Thursday, February 16, 2006

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2006

Volume CXLI, No. 17 JUMPING FOR JOLT post- examines the University’s only legitimate forum for expression — the Daily Jolt INSIDE

www.browndailyherald.com

An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891 DIAL A DEAN University administrators regularly receive calls from students’ parents, especially around lottery season FEATURES 3

DIETERS IN DIAPERS Christina Ma ’09 decries the burgeoning number of youngsters worrying about their weight OPINIONS 11

TODAY

TOMORROW

partly cloudy 50 / 39

showers/wind 50 / 21

ResLife approves revisions to lottery

ABSOLUT QUIET

Under new system, process shortened to just three nights

BY STEPHANIE BERNHARD SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Jacob Melrose / Herald

Students relax at the Absolute Quiet Room at the Rockefeller Library, which, along with the surrounding areas, was renovated over winter break.

In an effort to simplify the housing lottery, the Office of Residential Life announced Wednesday the approval of several changes to the process, the most notable of which will shorten it to just three nights.

This year, the lottery will take place on March 20, 21 and 23. In past years, the lottery has been spread out over four weeks.

In addition, all units of housing — including apartments, suites, doubles and singles — will be available at once. This change replaces the prior lottery structure, under which different segments were divided by type of housing.

Instead of dividing up the three lottery nights by housing type, ResLife plans to separate students by lottery number. Once ResLife knows how many groups are applying to the housing lottery, administrators will assign each group a number. The system will

Proposed program takes multidisciplinary approach to sciences Providing research experience, increasing diversity among program’s goals

BY COOPER LEHER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The Integrative Science and Engineering Program proposed at last week’s faculty meeting aims to create a new University program emphasizing multidisciplinary science. The proposal, written by the Science Cohort Committee, puts forth a plan to educate undergraduates in topics where traditional departments, such as chemistry, biology, engineering and physics, overlap.

If the proposal is approved, 60 students will be admitted to the new program each year. High school seniors will apply to the program separately from students applying to the general undergraduate program, much like the current Program in Liberal Medical Education.

Once enrolled, students will first take three introductory courses focusing on multidisciplinary science, taught by pairs of professors from different scientific disciplines. After completing this sequence, students will take two advanced courses that further emphasize a multidisciplinary education.

Professor of Computer Science Thomas Dean, also the chairman of the Science Cohort Committee, said he hopes that the new program, if approved by a full faculty vote, will invigorate both Brown’s science departments and the University as a whole. “The benefits are not just for the sciences,” Dean said. He added that the program will “create a livelier environment and increase interplay” among all academic departments.

Professor of Physics Chung-I Tan,

THE HERALD POLL

Over one-third of students polled have no opinion of UCS

BY ANNE WOOTTON METRO EDITOR

About 35 percent of undergraduate students chose “Don’t Know/No Answer” when asked in a recent Herald poll if they approved of the Undergraduate Council of Students. This percentage of null responses was markedly higher than in any other question on the poll.

“Clearly there’s room for improvement,” said Michael Thompson ’07, chair of the UCS Communications Committee.

“The fact that many don’t have an opinion about UCS is unfavorable to (UCS) — (students) don’t know or care enough about UCS to have an opinion,” former polling consultant Rachel Braun P’06 wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. Braun, who currently teaches

statistics at the Edmund Burke School in Washington, D.C., helped develop The Herald poll.

53.5 percent of respondents said they approve of the job UCS has done this year. But the poll’s 4.6 percent margin of

Editorial: 401.351.3372 Business: 401.351.3260

see POLLING, page 8

who has participated in discussion of the proposal for over a year, agreed.

“Enhancing one part of the University will enhance them all,” he said.

Tan also believes that the program would increase the University’s appeal to exceptional high school science students who might otherwise ap-ply to traditionally praised science schools such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the California Institute of Technology.

The program will require all students to complete a traditional concentration in the sciences, such as physics, chemistry, biology or engineering.

“Students will have some real expertise in a particular discipline,” Dean said.

