join a fraternity or wrestle for Brown — not both. Members of DTau, which has traditionally been considered a wrestling fraternity, say Amato’s actions have hurt DTau’s recruiting efforts for the past three years, but Amato, who has coached the wrestling team for 22 years, says he has the best interest of his team in mind. Three administrators, including Interim Dean for Campus Life Margaret Klawunn, are scheduled to meet with the president of DTau and Greek Council Chair Chris Guhin ’05 on Friday to discuss a solution to the situation, according to Guhin. Several alums, including Al Romano ’73, director of the Delt Foundation, a 200member alumni support group for DTau, have contacted University officials to express their anger. Romano and other alums are requesting that Amato be disciplined and that the pledge process be extended for affected wrestlers. Romano, a Providence attorney, sent an e-mail Thursday to Interim Athletic Director Joan Taylor and other officials in athletics and physical education threatening the University and Amato with legal action if the situation is not resolved. “I believe he’s violating the rights of both the students and the social group. ... If it’s up to me, I want the coach’s head on a see DTAU, page 4
Housing lottery inspires fantasies, nightmares BY ANNE WOOTTON STAFF WRITER
With Segment I of the housing lottery scheduled to begin this evening at 6 p.m. in Salomon 101, students are gearing up for what one called an experience “more intense than watching the NBA draft.” Lottery numbers for four- and eightperson suites were posted in Wayland Arch Tuesday around 5 p.m. Jane Wang ’07 said she is hoping for a four-person suite in New Dorm tonight. “The thing about the housing lottery is that I think for a lot of people, it’s the time in their life when they realize they don’t have as many friends as they thought they had,” she said. “I really lucked out because I was an MPC my sophomore year and I didn’t have to deal with any of the housing lottery drama,” she said. “I can’t even count how many people I’ve talked to who don’t know what they’re doing yet,” Wang added. “When it comes time to find someone to live with, it’s a lot harder than you thought it would be.” Wang said she can’t wait for the whole process to be over. “I’ve been having dreams where I get a really good number, and we pick a corner suite in New Dorm and jump up and down in celebration,” see LOTTERY, page 6 Editorial: 401.351.3372 Business: 401.351.3269
Faculty group rebukes embattled Harvard chief THE WASHINGTON POST
Ashley Hess / Herald
Wrestling Head Coach Dave Amato (pictured above in practice) discouraged team members from pledging fraternities on campus, including Delta Tau, which needs eight pledges this year to retain on-campus housing.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Harvard University’s faculty of arts and sciences delivered a strong and unprecedented blow to the school’s president, Lawrence Summers, on Tuesday, endorsing a motion proclaiming a “lack of confidence” in his leadership and another critical of both his management style and his recent controversial remarks about women in the sciences and engineering. In a secret ballot, professors voted 218 to 185 in favor of a motion that read simply, “The faculty lacks confidence in the leadership of Lawrence H. Summers.” A second successful motion stated that the faculty “regrets” aspects of Summers’ “managerial approach” and his statement to an academic conference in January that intrinsic aptitude partly explained why so few women advanced in certain disciplines. The vote was an unexpected rebuke to Summers from Harvard’s largest faculty body. While having no practical import, it could put pressure on the university’s corporate board to rethink its staunch support for Summers. see HARVARD, page 4
Juliana Wu / Herald
Biomedical ethics not accepting new concentrators Program will be reviewed by CCC in 3 years BY TSVETINA KAMENOVA CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Starting this spring semester, the University is no longer accepting declarations for the Biomedical Ethics concentration. In the 1970s, Brown was the first higher learning institution to offer a separate concentration in this interdisciplinary field that draws on biology, philosophy and religious studies. Though Biomedical Ethics has since become an established concentration at other colleges, Brown is suspending the program due to a lack of funding and available faculty. The concentration will continue to be listed in University concentration materials, but will not accept new concentrators for at least three years, at which point the College Curriculum Council will discuss the question again, said Dean of the College Paul Armstrong. There is continued student interest in the program. For many of the prospective and current concentrators, it was the main reason for choosing to attend Brown. “I just can’t believe that it’s about the faculty and not the students,” said Emily Katz ’05, who has been at the forefront of the student initiative to keep the concentration in existence. As with many small interdisciplinary concentrations, biomedical ethics is not its own department and has no official physical “home,” but is pulled together by interested faculty members. Professor of Religious Studies Rosaline Ladd has sustained the concentration since its founder, Dan Brock, left to teach at Harvard. She has taught in the program for
more than 20 years and served as a concentration adviser for the past several years. She describes the biomedical ethics program as providing “a strong interdisciplinary background and skills in critical analysis for students who are preparing for careers in medicine, law, public policy, etc.” “As I understand it, the official policy is not to support concentrations that rely on adjunct faculty appointments,” Ladd wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. “A concentration needs to be taught by regular, tenured faculty that can be depended on,” Armstrong said in support of the decision to cancel the concentration. Armstrong also pointed out that the concentration wouldn’t be “officially” closed, as the CCC will reexamine the program in
three years. The University conducted a faculty search for a new professor to teach courses in biomedical ethics last year, according to Professor of Pediatrics Dr. Edwin Forman, who has been teaching a biomedical ethics seminar for over 30 years. Many qualified candidates applied, but the administration stopped the search for undisclosed reasons without hiring anyone, Forman said. Whether the problem was that none of the candidates were qualified enough or that a decision was made to allocate funds elsewhere is unclear, he said. According to Armstrong, the problem is that the Department of Philosophy is not see ETHICS, page 7
Donations, tax deductions ‘winwin’ for Sidney Frank ’42 BY BEN LEUBSDORF SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Needless to say, it’s good to be Sidney Frank ’42. He has been named the ninth-most generous American of 2004 by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, as well as the 413th richest person in the world by Forbes Magazine, with an estimated fortune of $1.6 billion. “He deserves the designation, clearly. He’s a very generous man,” said Ronald Vanden Dorpel GS ’71, senior vice president for university advancement. Frank gave away $142 million of his fortune last year, the Chronicle reported in its annual list of America’s MostGenerous Donors. $100 million of that was given to Brown to eliminate loans
195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island
for low-income students. He has pledged another $42 million to various causes: $20 million to the University to fund the construction of Sidney E. Frank Hall; $12 million to his high school, the Norwich Free Academy in Connecticut; and $10 million to the White Plains Hospital Center in White Plains, N.Y. According to Vanden Dorpel, Frank’s $20 million gift to the University has been pledged over five years, and the first payment was received at the end of last year. Vanden Dorpel also denied a report published by Forbes last October asserting that Frank will earn a $17 see FRANK, page 7 News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
THIS MORNING WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2005 · PAGE 2 Coreacracy Eddie Ahn
WORLD IN BRIEF 6 convicted of bomb plot on U.S. Embassy LOS ANGELES TIMES
PARIS — A French court convicted six Islamic militants Tuesday of conspiring to bomb the U.S. Embassy here, culminating a lengthy and labyrinthine case involving a European terror network linked to key al- Qaida members. The three-judge panel sentenced the French Algerian ringleader of the Paris-based cell, Djamel Beghal, to the maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for
terrorist conspiracy. His lieutenant, computer expert Kamel Daoudi, received a nine-year sentence.Two suspects were sentenced to sixyear terms and the others received three and one-year terms. The verdict was a victory for Judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere, the dean of France’s anti-terror magistrates, who opened the investigation of the embassy plot on Sept.10, 2001 amid increasing concern here about the threat of Islamic terrorists.
Jero Matt Vascellaro
TO D AY ’ S E V E N TS “NEW AGE RACISM” 7 p.m. (MacMillan 117 ) — The Brown Lecture Board will present author and former Black Panther Party leader Elaine Brown, who will speak on “New Age Racism.” Brown is the author of “The Condemnation of Little B” and “A Taste of Power: A Black Woman’s Story,” and she has worked with and written extensively about American justice and on behalf of poor and black children.
