Tuesday, April 19, 2005

T U E S D A Y APRIL 19, 2005

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXL, No. 52

www.browndailyherald.com

An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891

BUDDY IN THE SYSTEM Former Mayor Cianci wins another hearing on five-year sentence, but experts say he’ll be doing his time METRO 3

BOLTON FOR AMERICA Nicholas Swisher ’08: John Bolton is universally hated — what could be more appropriate for our U.N. rep?

OPINIONS 7

EMPIRE STATE BACKHANDED On the road in N.Y., m. tennis topples Cornell, Columbia, becoming the only undefeated Ivy SPORTS EXTRA

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TODAY

TOMORROW

sunny 72 / 51

sunny 83 / 46

Columbia,Yale grad students strike for right to unionize

Wallace sees common ground between Buddhist introspection and Western science

Effort comes after NLRB ruled against unionization at Brown

BY ARI ROCKLAND-MILLER STAFF WRITER

Alan Wallace, one of the preeminent Western scholars of Tibetan Buddhism, stressed the importance of introspection as a mode of academic inquiry in the first annual Mary Interlandi ’05 Lecture on Contemplative Studies on Monday night.

Wallace’s lecture, “Observing the Mind: A Buddhist Approach to Exploring Consciousness,” focused on the interface between traditional Buddhist methods of introspection and conceptions of the mind, and the modern Western scientific approach to neuroscience and physics.

This unique interdisciplinary fusion reflects Wallace’s diverse background. He spent 14 years training as a Tibetan Buddhist monk, ordained by H.H. the Dalai Lama, before studying physics at Amherst College and earning a doctorate in religious studies at Stanford. see WALLACE, page 6

BY BEN LEUBSDORF SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Gabriella Doob / Herald

Alan Wallace, a scholar on Buddhism and former interpreter for the Dalai Lama, said contemplation and introspection have an important place in academia.

Mixed support for UCS proposal to transfer club sports to Dept. of Athletics

BY ARI ROCKLAND-MILLER STAFF WRITER

Last week, the Undergraduate Council of Students endorsed a proposal to move administration of club sports from the Student Activities Office to the Department of Athletics and Physical Education, allowing for the allocation of increased funding to club teams to provide them access to varsity athletic trainers. However, club sports teams have expressed a mixed response to the proposal, reflecting the complicated nature of the issue at hand.

The resolution was drafted in response to some club sports teams’ complaints that they had inadequate funding for and insufficient access to athletic trainers. The Department of Athletics and Physical

Ashley Hess / Herald

Club athletes like Kristen Sylvester ’08, here being checked by coach Kerrissa Heffernan, face a greater risk when athletic trainers are not readily available.

Education says it currently lacks the funds to provide club players with access to these trainers.

Sarah Saxton-Frump ’07, UCS student activities and clubs chair, spearheaded the proposal, awhich also supports the creation of a club sports council — to be implemented for the 2006-07 school year — which would address a lack of funding and support granted to club sports at Brown, she said.

The proposal stipulates that club sports will still be governed by students, but will also receive the same benefits granted to varsity sports.

While many teams — newly established ones, in particular — support the proposal, seeing the opportunity for better access to needed resources, other club teams would prefer not to move under the jurisdiction of the athletics department.

Club sports teams currently receive funding from the Undergraduate Finance Board through the SAO, but the University does not pay for access to athletic trainers.

The SAO provides the men’s club lacrosse team with $90 in social funds per semester, but according to David Meisner ’07, president of the club, this amount is negligible given the team’s other financial needs. Meisner said the SAO money is used to offset the cost of providing trainers for the team, an expense the University does not cover.

The University requires men’s club lacrosse to have a trainer present at all official games in case of athlete injury.

Trainers must be hired at $75 per game. In addition, the team must pay up to $100 a game to hire a referee. This money comes straight out of the lacrosse players’ pockets, Meisner said.

In addition to the cost, Meisner said the availability of trainers limits the number of games the team can host — Sunday’s game, which the other team eventually cancelled, was in doubt because the team did not know if the varsity trainer would be able to make it, he said.

The scarcity of trainers at practices is also a problem, as injuries are not limited to competition. “There’s obviously no way we’re going to have trainers at practices, so anything that happens there, we’ll have to shuttle them down to Health Services,” Meisner said.

Still, Meisner is fairly optimistic about the future of Brown club sports. “It seems like they’re making some progress. I’ve been pleased with the things I’ve been see CLUB SPORTS, page 4

Graduate students at Yale and Columbia universities began a coordinated weeklong strike Monday to protest their administrations’ opposition CAMPUS WATCH to the unionization of teaching and research assistants.

“We at Columbia and Yale felt very strongly that we wanted to send a message to our respective university presidents, and to President Bush, that graduate teachers still demand the right to unionize on their campuses,” said Rachel Sulkes, a spokesperson for the Graduate Employees and Students Organization at Yale.

The strikes come after a National Labor Relations Board ruling in July, in a case brought by the Brown University administration, that Brown graduate students are not University employees and do not have the right to unionize.

GESO at Yale and Graduate Student Employees United at Columbia have urged all graduate students who work as teaching or research assistants not to work this week, and all other graduate students not to attend class in support.

Student organizers were optimistic after Monday’s protests, the first multi-campus strike by Ivy League graduate student teachers.

“I’m pretty excited. A lot of people came out and it’s a beautiful day, and we had a lot of local politicians — Connecticut politicians — come out and support us. So it was a pretty positive day,” Sulkes said.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz and U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, all Democrats, joined the striking students at Yale Monday, according to a GESO press release and Associated Press reports.

Sulkes said about half of Yale’s 700 teaching assistants were out Monday, and she see STRIKE, page 4

Increased demand, political instability drive up record gas prices

BY ROBBIE COREY-BOULET METRO EDITOR

As the semester draws to a close, student drivers may have more to worry about than paying overdue METRO parking tickets. Average gas prices in Rhode Island have risen steadily since late February, breaking state records set in June 2004, according to numbers released this month by the State Energy Office.

A weekly RISEO survey found that the average price for regular unleaded gasoline climbed from $2.10 to $2.16 for the week ending April 4 — the last week results were posted. This price has risen

by 27 cents since Feb. 28.

Limited supply and increasing demand should continue to drive prices up as the summer season progresses, according to Mike Snitzer, weatherization assistance program manager at the SEO. These local figures are consistent with national trends, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, which submitted a report April 7 predicting a national average price of $2.28 between April and November — 38 cents above last summer’s prices. The average see GAS PRICES, page 3

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

THIS MORNING TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2005 · PAGE 2 Final Curtain Eddie Ahn

W O R L D & N AT I O N Senate vote seeks to reframe debate on illegal workers page 6 iPod devotees rocked by thefts page 7 Man gets 8 1/3 years for firebombing SUVs page 7

TO D AY ’ S E V E N TS “OXIDATION OF SQUALENE BY SQUALENE EPOXIDASE TO FORM 2,3-OXIDOSQUALENE, OR, HOW I LEFT MEDICINE FOR A CAREER IN THE ARTS” 4 p.m. (Salomon 101) — Ethan Canin, M.D. earned his medical degree at Harvard, but ultimately chose to pursue writing and teaching as a career. He is a professor of fiction at the University of Iowa Writer’s Workshop and the author of five books. One of his novellas was adapted into the film “The Emperor’s Club.”

SPRING WEEKEND CONCERT TICKET SALES All day (Student Activities Office, Faunce House) — Tickets for Brown Concert Agency’s Thursday night concert with Talib Kweli and the Shins are en route to selling out, and package deals for both concerts are already gone.

Admission for Thursday’s concert in Meehan is $12 in advance for students, $18 at the door. Tickets to Saturday’s Main Green Show with Howie Day and Ben Folds are $15 in advance, $20 at the gate.

Jero Matt Vascellaro

Chocolate Covered Cotton Mark Brinker

MENU SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH — Artichoke Pasta Medly, Red Rice, Corn and Sweet Pepper Saute, Vegan Tofu Pups, Sweet Potato Fries, Chicken Rice Soup, Vegetarian Caribbean Black Bean Soup, Vivizone, Popcorn Chicken, Tater Tots, Magic Bars, Hot Fudge Pudding Cake DINNER — Orange Turkey, Au Gratin Potatoes with Fresh Herbs, Herbed Turnips, Fresh Vegetable Melange, French Bread, Chocolate Pudding, Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALL LUNCH — Vegetarian Corn and Tomato Soup, Bean and Bacon Soup, Shaved Steak Sandwich, Linguini with Tomatoes and Basil, Sunny Sprouts, Magic Bars DINNER — Vegetarian Corn and Tomato Soup, Bean and Bacon Soup, Pot Roast Jardiniere, Vegan Rice and Beans, Roasted Yukon Potatoes with Shallots, Oregon Blend Vegetables, Asparagus Cuts with Lemon, French Bread, African Honey Bread, Maine Blueberry Pie

How to Get Down Nate Saunders

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Referee, slangily 6 Apple of many colors 10 Animal catcher 14 Flub 15 Sub __: confidentially 16 Gambling mecca 17 Alaskan chain 20 Envelope insert 21 Formerly 22 Before, to a bard 23 Cleaning aid 25 “Jeopardy!” clue, e.g.

27 TV show for wannabe singers 33 Mover’s stack 34 Theater area 35 Comparable 39 Divisible by two 40 Strong winds 41 Martinez of baseball 42 More than a quiz 43 One __: kids’ ball game 44 Brief fight 45 2000-01 NBA MVP 48 A flirt may bat one 51 Cowboy singer Ritter 52 Groom’s garb 53 Crimson rivals 56 Puts away 61 Loan payoff component 64 Like some tea 65 “__ want for Christmas ...”

66 Busch Gardens locale 67 See 10-Down 68 Sensed 69 Injured-arm support DOWN 1 Enthusiasm 2 Perry and Della’s creator 3 Author Harte 4 15-0 in baseball, e.g.

5 Apollo’s sister 6 401(k) relative

7 Having just one 38 Whistle time 54 Run without speaker 40 Bookbinding moving, as a car 8 N __ Nancy decoration 55 Window ledge 57 Like some 9 Mt. Rainier’s 44 Medium-sized range combos vaccines 10 With 67-Across, 46 Stead 58 Notes after do a wordless 47 Three-piece suit 59 “BassCenter” refrain piece network 11 Request more 48 Cybercommerce 60 All-male Money 49 New Mexico’s 62 Nutritional std.

