M O N D A Y APRIL 25, 2005
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXL, No. 55 BIG TEN MEZCLA celebrates its first doubledigit birthday with a rousing twonight extravaganza A R T S & C U LT U R E 3
GET YE DICTIONARY Dana Goldstein ’06: Reactionary use of the word ‘diversity’ denies progressive evolution of the tongue O P I N I O N S 11
Opportunity cost
SWEEPS QUAKES Softball earns first sweep of season against UPenn, putting 17 hits on the board in home doubleheader S P O R T S 12
TODAY
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University tests response to mock bioterrorism incident
‘NOT THE SAME’PERFORMANCE
Even in accelerated hiring program, U. emphasizes caution over speed BY ERIC BECK SENIOR STAFF WRITER
The University’s Target of Opportunity hiring program allows departments speed and flexibility in securing stellar candidates by bypassing the slower and more cumbersome standard hiring process, but accelerated hiring programs have received some criticism at Brown and around the country. Complaints about the University’s targeted hiring process concern its ability to fulfill its basic purpose — to swiftly respond to the availability of outstanding scholars and bring them to Brown. Evelyn Hu-DeHart, professor of history and director of Brown’s Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America, said she was initially excited about the program — until University officials took a year to act on her request for a Target of Opportunity solicitation. The request was eventually rejected. “Of course we were disappointed, but the disappointment itself is not the only issue,” Hu-DeHart said. “I think the length of time it took the provost to make a decision became a problem for us, because we kept having to tell the person whose name we put forth that we were still waiting,” she said. “I think it has put a damper and discouraged my colleagues from putting forth additional candidates,” she said. But University officials say the delay is simply a reflection of the importance of making the right decision. “It is difficult when you find that things take time. It can be frustrating, but people are aware of the importance of getting the right person,” said Dean of the Faculty Rajiv Vohra P’07. “The important thing is not to give into the temptation to quickly fill a position,” he said. “It is far more important to be sure you get the right person.” Target of Opportunity accelerates the hiring process, Vohra said, by allowing departments to solicit a specific scholar instead of requesting a new position and then searching for candidates who fit the description. With approval from the dean of the faculty, provost and president, the candidate goes through the standard evaluation process. Hiring for new positions under the normal plan takes about two years — the first for approval of the search and the second for the search itself. In many cases, Vohra said, the process takes longer. Under the normal hiring process, the Academic Priorities Committee usually takes a year to recommend the creation of a new professorship. The dean of the faculty, provost and president must then approve the position and search. After the position and search have been approved, the search and evaluation process takes at least an academic year, said Brenda Allen, associate provost and director of institutional diversity. The process includes the creation of a hiring plan, advertisement, on-campus interviews, committee evaluation and the final offer of employment, she said. see HIRING, page 7
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Shamasdin ’05 and Nick Goldberg ’05 lost a close match at number one, dropping a 7-5 tiebreaker to lose, 9-8. “I double-faulted the last point and really sucked,” Shamasdin said. “We did win at two and three, but we had a lot of fans out and I feel like I really disappointed them.” To Harris, the loss by Shamasdin and Goldberg helped spark the rest of the team through singles play. “We won doubles pretty easily — two and three really outclassed them,” Harris said. “At one, Adil and Nick … outplayed them, but they were able to hang around. We already had the doubles point though and it inspired Nick and Adil and the rest of the guys.” The singles matches started out rocky for Bruno as Harvard claimed victories in the first sets against Goldberg, Moss and Kohli. Meanwhile, Shamasdin had trouble in his first set against Harvard senior
Bioterrorism was far from the minds of most students caught up in Spring Weekend festivities Friday. Yet from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Pizzitola Center, the University, along with city and state health and law enforcement agencies took part in a public health drill concerning this very subject — the occurrence of a bioterrorist attack. The scenario was the release of an airborne pathogen known as Coxiella burnetti in the Rockefeller library causing the illness Q fever, according to Mark Nickel, director of the Brown News Service. Friday’s drill involved the creation of a clinic at the Pizzitola Center capable of diagnosing all individuals who had been in the Rock between March 1 and April 20. The mock clinic was open to the public, and passersby were asked to drop in and play the role of patients. Patients were given cards that included their hypothetical vital signs and symptoms. Those showing no symptoms were put on the antibiotic Doxycycline, while those with symptoms were shown to a doctor. The purpose of Friday’s simulation was to test the University’s ability to handle a bioterrorist attack, said Fox Wetle, professor of medical science and liaison officer for the event. “What we’re trying to do is see how well we can get organized,” Nickel said. The bioterrorism simulation was the first of its kind at Brown, Wetle said. Brown Emergency Medical Services simulated the fallout from an accidental liquid natural gas explosion April 11. In Friday’s hypothetical scenario, “students started showing up with respiratory problems and middle-grade fevers of 104 to 105 degrees,” said Chris
see M. TENNIS, page 8
see BIOTERRORISM, page 8
Mark Cho / Herald
Ben Folds led a sold-out Meehan Auditorium crowd in a madcap three-part harmony during his performance Saturday. See page 5 for more Spring Weekend photos.
No. 36 m. tennis captures share of Ivy title BY BEN MILLER SPORTS EDITOR
There were no last-minute heroics like in 2001, but for the second time in four years the No. 36 men’s tennis team defeated Harvard to clinch a share of the Ivy League title. The Bears SPORTS are now 6-0 in the Ivies after knocking off the Crimson 5-2 in Cambridge on Sunday and rolling past Dartmouth 7-0 in Providence on Friday. “It feels great,” said Head Coach Jay Harris. “They have been working hard all season, it is tough to come so close the past two years, but this is a special group. Someone told me today that Brown has never beaten Harvard at Harvard (in tennis). To beat them at their courts and win two of the last three is very special.” Brown took the doubles point with an 8-3 win at number three doubles by Phil Charm ’06 and Richard Moss ’06 and an 8-4 win at number two by Saurabh Kohli ’08 and Eric Thomas ’07. With the point already secured, co-captains Adil
In spam filter’s second month, lack of porn pleased students BY LOIS SALDANA STAFF WRITER
Thanks to the University’s new spamblocking software, there are almost 3 million spam messages — about 16 gigabytes worth — currently quarantined on the Brown server, according to Stephanie Birdsall, lead communications specialist at Computing and Information Services. Even though “there are good weeks and there are bad weeks,” Birdsall said, there has been an “overall exponential decline” in spam received by e-mail users since the spam-blocking software was implemented Feb. 14. “It was our Valentine’s Day gift to the campus,” she said. The spam blocker, produced by Proofpoint Inc., initially cost the University $60,000 and will require yearly “license maintenance costs,” Birdsall said. The software was not originally provided for in the CIS budget.