TRIPLE HELIX 8 p.m. (Alumnae Hall) — Triple Helix is a chamber music group with Lois Shapiro on piano, Bela Keyes on violin and Rhona Rider on cello. The Schubert Opus 99 and Ravel trios are well-known masterworks. Australian composer Ross Edwards has written in a wide variety of genres, including for dance and film.
Chocolate Covered Cotton Mark Brinker
MENU SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH — Split Pea Soup with Ham, Vegetarian Six Bean Soup, Spinach Strudel with Cheese Cream Sauce, Sticky Rice with Edamame Beans, Beef and Brocolli Szechwan, Rasberry Sticks. DINNER — Rice Pilaf with Zucchini, Ziti, Peppers Stir Fry, Lamb Roast, Spinach and Feta Pizza, Vegetarian Pot Pie, Baked Potatoes, Maine Blueberry Pie.
VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALL LUNCH — Vegetarian Squash Bisque, Turkey and Wild Rice Soup, Chicken Pot Pie, Vegan Tex-Mex Chili, Fresh Sliced Carrots, Cappucino Brownies. DINNER — Baked Sesame Chicken, Egg Foo Young, Sticky Rice, Green Peas, Vegetables in Honey Ginger Sauce, African Honey Bread, Maine Blueberry Pie.
How to Get Down Nate Saunders
CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Tobacco plugs 6 Pitching miscues 11 Gained a lap 14 Like close friends 15 Nice farewell 16 “Chances __”: Mathis hit 17 It helps prevent burnout 19 Reject 20 Half of CXII 21 One of football’s Mannings 22 Bering, for one 23 Occurs 27 Alamo offerings 29 Charlottesville sch. 30 Earns after taxes 32 “Fantastic Mr. Fox” author 33 In shape 34 It may be cast 36 Mayflower employee 39/41 58-Across locale 43 Pepper spray alternative 44 Busybody 46 Rhone’s capital 48 Physician, familiarly 49 Writer Roberts 51 Nimble 52 “Cat __ Hot Tin Roof” 53 Abby and Ann, e.g. 56 Deliver by parachute 58 Secretive org. hidden (appropriately) in this puzzle’s longest answers 59 Cutesy-__ 60 AFL-__ 61 MacGraw of “Love Story” 62 Sotheby’s event 68 Barbie’s ex 69 Newton with laws 70 “The Maids” playwright Jean 71 Guinness book suffix 72 Probe, with “into”
73 “Fast” guy in “The Hustler” DOWN 1 Short change? 2 Sot’s sound 3 Part of USDA: Abbr. 4 Whippersnapper 5 Justice appointed by Ford 6 __-relief 7 Toothpaste raters’ org. 8 Onions partner 9 Toppled (over) 10 Dutch Guiana, now 11 Central American capital 12 Disney mermaid 13 Its state flower is the bluebonnet 18 Late dinner hr. 23 Angry fits 24 Plane, in Paris 25 John Baptist de la Salle, to teachers 26 Iron-carbon alloy 28 Shoemaker McAn
31 Does in 35 Parkinsonism treatment 37 Low-budget prefix 38 Summary 40 Friendly beep 42 Physicist Fermi 45 Settled in advance 47 Needle 50 Excite
53 Copperhead, e.g. 54 Liner stops 55 The Trojans, briefly 57 Medicated 63 Hebrew letter 64 Rink surface 65 Also 66 Welcoming ring 67 Parisian season
Homebodies Mirele Davis
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2005 · PAGE 3 BY STEPHANIE CLARK FOCUS EDITOR
Jeffrey Eugenides, a well-known and award-winning novelist, graduated from Brown with an A.B. in English in 1983. He went on to write “The Virgin Suicides” in 1993, which was turned into a motion picture in 1999 by director Sofia Coppola. His next novel, “Middlesex,” won the Pulitzer Prize in 2003, as well as the National BooksCritics Circle Award. Eugenides, who currently resides in Berlin, spoke to The Herald by phone from Chicago. The Herald: Have you always known that you wanted to be a writer? Jeffrey Eugenides: I certainly knew before I came to Brown. I decided when I was about 14 or 15 years old, and one of the reasons I came to Brown was that I wanted to study with John Hawkes, who was at Brown at the time and was my favorite writer, and I chose Brown in order to study with him. So pretty early on I knew. Herald: Did your experience at Brown live up to what you wanted it to be? Eugenides: It did! I came freshman year and went immediately to Professor Hawkes’ office and tried to ingratiate myself by quoting first lines of his novels to him. …
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er the course was called. After that I took many, many courses with Jack, as we all called him, and he was a wonderful writer, wonderful teacher, wonderful man, and a lot of people in those classes have gone on to be writers. I was in a class with Rick Moody (’83, author of “The Ice Storm” and “Demonology”) and Meg Wolitzer (’81, who wrote “Sleepwalking” and “This Is Jeffrey Eugenides Your Life”). … Donald Antrim (’81, “The Verificationist”) was not in fiction writing class with me, but he was in English seminars with me, and things like that. I knew a lot of writers at Brown who studied with me and went on to actually not quit, but continue.
Herald: Did it work? Eugenides: Well, I gave him a writing sample and I did make it into the introduction to fiction writing class or whatev-
Herald: So then you would say that your experience as an English major and as a Brown student prepared you for the career that you later had?
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Eugenides: It certainly did. I looked at being a writer as being a profession like any other, in that I needed to gain a certain body of knowledge the way that someone who wanted to be a lawyer or a doctor would. I didn’t just go to Brown and take creative writing courses; I took other classes and tried to learn as much as I could about the tradition of English literature, and then on the side I did a lot √Allen and Unwin of creative writing. I don’t really think you can do one without the other. So along with my more academic courses at Brown and the opportunity to try out my own fiction, those two things certainly did a lot to get me started. Herald: Now in your life after college, what would you say are some of the challenges of the life of a fiction writer?
