T H U R S D A Y MARCH 24, 2005

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXL, No. 40

www.browndailyherald.com

An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891 SHAFTED Joshua Lerner ’07: Riding the elevators for hours will get you some odd looks, but few hellos

FUNNY IS DEAD Casey Bohlen ’08: Political correctness runs rampant in condemnations of satirical athlete mocking OPINIONS EXTRA

9

OPINIONS

KUTLER EDGE Outfielder Matt Kutler ’05, back from a long rehab in Nebraska, ready to swing 11

SPORTS

12

TODAY

TOMORROW

snow 38 / 29

showers 47 / 32

Goldberger transfers to athletics

R.I. Senate bill would arm URI police BY SUCHI MATHUR CONTRIBUTING WRITER

BY KIRA LESLEY FOCUS EDITOR

Lawmakers in the Rhode Island State Senate will consider a bill by April 14 that would require approved University of Rhode Island campus police officers to carry firearms. CAMPUS WATCH The bill, called “An Act Relating To Campus Security,” has been introduced several times in the past but failed every time. Senators Michael Damiani (D-District 18), Joseph Polisena (D-District 25) and Susan Sosnowski (DDistrict 37) introduced the current incarnation of the bill Feb. 17. Polisena said he believes the dangers of law enforcement necessitate that campus police officers be armed, so long as they are properly trained. “The way today’s society is, what (officers) deal with, if they are qualified, they should be able to carry a weapon,” he said. “I’m sure the streets are not as safe as they were 20 years ago. Also, with the situation on college cam-

Mark Cho / Herald

Michael Goldberger will leave his position as director of admission, held since 1995, to become Brown’s new athletic director.

see URI, page 5

Officials confirm death of Abanto ’06.5 BY ERIC BECK SENIOR STAFF WRITER

University officials Wednesday confirmed the death of Anthony Abanto ’06.5, who was found in his New Pembroke 1 dorm room Tuesday evening. Abanto’s death was an apparent suicide, according to a Providence Police report. A medical examiner’s report was not available Wednesday. Abanto, a 22-year-old mathematics concentrator, was described by an NP1 resident as a quiet individual who kept to himself. He was a student at the Harrow School in England before attending Brown, according to a campus-wide email from Dean of the College Paul Armstrong and Vice President for Campus

AVAILABLE SUPPORT • The Office of Student Life, Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life and Psychological Services will host a support session today at 4 p.m. in the Memorial Room of Faunce House.

• Chaplains can be reached at 863-2344 during business hours and through the Department of Public Safety at 863-3322 nights and weekends.The Chaplains’ Office also holds weekly bereavement sessions; interested students can call 863-2344.

• Psych Services is making extra time available to students seeking support. Daytime appointments can be made by calling 863-3476, and after hours the clinician on call can be reached through Health Services at 863-3953.

• Suicide Prevention: If you need help for yourself or a friend, call Psych Services at 863-3476 or 863-3953 at night; a Student Life dean at 863-3145; or talk to a peer counselor. A 24-hour national crisis hotline is also available at (800) 273-TALK.

Life and Student Services David Greene. “It is a very difficult time. Our deepest support and sympathy goes to the family, but we know that students have also been affected … and our support goes to them as well,” said Margaret Klawunn, interim dean for campus life.

TOUR DE FAUNCE

The University’s first priority Tuesday night and Wednesday was to assist those most directly affected by the death, she said. The dean on call Tuesday night, see ABANTO, page 4

Engineering in talks with Oak Ridge Lab about partnership BY SHAWN BAN STAFF WRITER

Chris Bennett / Herald

Tour guide Rebecca Russo ’08 held the attention of all but one potential future Brunonian during one of many spring tours on campus Wednesday. Editorial: 401.351.3372 Business: 401.351.3269

The Division of Engineering is working with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to forge a partnership that will enable graduate students to gain practical laboratory experience. ORNL is a multi-program science and technology laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Under the joint program, graduate students at Brown may spend at least a semester at ORNL involved in research in a number of fields, primarily materials science. The project remains under discussion, without a set timeline. “We are still in the preliminary stages, but I hope the first exchanges can take place during the next academic year,” said Clyde Briant, dean of

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

Director of Admission Michael Goldberger will take over as athletic director beginning July 1, President Ruth Simmons announced Wednesday morning. Goldberger will replace Joan Taylor, who has served as interim athletic director for the past year. “After conducting an extensive national search, it became clear that there was only one person in the country who fulfilled all of these (qualities desired) for an athletic director,” said Luiz Valente, professor of Portuguese and Brazilian studies and comparative literature and chair of the committee that chose the new A.D. For many students, Goldberger’s name is synonymous with acceptance or rejection letters, but he began his time at Brown as an assistant baseball and football coach. “Goldie,” a football player for former Head Football Coach John see GOLDBERGER, page 3

ARTS & CULTURE REVIEW

Two-dimensional student art examines many faces of identity BY CAMMIE STAROS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The Department of Visual Arts’ 2005 Student Exhibition poses the age-old question of collegiate art: “Who am I?” Questions of race, class and gender are all raised — and occasionally answered — by the body of student work. Shedding last year’s emphasis on sculptural and new media displays, this year’s collection, currently on display in the Bell Gallery, is heavily weighted toward two-dimensional media. The proliferation of East and South Asian influence in the selection is striking. “Indian Dancer,” a drawing by Komal Talati ’08, an untitled painting by Caroline Gray ’07 and the “Pigeons” photograph by see ART, page 6 engineering. Jeffrey Wadsworth, director of ORNL and a member of the External Advisory Board for the Division of Engineering, initiated talks. “Jeff Wadsworth was very encouraging in getting the discussions started, and getting both sides talking. The planning’s been going on for nearly a year now,” Briant said. The partnership would have a number of key objectives. “The main purpose of this program is to bring researchers together from Brown and Oak Ridge, from different fields. We also aim to aid Brown in its educational goals, and to try to recruit the best graduates for our laboratory,” said Lee Riedinger, associate laborasee OAK RIDGE, page 4 News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

THIS MORNING WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 2005 · PAGE 2 Coreacracy Eddie Ahn

Editors’ note: This is the final edition of The Herald before spring break. We will resume publication Monday, April 4. TO D AY ’ S E V E N TS SYMPOSIUM BY YOSHIMASU GOZO AND MARILYA 4 p.m. (McCormack Family Theater) — Japanese performance poet Yoshimasu Gozo and his wife Marilya discuss their work. This is a bilingual event.

