Friday, February 3, 2006

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2006

Volume CXLI, No. 8 FOLLOW THE MELLOW SILK ROAD Members of the Silk Road Project bring their creative take on the composition process to Salomon tonight ARTS & CULTURE 3

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An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891 MANIMAL PLANET Three seniors declare war on efforts to create genetically engineered humananimal hybrids OPINIONS 11

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High textbook prices spark debate as students seek out alternatives

Committee plans to recommend divestment from Darfur

BY ALLISON EHRICH BERNSTEIN STAFF WRITER

BY CHELSEA RUDMAN STAFF WRITER

As shopping period ends, Brown students settle into their new schedules, catch up on missed work and line up to pay hundreds of dollars for increasingly expensive textbooks.

As publishers, professors and advocacy groups argue over whether pricey new editions and fancy features are necessary, students are turning to a growing number of lower-cost options.

Students at four-year private institutions now spend an average of $850 per academic year on textbooks, according to a 2005 Government Accountability Office report titled, “College Textbooks: Enhanced Offerings Appear to Drive Recent Price Increases.” Brown students interviewed by The Herald said they spend between $500 and $1,000 per year.

Textbook prices have risen at double the rate of inflation for the past 20 years, according to the report. But while this increase seems drastic, it has in fact kept pace with the ever-rising costs of college tuition and fees.

The report and industry critics cite two main reasons for price increases: the bundling of supplementary materials with textbooks and frequent releases of new editions.

Critics of high textbook costs, such as an advocacy group called the Affordable Textbooks Campaign, say pricey supplements and new editions add little educational value, although textbook publishers argue that these features are useful teaching aids.

As admission officers select the class of 2010 from an applicant pool that is 60 percent female, Brown stands out as one of the more striking examples of the growing gender gap in American higher education.

The University’s 2004-2005 statistics show an undergraduate population of approximately 54 percent women and 46 percent men, one of the largest differentials among its peers. Over the past 10 years, however, the margin has remained fairly constant, rising only 3 percent since 1993-1994.

Since at least 1993, Brown has had a female majority in its undergraduate population. By comparison, Harvard University first admitted more women than men in 2004 (for the class of 2008).

According to statistics from the fall of 2004, Yale University and Cornell University both had a 50 percent female enrollment rate, while the University of California, Berkeley was 54 percent female.

Despite the gender ratio of this year’s 15,871-person regular decision applicant pool at Brown, Dean of Admissions James Miller ’73 said that his office “pays more

see TEXTBOOKS, page 4

see DARFUR, page 5

Kam Sripada / Herald

Giancarlo Barriocanal ‘09 scans shelves in the Brown Bookstore.

Finding alternatives As this debate turns heads in the world of higher education, students and professors are seeking alternatives to traditional bookstore shopping.

The used book market is growing in campus bookstores and on the Internet.

The Brown Bookstore sells a particularly large number of used books because, as an independent bookseller, it has a commitment to selling used titles.

Used books constitute 30 percent of Brown sales, the largest percentage in the Ivy League, said Director of Bookstore and Services Larry Carr.

Another alternative to shelling out

U.’s applicant pool reveals nationwide gender gap trends

BY JILL LUXENBERG STAFF WRITER

big bucks for new books is textbook rentals, a service in place at 20 American universities to help cut student costs.

According to the Affordable Textbooks Campaign, such rental programs can reduce a student’s textbook spending by $1,600 to $2,000 over the course of four years. But according to Carr, such programs won’t appear at Brown any time soon. The University’s “fast-moving curriculum” would not make textbook rentals worth the investment, he said.

Carr said the Bookstore’s buyback option is tantamount to a rental system

Members of Brown’s Darfur Action Network presented a proposal Wednesday calling for the University’s divestment from Sudan to the Advisory Committee on Corporate Responsibility in Investing.

The 15-page proposal calls for divestment from any companies “that do business in Sudan or with the government of Sudan, in response to the genocide that Khartoum continues to wage in Darfur, Sudan.”

Additionally, the proposal provides a history of the conflict in the region and argues against any future investment in such companies.

The Darfur Action Network is an affiliate of the national group Students Taking Action Now Darfur.

The committee unanimously supported issuing a recommendation to President Ruth Simmons that is “basically identical to STAND’s proposal, minus some details,” according to Professor of Economics Louis Putterman, who has chaired the ACCRI since November.

Though the committee’s recommendation has yet to be fully drafted, Putterman said all ACCRI members — including three alums, three members of the faculty, one graduate student and two undergraduates — agreed that the University should divest from 10 companies whose involvement in the region has proven helpful to

attention to quality than to gender” in acceptance decisions. He sees the trend as one that is “creeping a little each year, but that is somewhat stable.”

According to Miller, there is some concern among prospective parents about the gender proportions. Miller said that most questions he gets about the gap come from parents of female applicants who worry that their daughters’ gender may adversely affect their chances of admittance.

In spite of the increasing gap, Miller said the University has not yet taken any measures to “specially target” males.

While the issue is one that admission officers “do spend time thinking about,” there are no measures currently in place to make any changes to the admissions process, he said.

While the percentage of women enrolled in many universities has grown nationally over the past decade to make up just over half of the undergraduate population, some speculate it will grow to a much larger proportion.

Social commentators such as Katha Pollitt, columnist for The Nation, have speculated that in the near future, the gap will widen even further to a 60 percent to

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see GENDER, page 5

Prominent alums give free advice in U.’s expansion process

BY ANNE WOOTTON METRO EDITOR

Brown alums are known for their undying dedication to the University, serving as members of the Corporation, fundraisers for the Annual Fund and Campaign for Academic Enrichment, recruiters for potential students and advisors to departments, among other things.

But one eight-person group composed almost entirely of alums is guiding the University as it develops on a new front — helping coordinate expansion projects, including real estate development in Providence and Brown’s eventual, inevitable expansion beyond College Hill.

These efforts fall under the Strategic Growth Initiative enacted under President Ruth Simmons.

The Subcommittee for Strategic Improvement (chartered by the Corporation’s committee on facilities and design) brings together experts in real estate from around the country “to help (the University) specifically with the question, ‘How does the University expand off College Hill?’” according to Richard

Spies, executive vice president for planning and senior advisor to the president.

Spies cited the Plan for Academic Enrichment and its master plan for Brown’s campus, which concluded that although a few possibilities remain, the ability to expand on College Hill is limited.

“We’ve been starting to think about how to (expand) more systematically and strategically. Real estate, programmatic, how should we think of it, how do we pay for it — we have limited resources, as does every institution,” Spies said.

The subcommittee, which was chartered officially about a year ago but whose members have been consulting with top administrators at the University for over two years, provides its advice free of charge.

Because of this, unlike professional consultants the University could (and still does, to a certain extent) hire to work on such projects, members of the subcommittee provide advice without their own financial interests in mind.

“These folks leave their day jobs, in see ALUMS, page 9

Editor’s note: Due to a printing error, post- was not included in Thursday’s Herald. post- can be found in today’s edition.

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THIS MORNING THE BROWN DAILY HERALD · FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2006 · PAGE 2 Jero Matt Vascellaro

TO D AY ’ S E V E N TS BROWN OPERA PROJECT 8 p.m., Saturday, (Grant Recital Hall) — An evening of arias and duets

by Mozart, Debussy, Puccini, Offenbach and Scarlatti. Free and open to the public.

BROWN CSA CHINESE NEW YEAR PARTY 5:30 p.m., (Andrews Dining Hall) — Celebrate the Chinese Traditional New Year with food, drama, a dancing show, games, etc.

WBRU AND SPEC PRESENT: ZOX TAKES OVER FAUNCE 9 p.m., (Faunce House) — Zox will play a show at the Underground, with a student band acoustic showcase, prizes, games and free food in the rest of Faunce.