remain the same. The central challenge, always, is trying to write something that’s worth someone else’s time in reading it. Basically, the position I’m in every day when I’m trying to write is exactly the same one I was in when I was at Brown or after Brown — just trying to come up with something, come up with a story or find a way to tell the story in a way that’s easy to write, and that doesn’t feel any different. Professionally, at first when I was younger, the problem was just getting into print and finding out how you do that, what magazines might be interested. I’m no longer in that position — I think about the next book and I know that the next book will probably be published, unless something really goes wrong (laughs). But the basic problem is that you’re always playing — in golf they say you have to play the course, and you’re really playing the course as a writer, and you’re trying to write something that’s original and add to what’s been done before. It’s always kind of difficult: It doesn’t matter if your previous work did well or poorly, you’re always kind of in the same position with the new work. Herald: Reviews have described your work as being simultaneously disturbing and intriguing. Is there any specific theme that you’re trying to explore in the books that you write, or do you just write about what strikes you and what seems interesting to you at the time? Eugenides: I never start with the idea of a theme — I don’t think many writers do. You start with a story or something that
Eugenides: Well, the challenges in some ways change, and in some ways they
see EUGENIDES, page 8
Three alum playwrights chat about life, work and Brown’s MFA program BY LOIS SALDANA CONTRIBUTING WRITER
This spring season will be an exciting one of writing, workshopping and collaboration for alums of the University’s Master of Fine Arts program. The program, which began in the 1960s, awards MFA degrees to only about 15 graduate students each year. This small group is dedicated to creative writing. Those students who focus on playwriting have had the opportunity to collaborate with professors and their peers, as well as work with thespians through the Brown University/Trinity Rep Consorquiara.com tium. Quiara Alegria Hudes Jordan Harrison Program graduates and playwrights Quiara Alegria Hudes MFA ’04, than spontaneity” that led to playwriting. Two years at Brown allowed Harrison Jordan Harrison MFA ’03 and Alice Tuan MFA ’97 talked with The Herald both to perfect his craft. One of the things he about their experiences as Brown gradu- appreciated about the University was the “culture of theater-going at Brown, ate students and their current work. something that is part of everyday life.” This was in sharp contrast to his experiWhile in Providence Tuan was studying with Professor of ence as an undergrad at Stanford where, English Paula Vogel in Los Angeles when he said, “I had to whine and plead my Vogel told her about Brown’s Master of three closest friends to see my play.” One of things Hudes enjoyed about Fine Arts program. During her undergraduate years, Tuan had majored in eco- Brown was Vogel’s teaching style. She nomics. So when Vogel invited her to described Vogel as a “master teacher” pursue her real passion at Brown, she who was “good at helping you strengthen your own skills.” eagerly took the opportunity. Hudes also appreciated the close-knit “It was an amazing gift,” she said. “It was like a second chance to do some- community that resulted from the small classes of four or five writers that Brown thing I loved while at a university.” Like Tuan, Harrison had not initially offered. “I felt like I was learning so much considered a career as a playwright. As from my classmates and their different an English major at Stanford, he had backgrounds and perspectives.” focused more on performing for the Chasing the Muse stage. “I was an all-right actor, but I was ter- Hudes was also attracted to Brown rified of the rehearsal rooms,” he said. because it allowed for interdisciplinary “(To prepare) I would sort of imagine work. As someone who had studied what would happen every moment on music extensively, it was important for stage.” It was this “premeditation, rather her to be able to approach theater from a
experimental realm with hypertext.” Tuan said she was fascinated with the “weird democratizing force” of computers and found support at the University to incorporate this into her artistic vision. At Brown, “you can go to the edges of your mind,” she said. Tuan’s work moved in a different direction since then. She has been commissioned to write a play set for production in 2007 for the Louisville, Ky. Humana Festival. She said this project will be “making a spectacle of bachelor parties.” Tuan is also working with a playscripts.com asianweek.com friend to produce an experiAlice Tuan mental documentary. This project, which is her “first foray into filmmakmusical perspective. “Because my background is in music ing,” is based on two diaries her friend and not in theater, I can sit down to write found in a garbage can in New York’s a play without any preconceived Chinatown. Harrison provided a different perspecnotions,” Hudes said. Hudes also said she drew inspiration tive. He said that he never consciously from her family history, calling it her incorporates his own life into his art. “I “number-one element.” She said growing don’t usually realize … until afterward” up in west Philadelphia in a Puerto Rican how it has been worked in, he said. “Not family has had a profound impact on her until a family member sits in the audience and says something.” work. Harrison said his influence instead lies Hudes’ heritage influenced the musical she is currently developing at the in writers who have “persistence.” He Manhattan Theater Club. She said she said even though these writers are initialplans to incorporate both salsa and hip- ly thought of as “outlandish,” they manhop music in the project. Hudes has also age to create an audience for themselves been commissioned to write a new play by producing work that is unique. Though he completed his MFA in for South Coast Repertory in Orange 2003, Harrison is coming back to County, Calif. Tuan, for her part, has also been Providence, and looks forward to it, he inspired by her family history. She said said. He will return in May to workshop a some of her first plays were based on the piece he is developing at the Perishable lives of her grandparents. It was during Theater called “Amazons and their Men.” this period that she grappled most with He described it as “campy-slash-political her frustrations as an “Asian-American play” about a filmmaker during wartime. female in a world with a male sensibility.” He is also in the process of writing a play She said once that was “out of my sys- called “Act a Lady” for the Brown/Trinity tem,” she was able to move onto a “more Consortium.
PAGE 4 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2005
Harvard continued from page 1 Summers’ earlier comments had touched off a period of intense reflection and debate at Harvard and across the country. After the meeting, Summers was shouted down by a few dozen students waving a large sign that proclaimed “End Sexism” and chanting “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Larry Summers has got to go!” “As I said to the faculty, I have done my best these last two months to hear all that has been said, to think hard, to learn and to
adjust,” Summers told waiting reporters. “I will continue to do that. I am committed to doing all I can to restore the sense of trust that is critical to our work together, and to re-engage our collective attention with the vital academic issues before us.” He was then hustled to a waiting vehicle by university police officers. Janet Beizer, a French professor, described the gathering as “tense and stressful,” adding: “Nobody was happy about this.” “Honestly, I expected maybe 30 percent of the faculty to vote in favor of the resolution,” said J. Lorand Matory, a professor of anthropology and African and African American studies who submitted the lack of confidence motion. “He should resign. There is no
noble alternative to resignation,” Matory said. Summers was the first president to become the object of a lack of confidence vote by faculty since the university was founded in 1636, according to the university’s public relations office. The votes came on the heels of two emotionally charged faculty meetings in February, during which Summers was lambasted by critics who broadened the debate to include his closed-minded and imperious approach to university politics. Summers has formed a pair of task forces designed to study barriers to women’s advancement in academia, and reached out to professors and student groups to try to make amends. Material from the Los Angeles Times was used in this story.
DTau