12 Netman Agassi state flower 63 Complaint that’s 13 Cover girl, for 50 Be superior “picked” one ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: 18 __-Z: highperformance M E S A S P A L M O S H A Camaro A E T N A A R E A T H U S 19 Carson’s X R A Y V I S I O N T A L K successor I I I A S T A O M A H A S 24 Buckingham __ S E R E N E A F E W 26 Christian of film 27 Be the lookout, V N E C K S W E A T E R say K O R E A H A S A T U M A 28 “Out of my way!” I R O N M I L E R S N I T 29 Previous T E N F A D E S E L A T E partners E M A I L M E S S A G E 30 Hertz offering T A M S N O D O F F 31 Strikeout king C A L L T O Z I T I N E A Ryan O R A L T B O N E S T E A K 32 “Aha!” A M I D H O O K T E A S E 36 Modelers’ purchases T Y R O S A S S S A L T S 37 Really enjoying 04/19/05 xwordeditor@aol.com 1

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04/19/05

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

METRO TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2005 · PAGE 3

Chafee ’75 meets with Brown neurotechnology researchers

BY ANNE WOOTTON STAFF WRITER

Sen. Lincoln Chafee ’75, RR.I., met with a team of internationally recognized University researchers Monday morning for a presentation on neurotechnology by John Donoghue, professor and chair of the Department of Neuroscience and director of the University’s Brain Science Program.

Chafee secured $2 million over the last two fiscal years for neurotechnological research at Brown.

The University is now requesting an additional $5 million to continue its research, with hopes of establishing a center for neurotechnology at Brown in the near future.

Neurotechnology is an emerging field dedicated to designing devices that attach to the nervous system, often the surface of the brain itself. These devices help restore loss of function — particularly for people who have suffered

spinal cord injuries or have lost a limb — through remote control of machines by brain signals.

Future applications for neurotechnology include enabling amputees to control prosthetics and, eventually, enabling the paralyzed to move their limbs.

Donoghue created the Brain Science Program at Brown in 1998 and co-founded Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems Inc. in 2002 in order to translate researchers’ findings into clinical applications for humans.

In addition to the hundreds of thousands of people with nervous system disorders who could benefit from neurotechnology, the military could also make use of future capabilities in robotics and socalled “brain machines.”

Cyberkinetics is currently executing an FDA-approved clinical trial of a neuromotor prosthesis known as BrainGate. The device enables quadriplegics to carry out tasks like controlling a television, drawing with a mouse cursor on a screen and turning lights on and off — using only their brains.

So far, two patients have been implanted with the device, includ-

ing one patient named Matthew, who was paralyzed from the head down by a knife wound to the neck.

Neurotechnology requires open communication between expert researchers in neuroscience, neurosurgery, computer science, applied mathematics, engineering and physics, which is part of what makes the work at Brown some of the most cutting-edge in the country, according to Donaghue.

“That’s a usual feature of many of the scientific interactions at Brown,” he said. “There’s this mixture, (a) sort of seamless, borderless mixture of disciplines. … It’s unusual for people like that to work together, and that’s one of the most powerful aspects of this research and why we can do such complicated things so well.”

Donaghue cited the remarkable progress made in neurotechnology in the last decade as evidence that it is a “success story for government funding.” He has xrecently made great strides with Arto Nurmikko, professor of engineering, to miniaturize and internalize see CHAFEE, page 4

Rising cost of education has schools facing budget shortfall

BY AIDAN LEVY STAFF WRITER

Thursday, a commission of state legislators initiated efforts to address the state education budget’s anticipated $13.7 million funding gap for Providence schools — a shortfall Providence District Superintendent Melody Johnson called “more critical than it’s ever been in the history of the state.”

State officials have proposed several remedies — including the imposition of a statewide sales tax on clothing items above $150 — but currently negotiations are tenuous and hypothetical, as the commission is in its infancy.

The commission was suggested nine months ago as a budget watchdog group to oversee the education funding process and define the minimum funding that will be provided for each district.

However, the commission’s 10 members were only determined two weeks ago.

A comprehensive report was originally scheduled for October 2005, but officials are not confident that they can meet that deadline.

Meanwhile, the Providence School Board must draft a proposal for next year’s budget by May 1 to present to the City Council. Following evaluation and potential revision, council members will then submit the budget to the Rhode Island General Assembly.

At the Thursday meeting, the commission elected Rep. Edith Ajello, who serves College Hill, to be its House co-chair.

“I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect that we’re going to have any short-term help for Providence’s

school budget,” Ajello said. “We will come up with long-term answers, and I think the commission’s work will educate the state government, city government and the public about what needs to be done.”

The commission’s formation stagnated for nine months, partially due to a lack of interest, Ajello said.

“Someone gets a bright idea and they think they should do it, but they just never get around to it,” said District 12 Rep. June Gibbs, a member of the education budget adequacy commission.

“Every year we’ve had the same budget deficit, but there’s always been something that came along to help us out, such as tobacco money or federal windfall,” Gibbs said. “Suddenly we’re up against a situation where we have the same shortfall but we don’t have anything to fill the gap.”

Rhode Island education programs depend more on property taxes for funding than any other state except Hawaii. Many legislators are calling for property tax relief, but this may be infeasible due to the current deficit, state officials said.

Unless further state funding is appropriated, the deficit will cripple essential programs, school board officials said. If necessary, the board is prepared to file a lawsuit against the Rhode Island General Assembly.

Funding for the arts and other electives, as well as money for basic supplies, will face drastic cuts due to state budget revisions made by Gov. Donald Carcieri ’65, Ajello said. Several guidance counselors and elementary

school teachers were laid off in March.

“Unlike the federal government, the state is required to balance its budget every year. As a result we have to make ends meet,” said Jeff Neal, Carcieri’s spokesman. Neal cited increased see BUDGET, page 4

Gas prices continued from page 1 monthly price should peak at $2.35 in May, according to the report.

The transitional period between spring and summer traditionally generates the highest energy prices, due to continued demand for heating coupled with a seasonal increase in gasoline consumption, according to Kurt Teichert, resource efficiency manager for Facilities Management.

“There’s still some call for heating, and a lot of electrical generation in this region is still based on oil and natural gas,” Teichert said. “This is the time of year when you’re going to see that combination.”

In addition to rising demand, political instability in the Middle East has caused speculation in crude oil markets, driving energy costs ever higher, Teichert said.

Snitzer said constraints on U.S. oil refineries have also contributed to high prices, citing as an example the March

Cianci gets new trial thanks to Booker ruling

BY PHILLIP GARA STAFF WRITER

Though attorneys for former Providence Mayor Vincent “Buddy” Cianci say they are encouraged by a recent appeals court decision allowing reconsideration of his 2002 sentence, legal experts say it is unlikely the sentence will actually be reduced.

Cianci is currently 28 months into a 64-month prison term for his 2002 federal corruption conviction associated with Operation Plunder Dome. On April 7, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston granted Cianci and two co-defendants new hearings concerning their sentences, based on the January Supreme Court decision from U.S. v.

Booker, which struck down mandatory consideration of federal sentencing guidelines.

The ruling deemed mandatory use of these guidelines unconstitutional because it compelled judges to consider evidence not brought before a jury during the actual trial.

Before U.S. v. Booker, federal judges had the “discretion to sentence anywhere within statutory minimums and maximums,” according to Indiana University Professor of Law Frank Bowman, who has done extensive work on the Booker ruling. This sometimes included mandatory sentence increases based on facts a jury did not consider or that a judge may not have wanted to apply.

In the Cianci case, U.S. District Judge Ernest Torres

24 refinery explosion in West City, Texas, that killed 14 people.

“Clearly, the refining capacity in the country is down … and the country hasn’t had a new refinery built in many years,” he said.

In the past, rising prices that resulted from “jittery markets” have traditionally been offset by supply spikes or diminished demand, Teichert said. But as high demand continues unabated and countries put further strain on their oil reserves, “more and more analysts are just looking at a steady increase.”

The lack of response on behalf of drivers to the recent price increase is “perplexing,” Teichert said. “People are so used to pulling up to the pump and paying whatever they pay,” he said, adding that the willingness to shell out more and more money on gasoline may be viewed as a status symbol. “Maybe they think they’re impressing people standing next to the gas pump,” he said jokingly.

But recent reports indicate a slight change in consumer vehicle preferences, Teichert

added a mandatory additional sentence of two years because he held “position of leadership” when the Operation Plunder Dome offenses were committed. Ultimately, the Boston appeals court granted Cianci re-sentencing because Torres “might well have given a different sentence” had he not been restricted by the mandatory guidelines. This, however, does not suggest that a revised decision will be more lenient or harsh.

While Cianci’s lawyer, John “Terry” MacFayden III, told the Providence Journal that he and Cianci are “pleased and heartened” by the Boston appeals court’s decision, the general consensus is that Cianci’s sentence will not change.

Bowman went on to add, “In Booker, the court says guidelines are unconstitutional as applied but are still set as advisory.” Similarly, according to a recent press release by the prosecutor on the case, U.S. Attorney Robert Clark Corrente, “the Cianci case is one of thousands across the country affected by the Booker decision. So we would be cautious about reading too much into this resentencing order.”

Whether or not Cianci will get a new prison sentence depends on whether Torres felt constrained by the federal sentencing guidelines and how the judge interprets the U.S. v.

Booker ruling.

“Decisions hinge more on see CIANCI, page 6

said. Though consumers have favored SUVs and pickup trucks in recent years, Teichert said he has seen reports that demand for these “heaviest vehicles” may be on the decline.

In the long run, consumers may alter their behavior if high price levels do not recede, he said. “We should see more of a demand response to (consistent increases),” Teichert said.

“There’s just a lot of better things to spend money on than gasoline.”

Divya Kumaraiah ’07, who recently brought her car to Brown, said she has noticed that “these prices are definitely higher” than in Illinois, her home state. But Rhode Island prices “won’t impact my driving as much because I don’t travel long distances,” she added.

But Stephanie Breakstone ’06 said she has noticed the increase, adding she is “very reluctant to put gas in my car.”

“It does impact my driving,” Breakstone said. “It kind of made me think twice about whether I wanted to drive to Foxboro or not … especially because I’m broke,” she laughed.

PAGE 4 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2005

Budget continued from page 3 strain on the state budget from this year’s $160 million shortfall.

“Any time we grant increases in one area, we have to take it away from other areas,” he said.

Carcieri has proposed a $37.1 million increase in the state’s total contribution to local education.

Of this increase, $15.7 million will directly aid local schools, while $3.9 million will go to public charter schools and $800,000 to struggling high schools and middle schools.

Carcieri has also approved a $1.2 million investment in technology to measure school and student performance and a $20 million increase in college scholarship aid. The state is also investing $250,000 in new science and technology teaching specialists, and the Department of Education will spend $400,000 to develop a statewide curriculum to ensure an equitable learning experience for all students, Carcieri said in a January press conference.

But district officials say

Strike continued from page 1 expects that number to increase over the course of the week. She said about 450 classes were affected, and some were canceled.

She said the Yale picket line would continue through this week, and on Wednesday 10 busloads of students will go to New York City to join Columbia students for a labor march and rally.

Representatives from GSEU at Columbia did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The graduate students at Yale and Columbia are seeking to unionize so they can bargain collectively with their respective universities. They argue that work done as teaching assistants, research assistants and proctors qualifies them as employees of the university rather than as students.

But university officials remain opposed to recognizing the student unions.