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She said though there have not been any major glitches with the product, there was some initial “increased traffic at the Help Desk.” “But that really has almost disappeared … as people have incorporated it into their daily lives,” Birdsall added. She said the spam-blocking software is always being updated in a “constant race with the spammers.” Proofpoint Inc. adjusts its formulas and upgrades are automatically sent to Brown, she said. Spam messages listed in the digest are quarantined on the Brown server for 30 days before being deleted. The spam-blocking software has received praise from the Brown community. “I am getting less anonymous emails,” said Brooke Wolfe ’07. Joe Griffith ’05 also said he appreciated the Proofpoint program. “It’s nice that 95 percent of my e-mails are real and
195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island
aren’t junk. I regularly check the spam digest and I only caught one real e-mail message. It was a (Thefacebook.com) group invite … so it was borderline (spam).” According to Birdsall, “People have been thrilled” with the reduction in spam and CIS is still receiving thank you e-mails “telling us what a huge difference this has made.” Birdsall said it was a fun project for CIS to take on. CIS specialists spent a few months evaluating spam-blocking software before deciding on Proofpoint, which they “put on the fast track … to get it to the community as soon as possible,” she said. “We spend a lot of time on projects that don’t have such visibility on campus,” Birdsall said, “so it was great to work on something that had a positive and immediate impact on campus.” “I think it really made a difference,” she added. News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com
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THIS MORNING MONDAY, APRIL 25, 2005 · PAGE 2 Last Call Eddie Ahn
Apply to be a Herald opinions columnist E-mail opinions@browndailyherald.com by May 31 to get an application
TO D AY ’ S E V E N TS THE REVERSE MONEY-SHOT: ON BAREBACK PORNOGRAPHY 5:30 p.m. (Barus and Holley, 109) — This lecture is part of Professor Tim Dean of the University of Buffalo’s forthcoming project on the phenomenon of barebacking, the practice of gay men having unprotected anal intercourse. Much bareback pornography fetishizes this practice, and often makes explicitly sexual signs of HIV-positive bodies. Dean explores the implications of this type of representation for queer theory, acctivism and the field of pornography itself.
Jero Matt Vascellaro
RE:WRITING: WRITERS, COMPUTERS AND NETWORKS 7 p.m. (Smith Buonanno, 106) — Sponsored by the graduate Program in Literary Arts as part of the Boston Cyberarts Festival 2005, this performance will feature readings by electronic writiers John Cayley, Nick Montfort,Yael Kanarek and Noah Wardrip-Fruin and performances by Poppy Brandes.
Chocolate Covered Cotton Mark Brinker
MENU SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH — Shrimp Bisque, Vegetarian Vegetable Soup, Vegan Rice and Beans, Chinese Green Beans, Meatball Grinder, Chicken Fingers with Dipping Sauces, Raspberry Mousse Torte
VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALL LUNCH — Vegetarian Washington Chowder, Kale and Linguica Soup, Chicken Parmesan Sandwich, Spinach and Rice Bake, Green Beans with Mushrooms, Chocolate Krinkle Cookies
DINNER — Turkey Cutlet with Hunter Sauce, Roasted Rosemary Potatoes, Broccoli Spears with Lemon, Vegetable Cheese Casserole, Baked Sweet Potatoes, Vanilla Pudding, Chocolate Cream Pie
DINNER — Vegetarian Washington Chowder, Kale and Linguica Soup, Country Style Baked Ham, Vegan California Stew, Red Rice, Green Peas, Cauliflower in Dill Mustard Sauce, Herb Bread, Chocolate Cream Pie
How to Get Down Nate Saunders
CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Sunday dinner entrée 6 Egg-breaking sound 11 Spill cleaner 14 Concur 15 Stable sound 16 Hockey great 17 Sentry’s question 19 Crumpets partner 20 Turner or Williams 21 Eagle’s home 22 Sailor’s greeting 23 Tale starter 24 Generous giving of gifts 27 St. Peter’s question 31 Teen’s bane 32 Picnic spoilers 33 Fairy queen 36 Cincinnati team 37 Radio’s Fibber __ 39 Walk back and forth 40 “__ you listening?” 41 Tricky maneuver 42 Brontë’s Jane 43 Editor’s question 48 Strong desires, as for water 50 Freudian subjects 51 Bee or Polly 52 __ a happy note 54 Dolt 57 Hindu title of respect 58 Teacher’s question 61 Little shaver 62 Without face value, as stock 63 Online letter 64 Supplement, with “out” 65 Seed covering 66 Ardent competitor DOWN 1 Huck’s transport
2 Fairy tale plugugly 3 Saharan 4 View 5 Renter 6 Noisy sleeper 7 Gilpin of “Frasier” 8 “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” option 9 In the past 10 Hit-hay link 11 Kids’ game similar to “Simon Says” 12 Sandwich cookies 13 Says grace, e.g. 18 Art __: geometric style 22 Grow older 23 Small bills 25 Kick in a chip 26 IV inserters 27 Lee of cakes 28 Great server on the court 29 Not exact 30 More wise 34 Height: Pref.
35 “How’ve you __?” 37 First baseman’s glove 38 Zoom lens shots 39 Cats and dogs 41 London loos, briefly 44 Actor Carney 45 Soft felt hat 46 Musical Stravinsky
47 Bestow, as a degree 48 Sample the food 49 Impresario Sol 53 Tidy 54 Norway’s patron saint 55 Largest continent 56 Took a tumble 58 Blasting material 59 Fish eggs 60 René’s friend
Last Minute Michael Chua
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: T R U M P U P L E G E N D S A U S T E R E I R O N O R E O P E N P A N D O R A S B O X I T D E L N I N O S B O T S U C H S A V E R W I L E T R A I T M E L S H E E T S E R R A T E D B E A R D S A C E S M O E T H A R B O R T R A I N C A R A R I L S C A W T O R S O D I N E F L U I D T I K I T O G B R O N Z E S M A S I S S U E A S T A T E M E N T M O U N T I E R A T R A C E E S P I A L S D R A I N E R xwordeditor@aol.com
Club 207 Jessica McCrory
04/25/05
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ARTS & CULTURE MONDAY, APRIL 25, 2005 · PAGE 3
MEZCLA show mixes things up BY CAROL-ANNE CELESTINE CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The sense of excitement and expectation was palpable in a packed Salomon 101 on Saturday night. IN REVIEW the second of two shows, MEZCLA celebrated Latino culture with a blend of dance, song and, surprisingly, comedy. On its 10th anniversary, MEZCLA has much to be proud of. In the decade since Elizabeth Garcia ’95 created it, the company has accomplished what many other organizations only dream of. The diverse audience was a mark of MEZCLA’s ability to create a performance with multicultural draw and appeal, uniting all through a common love of music. The numbers ran the gamut from lyrical traditional pieces to fast carnival dances like the samba to dances set to recent hip-hop hits. Two of the show’s three starting numbers were traditional pieces performed in full traditional garb. The first was a subtle and flirtatious dance performed with abanicos, or fans, and the third was a Folklórico Mexicano. Though a nice touch, the first number was too low-
EDITORS’ PICKS APRIL 25 - MAY 1 Monday April 25 Electronic writers John Cayley, Nick Montfort, Yael Kanarek and Noah WardripFruin will read/perform their work Smith-Buonanno 106 7:00 p.m. Tuesday April 26 “Jamnesty” Student musician benefit concert hosted by Amnesty International Hourglass Café 8:00 p.m. Wednesday April 27 Poetry Slam with Emmanuel Ortiz Hourglass Café 8:00 p.m. Thursday April 28 The Open Show Exhibition of student films and videos List Balcony 8:00 p.m.