Jero Matt Vascellaro

SANCTIONING AL QAEDA AND THE TALIBAN: THE U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL EXPERIENCE 4-5:30 p.m. (Joukowsky Forum, Watson Institute) — Ambassador Heraldo Munoz, Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations, will deliver the address. Munoz until recently served as the chairman of the U.N. Security Council's Committee on sanctions against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

Chocolate Covered Cotton Mark Brinker

MENU SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH — Chicken Pot Pie, Herb Rice, Mandarin Blend Vegetables, Kielbasa, Fudge Bars, Pumpkin Cream Cheese Roll

VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALL LUNCH — Vegetarian Escarole and Bean Soup, Beef Vegetable Soup, Pepperoni Spinach Feta Calzone, Vegan Stuffed Peppers, Zucchini and Summer Squash, Fudge Bars

DINNER — Pot Roast Jardiniere, Parslied Potatoes, Whole Kernel Corn, Zucchini, Carrot and Garlic Medley, Anadama Bread, Raspberry Mousse Pie

DINNER — Vegetarian Escarole and Bean Soup, Beef Vegetable Soup, Meatloaf with Mushroom Sauce, Golden Eggplant Curry, Mashed Red Potatoes with Garlic, Spinach with Lemon, Belgium Carrots, Anadama Bread, Brazilian Chocolate Cake

How to Get Down Nate Saunders

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Assn. or org., e.g. 5 Narc’s discovery 10 Legendary former NYC top40 radio station 14 Saskatchewan tribe 15 Jack of “The Great Dictator” 16 Bug ending 17 Uncompromising types 19 Yesteryear 20 The United States, in many a political speech 22 Strauss opera 24 Hard-to-find cards, to collectors 25 Words of transition 30 Cries from Homer 31 Sleazy 32 Aleppo’s land: Abbr. 33 Pepys, for one 35 Gift of the glib 38 Online film maker 39 Big brass 40 It may be turned 43 “Be __ ...”: start of a request 45 1974 Mocedades hit subtitled “Touch the Wind” 46 Puzzle theme suggested by the start of 20-, 25- and 40Across 51 Enjoy the sun 52 Hard to come by, in a way 55 Netman Nastase 56 Finish option 57 Work on a bone 58 Pigeon-__ 59 Consumer 60 Quick breakfast fare DOWN 1 Münster beef?

2 Two-piece top 3 “Ziegfeld Follies” star 4 Spicy candies 5 “Apparently” 6 Salsa quality 7 Oslo’s river 8 Foal’s father 9 “__ Rebel”: 1962 hit 10 Bushwhacked 11 Ready to travel 12 Shouldered 13 Davidson College students since 1972 18 Life partner 21 Hair color, e.g. 22 Yardsticks: Abbr. 23 Mate’s greeting 26 “All I gotta do __ naturally”: Beatles lyric 27 Grammy winner Jones 28 Laundry problem 29 ’60s leftist gp. 33 Steel plow developer 34 Nigerian people known for their art

35 __ game 36 Partner of aid 37 Azerbaijan’s capital 38 Hit hard 39 It’s often hard to resist 40 Actress O’Shea 41 Pea jacket relative 42 Duster’s target

43 Circumference 44 How to start a collect call 47 Bausch’s partner 48 Island gettogether 49 Dept. of Justice employee 50 Jotted item 53 Bother a lot 54 Tango need

Homebodies Mirele Davis

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Raw Prawn Kea Johnston xwordeditor@aol.com

03/24/05

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03/24/05

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THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2005 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 3

MLB

Goldberger

continued from page 12 continued from page 1 flat-out hit, and designated hitter Travis Hafner is a slugging beast. C.C. Sabathia and Jake Westbrook are a strong one-two punch, and it’s unfortunate that the team’s awful bullpen (see: Rhodes, Arthur and Riske, David) will blow so many saves for them. Don’t be surprised if the Indians start to dominate this division next year, when prospects like Grady Sizemore and Jhonny Peralta come into their own. A.J. Pierzynski, Jermaine Dye and Scott Podsednik are welcome additions to the Chicago White Sox’s lineup, but the team doesn’t have enough pitching or talent to take the division. And the race to stay out of the division’s cellar should be a good one, with both the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals stocked with a good amount of young talent and an even larger number of flaws. However, if young pitchers Jeremy Bonderman and Mike Maroth can put it together this year, the Tigers could make some noise now that Magglio Ordonez has joined Pudge Rodriguez and Carlos Guillen in the lineup. AL West: The AL West underwent the most change of the three divisions over the winter. The Angels, Rangers and Mariners all improved this offseason, while there are huge question marks on the Oakland squad. This will be the first time in years that the A’s will be going into the season as underdogs — the Angels, the defending division champs, will be the team to beat. Cabrera is an upgrade over David Eckstein in the field and at the plate, while Steve Finley is a significant upgrade over Jose Guillen in the locker room. They join a lineup that already includes the underrated Garret Anderson and the monster that is Vladimir Guerrero. The Angels bullpen is one of the best in the league, and Francisco Rodriguez should thrive in his new role as closer. The Mariners have added two legitimate sluggers in Adrian Beltre, who finished second to Barry Bonds in NL MVP voting last year, and Richie Sexson. However, Sexson’s health will be in question, as he is coming off a season in which he played in only 23 games. Even the new look of the lineup won’t be able to obscure the terrible Mariners’ starters (Gil Meche?

Anderson while both were at Middlebury College, taught math at a reform school before coming to Brown to serve as assistant football coach at the age of 22. Goldberger said that though he was very happy with his job in the Admission Office, he is grateful for the opportunity to face new career challenges. He said he felt he is entering the athletic department at a particularly strong time, but he still has ideas for the department he would like to pursue. “I would like to talk to athletes and students and determine issues” that they find important, Goldberger said. One of the biggest challenges Goldberger faces as he enters his new position is determining what role athletics should play at an Ivy League institution, he said. Goldberger said he believes athletes are frequently given a hard time because of stereotypes, but he stressed that athletes at Brown are extremely bright — among the smartest 10 percent in the nation. Goldberger said he would like to break down the barrier between academics and athletics and work toward “getting Joel Piniero? Ryan Franklin? Yikes.) Even 42-year-old Jamie Moyer won’t be able to save them from Anaheim this season. The Rangers have kept intact their young core of sluggers — Alfonso Soriano, Hank Blaylock and Mark Teixeira are becoming annual MVP candidates, and Michael Young and Kevin Mench are strong sluggers as well. It’s a shame they have the worst pitching staff in the league, as only closer Francisco Cordero can get anyone out. The A’s face the biggest questions this year. With aces Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder gone, it’ll be up to Barry Zito to regain his Cy Young form of 2002 and Rich Harden to become a legitimate ace. Both of these might be possible, as both are having strong springs. The success of the A’s will rely on the unproven three, four and five starters. If the World Series last year was any good indicator, Dan Haren will be strong behind

that feel on campus that coaches are educators and athletes are students.” When he first arrived at Brown, Goldberger said, he dreamed of “big-time coaching,” but having held positions in admission for over 20 years, he was somewhat surprised to be asked to take over as athletic director. However, because of his past links with the Brown athletic department, Goldberger said, “it would be logical to ask.” Though it is unusual to switch from admission to athletics after 22 years in the former, Goldberger said he has followed a rather unorthodox path since arriving at Brown, moving from athletics to admission and back again. The announcement of Goldberger as the new A.D. surprised some, especially since the University hosted visits from three finalists for the job recently, the Providence Journal reported. Goldberger said he hopes to help integrate athletics, academics and social life at Brown. According to Goldberger, at a school like Brown the three experiences are inextricably linked, and all help form the Brown experience. He said he is looking forward to improving what he already considers a strong department. “This is just a great day,” he said. Zito and Harden. In the pen, the A’s now have one of the best bullpens in the league, adding hard-throwing Kiko Calero and Juan Cruz, who both strike out about a batter an inning. The A’s also have two young fireballers in Huston Street and Jairo Garcia, one of whom should make the club out of spring training with the other not far behind. At the plate, the A’s have retained the core of last year’s surprisingly potent offense while adding quintessential Moneyballer Jason Kendall. The A’s should also look forward to having a full year of Eric Chavez, who astonishingly has never made the All-Star Game despite being one of the best allaround third basemen in the game. In all, the A’s could make a surprise trip to the playoffs if their future starts playing well now. Senior staff writer Stu Woo ’08 thinks he could pitch out of the Cleveland Indians’ bullpen (see: dream, pipe).