SILK ROAD PROJECT 7 p.m., (Salomon Center) — Come learn more about Yo-Yo Ma’s vision for the Silk Road Project with the Silk Road Project percussionists.

Chocolate Covered Cotton Mark Brinker

MENU SHARPE REFECTORY

VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALL

LUNCH — Chicken Jambalaya with Bacon, Roasted Herb Potatoes, Fresh Sliced Carrots, Home Fries, Kielbasa, Hard Boiled Eggs, Tomato Basil Pie, Raspberry Chocolate Streusel Bars, Chocolate Chip Bars

LUNCH — Vegetarian Broccoli Cheese Soup, Roasted Corn Chowder with Bacon, Chicken Fingers, Baked Vegan Nuggets, Vegan Rice Pilaf, Whole Kernel Corn, Chocolate Chip Bars DINNER — Vegetarian Broccoli Cheese Soup, Roasted Corn Chowder with Bacon, Baked Stuffed Pollock, Grilled Chicken, Mexican Cornbread Casserole, Basmati Rice, Fresh Vegetable Melange, Sugar Snap Peas, Pueblo Bread, Chocolate Cinnamon Cake Roll

DINNER — Fried Scallops with Tartar Sauce, Cranberry Wild and White Rice Pilaf, Mashed Butternut Squash, Italian Green Beans, Pueblo Bread, Manicotti Piedmontese, Chocolate Cinnamon Cake Roll

Deo Daniel Perez

Cappuccino Monday Christine Sunu

RELEASE DATE– Thursday, February 2, 2006

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ARTS & CULTURE THE BROWN DAILY HERALD · FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2006 · PAGE 3

Beuys exhibit speaks only to the expert

Silk Road Project toys with composition techniques

BY MELANIE DUCH SENIOR STAFF WRITER

BY STEWART DEARING STAFF WRITER

The work of Joseph Beuys inspires viewers with its ability to test creative and artistic boundaries.

But the new exhibition at the David Winton Bell Gallery in List Art Center, “Joseph Beuys: Multiples from New England Collections,” only REVIEW halfheartedly elucidates the pivotal role Beuys played in undoing the art world’s aesthetic conventions.

The gallery presents a collection of prints, posters, postcards and sculptures that explore Beuys’ controversial artistic ideas.

The first room contains posters and postcards made under the artist’s supervision or by the artist himself. The prints have been reproduced in large or sometimes unlimited quantities. Some posters of note for fans of Beuys include a gallery poster for “I like America and America likes me” as well as one for “Ikarus.”

Before even entering the second room, however, you had better be familiar with Bueys’ work if you want to truly enjoy the exhibit. Most of the works refer to his earlier performance pieces, so knowledge of his work is necessary to understand the show.

Beuys, a German artist commonly associated with the Fluxus movement — a synthesis of many different media — is most famous for his performance pieces and use of unconventional media, like honey, fat, earth and even dead animals in his works. His art is highly symbolic, often asking the viewer to think about the innate properties of his materials and how they relate to life.

In one of his most controversial performance pieces, “How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare,” the artist, with his head covered in honey and a gold leaf, carried a dead hare on his arm while explaining the surrounding pictures to the carcass.

While the Bell gallery exhibit does not have as much raw shock value as a dead animal might inspire, the sculptural works are still very striking.

“Sled #1” is one of the more famous pieces, consisting of a wooden sled with a flashlight, felt blanket and a chunk of solid fat on top of it, giving the viewer a taste of Beuys’ use of strange and decaying media.

The work suggests ideas of physical and spiritual movement in the sled, as well as guidance and survival in the blanket, flashlight and fat.

Another beautiful piece is one of Beuys’ last, “Capri Battery,” which consists of a light bulb plugged into a

Jean Yves Chainon / Herald

Finn Yarbrough `09 looks over a set of postcards from Joseph Beuys’ selection of work, currently exhibited in List Art Center. lemon, all contained in a wooden box. The work comments on sources of energy and asks the viewer to question what fuels society.

One of the best-known works represented at the exhibit, “Letter From London,” is a lithograph copy of a blackboard diagram that Beuys drew in his “Society Into Art” performance piece in London. The print is accompanied by an audiotape described in the wall text as essential to understanding the piece.

Frustratingly enough, however, no transcript or audio recording of the tape is provided.

Other works of note include “Intuition,” “The Silence,” “Blackboard Erasers” and prints from the series “Suite Circulation Time” and “Suite Tears.”

Overall, the exhibit only taps the surface of Beuys’ oeuvre. It does suggest his interest in challenging creative boundaries but, overall, it is a somewhat disappointingly tame introduction to the work of an edgy 20th century artist, suitable only for the contemporary art skeptic.

“Another View of Joseph Beuys: Multiples from New England Collections” is on view through March 8 at the List Art Center.

“I’ve never played so many drums in my entire life!” cried percussionist PREVIEW Joseph Gramley during a rehearsal on Wednesday, shaking his fists slowly at the ceiling.

Gramley is one of four Silk Road Project musicians who will play in Salomon 101 tonight at 7 p.m. for a Works in Progress presentation that represents a week’s worth of intense composition and improvisation.

Virtuoso cellist Yo-Yo Ma founded the Silk Road Project in 1998 as a way to explore the traditions of the ancient Silk Road, a famous route that linked Europe and Asia in the first century B.C. The road greatly facilitated the exchange of cultural currency, and the Silk Road Project, which brings together musicians, storytellers, vocalists and dancers from around the world, strives to do this as well.

“The Silk Road — as both fact and metaphor — is of great relevance today as we explore the historical and inherent interrelatedness of the world’s many cultures,” said Laura Freid, CEO of the Silk Road Project. “We hope the exchange of music and ideas will serve to deepen the understanding we have of our own lives.”

Gramley and fellow percussionists Sandeep Das, Shane Shanahan and Mark Suter are Silk Road Ensemble members who have been artistsin-residence at the Rhode Island School of Design since Jan. 22, due in part to Silk Road’s five-year long educational collaboration with RISD and Ma’s alma mater,

Harvard University. The RISD residency will culminate with the performance in Salomon tonight.

The performance’s theme is the exploration of composition.

Each musician composed a piece for the group to play, though most of the pieces began with one man’s concept and were composed more collectively through improvisation. The collective artistic authorship was almost indescribable, without rules or guidelines.

On Wednesday, just two days before their performance, the percussionists were still composing music, often bending over their individual drums to pencil musical notes onto paper after a particularly inspired improvisation or idea by the piece’s composer.

“We started on Monday. Each one of us came with our own ideas and they were developed more fully when we started playing together,” Shanahan said.

The group spent most of Wednesday practicing Shanahan’s piece, an Arabicinspired rhythm that uses several instruments, including the Indian drum tabla, which Das tames masterfully, and an almost anachronistically glittery tambourine that Shanahan manages to convert into a melodic instrument. Although Shanahan’s piece only uses four instruments, Freid said the audience can expect to see the musicians collectively play at least 10 before the performance closes.

Shanahan’s piece centers on one rhythm but leaves ample time for each percussionist to solo. At a pivotal moment in the see SILK, page 7

PAGE 4 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2006

Textbooks continued from page 1 because it allows students to sell books back at the end of the semester for 50 percent of the new textbook price.

Publishing companies, for their part, are offering a lower-cost option as well. Students can buy black-and-white, no-frills versions of standard textbooks in order to save money. Thomson Learning, for example, prints an “Advantage” series of 400 to 500 titles that cost 25 to 50 percent less than highend textbooks, said company spokesman Adam Gaber.

Professors are also chipping in to cut student spending by using no-cost materials. Many professors provide links to course readings on the Internet (for example, Brown’s use of WebCT), or distribute CDs with PDF files of scanned book pages.