“I don’t think it’s productive to speculate right now, but (Columbia’s) position is very clear: The university’s relationship with graduate students is an educational and collaborative one, rather than an employeremployee relationship, and this is the view endorsed by the NLRB and its July 2004 ruling,” said Alissa Kaplan Michaels, a senior public affairs officer at Columbia.

“It’s (Yale’s) position that a graduate student union would not be in the best interests of the students or higher education, and that is the opinion of other private universities as well,” said Tom Conroy, a spokesman for Yale. “The activities by GESO this week are not going to alter the university’s viewpoint,” he added.

The Yale graduate students are backed by UNITE HERE, a union of textile, hotel, restaurant and industrial employees with more than 440,000 active members, according to its Web site. The Columbia students are backed by United Auto Workers Local 2110, a union representing clerical workers at Columbia as well as

Carcieri’s budget is not enough for Providence’s schools.

Budget constraints are exacerbated by other mandatory contributions to the state retirement fund, raises for school personnel and health care costs. Due to a rising student population in Providence, debts accumulated from recent building projects are also putting a damper on next year’s budget, according to Mary McClure, Providence School Board president.

“I think the governor feels he spends enough on education, but I honestly don’t see how we can cut $14 million,” McClure said.

“In the best-case scenario, it’s going to be very difficult.”

Johnson is hoping the General Assembly will hear her pleas and increase the “inadequate” funding allotted to the district, she said.

Johnson plans to partially alleviate the added burden by eliminating some transportation costs, but she said even that might be insufficient.

“I’m out of options,” said Johnson, who will leave Providence for Fort Worth, Texas, this summer. “We have taken

everything away from our schools and our students that we can possibly take away. It takes $40 more to educate a child of high needs or poverty than it does the average student, but Providence gets the average amount, and we don’t have the average population.”

With average school spending growing approximately 7 percent each year, which is three times the rate of inflation, towns cannot resort to past tactics to balance the budget, said Peter Marino, director of policy for the business-backed Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council.

RIPEC released its critique of the governor’s proposed 2006 budget last week, calling for enhanced fiscal discipline. For RIPEC, this translates to statewide tax increases, creation of a Tax Analysis Office and a unified Medicaid budget, among other changes.

Marino advocates for “prioritizing programs” and reducing pension benefits for state employees to absorb the blow, he told The Herald. “The bottom line is that growth (of expenses) is exceeding the rate of inflation, and that can’t be sustained.”

other office workers in New York, with over 3,000 members, according to its Web site.

“We are fully behind the graduate employees at Columbia and Yale, and behind all graduate employees and all employees who want to form unions in the United States,” said Andy Levin, director of the “Voices@Work” program at the AFL-CIO. “It’s perfectly legal for Columbia and Yale and Brown … to recognize and work with unions,” as many public universities, such as the University of California, do, Levin said.

Chris Hu ’06, a leader of the Student Labor Alliance at Brown, said the SLA is “in solidarity” with the striking graduate students at Yale and Columbia, but no specific actions to support the strikers have been organized.

“Unfortunately, it’s because of the actions of the Brown administration that it’s so difficult for grad students to organize at private universities,” Hu added.

The NLRB, the federal authority for labor-management disputes, had ruled for decades that graduate students who assisted with teaching, testing and research at private schools were not employees of the university they attended and thus did not have the right to unionize.

This precedent was overturned by a unanimous vote of the five-person NLRB in 2000, when it ruled that New York University graduate students met the National Labor Relations Act’s requirements for being considered employees and could form a union.

Students at several private universities began to organize, including at Brown. In November 2001, the NLRB ruled that Brown graduate students could vote on whether to unionize, and that vote was held the next month.

The ballots were never counted, however, as the University immediately filed an appeal with the NLRB and the votes were impounded.

In July 2004 the NLRB, in a 3-2 decision along party lines with a Republican majority, overturned its 2000 ruling and declared that graduate students did not have the right to unionize. The majority ruling declared, “It is clear to us

that graduate student assistants, including those at Brown, are primarily students and have a primarily educational, not economic, relationship with their university.”

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney condemned the decision, saying in a statement, “The Bush board (has) overturned precedent and ignored overwhelming evidence of the transformation of colleges and universities into large-scale employers of low-wage academic workers.”

But Brown Provost Robert Zimmer praised the decision in a written statement, saying, “The NLRB correctly recognizes that a graduate student’s experience is a mentoring relationship between faculty and students, and is not a matter appropriate for collective bargaining.”

Mark Nickel, director of the Brown News Service, said the University had no official comment on the strikes at Columbia and Yale.

According to Hu, the unionization movement among Brown graduate students has been dormant since the July ruling.

“As far as I know, since that decision, there hasn’t been much of a movement among grad students,” he said. “As far as I know, they’re pretty much disorganized right now.”

“I think it’s mostly because the University used the delaying tactic” of the NLRB appeal, Hu said.

“While the appeal was going through over the course of two or three years, the energy sort of petered out” of the movement, and it is “hard to get something going in this new, hostile environment,” he said.

Levin, from the AFL-CIO, noted “the transitory nature of the work force” as graduate students earn degrees and move on, and also the mental pressure of carrying on an organizing movement against such opposition.

“The thing that’s amazing isn’t that Brown grads gave up but that others carried on,” he said.

“We’re back to the future here. … The situation for all workers organizing right now is like it was in the 1920s and 30s here, when you had to go out and just organize because the law is not on your side,” Levin said.

Club sports hearing, but I’d like to see some real action taken,” he said.

Head Athletic Trainer Russell Fiore said the sports medicine division of the athletics department only has the resources to be responsible for varsity sports. For Brown’s 900 varsity athletes, the department has eight full-time trainers and six part-time trainers with limited availability, which Fiore said is barely adequate.

“Now if you put club sports into the mix, there’s just no way you could do it,” Fiore said.

Fiore said the same problem plagues club sports at universities throughout the country. The lack of trainers puts players of club contact sports in acute physical danger, he said. “Those club sports players are athletes, and they get hurt just as much as my varsity kids, and I think they need care,” he said.

For teams with other sources of funding from endowments and alums, the level of funding from the SAO is irrelevant.

Jay Fluck, coach of the men’s club rugby team, said that although his team suffers from a lack of reliable trainers, they do have sufficient funding both from Brown and from alum donations. Alum donations alone total $10,000-20,000 annually, he said.

Men’s rugby is different from other club sports at Brown, Fluck said, in that the team was established 45 years ago, and is part of a “highly organized league.”

Therefore, men’s club rugby is not unlike a varsity sport in terms of organization, he said.

Fluck expressed concern about implications of SaxtonFrump’s proposal, saying, “It would seem to me that that’s not necessarily a good use of the University’s money.”

According to Fluck, there is a great field shortage at Brown, and that only teams who prove they have great structure and a body of regulations should be eligible to be placed under the athletics department. “I just don’t think it makes any sense to allow any team to spring up,” he said.

Over the course of the past few seasons, numerous club athletes have experienced serious

injuries, from a torn ACL to a broken collarbone, without any trainer on site to provide care or assistance, according to Will Cunningham ’07, UCS appointments chair.

“We’re in dire need (of trainers),” Cunningham said.

Currently, club athletes can access varsity trainers, but only between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., and with a referral from Health Services. Saxton-Frump said her new proposal will “cut out this unnecessary middleman” that acts as an impediment to injured club athletes. Under SaxtonFrump’s proposal, injured club athletes would be able to access trainers without going through Health Services.

Chris Talbot ’06, who started the men’s club hockey team this year, said he is “very intrigued to see how (Saxton-Frump’s) proposal goes.”

Talbot said the club hockey team has suffered this year from a lack of funds and trainers, but that it has benefited from having responsible players. Being transferred to the athletics department would be “certainly scary,” he said, but also the “ideal solution” for the men’s club hockey team.

Even with University approval, club sports athletes would have to wait until the 2006-07 academic year to see these changes take hold, because the University Resources Committee has already determined Brown’s budget for 2005-06, said Ben Creo ’07, UCS Campus Life Committee chair.

Fiore said he anticipates some problems even if these changes are implemented. Treating an athlete is “a whole dynamic program,” he said.

For example, a good trainer should know who on a given team is allergic to bee stings, who has had prior concussions or dislocations and what type of equipment each player is wearing. All of these factors are extremely relevant, as they influence the type of emergency care that is provided. If a lacrosse player suffers a head injury, the trainer must pull off his or her helmet quickly, but the procedure for doing so is different depending on the type of helmet.

Therefore, a trainer’s capabilities are severely limited if he or she does not intimately know the medical history of every player on a team, Fiore said.

Chafee

impact on persons with disabilities,” Donaghue said.

continued from page 3

No comment on Bolton In Washington, Chafee has drawn attention recently for what many believe will be his determining vote in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings on President George W. Bush’s nomination of John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations.

Democrats are hoping that Chafee will break with party lines and vote against Bolton’s confirmation. The Associated Press reported that Chafee has not commented on his intention since last week, when he said he planned to support Bolton even though “he would not be my choice” for the job. The Senate committee is expected to vote today.

While in Providence, Chafee would not comment on how he intended to vote, focusing on neurotechnology rather than international politics.

continued from page 1

the neuromotor prosthesis much like a cardiac pacemaker, eliminating the need for wires or bulky equipment. Michael Black, professor of computer science, is collaborating with them to improve the neural decoding device so it can create signals for more complex motor tasks, like grasping.

Donaghue praised the NIH for supporting the “slow, steady development of knowledge” that leads to innovation in the field, but he emphasized the need for continued support for development of neuromotor devices like Matthew’s and, particularly, support for their application to the public. “(Neurotechnology) is a set of research that takes NIH/NSFsupported basic science findings and translates them into something that will have a huge

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

ARTS & CULTURE TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2005 · PAGE 5

Rambling “bobrauschenbergamerica” mirrors art which inspired it

BY JOEL ROZEN STAFF WRITER

If anything, “bobrauschenbergamerica” — which opened last Thursday at Leeds Theatre with select performances earmarked for next weekend — will be received by the skeptics among us as prime evidence that, given a chance to traverse Brown’s main stage in even the most tacky, alienating and derivative emblems of pseudo-profound, performative Rococo, the average Brown theater major will fall all over himself to get his name on the playbill.

The title says it all. A rhapsody on themes of Americana, the play attempts to recreate on stage the “junk art” techniques employed by Robert Rauschenberg, an artist whose giant hodgepodges of silkscreen and mundane artifacts like tires and bed frames became popular in the 1950s and 60s. A oneword, showily chic melding of name and country, the title was chosen by playwright Charles Mee to signify the collapsing boundaries between artist and subject.

What comes out of this idea is a nonlinear medley of theatrical vignettes, staged to demonstrate the notion that “there is art to be found in everything” and, less formally, to prove that a play can, in fact, still be interesting even if it lacks any semblance of a story. Of course, such intentions would be captivating if they weren’t so damned unoriginal. From the looks of things, one might assume Mee’s hackjob to be some product of the 1960s, when performance art was in vogue and George Maciunas was busy founding Fluxus.