PAGE 4 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2005

Abanto continued from page 1 Catherine Axe, coordinator of disability support services, met with residential peer leaders in New Pembroke and with residents of NP1 and encouraged them to spend the night with friends, Klawunn said, adding that all residents of the dorm found another place to stay. Richard Bova, director of residential life, arranged alternate housing for the rest of the semester for students in NP1 who felt uncomfortable staying in the dorm, Klawunn said. Klawunn said Carla Hansen, associate dean of the graduate school and student life and coordinator of the Women’s Peer Counseling program, met with residential peer leaders Wednesday to offer them advice about how to help students cope with the death and assist the RPLs directly involved in the tragedy.

Later Wednesday, representatives from Psychological Services and the offices of the Chaplains and Religious Life, Student Life and Residential Life met with residents of New Pembroke and students who had called a campus office seeking assistance, Klawunn said. New Pembroke residents received emails and notices underneath their doors informing them of the session, she added. Student Life deans also contacted faculty members who have students directly involved in the tragedy to facilitate special arrangements for academic obligations, she said. Although the University initially rushed to assist students most immediately impacted by the death, Klawunn stressed that on-campus resources are available to all students who need support. The Office of Student Life, Chaplains’ Office and Psych Services will host a support session open to all community members today at 4 p.m. in the

Memorial Room of Faunce House. Support services from all three offices are also available around-the-clock, Klawunn said. “We want people to know that there are a lot of different offices working together to offer support to students … because people find comfort in different types of support,” she said. “There is a broad range of responses that students might have to the death of a friend. People tend to experience many different emotions — sadness, guilt, denial, anger — and it is common for these emotions to come and go over a period of time,” wrote Belinda Johnson, director of Psych Services, in an e-mail to The Herald. “There are several things students can do to help themselves during this difficult time: spending time with friends and talking about what they’re experiencing; taking care of themselves by eating and sleeping well; avoiding feeling pressure to respond in one particular way,” she wrote.

Oak Ridge

with Brown being explored would be “unique” and different from ORNL’s existing partnerships with other universities, which include the University of Tennessee, Duke University, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and Georgia Institute of Technology. “We currently work with eight universities in the Southeast. But Brown would be the first case where it’s not geographically near, and where we try to do something special, in part focused on educational goals,” he said. The Herald first reported in January that the University was pursuing a interdisciplinary program with Oak Ridge as part of “a strategic plan” to enhance partnerships with other institutions, which several academic departments have begun to pursue. The Department of Neuroscience will offer a graduate neuroscience program with the National Institutes of Health next fall, while the Department of American Civilization’s Master’s in Public Humanities program intends to send students on attachments at various museums in the Northeast.

continued from page 1 tory director for university partnerships. Riedinger said Brown graduate students could take advantage of the technology available at ORNL for research. “We think the students at Brown could use our large-scale supercomputers to run simulations and models in a number of areas,” he said. Briant expects the program to have a modest beginning. “We may start with two or three students going to Oak Ridge. It may expand to more than 10 students eventually, but these programs tend to reach their own equilibrium,” he said. The exchange may work in both directions, with staff members at ORNL also coming to teach at Brown. “The staff at Oak Ridge has tremendous expertise, and on the educational front, it would be good for our undergraduates and graduates,” Briant said. Riedinger noted the partnership

THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2005 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 5

URI continued from page 1 puses, where there’s less respect for the law, campus police officers need some protection and an ability to protect students.” If the bill becomes law, approved officers would have to go through the Rhode Island Police Training Academy or its equivalent to receive arms. However, URI President Robert Carothers has consistently opposed the bill arming campus police officers, said Andrea Hopkins, assistant vice president for public affairs. “We feel we have the best judgment to decide when our employees should have guns,” she said. “We don’t want it written in law.” Polisena said similar legislation has been discussed three or four times before in the General Assembly, but said he could not speculate on prospects for the bill this session. “The bill keeps failing on the House side; it’s always passed on the Senate side,” Polisena said. “I really don’t know the chances of it passing — it’s very difficult to tell from year to year.” Arming campus officers would only be one facet of a larger university effort to professionalize its police force, said URI Director of Police and Security Robert Drapeau. “The bill itself is a stand-alone item — it’s not so much arming the department as making it as professional as possible,” he said. “I think what’s beneficial to URI is that we’re undertaking an extensive program to work on our law enforcement facilities and resources.” Hopkins said the state Senate primarily views the bill as a safety measure that would protect both police officers and students. With the opening of the Ryan Center, a large recreational complex, at the Kingston campus, URI has become an open campus that attracts additional visitors not directly affiliated with the university, Hopkins said. Despite being unwilling to support the bill, Carothers may consider arming URI officers independently. “Our president said in last year’s speech while testifying for the same bill that we’ve been happy unarmed, and

would like to continue to be unarmed, but we will have to take new circumstances into consideration,” Hopkins said. Brittany Boudreau, director of communications for the URI Student Senate, said polls have found the majority of students are opposed to arming campus police officers, though more favor it now than did a few years ago. “It would make more sense for colleges in Providence,” Boudreau, a sophomore, said. “But (our main campus is) in Kingston, and we’re in the middle of nowhere, so I think most students feel it’s not necessary.” Drapeau said there has not been any single incident that has spurred the introduction of the bill, but given URI’s size and location, the potential for any type of incident is high. “We have the same issues and crimes that could happen in your hometown,” Drapeau said. “There are no specific incidents I could point to,” he said. Hopkins said the URI police department is currently working towards national accreditation, which Brown already has, and will attempt to arm their police force independently. But this process is very expensive and can take more than three years. Brown announced in Dec. 2003 that it would begin a process to arm Department of Public Safety officers. URI has consulted Brown concerning the arming process, as well as other schools, Drapeau said. “Nationally, colleges have realized the necessity of a fullfledged police force,” he said. “Frankly, Rhode Island is behind the curve in regards to campus law enforcement.” At Brown, administrators have declined to release a timetable for the arming process. “The process is in place, it’s moving along well, the training is going well,” said Mark Nickel, director of the Brown News Service. Every institution’s police and security personnel face different circumstances, and factors such as Brown’s easily accessible open campus made arming campus officers a good idea, Nickel said. “It’s a very case-by-case basis,” he said. “What makes sense for Brown doesn’t necessarily make sense for other universities.”

PAGE 6 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2005

Art continued from page 1 Anne McClain ’05 all showcase East or South Asian people or deities in traditional garb. Lucas Foglia ’05 frankly captures two stoic farmers in his color photograph, “Somerset Community Garden, Khamta and Venerable Kosal.” The dragon in the popup “Bedtime Book” by James Dunbar ’05 is set against Quien Truong’s ’05 painting, “Explosion,” with both appropriating Chinese festival aesthetics. In a break from the two dimensional, “Mommy Lamp” by Valery Estabrook ’05 provides a witty — and illuminated — comment on the stereotypical role of the “Asian Mother.” In a stark black-paper-onwhite-wall installation, Leslie Wei ’05 gently addresses race and class politics in a sensitive, though archetypal, illustration of two dry cleaners. Arthi Sundaresh ’05 contributes a digital color photo triptych that works through both ethnic and gender identity labels. The series depicts a girl dressed in a sari, the same girl apparently amputating her breast, and a cropped figure holding a penis with blood dripping down, presumably from the missing breast — each figure shown through the reflective eye of a mirror. This — presumably incidental — Asian/Asian-American motif overlaps considerably with a larger theme of identity and selfreflexivity. Breanne Duffy ’05, in fact, titles her oil painting of one girl making over another, “Identity.” Nicholas Monu ’06 drew an unidentifiable body, complete with barcode and identification number, titled “Body # 102885.” Creating a composition out of bite-sized portraits, Zoë Chao ’08 works through the complexities of creating a single, static identity. Jacquelyn Mahendra ’07 provided the only video project, titled “Doll Studies,” which also serves as the soundtrack to the show. Mechanized voices describe dolls between the sounds of a man’s voice com-