to choose between pledging the fraternity and being on the team. At that time, DTau alums intervened. Based on subsequent correspondence with Amato, alums thought the situation was resolved, Romano said. But last year, according to DeCarolis, Amato dissuaded two wrestlers from pledging DTau, though he did not give a strict ultimatum. DeCarolis and other DTau brothers questioned what right Amato has to influence housing decisions. “It’s bigger than Delta Tau and the wrestling coach,” DeCarolis said. “It’s about your individual freedom as a student and student-athlete being imposed upon. Who is the wrestling coach to tell a member of his team where he can and can’t live next year?” “This year we heard rumors that some of the freshmen were going to pledge,” Amato told The Herald Sunday. “I told them why I didn’t think it was a good idea.” Amato said that he or his assistant talked on the phone or in passing to six first-years who were considering pledging, but he did not think they felt intimidated. “We have the best interest of our student-athletes in mind here,” he said. Amato said he told the firstyear wrestlers, “If you’re going to be on the wrestling team, there’s going to be a lot of time commitment.” “We thought they’d be better off if they did things like community service,” he said. Amato said he also told them about DTau’s poor reputation and said that there have been problems when
continued from page 1 plate,” Romano told The Herald. A meeting between Romano, other members of the Delt Foundation, Associate Athletic Director Tom Bold and Amato is in the works, but has not been scheduled. Amato and Bold left Tuesday for the NCAA Wrestling Championships and will not return until Friday. The direct conflict between Amato and DTau goes back to at least 2003, but the situation came to a head last week because of DTau’s dwindling numbers, according to DTau President Chris DeCarolis ’06. March 8 was the deadline for students to turn in bids and signed housing contracts to the Office of Residential Life, and DTau, which has 13 active members, needed eight pledges to retain its on-campus housing status, DeCarolis said. Eight students handed in bids for DTau, including one wrestler, but after discussions with Amato the wrestler decided not to pledge, though he has not yet withdrawn his bid. DeCarolis said that though DTau still has eight pledges in the eyes of the University, “we’re not sure where we stand” in terms of on-campus housing. “It’s past the point where we want a slap on the wrist. It’s past the point where our numbers are down. We’re on the verge of being kicked off campus and Delta Tau will be over, done with,” DeCarolis said. In 2003, Amato laid down a clear ultimatum to wrestlers, telling them that they would have
see DTAU, page 5
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2005 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 5
DTau continued from page 4 the team became associated with the bad behavior of the fraternity. “Delt used to be a great place, but the last few years we were getting in trouble, we were getting lumped together,” Amato said. In recent years, he said, there were so many brawls and other disciplinary problems related to DTau, which were “lumped” with the team that “at least once a month — and I’m not exaggerating — I was getting called into the athletic director’s office.” “It got to the point where, in my evaluation, it said we needed more team discipline,” Amato said. The University revoked DTau’s on-campus housing privileges in 1997 for “unreasonably disruptive” behavior over a five-year period, The Herald reported in 1998. The fraternity returned to campus in Fall 2002. Amato defended his actions as being in the best interest of his wrestlers and the team. He said his problems with DTau peaked last March when he was called to give under-oath testimony to the police regarding a September 2003 assault. In the incident, a male punched a Brown student, then a junior, in the face and yelled a homophobic comment at her. Amato said the incident occurred following a party thrown by ex-Delts and ex-wrestlers and the police thought someone on the wrestling team would know the identity of the assailant. He said he had to assure police that no one on the team knew who
had committed the assault. “If I didn’t get that phone call last March being dragged down to the police station, then maybe I wouldn’t be feeling the way I am now,” he said. Amato also said that, though he made no promises, he told the first-years who were considering joining a fraternity that he would help them with housing if he could. “One of the reasons they were even considering pledging Delta Tau was so they would have good rooms and could live together ... so we told them, ‘Go through the lottery, do the best you can and things have a way of working out,’ ” he said. “We’d write a letter or do whatever we could to help,” he added. In the case of the first-year who had handed in his bid last week to become DTau’s eighth pledge, Amato said “he came over to us and told us he had” handed in his bid. Then, he said, “We just told him why we didn’t think it was a good idea ... and I think he had some trouble with it. ... I think he struggled with it a little bit.” The student, who declined to comment, ultimately decided not to pledge. In a similar case, wrestler Ben Cannon ’08 turned in his bid for Sigma Chi by the deadline but decided to de-pledge Friday. According to Amato, “We told him that we were dissuading the other kids from pledging Delt and we thought it would be unfair for him to be in Sigma Chi.” Asked whether he thought he had exerted undue influence on Cannon, Amato replied, “I think I probably did — yeah, I probably did.” Cannon told The Herald that
he had talked to Amato seven or eight times about the issue and “at first I didn’t see where he was coming from.” “As we talked about it more and more,” Cannon said, he started to see Amato’s point of view. Cannon said Amato gave him an “ultimatum” by telling him “I needed to either join a fraternity or be on the wrestling team.” “I wish it could’ve worked out where I could have done both, but I definitely see where he was coming from,” Cannon said. “The whole coaching staff felt the same way because I guess they have had some pretty thick problems in the past.” Of four other first-year wrestlers who were considering joining DTau, each had a different view of Amato’s influence. One would not comment. Another, who asked his name not be used, told The Herald in an e-mail his “decision was not at all altered by my coach.” A third freshman wrestler, who also wished not to be named, wrote in an e-mail that “Coach Amato never gave me a ultimatum of joining the fraternity or wrestling like some of the rumors going around. He called me the night before we had to turn in our bids and told us his reasons why he didn’t want us to join the fraternity.” Ross Johnson ’08, who was considering joining DTau, wrote in an e-mail, “We were strongly encouraged to choose not to pledge DTau by the entire coaching staff. I am well aware that this policy has been in place for a number of years, and it has undoubtedly hurt the fraternity. I don’t think it is such a huge deal
as everyone is making it out to be, it’s just that Amato and the Delt guys don’t see eye-to-eye; they both have their reasons.” Amato said that until the late 1990s, “I actually thought ... in some ways (DTau) almost helped the wrestling team because they were all in it together,” but “it got to the point where the majority of kids that were in Delt didn’t wrestle anymore, which had a bad effect.” “I didn’t sense those teams were as tight as the teams beforehand or the teams” now, he said. Amato said he is willing to meet with alums who have concerns, but “it doesn’t mean I’m going to change my mind or my beliefs.” Amato added, “If it’s against University policy then my supervisor would come down and tell me what I had to do right.” Amato’s actions do not appear to be in violation of any specific clause of University policy. University officials declined numerous requests for comment. Guhin, chair of Greek Council, said, “It’s definitely significant that everyone I’ve talked to thinks it’s (a violation).” Guhin said he hopes the result of Friday’s meeting will be that Amato will “be instructed to tell the team that they can join any house they want to join.” “If I can minimize the amount of confrontation in all this I’ll be very happy,” Guhin said. Several alums who have contacted University officials about the situation told The Herald they are furious with Amato and his actions. David Solomon ’01, a former president of DTau, was on the wrestling team for two years
but quit because he was “utterly disgusted with the coaching staff.” Solomon said that in his years at the University, Amato “consistently referred to Delta Tau as a cancer and discouraged kids outright from pledging.” Of the current situation, Solomon said, “It’s like telling a wrestler they can’t belong to the LGBTA or Harambee House. Our problem with this is that it’s totally discriminatory on its face.” John Land ’79, alumni president of the fraternity Delta Phi and an alumni advisor to the Greek system, said, “It’s a broader issue than Amato and DTau. If anyone in a supervisory position at the University is allowed to dictate academic or residential policy to (students), that opens up a door that no one wants to go through.” However, Land said he was hopeful that the situation could be resolved. “If (Amato is) as good a guy as I’ve heard, we should be able to sit down and work this thing out. ... We care about the Greek system as much as Coach Amato cares about his team. ... I’m not sure he understands, based on his behavior, how important the system is to us,” Land said. Robert Hill ’88, who is co-president of Friends of Brown Wrestling, an alumni organization, said he talked to Amato Friday and told him he did not think there should be ultimatums on the team. “If the coach has concerns, they ought to be at least listened to,” Hill said. He said he hoped that all the parties involved would sit down and talk. “It seems that everyone would be willing to talk, but no one has set up a meeting,” he said.