“One Big Self,” “The Omega Suites” document people and place in growing penal system BY VANESSA HUANG CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Mai Denawa / Herald
From left to right, Jasmine Plummer ’08, Rebecca Dumas ’05, Deniz Arduman ’06 and Nevena Radoynovska ’08 performed a Brazilian samba to conclude the 10th anniversary MEZCLA show on Friday and Saturday evenings. energy and repetitive. The other piece however, was a marvelous display of mastery of rapid, complicated footwork. Interspersed between performances were video clips detailing the history of MEZCLA, past performances, influential Latino artists and personal reflections of group members, which alternated between lighthearted and insightful. The clips added much to the show, showing the evolution of the group over the course of its 10 years. There were only two vocal numbers in the lineup, the first of which was a plaintive love song called “Con Los Años que Me Quedan.” Beautifully sung by Alyssa Iglesias ’08 with accompaniment by Mike Racine ’07 on guitar and Mena Ramos ’05 on percussion, the song was perfectly performed with a blues club feel and showed Iglesias’ excellent vocal range. The second was a pitchy rendition of the Brazilian song “Sonho Meu” performed by the duo of Nicki Anderson ’05 and Conchita Cruz ’07. The weak vocals did not do justice to the song, which ambled around between keys and was deeply unsatisfying. But there were many stellar numbers that made memorable impressions. Among the standout performances of the night were Ana Mascareñas’ ’05 soulful
guitar solo, a playful group dance called Casino, a seductive rumba, a samba, a crowd-pleasing adaptation of John Leguizamo’s one man comedy show “Freak” by Adam King ’06 and a hip-hop number called “Tribute to NYC.” The sensual energy between the rumba performers made it exciting to watch, while the spirited samba brought the crowd a taste of the Brazilian Carnaval spirit. The “Tribute to NYC” reflected the continual fusion of Latino and hip-hop culture and was performed energetically by all of the dancers. King made a very convincing Leguizamo in his performance, almost channeling the spirit of the Latino comedian. With perfect comedic timing, he mastered Leguizamo’s stage mannerisms and proved himself to be, in short, a very funny man. MEZCLA is the rolling stone that gathers no moss. From Saturday’s seamlessly woven show, it is obvious that it has not lost any of its momentum over the last 10 years. Garcia’s brainchild has thrived and developed to become a beautiful celebration of Latino culture. The performances showcased the dedication, pride and talent of the entire troupe. One hopes MEZCLA’s next 10 years will be just as fruitful and exciting as the last and maintain the show’s spirited energy.
The United States imprisons more people than any other country and is one of the world’s most unforgiving executioners, yet only a REVIEW small percentage of people within its borders choose to investigate these practices. Open until May 29, two exhibits at the David Winton Bell Gallery invite visitors to examine our complicity in the penal system. “The Omega Suites” features Lucinda Devlin’s full-color photographs of death chambers, produced through longexposure shots. The result is sometimes shockingly colorful: “Electric Chair” features a chair coated with the bright yellow paint left over from a school bus. Devlin’s erasure of bodies in her images raises the tension between silencing racial specificity of who sits on death row and the potential for objectification by showing them. By capturing details found within the death chambers themselves (a clock, restraints, gas vials) however, Devlin gestures at the terror of execution procedures. While she focuses on more sanitized, contemporary procedures, one piece, entitled “Gallows,” suggests the historical continuity of state executions. By documenting the death chambers, Devlin suggests something of the culture that produces them. She sometimes positions the viewer as the executioner — voltage monitors and lever within reach — other times, as a spectator in the witness room. “One Big Self: Prisoners of Louisiana,” featuring people in three Louisiana state prisons, also encourages visitors to question U.S. penal practices. The exhibit draws from a collaboration between photographer Deborah Luster and poet and Professor of English C.D. Wright. The exhibit features Luster’s black and white photographs on 4-by-5 inch metallic plates presented both in frames and as loose plates in a black steel cabinet. Wright’s poetry is printed on gallery walls and broadcast continually through black phones. Luster’s photographs include “Count,” in which a butterfly rests behind a man’s shoulder blade. “Robert Earl ‘June’ Lewis” is named after its subject, who
is shown holding a piece of paper with the word “freedom” scrawled in all caps and a photograph of a pregnant woman whose stomach protrudes out of her white t-shirt. The latter is juxtaposed with the exhibit’s only out-of-focus shot: a mother and child in joyful embrace. Documenting burns and scars, Luster’s pictures testify to the brutality their subjects have survived. Whether these markings resulted from interpersonal or state violence seems insignificant. All are mapped back to the site of the prison. By working in black and white, Luster risks locating her subjects in the distant past, rather than in the immediacy of the present. She said, however, that she meant to “suggest the history of the penal system.” Indeed, those convicted of crime seem exempt from the abolition of slavery as Black Codes enabled Southern states to criminalize emancipated people for petty crimes, using their labor en masse through convict leasing. Selections from Wright’s poetry point to this continued unfreedom. “Black is the Color,” Wright asserts on the wall of the exhibit’s entrance, of “77% of the inmates at Angola … Of 66% of the inmates at St. Gabriel / Of the executioner’s corduroy hood / hung on an ice hook / in the tool shed / away from the kids.” In one of the recordings, Wright cites punishment industry giants Corrections Corporations of America and Wackenhut, alluding to the continuing entanglement of prisons and profit. The exhibit invites visitors to hold the loose plates in the black steel cabinet and to arrange and re-arrange them, perhaps its most fascinating element. Herein lies a remarkable historical resonance with the photo-tourism — maybe even desire — of postcards taken home from lynching parties and of photos from Abu Ghraib. By revealing the power we have to hold the images, catalogue them and the lives they portray — even refuse them — the exhibit implicates all of us. Our hands are dirtied — we become the prison guard. The exhibit suggests that all who make contact — artists, curator, gallery, visitors — are see EXHIBITS, page 9
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
CAMPUS NEWS MONDAY, APRIL 25, 2005 · PAGE 5
Scenes from a sold-out Spring Weekend
Mark Cho / Herald
Fans of this year’s Spring Weekend artists filled Meehan Auditorium to its full 3,750 capacity on both Thursday and Saturday. Spring Weekend concerts have never sold out before, according to Brown Concert Agency co-chair Randi Siegel. Singer and guitarist James Mercer (far right) led The Shins through an hour-plus-long set Thursday night. While the crowd in Meehan swayed along with the music, the view backstage (right) was calm. Juliana Wu / Herald
Juliana Wu / Herald
Juliana Wu / Herald
Mark Cho / Herald
New Zealand’s the Brunettes, hip-hop artist Taib Kweli (far left) and The Shins (above, middle) provided a drawing lineup to Sping Weekend’s opening concert Thursday night. Even though rain forced Saturday’s show off the Main Green and into Meehan, Matt Nathanson, solo-act Howie Day (above) and Ben Folds (left) attracted a full house.