Like his predecessors, Mee organizes his play scene-byscene, each depicting a diverse element of the human experience. A mother (Aja Nisenson ’07) gazes lovingly at family portraits projected upon a hanging tablecloth; a romantically confused woman (Farra Ungar ’06) launches into a diatribe about the emotional differences between men and women through a mouthful of cake; a homosexual (Colin Baker ’08) gasps and sobs for a ponderous four and a half minutes over the random murder of his partner (Kurt Roediger ’07).

Unlike his predecessors, however, the playwright assembled this hyperbolic nonsense just a few years ago — 30 years after the swinging avant-gardes had

mobilized toward something new. By the time the ensemble is hauled out on stage for a bafflingly awkward attempt at line dancing — “No one line dances to the frickin’ Dixie Chicks!” a peeved spectator was overheard whispering to her date — it becomes painfully clear that instead of a nostalgic look at the 1960s’ creative output, the play is really just a wannabe output of the 1960s.

In his program notes, Director Stephen Buescher, a visiting professor from the Brown/Trinity Repertory consortium, cited the “dynamic pull between what is in the air and what is on the ground” as one of the main themes he tried to bring to his staging. If this were to be taken as his sole mission, Buescher might have crafted a production of some depth. “Bobrauschenberg” puts the Leeds stage to good use with a collage of action, placed on several makeshift planes above the ground.

Also to its credit, this bric-abrac performance has profited from a company of talent behind the scenes. With costumes ranging from the shimmery to the absurd — an impertinent chicken, its tail feathers cut from a tutu and comb from a red glove, is made visually interesting — Theatre, Speech and Dance designer Phillip Contic has once again proven his expertise. The partnership of the department’s set and lighting designers, Michael McGarty and Tim Hett, has yielded a few delightfully imaginative results as well.

Aiding Buescher in his quest for theatrical bootlegging, the play’s cast is disappointing — though this may not be entirely its fault. Of the show’s veteran actors, many have shown subtlety onstage in past productions, and yet here, the director seems to have made hammy scenery chewing a top priority in rehearsal. As Phil’s Girl and Phil the Trucker, Leta HirschmannLevy ’08 and Christian Luening ’05 overact through a romantic scene that is sure to entertain — once the two actors start rekindling the same sly comic irony they have brought to other roles.

Meanwhile, Alex Clifford ’06, devilishly funny in “Cannibal!

The Musical,” is left to flounder as Pizza Delivery Boy, a tonguein-cheek bit part with lines that might be darkly comic if he were directed to play them as such.

Having stabbed his sister “30 times,” the character is now looking for the man who ordered

a pizza — “I don’t go around picking up pizzas if nobody ordered one,” he says absurdly.

The contrast between his sinister past and current focus on food is key to delivering the role.

But as played, it feels like a joke without a punch line.

With all this working against it, what will save the play from its detractors? Here, an answer might be inferred from a monologue delivered by actor Roedinger halfway through the second act. Speaking out of character about its origins, he recalls that the play really came about in defense of artistic freedom. After all, one could look at a work of art and declare, “That’s a piece of junk.” But despite his play’s impulsive, tossed together appearance, he observes that spectators “don’t really hold it against the show.”

Though this is probably no more than Mee’s weak attempt at shielding his own work from the criticism it deserves, it might serve to buttress another agenda as well. For regardless of its nonjudgmental take on art, the show will never admit to robbing the audience of its own freedom to judge.

EDITORS’ PICKS APRIL 18 - APRIL 24 Thursday, April 21 at 3 p.m.

Professor of English Paula Vogel will read from and sign her new book, “The Long Christmas Ride Home” Brown Bookstore Friday, April 22 (runs until May 8) Boston Cyber Arts Festival Including the RISD Digital Media Thesis Show and Brown Electronic Computer Music Thesis Show For more information see www.bostoncyberarts.org Friday, April 22 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, April 23 at 7:30 p.m.

MEZCLA 10-year Anniversary Show Salomon 101 Tickets on sale starting April 13 in the P.O. www.mezclabrown.com

The Brown Daily Herald ADOCH Open House Wednesday, 1-4 p.m.

195 Angell St. Be there.

PAGE 6 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2005

Wallace continued from page 1 Wallace called it “socially irresponsible” to isolate the academic studies of science and religion, which are often regarded as disparate disciplines.

Both deeply philosophical and profoundly pragmatic, Wallace’s speech emphasized the fruitful implications of studying the contemplative mind, both from a third-person and from a critical first-person perspective.

The critical first-person perspective is typically neglected by science because the modern scientific paradigm reveres absolute objectivity and impersonality, rendering the subjective “taboo,” Wallace said. This subjective method would include critically examining one’s own experience during meditation as a form of academic study.

Wallace fervently argued that this type of subjective, introspective study of the contemplative mind is vital, when coupled with the more traditional thirdperson mode of scientific research. Furthermore, Wallace said this type of contemplative study should be worked into the formal American higher education system.

He cited his personal hero — 19th century American psychologist and philosopher William James, who said that an education that improved the individual’s ability to maintain sustained, voluntary attention would be “the education par excellence.”

Wallace spoke about a groundbreaking study he is currently leading, which he said will “scientifically prove meditation’s fruitful effects” through assessing changes in the brain functioning and behavior of subjects who meditate intensively every day for an entire year. Wallace spoke with a high regard for this type of empirical scientific study, but simultaneously noted that this study would only be proving a fact that “Buddhist monks have known for 100 generations already.”

Audience members reacted very positively to Wallace’s lecture, and most stayed throughout

the lengthy question and answer session.

“I really thought it was brilliant, his idea that you should train your introspective skills before you can study (the contemplative mind),” said Joshua Bocher ’08.

Pablo Gaston ’05 reacted similarly. “He raised some really interesting questions I had really never thought about before, in terms of using introspection as a tool,” he said.

Interlandi, who died in 2003, showed a great passion for contemplative studies, and wanted to create a concentration in the field. She studied Buddhism, feminist theory and eastern philosophy while at Brown, according to the Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life’s Web site.

Professor of Religious Studies Hal Roth, who had Interlandi as a student in RS 88: “Great Mystical Traditions of Asia,” said, “When the funds came up, (Wallace) was the first person I thought of.” The lecture, in addition to a two-day meditative retreat led by Wallace last weekend, was made possible both by the Interlandi family and by the Francis Wayland Collegium for Liberal Learning, with support from the Chaplain’s Office.

Roth, who has spearheaded a movement to establish contemplative studies as a concentration after Interlandi’s death, said he would like to sponsor at least one such retreat and lecture in contemplative studies every year at Brown. Brown’s contemplative studies program recently received a grant from the American Council of Learned Societies, which will help make this goal possible.

Roth said he was moved by Wallace’s lecture, particularly its emphasis on incorporating contemplative studies into the setting of the prestigious American university.

“I liked the way he phrased the dangers we face as a global society, and the importance of integrating the third person and first person critical modes of study,” he said.

Wallace, for one, seemed equally excited by Roth and his mission to bring a contemplative studies program to the University. “I’m very impressed by what’s happening here at Brown,” he said.

Senate vote seeks to reframe debate on illegal workers

BY MARY CURTIUS LOS ANGELES TIMES

WASHINGTON — The Senate is set to vote Tuesday on measures that could open the door to legalizing an estimated 500,000 immigrant farm workers and their families.

It will be the first test of strength in years between senators who support legalized status for some of the estimated 8 million to 10 million undocumented workers in the United States and those who advocate reducing illegal immigration by tightening enforcement and border controls.

Each side said Tuesday’s votes also could signal how much support there is in the Senate for the sort of comprehensive immigration reform President Bush has said he wants Congress to enact this session.

Bush’s proposals have met stiff opposition from some Republicans, particularly in the House, who say they would amount to amnesty for the majority of the nation’s illegal work force.

At the core of the Senate debate, which opened Monday, is a provision sponsored by Sen. Larry Craig, RIdaho, dubbed “AgJobs.” It would provide a two-step process for illegal farm workers to apply for legal temporary residency, and later, permanent residency. Any permanent resident then could apply for citizenship.

Under AgJobs, those who did at least 100 hours of agricultural work in the 18 months before the legislation became law could apply for temporary residency. If that status were granted, workers who then put in another 360 days in agriculture over the next three to six years could gain permanent residency. Their spouses and children also could apply for permanent residency.

Craig is offering AgJobs as an amendment to an $80 billion-plus emergency funding

Cianci continued from page 3 what the judge’s perspective and attitude in these situations are regarding how to view postBooker and what facts to take into consideration,” said Douglass Berman, law professor at The Ohio State University.

Berman went on to add that now, without the federal guidelines, “sentencing determinations in federal cases are subject to greater judicial discretion.

There are factors relating to the offense that came into consideration in the old sentencing that are no longer mandatory under the new conditions.” Nevertheless, Berman went on to say that “the guidelines continue to be followed in the majority of cases.”

According to David Zlotnick, a law professor at Roger Williams University who is familiar with the Cianci case, “I’d be willing to bet a substantial amount of money that he will get the same

bill designed mainly to pay for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Even if the Senate adopts Craig’s plan, it would face an uncertain fate. House negotiators likely would try to kill the measure in talks with the Senate over the emergency funding bill.

But the amendment’s advocates say that even if AgJobs does not become law, the Senate’s debate has focused attention on the need to reform immigration laws.

“It’s put farm workers on the front burner,” said Marc Grossman, spokesman for the United Farm Workers union.

AgJobs supporters say the amendment, co-sponsored by Sen. Edward Kennedy, DMass., would address chronic labor shortages in agriculture and improve living conditions for farm workers. Grossman said that as many as half of the nation’s estimated 500,000 illegal farm workers are in California, with the rest scattered across other farming states.

Critics say AgJobs would grant amnesty to immigrants who entered this country illegally, and would encourage thousands — even millions — to join them.

The measure is the result of years of negotiation between farmers and farm workers.

The White House has not publicly taken a position on Craig’s plan. But Bush has advocated a broader guest worker program that would allow millions of illegal immigrants to temporarily legalize their status in the United States, but would offer no path to citizenship.

AgJobs’ opponents on Monday offered an alternative that would temporarily legalize some farm workers but would give them no chance of achieving permanent residency.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., said his proposal would solve farmers’ labor problems withsentence.” This is because Torres’ sentence still fits in the middle of guideline range for a the corruption charge — 57 to 71 months in prison — and Torres denied both the defense’s request for leniency as well as the prosecution’s request for a 10-year prison term.

“Oftentimes when the sentencing guidelines distort the case, they sentence at the high and low ends of the case. Here the sentence is in the middle, which means that the judge thinks the sentencing guidelines capture the case pretty well,” Zlotnick added.

Additionally, Bowman pointed out that even before the Booker ruling, judges could part from the guidelines if they find mitigations not considered. Torres did not do so in the initial sentencing.

Zlotnick also describes Torres as “a mainstream judge (who) tries to apply the guidelines faithfully.” Ultimately, Zlotnick suggested that Torres would likely not stray from his initial ruling.

In the end, Berman said there is a certain absurdity and uncer-

out “rewarding” illegal workers.