In addition to classes, the program will emphasize research by offering its students two fully funded summer see SCIENCE, page 8

still be based on seniority, with rising seniors receiving the best numbers and rising sophomores the worst.

All groups with numbers in the top third will be called the first night; groups with numbers in the second third will be called the second night; and groups with numbers in the last third will be called on the final night.

Under the new system, every participant will know exactly when his number will be called, so students will only have to attend one night of the lottery.

“In the past, first-years would go into every segment of the lottery, and the first segments were just not realistic for them,” said Rosario Navarro, assistant director of ResLife. “Now you know when you’re going, and you have a realistic perception of what’s open to you,” Navarro said.

Another significant change involves special interest housing options, such as same-sex or substance-free halls, which have been separated from the traditional housing lottery. Students who wish to live in special interest housing must apply before the lottery.

In the past, rising sophomores with very high lottery numbers would often end up in special interest housing even though they had never requested it.

“It just hurts the community when people live there and don’t follow the rules,” said Justin Glavis-Bloom ’07, chair of the Residential Council’s Lottery Committee.

Glavis-Bloom said the changes to the lottery were “pretty drastic” but “won’t affect the outcome all that much.”

“I think it will be an overall better experience, but it will require more planning and be more stressful when you’re there,” Glavis-Bloom said.

In offering advice for students applying to the lottery, Glavis-Bloom stressed the importance of planning in advance.

“Do your research,” he said. “If you come into the lottery with a good plan, you’ll find something you like.”

ResLife will hold information sessions about the new lottery system on Feb. 21, 23 and 28. More information about the sessions and the lottery is available on Web sites for ResLife and ResCouncil.

UCS addresses elections, code review and plus/minus proposal

BY KRISTINA KELLEHER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

During its general body meeting last night in Peterutti Lounge, the Undergraduate Council of Students announced the creation of an Election Review Commission, proposed a resolution opposing the addition of pluses and minuses to the University’s grading system and announced a plan to revise the UCS code.

In a meeting that lasted less than an hour, the first major item on the agenda was the Election Review Commission, which was created to reform UCS election procedures. The commission will be comprised of three UCS members and eight students who are not members of the council, according to UCS Vice President Zachary Townsend ’08.

“A lot of people were upset that we had an internal election for president,” said Townsend, who went on to explain that an

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

Min Wu / Herald

UCS members (from left to right) Sarah Saxon Frump ’07, Zac Townsend ’08, Cash McCracken ’08 and Deanna Chaukos ’08. internal election was what the UCS code called for under the circumstances even though that might not be the best method of replacing a president mid-term. see UCS, page 4 News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com

THIS MORNING THE BROWN DAILY HERALD · THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2006 · PAGE 2 Jero Matt Vascellaro

TO D AY ’ S E V E N TS A LONG DAY’S DYING: GENOCIDE BY ATTRITION IN DARFUR 7 p.m., (Smith-Buonanno) — Smith College Professor of English Eric Reeves will deliver a lecture on the genocide taking place in Sudan.

N-WORD PANEL 7 p.m., (Salomon 001) — Sponsored by the Third World Center, the N-Word Panel is an open forum for people to discuss the meaning and effects of the “N-word.”

SPRING HOUSING FAIR 7 p.m., (Sayles Hall) — Come talk to representatives from co-ops, program houses and Greek houses about various housing options, or speak with members of the Residential Council about the new lottery.

Chocolate Covered Cotton Mark Brinker INTRAMURAL IMPROV 10 p.m., (Faunce 201) — Come by to try your hand at improvisational acting or hone existing skills. No experience is necessary. Be a part of the small show planned for the end of the year.