PAGE 6 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2005
Lottery continued from page 1 she said. “It is so consuming.” Ricardo Santiago ’06, who applied with three friends for a four-person suite — preferably in Young Orchard or New Dorm — is ranked 31 and says he is feeling optimistic about his group’s chances. “That’s a pretty good number — it’s not amazing, but it’s not really bad either,” he said. Santiago conceded that suites in those dorms are usually in the highest demand, but since most seniors move off campus anyway, he is confident that “we’ll have a few choices there at least.” Santiago’s living arrangements next year will most likely be more luxurious than in the past: As a sophomore, he found himself in a Barbour Hall suite of two doubles and a single, but to get to one of the doubles it was necessary to walk through the single. Naturally, the single belonged to him. “Every time somebody entered they were basically walking through my room,” Santiago said. “I went to Home Depot and bought a bunch of 1-by-2 pieces of wood and built a wall to create a hallway. I had (the room) all year, but it wasn’t that bad because I put the wall up.” For Anna Isaacs ’07, a series of bad-luck lottery numbers meant she spent last semester living with people she didn’t want to live with. She and several different combinations of friends entered numerous segments of the lottery for suites last spring,
HOUSING LOTTERY INFORMATION
Segment I Lottery — March 16, 6 pm , Salomon 101 Four- and Eight-Person Apartments and Suites Segment II Lottery — March 23, 6 pm, Salomon 101 Three- and Six-Person Apartments and Suites Segment III Lottery — April 6, 6 pm, MacMillan 117 Five- and Seven-Person Apartments and Suites Segment IV — April 13, 6 pm, Sayles Hall Singles and Doubles; all remaining rooms but in the end, three of them, including Isaacs, ended up on the summer waitlist for a double and a single. Come fall, Isaacs found herself in a triple in Keeney. “We went on the waitlist to be in the same area, but not in the same room,” she said. “I didn’t want to live with them. I had wanted my own room. I just really hated the housing lottery. It’s not really a good system, even for social relations, because you’ve alienated your friends and you’ve gotten screwed over and you don’t really know where to turn from that.” Isaacs and her two roommates moved into singles in Machado House at the beginning of the semester to avoid the “red tape” at ResLife. “We went on the fall waiting list, but it didn’t look like we were going to be getting anything, so we just joined Machado,” she said. Jason Miller ’05 lives in East Andrews Hall, in one of the biggest singles on campus. But “I had one of the worst senior numbers — most of the people living in this hall are juniors,” he said of last spring’s housing lottery, an experience he said he is glad he will never have to repeat. His sophomore year, Miller and four friends were second runners-up in ResLife’s contest for first pick in the housing lottery, and he has been “pretty disillusioned with the process” since
then. “The year we did (the contest) there weren’t a lot of rules, just that you had to lip-synch a song,” Miller said. He and his potential suitemates dressed in white underwear with “big green leaves covering our crotches” and lipsynched to “Yatta,” a Japanese pop song that Miller said was popular across college campuses at the time. In preparation for the contest, which was held live in Salomon 101 before a panel of judges and audience of about 200 students, Miller and his friends practiced two days a week for about a month. “We had the whole dance down,” Miller said. “We put an unnecessarily large amount of work into this. We ended up losing to two teams, both of which were perfectly good — but we were particularly disappointed that we got third place to a group who lip-synched to techno. They weren’t even singing. We were baffled — at one point they came out with glow sticks and started raving,” he said. “Some of them could breakdance,” he said, but “we were expecting to win, because we thought we had a really novel idea, and were executing it as best we could.” Four of Miller’s friends decided to live off-campus as a result of their loss. Miller took a year off and traveled to Egypt.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2005 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 7
Ethics continued from page 1 obligated to hire an ethics professor with an interest in biomedical issues if they have a better candidate that lacks such orientation. Some prospective concentrators, including Angela Sherwin ’07, say they are considering alternative options like forming an independent concentration following the same requirements. “There isn’t a particular problem that students can’t explore outside of the concentration,” Armstrong said. But without the funding for the official concentration, two yearly BE 150: “Topics in Biomedical Ethics” seminars will also be cancelled. Concentrators like Katz strongly disagree that students can receive the same education without the two seminars, which change yearly and focus on the intersection of scientific and philosophical issues. The funding for these seminars is an insignificant amount compared to the important contribution these unique classes make, Forman said. He said as far as he knows, the other professors only receive a small stipend. “I would guess it doesn’t cost more than $10,000 to $15,000 a year to keep it going,” he said. Others, such as Forman and Lisa Raiola ’84, currently a clinical teaching instructor at the Brown Medical School, receive no compensation for teaching biomedical ethics seminars. Forman believes the program has been extremely successful in attracting highly qualified candidates to the University and educating future doctors in critical thinking and analysis. Many alumni of the concentration have pursued successful
Frank continued from page 1 million annuity payment from his $100 million donation to Brown. “I have no idea where that story came from,” he said. Frank earned $2 billion last year from the sale of his Grey Goose brand of vodka to Bacardi, Inc. and Forbes wrote last year that charitable donations are “a win-win for Frank,” thanks to tax deductions. Vanden Dorpel said he could not comment on individual financial matters. But Matthew Brennan, a certified public accountant at Providence accounting firm Yarlas Kaplan Santilli and Moran with a Master’s in Taxation, agreed that giving was probably a good move on Frank’s part. Brennan said he is not familiar
careers, Forman said. Ladd agreed, pointing out that graduates of the program win prestigious summer internships and gain acceptance to top professional schools. Raiola, who concentrated in biomedical ethics at Brown before becoming a clinical teaching instructor, said she “discovered that there was a broader world available to me through the biomedical ethics concentration than focusing on the clinical and scientific aspects of medicine.” Katz, who is graduating this spring, said she feels like the work of her class is being discredited. She will graduate with a degree that will no longer exist. “The University is sending us the message that it is not important any more,” she said. Biomedical ethics is a growing field, said Diana Moke ’07. More and more issues will arise with the advancement of technology, she said. By equipping doctors with philosophical critical reasoning and knowledge of people’s beliefs, the concentration is preparing the new generation of physicians and researchers to practice “medicine that respects the people,” she said. Combining the disciplines of philosophy, religion and medicine enriches the learning environment, Forman said. “I decided to teach the seminar so I can learn myself,” he said. He believes that all three disciplines have a lot to gain through this exchange. “While a physician is asking which procedure to perform, an undergraduate is asking more hypothetical questions like whether to perform it,” Forman said, as an illustration of the ways even experienced professionals can gain from the discussion. Raiola said she believes so strongly in the need for instruction
with the specifics of Frank’s charitable donations. If Frank made his $2 billion by selling stock, Brennan said, then he pays capital gains tax on his profit to the federal government at a rate of 15 percent. If he earned it by selling assets, then some of it will count as income and some as capital gains. But the ordinary deductions he earns through charitable donations apply towards his regular income, which is taxed at 35 percent if he is in the top federal bracket. “You’re paying tax at a rate of 15 percent and getting a deduction at a rate of 35 percent,” Brennan said. “So basically he gets a benefit of 20 percent.” “It’s a smart move,” he said. According to media reports, Frank currently is expanding into publishing, premium tequilas and an energy drink partnership with rapper Lil’ Jon called “CRUNK!!!”
in biomedical ethics that last year she still taught her ethics and public health class, despite the fact that she was undergoing treatment for a serious illness. She said she was also impressed with the devotion of the students, both concentrators and others, demonstrated by their perfect attendance records. Forman said he believes that the administration will inevitably have to reinstate the biomedical ethics concentration.
PAGE 8 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2005
Eugenides continued from page 3 seems like it has dramatic potential. So far in my life I’m fairly unaware of the source of what I find interesting. That reviewer might think that what I’m writing about is disturbing, but I might not find it disturbing. I never sit down to write something to disturb myself. I sit down because something engages my imagination and I think it would be interesting to write a story around an event or a character, so I don’t think about themes. Themes take care of themselves pretty much. I stick to the character, I stick to the story, and little by little perhaps, after I keep writing books, there will be a kind of continuity about them or a harmony of purpose that is not apparent to me right now that I will then be able to see. But no, I don’t think about those things. Herald: “The Virgin Suicides” was made into a movie. Does that change the way you feel about the story you wrote at all? Eugenides: Once you have written a book or spent, as I did, three years writing “The Virgin Suicides,” the primacy of that
Water polo continued from page 12 Michigan Invitational March 19 and 20. There, Brown will butt heads with the University of Michigan, Indiana University and Loyola Marymount University, all of whom, according to Gall, are ranked No. 12 or higher nationally. “We’re getting five games (and) we’re just looking for good quality competition,” Gall said. “We want
NCAA continued from page 12 the Wildcats are a truly dangerous team. They have a threeguard offense that is as good as anyone’s with Mike Nardi, Allen Ray and Randy Foye, who combine for 40 points and 14 assists per game. Then there’s Curtis Sumpter, who is 6’7”, 230 with a wide array of offensive skills, including a very good touch around the basket as well as from the three-point arc. Their
experience supercedes the very transitory experience of watching a film. Film really occupies a very small part of my life and my experience whereas the book was a major experience in my life. And the events in the book — the book in some ways is based on my memories of my childhood, and there’s nothing more lasting and important than your childhood, so all of that is far, far more permanent than the movie. The movie is just, for me, a blip on the screen compared to the book.
Herald: Do you have any advice or words of wisdom for any current Brown students who want to become published writers?
Eugenides: It doesn’t change the way you go about your work at all. It does change your professional status. You get many more invitations to do readings or take trips or endorse lines of clothing, things like that. So there’s a lot of things that happen around it. The best thing that it did was bring a lot more readers to “Middlesex” than had read the book before. That’s the change that you want from a prize. And I was very happy to get it. But it doesn’t change the way that you write at all. The writing process is always going to be the same, no matter what’s going on outside.