Mark Cho / Herald

The 2005 Student Exhibition in Bell Gallery, on display until April 3, addresses questions of race, class and gender. manding, among other things, “show me the doll that looks like a white child … show me the doll that looks like a Negro child. Show me the doll that looks like you.” Scott Yi ’05 presents, in humorous and unambiguous terms, his take on the negotiation of Asian-American identity. With comic-book-influenced rendering, Yi depicts an Asian doctor celebrating his material success with a blond, white, naked woman. Many of the strongest pieces, however, shy away from the identity-wrought themes that dominate the exhibition. Becky Brown ’05 won the award in the mixed digital media category with a collaged series of five small canvases incorporating, among other things, line drawing, comic strips, paint and transparent

paper. With a two-pronged, carved wood piece, Stephen Niedich ’07 won the sculpture award. Gracie Devito ’07 won the drawing category with a large and involved figure study of charcoal and acrylic. Three black-and-white photographs of girls’ faces superimposed on images of coastal rocks by Jessie Chaney ’07 took first place for photography. Madeleine Bailey ’06 took the painting prize with a deceptively serene white-on-white painting that revealed, upon closer inspection, pins inserted in linear patterns. The frequent List-goer will have seen the majority of the stronger pieces before, and probably already seen the show. For those who do not venture often into Brown’s official home of creative endeavor, however, the journey would be a worthwhile one. The annual show displays not only the products of individual students, but also the collective influences, both predictable and unexpected, on Brown’s artproducing student body. The 2005 Student Exhibition will be on display in the Bell Gallery, located in the lobby of the List Art Building, until April 3.

THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2005 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 7

Governor seeks custody of Schiavo as parents’ appeals fail BY MANUEL ROIG-FRANZIA THE WASHINGTON POST

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. — Florida Gov. Jeb Bush again raised the possibility that state officials would intervene in the frantic battle over Terri Schiavo on Wednesday, asserting that the state may have authority to take custody of the brain-damaged woman even though the federal courts have refused to resume her tube-feeding. A Circuit Court judge here in Pinellas County issued an order preventing the Adult Protective Team of the Florida Department of Children and Families from taking Schiavo from her hospice and reinserting her feeding tube, but the possibility of an appeal or some other move by the state lent a dramatic note to the rapidly moving legal struggle. Bush’s attempt to once again enter the case came the same day that Schiavo’s parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, were twice rejected by a federal appeals court and lost a battle in the Florida Legislature to keep their daughter alive. Undeterred, the Schindlers pushed their case to the next court level, appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court, while still hoping that Bush would come up with a way to use the power of Florida’s state government to trump the courts. “I’m doing everything within my power to make sure that Terri is afforded at least the same rights that criminals convicted of the most heinous crimes take for granted,” Bush, a Republican, said at a late afternoon news conference in Tallahassee. Schiavo’s feeding tube has been out since Friday, and doctors say she could die within two weeks, leaving her supporters increasingly desperate for an eleventh-hour intervention to save her. Early Wednesday, demonstrators camped outside her hospice in this town across the bay from Tampa while another group packed into the rotunda of the state Capitol in Tallahassee. Schiavo supporters have posted “Wanted” signs there in hopes of pressuring nine Republican senators to change their minds and support a law that would force doctors to resume the 41-year-old woman’s feeding. But the intense lobbying effort failed Wednesday afternoon when the Senate voted 21-18 against a

bill that would have prevented the removal of feeding tubes from vegetative patients, such as Schiavo, who did not leave written instructions about their wishes. Before the vote, Sen. Dennis Jones, a Pinellas County Republican, said he felt pressured by Bush in 2003 and “voted wrong” when he supported a bill backed by the governor intended to save Schiavo that was later declared unconstitutional. “I certainly wouldn’t make that mistake again,” said Jones, who voted against the Bush-backed bill Wednesday. Jones and other lawmakers who have declined to support efforts to keep Schiavo alive have been the subject of angry Internet commentaries, e-mail campaigns and protests. On Tuesday, Jones said, 20 demonstrators sat on the floor of his local office in Seminole — a town near Schiavo’s hospice — and refused to leave. Sheriff’s deputies had to be summoned to remove them, he said. The Schiavo case has been profoundly divisive in the Capitol, occupying so much time that some Florida newspaper editorials have demanded that lawmakers turn their attention to other pressing state business. Even in Pinellas County, opinions are split. When the state Senate and House voted last week on bills designed to keep Schiavo alive, half the county’s delegation voted “yes” and half voted “no.”

Republican Rep. Everett Rice, the former Pinellas County sheriff, was confronted by a lawmaker who pushed for the Schiavo legislation a few days ago. “We’re saying a special prayer for you,” Rice said his colleague told him. Bush has been the public face of Florida government efforts to resume Schiavo’s tube feeding. His brother, President Bush, said Wednesday that “this is an extraordinary and sad case” but that he would wait for the courts to decide it. Gov. Bush has spoken about the case repeatedly and emotionally. But his storied mastery of legislative arm-twisting failed Wednesday. Bush based his assertion that Schiavo should be kept alive on what he said was “new information” about her condition gleaned by William Cheshire, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., whom the state asked to evaluate her condition. Cheshire has not formally examined Schiavo, but he did observe her at her bedside and reviewed the videotapes of her appearing to react to her family. Bush said Cheshire determined that Schiavo may be in a “minimally conscious,” rather than a “persistent vegetative” state. The distinction is important because recent studies have suggested that patients in minimally conscious states might have some cognitive powers and may have hope of recovery.

PAGE 8 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2005

Kutler

Curry

continued from page 12 continued from page 12 ate after the season, but the injury forced him to reconsider his options. He could either return to school and end his Brown baseball career, or drop out and sacrifice his tuition in order to return in 2005. “The thought never crossed my mind that I could play anywhere else,” Kutler said. “I had made a commitment to my team and Coach Drabinski and I wanted to play one more year.” Although Kutler ruled out transferring to another school or graduating and enrolling in grad school somewhere else, his decision to drop out hit a few more snags in the road. The University refused to redeem the tuition money he had paid for the second semester. “I spoke to a few people and one dean recommended that the money be repaid but it didn’t work out like that. My decision placed an extra financial burden on my family but they completely supported me. They were happy I decided to come back,” Kutler said. Dropping out allowed Kutler to focus on rehabilitating his thumb. Once out of the cast,