MENU SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH — Hot Turkey Sandwich with Sauce, Mashed Red Potatoes with Garlic, Sugar Snap Peas, Tater Tots, Chicken Gouda Calzone, Waffle Fries, and Cantonese Casserole, Gingerbread with Whipped Cream, Sugar Cookies DINNER — Braised Beef Tips, Rice Pilaf with Zucchini, Sunny Sprouts, Summer Squash, Spinach Lasagna, Spaghetti, Whole Wheat Penne, Corn Souffle, Tapioca, Chocolate Sundae Cake

Deo Daniel Perez

VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALL LUNCH — Vegetarian Mexican Bean Soup, Lobster Bisque, BBQ Beef Sandwich, Eggplant Parmesan Grinder, Cauliflower, Sugar Cookies DINNER — Vegetarian Mexican Bean Soup, Lobster Bisque, Roast Turkey with Sauce, Vegan Roasted Vegetable Stew, Mashed Potatoes with Stuffing, Butternut Squash with Shallots and Sage, Green Beans, Chocolate Sundae Cake

Cappuccino Monday Christine Sunu

RELEASE DATE– Thursday, February 16, 2006

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

CROSSWORD

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis ACROSS 1 La Brea goo 4 They’re meant to be engaged 9 Inclines 14 “So that’s it!”

15 Strong suit 16 Brilliance 17 Classical beginning?

18 Second-year elective?

20 Chatter 21 Miss’s equivalent?

22 Eagle homes 23 Newspaper moneymaker 25 Hall of Fame quarterback Tarkenton 26 Film lioness 27 Lawsuit basis 28 Yoga class necessity 31 “Wicked Game” singer Chris 33 It has the world’s largest brass band 35 ’50s sitcom name 36 Phrase whose abbreviation is the key to four long puzzle answers 37 Scads 38 How flamingos often stand 40 Rate in the financial pages 41 RR stop 42 Ford and GM 43 Neatnik’s bête noire 44 Juin or septembre, for example 45 Cooking utensil 48 Use a plane, maybe 51 St. Petersburg pancake 52 Spoiled 53 Auburn-haired chefs?

55 Imitate 56 Part player 57 Small part of a star?

58 Weightlifter’s unit

59 Rural skyline features 60 Disdain 61 Luncheonette letters

29 Molecule part 30 Head of France 31 Mutual promises 32 Transported 33 Stable emanations 34 Site of a Lovers card 36 Not so sure 39 Hams 40 Expects 43 Volleyball player, at times

44 Befuddled Mr. 45 TD replay speed, often 46 Boutonniere site 47 Facile 48 Turkish potentates 49 End of a boast 50 Like some flights to LAX 51 Erstwhile U.K. carrier 54 IV units

DOWN 1 Name of notoriety in the 1994 Olympics 2 Leading 3 When con men get busy?

4 Riot cop’s gear 5 Beethoven’s ANSWER TO PREVIOUS Third 6 Liberal 7 Architect Mies van der __ 8 Grad. class 9 Nukes 10 Oak-to-be 11 DXXVI x II 12 Show impatience, in a way 13 Fr. holy women 19 Symbolic lure 24 Unadorned 25 Pass off 27 Kojak and others 28 Cutting comment on the California coast? xwordeditor@aol.com

Goldfish Dreams Allison Moore

PUZZLE:

Homebodies Mirele Davis 2/16/06

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD · THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2006 · PAGE 3

Ward 1 candidates spar over campaign cash

BY CAROLINE SILVERMAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Ethan Ris ’05 has more money on hand than his opponent, incumbent David Segal, in the Ward 1 City Council race.

Ris, a Democrat who announced his run for the council last October, raised about $12,000 last quarter.

The majority of that money came from outside Rhode Island, with only $290 from within the ethanris.com state, according to filings with Ethan Ris ‘05 the Rhode Island Board of Elections. Ris had $12,749 on hand at the end of 2005, versus Segal’s $10,605.

Segal, a member of the Green Party, has strongly criticized Ris for taking large sums from outof-state lobbyists, whom Ris described as family friends. He went on to call the sources of Ris’ funding “just weird.”

Many of Ris’ donors identified themselves as Washington D.C.based lobbyists, according to the campaign finance filings. Both Ris and Segal hail from the D.C. metropolitan area.