In some cases, entire textbooks are available online for free.

Northeastern University student Jason Turgeon started a Web site that provides hundreds of links to free online textbooks after an introductory physics course required him to purchase problem sets he never used.

“I’m not a socialist and (I’m not) saying that all books should be free,” Turgeon said. “(The textbook industry) has had sort of a monopoly, and I’m trying to introduce some competition.”

The Affordable Textbooks Campaign is a network of student-run public interest groups which also challenges textbook publishers’ monopoly by publicizing reasons that prices continue to climb along with alternative options to full-price books.

The group claims that bundling supplements such as CD-ROMs into textbook packages increases book prices by 10 percent on average, said Campaign Coordinator Hannah Nguyen.

Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.

Solution, tips and computer program at www.sudoku.com.

She added that most students and professors do not want these costly “bells and whistles.”

Prices also rise with the release of new editions, which critics claim are published more often than needed. “It’s especially egregious in areas where the subject stays pretty much the same” such as calculus or physics, Nguyen said.

Chapters are re-ordered and CD-ROMs tucked into back pockets, but “little or no additional info” has been added, she said. A campaign report stated that over 500 mathematics professors from 150 universities had called on textbook publisher Thomson Learning to stop printing unnecessary new editions of its standard calculus textbook.

Textbook industry representatives, however, say supplements and new editions are part of a changing market that demands up-to-date learning tools. “(When you buy a textbook) you’re getting an entire teaching and learning system,” Gaber said.

Although Gaber agreed that core knowledge has not changed in fields such as calculus, he said that technology has transformed how it can be taught. He cited one video that Thomson packages with some calculus textbooks that illustrates key concepts. Supplemental CDROMs can provide quiz banks, online mentors and homework helpers, he said.

Professors can choose whether or not to order specific supplements that may affect cost, Gaber said. In rare cases, though, supplements must be packaged with the book because of a copyright or partnership agreement.

The debate at Brown Brown professors who spoke with The Herald gave new editions and supplementary materials mixed reviews. Professor of Engineering Joseph Liu said he assigns new textbook

editions because he finds them generally superior to older ones.

He said CD-ROMs included with textbooks have been useful to him and his students.

Professor of Chemistry Matthew Zimmt, currently working on a textbook himself, said that while revisions to early editions are important, exceeding a third edition is often unnecessary. He said that textbook companies are “constantly selling a new version so that people can pay money for things they don’t need.”

Students interviewed by The Herald echoed this sentiment, saying they were forced to buy supplements they never used.

Chemistry concentrator Alden Voelker ’08 said he never used the CD-ROM that was packaged with his CH 33: “Equilibrium, Rate, and Structure” textbook, though he said his MA 18: “Intermediate Calculus” course did use the textbook’s supplementary CD. Biochemistry concentrator Clem Marshall ’08 said his textbook for BI 28: “Introductory Biochemistry” includes a CD he does not expect to use.

Liberal arts students voiced similar complaints. Education concentrator Jessica FredstonHermann ’08, for example, said her Spanish textbook came bundled with a Spanish-English dictionary, rendered useless for her because she already owned one. Another Spanish book she purchased includes a CD-ROM of listening exercises that she does not believe are part of the course.

“One of the best things (students) can do is work with their professors” to find affordable textbooks, Nguyen said.

On the other end of the debate, Gaber maintains that fancier books are the future of the textbook industry and teaching in general. “There are so many other tools and useful ways that professors can teach students better,” he said. “It’s all about choice and value.”

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2006 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 5

Darfur continued from page 1 the Sudanese government. The University holds shares in only two of the listed businesses, so the STAND proposal and the planned ACCRI recommendation suggest that the University blacklist all 10 companies, said Scott Warren ’09, advocacy director for STAND. Eight of the 10 companies have oil interests and two work in telecommunications, Warren said.

Putterman said the details in STAND’s proposal, which the ACCRI does not plan to endorse, involve mutual funds and other investments not directly controlled by the Brown Corporation, which ultimately makes decisions about the University’s investments.

Wednesday’s meeting was the latest development in nearly a year of activity surrounding the University’s investment policy regarding Sudan. Last spring, “the president got a letter from an exterior organization suggesting that Brown look into its investments in the Sudan,” said Elizabeth Huidekoper, executive vice president for finance and administration.

The letter was forwarded to the ACCRI, which is officially charged with, among other responsibilities, recommending divestment if it might correct a social harm or when the company in question is contributing to social harm inconsistent with the University’s principles.

Accordingly, the ACCRI looked into the matter and “found that we were holding a company called ABB, a Swiss-based company considered critical to the Sudanese government’s military,” Putterman said. The ACCRI recommended in April that Simmons send a letter to ABB expressing concern, though she never sent such a letter, according to Huidekoper.

Around the same time, STAND began researching divestment as

an option for the University.

Other colleges and universities also considered divestment, and Harvard University, Stanford University, Dartmouth College and Amherst College have since divested from “stock they hold directly, not through managed funds,” Putterman said.

STAND first presented a divestment proposal to the ACCRI in November, but the committee did not act on it.

Warren, who, along with Chris Talbot ’06 and Caitlin Cohen ’06, presented the STAND proposal to the ACCRI Wednesday, said divestment is “a growing movement.”

“We include all the companies that Stanford and Harvard divested from and added a few more,” he said.

Though Putterman said the ACCRI would most likely have discussed divesting from Sudan anyway, STAND “definitely made it impossible for us to ignore the issue.”

Once the ACCRI submits its official recommendation to Simmons, divestment will be discussed at the Feb. 14 meeting of the Brown University Community Council, which also advises the president in such decisions. Simmons will then make a recommendation to the Corporation at its meeting later in the month and, if her advice is accepted, a policy of divestment will be enacted. “It’s an issue she’s quite concerned with,” Huidekoper said.

Similar divestment petitions have arisen in recent years.

A proposal to divest from tobacco companies in spring 2003 was accepted, while a 2005 petition from the student group Anti-Racist Action calling for divestment from Israel was denied. In regards to Sudan, Warren and the other students involved remain determined.

“The genocide’s getting worse by the day and this is a direct way that Brown University can take the initiative and do what’s in (its) power to stop the genocide,” he said.

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Gender continued from page 1 40 percent ratio of women to men.

The phenomenon has recently garnered considerable media attention and is now widely acknowledged, but research into the origins and causes of the gender gap has been inconclusive.

Many commentators have hypothesized that the emphasis in early education on verbal skills and restrained classroom behavior have placed males at a disadvantage in comparison to their female counterparts, many of whom are naturally disposed to excel under these conditions.

Professor of Education Cynthia García Coll suggested that the trend may be a result of the increasing efforts to “empower” females from a younger age.

She said that girls have always performed better than boys in

the traditional classroom, but in the past 40 years they have been given “a sense of possibility that was not there before” and have taken advantage of the opportunities presented to them.

Miller speculated that the decreasing percentage of males in higher-level education is linked to the maturation process.

He noted that since “most males mature intellectually a bit behind most females,” they may not be ready to enter college directly after high school. He said that in his experience, even all-male education cannot really address the issue of the slower development of most men compared with women. The problem, he said, is that “the current system demands that students are ready at age 18, but that is not always the case.”

The percentage of male undergraduate enrollment may be decreasing overall, but the large proportion of men

earning degrees in science and engineering continues to draw attention. According to the National Science Foundation, the percentage of women earning doctoral degrees in science and engineering has increased by 21 percent from 1966 to 2001, but women still lag behind men, earning 37 percent of the degrees awarded.

The University has established programs such as Women in Science and Engineering to encourage women to pursue these concentrations and provide support in future workplaces. Miller said that WiSE has “really helped to make good strides, particularly in engineering.”