Eugenides: Well, I always think that people should read as much as they can, and write as much as they can. I was a voracious reader at Brown, and took the most difficult courses in literature that I could, and I also wrote as much as I could. I took the practice of trying to be able to write every day, and those two things are really the bedrock of my being a writer. I don’t think people should think too much about the career of the writer, or the idea of being successful. You really just have to worry about the work itself, and hopefully the rest will follow. … I proceeded about being a writer in a very serious way but never in a careerist way at all. I never worried about when I was going to get published or what age I had to get published by or anything like that, but I knew I wanted to write books that hopefully would be like the books that I admired and made me want to be a writer. In a way, it was a kind of imitation of my idols, and I wanted to do what they had done. I didn’t really think about the financial or professional side of writing that much.
to get a look at Michigan and Indiana because we’ll see those teams at Easterns. We’re just going to figure out what we need to work on to beat them at the end of the year.” The Bears’ final game of the Invitational, against Loyola Marymount, will mark their 15th straight road game to start the season, a factor that no doubt has made it tough for Brown to find its groove. “It’s kind of hard because traveling makes you more tired,”
Livermore said. “It’s really cool when your friends can come to the game and you have fans cheering for you instead of against you.” With the team chemistry rapidly improving, though, expectations are growing at a similar pace. “I think we are the strongest and fastest team on the East Coast. We’re in very good shape and we’re very strong,” Livermore said. “We have the talent to win Easterns. It’s just a matter of fixing the things we can work on.”
big men are a bit of a question mark, but Jason Fraser is starting to live up to the hype created when he was a McDonald’s AllAmerican in 2002, and Will Sheridan gives you seven rebounds a night. Philadelphia product Kyle Lowry gives instant energy off the bench and has hit his stride at the right time, scoring in double figures in four of his last five games. The only thing that is a little nerve-wracking about ’Nova’s situation is the bracket they are in. They are in the toughest bracket with a very formidable first-
round foe in New Mexico. However, if they can beat the Lobos, they should be able to get by the annual choke artist known as Florida and meet North Carolina in the Sweet 16. So there you go. Four teams that are under the radar but will definitely make noise in the tournament. Let the debating begin.
Herald: How did winning the Pulitzer Prize for “Middlesex” change the way you go about your life and the way you go about your work?
Justin Goldman ’07 pushed off his Spanish midterm until the last minute, agonizing over the conservative nature of his bracket.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2005 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 9
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EDITORIAL/LETTERS WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2005 · PAGE 10 S T A F F
E D I T O R I A L
Amato’s ‘ultimatum’ The situation between wrestling Head Coach Dave Amato and the Delta Tau fraternity is more complicated than it appears at first glance. To many, Amato’s admitted attempts to influence his wrestlers’ housing decisions seem inappropriate. After all, who is the coach of an athletic team to decide where his players can and cannot live? However, Amato has his reasons. It is unfortunate that Amato has forced his players to choose between pledging fraternities and continuing to wrestle. No matter how sound his argument may be, Amato does not have a right to explicitly tell his players not to pledge. Brown students are capable of making decisions on their own, and when someone as influential as a coach says not to do something, an athlete who goes against that advice has likely given the decision serious thought. After giving his opinion, Amato needs to respect the decisions of his athletes, not resort to an ultimatum to get his way. But given Amato’s past experience with Delta Tau, one can hardly blame him for his apprehension at having wrestlers involved with the fraternity. After having to settle numerous behavior issues involving the fraternity because of his association with the wrestling team, including having to give testimony to the police, Amato decided that he no longer wanted himself or his wrestlers associated with DTau and its poor image. It is Amato’s vested interest in the well-being of his wrestlers, and his responsibility for them, that make his actions understandable, though not justified. When his athletes do not perform, that reflects negatively on Amato. If Amato thinks that being a member of Delta Tau negatively affects his wrestlers, then he has every right to make his opinion known to them. Amato did not decide overnight that DTau was a horrible institution, but instead has concluded after 22 years of coaching that pledging is not in the best interests of his athletes. Amato has every right to ask his players not to pledge DTau, and he seems to have ample reason given his experience with the fraternity. However, under no circumstances can he explicitly demand his players choose between pledging and wrestling. Students and athletes at Brown learn to juggle extracurricular loads and competing responsibilities as part of adulthood, and it is unfair to assume that every wrestler who pledges will get himself and his team into trouble.
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 Stephen Colelli, Asst. 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
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JOSEPH NAGLE
LETTERS Ris shouldn’t run To the Editor: We were disappointed to read that Ethan Ris ’05 is considering running for city council in District 1 against David Segal, who has worked hard for two years to advance progressive politics at the municipal level (“Ris ’05 pondering City Council run,” March 14). If their politics are similar, as acknowledged in the article, then what is driving Ethan to run? The only criticism he can muster is that David’s sponsorship of resolutions opposing the war in Iraq and the Patriot Act somehow indicates a lack of interest in local affairs. In fact, David has been most deeply engaged in addressing the more local concerns Ethan mentions, including working with Mayor David Cicilline ’83 to keep property taxes as low as possible while still maintaining essential public services. David has also introduced important progressive legislation to improve the municipal government’s labor and environmental practices, and to encourage sustainable and affordable
development. He is a crucial voice for social justice in Providence, respected by his constituents, his colleagues, and progressive leaders throughout the city. In light of David’s impressive record, Ethan’s possible campaign can only undermine the candidates’ shared progressive agenda. Many graduates feel compelled to put their ambitions before their ideals, but rarely is the conflict so evident, or so potentially detrimental to so many. Please, Ethan, be true to yourself, and don’t run against the best councilman in Providence.
Seth Leibson ’05 Flavio Casoy MD ’08 Kate Moulding ’05 March 14
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
OPINIONS WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2005 · PAGE 11
Divestment campaign offers the community nothing GUEST COLUMN BY ZACHARY TOWNSEND This semester, a group of Brown students launched a campaign condemning the policies of Israel and demanding the University’s withdrawal of all investments from that country. Having read Anti-Racist
ties, but also wholly unnecessary and imprudent. I love democracy and demand transparency from government, but Brown is a corporation whose long-term solvency is based on its endowment. Our
I’m not particularly pro-Israel or proPalestine; I’m just against a movement whose sole purpose is economic warfare against a sovereign state. Action’s open letter to President Ruth Simmons, I’m upset by several of its contentions. The first is the claim that our university should operate under some ill-defined notion of democracy. Let us be clear: Brown is not a democracy. We have some of the organs of democracy — student government, for example — that advocate to the administration and try to work under the ideals of transparency and accountability. Brown, however, is a nonprofit corporation. As such, President Simmons has no obligation toward the above virtues, except in dealing with our boards of fellows and trustees. We should feel privileged to go to an institution that allows students to serve on University and advisory committees, including the Advisory Committee on Corporate Responsibility in Investing, at all. Brown cannot and should not allow all of its decisions to be made by the entire student body, as the ARA asserts. This would be not only impractical, as I doubt many have or would care to have a working knowledge of many University activi-
institution should refuse to allow any and all spectators to look at its investment choices, for those investments are the private actions of a corporation which students do not own, but rather attend. The United Nations — sponsored World Conference on Racism did, in fact, speak against Israel’s policies under the Barak government as ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. However, this same conference failed to mention human rights abuses in China, Rwanda or any place in the Arab world. Just because the opponents of Israel, including ARA, are well organized, does not necessitate that they are in the moral right. Their campaign seems limited, as they call for the University to single out Israel among the nations of the world. I’m not particularly pro-Israel or proPalestine; I’m just against a movement whose sole purpose is economic warfare against a sovereign state. I think we can have a vigorous debate about whether it was moral to create Israel in the first place, and certainly whether its foreign and defense policies are just. However, that
dialogue is not created by a kind of movement based more on rhetoric than reasoned argument. Suggesting that the policies of Israel are a system of apartheid, to describe its actions as genocide, to characterize its procedures as crimes against humanity, are charges that are both thoughtless and odious. Stating conclusions without explaining how you got there does not amount to intellectualism, but rather a destruction of true fact-finding. Although the politics of the region are complex and contentious, in the eyes of the world community there is no question as to whether Israel has a right to exist. That question has been settled wholly in the affirmative. I find it likely that soon there will exist an independent Palestinian state, which shall curb most of the world’s lasting apprehension over this conflict.