Juliana Wu / Herald
Juliana Wu / Herald
MONDAY, APRIL 25, 2005 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 7
Hiring continued from page 1 Target of Opportunity typically shortens the hiring process by a year or more by bypassing the approval of the professorship and the general search, Vohra said. Other complaints suggest that departments are unwilling to take advantage of Target of Opportunity. Hu-DeHart said departments have a “disincentive” to use the program because they are forced to give up future hiring opportunities. Vohra said he has not seen this as a problem. Target of Opportunity is not intended to permanently increase the size of a department’s faculty, Vohra said. The program instead allows departments with all current positions filled to hire outstanding available candidates without having to wait for retirements or approvals of new positions, he said. In exchange for the flexibility, departments are asked to give up a future position, he added. Agreements between departments and the administration vary on a case-by-case basis, he said, but typically, a department agrees not to replace its next retiring professor or not to create new positions for a certain period of time. “The value added to the department should be such that the department is willing to put up something,” Vohra said, adding that administrators would be suspicious of a department’s claim that a candidate is outstanding if it would not be willing to sacrifice a future position to bring in the targeted scholar immediately. Additionally, Vohra said, the agreements allow the pool of available Target of Opportunity positions to be replenished. President Ruth Simmons’ Plan for Academic Enrichment, which created the Target of Opportunity program, allocated 25 of the plan’s 100 new faculty positions as targeted hires. When a department gives up a future hire, that position returns to the Target of Opportunity pool, allowing other departments to take advantage of the program without a resulting net increase to the size of the faculty beyond the originally planned 25. Twelve of the 37 professors hired in the last three years under the faculty expansion initiative were Targets of Opportunity, Vohra wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. Much of the national attention
regarding accelerated hiring programs has surrounded Ward Churchill, a tenured professor in the ethnic studies department of the University of Colorado, Boulder. Among his controversial actions, Churchill wrote an essay in which he called the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks “little Eichmanns,” a reference to Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann. Boulder’s Daily Camera reported Feb. 19 that documents released by CU suggested that Churchill was offered tenure in 1991 under a program designed to increase faculty diversity. Churchill did not have the typically required Ph.D. and was not on a tenure track, the paper reported. Though Churchill says he is of Native American origin, some Native American leaders have challenged his claim, according to the Daily Camera. A March 24 CU report on the controversies surrounding Churchill said the university’s diversity practices rely on selfidentification, but the report did not elaborate on his hiring and tenure. CU Regent Pat Hayes told the Rocky Mountain News March 14 that the university would examine how Churchill received tenure. Before coming to Brown, HuDeHart was head of CU’s ethnic studies department at the time Churchill received tenure in the department. She told The Herald that Churchill was “her hire” at CU. She said he went through the standard hiring process, and no special considerations were made on the basis of diversity, but she declined to comment further. University administrators say Target of Opportunity does not pose a threat to faculty quality at Brown because it only accelerates the decision to consider a particular candidate for a hire not previously planned. The evaluation process itself is the same, they say. “There is nothing more important we do than hiring faculty. The multi-layered process that we have is extremely important for ensuring the quality of the faculty,” said Provost Robert Zimmer. “Everybody understands that having every case go through the process is absolutely essential.” “The shortcut is in the time for deciding whether or not we are ready now to fill a position that was previously not on our list,” Vohra said. “We still pay very close attention to the qualifications of the candidate,” Vohra said. “It is fast-
tracked only in the decision to consider the candidacy of an individual, not to try to rush the process of making a judgment on the qualifications of the person.” According to Zimmer, “All the steps (of the regular hiring path and the Target of Opportunity program) are basically the same, except for the very first step — that instead of there being a general search, there is a general agreement on our part that there is enough of a plausibility that the department can make the case that the candidate is truly outstanding.” Allen said, “Universities are unwilling to compromise standards of excellence and quality, whether in the name of diversity or anything else. I know of no place where compromise occurs.” Target of Opportunity does not focus solely on diversity. Not all professors hired under the program are women or minorities. “At the same time as diversifying the faculty is a high priority, it is only one of our priorities,” Zimmer said. “When we look at targets of opportunity, what we are looking at is people who can provide us with an opportunity because of who they are to add to what we want and need in our faculty,” he added. “While diversifying the faculty is one possible direction, not everyone appointed by Target of Opportunity has to be on the basis of diversity. It’s one of the issues, but not the only issue,” Zimmer said.
Baseball continued from page 12 available. “On the one hand, we were disappointed (by the rainouts) because these next two weekends are our season and we really wanted to go out and play those guys,” Silverstein said. “On the other hand, it gave us a chance to rest our pitchers.” The postponements also gave cleanup hitter Eric Larson ’06.5 a chance to rest a groin injury. Larson has been out of the lineup since the second game of a doubleheader at Dartmouth on April 16. Despite a doctor’s opinion to rest for 4-6 weeks, Larson will attempt to play today. By winning the four-game series, Brown would have the inside track for the Division title.
PAGE 8 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD MONDAY, APRIL 25, 2005
Bioterrorism continued from page 1 Harwood, a Brown biosafety officer and the event’s incident commander. When librarians from the Rock also started reporting to their physicians, the University brought in the Rhode Island state epidemiologist, who determined that a pathogen had been released in the Rock, Harwood added. Q fever is an acute illness with a mortality rate of less than 1 percent, according to the simulation’s training guide for triage nurses. High fever, severe headache and respiratory problems are common symptoms. The illness develops into chronic disease among less than 5 percent of the population. The hypothetical outbreak was isolated to the University campus ,but health officials are also prepared for larger areas of contamination. “If this was a major public health emergency, we would have many of these clinics,” Harwood said. In the event of a real outbreak, the entire campus would be mobilized through mass e-mails, flyers, a Web site and the help of The Herald, Wetle said. “The rule in public health is to be multi-
M. tennis continued from page 1 Jonathan Chu at first singles. With the set knotted at 3-3, Shamasdin won the last three games to claim a 1-0 lead. He went on to win the next set by the same 6-3 score to secure a point for the Bears. “Adil has been an assassin all year for us,” Harris said. “He took down the opponent’s top player. It gave a huge lift to our team and deflated them.” Although Goldberg lost 6-4, 7-5 (4) at number two singles, he too felt buoyed by Shamasdin’s victory. “I always love playing next to Adil,” he said. “I love to feed off that energy. When he got that first set … it sucked some life from them.” For Adil, the crowd provided the motivation for victory. “I think after I won that first set the crowd just erupted, it definitely helped out,” he said. “I’m very flashy, I use the crowd support.” Harvard pulled even with the Bears at 2-2 by defeating Moss at fourth singles. The next competitor to finish was Kohli, who lost his first set 6-3 and was down 4-2 in the second before winning 10 straight games to clinch the point, 6-3,6-4,6-0. “He started really well, making a lot of returns,” Kohli said of his opponent, Brandon Chiu. “I got down a break and couldn’t break back. The second set I got down a break early, but he started missing serves. I knew I just had to make him play more balls. … Once I got a break, I knew the momentum had shifted.” With only one point needed for the victory, the Bears’ hopes came down to Charm at fifth singles and Thomas at third. Charm finished first, with a 7-6 (2), 6-2 victory. “Phil broke to go up 5-4 and serve for the match,” Goldberg said. “He was down a break
dimensional,” she added. However, accounting for all possible cases of illness would not be an easy task. “The question is how many people have been in the Rock, breathed the air in the Rock, over the past three weeks,” Nickel said, adding that this would include basically the entire campus. A number of Brown students participated in Friday’s exercise. Nicholas Monu ’06 is a PLME student who volunteered to help out. “My job is to greet people, write down their number, name, time they came in and check to make sure they’re not allergic to the (antibiotic),” he said. Students involved with Brown EMS also participated. “Under my command, I have one group of EMTs that are doing triage and one that are doing transport,” said EMS manager Rick Lapierre. Friday’s simulation appeared to be a success. “I think it’s run very well. We handled the volume (of patients) very well,” Harwood said. One drawback was that due to the event’s concurrence with Spring Weekend, turnout of volunteer patients was not as large as hoped, he said. Nevertheless, the real world does not allow for control over an outbreak’s timing. “In a real situation, it’s never going to be the ideal date,” Harwood said.
point when he hit an ace to win it and save the match. That really propelled him.” “In the Ivy season, he’s had some very concrete goals,” Harris said of Charm. “He wants to be 14-0 in Ivy play — he’s already 12-0 — and he will do whatever he can to get that. He’s grown into a man this season.” Although the victory did not have a moment as compelling as Shamasdin’s diving winner to capture the 2001 Ivy title, the Bears were more than happy to leave Cambridge with a win. “One thing that worked really well today is we played really well throughout the lineup,” Goldberg said. “Harvard was desperate after having just lost to Columbia, but we were ready for their test. There were no weak spots, (and) nobody got hammered.” Bruno came into Harvard riding the momentum of a 7-0 victory over Dartmouth on Friday. Playing in their last home match, the duo of Shamasdin and Goldberg got the Bears off to a great start with an 8-0 win at first doubles. Charm also had a big 6-0, 6-0 win at fifth singles. For Shamasdin, who lost his first set 6-2, but came back to win the second and third 6-2, 6-3, the match was reminiscent of the 2001 victory over Harvard. “I had a great time playing with Nick in our final (home) match,” Shamasdin said. “I had my freshman-year unit coming over — I had to live up to this. It was cool how it ended. I was the only one on the court. It reminded me of my freshman year when I played Harvard. I just thrive on that.” Having already clinched a share of the title, the Bears can now win the championship outright with a victory over Yale on Thursday. “We’re going to expect their best,” Goldberg said. “I know we have an ‘X’ on our backs, but if we can play the way we know how to play, we will win.”