Before Oklahoma State approved the decision, Curry had to sit down with school President David Schmidly, who gave Bob Knight his second chance when Schmidly was president at Texas Tech. “Our president grilled him,” Sutton said. “He told JamesOn, ‘We’re giving you a second chance. Don’t mess it up.’ ” Curry’s boyhood dream of playing for the Tar Heels is long gone. But he still watches them, and keeps a note Williams, the coach who withdrew his scholarship, sent after he landed at Oklahoma State, wishing him well. “It meant a lot,” Curry said. “It showed he wasn’t thinking I was a terrible kid.” Someday, he will be remembered for more than a February day, but not yet. At Texas A&M, Kutler visited a physical therapist three times a week for two months over the summer, working consistently to regain his full range of motion. With eight games now under his belt, Kutler finally feels normal again despite the occasional stiffness and the lingering memory of his ordeal. “The first weekend was tough, but I’m not worried about my hand anymore,” he said. “Games are a little different but I’m getting my timing back and I think I’m finally there.” Drabinski agrees. “I think he’s 100 percent. He was trying too hard at first, no question. He needs to relax a little more and remember that he’s one of nine

he noticed white squares of paper in the student section. “At first I thought they said something like, ‘Beat Oklahoma State,’ ” Curry said. “It was a picture of me, like ‘Wanted by the Oklahoma Police Department.’ ” The Baylor crowd was on him too. “I was like, ‘Isn’t this a Christian school?’ They said, ‘God might forgive you. We don’t.’ “Whenever I would think, ‘Man, what do I do now?’ I would read the Bible,” he said. “Some people were saying, ‘He shouldn’t touch a ball. He should go to jail. He’s a menace to society.’” Curry was thumbing through a Bible not long after his arrest when he first saw the words he now wears on his arm: “From the depths of the earth, you will again bring me up.” “I saw that instantly,” Curry said. “I thought, man, this is me.” guys and he can’t hit home runs every time up,” he said. This season, Kutler has hit .242 with a home run and five RBIs as Brown has gone 1-7. However, the team is preparing for the Ivy League portion of its schedule and is far from concerned about its slow start. As for Kutler, he hopes to return to All-Ivy form and rekindle the scouts’ interest, but he understands the odds are stacked against him as a 23-year-old college senior coming off a devastating injury. But Drabinski has no doubts about his star player. “Listen, the kid can hit and he will hit,” he said. “Talent-wise, he’s still much more than All-Ivy.”

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

OPINIONS EXTRA THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2005 · PAGE 9

Has political correctness destroyed humor at Brown? GUEST COLUMN BY CASEY BOHLEN Due to the preponderance of replies to my letter to the editor (“Reaching out to athletes on their level,” March 17), I feel compelled to clear up misconceptions about my intentions. For those who didn’t read it, my letter was a ludicrous story implying that athletes were not intelligent enough to read a column (“Athletes at Brown,” March 16) by Lily Rayman-Read ‘06 that praised their intellects. It was not remotely serious, as I had assumed was implied by its outlandish nature. First of all, I apologize to athletes who didn’t get the joke. Many members of the athletic community are particularly sensitive to the “jock” myth and I did not mean to offend them. I have nothing in particular against athletes — in fact, I was one in high school. As such, I agree with much of Rayman-Read’s article; Athletes do have demanding time commitments, they are at least as smart as the non-athletic population and they deserve the respect of everyone at Brown. Why then, you might ask, did I bother writing this letter? The answer is simple: Rayman-Read’s article, in attempting to eliminate misconceptions about athletes, perpetuated stereotypes of Brown non-athletes as biased and lacking in school spirit. First, her article was predicated on

the notion that Brown’s student body does not respect athletes. In my experience, that is as much of a fallacy as the “jock” myth. Her accusation that athletes and non-athletes are unable “to interact and maintain social relationships” strikes me as bizarre. Many of my closest friends are involved in Brown

stands” at sporting events? I have no idea how the percentage of attendance breaks down, but my presence at such functions indicates that non-athletes are cheering for Brown as well. In short, Rayman-Read’s stereotyping of non-athletes was, to me, ridiculous. Thus, I responded in kind. And although

First of all, I apologize to athletes who didn’t get the joke athletics, and we have no trouble interacting with each other. Perhaps this is because I am a first-year, with less experience at Brown than upperclassmen. Perhaps my group of friends is an exception to the rule. Perhaps a gap between athletes and non-athletes exists unbeknownst to me. But Rayman-Read’s article didn’t stop there. It then stated, in unequivocal terms, “we have no school spirit.” This generalization is at least as one-dimensional and flawed as any myths about athletes. First, Brown students exhibit pride in their university in a variety of ways unrelated to athletics. Additionally, how can Rayman-Read assert that she “only sees athletes in the

Zoe Ripple’s ’05 reply to my letter (“Bohlen’s stereotyping isn’t funny,” March 21) misunderstood my intentions, her description of my assertions as “simplistic and erroneous” was right on. That was the point. A complex, nuanced and anti-athletic statement could not have been taken as anything but a serious expression of my beliefs. A ridiculous stereotyping of athletes, on the other hand, could not be read as anything but a joke. Or so I had assumed. So why did so many people misunderstand my intentions? You didn’t have to find my letter amusing to conclude that a piece of writing which referenced the author of a children’s book series as a literary exemplar was not in earnest.

Whether you call it satire or crude humor, it was still a joke. So why did so many people take me seriously? Has an obsession with political correctness created a community so sensitive that it cannot take a potentially provocative statement as anything but an insult? Or is the “non-jock” myth so widespread that people actually believe anti-athletic bias exists throughout the Brown student body in the rough and unrefined form indicated by my letter? Either way, how can individuals such as Ripple assert that I was being sarcastic while simultaneously claiming that my letter was not written in jest? Obviously, a lot of people got the joke and did not feel the need to voice their opinion on the matter. The fact that so many people did not get it, however, concerns me. Satire, one of the most useful literary devices for pointing out and correcting absurdities within one’s community, becomes useless in the face of arbitrary political correctness. And although satire at Brown is not dead yet, the reaction to my letter has convinced me that it remains on life support. Some people may think Casey Bohlen ’08 has a crude sense of humor, but he likes writing to The Herald anyways.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

EDITORIAL/LETTERS THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2005 · PAGE 10 S T A F F

E D I T O R I A L

Diamonds and coal A cubic zirconium to the announcement of Michael Goldberger as the new athletic director. We hope you are as pleased to receive this appointment as the University is to offer it to you, but does this mean the Class of 2008 will be the last best class ever? Coal to the never-ending keg debate. C’mon guys, put a cork in it. The whole thing is tapped out. Aren’t there more important things to take a stand on? A tiny, guilty diamond to the unending availability of terrible keg puns, though. Coal to Dinesh D’Souza’s fervent wish to not let any of all our Ivy League “liberal sheep” go “unmolested.” Although, upon further consideration, we didn’t expect much more out of a Dartmouth grad. Pervert. Speaking of the Big Green, a sea of diamonds to made-for-TV movies that have the audacity to mention “all the hot guys from Dartmouth.” That has to be the funniest line we’ve heard in a while, and it was made all the sweeter by the presence of a fleet of boat-chomping CGI sharks eating those “attractive” men of Hanover. A cubic zirconium to the Nice Slice. You deserve coal for being a carbon copy of Antonio’s, but we’re glad for the opportunity to place bets on how fast you’ll close, since our March Madness brackets have tanked. A diamond to the ingenuity of student entrepreneurs. Who needs a business school? But coal to nobody starting up the business we’d really like to see: DormBooze.com. And a diamond to proposed tax credits for film and TV production in Rhode Island. Michael Corrente may be best known for his work on “Outside Providence,” but we also need to encourage more artistic gems like his “Federal Hill,” the movie that proves that even the lowliest coke dealer can score a date with a beautiful Brown coed.