In response to some pundits’ worries about the disappearance of men from higher education, García Coll said that “up until now, women have been underrepresented in everything — did anyone say that was a problem before?”

Library Collections Annex frees up space

BY REBECCA JACOBSON SENIOR STAFF WRITER

After a decade of planning, three years of development and close to a year of renovation, the Library Collections Annex will open today at a 3 p.m. ribboncutting ceremony officiated

by President Ruth Simmons, according to a Jan. 30 University press release.

The Annex, part of the Plan for Academic Enrichment, has the capacity to house and preserve 1.7 million volumes, which will

free up space in Brown’s oncampus libraries. The new 24hour Friedman Study Center, slated to open on the first three floors of the Sciences Library in the spring of 2007, would not have been feasible without the Annex.

“The Annex not only allows us to shelve valuable materials in a preservation-quality environment, it also allows the on-campus libraries to reclaim and reshape space for our users and staff,” said University Librarian Harriette Hemmasi

in the press release.

The University already stores more than 400,000 of its less frequently used library materials in the Annex’s 25,000-squarefoot storage space, which should provide adequate storage for the next 10 years. The Annex will house such materials as full-text journals that can now be found online, as well as a 900-squarefoot art storage facility and a public reading room.

The Annex is located at 10 Park Lane in Providence.

PAGE 6 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2006

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2006 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 7

Silk continued from page 3 composition, each musician plays alone for just a few notes before the person sitting next to him solos for an equally short amount of time. With each rotation, the amount of time each musician plays shortens.

The rotation gives off the impression that the drummers are passing music around their circle, like a sonic game of “hot potato.”

The other pieces are also uniquely inspired. Gramley drew inspiration from the Ryõan-ji temple’s rock garden in Japan, where 15 rocks are placed such that from any place in the garden, one can only see 14. Gramley’s piece, composed in three rhythmic cycles of 13, 7 and 31, tries to musically evoke the elusiveness of the 15th rock.

“One person goes away each (cycle). We never play in unison.

We each go into separate tunes,” he said. “When we play in 7, I’m actually playing 1, 2, 1, 2, so I’ll be off. I wanted the audience not to understand.”

Das’ piece is about creation, he said. Das was inspired to compose this piece the last time he was doing a workshop at RISD and saw a statue of the Hindu god Shiva at the RISD Museum.

“Shiva is the creator of the universe. He actually created the universe with the sound of his drums,” Das said. His piece starts off simply with one note, the sound of a conch, and moves fluidly through cycles of 7, 12 and 4.

“The 4-beat is very basic to life. It is somehow very related to creation. It’s the heartbeat. It’s how we talk, how we eat. That’s how the piece ends,” Das said.

What results from the four percussionists is something that will probably sound foreign to most listeners. Seldom do drummers, forever doomed to take the back seat to rock ’n’ roll guitarists, provide the melody and harmony, the meat, bones and soul of a song. Although there will be nonpercussive instruments in the performance, they will play backup.

“They’ll actually be playing behind us,” Shanahan said.

The group’s music, though highly controlled, exudes an inescapable primal urgency.

The rhythms are undeniably infectious; listening to them, you might feel your heart start to pound faster, as though it is racing to align itself with the beat.

The percussionists, who have known one another for almost five years now, play together as a cohesive whole. They all smile at the same parts of the song, perhaps all recalling the moment of inspiration that gave birth to it. Once, when Shanahan, Suter and Gramley wandered off on a musical tangent in the middle of rehearsing Shanahan’s piece, Das was able to keep up perfectly, leading Gramley to jokingly exclaim, “You didn’t even know what was coming, you just felt it!”

Ultimately, the Works in Progress performance is just that: an experiment in the feeling of composition. The combination of different styles, musicians and instruments in an unrestricted creative environment has led to the creation of four unique pieces of music.

“It’s great,” Shanahan said of being a Silk Road musician. “We learn a lot from each other. That’s one of the best parts, I believe.”

The performance is free and open to the public.

PAGE 8 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2006

Colelli continued from page 12 Sunday.

Hoping for women’s hoops Last week in this space, Herald Sports Editor Chris Hatfield wrote that the men’s basketball team received a considerable boost from a raucous home crowd in its victory over Yale.

In the team’s double-overtime victory over Dartmouth last Friday, the crowd was similarly vocal and energetic.

The student section at the Pizzitola Center nearly touches the court, impacting the game’s atmosphere to a degree that sports played outdoors cannot experience. As the Dartmouth game forged on, the louder the fans became and the more exciting the game felt. Though the contest was drama-filled, numerous people who watched it on television commented on the roar of the home crowd.

Spectators could imagine they were not simply watching a game in the Ivy League, but a head-to-head match-up of two big time college teams.

This weekend, the men hit the road for games at the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton, while the women will host the Quakers and Tigers at the Pitz.

The women (3-1 in conference) are right in the thick of the race for the Ivy championship, and a win over the 3-0 Tigers on Saturday would give the Bears a legitimate shot at holding the crown when the dust settles.

It would be nice to see a similar student turnout at the Princeton game on Saturday as came out for the men’s win over Dartmouth last week. Without question, the students can intimidate a visiting team when they come in full force. With the Bears hosting a game that has definite playoff implications, stop by the Pitz on Saturday night and check out the atmosphere for yourself.

Alum race makes cents The ski team is off to a rough start in its quest to return to the national competition where it finished second in 2005. The battered team, battling injuries and difficult conditions, has only one first-place finish this season — in the giant slalom in its season opener. But with Kelly O’Hear ’07 now healthy and the young team gaining experience each week, look for the squad to get it turned around soon.

On another ski team note, if last weekend’s alum race at Wachusett Mountain becomes an annual event, it will be an asset not just to the program, but to the entire athletic department.

The idea behind the event is simple: organize a fun event for Brown students and alums, raise money for the athletic department and help publicize a successful team. If pulled off, it has the makings of a successful and innovative venture.

If the event were held on the first Saturday after school resumes, most students who wanted to attend likely could without sacrificing too much in terms of schoolwork. Next year, the team is trying to organize buses to take students from campus to Wachusett, a little over an hour from Providence.

Not only will this event provide an opportunity for the Bears’ fans to see them in action, it would also be a chance for those Brown students who have never been skiing before to give it a go. Encouraging alums to attend is also a great idea for both raising money and increasing the team’s exposure.

The athletic department should definitely look into expanding and instituting this event on a permanent basis.

Gymnast garners Rookie of the Week honors Brittany Anderson ’09 was named the ECAC Rookie of the Week yesterday after her impressive performance in the Bears’ home meet last weekend.

Anderson’s two scores of 9.4 — on the balance beam and in the floor exercise — helped Brown squeak past Ithaca College by less than a point. It marks the first time a Bear has won rookie of the week honors in two years.

Anderson’s performance in her first career home meet bodes well for the future. The senior laden Bears are ranked sixth in the 16-team ECAC and should contend for the conference crown. With regular contributions from Anderson and classmates Whitney Diederich ’09, Rachel Foodman ’09 and Jennifer Sobuta ’09, the Bears will have every opportunity to make some noise in the conference. This weekend, Brown heads to New York for competitions with Cornell and Cortland State on Saturday and Sunday respectively.

Sports Editor Stephen Colelli ’08 is secretly rooting for the Patriots on Sunday.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2006 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 9

Alums continued from page 1 effect, outside when they come in and they’re just trying to do what’s best for Brown. They do worry if we’re putting in more money than we need to because they know that it takes away from the (bigger educational picture), and that’s what motivates them to keep going,” Spies said.

He estimated that the University would spend “many hundreds of thousands of dollars” finding consultants to accomplish what the subcommittee does for free.