Ris said his campaign is a grassroots effort, a notion Segal rejects. “A grassroots campaign doesn’t take donations from corporates” who “do not know anything about Providence,” he said.

“I don’t understand how he’s intending to justify it,” he added.

Ris defended the donations, saying the lobbyists who contributed to his campaign are family friends.

“I’ve known most of them my whole life, and they’re giving me

the money because they want something for me,” he said.

“They’re my friends and family.

I’m not going to turn away” their money.

Ris also defended the grassroots nature of his campaign.

“Is it great to have most of the money come from out of state? Probably not. But as a voter … I would rather my elected official be financed by people who have nothing to do with Providence politics, rather than, for example, unions, city council members or businesses,” Ris said.

Segal said his own major fundraising effort came last spring, when he raised about $14,000 — $9,340 was from individuals, and $2,775 of that came from out of state. In the last quarter of 2005, Segal raised $425, $400 of which was from out votesegal.com of state.

David Segal Segal said he has not yet decided whe-ther he will seek re-election and will make his decision within the next few weeks.

“Once I decide precisely what I’m doing, if it calls for it, I will start raising more money,” Segal said. “I potentially might need a little bit more.”

But Segal, who said he ran his first campaign for the City Council in 2002 on a budget of $7,000, said he does not expect to need much additional funding.

This time around, Segal said that his own campaign funds would be primarily used for printing literature and the ocsee WARD 1, page 7

Residents miffed after CPC drops discussion of waterfront zoning proposals

BY BEN LEUBSDORF METRO EDITOR

Community activists arrived Wednesday at a public hearing held by the City Plan Commission spoiling for a fight over proposed zoning changes but were taken aback after the CPC dropped the controversial issues from the agenda.

The public meeting, held at the commission’s office at 400 Westminster St., was intended to gather public input on broad changes to the zoning code in the city’s comprehensive plan, which under state law provides a binding framework for all development in Providence.

The changes included allowing higher density development in some neigh-borhoods and re-zoning the Providence waterfront — running from the hurricane barrier at Fox Point south to the Cranston border — to allow residential and commercial activity in areas currently zoned only for industrial use. The waterfront land would be used for residential units, hotels and retail stores, according to the proposed zoning ordinance.

But Stephen Durkee, chair of the commission, announced at the start of the meeting that those proposals had been dropped from the agenda.

Instead, the commission solicited input on changing the zoning from manufacturing to mixed use in one section of the waterfront that runs from the hurricane barrier down to Thurbers Avenue. The proposal was intended to allow a group of artists to refurbish and work in an abandoned building on the waterfront. Bryan Principe,

the City Council president’s designee on the seven-member commission, called the change a “slight” one.

“It became very clear yesterday that there are a lot of concerns with changes to the comprehensive plan,” Durkee said. “Today there was a meeting at City Hall and everything else was tabled.”

The 40 or so Providence residents in attendance responded negatively to the revised agenda.

“Shouldn’t there be an apology for the short notice?” demanded Peter McClure, a professor at the University of MassachusettsBoston. “The community deserves an apology,” he added to applause.

“If anyone was inconvenienced, we apologize,” Durkee responded.

When another resident asked the crowd not to “put (the commission members) on the spot,” McClure quickly replied, “they put us on the spot.”

Residents at the meeting expressed concern that rezoning of the waterfront and other parts of the city might occur without input from citizens. They also zeroed in on the re-zoning of the smaller area of the waterfront still on the agenda.

Andrew Tights, who said he was a lawyer for industrial firms on the waterfront, expressed concern that the re-zoning would allow casinos, large retail stores such as Wal-Mart and large hotels in the area.

“I am very concerned because I think we’ve perhaps been misled,” he said. “This goes far beyond (the artists).”

Thomas Deller, director of the city’s Department of

Planning and Development, responded that mixed use of the area by residential and commercial users “is the intent” of the changes and, “while it is possible” large retailers such as Wal-Mart could move in, “it is unlikely” given the specific characteristics of the area.