NICK SCHADE

LETTERS Canceling Bioethics a terrible move To the Editor: There is something gravely flawed with the University’s governance if a class (and concentration) as relevant and worthwhile as “Topics in Bioethics” is to be canceled due to a lack of assigned resources. Having taken the class in Spring 2003, I still find myself frequently saying in conversations, “You know, that’s an interesting topic, we discussed it in my bioethics class.” The concentration is equally worthy. There is a simple solution to the problems con-

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

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

Veer Pratap Singh, Night Editor Katie Lamm, Lela Spielberg, Copy Editors Senior Staff Writers Camden Avery, Alexandra Barsk, Eric Beck, Mary-Catherine Lader, Ben Leubsdorf, Jane Porter, Stu Woo Senior Sports Writers Bernie Gordon, Jilane Rodgers Staff Writers Justin Amoah, Shawn Ban, Zachary Barter, Danielle Cerny, Christopher Chon, Stewart Dearing, Gabriella Doob, Jonathan Herman, Leslie Kaufmann, Aidan Levy, Allison Lombardo, Ari Rockland-Miller, Stephen Narain, Joel Rozen, Chelsea Rudman, Jen Sopchockchai, Jonathan Sidhu, Lela Spielberg, Robin Steele, Kim Stickels, Laura Supkoff, Jane Tanimura, Anne Wootton Sports Staff Writers Kathy Babcock, Zaneta Balantac, Ian Cropp, Justin Goldman, Katie Larkin, Matt Lieber, Helen Luryi, Shaun McNamara, Chris Mahr, Madeleine Marecki, Ben Miller, Eric Perlmutter, Marco Santini, Charlie Vallely 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, Gianna Giancarlo, 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, Leora Fridman, Allison Kwong, Katie Lamm, Suchi Mathur, Cristina Salvato, Sonia Saraiya, Lela Spielberg, Zachary Townsend, Jenna Young

Brett Cohen ’03 March 21

Porter hiring nothing to celebrate To the Editor:

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

cerning concentrations that lack dedicated departments: have the college fund the professors/lecturers in question, not the department. If an interdisciplinary department depends heavily on a departmental professor who leaves (i.e., Dan Brock), the Dean of the College’s office should act immediately to ensure proper staffing/funding until such time as another departmental professor takes the reigns. Is this really so difficult?

The Herald’s coverage of Mark Porter’s appointment as police chief is less than objective. Suggesting that Porter, an African-American, will provide fine service because his identity reflects diverse communities is shortsighted. This does not explain why people of color continue to be subject to vast racial inequality and police brutality historically under black mayors and police chiefs, most loyal to the Democratic Party, in cities such as Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit and New York. Institutional white supremacy is not transformed by a rainbow coalition of rulers, whose ethical claims rest on efficiently running the same old hierarchies. Ruth Simmons has armed the campus police. Now seeking to mystify further with Porter, she offers no solution to racial profiling, an arbitrary hate-crime protocol allowing some students to hide in their daddies’ deep pockets, and seeks to criminalize anti-colonial political activism while

calling for diversity of debate. The Herald’s coverage implies anti-racism and democracy are measured by the diversity of who manages and polices us from above, or at least that such measures are a step in the right direction. Both assumptions are dangerous. People of color are not “God’s humanizing agents.” Are Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice, Ruth Simmons or Mark Porter the faces of anti-racism and democracy? Transformation of injustice occurs through selfgoverning actions from below against aspiring rulers above society. To have a democracy you have to oppose those people, not celebrate their appointment, regardless of color. Porter’s hiring insults anti-racist and democratic minded people. Reprimanding Simmons by direct action would be cause for celebration.

Matthew Quest GS March 22

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 THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2005 · PAGE 11

The reach of an oil well GUEST COLUMN BY BATHSHEBA DEMUTH I remember Stanley saying to me once when we were out with the boat bringing in the fall caribou kill: “You’re one of the last white people who’s gonna get to see this.” Then he stopped himself and said, “no, you’re one of the last people to see it.” No one mentions people in the articles about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Nevermind that the word “Gwich’in” means “people.” Never mind that Stanley is Gwich’in and has been eating caribou meat since he could chew. I read newspaper after newspaper with no mention of Stanley’s people — a nation, if certain treaties are to be believed. What the articles do mention is national security. We’re going to drill oil on the arctic plain because of national security. For 40,000 years there have been people and caribou in the Arctic. There are stories going so far back that in them people and caribou are the same. Stanley told me this around a campfire on the Porcupine River. We were eating fresh caribou, barely cooked, flash-seared in a pan over the spruce fire. Behind us in gathering dark, the carcass steamed on new snow. And he told me how the people, the Gwich’in, never go to the arctic slope where the caribou calve — it is an old agreement, as old as the stories. Birth should be given in peace. Neither peace nor birth seem particularly likely under the arm of an oil derrick. So here is nation without security, and we know it from being told: Without security, there is no survival. Survival could be synonymous with the people and the caribou in the Gwich’in language. The three are bound to the land: the Gwich’in cannot live outside it or beyond it. If one senator from South Carolina said it was a barren place then it was only because he could not see. There are those who will claim that I am being a romantic, telling stories of noble savages and Eden in the raw. To which I say: I lived there for two years, enough time to understand that it is not romantic to confront a choice between starvation and giving up everything that defines you and your people. There are those who will ask: “What of our security of our nation, and of the dangers of foreign oil?” I say that anyone with half a brain and a calculator knows that the barrels of crude under the Refuge will yield enough oil to keep cruder Americans content for six months even as it makes the crudest of them rich. So I desire infernal and poetic justice. A plane crash. All 51 senators who voted to slip drilling into a budget bill — cowards dodging filibusters in their Brooks Brothers suits — gone down in the wilderness, starving to death for lack of meat. That would do: Starvation is slow and leaves time for regret. Regret, however bitter, does not salvage the past. When Stanley made fire and we ate meat, it was 10 miles from a cave where the oldest human artifact on this continent was discovered: a piece of caribou bone chipped into a hide scraper. It stayed in a cave unchanged for 40,000 years. Which is to say, marks remain in the Arctic. If you drill oil, if you bring in the machines and pull up the earth and put down the roads, it will scrape deep into the tundra. These marks will not heal. They will be our artifact Bathsheba Demuth ’06 is an independent concentrator.

JOSHUA LERNER

Mutual seclusion I have spent two weeks riding elevators. I spent hours inside those small cages — up, down, up, down, up — as a class assignment. It was a social experiment to investigate what people do when forced into mutual company within such a confined space. I took the elevators at the Rock as high as they would take me, and as low. The steel cubes of the CIT were my home one lonely Thursday night. And, day after day, I shot to the top of the SciLi, got out to look past the Providence skyline and then dropped downwards again. Here is what I expected: students, adults, and faculty would enter the elevator, push the button for their destination and then consign themselves to silence and stare away from my direction. There would be no verbal exchange, no tacit eye contact and certainly no blatant conversation. When the doors opened, my fellow elevator riders and I would depart, one after the other — silently, as though to prove our aloneness together. I found what I was looking for, but I found more. The truth is, during my many vertical rides, we always found an act in which to engage ourselves. We fixed a winter hat that didn’t need fixing; we unzipped, then re-zipped, an overcoat; we fiddled with iPods and Discmans. At the very least, we stared — at the button console to our side, at the numbers above the steel doors or, occasionally, at nothing but a blank spot on the ground. Some of us leaned against walls; others planted

their feet and stood unsupported. One or two paced; most remained as statues, staring out into nothingness. I flipped through a book, and played with a pen cap. But whatever we did — and we all did something — we did it intently, and we did it with purpose. The purpose, I think, was this: to let each other know that we refused to interact with each other. With no words spoken, we told each other, “I’m busy right now. I know you are there, but I will not acknowledge you.” A few brave souls did glance in my direction, perhaps to check on my behavior, and I occasionally

of meaning — even though we do know, I hope, that “How are you?” and “Have a nice day” are some of the most meaningful things we can ever say. So, as a result, one becomes determined not to say anything. And we ride along in mutual silence. But think of that other awkward social encounter: the dreaded sidewalk sparring that occurs when two strangers walk towards each other from a distance. One has to judge where the other will move, and then pick another path to avoid a collision. But doesn’t it seem that, more often than not, we fail to find diverging paths, and we walk right towards each other until we almost collide? What a great example of people simply being unable to avoid contact. We try, but we cannot escape acknowledging the fact that we are sharing this space with another human being. We are like magnets with opposite poles: We can’t help but join. There’s something comforting in this attraction. Maybe we can learn from the sidewalk encounter, and apply the lesson to elevator rides. By being aware of the mutual seclusion elevators provide, and by making an effort to overcome that isolation, we can enjoy a bit more the short time we have together. That may take the form of a short conversation, or, more likely, just a smile. And when the steel doors open, we can depart just a little more satisfied.