MONDAY, APRIL 25, 2005 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 9
Softball continued from page 12 tie the game at four. The game would not be tied for long as Courtney Jenkins ’07 hit a line-drive home run on a two-strike pitch for what proved to be the winning run. Things got interesting in the top of the seventh when Kinsey singled to left and moved to second on a sacrifice. Kinsey tried to score from second on a base hit from the next batter, but Natalie Hewitt ’08 made a perfect throw from center field to nail Kinsey at the plate and end the game. In the second game, Bruno had to overcome an early deficit. Penn jumped to a 1-0 lead in the top of the second, but the Bears came back as Sarah Wilson ’06 recorded an RBI groundout to tie the score. The bats came alive for the Bears in the bottom of the fifth as they strung four consecutive hits and three runs together. Wilson started everything off with a single to left and was lifted for pinch runner Meghan Andrews ’08. Berkes helped out her own cause again as she placed a beautiful bunt single down the first base line. Rachel Fleitell ’06 laid down another bunt single, this time down the third base line, and
M. lax continued from page 12 Ryan Danehy traded goals to tie the game at four apiece. Madeira then took advantage of a matchup against a short stick midfielder to pick up his third and fourth goals of the game, giving Brown a 6-4 lead with three and a half minutes left in the half. “The second quarter we scored a nice man-up goal to get us going, then we held the ball,” Nelson said. “They put a short stick on Madeira. That was a mistake.” “He played really well,” Mucciolo said of Madeira. “He really got us going in the beginning of the game. He was really good at capitalizing at the looks that we had.” After Dartmouth senior Ben Grinnell cut Brown’s lead to 6-5 going into halftime, the Big Green pulled even at the start of the second half on a man-up goal four minutes in. Mucciolo responded with his second goal of the game off a pass from cocaptain Chazz Woodson ’05, but Grinnell put one in the net at 14:10 of the third period, knotting the game at seven. Brown regained the lead on an extra-man goal by Buckley to start the second half, but
with the bases loaded, PierreLouis hit a two-run single down the right field line that would give Berkes the lead she needed to close out the Quakers. Berkes was outstanding, pitching a complete game while scattering eight hits, fanning three and allowing no walks. “Marissa was phenomenal. She just really wants to win and is the heart and soul of our team,” McCreesh said. Earlier this week, Bruno earned an impressive 3-2 nonconference victory against the University of Connecticut. The Bears jumped to a 1-0 lead in the second when Jenkins and Baxter started the inning with back-toback singles. Ota followed with a sacrifice that moved each runner up a base, and Baxter scored on a sacrifice fly by Omokaro. Bruno picked up two more runs in the fourth inning, which was all Omokaro needed as she earned her fifth win of the season, allowing two runs on nine hits while striking out nine and walking none. With three straight victories, the Bears have good momentum heading into a doubleheader with league-leading Princeton today in a makeup from Saturday’s rainout. “Winning these … games is huge. It is exactly the way we want to go in playing Princeton,” Berkes said.
Exhibits
Dartmouth again responded to force the fifth tie of the game. The Bears broke the tie again, this time off Woodson’s stick, with the assist going to Wailes. Brown, however, was still unable to keep Dartmouth from finding the cage, as the Big Green pulled even off a goal by Lucas Robertson with just under five minutes left. Dartmouth used the momentum from Robertson’s goal to take its first lead since the second quarter off a shot from Grinnell. “It was a set play coming out of a timeout,” Nelson said. “We over-slid — we always want guys to slide, but not in that case. He came off a pick and scored. Grinnell is more of a guy who plays off the ball. It was a smart play.” It was Grinnell’s third tally of the game and proved to be the decisive goal. Darmouth added one more score before the final horn on an extra man opportunity for the final 11-9 margin. A big reason for the late collapse was the Bears’ inability to clear the ball in the fourth quarter as they converted just two of seven opportunities. The Big Green took advantage of its successful rides to dominate the ground balls 12-2 in the last 15 minutes. It also didn’t help that Brown won just two of seven face-offs in the final period.
“We made some bad passes, they hustled on their ride but it came down to our bad passes,” Nelson said. “They had 13 possessions in the quarter. We had four and scored on two of them.” “We made some stops on defense, got impatient and made some bad decisions,” Mucciolo said. “They had what we call an extra-man ride, meaning they had 10 guys on the ride.” Brown has now dropped three games by four goals to the seventh-, 11th- and 16th-ranked teams in the country. Even more damaging was that two of those games were against Ivy rivals. “This is the best league in lacrosse right now, and we’re four goals away from being undefeated in it,” Nelson said. “That’s pretty disappointing.” The Bears have a good chance to get back in the win column this Tuesday with a rescheduled home game against Hartford University at 7 p.m. “We still have a lot of opportunities,” Mucciolo said. “The deck is kind of stacked against us (though). This is a game we should win. I’d like to see a lot of the other guys play, see them get more time and good experience after pushing the first team all season. We’re going to come out motivated and excited to get a win, but we’re not taking them lightly. They are a Division I program.”
continued from page 3 complicit in sanctioning our growing prison-state. Many of the questions that arise from white artists — even white women artists — producing documentary work at the crossroads of race, class, power and exploitation are present here and in Devlin’s work, too. Their unabashed use of the word “inmate” — language defined by the state, language with which few people in prison actively identify — reveals their dependence upon and collaboration with the state for access to their subjects. Their work is mediated by that compromise. Even as Luster and Wright emphasize the humanity of their subjects, they run the risk of enhancing, rather than destabilizing, a free-world consciousness where the oppressive realities of the justice system tend to morph into exploitative, commodified, exotified imagery — “prison towns prison motels prison movies prison books prison dreams,” Wright reads. All in all, both exhibits seem to ask what it means to participate in a culture that prefers to make people whom the state fundamentally disrespects disappear through policies we sanction. For that, they
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
EDITORIAL/LETTERS MONDAY, APRIL 25, 2005 · PAGE 10 S T A F F
E D I T O R I A L
Defining opportunities President Ruth Simmons has long touted Target of Opportunity hiring programs. She made an accelerated hiring program for faculty of color a priority at Smith College, and Target of Opportunity has always been a linchpin of her Plan for Academic Enrichment here at Brown. Professors hired under the program include Professor of Africana Studies John Edgar Wideman P’91 and the late Professor of English Robert Creeley. Simmons told the Undergraduate Council of Students earlier this month that an endowment for the Target of Opportunity program is included in the University’s “table of needs” for its capital campaign. It will be interesting to see how she makes her pitch to donors, because the program seems to have taken on a variety of purposes. One goal is clearly to recruit women faculty and faculty of color. Another is to allow departments to snag faculty free agents while they are available. A third is to facilitate departmental expansion, at least temporarily. Even intellectual diversity, that buzzword of all buzzwords, has been cited as a Target of Opportunity goal in The Herald’s previous coverage. A program with so many purposes is sure to be imperfect. There are bound to be instances when administrators cannot approve a Target of Opportunity candidate quickly enough to hire him or her ahead of an elite rival, though some degree of caution is to be expected at institutions of higher education, which have stuck around so long precisely because they are methodical, not foolhardy. And when departments are forced to choose between acquiring a hot prospect now and forgoing filling a vacant position later, department chairs may feel a strange affinity to the NFL Draft. We’re glad the University isn’t rushing its hiring decisions, even under Target of Opportunity, because the consequences of undue haste could be disastrous. But for the benefit of department chairs — and potential donors — it should more clearly define the program’s objectives. In a perfect world, Brown would find big-name stars who are minorities, are committed to undergraduates and who fill a gap in the teaching lineup. But in the meantime, a clearly defined set of priorities would facilitate better use the system. And the University should consider implementing Target of Opportunity even outside of fully functional departments — professors or lecturers in biomedical ethics or American Sign Language look like mighty fine targets right now.