The commission then decided to save discussion of re-zoning the section of the waterfront for another public meeting, allowing members to move on to other agenda items. That new meeting was scheduled for Feb. 21 at 4 p.m. in the council chambers.

This meeting will take place one week before the Feb. 28 meeting of the City Council, at which the council will take up the issue.

Other concerns were raised by those in attendance, including several complaints about the dearth of general public meetings on changes to the comprehensive plan.

“We’re doing this dance” over small elements of the zoning issue, said Richard Fleischer, a resident in attendance, and “it’s counterproductive for everyone.”

“We’re scrambling to keep up with the pieces and pieces and pieces and pieces and pieces,” said Janet Keller, president of the West Broadway Neighborhood Association, to applause from the crowd.

In the commission’s working meeting, held before the public hearing, its members agreed that more public meetings are necessary in order to listen to and educate Providence residents.

The comprehensive plan “is see CPC, page 5

PAGE 4 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2006

UCS continued from page 1 “We’re here to make sure we represent students properly — the way we’re doing it now is not the best,” said UCS President Sarah Saxton-Frump ’07. She also encouraged students who are upset about the current procedures to get involved with the commission.

The formation of the ERC follows a similar commission last year that addressed campaign finance and other issues. This year’s commission will not revisit the same topics, but instead focuses on issues like when elections are held, according to Townsend.

The draft resolution opposes the proposed change in grading and encourages all undergraduates to informally talk to faculty members about their opinion regarding any possible modifications.

“Student support is firmly behind opposition to the plus/ minus issue. This is something Brown students really want,” said Tristan Freeman ’07, chair of the council’s Academic and Administrative Affairs Committee.

Alumni Relations Liaison Douglas Faron ’06 announced his intent to contact alums to get them to mobilize in opposition to the plus/minus change.

Some concern was expressed

by UCS Representative Hugh Livengood ’07 that the wording of the draft resolution — which states that “the Undergraduate Council of Students reserves the

ability to lobby selected members of the Brown Community using methods not articulated in this resolution” — sounds “like a veiled threat.”

UCS also spent time discussing a forum on grading advocated by the College Curriculum Council at its Tuesday meeting.

The CCC, which will cover some of the forum’s costs, reserved Salomon 101 on March 2 from 4 to 6 p.m., but no final decision was made by UCS on the timing of the meeting.

The CCC plans to hold its own forum on March 9 and then vote on March 14.

Also on the agenda was the UCS code. The code is being revised by a small group called the Internal Affairs Committee. “The code has internal contradictions, needs to be reformatted and doesn’t reflect what the UCS has been doing,” Townsend said.

The revised UCS code should “be an enabling document” instead of the hindrance the current one is, according to Saxton-Frump.

UCS also breezed through a number of other agenda items.

Townsend announced that this year’s Elections Board will be chaired by former UCS Vice President Charley Cummings ’06. Different from the Election Review Commission, this board will oversee officer elections in April.

Townsend also announced that he discovered the existence of a clause in the faculty rules that allows UCS and the Graduate Student Council to designate 10 members each to come to monthly faculty

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.

meetings and speak but not vote. Ten council members were then named for this purpose.

It was announced that the Dean of the College Search Committee will be composed of three students and six faculty members. The three student members will include one Meiklejohn advisor and two UCS members: UCS Secretary Sara Damiano ’08 and Townsend.

The student members were asked not to talk about what happens on the committee but were open to hearing other students’ suggestions and concerns. “You can talk to us, but we can’t talk to you,” Damiano said.

UCS approved the move of Brown Opera Productions from a Category I to a Category III group. The group needs the Category III funding for an annual opera they will be putting on in April. Some members voiced concern about meeting this unusual request.

Faron and Student Activities Chair Sara Gentile ’09 both commented on the organization and responsibility the group has shown since starting in midSeptember and ensured the council that the switch would not set a precedent.