“We do not put anybody on a path to legal status,” Chambliss said. “We grant them temporary status ... they will return to their native land.”

The votes Tuesday are to limit debate on the immigration measures.

Supporters of Craig’s proposal expressed cautious optimism that they could secure the 60 votes needed to limit debate and pave the way for the amendment to be added to the emergency funding bill.

Opponents, however, said they believed they could maintain a filibuster against it.

Chambliss’ measure faces opposition from Democrats and some moderate Republicans, meaning it faces an uphill battle overcoming a filibuster.

Craig, whose state of Idaho has a large farm economy, has been pushing for a floor vote on his measure for the last few years.

“While we have been trying since 9/11 to understand and reform our immigration laws, there has been a great deal of talk, but very little done,” he said Monday.

Craig argues that his bill would improve nation’s security by encouraging illegal farm workers to step forward, identify themselves and undergo background checks to achieve temporary residency.

In Monday’s debate, several Republican senators objected both to the substance of the proposal and to Craig’s insistence on attaching it to the emergency spending bill.

“The supplemental (bill) is not really the appropriate place to be debating immigration,” said Sen. Jon Kyl, RAriz., adding that AgJobs was fundamentally flawed because it offered a chance at citizenship to those who have broken the law. “We do not believe that great opportunity should be granted to someone on the basis of their illegality,” Kyl said. tainty in the Booker ruling that makes it hard to predict judicial sentences. While getting rid of the guidelines does limit a judge’s power in theory, “anything the judge wants to find appropriate, he can find a hook to include in the sentencing.”

Berman added.

“Ironically, judges end up having more power,” he said.

“The constitutional problem they identify and the fix don’t seem to be in harmony. It is as if they are trying to make us as confused as possible.”

According to Bowman, even though the Booker ruling “in the short term expands federal judicial sentencing discretion,” the long-term effects are “primarily dependent on what Congress is going to do.”

Congress is slated to review a bill that will attempt to restrict the increased judicial discretion that has come as a result of the Booker ruling. According to Zlotnick, it is highly unlikely that this bill will pass in its current form, although new legislation may emerge by this summer.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

WORLD & NATION TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2005 · PAGE 7

iPod devotees rocked by thefts

BY DEL QUENTIN WILBER THE WASHINGTON POST

WASHINGTON — The burglar visited every room of Sara Scalenghe’s District of Columbia apartment, stealing an expensive digital camera and a gold necklace passed down from her grandmother. But Scalenghe did not begin seething until she confirmed her biggest fear: Her new iPod had been swiped, too.

The digital music player held 50 favorite songs, ranging from Mozart to Italian rap. The device also contained thoughts on a looming dissertation and recorded conversations with friends. For Scalenghe, her privacy, as well as her home, was invaded.

“I know it sounds silly, but it changed everything. I was really upset,” said the 34-year-old graduate student. “I can’t explain it. But it hurt.”

Thefts of digital music players are rising, police say. And victims said they felt the thieves got an illicit glimpse at their musical tastes and even their “souls.”

Roughly the size of a cell phone, iPods and other MP3 players allow users to create unique playlists of thousands of songs that can be taken anywhere. The devices typically sell for $100 and up; the songs are an additional expense.

Some thieves also have taken the home computers or laptops on which the music was stored. In some cases, massive music libraries — built by painstakingly converting compact disc collections into digital format — have vanished.

Earlier this month a man was critically wounded when he was stabbed and robbed of his digital music player as he walked near the National Zoo. “IPods and MP3 players are becoming a more desirable item, unfortunately,” said Detective David Swinson of the D.C. police. “Burglars are taking

things they can carry with them, and iPods fall into that category. They are not going to take something they don’t have a market for or they don’t think they have a market for. They know they can sell iPods and MP3 players.”

Swinson said informants have told him “fences,” who traffic in stolen property, are putting out the word that they are in the market for the players.

Swinson, a former punk rock promoter who owns an iPod, said of his own device, “I don’t know how I survived without one. I would be destroyed if someone took it.”

Swinson helped Scalenghe get back her player, which was stolen in mid-January. A few weeks later, he was reviewing receipts of items sold to a pawnshop when he came across it, court records show.

The detective, who declined to comment on the case, called Scalenghe and asked her to name the songs she had on her player, she said.

The songs and a serial number matched the device in the pawnshop. Within a few days, Scalenghe said, she got her $300 device back.

“When I got that phone call, I said, ‘No way,’ ” said Scalenghe.

“I was so ecstatic,” she said.

“It was such a special thing to me. It was a jewel.”

Police arrested a 43-year-old District man in the break-in, court records show.

Sean Bennett, 34, a University of Colorado medical student touring several East Coast hospitals, lost his device when a thief ransacked his car in January.

While he grabbed lunch nearby, someone smashed his Nissan Pathfinder’s rear window and grabbed his guitar, a leather jacket and his new iPod, which had been given to him by his girlfriend and inscribed: “Sean Rocks! XOXO.”

Man gets 8 1/3 years for firebombing SUVs

BY DAVID ROSENZWEIG LOS ANGELES TIMES

LOS ANGELES — A graduate physics student was sentenced Monday to eight years and four months in prison for firebombing sport utility vehicles at a Hummer dealership last year to protest the auto industry’s contribution to pollution.

William Jensen Cottrell, a 24year-old doctoral candidate in physics at the California Institute of Technology, was sentenced after being convicted on seven counts of arson and one of conspiracy.

Cottrell was also ordered to pay $3.58 million by U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner. The defense said it would appeal.

Cottrell, who testified that SUV dealers were “evil,” was spared an additional 30 years behind bars when the jury acquitted him of the most serious charge of using a destructive device during a crime of violence.

Cottrell must serve a minimum of 85 percent of the sentence.

Two other suspects in the Aug. 22, 2003 string of arsons and vandalism are fugitives. Tyler Johnson, a Caltech graduate, and his girlfriend, Michie Oe, have been named as unindicted coconspirators. They are believed to have fled the country.

Beverly Reid O’Connell, the lead prosecutor, had sought a sentence that would have sent Cottrell to prison for 30 years to life.

Cottrell, Johnson and Oe are blamed for causing nearly $5 million in property damage during a nighttime escapade in which about 125 vehicles and a building were damaged or destroyed at four auto dealerships in the Los Angeles area.

The case attracted wide attention after the Earth Liberation Front, a loose association of militant environmentalists, claimed responsibility.

The defense contended that Johnson and Oe duped Cottrell into joining them on what was supposed to be a foray to spraypaint environmental protest slogans on gas-guzzling SUVs. Before the trial began, U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner ruled out testimony about Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism marked by an impaired ability to understand social situations. Cottrell claimed he suffered from the malady.

Asperger’s syndrome — a neurologically based developmental disorder named after the Austrian pediatrician who first recognized it in 1944 — impairs a person’s ability to interact with others, but often comes coupled with powerful intellectual gifts.

Sufferers tend to not understand facial expressions, body language and other nonverbal communications, and thus take statements literally, missing implied meanings and subtexts.

They often lack empathy, blurting out truthful but unvarnished statements. Once set in a course of action, they are slow to process new information that suggests they should change what they are doing.

Testifying in his own defense, Cottrell said he was “mad” and left immediately after Johnson threw the first of at least seven Molotov cocktails into SUVs. About 15 vehicles and a parts building were set ablaze as the fire spread.

Federal prosecutors accused Cottrell of trying to “write himself out of the script” by placing all of the blame on Johnson and Oe. They said he had been actively involved in planning and carrying out the arsons.

Among the witnesses called by the government were fellow Caltech graduate students. One said Cottrell told him he was concerned about possibly having been caught on a surveillance videotape as he helped fill bottles with gasoline at a Pasadena service station. Another said Cottrell asked her to provide him with a false alibi for the morning of the arsons.

PAGE 8 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2005

Softball continued from page 12 “Uchie pitched fabulously.

She really hit her spots and kept the ball low. She also had great velocity, which the hitters were unable to catch up with,” Jenkins said.

In the top of the first, after Pierre-Louis hit an infield single, Jenkins hit her second two-run

Baseball continued from page 12 ond on a sacrifice fly, but it was the last time the Big Green generated any offense. Tews did not surrender a hit or walk for the rest of the game, evening his record at 2-2.

“He’s a good guy to throw that seven-inning game,” said starting pitcher Shaun McNamara ’06, a Herald sports staff writer. “He works quick, he doesn’t walk guys, and he (keeps) his pitch count low.

He’s just a great ballplayer.

Whatever we ask of him, he gets the job done.”

“The second through seventh innings just breezed by,” Tews said. “There was never any nervousness or doubt that we would lose.”

The Bears plated three more runs in the final three innings, with Bobby Wiginton ’05 doubling in Jimmy Lowe ’05 in the fifth to give Tews a lead he would not relinquish.

In game two, the runs came in bunches. Trailing 2-1 after three innings, the Bears exploded for six runs in both the fourth and fifth innings off of Faiola. Paul Christian ’06 led the attack with a two-run double in the fourth and a two-run homer in the fifth.

“It didn’t seem to me that (Faiola) had his best stuff,” Wiginton said. “(But) we jumped on him early. Everyone

homer of the weekend, giving Bruno an early two-run lead.

Jenkins picked up her third RBI in the top of the third when she drove in Fleitell on a fielder’s choice. Omokaro was sensational, giving up only two hits to the Lions.

The trend of a tough loss following a good win continued in the back end of the doubleheader, in which Bruno failed to score in the first inning for the first time all weekend. Columbia got the scoring started with an was aggressive at the plate.”

Each starter had at least one hit in the offensive onslaught.

Danny Hughes ’06 led the way with four, while Kutler had three hits and two runs and Christian had two hits and four RBIs. Lowe added a three-run shot in the fifth.

“Everybody’s starting to swing the bats at the same time,” Hughes said. “When the guys (at the bottom of the order) are hitting over .300, that just shows you that you’ve got a good lineup. … It’s contagious (and) it’s tough on the other team when, even (when) you get out, you’re still roping the ball.”

Jeff Dietz ’08 pitched eight solid innings, giving up eight hits and two earned runs while improving to 2-0 on the season. “(Dietz has) the perfect pitcher’s mentality in that he forgets very quickly and he doesn’t let any outside factors get to him,” Drabinski said.

“Nothing bothers him, and he can make adjustments on the go.”

The Bears carried Saturday’s momentum into Sunday and jumped to a 9-0 lead after the first four innings of the first game. The first four runs came with two outs in the second when Tews connected on a 3-2 offering for his first career grand slam.

“He’s playing awesome right now,” Hughes said. “It’s a huge boost for us to have someone to rely on as our number one

unearned run in the bottom of the second, but Brown answered in the top of the third when Fleitell hit an RBI single that drove in Berkes.

The Lions broke the game open in the fourth inning, scoring three runs while Brown made two costly errors. Brown scored one run in the top of the fifth inning, but it was not enough.

“Every team in the league is definitely beatable. It is nice to get the first wins of the season,

but we really would have liked a sweep,” Omokaro said.