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
Rivers Cuomo, Annie Koo, Night Editors Allison Kwong, Sonia Saraiya, 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, Taryn Martinez, Suchi Mathur, Cristina Salvato, Sonia Saraiya, Zachary Townsend, Jenna Young
DANIEL L AWLOR
LETTERS Reactions to ARA should avoid tainted history To the Editor: (Re: “ARA Protest,” Thursday, April 21): I would like to draw attention to the words “radical and on the fringe,” which Jeffrey Yoskowitz used to describe Anti-Racist Action on Wednesday. Yoskowitz should be aware that these terms have historically been employed by conservative elements to tar the image of groups working for social progress. In the 1800s, slaveholders called the abolitionists radical, misogynists called the Seneca Falls convention radical, and industrialists called trade unionism radical. In the 20th century, red-baiters used “radical” and “fringe groups” to destroy countless careers, and segregationists used
these words to discredit the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. If Yoskowitz disagrees with the tactics or the agenda of Anti-Racist Action then he should say so; but ARA’s use of a loudspeaker and calls for divestment from Israel are not grounds for bringing the reactionary vocabulary of George Wallace, Barry Goldwater and Joseph McCarthy to this campus. James deBoer Brown Greens April 24
Lawlor cartoon disrespects American soldiers To the Editor: Daniel Lawlor’s editorial cartoon on April 18 was indeed very disturbing. It referred to the 1,556 United States soldiers that have died in the Iraq war and questioned how many Iraqis have died. Two rats dressed in U.S. uniform were also depicted. The point of the cartoon is one I have often mentioned in my personal discussions against the war George W. Bush started in Iraq. We are all familiar with the many other issues that indicate the actions of our government leaders were poorly conceived at best. But that in no way allows for the despicable, dishonest and disgusting portrayal of our military members as rodents. While I understand that beleaguered Iraqis would think of occupation forces as the enemy, under that rationale, every American would be a rat. The people who are ready to commit their limbs, lives and livelihoods to the ideal of being ready to protect the land and countrymen they love cannot
be seen as rats. Depicting your countrymen as rats for belonging to the country’s defense system is immature. Yes, the ‘defense’ system is currently being misused — and abused — by this administration. Admittedly, there are members of the defense forces who are embarrassments to our society, just as there are members of any large group that can be shown as examples of low standards. Yet in no way should all American troops be dishonored. Top leaders, fine; they call the moves. Individuals who behave abhorrently, fine; they are responsible for their personal actions. Most of the men and women sent by the United States of America to Iraq, however, should be recognized for the life-changing circumstances they are living through in the service of their country. A. Catherine Hanni Executive Assistant to the Provost April 20
C O R R E C T I O N A review of “bobrachenbergamerica” (“Rambling ‘bobrauschenbergamerica’ mirrors art which inspired it,” April 19) praised Alex Clifford ’06 in February’s “Cannibal! The Musical.” Clifford was the music director on that production, and not a member of the cast.
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
OPINIONS MONDAY, APRIL 25, 2005 · PAGE 11
I’m really sorry GUEST COLUMN BY CARMAN MCNARY I am sorry that the color of my skin is white and I have a penis, that people like me are the cause of pretty much every problem in our society and our world. I am sorry that there are white men out there that don’t like people of color, that there are white men out there who don’t like homosexuals. I’m sorry that there are white men out there that are sexists. I just want to remind everyone without white skin and a penis that I don’t hate you. I don’t think you are any less than I am. But please, don’t think that you are better than me because of bigoted white guys that do and say prejudiced things. They don’t speak for all of us. A recent Herald opinion piece (“Catching hell in Providence,” April 14) mentioned that white men didn’t understand prejudice because they haven’t experienced it. I do not understand what prejudice means to women, homosexuals or people of color because I am not one. But I have been stereotyped ever since I can remember. A couple of examples: Walking through my dorm last week, I overheard a conversation involving some students of color who were “sick of fucking white people.” On Sept. 11, 2001, a large group of Middle Eastern students at my high school gathered in the rotunda cheering as the towers fell. The student brawl that ensued ensured that the remaining years at my western Canadian school, about one-third white and one-third Middle Eastern, would brim with racial tension. And, of course, there are comments like those in another recent Herald piece (“Challenging Simmons and the Rainbow Coalition,” April 19), that I’m a “white liberal’ who, “regardless of what (Ruth Simmons) does, will defend her as their only black friend.” One major prejudice against me is the assumption neither I nor my ancestors have ever been racialized, but that my history doesn’t allow me to understand being on the short end of bigotry. Pardon me if I don’t think my Protestant Irish and German Jewish ancestors were privileged. Anyone who knows even the most vague American and European history knows that my ancestors were stereotyped by the same bigots who oppressed everyone else. But say my ancestors had been Ku Klux Klan members, or a bunch of racist slave owners. Then hate my ancestors. Don’t hate me. Don’t indict me for murders that were committed by people that we mutually agree are evil just because I have the misfortune of their genes. I don’t know whether President Simmons is the new face of white supremacy. I hope not. But that column sounded to me more like a couple of writers who view this world simply as black and white. The most important thing about Ruth Simmons being president of Brown should not be that she is black and has a vagina. But it is apparently to people of all colors, creeds and sexes, and not just white guys. Just like the old white guys threw all minorities under labels like “nigger” and “fag,” white guys are now labelled “bigot.” It’s a dangerous cycle. I feel as if some people look at me and my white skin and automatically assume that everything is fine and dandy in my life, that I am a racist, a sexist or a homophobe. Just because someone is a victim doesn’t mean they can’t victimize someone else. Carman McNary ’08 doesn’t hate.
ROB SAND
Investing in Democracy Imagine an issue that 94 percent of Americans agree on. I realize it’s hard — It’s been hard to get past red versus blue these last few years, particularly since November. The things that divide us have been receiving so much attention that it is almost impossible to imagine what might unite us all. So let me tell you: 94 percent of Americans believe that “big campaign contributions affect government decisions.” Now, that may seem pretty basic; “affect” isn’t a very strong verb. Yet two-thirds even think the problem is so severe that “big contributors to political parties sometimes block decisions by the federal government that could improve people’s everyday lives.” That’s more than affecting. That is setting the course. The fact that two-thirds of Americans believe private interests override the public interest is something politicians ought to
fundraising is a daily concern. As one Arizona candidate said, “to be elected to the state legislature and not feel beholden to anyone except constituents is a liberating feeling.” And evidence suggests that quitting the money game will help bring citizens back into politics. I’ve spent the last eight months studying public financing’s effects on political participation for my political science thesis. I performed a statistical analysis of 1,050 election results in all 50 states from 1964 to 2004 to determine how public financing might affect voter turnout. I controlled, of course, for the effects that socioeconomic status and age have in increasing one’s likelihood of voting as they rise. I also controlled for the fact that Southern states generally have lower turnout, and for the varying cultural emphasis on participation from state to state.
at the State House. Our current legislators ought to support public financing because their constituents deserve a choice. Why should the public fund political campaigns? We fund our police and fire departments publicly because we believe that protection ought to be offered to all citizens, regardless of race, age, ethnicity, gender or ability to pay. Our legislators need to free themselves from the pressures to do anything less. Now, we can’t fool ourselves into thinking that every legislator will vote for public financing simply because it is good for democracy. The truth, which they are bound to see, is that it could also negatively affect their political careers. It’s hard to say who that extra 2.5 percent of voters will be voting for, and incumbents certainly don’t want to hear about increased electoral competition.