UCS also approved two other student group status movements: Colleges Against Cancer was granted Category I status and Brown Tyco moved from Category I to Category II status.

It was announced that Gentile will sit on a Student Library Review Board being put together by the university librarian to gather student input on the library system.

The Admissions and Student Services Committee will be tableslipping for a campaign to inform students about services like movie rentals from the Sciences Library, said Admissions and Student Services Chair Halley Wuertz ’08.

The first-year roommate survey has been updated by the Campus Life Committee and approved by the Office of Residential Life to include questions regarding substance use and number of hours slept, according to Campus Life Chair Deanna Chaukos ’08.

Communications Chair Michael Thompson ’07 announced that a WebCT poll will be conducted from Feb. 27 through Mar. 3., and dorm rounds will be conducted from Feb. 27 through Mar. 1. Office hours will be held at the Rockefeller and Sciences libraries from Feb. 22 to Feb. 24.

Not all winners get big-money deals

BY TOMOEH MURAKAMI TSE WASHINGTON POST

If there ever was an Olympic tale made for the front of a cereal box, Chris Thorpe’s story seemed to be it.

After a career slowed by dislocated shoulders, chronic back spasms and two failed attempts to win a medal, he finally took home a silver in Nagano in 1998 — the first-ever medal for an American in the sport of luge.

“It was pretty crazy, getting whisked from the track to the TV set,” he said. “It was overwhelming.”

Less overwhelming, however, was the effect on his wallet. There were parades and television appearances, but no cereal box. He failed to land multiyear endorsement deals, or even a single TV commercial, even after adding another medal — bronze — four years later in Salt Lake City. These days, Thorpe works as a personal trainer and collects a few thousand dollars for the occasional speaking engagement.

More than most, Thorpe understands a simple reality for cashing in on the Olympics: The color of the medal matters, the sport matters, and fame is fleeting.

As the Turin Games enter their fifth day, the business world’s quadrennial crush to market winning athletes to U.S. consumers is well underway.

“The calls have already started to come,” Peter Carlisle, director of Olympics and action sports for the marketing firm Octagon, said in a phone interview from Turin soon after medal-winning performances by three clients — snowboarders Hannah Teter, Gretchen Bleiler and Danny Kass.

“It’s a lot tougher than people think,” longtime sports agent Arthur Kaminsky said. “In 1984, Americans won 83 gold medals in Los Angeles. There weren’t 83 millionaires coming out of there.”

Marketing experts say agents must capitalize on a small window of opportunity that closes three to eight months after the Olympic flame is extinguished. The 2006 Games also represent a new challenge, they say: U.S. athletes must be marketed at a time when television ratings are falling, corporate marketing strategies are shifting and the battle for Olympic-related advertising is increasingly competitive.

To rise above the clutter, experts said, athletes must have the right combination of a winning Olympic performance and telegenic personality, plus good luck and timing. The exception can be luminaries such as Michelle Kwan and Bode Miller, whose marketability

transcend their sports, analysts said.

Miller, with his image as the bad boy of Alpine skiing, raked in endorsements even before the Turin Olympics began, though he has since turned in disappointing performances.

And although Kwan dropped out of the Olympics this week, many experts agreed that her long-term marketability should endure.

Some, however, said nine-time national champion Kwan might have cost herself a multimilliondollar payday by not adding an Olympic gold medal to her trophies.

“It’s the difference between people looking at her as achieving her dream and people looking at her and feeling maybe a little sorry for her,” said Bob Dorfman, executive creative director of Pickett Advertising in San Francisco. “It’s the difference of someone saying: ‘Now there’s a winner. She did everything she set out to do.’”

Her agent, Shep Goldberg, disagreed. “History has proven 100 percent the opposite,” he said this week, noting that although Coca-Cola dropped a commercial portraying fans cheering on Kwan, it kept another with her in it.

For most Olympic athletes, a gold medal is a prerequisite for the elite race for endorsements.

“With a few exceptions, it starts with gold,” Dorfman said.