The steel cubes of the CIT were my home one lonely Thursday night. returned the favor. But, save for one mutual head-nod, we always averted our gaze the moment after we haphazardly acknowledged one another. It is sad that we freeze and constrict ourselves in this way, but I have begun to think that behavior like this is largely influenced by the sudden change in environment elevators provide. We step out of a public space — in which we can walk through the crowds without ever having to say a word — and we step into an enclosed space, where we are alone with a stranger. It is a forced mutual exchange, and we don’t like to be forced. The four walls close in, and suddenly one feels compelled to say something, anything. In such a short period of time, one finds it challenging to say anything

Joshua Lerner ’07 is not a creep. He swears.

ROB SAND

Working hard, getting nowhere fast It shouldn’t be a news flash that President Bush’s new budget has more bad news for the poorest Americans. 18 community development block grants are gone, victims of an 11.5 percent cut to the Housing and Urban Development Department. This makes sense, because urban areas went overwhelmingly for Kerry. Leave it to Bush, “a uniter, not a divider,” to punish people who voted against him. He even punishes those who can’t vote. Witness $2 billion in cuts to programs like Upward Bound and Gear Up that prepare low-income students for college. The poorest college students currently receiving Pell Grants aren’t getting them next year, either. $45 million will be cut from Medicaid, the healthcare program providing coverage largely for single women and children living in poverty, at a time when it is needed most. Medicaid now covers 50 million Americans; it’s no surprise that amount rose by 10 million people once Bush took office and poverty began increasing. According to The Economist, Medicaid costs per patient have risen at just over half the rate of private employer-based insurance costs. As public expenditures reach 50 percent of all healthcare costs over the next 10 years, the debate should hardly be over the settled question of whether our healthcare system will remain private. We should be talking about which system is more effective. Without stronger regulation of the insurance industry, the government can actually do a better job of providing healthcare. Perhaps these cuts wouldn’t be a problem if the private sector companies were responsible enough to provide workers

with benefits and livable wages. But — surprise, surprise — they aren’t. According to the 2000 Census, 66 percent of families below the poverty line had a fully employed family member. The San Francisco Chronicle recently reported that a single parent with two children living in the Bay Area would need to work at least three minimum wage jobs to care for their family’s basic needs. Millions of Americans are stuck in poverty, despite working full-time. There is no justification for the world’s richest nation to have full-time workers being paid wages that keep them and their families in poverty. Our society has always said that one can get ahead by working. We have always said that productive members of society who play by the rules will be assured of a comfortable existence. We have not kept this credo by rewarding hard work with an honest day’s pay. It comes down to benefits as well. Only 35 percent of low-income workers have health insurance provided by their employers. That amount is less than half the percentage of other workers receiving healthcare from their employers, and down 5 percent in the last two years. In Tennessee alone, 10,000 Wal-Mart employees and their dependents are covered by Medicare — the public is paying for something their employer ought to. In Arkansas, the company’s birthplace, 10 percent of Wal-Mart employees are receiving public assistance. This problem is, quite simply, inexcusable. And it is getting worse. The number of full-time workers living in poverty increased by 45 percent between 1978 and 2002. This affront to hard-working citizens, to human dignity and to our nation’s morals must end. Anyone who works full-

time should be provided a decent living for themselves and their family in return. Fortunately, there is a pretty straightforward solution: expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit. The EITC works by augmenting the income of individuals who work but still live in poverty. It is an effective program, with administrative costs adding up to just 3 percent of the benefits extended, as opposed to 16 percent for welfare. Because it is a tax rebate, it is also non-stigmatizing, unlike food stamps or welfare. Ronald Reagan, of all people, called it “the best pro-family, the best job creation, the best work incentive program ever to come out of Congress.” The issue of the “working poor” could vanish if the EITC were expanded to lift all full-time workers out of poverty. Doing so would make it possible to eliminate the difficult application process as well, because the only information needed would be available on tax forms possessed by the IRS — hours worked, income, and number of dependents. This would further reduce administrative costs while reducing dependence on welfare, food stamps and Medicaid. Anyone with sense would see this as a win-win for America’s hardest working citizens. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait for someone with sense to take the Oval Office. Bush wants to shrink the federal safety net but he doesn’t want to ask his corporate backers to step up to their responsibilities as employers. I’d say either have your cake or it eat, George. But something tells me you’ll hold on to your own, and devour the loaves of those who can hardly afford to eat. Rob Sand ‘05.5 is ready for spring.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

SPORTS THURSDAY MARCH 24, 2005 · PAGE 12

Same old East, new look West expected in AL this year The approach of April can mean only one thing: the start of baseball season. In 10 days comes the return of pop flies, grounders to short and random Angel Berroa errors. In just a mere 10 days, fans will have the chance to take in STU WOO DRUNKEN STU-POR the ballpark experience of buying overpriced beer, eating lukewarm hot dogs and dodging Jose Contreras’ wild pitches. With that in mind, let’s take a preview of the American League this year. AL East: Again, the pennant race will boil down to the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees, and it appears that the Sox have the edge this year. The defending champs’ lineup, which led the league in runs scored, batting average and on-base percentage last year, returns almost in its entirety, with a major upgrade from Orlando Cabrera to Edgar Renteria, one of baseball’s best shortstops on both sides of the ball. The potency of the offense can be captured in this one picture: Jay Payton, the team’s backup outfielder, is a career .285 hitter who hit 28 home runs two years ago. In terms of pitching, the loss of Pedro Martinez will be offset by the addition of Matt Clement and David Wells. At this point in Martinez’s career, both Wells and Clement should just be as effective as he is. The also newly acquired Wade Miller, if he can stay healthy, has the potential to be one the best starters in the league. Keith Foulke will anchor a solid pen that now includes former Diamondbacks and Marlins closer Matt Mantei. The Yankees should give the Sox a run for their money, but that’s contingent upon a number of things, namely Randy Johnson’s right knee — and the cartilage in Randy Johnson’s right knee. But if both hold up, Johnson will give the team the true ace that

it lacked last year. Carl Pavano should have a decent, though not All-Star-worthy, year in the Bronx, and should send Johnson some flowers for taking the New York media spotlight off him this year. Mike Mussina should rebound from his abysmal 2004 season, but Kevin Brown may be at the tail end of his career. In terms of offense, the Yankees also have a potent lineup that nearly matches up with that of the Sox. It’s a shame that the AL East race has already been universally written off to these two clubs, because there is some good talent in Toronto and Baltimore. The Blue Jays have some of the best young talent in baseball in Vernon Well and Alexis Rios, but don’t have the pitching to seriously contend. Likewise, the Orioles don’t have enough pitching to compete, despite an already hard-hitting lineup that just added Sammy Sosa. And even having stars like Aubrey Huff and Carl Crawford won’t help the Devil Rays climb out of the cellar this year. But it will be fun to watch young hotshots Scott Kazmir and B.J. Upton — if he can remember how to field in Triple A — tear it up. AL Central: With no significant changes in the AL Central, the Twins should again be the favorite to take the division. Johan Santana should follow up his unreal 2004 with another Cy Young-worthy year, and Brad Radke should also have a strong year as the number two starter. Joe Nathan has emerged as a premier closer, and should preserve be able most of their wins. In all, the Twins’ pitching staff should keep them atop a mediocre division, despite their pedestrian offense. Keep an eye on the Cleveland Indians, though — they’re one of the youngest, fastest and most exciting teams in the league. The team’s young core of Coco Crisp, Victor Martinez and Ronnie Belliard can see MLB, page 3