Can public financing improve our government? Survey says: Yes. leap into action over. How often do they have the chance to make two-thirds of their constituents happy? Well, Rhode Island legislators will soon have their chance to unite us instead of dividing us. Their chance came recently in the form of a Clean Elections Act proposing full public financing for all Rhode Island candidates. Like similar systems operating in Maine and Arizona, it would give candidates the option (which they can choose to reject) of foregoing traditional fundraising methods and instead funding their campaign through public money. If they face traditionally funded candidates, it will even provide extra money if they are outspent. It gives them the freedom to do their job — serving constituents and working on the issues — instead of playing the money game where
From 1964 to 2004, states with public financing available generally had 2.5 percent higher voter turnout. My study looked only at general elections — the effect may be much stronger in primary elections. More significantly, public financing convinces individuals to run for office. In 350 elections from 1992 to 2004, public financing reduced the number of state legislature elections with only one candidate by 11 percent, according to my study. As we all know, having one candidate to choose from is no democracy and no election. Yet one-half of Rhode Island’s legislative races went uncontested from 1992 to 2004. We are miserably behind the national average, particularly for a Northern state. Onehalf of Rhode Islanders did not have a choice when it came to who would represent them
This is precisely why the public must make their voices heard on the issue. Show your support for the bill by attending the hearing of the bill at the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, April 26, at 4:30 p.m. — e-mail Taylor@brown.edu for more information. Visit www.cleanelectionsri.org and come to the Sarah Doyle Women’s Center tonight at 9 p.m. to get more involved. Call and write your representatives and tell them to support public financing and an improvement to Rhode Island democracy. The true measure of every politician as a public servant, after all, is whether they will support something bigger than their own interests. When they entered politics, that was their intent. Now this is their chance to prove it. Rob Sand ’05.5 done got honors.
DANA GOLDSTEIN
Old white guys on ‘diversity’ Is diversity ever a bad thing? The right wing’s use of the word is as ironic as it is savvy. Although they are a party whose platform actively combats attempts to diversify the sexual, racial and socioeconomic composition of educational institutions and workplaces, Republicans realize that “diversity” has positive connotations for many, if not most, Americans. “Diversity” reminds us of a non-confrontational plurality, of the fuzzy myth of the American “melting pot.” No one wants to admit to being anti-diversity. The progressive — and to this point, dominant — American concept of “diversity” is about helping those groups and individuals who have been historically underrepresented and oppressed. But the intellectual diver-
wing in a double bind. I wanted to use linguistic history to show that “diversity” has always referred to helping the underdog, as opposed to bolstering the majority within institutions of dissent. What I discovered, however, was far from conclusive — conservatives, in their co-opting skepticism of the term, might be just as linguistically “right” when it comes to “diversity” as the Left. The Norman invasion of England in 1066 made French the official language of the English throne, nobility and clergy. It was not until the late 14th century that authors such as the populist Geoffrey Chaucer began to write in the vernacular tongue that was developing into early-modern English. According to the OED, when Chaucer was writing “The Canterbury Tales” in the late
14th century was a time “when simple truth did rayne, and was of all admyred.” When Spenser used the word “diverse,” he reverted to the older meaning: “to turn aside, diverge, be diverted.” One embattled knight, Spenser wrote, was “diverst” as his opponent “forth rode.” For Spenser, we see, “diversity” was a bad thing, a mark of inferior difference. In fact, like today’s conservatives, Spenser believed in the superiority of the dominant, ingrained culture of the privileged. After the Elizabethan Conquest of Ireland in 1559, Spenser emigrated to Ireland as a colonizer, where he wrote the pamphlet “A View on the Present State of Ireland.” Too politically incendiary even for the 16th century, the work — which argued that England should completely suppress Ireland’s native lan-
One embattled knight, Spenser wrote, was “diverst” as his opponent “forth rode.” sity movement reconceptualizes the word, making “diversity” about ensuring that in every place and at every time, the voices of the privileged and the powerful can be heard. This myopic ideology posits that a lack of conservative professors at Brown and Harvard is as serious an oversight as the lack of blacks, women and poor people at the highest levels of U.S. government, academia and the private sector. Last month, conservative political thinker Dinesh D’Souza gave a provocative lecture here at Brown, sponsored by a special fund set aside for speakers — presumably conservatives — who bring “intellectual diversity” to campus. So left-of-center institutions, it seems, are buying into “intellectual diversity.” Applying my liberal arts education to these confusing political developments, I recently turned to the Oxford English Dictionary in an attempt to catch the right
14th century, the English word “diverse” — from the French “divers” — meant not “different,” “varied” or “multiform,” as it does today, but carried the negative connotations of “adverse; perverse; opposed to what is right, good, or profitable.” Almost 200 years after Chaucer’s time, the writer Edmund Spenser made a stylistic decision as political as Chaucer’s choice to write in English instead of French. A social conservative who hoped to curry favor with Queen Elizabeth I, Spenser wrote his “Faerie Queen” not in the lively vernacular of his contemporary, William Shakespeare, but in Chaucer’s antiquated vocabulary. Chaucer and Shakespeare, writing in the vernacular of a rapidly changing tongue, made progressive statements about the value of the average person’s language. Spenser, on the other hand, was a reactionary who explained that he chose the vocabulary and grammar of the past because unlike the late 16th century, the
guages and customs — was published only posthumously. Like Spenser, who used reactionary language to reflect reactionary politics, today’s Right unwittingly defines “diversity” in a way more closely related to its medieval meaning of fearsome difference than its contemporary connotation of benevolent inclusion. If liberals want to retain the progressivism of “diversity,” they must realize that they do not own the term, and enter into a vigorous public debate that, instead of accepting the rhetoric of David Horowitz and his ilk at face value, reveals the underlying ideologies of fairness and historical perspective that inform the liberal definition of “diversity.” Progressives can’t assume terminology is stagnant. In fact, the opposite is true: Words are often only empty shells, waiting to be filled by a well-articulated ideology. Dana Goldstein ’06 is OED-lightful.