Applying global expertise to Brown Chairing the subcommittee is Ben Lambert ’60, current CEO and founder of Eastdil Realty Co., LLC in New York City. Lambert, a former trustee of the Brown Corporation, also chairs the real estate investment committee for the University’s endowment.

Lambert said he was “honored” to offer his expertise to the University when Chancellor Stephen Robert ’62 P’91 , a longtime friend of his, invited him to chair the subcommittee on Strategic Improvement. “(The University) has been dealing with issues of real estate forever but you want to try to put a group of people together

Goalies continued from page 12 leading the team by stopping .930 of the shots she faces.

The intense yearlong competition has had little effect on the trio’s friendship.

“We have a great handshake,” Stock said of herself and teammate Silverman.

“I was just going to say that!”

AOTW continued from page 12 with mine. I have a massive bed now.

How does that all fit in one room?

Our room (in Chapin) is funny the way it’s set up. With (my

who will sleep (on) and think constantly about what might be in the best interests of the school.

Frankly, that’s what I’m trying to do chairing this committee: think through the various options we’re constantly considering,” he said.

Lambert said the subcommittee meets every few months, either by telephone or in person.

Members have experience with public-private partnerships, attracting major developers in new projects and combining parcels of property that are originally in many different hands, according to Spies.

“It’s bringing together our specific knowledge and their bigger picture of the world,” he said.

The subcommittee — and the entire expansion initiative — is separate from real estate investments the University makes using money from the endowment.

While those ventures are arranged strictly in the interests of the highest possible returns, the projects that the subcommittee is concerned with are local and not expected to turn as much profit.

“Brown will want to try to (expand beyond College Hill) in a way that we are able to earn revenue from land that we buy until we use it, but the likelihood is that (the University) won’t make the same level of return. … This has other goals that we’re trying

yelled Silverman before getting up to demonstrate their impressive high five that concludes with an elbow bump.

There will probably be many more such celebratory handshakes exchanged by the teammates in the next few years, but more importantly, there should be more victories for the Bears. The team has its eye on this weekend’s opponents, Harvard and Dartmouth. roommate’s) bed against one side and my two being the size of a king on the other side, there’s a little walkway between. In that small space we put a Lazy-E-Boy. There’s no room to walk. ... It’s comfortable. There are a lot of distractions, so we go elsewhere to study.

For more Athlete of the Week please visit: browndailyherald.com

to achieve,” said Rebecca Barnes, director of strategic growth for the University.

“Brown is not a real estate investor. That’s certainly not its mission,” she added. “It’s tremendously valuable for us to have access to advice from people who have been doing this 40 or 50 years in a variety of contexts.”

Paired with their vested interest in Brown as alums, these qualities serve as a priceless resource for the University, Spies said.

“The wonderful thing about a group like this is that they care about Brown, they’re willing to give time and energy that most of them wouldn’t give for

pay because they’re not in the consulting business — they’re running companies or engaged in managing projects or doing things that are on their own behalf,” Spies said. “It’s a resource that you couldn’t get — you couldn’t buy it even if you had the money to do it. And it comes with a level of connection to Brown that would take a consultant forever to develop,” he added.

Though “we need consultants because people who serve pro bono don’t have the time to dig into the detailing” of the specifics of potential developments in Providence, Lambert said, “it’s the combination of the (subcommittee and these hired

consultants) that really gets you to the goal line.”

In August 2005, the University purchased an 11-story building at 121 South Main Street for $31.5 million. The 160,000 square-foot building at the foot of College Hill currently includes retail and office space and a 160space parking garage, but will eventually be converted to taxexempt space for educational use by the University.

Lambert added that the use of pro bono consultation is common at universities around the country, if only because of the enormous practical benefit it provides. He expressed satisfaction with the process so far.

EDITORIAL/LETTERS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD · FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2006 · PAGE 10

STAFF EDITORIAL

Diamonds and coal A diamond to Harvard alums who leave their estates to Brown. Bill Gates, take note.

Coal to angry Jolters who respond to the staff editorial by suggesting that its authors “read the BDH more often.” Thanks for the tip, but we’ve read The Herald once or twice.

A cubic zirconium to the Afro-Peruvian jazz ensemble.

It may have trancelike and intoxicating melodies, but it can still learn something about real erotic fun in University recital halls.

A diamond to growing medical marijuana, which joins prostitution as yet another fun indoor activity for one of those rainy Rhody days. Hopefully, optometrists can take advantage of the glaucoma epidemic sure to descend on the Ocean State.

A diamond to the Trinity Repertory Company for upholding the Hippocratic Oath and doing no harm.

JASON LI

Coal-minus to protestors at the College Curriculum Council meeting, who voiced their dissent with bad slogans clearly designed in Microsoft Word. While some students shop classes at RISD, at least 10 have been perusing offerings at the University of Rhode Island School of Lackluster Demonstration.

Coal to confused Colby College. First you allow drinking in the dining hall, then you send undercover cops to parties.

Coal to feed the fire at Ruth Simmons’ hearth. Don’t worry — she can always warm our hearts.

A diamond to all those brave car windows that survived the brutal barrage last week, but a memorial diamond to all those that did not.

A cubic zirconium to books bound in human skin. Experts may debate their ethicality, but we steadfastly stand by their creepiness.

Speaking of books, a diamond to those who pursue careers in bibliography.

Lastly, an XL diamond to Mark Whipple ’79 and Sean Morey ’99 for becoming the first Brown alums in the Super Bowl. Let’s hope the next diamonds they get are on rings.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD EDITORIAL Robbie Corey-Boulet, Editor-in-Chief Justin Elliott, Executive Editor Ben Miller, Executive Editor Stephanie Clark, Senior Editor Katie Lamm, Senior Editor Jonathan Sidhu, Arts & Culture Editor Jane Tanimura, Arts & Culture Editor Stu Woo, Campus Watch Editor Mary-Catherine Lader, Features Editor Ben Leubsdorf, Metro Editor Anne Wootton, Metro Editor Eric Beck, News Editor Patrick Harrison, Opinions Editor Nicholas Swisher, Opinions Editor Stephen Colelli, Sports Editor Christopher Hatfield, Sports Editor Justin Goldman, Asst. Sports Editor Jilane Rodgers, Asst. Sports Editor Charlie Vallely, Asst. Sports Editor PRODUCTION Allison Kwong, Design Editor Taryn Martinez, Copy Desk Chief Lela Spielberg, Copy Desk Chief Mark Brinker, Graphics Editor Joe Nagle, Graphics Editor

Jean Yves Chainon, Photo Editor Jacob Melrose, Photo Editor Ashley Hess, Sports Photo Editor Kori Schulman, Sports Photo Editor BUSINESS Ryan Shewcraft, General Manager Lisa Poon, Executive Manager David Ranken, Executive Manager Mitch Schwartz, Executive Manager Laurie-Ann Paliotti, Sr. Advertising Manager Susan Dansereau, Office Manager POST- MAGAZINE Sonia Saraiya, Editor-in-Chief Taryn Martinez, Associate Editor Ben Bernstein, Features Editor Matt Prewitt, Features Editor Elissa Barba, Design Editor Lindsay Harrison, Graphics Editor Constantine Haghighi, Film Editor Paul Levande, Film Editor Jesse Adams, Music Editor Katherine Chan, Music Editor Hillary Dixler, Off-the-Hill Editor Abigail Newman, Theater Editor