Berkes pitched well again, going six strong innings, giving up six hits and four runs, none of which were earned. “Marissa pitched really well for us — we just weren’t able to make some of the plays behind her,” Jenkins said.

The Bears look to start a winning streak against Fairfield University on Wednesday in Fairfield, Conn., followed by more than a week of home games.

pitcher and then step (into the batter’s box) and not miss a step.”

The Bears scored two more in the third frame and three in the fourth. Batting cleanup in place of an injured Larson, Christian hit a two-run homer, his team-leading eighth of the season.

Cramphin gave up only one run and two hits over five innings despite walking five batters.

“I thought he had good stuff, but his command wasn’t there,” Drabinski said. “In the third, fourth and fifth when he had his command, he just breezed through. If he had his command, he would have pitched a complete game shutout.”

In the final game, the Big Green grabbed an early 3-0 lead, getting runs in each of the first three innings. With the bases loaded in the fifth, the Bears got a gift. Tews hit a double-play ball to third, but Dartmouth third baseman Marty Hebert made an errant throw, allowing co-captain Chris Contrino ’05 and Devin Thomas ’07 to score.

The Bears took a 4-3 lead in the eighth when Christian doubled down the left field line to score Wiginton. Two batters later, Lowe laid down a suicide squeeze with the bases loaded on a pitch above his head, pushing the score to 5-3.

Dartmouth came back in the bottom of the inning to tie it. With the go-ahead run on

second and one out, co-captain Chris Davidson ’05 came in to get a groundout and a strikeout to end the threat.

“Chris came (into) a tough spot,” Hughes said. “And he threw awesome. That’s just what we needed from him.”

Davidson stifled the Dartmouth bats from there on out, pitching the next three innings without giving up a hit.

“He pretty much knew that if he threw well, it was only a matter of time before we scored,” Cramphin said. “He just stepped up like the captain that he is.”

The Bears finally scored in the 11th inning when Tews legged out a potential inningending double play with the bases loaded. Co-captain Jeff Nichols ’05 came home with the winning run, and Davidson closed out the Big Green in the bottom of the inning.

“It was a great feeling (to win all four),” Cramphin said.

“A great bus ride back.”

The Bears will travel to Ithaca, N.Y., Wednesday to make up a doubleheader with Cornell. If they sweep, they will have the same record as division-leading Harvard, whom they play four times this weekend at Aldrich Field. But the Bears are only focusing on their next game.

“We’re not looking towards Harvard yet, because if we lose at Cornell it doesn’t matter,” Drabinski said. “We know that we have to take care of business.”

Anti-piracy legislation has a bitter pill for studios

BY JON HEALEY LOS ANGELES TIMES

Congress is poised to pass a bill ratcheting up the penalties for movie and music bootlegging, handing Hollywood a longsought victory in its drive to prosecute pirates.

But the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005, which the House is expected to approve Tuesday, includes a bitter pill for the studios: It would legalize products that electronically snip offensive scenes or words from DVDs. The measure — which President Bush is expected to sign — would effectively terminate a lawsuit that film directors and Hollywood studios brought against ClearPlay Inc., a company whose electronic filters let viewers skip over violent, suggestive or profane sections of DVDs. A federal judge in Colorado has yet to rule on the case.

Sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the bill would make it a federal felony to record a movie as it was being projected in a theater. It also would ban offering a movie on a file-sharing network such as Kazaa before it goes on sale at video stores, or a song before it is released for sale.

The measure would set a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine for first offenders. The maximum penalties would double for second or later offenses.

Gymnastics continued from page 12 offer athletic scholarships at all — and other schools that offer fewer than six gymnastics scholarships must petition for a place at the event. Brown petitioned for consideration for the first time this year, receiving berths for three gymnasts at Nationals.

Bruno’s top gymnast, Amber Smith ’06, was unable to compete in the all-around competition because she is recovering from a season-ending elbow injury.

Cavett and Forziat’s performances are a positive ending to an otherwise difficult season. The team, already small in size, struggled with injury after injury during the regular season. For now, the tumblers will enjoy a few weeks of much-welcomed rest before commencing summer training for next year’s season.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

SPORTS EXTRA TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2005 · PAGE 9

M. tennis continues to roll with wins over N.Y. schools

BY MATT NICHOLSON SPORTS STAFF WRITER

The men’s tennis team, now 20-5 and ranked No. 38 nationally, traveled to New York this weekend, picking up a 6-1 victory over Cornell and a 5-2 victory against Columbia to move to 4-0 in its Ivy League season.

The Bears imposed their will against the Big Red, sweeping the doubles competition and heading into the singles with the point.

In singles, co-captain Adil Shamasdin ’05 handed a lopsided 6-4, 6-1 defeat to junior Brett McKeon at first singles while co-captain Nick Goldberg ’05 similarly dominated sophomore Nick Brunner 6-2, 6-1 at second singles. Eric Thomas ’07 contributed a 7-5, 6-1 win at third singles to clinch the match. A 6-3, 4-6(8) win at fourth singles by Richard Moss ’06 and a 7-5, 6-2 win at fifth by Phillip Charm ’06 were the icing on the cake.

The match against Columbia began with a rare 8-2 loss by the

W. crew continued from page 12 the varsity four won by 12 seconds, and the novice eight and four dominated their competitors with 18- and 24-second wins, respectively. The five-boat sweep was the first of the season for the women and a trend that they hope will continue.

“We were successful because we went in with confidence and relaxation and we didn’t let them get to us,” Dearborn said.

The women commended the gutsy performances of the Terrier boats and were pleased to come out on top. “The team as a whole did really well.

Everyone pulled themselves together after our last race and fought hard,” said rower Kelley Whittbold ’07.

Next weekend, the women continue Ivy League competition, hosting Columbia and Cornell on the Seekonk River.

“We are always looking to move forward. This race was a step in the right direction, and we will carry that energy with us,” Starr said.

duo of Shamasdin and Goldberg, but Charm and Moss answered back at second doubles with an 8-4 victory. Thomas and Saurabh Kohli ’08 secured the point with an 8-6 win at third doubles, fighting off the rally of Columbia’s fraternal duo, Jimmy and Martin Moore, who survived four match points before succumbing.

“The doubles play was definitely a key factor — our second and third teams played with a lot of heart and showed a lot of fight,” Shamasdin said.

“We knew that Columbia had been very tough in their first four Ivy matches, winning just about every third set that they played, but we took that as a personal challenge and … we didn’t feel that they would be able to do that to us, because of our confidence,” said Head Coach Jay Harris.

The two wins leave Brown as the only undefeated team in the Ivies and puts it in excellent position to win the Ivy Championship with three

“It was a real morale boost for us that we hope draw on for the rest of the season,” Dearborn said.

The Seekonk River was lined with fans ready to watch the men’s team’s first home race of the season against Northeastern on Saturday. The first-year boats took to the water at 2 p.m., with the first boat winning in Brown’s only victory of the day by almost two seconds. The junior varsity boat lost in a tough contest that highlighted Northeastern’s strength and endurance, and the varsity eight ultimately came up short despite a strong display of power and mental toughness.

Plagued by illnesses that disrupted the previous week’s practices, the varsity boat seemed to fuel itself on willpower and determination alone to keep the race close.

“We are a very evenly matched crew (against Northwestern). Off the start, they got ahead, but 500 meters into the race we took a move, which put us three seats up on them. Then they moved back to about even with us halfway,” said rower Arden Beddoes ’05.

Northeastern has done well

matches remaining in the season. “It is really tough … to go down to New York City and beat the hottest team in the league 52 on their own courts,” Harris said. “Our guys just battled all weekend, and we are very proud about the wins.”

Brown hosts Dartmouth on Friday at 2 p.m. in its last home game of the season. For Shamasdin and Goldberg, these will be their final collegiate matches at home.

“At this point, all we worry about is that we play Dartmouth on Friday and that we need to get better this week … because they will fight like crazy for a win,” Harris said. The Bears also look forward to their match at No. 43 Harvard this Sunday, a contest that could determine the Ivy League champion.

“Our goal is to go undefeated in the Ivies, and whatever happens in other matches … we only have one thing in mind, and that is to destroy any team that is in our way towards the title,” Shamasdin said.

against other top colleges, so the Bears were prepared for the back-and-forth battle that took place over the course of the race.

Ultimately, the Huskies managed to gut it out at the finish line, winning by two seconds.

“We knew it was going to be the kind of race it was,” Beddoes said. “We thought it would be tight all the way down the course. Northeastern has had some more races than we have, but it was definitely a promising race for us.”

“The outcome of the race was obviously disappointing, but hopefully some serious training over the next month will bring us up to speed,” said rower Evan Panich ’07.

With the crew’s next match set for Saturday at Dartmouth, the Bears want to take advantage of the promise they saw in their race against Northeastern.

“We are pretty confident going into Dartmouth. They get on the water late, so the learning curve for them is really steep. We don’t know what to expect, but it will be great competition,” Panich said.

“Both crews are going in to win it, and so it should be a good race,” Beddoes said.

Hey, Class of 2009: Brown Daily Herald Open House Wednesday, 1-4 p.m.

195 Angell St.

Ashley Hess / Herald

The women’s rugby team won the consolation bracket this weekend at the Beast of the East rugby tournament.

No. 14 Cornell rides first-half run to 11-8 victory over Bears

BY BEN MILLER SPORTS EDITOR

A late first-half run was too much for the women’s lacrosse team, who dropped an 11-8 decision to No. 14 Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y., on Saturday. The defeat leaves the Bears — who are currently in sixth place in the Ivy League at 1-2 — with a 37 overall record.

Offensively, the Bears were again led by Amie Biros ’07, who continued her explosive scoring streak with three goals and one assist for the Bears. The reigning Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week, Biros has put up 12 points in the last three games.

Brown started the game with a 2-0 lead in the opening eight minutes thanks to goals by Biros and Sarah Passano ’05. The Big Red, however, controlled the rest of the half, notching four straight goals. Biros stopped the rally with her second score of the day, but the Big Red struck again with four seconds left to take a 5-3 halftime lead.

The second half was back and forth, as Bruno and Cornell traded goals three times to keep the margin constant at 8-6 with just under 20 minutes left to play. Jen Redd ’07, Ashley

Holden ’06 and co-captain Kate Staley ’06 provided the scoring for Bruno during that time, while Biros and Lindsey Glennon ’06 recorded assists.

The Big Red, however, tallied two consecutive goals — including the third of what would be four goals for first-year Katherine Simmons — to take a 10-6 lead with 9:25 remaining.

Half a minute later, Holden added her second goal of the game, but Simmons responded with her final score. Biros recorded her fifth point of the day at just under the fiveminute mark, but neither team was able to break through the rest of the day for the final 11-8 margin.

In goal, co-captain Julia Southard ’05 picked up a gamehigh 10 ground balls and recorded 12 saves. The Big Red outshot the Bears 31-17, but Bruno was more adept at draw controls, winning 14 to Cornell’s six. The Big Red offense, however, did a better job maintaining ball possession, garnering 11 turnovers compared to Brown’s 25.