of Palestinian statehood, the removal of the wall, the problems of refugees, how to recognize the national aspirations of both of these peoples and how the United States can play a positive role in the process. These questions should drive our debate, one in which reasonable people can passionately disagree. But as Jeffrey Garten and Anthony Kronman, the deans of the schools of management and law at Yale have written: “Those now campaigning for divestment from Israel contribute not at all to this debate. Their distortions of fact, hyperbole of expression and lack of moral judgment must be rejected with the same decisiveness that we embrace the cause of peace and the reasoned, careful and patient search for a pathway to it.” I respect the ARA’s right to academic freedom that allows them take any position they’d like; however, I can say that I
Stating conclusions without explaining how you got there does not amount to intellectualism, but rather a destruction of true fact-finding. Whether or not that happens, we must not, as so many do, see this issue as one side being in the right while the other is necessarily wrong. The pragmatic reality of the situation is that neither party is innocent in the Middle East, and both sides have spilled blood, and had blood spilled. The question now is how we can get all the parties to the negotiating table, and address the other questions of greatest importance — those
disagree with them. I find the movement to be insidious and tantamount to racism itself. Divestment seems less about human rights, and to be more a tool to perpetuate armed conflict in which there are no winners or losers, a conflict in which Brown as an institution cannot choose sides. Herald Copy Editor Zachary Townsend ’08 is a member of the Special Committee to find Zac Townsend a Girlfriend.
Athletes at Brown GUEST COLUMN BY LILY RAYMAN-READ We all know it is a controversial topic. Chances are you have talked about it in a sociology or education class. Maybe you just notice how often it is brought up, well, everywhere around Brown. I am talking not about race, class, gender or sexuality, but athletics, and perhaps more to the point, athletics and the perception of athletes here at Brown. There is much talk of varsity athletes here at Brown not being as intelligent as the general student body. Often athletes are derided for taking “gut” classes, and taking them in groups so as to minimize their personal workload. They concentrate in “easy” subjects, and pretty much just drink their way through Brown, right? This is the divisive way of thinking that causes the large and, let’s face it, very real gap between much of Brown’s nonathletic population (or non-varsity athletic population) and its varsity athletes. There are many reasons for this gap, this inability for athletes and non-athletes to interact and maintain social relationships. Sure, the gap is bridged sometimes, but in general, there is a definite segregation of athletes, and the question that arises is: “Why?” First off, think time. Athletes commit hours upon hours of hard physical work on a daily basis during the season. These athletes push themselves to the limit, far beyond a simple workout, exhausting themselves by 6 a.m. Then, they go to class and try to participate as much as a person who woke up 10 minutes before.
We don’t give athletes credit for the intense physical nature of what they do, and how this affects the time they have for academics. I can spend 10 uninterrupted hours in the library, but most athletes never have time like that to put in, they have practice, or need to rest after pushing themselves to the max. To all you
sports. I must say that my friends on some of the many sports teams — from hockey to gymnastics, baseball, soccer and fencing — are some of the smartest people I know here. They concentrate in biology, philosophy and engineering, to name a few. So much for the idea that athletes try and find the easiest concen-
Athletes concentrate in “easy” subjects, and pretty much just drink their way through Brown, right? This is the divisive way of thinking that causes the large and, let’s face it, very real gap between much of Brown’s non-athletic population and its varsity athletes. nay-sayers, this is not laziness — it is reality. You practice and lift, and practice more, you get tired. I challenge people who say athletes here don’t care about academics or do any work to put their bodies through what these athletes do daily, and perform scholastically at the same level. I doubt they could. Another issue is the academic perception of the athletes. They aren’t “smart”; they only got in here because of their
trations. Most of the varsity athletes I know are taking courses on par with any student here, staying on top of their academics as well as participating in sports. It is the few who don’t who create a negative perception of the athlete here. I personally have a lot of friends who are not varsity athletes who do way less in the way of academic work, and spend more time on video games and watching television, than almost any varsity athlete I know. In
order to change the interactions between athletes and the general student body, we need to give them the credit they deserve, not to mention a little support when they are out there representing our school. I think it is sad that we have no school spirit, and seem to almost pride ourselves on being an “academics only”-type institution. We aren’t. We have athletes, really good ones, and it’s a shame that when you go to a gymnastics meet or a football, basketball, lacrosse, baseball or hockey game, you only see athletes in the stand. They seem to know more about being supportive and creating school unity than almost anyone else. Instead of looking down at our student-athletes for not being as smart — which is not true anyways — and feeling intimidated because maybe they were the type of people you could never hang out with in high school, support them, talk to them and become aware of them as students, not just as the “jock in your history section.” They are smart, have intelligent opinions and put much more effort into their work — physical, mental and academic — than most of us do everyday. They deserve respect, not scorn, and they have more pressures and time commitments to fulfill than most of us do and still maintain high academic standards. Thank you to every varsity athlete (and club team) that represents Brown every day. Lily Rayman-Read ’06 would like to thank that jock in your history section.