Allison Kwong, Andrew Kuo, Night Editor Jacob Frank, Sara Molinaro, Copy Editors Senior Staff Writers Simmi Aujla, Stephanie Bernhard, Melanie Duch, Ross Frazier, Jonathan Herman, Rebecca Jacobson, Chloe Lutts, Caroline Silverman Staff Writers Anna Abramson, Justin Amoah, Zach Barter, Alissa Cerny, Stewart Dearing, Gabriella Doob, Phillip Gara, Hannah Miller, Aidan Levy, Jill Luxenberg, Taryn Martinez, Ari Rockland-Miller, Jane Porter, Chelsea Rudman, Sonia Saraiya, Kam Sripada, Robin Steele, Kim Stickels, Nicole Summers, Laura Supkoff, Spencer Trice, Ila Tyagi, Sara Walter Sports Staff Writers Erin Frauenhofer, Kate Klonick, Madeleine Marecki, George Mesthos, Eric Perlmutter, Marco Santini, Tom Trudeau Account Administrators Alexandra Annuziato, Emilie Aries, Steven Butschi, Dee Gill, Rahul Keerthi, Kate Love, Ally Ouh, Nilay Patel, Ashfia Rahman, Rukesh Samarasekera, Jen Solin, Bonnie Wong Design Staff Ross Frazier, Adam Kroll, Andrew Kuo, Gabriela Scarritt Photo Staff CJ Adams, Chris Bennett, Meg Boudreau, Tobias Cohen, Lindsay Harrison, Matthew Lent, Christopher Schmitt, Oliver Schulze, Juliana Wu, Min Wu Copy Editors Anastasia Aguiar, Simmi Aujla, Aubry Bracco, Jacob Frank, Christopher Gang, Elizabeth Inglese, Taryn Martinez, Sonia Saraiya, Lela Speilberg

LETTERS Promoting student participation To the Editor: I wish to respond to The Herald editorial of Feb. 1 describing a statement made by me at the CCC meeting that discussed plus/minus grades. You quoted me as saying: “Ultimately the faculty does determine the kind of institution (Brown) is, but discussion between the faculty and the students still has to take place.” You then state that “the spirit of Pesta’s words runs counter to our opinion of who should influence University policy.”

My sentence was part of a statement by me that the conversations that have to take place between students and faculty are critical to the process of deciding the grading issue. While I have my own opinion of the plus/minus grade question, it is not my decision to make, although I do think that it is an issue that should be addressed by the University community in a structured manner. But as I said, the issue may eventually come down to a faculty vote, which will ultimately be the final word, one way or another.

The “spirit” in which I made my statement was one in which I wished to emphasize the importance of a dialogue between the students and faculty.

I do not mind that you quoted my words or that you object to the finality that they imply. I do, however, object to the assumption that those words were uttered in a negative or dismissive spirit. I was stating a fact to emphasize a point in support of student participation. The only person representing The Herald at the meeting was one reporter, but it is not in her article that my spirit is described. It is in an editorial written by someone who was not in the room and was not witness to the context or spirit in which I said those words. The fact that you chose to make that judgment nonetheless is a disappointment.

Michael Pesta University Registrar Feb. 1

Curb jokes in crime log To the Editor: Considering that the publishing of the Department of Public Safety police log has been a matter considered with gravitas by the Herald, I was taken aback by the wording of the jump on the front page. The phrase “A Smashing Good Time” is so blatantly distasteful in reference to the series of thefts that resulted from the breaking of student’s car windows. I am all for Herald writers flexing some verbal muscle, but making a flippant pun runs entirely counter to the purpose of the police

log, which should aim to increase student vigilance toward this kind of crime. It was not just “a bad week to be a car window,” but also, I’m sure, a bad week to be a student who had thousands of dollars worth of belongings stolen. The Herald would do well to keep this in mind before using such an inappropriately flippant tone.

Sarah Gordon ’08 Feb. 1

CO R R E C T I O N An article in yesterday’s Herald (“New Orleans could lose 80 percent of black population, Brown study finds”) incorrectly reported that a study analyzing how Hurricane Katrina affected various population groups was released Dec. 27. The study was actually released Jan. 26.

A column in yesterday’s Herald (“Brown’s academic obscurity slights students”) was incorrectly attributed to Sarah Geller ’09. Geller’s class year is 2008.

CORRECTIONS POLICY The Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible.

Corrections may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication.

C O M M E N TA R Y P O L I C Y The staff editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial board of The Brown Daily Herald. The editorial viewpoint does not necessarily reflect the views of The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Columns, letters and comics reflect the opinions of their authors only.

LET TERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY Send letters to letters@browndailyherald.com. Include a telephone number with all letters. The Herald reserves the right to edit all letters for length and cannot assure the publication of any letter. Please limit letters to 250 words. Under special circumstances writers may request anonymity, but no letter will be printed if the author’s identity is unknown to the editors. Announcements of events will not be printed.

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OPINIONS

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD · FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2006 · PAGE 11

Destroy human-animal hybrids now!

Bush’s biological blundering scares seniors silly

BY ALEXANDER BAZES AARON FRITSCHNER DANIEL HERNANDEZ

new and terrible age. “Tonight,” he said, alarm evident in his voice, “I ask you to pass legislation to prohibit the most

For most of President George Bush’s State of the Union address, we found ourselves lost in a torrent of economies, militaries and faith-based initiatives.

While we heartily disagree with our commander-in-chief on nearly every issue he presented, there was one dire topic that shook us profoundly and that merits immediate attention.

Buried under 18 “freedoms,” 18 “terrors,” 10 “democracies,” five “isolationisms” and four “victories” was a single phrase that struck fear into the heart of an already beleaguered nation: “human-animal hybrids.”

For those of you who fell asleep during President Bush’s awkward shout-out to Coretta Scott King, or those of you who failed to fulfill your duty as patriots and did not deign to bear witness to the most important message of warning since Laocoon and the Trojan Horse, you are in grave danger. During the State of the Union Address, our leader was on a roll as he addressed the need to protect the God-given gift of human life. “A hopeful society,” he pontificated, “has institutions of science and medicine that do not cut ethical corners, and that recognize the matchless value of every life.” Then, it happened. President Bush spoke the sinister words that will chill even the hearts of our children’s children, words that certainly mark the beginning of a

egregious abuses of medical research — human cloning in all its forms — creating or implanting embryos for experiments, creating human-animal hybrids and buying, selling or patenting human embryos.”

GUEST COLUMNISTS

Of course, stem cell research and genetic engineering are important moral topics that deserve public discourse in times of leisure. However, in light of Tuesday night’s speech, we must consider ourselves to be at war.

Who or what are these humananimal hybrids? Where do they come from? Are they among us? And can they be destroyed? These are the things we need to know.

What form would such hybrids take? Would they be traditional human-animal hybrids, familiar to us from mythology? Will we see Horus, the eagle-headed sky god walking down Thayer Street, resplendent in his kingly accoutrements? Will our next divinations course be taught by the centaur, Professor Firenze? Will we perhaps be served crumpets and tea at the Ratty by the friendly faun Mr. Tumnus? Or will we be faced with a new enemy, a post-nuclear abomination of Lovecraftian proportions that we, as mere humans, cannot hope to defeat? Whatever forms such humananimal hybrids might take, we charge Ruth Simmons and Brown University to lead the crusade to stamp out this insidious menace from our population.

We were disturbed to find the Democratic response to the president’s speech soft on hybrids and hybridism.

Indeed, this threat, this gathering storm, did not warrant even a mention from the Democrats. Are they taking their typical stance of spineless ineffectuality on the issue, or could it be that once again they have bowed to special interests in the form of the powerful human-animal hybrid lobby?

Make no mistake, human-animal hybrids are out there and the time will come when mankind must choose to either become obsolete or to fight.

While some might easily be taken in by the rhetoric of human-animal hybrid apologists and thereby take the former course, we hold this truth to be selfevident: human-animal hybrids are a deadly peril to liberty and family values and must be exterminated.

President Bush claims that, “A hopeful society expects elected officials to uphold the public trust.” As such, we demand that a truth commission be formed to ferret out possible manimals living in our midst.