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
SPORTS MONDAY APRIL 25, 2005 · PAGE 12
Late faulty defense dooms Softball earns first sweep of Ivy season m. lax in loss to Big Green Heavy hitting propels Bears to pair of victories over Pennsylvania BY JUSTIN GOLDMAN SPORTS STAFF WRITER
BY BEN MILLER SPORTS EDITOR
The No. 18 men’s lacrosse team suffered another close defeat on Saturday, falling 11-9 to No. 11 Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H. The team fell behind early in the first quarter due to mental mistakes, only to come back to take the lead and have it slip away in the final minutes due to poor clearing. The loss drops the Bears to 5-4 overall (2-2 in the Ivy League), meaning the Bears will have an uphill climb to an NCAA tournament berth. “(Ivy games) are always going to be close no matter who or where you’re playing,” said cocaptain Chris Mucciolo ’05. “We have to play 60 minutes. It just so happened that the five minutes we didn’t were the most important of the game.” The Big Green started out the game in front, taking advantage of substitution errors by the Bears on the way to a 3-1 lead at the end of the first quarter. Dave Madeira ’07 had Brown’s lone score of the period, an unassisted goal at the 2:57 mark. “The first quarter we made a couple of mistakes,” said Head Coach Scott Nelson. “We made some substitution errors and they out-hustled us.” The team responded in the second quarter, opening the scoring up with a nice man-up
Ashley Hess / Herald
Dave Madeira ’07 scored four goals in the first half of Brown’s 11-9 loss to Dartmouth Saturday. goal by Madeira with an assist from Kyle Wailes ’06. The tally energized the Bears, who tied the game on a score by Alex Buckley ’07 with 11 minutes left to play in the half. Mucciolo and Dartmouth’s see M. LAX, page 9
The softball team improved its record to 12-14-1 and 4-6 in league play with a pair of wins over the University of Pennsylvania Sunday, its first sweep of a doubleheader against an Ivy League opponent. “Getting this first sweep feels great. (We) are really playing well as a team. We have played much better as the season has gone on. When you have 12 games rained out to start the season, you really don’t have a preseason, and we are starting to gain confidence as a team,” said Head Coach Pam McCreesh. The first game was a good showing for the Bears offensively, as they were able to hit three home runs en route to a 5-4 victory. “Our 3-4-5 hitters are some of the best in the region. They are really translating what they do in practice to the games,” McCreesh said. The Quakers were very feisty, however, refusing to fold until the final out of the game. Penn jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but the Quakers’ lead was short-lived as Brown put three runs on the board in the bottom half. LaQuisha Pierre-Louis ’08 hit an infield single to get things started. Jaimie Wirkowski ’06 then came to the plate and hit a towering two-run homer to left field that gave Bruno a 2-1 lead. Two
Rain postpones baseball’s key matchup with Crimson BY STEPHEN COLELLI ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
Rain washed out the baseball team’s four games against Harvard over the weekend, putting the team’smost anticipated match-up of the season on hold until this afternoon. The two games originally scheduled for Saturday will be played today at 1 p.m., while the two scheduled for Sunday will be made up at a later date, most likely Tuesday. Although Sunday’s weather was more cooperative, the storm on Saturday night blew off the tarp covering the field, rendering it unplayable. “There’s no way we could have played today,” said relief pitcher Ethan Silverstein ’07. “We spent an hour and a half just rolling the tarp back up. Basically, we desperately need a new one.” The rain dampened the excitement surrounding the series, although the postponements came at an opportune time for the Bears. Without the delay, the team would have been playing its sixth game in five days on Sunday. Last Wednesday, the Bears traveled to Cornell for a doubleheader and defeated the Big Red 16-5 in game one. Poor weather then forced the suspension of
game two in the eighth inning, and the squad was forced to spend the night in Ithaca, N.Y., in order to complete the second game Thursday afternoon. When play resumed, the Big Red plated three runs in their half of the inning to claim an 8-6 victory and halt Brown’s nine-game Ivy League winning streak. The loss stung more than usual for the Bears. An early 30 lead evaporated as the Big Red scored in every inning afterward, and Brown was unable to answer in the ninth despite a solo home run from Danny Hughes ’06. The break clearly had an effect on Bears closer Chris Davidson ’05, who was forced to pitch Wednesday before the game was suspended and Thursday when the game resumed. Called on with one out in the seventh and the game tied at five, Davidson worked out of the jam with a little help from catcher Devin Thomas ’07, who threw out Cornell’s Mike Weiss trying to steal third. Davidson ended the inning with a strikeout, but the rain picked up during the Bears’ turn of bat, and the game was halted. Cornell took advantage of the break to regroup. The following afternoon, the Big Red
came out swinging and touched Davidson for three runs on four hits. “Cornell came out with the mindset that they had nothing to lose,” Silverstein said. “They played better than us for an inning and a half. If we played them in a nine-inning game, we usually win, but sometimes you have losses like that over the course of the season. They weren’t hitting the ball hard off of Chris, but they were hitting it places where there weren’t any fielders.” The loss dropped the Bears to 9-3 in league play, a game behind Harvard for the Red Rolfe Division lead. Brown was looking forward to rebounding from Thursday’s defeat with Harvard coming to town, but the rain ensured the bitter aftertaste of the loss would linger for a few more days. The rain allowed the Bears pitching staff to rest their arms. Brown can now throw its top four pitchers, Jeff Dietz ’08, Shaun McNamara ’06, Bryan Tews ’07 and James Cramphin ’06, fully rested, and its four best starters at Harvard. In addition, the bullpen, which worked 4 2/3 innings against Cornell, will have everyone see BASEBALL, page 7
batters later, Amy Baxter ’08 hit a solo home run to left to push the Bears lead to 3-1. Penn rebounded in the top of the second inning to put another run on the board. Brown answered back in the bottom of the fourth inning, when Melissa Ota ’07 singled and moved to third when co-captain Uchenna Omokaro ’05 helped her own cause and doubled to right. Ota scored on an RBI groundout by
co-captain Marissa Berkes ’05 to give Brown a 4-2 lead. Penn again bounced back in the next inning when Teresa Leyden doubled to left center and Annie Kinsey brought her in with a single to center. The Quakers tied the score in the top of the sixth as Jen Nichols walked to open the inning and scored on a sacrifice fly three batters later to see SOFTBALL, page 9
Ashley Hess / Herald
Jaimie Wirkowski ’06 started Brown’s power surge in game one of its doubleheader Sunday, hitting a two-run homer in the first inning.
W. sailing qualifies for Nationals at N.E. Regatta The women’s sailing team qualified for Nationals with a fourthplace finish at the New England Championships this past weekend in New London, Conn. The Bears went into the weekend needing a top-five finish to qualify for Nationals. After a rough first day of competition, in which the Bears came in sixth out of the 13 New England District teams, the Bears rallied to move into the top five with a strong Sunday. Brown just barely qualified, finishing only four points ahead of the sixth-place team. “We really have a great women’s team right now. The way things have been going, it would have been unexpected not to qualify,” said Christina Starr ’06. “Every regatta is different. It was very windy, and for whatever reason, we had a bad (first) day. In the end ,we were able to come back the second day and rally back.” In the next seven weeks, both
the men’s and co-ed teams look to join the women at Nationals in Austin, Texas. For all of the teams that qualify, it will be important to prepare for the variety of weather conditions that Austin could present. “In sailing, you can get very peculiar conditions in particular boats. The conditions on the Providence River are different than a place like Dartmouth, so we’ll probably practice there,” Starr said. “It’s also important to keep everyone excited and not (burned) out.” As for the last seven weeks of the season, the ultimate goal is clear. “A really big team would be to have three boats at Nationals,” Starr said. “We have more depth on our team than ever. To compete on a high level with all three teams would be a pretty big deal for us.” — Chris Mahr
BROWN SPORTS SCOREBOARD FRIDAY, APRIL 22 M. TENNIS: Brown 7, Dartmouth 0 W. TENNIS: Dartmouth 5, Brown 2 SATURDAY, APRIL 23 M. CREW: Win (at Dartmouth) W. CREW: Win (vs. Cornell and Columbia) CC, Providence) M. LACROSSE: Dartmouth 11, Brown 9 W. LACROSSE: Penn 8, Brown 6 M. TRACK: 3rd of 6 (UConn Invitational) W. TRACK: 2nd of 9 (UConn Invitational)
W. WATER POLO: Brown 15, Utica 1; Brown 12, Harvard 8 (at Northern Championship) SUNDAY, APRIL 24 M. GOLF: 7th of 13 (at NE Championship) SOFTBALL: Brown 5, Penn 4; Brown 4, Penn 2 M. TENNIS: Brown 5, Harvard 2 W. TENNIS: Harvard 6, Brown 1 W. WATER POLO: Brown 15, Connecticut College 2; Hartwick 11, Brown 4 (at Northern Championship)