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
SPORTS WEDNESDAY MARCH 16, 2005 · PAGE 12
The NCAAs: Time for all the sleepers to wake up Well, it’s that time of year again. The time of year when we all fill out our NCAA brackets and begin to pull for schools that we have never heard of. It is the time for relatively unknown players to become heroes and wellJUSTIN GOLDMAN known players to GOLD STANDARD fall to earth. Rather than tell you who is going to win it all, I am going to tell you who’s hovering under the radar with a chance to go deep in the tourney. These teams are not No. 1 seeds and have not garnered as much attention as teams at the top, but they will be poised to make deep runs in the NCAA tournament. The first team is a hot pick by many: Georgia Tech. The ACC Tournament runner-up comes in as the five seed in the Albuquerque region. After making it to the final game in 2004, and with essentially the same team as this year, Tech had a disappointing regular season, as they battled through the injury of their best perimeter shooter, B.J. Elder. Tech was not the same team after Elder severely strained his hamstring on New Year’s Day against Kansas, going 4-5 in Elder’s absence and dropping out of the Top 25. Since Elder’s return, the Yellow Jackets have gone 7-4 and improved their ACC record to 10-8, including a very impressive win over North Carolina on Saturday. In Elder’s absence, Jarrett Jack has stepped his game up emotionally and statistically, leading the Jackets in scoring (15.8 ppg) and assists (4.8 per game) while shooting 52 percent from the field. Georgia Tech is beginning to hit its stride at the right time, finally resembling the team experts thought they would be in November. They are one of the best defensive teams in the ACC, allowing only 66 points per game on 38 percent shooting and 31 percent shooting from behind the arc. Without a real heavyweight in their bracket, the Jackets have the guard play, the depth and the experience to make a run in the tourney. The next team really should not be a sleeper, but they are due to East Coast media bias. Arizona comes into the tourney as the three seed in the Chicago brack-
et. They have the best shooter in the nation (with all apologies to J.J. Redick) in Salim Stoudamire, who is shooting a lights-out 56 percent from the floor and an unreal 53 percent from behind the arc. That is astounding, because basically all of his shots are three-pointers. Arizona is very explosive, averaging 73 points per game, led by Stoudamire’s 18 points per. The Wildcats also have size with 6’11” center Channing Frye, who is averaging 16 points, seven rebounds and two blocks per. ’Zona also gets substantial minutes out of Ivan Redonovic, who does what he’s supposed to: play solid defense and rebound. His averages of six rebounds and two blocks per game are more than coach Lute Olson could possibly ask for. The Wildcats are in the same bracket as Illinois, and if the two match up, the Wildcats could cause problems for the Illini with their offensive balance, their three-point shooting and their athletic front line. The sleeper out of the Austin Bracket is Oklahoma. Oklahoma comes in as the three seed after losing in the Big 12 tournament to Texas Tech. The Sooners tied for first in the conference during the regular season with a record of 12-4, while going 24-7 overall. Since JuCo transfer Terrell Everett has moved into the starting lineup, he has averaged 15.4 points on 52 percent shooting from the floor and 43 percent from beyond the three-point line. Everett teams up with lightning-quick, Lilliputian point guard Drew Lavender to form a very fast duo in the backcourt. The Sooners also have a great mix of power and athleticism in the paint. At 6’9” and 260 pounds, Kevin Bookout is the perfect complement to another JuCo transfer, 6’9” Taj Gray. Together they average 28 points and 15 rebounds a game, and both shoot over 50 percent from the floor. The Sooners are very athletic and can get out and run, but can score in the halfcourt offense when necessary with Everett, Bookout or Gray, who was first team All-Conference. Lastly, out of the Syracuse bracket is Villanova. I know this sounds like a homer pick because I hail from Philadelphia, but see NCAA, page 8
A reluctance to testify BY JEFF BARKER BALTIMORE SUN
Since being placed on a witness list by a congressional committee, Rafael Palmeiro has felt victimized. The Baltimore Oriole and former Texas Ranger has said he doesn’t understand why he should have to testify about possible steroid use simply because he was accused in a “tell-all” book of using the drugs. But, according to committee staff members, there is a misunderstanding about why Palmeiro has been summoned to Thursday’s hearing of the Committee on Government Reform. It’s not just because — as Palmeiro seems to believe — he was named in a recent book by retired slugger Jose Canseco. Canseco alleges in the book that Palmeiro and two Texas teammates “would bring their steroids to the ballpark and I would inject them there, the same way I used to inject (Mark) McGwire back at the Oakland Coliseum.” Rather, the staff members said in interviews Monday, Palmeiro was tapped at least partly because of a Feb. 26 newspaper article that indicated he would be
amenable to testifying. At the time, the committee was still shaping its witness list before announcing the hearing, in which seven current and former players have been subpoenaed. Rep. Henry Waxman of California, the committee’s ranking Democrat, was frustrated baseball had refused to investigate the allegations in Canseco’s book. Waxman had just written a letter to Virginia Republican Tom Davis, the committee chairman, suggesting a hearing that would provide “an opportunity to find out what really happened.” The committee was looking for ballplayers who might be willing to cooperate in helping it determine whether Canseco’s claims were true. Then the committee read an article in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that said: “Two of the four Baltimore Orioles mentioned in Jose Canseco’s book would have no objections testifying before a congressional committee interested in his allegations and assertions of steroid use in baseball.” The article said Palmeiro and pitcher Tony Saunders were amenable to testify-
First-years lead the way as w. water polo takes two of three
Nick Neely / Herald
Captain Diana Livermore ’05 scored six goals in three games this weekend, including four against Utica on Friday. BY CHRIS MAHR SPORTS EDITOR
The women’s water polo team went 2-1 over the weekend with wins over Utica College and Queens College and a loss to powerful Hartwick College. In improving its record to 6-4, the Bears showed signs of putting everything together after a seesaw start to the season. “We have a very young team this year, and we knew it was going to be a building year,” said captain Diana Livermore ’05, the team’s lone senior. “But as of right now we’re really coming together as a team.” Brown’s cohesion was on full display in its 22-1 domination of Utica on Friday. Livermore led nine Bears with four goals, while Karlyanna Kopra ’07 was impressive on both the offensive and defensive ends of the pool, notching three goals and three steals. Any doubt of a win was erased in the first quarter when Brown outscored the host Pioneers, 8-0. Even though the victory was sweet, Brown went into the match fully confident of a win over a relatively new water polo program. “It’s really important that we play some of the newer programs just for the importance of East Coast water polo,” Livermore said. “It makes their programs better and East Coast polo better.” While Utica was a pushover, No. 15 Hartwick posed a much more difficult challenge. Last season, the Bears fell to Hartwick three times, including a heartwrenching overtime loss in the finals of the 2004 ECAC championships. The Bears were unable to change their luck Saturday — they were outscored 12-3 in the first two quarters en route to an 18-8 loss. It was some of the stiffest competiing, although it also quoted Palmeiro as saying he hoped to concentrate “on baseball.” Partly because he seemed willing, Palmeiro was invited to join a witness list that now includes fellow Oriole Sammy Sosa, Jason Giambi of the New York Yankees, retired former home run king McGwire, Frank Thomas of the Chicago White Sox, Curt Schilling of the Boston Red Sox and Canseco. Palmeiro’s agent, Fernando Cuza, did not return several telephone calls from The Baltimore Sun seeking comment on the player’s views. Palmeiro, who has denied using steroids, said in an interview last week that he is being unfairly targeted. He has not said he will testify, nor has he said he will ignore that subpoena. “There are 100 names in the book. What are they going to do, bring in 100 people? I
tion Brown has seen all year, and served as a helpful barometer of the state of the team. “Playing a team like Hartwick was the first time we saw that fast-paced West Coast game,” Livermore said, referring to the advanced style of play started and perfected by the California schools. “It kicked us into gear and made us look at our weaknesses.” The Brown offense proved capable enough against Hartwick. It was the defense that clearly needed improvement. “I think we need to be more focused on defense,” said Head Coach Jason Gall. “From the Hartwick game I feel that offensively, we can score enough goals but defensively, we need to put up more of an effort.” Goalkeeper Anne Deggelman ’08 continued to impress in her first season, recording five blocks and three steals in the loss. “Coming in as a freshman and being forced into that position, (Anna) is doing extremely well,” Gall said. Deggelman continued to perform admirably in the afternoon tilt with Queens, and she shared the spotlight with several of her classmates. Like Utica, Queens is a relative newcomer to the ranks of collegiate water polo, and the game was a good opportunity for Brown to insert its younger players into the lineup. In the 21-6 victory, the firstyears did not disappoint, netting 15 of the team’s 21 goals. Sade Bonilla ’08 and Emily Schwartz ’08 led the way with four goals each, while Ally Wyatt ’08 and Roxanne Palmer ’08 tallied two apiece. Alexis Blaxberg ’08, who had scored earlier in the day against Hartwick, followed up with another goal against Queens. “All the freshmen are doing an outstanding job,” Gall said. “(They are all) really talented and they’re helping us immensely.” Brown hopes it can build on the momentum generated by this weekend’s encouraging play to establish more consistency after starting the season alternating between wins and losses. “There’s something to be said for stringing together some solid wins,” Gall said. “We need to be aware of that and not be too emotionally high (with a win) or low with a loss.” Maintaining such consistency will not be easy, as the Bears will face extremely tough competition at the see WATER POLO, page 8 feel like a victim now. I get put in a book I don’t belong in, and now I may have to go testify before Congress,” Palmeiro said last week. Palmeiro has also said Thursday would be a bad day to testify because it is his wife’s birthday. Monday, Palmeiro’s attorneys wrote a letter to the committee outlining his objections. “Mr. Palmeiro should not have to appear at a hearing prompted by scurrilous and wholly false allegations by a former player,” the letter said. The panel said it is considering his objections but still expects all of the summoned players to appear. SPORTS SCHEDULE WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16 Women’s LACROSSE: at Boston College, Boston, Mass.