Also, important research institutions, perhaps spearheaded by Brown, should take the initiative in capturing and studying human-animal hybrids so that we can find their weaknesses and exploit them. Only by decisive and forceful action can the purity of the human race be preserved and protected from humananimal hybrid incursion. To be weak on hybridism now is to betray our core American values, and if we are weak, we will deserve the horrible destruction that our hybrid masters will surely visit upon us.

Alexander Bazes ‘06, Aaron Fritschner ’06 and Daniel Hernandez ’06 are not humananimal hybrids.

If being awkward is cool, I’m Miles Davis We’ve entered the Golden Age of Awkwardness. But how did we get there?

BY ANDREW STEIN OPINIONS COLUMNIST

At the University of Pennsylvania, a peculiar gesture has swept parts of the campus. During an uncomfortable silence, someone will mimic a turtle with his or her hands. They’ll put their right hand fully on top of the back of the left, both hands pointed away, thumbs wiggling. And, with a straight face, they’ll say, “Awkward Turtle.” Everyone else will do it too, and for a few moments they’ll all swim their Awkward Turtles in the air. Penn students are kind of weird like that.

What’s going on here?

Why are college students celebrating social discomfort?

Has awkwardness changed, or just our perception of it?

Certainly, awkwardness itself is nothing new; humanity has been awkward ever since Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge, realized they were naked, and started looking forward to the invention of Bloomingdale’s. But it doesn’t seem as if anyone over 25 would be inspired to make an Awkward Turtle. Or ring an imaginary Awkward Bell (or Awkward Gong), as some Keeney first-years like to do. As Smita Ghosh and Annelise Garlin observed last year in Swarthmore’s newspaper, “Awkwardness has become vogue. It’s now commonplace to loudly announce it, usually in a sing-song voice, when one deems a situation awkward.”

And, as reported previously on this page, Brown has five Facebook groups for awkward people, none of whose names include the words “volunteer,”

“community service,” or any of the seven virtues. Awkwardness is the new ethic.

Clearly, a phenomenon is afoot.

Perhaps it’s actually cool to be awkward like our cute hero Seth Cohen ’10 of “The O.C.” If Facebook.com defines our zeitgeist, then the upsurge of awkward groups and awkward profiles must point to something deeper, something innate, something... obvious. We are proud dorks.

So what if we’re made cool by a trait synonymous with social dysfunction?

“Awkward? Fine with me. Better than being sketchy.”

But why do we love talking about it

the first time in human history that there’s been a more eloquent way to converse in real-time, and thus the hyper-awareness for awkwardness was conceived.

If this hyper-awareness was born with AOL Instant Messenger in October of 1997, then its puberty has been our puberty, its voice cracks were our voice cracks. We were surely awkward as teenagers, but we didn’t really know it yet.

Now, as worldly college students, we’re less oblivious. Thus college — the place to experiment with drugs, sex, booze and stupidity — allows us to be knowingly awkward in a “safe space.” Maybe we like to label awkwardness because (1) we’re old enough to recognize and mock it and yet (2) young enough that we’re not doing anything so important as to have our awkwardness actually matter.

If we didn’t notice that growing up was awkward, we learned it from the plethora of such coming-of-age TV shows as the lucidly titled “Growing Pains.” And we’re made further aware that we look, talk and flirt a lot more awkwardly than characters on TV or movies. How many kisses did you see on a screen before you had your own first kiss? Dozens? Hundreds? Did it make your first kiss any less awkward? Probably not. Maybe it even made it worse — all that pressure to perform to the cinematic standard. If you don’t have Celine Dion crooning in the background, can it ever measure up?

Soon popular culture began lampooning this kind of discomfort, spawning the awkward humor of our era: Jerry Seinfeld, Da Ali G Show and

So what if we’re made cool by a trait synonymous with social dysfunction? so much? The answer, I propose, is a unique confluence of culture, age and our generation’s use of the Internet to maintain social connections. Which is to say that we live in the Golden Age of Awkwardness.

First, AOL and its Instant Messenger inflated our standards for conversation, making real-time interaction seem more awkward by comparison. With the advent of IM, our generation conversed in two ways: (1) on IM, with the “thinking time” necessary to say what one means to, and (2) in real-life, where we are far less articulate. The difference is huge. This is

Napoleon Dynamite, to name a few. On campus, Matt Vascellaro ’07 and Kent Haines ’07 captured this spectacle with their eight BTV episodes of White Brown Friends — the best of awkward Brown comedy. On the show, the loose story progressed through a series of awkward comments such as, “I’m going to write about that in my courage journal.”

At its core, this kind of observational humor is about labeling things, and “awkward” is an easy and cathartic label to apply. Indeed, the recognition of uncertainty brings its own certainty.

And in the face of our contemporary torrent of information, we label things to cope. Instant-analysis is our new national pastime, with CNN, Fox News and Speed Dating leading the way. And, since awkwardness lies in the gray areas of conversation, it’s the most apt, most healing and most amusing label we have.

It calls the moment. It releases tension.

And it’s damn funny.

But use it while you can, for the Awkward Turtle is an endangered species.

Soon it won’t be cool to call something “awkward.” The Class of 2029 will throw “awkward parties” to make fun of all this retro discomfort. Verily, this will be a dystopian future: China will become the world’s largest economy; the 60-year lack of nuclear weapon use will end; and President Ruth Simmons will leave Brown to go fix up Princeton. And if you dare call something “awkward” in this humorforsaken future, everyone will look at you funny, roll their eyes, and it will be really ...

I dunno — they won’t have a word for it.

Andrew Stein ’06 lives in St. Anthony Hall, Brown’s co-ed literary fraternity.

SPORTS WEEKEND THE BROWN DAILY HERALD · FEBRUARY 3, 2006 · PAGE 12

Three’s a charm: trio of netminders makes w. icers contenders in ECACHL

BY TOM TRUDEAU SPORTS STAFF WRITER

After the buzzer sounded signaling the end of Brown’s 30 victory over Colgate on Jan. 28, the Bears boasted a rarity in college ice hockey: three goaltenders with at least one shutout to their name.

This time it was Nicole Stock ’09, the team’s youngest netminder, who recorded the blank sheet. Stock joins with fellow goalies Stacy Silverman ’08 and O’Hara Shipe ’08 to form an awesome young trio that ensures they will be set in the net for the foreseeable future.

Currently in first place in the Ivy League at 4-1-1 (11-9-2 overall), Brown can rely on any of the three goalies to make saves and pick up wins. This season, all three have made major contributions and each have at least two wins. While the unofficial starter is Shipe — she leads the team in wins with seven and starts with 11 — Head Coach Digit Murphy is notorious for her inability to commit to one goalkeeper, generally going with whoever is hottest between the pipes.

“If you win, you play,” Murphy said. “It’s very simple. The girls know that.”

The goalie rotation has not had an effect on the team, as the rest of the squad plays hard no matter who is in the net.

“We have confidence in all three of them,” said forward Margaret Ramsey ’06. “We don’t play any different in front of them.”

In her shutout on Saturday night, Stock was first informed that she would be starting when she arrived at the rink that day, barely two hours before the puck dropped. Prior to that game, Stock had not started since a 2-2 tie against Boston University 11 days ago.

The situation begs the question, isn’t it hard on the goalies never to know when they’re going to play?

“I think it would be hard for me to hear the day before (a game) ‘Hey you’re playing (tomorrow),’” said defenseman Lauren Deeb ’07.

“When you have three really good goalies, you can’t always expect to play,” Silverman said.

“But at least practices are great.”

Practices provide the goalies an opportunity to showcase their skills, but Murphy’s decision still comes down to game-time performance. This makes it tough for the other two goalies

Ashley Hess / Herald

Nicole Stock ’09 forms one-third of the Bears’ three-headed netminder roatation. Along with O’Hara Shipe ’08 and Stacy Silverman ’08, the team’s steady goaltending has been a major factor in its rise to the top of the EACHL standings. to crack the lineup when one gets hot.