The Bears will return to action Wednesday with another Ivy contest against No. 19 Yale at 4 p.m. on Stevenson Field.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

EDITORIAL/LETTERS TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2005 · PAGE 10 S T A F F

E D I T O R I A L

Why your vote still matters Students who wish to vote in elections for the Undergraduate Council of Students and Undergraduate Finance Board face few choices on their ballots. But that doesn’t mean they should not log on to WebCT by 10 p.m. tonight to make their voices heard.

Last year, although runoff rules were followed for the first time in years, observers complained about the legitimacy of the outcome in the presidential race, leading to a long process of election reform.

This year, due to the scarcity of candidates, runoffs won’t happen. But UCS faces a potentially far more severe threat to its legitimacy if students don’t turn out to vote. UCS needs a mandate to operate effectively. The University administration will pay more attention to UCS proposals if the student body is behind its representatives. And the more votes cast, the less time UCS will have to spend next year promoting awareness of its actions and the more time it will be able to devote to accomplishing tangible goals.

As we wrote last week, it is disappointing that next year, students who are not bothering to face the voters now will be appointed to fill vacant UCS spots in internal elections.

Those candidates who care enough to collect signatures, write position statements and talk to students across campus should be commended. A vote for a candidate in an uncontested race is, if nothing else, a statement of support for those students who actually do want to make this University a better place and are willing to go through the election process to do it.

We sometimes hear arguments that the best way to express displeasure with government is by not voting.

However, those who complain that student government at Brown is ineffective will only further cripple the institutions here by not supplying them with a mandate. If students don’t vote, UCS representatives won’t feel an obligation to get to work.

All of this ignores the fact that there are interesting and competitive races for UCS president and UFB chair with candidates who do present markedly different choices. So log on, read their platforms and cast your ballots. Voting takes a minute. A student government without a mandate lasts a whole year.

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

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 Laurie-Ann Paliotti, Sr. Advertising Manager Susan Dansereau, Office Manager 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

Allison Kwong, Night Editor Kate Worteck, Chessy Brady, Copy Editors Senior Staff Writers Camden Avery, Alexandra Barsk, Eric Beck, Jonathan Herman, MaryCatherine Lader, Ben Leubsdorf, Jane Porter, Stu Woo Senior Sports Writers Bernie Gordon, Jilane Rodgers Staff Writers Anna Abramson, Justin Amoah, Shawn Ban, Zachary Barter, Danielle Cerny, Christopher Chon, Stewart Dearing, Gabriella Doob, Phillip Gara, Aidan Levy, 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, Ian Cropp, Justin Goldman, Katie Larkin, Matt Lieber, Helen Luryi, Shaun McNamara, Madeleine Marecki, Ben Miller, Matt Nicholson, 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

DANIEL L AWLOR

LETTERS University’s rationale for cutting ASL funding is unfounded and insulting To the editor: In response to “Students want U. to reconsider sign language program cuts” (April 15), I would like to add as a past student of the program that, American Sign Language at Brown has enriched my life and my involvement in the global deaf community. One reason the University claims that the ASL program at Brown is being discontinued is that unlike other languages, it cannot be used when studying abroad. I studied abroad in Seville, Spain, where I was self-conscious of my Spanish capabilities and looked for other ways to delve into the culture and people of a foreign country. I found that outlet through LSE (Spanish Sign Language) classes, where all my classmates were Spanish and my professor was deaf.

Another of the University’s arguments is that ASL is not relevant to undergraduate concentrations. I am a Community Health concentrator. Using the skills I gained in ASL and knowledge of deaf culture,

I developed my final project in a public health class on the problems that people who are deaf face when accessing health care services. I conducted interviews with members of the Deaf community, Dept. of Health, and the Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

Another reason the University puts forth for ending ASL classes is that the program needs to be expanded and developed in order to not be “deficient.” Yet I was able to volunteer as a counselor and translator at a summer camp for children who were deaf because of my experiences here with ASL When the University labels the current ASL classes as “deficient,” I take it as an insult to the beautiful experiences that I have had.

Jessica Zerillo ’05 April 16

C O R R E C T I O N In an April 15 article, “Students want U. to reconsider sign language program cuts,” The Herald incorrectly said Jim Lipsky had not been informed that the University had been considering cutting the American Sign Language cuts. According to Lipsky, he had been warned by the director and associate director of the Center for Language Studies that the Academic Priorities Committee was considering cutting the program. The APC made the decision to eliminate ASL through its own discussions, and no members of the Center for Language Studies department, including the directors, were involved in the decisionmaking process.

Also, the first quote attributed to Lipsky should have read as follows: “One of the students who was participating in the program heard about the program change when she was in the academic priorities committee meeting, (and) the student told her instructor and who then passed it on to me.”

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

OPINIONS TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2005 · PAGE 11

Challenging Simmons and the Rainbow Coalition GUEST COLUMN BY DARA BAYER AND YESENIA BARRAGAN White supremacy has not gone away. It is a system of institutionalized racism that suppresses the self-government of people of color.

It exists right here at Brown. In March 2002, President Ruth Simmons hired notorious ex-NYPD chief William Bratton to advise her on whether or not to arm the Brown police. Bratton instituted random friskings of pedestrians in New York communities of color, leading to the murder of Amadou Diallo, an innocent, unarmed West African man. After Diallo’s slaughter, many students of color on campus were not so quick to trust Bratton, but apparently Ruth Simmons was: She took his advice and armed the Brown police.

Simmons made a further mockery of the idea of “public safety” when she let the perpetrators of a hate crime against two queer students of color on campus off the hook. As often happens at Brown, where there is no consistent hate crime protocol, the Simmons administration swept the incident under the rug because one perpetrator’s father was a prominent politician.

Perhaps to smooth over tension around these events, Simmons recently hired Mark Porter to preside over Brown’s arming process. The Herald identifies Porter as a good choice by suggesting that his African-American heritage will appease minorities on campus and give “credibility” to arming the police (“Porter will be the first black chief in RI,” March 22).

This year, Anti-Racist Action has attempted to link struggles against such racism in the United States to international struggles against white supremacy as an empire.

We are pressuring the Simmons administration to withdraw any investments it may have in the colonial settler state of Israel. In a highly undemocratic response, Simmons refuses to even disclose Brown’s investments.

Meanwhile, students tell us not to worry about such things because Condoleezza Rice is taking care of the problem through the much-vaunted “peace process.”

Closer observation shows, however, that Rice presides over the diplomatic wing of the U.S. empire, and this sham “peace process” serves to pacify Palestinian selfdefense while the Israeli military continues to murder

civilians.

Here we see Simmons, Porter and Rice all deeply implicated in the system of white supremacy. And yet there seems to be confusion on this campus, where some have identified these very leaders as “anti-racists.” Simmons, Porter and Rice are all black, right? Isn’t the presence of black people in the bureaucracy “progressive?”

ARA refuses to wallow in this confusion. We assert that a racist bureaucracy is still racist even if it is lead by people of color. We find ourselves living in the era of what we

The ruling class can rest assured that at Brown, Simmons will keep some students of color satisfied and can expect the support of a fan club of white liberals who, regardless of what she does, will defend her as their only black friend. call the Rainbow Coalition, a form of white supremacy run by a “progressive” ruling class including people of color. After the national liberation era, the “white man” cannot govern by his own cultural justifications alone; white supremacy can only survive with a veneer of phony multiculturalism and “diversity” from above. When DPS racially profiled two Brown students on the Main Green while looking out for “vandals” from Hope High School, many antiracists on campus mobilized against the arming process. Simmons, a master of public relations, pacified them by showing up at an organizing meeting to convince students of color that she “understood” their frus-

tration because of her own identity. After this show of sympathy, she proceeded to arm DPS anyway.

Now her politically correct supporters on this campus tell ARA that we should not fight Simmons because she is a black woman and she is doing the best she can. This is why while white men like Harvard president Lawrence Summers actually come under fire when they support racist policies, the ruling class can rest assured that at Brown, Simmons will keep some students of color satisfied and can expect the support of a fan club of white liberals who, regardless of what she does, will defend her as their only black friend.

The Rainbow Coalition was created at the expense of heroic anti-racist struggles. Our forebears made many gains, but now their histories are being appropriated and co-opted as the cultural justifications for the existence of our new rulers. The strength of these justifications places Simmons, Rice and Porter as the vanguard of institutionalized racism in our day.

In response, we are striving for the rise of new antiracist movements. In this, movements for the autonomy of people of color and a genuine multiracialism are the same struggle. Whether we organize in people-of-color only communities or whether we organize in multiracial groups, it is time to take on the Rainbow Coalition. The time has come for a new assault on white supremacy and empire, to organize in response to how history has moved and how our overseers’ methods have changed, to sweep aside all aspiring rulers, regardless of their color, to embrace all sincere and committed people in a non-sectarian, but uncompromising path to self-government.

Anti-Racist Action has made some humble steps in this direction this year, standing up to Simmons and calling for divestment from apartheid in Israel. Please join us in the continuation of this struggle at a rally Wednesday, 1 p.m. at University Hall, where we will hold the Simmons administration accountable for its support for white supremacy.

Dara Bayer ’08 and Yesenia Barragan ’08 are members of ARA.

NICHOLAS SWISHER

Five reasons why Bolton should represent America Congressional Republicans are having a difficult time defending President Bush’s choice of John Bolton as United Nations Ambassador. Democrats are letting loose a barrage of criticisms against the former arms-control officer, turning his confirmation hearings into a political circus. Bolton has been called a “quintessential kiss-up, kick-down sort of guy” who “abuses his authority with little people;” Senator Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., referred to him as a “bully” in need of “anger management.” I’m here to give Republicans facing these callous attacks five reasons that John Bolton should represent the United States in the United Nations I trust that these five reasons alone will easily win over any Bolton-doubters in Congress.

Number One: He has a mustache. The Washington Post recently ran an article that rebuked Mr. Bolton’s personal grooming: “Tidy the curling, unruly locks at the nape of his neck, tame the volume at the crown, reel in the wings flapping above his ears, and broker a compromise between his sand-colored mop and his snow-colored mustache.” But I don’t want my ambassador to look like a dandified fop. Bolton doesn’t comb his hair or trim his ’stache for anyone. Perhaps one day his mustache will join the ranks of famous American mustachioed politicos such as Chester Arthur, Grover Cleveland and Howard Taft.

Number Two: Bolton is undiplomatic. Just look at the man’s style. Says Richard Perle, a former Pentagon adviser who has worked with Bolton at the American Enterprise Institute: “He is very tough-minded and is not romantic about trusting promises, particularly promises of regimes that have a history of saying whatever they need to say to accomplish their purposes.” He gruffly advocates hard-line foreign policy and has repeatedly spoken of single-handedly overthrowing the North Korean regime. Bolton is like Rambo, except less tactful — exactly we need for a U.N. diplomat.