“Americans love winning, and gold is the ultimate victory.”

Winning the silver medal at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics brought modest fame to figure skater Linda Fratianne, who appeared on television commercials for Procter & Gamble, made two exercise videos and skated for 10 years with Disney on Ice. For Fratianne, not winning gold was a “blessing in disguise.”

“I’m a very private person,” Fratianne said. “All the attention I got was the perfect amount I could handle.”

Fellow skater Nancy Kerrigan had greater commercial success, signing a Disney contract worth a reported $2 million. Forbes estimated she made twice that in endorsements in 1994, the year she won a silver medal.

But had she won a gold medal, some experts say, she could have joined Dorothy Hamill and Peggy Fleming as an icon recognized on television decades after her Olympic moment.

“What hurt more than anything was that she finished second,” said Kaminsky, who represented speedskater Eric Heiden and the 1980 U.S. men’s hockey team.

A few post-Olympic slip-ups also hurt, Dorfman said. Kerrigan see OLYMPICS, page 9

CAMPUS NEWS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD · THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2006 · PAGE 5

Committee to examine PLME program in light of Med School changes

BY HANNAH LEVINTOVA CONTRIBUTING WRITER

As the Brown Medical School seeks approval of a plan to increase the size of its student body, the Program in Liberal Medical Education is also currently undergoing re-evaluation.

Eli Adashi, dean of medical and biological sciences, recently appointed a committee to discuss the current PLME curriculum, including the preparation PLME undergraduates receive before entering the Medical School, according to Philip Gruppuso, associate dean of medicine.

This committee’s tasks will include gathering student input, and students will be included on the committee. Gruppuso declined to elaborate further on any proposed changes.

Potential modifications will be recommended to a series of other University committees, and Adashi’s committee will eventually request approval from the Brown Corporation regarding any changes.

The Medical School’s proposed expansion plan, which has not yet been approved, would allow for an enrollment increase of 12 students every year for the next three years, resulting in a total of 108 students in the entering class.

The Medical School first implemented an open application process two years ago. Last year, 11 members of the 72-person entering class were admitted from other institutions.

“We have the sixth smallest entering class of any medical school in the United States,” Gruppuso said. “There’s just no reason for us to be so small in a time when the number of required physicians will go up 15 to 30 percent.”

Grupposo continued: “The decision was made not to increase the size of the PLME class (but) to diversify the student body by allowing students from other institutions to apply to the Brown Medical school.”

Though the size of each PLME

CPC continued from page 3 not an accessible document,” said Andrew Cortés, the mayor’s designee on the commission, and “before going out and hearing important and random comments” there is a need to educating people about the changes.

Most residents left the meeting dissatisfied after the waterfront proposals were tabled around 1:30 p.m.

“It was pretty typical that … their process was totally screwed up,” said Greg Gerritt, a member of the Summit Neighborhood Association and secretary of the Rhode Island Green Party, who had complained in the meeting that the comprehensive plan fails to take into account recent findings about global warming.

class will stay the same, other changes may be in store for the program. “The PLME program has stayed pretty much the same for the last 20 years … any changes have been small and gradual,” Gruppuso said.

“Because of an evolution in medicine and an evolution in how people are trained to be physicians, every place needs to periodically be reviewing its curriculum, and that’s what’s happening at Brown now,” said Provost Robert Zimmer.

Gruppuso explained that some of the more controversial issues facing the PLME program relate to how much students are exposed to the life sciences before entering the Medical School. Although PLME students do currently have math, chemistry and physics requirements to fulfill, Gruppuso explained that they do not have the variety of experiences that many other students do upon entering medical school.

While PLME students typically enroll in the Medical School immediately after completing their undergraduate degrees, traditional pre-medical students sometimes spend several years pursuing other academic interests, he said.

In addition, PLME students can avoid some of the requirements facing traditional pre-med students.

“If you look at what most premed school applicants take, they have taken a wide array of life science courses,” Gruppuso said.

“Right now you can go through the PLME program without ever taking biology.”