“It’s tough not knowing when you’re going to play, but at least it’s great competition,” Stock said.

“Everyone on the team gives each other a run for their money (for playing time),” Shipe said.

“Not just the goalies. It’s from the first line to the fourth line.”

Athletes of all sports can contend that playing every game keeps you sharp and focused, however, the Bears’ goalies contend that practice is equally important to staying sharp.

“Every practice is like a game,” Shipe said. “We try to make the decision hard for coach (Murphy).”

Shipe arrived at Brown by way of Alaska while Silverman and Stock come from Massachussets. All three are different on and off the ice, but despite their competition for the limited amount of playing time available, the three speak very highly of each other.

“I wish that I was more like Stacy as positional as she is and I wish I was as great as Stocky in the net,” Shipe said. “Stock is fierce. She’s such a competitor and Stacy is one of the best teammates I’ve ever had. She’s a great player and a great friend.”

“Stacy is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met,” Stock said. “O’Hara has been amazing behind the net lately. Both of them are great (at) helping my confidence, they always try to help me.”

The girls have been performing at a high level despite being without a position coach for the entire year. In early October, Goaltenders Coach Ryan Stone stepped down as an assistant to take the job as head coach of the Chinese National

team. Once a week, Shipe wakes up at 6 a.m. to work with an out-of-town goalie coach before returning to class in Providence.

“It’s tough waking up so early, but it’s helpful to have someone to keep you sharp,” Shipe said.

Shipe sights her work ethic as one of her major strengths along with her quickness behind the net.

“She’s always working hard,” Silverman said. “She always goes the extra mile which says a lot about her as a person.”

All three goalies’ save percentages are over .900, Shipe see GOALIES, page 9

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3

BY JILANE RODGERS ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

Keenan Jeppesen ’08 had what he called the “highlight of his Brown career” against Dartmouth at home this past weekend, scoring a career-high 25 points in the double-overtime thriller. Jeppesen also tallied a career-high six steals and recorded three assists.

The following night, he put up 18 points in a loss to Harvard.

He will look to continue his hot streak as he and the Bears take on Ivy leader the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton on the road this weekend.

SATURDAY , FEBRUARY 4 M. BASKETBALL: at Princeton W. BASKETBALL: vs. Pinceton, 7 p.m., Pizzitola Center GYMNASTICS: at Cornell

M. HOCKEY: vs. Dartmouth, 7 p.m., Meehan Auditorium W. HOCKEY: at Dartmouth SKIING: Brown Carnival (Loon Mt.) M. SWIMMING: vs. Columbia, 1 p.m., Smith Swim Center M. & W. TRACK: Collegiate Invitational (at New York, N.Y.) WRESTLING: vs. Delaware St. w/ Princeton, 11:00 a.m., Pizzitola Center SUNDAY , JANUARY 29 FENCING: Ivy League 1 (at Cornell) GYMNASTICS: at Cortland State M. & W. SQUASH: vs. Dartmouth, 12 p.m., Pizzitola Center SKIING: Slalom (Mt. Cranmore) W. TENNIS: vs. Boston College, 10 a.m., Pizzitola Center

Regardless of whether or not a fan’s favorite team is in the game, the Super Bowl has become an unofficial American holiday, and even those who normally do not care for football will tune in for XL on Sunday.

STEPHEN COLELLI Unlike last BROWN SUGAR year, when students who hail from Philadelphia were pitted against those from the greater-Boston area, this year Brown certainly has a united rooting interest. Even if you happen to be from the Great Northwest, all Brunonians should be pulling for Steelers quarterback coach Mark Whipple ’79 and Steelers wide receiver/special teamer Sean Morey ’99 to perform well on the grand stage.

The past year for Brown sports — with the baseball team’s success last spring, the men’s soccer team’s NCAA tournament appearance and the women’s ice hockey and basketball teams confirming their spots as annual title contenders in their conferences — has been impressive.

Capping it off is the football program. In addition to claiming

the school’s first-ever outright Ivy League championship just three months ago, Joe Paterno ’50 completed one of the most astonishing turnarounds in college football history at the age of 79. Now Whipple and Morey will be in the biggest spotlight of them all on Sunday.

Current football Head Coach Phil Estes believes that this might be a golden age for Brown football not seen since the early years of the last century, when Brown made its only Rose Bowl trip and the 11 iron men played every minute of every game in 1926.

“I think so,” Estes said when asked if this current streak is as good as it has ever been. “Add in Fritz Pollard’s (’19) induction into the (Pro Football) Hall of Fame last summer along with the writer Jerry Green’s (’63), and like Chris Berman (’77) said at the ceremony back in August, ‘It’s a great day to be a grad from Brown.’ This has certainly been a great year for fans of Brown football and, with Nick Hartigan (’06) likely to get drafted or at least signed as a free agent, it’s only going to get better.”

Here’s hoping that this golden age continues for a few more years and hopefully we get the chance to see a few more former Bears get rings this season on see COLELLI, page 8

Athlete of the Week: Keenan Jeppesen ’08 helps keep m. hoops in Ivy race

BROWN SPORTS SCHEDULE M. BASKETBALL: at Penn W. BASKETBALL: vs. Penn, 7 p.m., Pizzitola Center M. HOCKEY: vs. Harvard, 7 p.m., Meehan Auditorium W. HOCKEY: at Harvard W. TENNIS: vs. Syracuse, 5 p.m., Pizzitola Center M. & W. TRACK: Collegiate Invitational (at New York, N.Y.) WRESTLING: vs. Penn, 3 p.m., Pizzitola Center

Big game worth watching if only for Whipple ’79, Morey ’99

Ashley Hess / Herald

Swingman Keenan Jeppesen ‘08 has stepped into a starting role for the Bears this season and is averaging 8.2 points per game.

Herald: How do you get yourself pumped up for games like this past weekend against Dartmouth and Harvard?

Jeppesen: My mom was down for the weekend. ... It’s an eight-hour drive (from Ontario).

I had special motivation with her there, but for all of us, every Ivy League game matters. It’s a 14-game tournament, so each game decides who will be in the playoffs and who won’t be.

Because of that, you have to get pumped up for each game.

Are you doing anything special to keep that attitude going into this weekend against Penn and Princeton?

Penn’s the best team in the league, and playing in the Palestra is unbelievable. It’s one of the oldest venues still in use and they have one of the highest attendance rates at about 4,000 per game. The atmosphere alone will be enough to get us excited.

How do you survive long road trips like that?

Luckily, this year, as a sophomore, I have the experience I gained from last year to get me through it. You learn how to take your books and work on the road. This year’s schedule has been a lot easier than last year, when we’d fly out at 4 a.m. and there was one stretch where I think we didn’t play at home for 52 days.

Do you look up to the older guys to see how they manage the demanding schedule?

Definitely. Luke Ruscoe, a senior and our captain, is a great leader for us, on and off the court. It’s huge to come in and have immediate advice from upperclassmen. They help us with everything, even class selection.

Speaking of classes, what’s your concentration?

I’m looking at trying international relations.

What language did you choose?

French. … Coming from Canada, I should have a bit better grasp on it than I do. I’ve had to take classes since fourth grade, but it hasn’t been until now that I’ve really tried to get back into it.

Assuming he wouldn’t have to speak French, whom would you cast to play you in a movie?

I get the Will Smith comparison sometimes. … He is a little bit shorter, but I don’t know how many actors are 6’6”.

At 6’6” how on earth do you fit into the dorm beds?

My roommate, Mark McDonald, another sophomore on the team, brought his old bed from home, a double, so I took his twin bed and pushed it together see AOTW, page 9