Number Three: He has no respect for the United

Nations Congressional Democrats are making a great deal over Bolton’s 1994 comments pertaining to the United Nations — like how he once said of the U.N. headquarters, “If (it) lost 10 stories, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.” He said of the Security Council, “If I were redoing the Security Council, I’d have one permanent member: the United States.” It certainly sounds like he has no respect for the United Nations. Perfect! The United States hasn’t given a damn about the United Nations for the past two decades, so why should we start now?

The United States hasn’t given a damn about the United Nations for the past two decades, so why should we start now? Appointing an ambassador with a deep respect for the U.N. would be completely un-American.

Appointing a considerate ambassador with a deep respect for the United Nations would be completely unAmerican.

Number Four: His name is “Bolton.” For all I know, John Bolton could be Michael Bolton’s comparatively caustic older brother. Appointing Mr. Bolton to the United Nations brings to mind the messianic image of Michael Bolton standing upon a craggy plateau belting out the United States’ song to Turkmenistan and

Myanmar. Michael Bolton and John Bolton should be permanent fixtures on the list with grandmas, apple pie and baseball.

Number Five: He’s universally hated. What’s more American than being hated by everyone else in the world?

According to The New Republic, North Korea has called Bolton “rude,” “human scum,” “an animal running about recklessly” and “an ugly fellow who cannot be regarded as a human being.” Kim Jong Il is certainly a good judge of character. An aggressive, dislikeable, uncouth ruffian?

That sounds exactly like the sort of man who would reinforce the United States’ image in the world!

So there you have it — the five indisputable reasons John Bolton should be confirmed as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Senate Democrats can huff and puff but it seems they’ll fail to blow John Bolton’s house down. Why? Their criticisms of Bolton are identical to Republicans’ praise.

Democrats contend that Bolton is bullheaded and ideologically-driven; Republicans agree and say that’s exactly what the United Nations needs. With these kinds of arguments, there’s no way the Democrats can win.

The Democrats could have used Bolton’s nomination as a chance to reconsider the United States’ position in the United Nations, burst a hole in the Republicans’ unified front, and regain respect for multilateral foreign policy. Instead, it’s turned into a narrow discussion about some insulting comments Bolton made in 1994.

Regrettably, Congressional Democrats squandered yet another opportunity and turned Bolton’s confirmation into a pointless spectacle.

If Senate Democrats cannot convince the American public that we deserve otherwise, Bolton should be confirmed as ambassador. He has all the qualifications — come on, he does sport a great mustache.

Nicholas Swisher ’08 listens to Michael Bolton.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

SPORTS TUESDAY APRIL 19, 2005 · PAGE 12

Softball splits weekend with Cornell, Columbia

Ashley Hess / Herald

Courtney Jenkins ’07 hit a pair of two-run home runs as the Bears split two doubleheaders.

BY JUSTIN GOLDMAN SPORTS STAFF WRITER

The softball team picked up its first two league wins of the season over the weekend against Cornell and Columbia to improve its record to 2-6 in league play and 8-13 overall. The wins this weekend showcased great pitching from the Bears’ senior co-captain Uchenna Omokaro ’05. The Bears also displayed an offensive burst resulting in nine runs in their first game against Cornell.

In the first contest of the weekend, Brown exploded offensively, getting 11 hits against Big Red pitching. The tone was set early when Rachel Fleitell ’06 led the game off with a single and was driven in on a double by Jaimie Wirkowski ’06.

With Wirkowski on second, Courtney Jenkins ’07 came to the plate and promptly launched a two-run home run over the leftfield fence to give Brown a threerun lead. “I knew the Cornell pitcher well because I faced her last year. I was thinking line drive, not home run, but then it went over the fence,” Jenkins said.

In the top of the third inning, Wirkowski made her presence felt again, hitting a solo homer to center to push the lead to 4-0.

The Bears were able to tack on one more run in the bottom of the inning to give themselves a 5-0 lead. The five runs were more than enough for Omokaro, who had a stellar game on the mound, pitching a complete game while striking out two, only giving up one hit and no earned runs. The 9-1 victory improves her record to 5-5 overall for the season.

Offensively, Wirkowski was a standout, going 3-for-4 while driving in two for the Bears. The outburst offensively is a great sign for Brown as the Ivy League season continues. “We were mentally prepared to hit. They are a good hitting team, too, and we were just excited to play BROWN SPORTS SCOREBOARD TUESDAY, APRIL 19 SOFTBALL: at Fairfield (DH)

another good hitting team,” Omokaro said.

Jenkins added, “We are all good hitters. Rachel started off very well for us, and once one person starts hitting well, it has a domino effect on the team.”

The luck for Bruno did not carry over into the second game, as the Big Red took a 3-2 victory. Brown had another solid game offensively, getting 10 hits in the contest, but after tacking on two runs in the first inning, the Bears were shut out the rest of the game while stranding eight runners.

“We need to give ourselves more of an opportunity to score and just keep fighting,” Omokaro said.

In the top of the first inning, Fleitell got things started with a double down the right-field line.

A bunt single by LaQuisha Pierre-Louis ’08 moved Fleitell to third. After a line out and a strike out, Bruno executed an excellent double steal in which Pierre-Louis stole second while Fleitell was able to steal home as Brown caught the Big Red napping.

The next batter, Amy Baxter ’08, hit a single down the rightfield line to bring in PierreLouis. Unfortunately, those would be the only runs Bruno would get the entire game, as they were unable to put pressure on the Big Red and unable to get the big hit to break the game open.

With the score tied at two in the bottom of the sixth, Cornell put its first runner, Ashley Wolf, on base on an infield single, and she advanced to third on two passed balls. She was driven in on a sacrifice fly by Sarah Ruben, which proved to be the winning run.

Marissa Berkes ’05 pitched well for Bruno in the loss. She pitched six innings, giving up seven hits and only two earned runs while striking out two.

On Sunday, Bruno traveled to New York City to face Columbia.

The first game had a familiar trend, as Brown was able to score early. The early offense was all Omokaro would need as she pitched her second straight shutout. see SOFTBALL, page 8

Baseball in contention for Ivy crown after sweep of Big Green

Ashley Hess / Herald

Chris Davidson ’05 pitched 3 2/3 innings of hitless ball in Brown’s extrainning victory over Dartmouth in the game two of Sunday’s doubleheader. the first game Saturday and hit a

BY CHARLIE VALLELY SPORTS STAFF WRITER grand slam in the opening game The baseball team could not Sunday, the Bears (16-14, 8-2 Ivy have asked for a better weekend. League) dominated the Big The Bears swept two double- Green both on the mound and headers from Dartmouth in at the plate.

“It was a complete weekend,” Hanover, N.H., and put themselves in prime position to chal- said starting pitcher James lenge Harvard for the Red Rolfe Cramphin ’06, who started the Division title. Led by Bryan Tews first game on Sunday. “You ’07, who threw a two-hitter in never really have weekends

where the pitching, batting and defense come together. … We pretty much beat Dartmouth every way you could possibly think of.”

On Saturday, the Bears won the first game, 4-1, behind Tews’ seven-inning, complete-game gem. In game two, the Bears’ potent lineup touched Dartmouth ace Josh Faiola for 13 runs in a 17-4 win. On Sunday, Brown won another lopsided affair, pounding out 13 hits while allowing only three en route to a 10-4 victory. The weekend finale was the closest contest, as Dartmouth rallied to tie the score at 5-5 and force the game into extra innings. But the Bears held on, winning 6-5 in 11 innings to complete the sweep.

“I think that we have a team that is capable of playing any type of game,” said Head Coach Marek Drabinski. “In the second and third games, we beat up on Dartmouth, (but in the fourth) we played small ball. … It was great to show that we can win a close one and we can win a laugher.”

The Bears took the lead in the first inning of the series when Eric Larson ’06.5 doubled down the left-field line, scoring Matt Kutler ’05 from first. Dartmouth tied it in the bottom of the secsee BASEBALL, page 8

Women’s crew sweeps BU Terriers Men struggle against Northeastern in first home race of the season

BY SARAH DEMERS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The weather was beautiful and the temperature was mild on Saturday — perfect conditions for a crew race. The day produced mixed results for the Bears, with the women winning all their contests against Boston University and the men falling to tough Northeastern University squads in every event except the firstyear race. Despite the results, it was a strong opportunity to get in some good racing and realize what needs to be worked on for the rest of the season.

The women rose at dawn to travel to Boston and compete against the Terriers. Eager to

rebound after last week’s tough losses to Ohio State University and the University of Michigan, the Bears were anxious to get back on the water and improve in some aspects of their racing.

“Practices went well this week.

We worked on things we learned from the last race, and were hoping to have a consistent and strong race this time,” said rower Catherine Starr ’05. “We were looking to race really well.

Boston University is a tough competitor, but we had to race it like any other race.”

“You never know what you are going to get. You just have to expect they’ll go really fast,” said rower Rachel Dearborn ’07.

Having raced the same course against Radcliffe April 2, the women were familiar with the layout and arrived ready for a fight. At the starting line the varsity eight felt a confidence and relaxation about the race that they carried to the finish line.

“Ten strokes in, we felt like we were going to have a good race.

We just kept walking on them,” Dearborn said. “We had half a length on them by the end of our start and we kept it up.”

The varsity eight ended up winning by over six seconds, coming in with a time of 6:28.5.

Both the second varsity eight and see W. CREW, page 9

Brown sends tumblers to Nationals for first time

BY MADELEINE MARECKI SPORTS STAFF WRITER

Two of Brown’s leading gymnasts completed their seasons Thursday as the University’s first gymnasts to participate in the nation’s highest collegiate gymnastics meet.

Performing their routines at the same time, Sarah Cavett ’06 and tri-captain Melissa Forziat ’05 competed at the USA Gymnastics Nationals held at Cornell University. Cavett took part in the uneven bars and finished 41st with a 9.125, and Forziat scored 9.350 in the floor

exercise, good for 45th.

Although they failed to advance to the finals, both Cavett and Forziat were honored to have the opportunity to compete.

Cavett said she was disappointed with her routine, attributing the uncharacteristically weak performance to an off day.

“I’ve been pretty consistent this season, but I didn’t do very well,” she said. “I felt I could have made it to finals … but it was a really fun week, and it was still a big honor to take part (in

Nationals).”

Forziat, on the other hand, did not leave her last collegiate gymnastics meet with any regrets.

“The few days at Nationals was a perfect experience,” she said. “It was all about going out there and having fun and being able to compete one last time.

There was lots of support from my teammates and coaches … from people I’ve known throughout the various stages of my career. I was wrapped up in the moment, and now it’s hitting me (what I accomplished).”

Forziat also reflected on her

career at Brown.

“It’s an incredibly bittersweet feeling that a huge part of my identity is done. It’s a bit of relief that I got through (all four years), but it’s very sad,” she said. “It’s nice to look back on (my career), and look on it so fondly. I’ve made so many connections with people and traveled to so many different places.”

This is the first year that any Brown gymnast has participated at Nationals. Brown — which as an Ivy League school, does not see GYMNASTICS, page 8