Curry given a second chance with Oklahoma State hoops BY ROBYN NORWOOD LOS ANGELES TIMES

A drawing. A name. Initials. A cross. Those are ordinary tattoos. Oklahoma State freshman JamesOn Curry has what looks like a paragraph on his left arm. “Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth, you will again bring me up.” - Psalms 71:20. It has been little more than a year since Curry seemingly ruined his career. He was Tobacco Road’s native son, literally working the tobacco fields beyond his family’s door as he grew into the leading scorer in North Carolina high school basketball history — a history that includes David Thompson, James Worthy and Michael Jordan. But on a February day in 2004, Curry became one of more than 60 Alamance County high school students arrested in a drug sting, facing six felony charges after he twice sold marijuana to an undercover officer. His scholarship to North Carolina evaporated in, yes, a puff of smoke, when Coach Roy Williams rescinded it after Curry pleaded guilty. He spent the rest of his senior year banned from the Eastern Alamance High campus in Mebane, unable even to attend his own prom. When Connie Curry heard a crashing sound a few days after the arrest, it took her a moment to realize it wasn’t an accident on

the highway outside their home. It was her son in his room, destroying the souvenirs of a career. “It looked like he had torn everything off the wall, everything but his track awards, and I just said, ‘Oh my God, JamesOn,’ and grabbed him and told him everything would be all right,” Connie Curry said. “I guess he just thought it was the end of the world.” His world has been reborn. When Oklahoma State plays Arizona in the Sweet 16 Thursday night at Rosemont, Ill., Curry will start alongside four players who reached the Final Four last season. In the first two rounds, when the Cowboys wavered, Curry, a 6-foot-3 shooting guard with the ball-handling and decision-making skills of a senior point guard, pulled them through, contributing 31 points and seven assists. “It’s a blessing in disguise, everything that happened,” Curry said, adding he no longer dwells on what-ifs. “I can’t go against God’s plan. I’m thankful for this opportunity.” Curry, averaging 9.4 points and 2.7 assists while shooting 47.6 percent, said he was not dealing drugs in high school, but describes himself as what his father calls “a naive country boy.” “I got the drugs for the guy,” he said. “(But) you can’t go around pointing fingers, or with your head down. I hold my head high. I know our God is forgiving.” At Eastern Alamance High, where TV trucks filled the parking lot and the New York Times and Washington Post called

Kutler ’05 looks to get back in the swing of a once-promising career BY STEPHEN COLELLI ASSISTANT S PORTS E DITOR

Baseball season begins in spring for a reason. Each team and player starts the year anew when, appropriately, everything else in the world is starting over. For Matt Kutler ’05, this spring marks the end of a year full of struggles and a return to the game he loves. Entering the 2004 season, Kutler was the team leader thanks to his astounding hitting ability. He was coming off of two straight First Team All-Ivy campaigns, having led the league with 66 hits and 44 RBIs in 2003, and was poised to break the school record for career RBIs. Additionally, Kutler was returning from his second successful stint in the Cape Cod League, a summer league for top college players. With Kutler, the Bears were poised to win the league championship that had eluded them the previous two seasons. “My first two seasons, we had been one game away from the championship game. My sophomore year, we were three outs away,” Kutler said. “We were definitely going into last season with the idea of contending for a title.” With Kutler’s career skyrocketing and the team set on winning the Ivy League, the Bears entered spring practice full of confidence. That’s when Kutler’s troubles began. “About a week before the season began it had gotten nice out and we went outside to practice,” Kutler said. “I was playing center (field) during practice, and someone hit a shot out to me. I took off for it and I had to dive to make the play. When I dove, my thumb got caught in the ground and my body kept going.” Kutler’s gloved hand got caught in the turf beneath him and his thumb bent backwards. “I went to see some doctors in Providence and they explained to me that the ligament was torn, so I ended up flying home that weekend to have surgery,” he said. “It was the worst tear possible.” Both Kutler and the team were shocked. “It was a big blow for us, especially with it occurring a week before we were ready to go,” said Head Coach Marek Drabinski. “It gave a lot of the younger guys a chance to step in and play right away, but all of them couldn’t replace all that Matt did for us.” Kutler flew back to his Nebraska home as lost as he had ever been. The kid who had never missed a game, who had been a Cape League Playoff MVP, was denied his senior season because of a freak accident. After surgery, Kutler’s thumb was after Curry’s arrest, Oklahoma State T-shirts are now “very, very prevalent,” Principal JoAnne Hayes said. “He’s a great kid who made a mistake,” said Hayes, who has known Curry since he was born. “It was a very traumatic event for our school. I’m very thankful that Coach Eddie Sutton understands people can make a mistake and will give an individual that second chance. Many, many people called me. Coach Sean Sutton and James Dickey were the only ones who flew in and talked to me. I really respect that they took the time to learn more about the circumstances.” After pleading guilty, Curry was sentenced to three years of probation and 200 hours of community service. “Back home, picking up trash in an

Ashley Hess / Herald

After missing all of last season due to injury,Matt Kutler ’05 looks to regain the form that made him an All-Ivy player in 2002 and 2003. placed in a cast for two months. As he followed the team’s progress from the sidelines, Kutler found himself struggling with the loss of baseball. “It was tough to watch the team, tough to read the articles about them,” he said. “Just like that, everything changed.” One of the most disappointing aspects of the injury was that it shortcircuited Kutler’s path to the pros. In particular, it was his performance in the Cape Cod League that had originally garnered the attention of pro scouts. In contrast to college games, where aluminum bats are used, the Cape Cod League gives scouts a better idea of how a player will hit as a minor leaguer and, ultimately, a big leaguer by using wooden bats. Kutler spent two summers patrolling the outfield for the Wareham Gatemen. He hit .301 in his first season and tied for second on the team with 15 RBIs. In the playoffs, Kutler powered Wareham to the championship, knocking in nine RBIs while slugging .700. Kutler remembers his time on the Cape fondly. “It was an amazing experience,” he said. “The level of competition was unbelievable. Most of the players have already been drafted (by major league organizations). It was probably the best experience I’ve had in baseball.” After the injury, his summer days on the Cape seemed part of a distant past, Kutler said. He was facing much bigger issues. Kutler was prepared to gradusee KUTLER, page 8 orange vest, I felt like a criminal,” he said. After he arrived in Stillwater last summer, he completed his community service at a local church. “Mainly painting and cleaning,” he said. Sutton has had success taking transfers and last-chance players — well-traveled guard Tony Allen from last season’s team was one — and believes he made the right call on Curry. “A lot of people were critical of the fact we took him,” Sutton said. “Sean and James Dickey went back there for a week and talked to people. What he did was out of character, and he certainly paid for it. “He’s just a wonderful young man who made a horrible mistake.” see CURRY, page 8