John Molina ’08, a PLME student, defended some of the benefits of the current program.

“The sciences you learn in medical school are a whole new ballgame,” Molina said. “I feel that because I am taking humanities classes, I have a stronger academic background, and my studies will help me deal with the non-medical aspects of being a doctor in terms of the doctor-patient relationship.”

“They try to shut the public out, and the pubic breaks down the door … and then they go and hide in another room,” Gerritt added.

But the CPC seemed to take

Problem with school? Have Mom call Ruth Administrators field calls from concerned parents

BY CHLOE LUTTS SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Students who think administrators are not hearing their complaints sometimes fall back on what they see FEATURE as a trump card — their parents. But are administrators really more willing to respond to the people who pay the bills?

Robert Shaw, executive associate dean of the college, said when parents call him he tries not to let them bypass their student. “I try to put the student in the center of the conversation,” he said.

Shaw, who also chairs the Committee on Academic Standing, said parents can be allies in sending messages to students, but he has to “insist the student be part of that conversation.”

David Greene, vice president for campus life and student services, said parents are “extremely important to us. … At Brown we actually invite parents into conversations.”

But parents calling with some concerns might not get the information they are looking for — something their children might appreciate.

“Some things we just can’t tell parents (due to) privacy issues,” Greene said.

Greene said he speaks to parents “several times a week,” usually about “individual issues”

concerning their son or daughter. As the lottery nears, Greene said it is “not that unusual for parents to call (him) with housing concerns,” but Mom and Dad also frequently call about“larger issues,” particularly “health and safety.” He also said there is a larger-than-usual influx of communication from parents after “big news stories” concerning Brown. He did not specify whether that applied to Fox News items alone.

Shaw said parents call him about “all kinds of things,” but he hears most frequently from parents of seniors who are worried their students might not graduate and parents of first-years who are afraid their students are having difficulty “negotiating the system.”

Though he receives such phone calls about “once a day” on average, Shaw dismissed the notion that he is inundated with parents’ concerns. Considering the number of undergraduates at Brown, the “constant” stream of communication actually represents a “very small percentage” of parents, he said.

Marisa Quinn, assistant to the president, said the Office of the President only gets “occasional letters, e-mails and phone calls.” She said that “happy, glowing letters” tend to come after events like Parents’ Weekend, when parents are

inspired to tell her office how much their students are enjoying Brown. At other times of the year, the president’s office gets its fair share of complaints from parents concerned about “financial aid issues, housing issues (and) billing questions,” most of which they refer to other offices, Quinn said.

The president’s office receives more communication from students than parents, she said, adding that a significant number of students hosting events invite the president or ask for funding. The office also receives “a lot of (general) student inquiries,” Quinn said.

Students “occasionally” call her with complaints, she said, but more frequently they go directly to the relevant office.

Do parents get angry? “Of course,” Greene said. But it’s often for a “legitimate reason,” he said, usually because they don’t think they or their students have been treated well.

In these cases Greene said he tries to “address the underlying concern.”

Administrators seem to be receptive to communication from parents but don’t consciously give it more weight than feedback from students.

“In general my philosophy in dealing with both students and parents is that it is our responsibility to be very responsive,” Greene said.

D’Agata examines aspects of the lyric essay

BY HANNAH FURST CONTRIBUTING WRITER

A lyric essay should connect to readers on an intimate level, regardless of whether the facts are imaginary or real, said essayist John D’Agata to a nearly full ARTS & CULTURE MacMillan 117 Wednesday night.

“What matters is the pursuit,” said D’Agata, who is also an assistant professor of English at the University of Iowa.

D’Agata is the third writer this year to come to the University as part of the Great Writers

the hostility in stride.

“It was a meeting. It’s like this all the time,” Deller said.

“It was exciting,” added Samuel Limiadi, one of the commission members.

Lecture Series, sponsored by the Department of English.

Elizabeth Taylor, chair of the University’s expository writing program, said the lecture series highlights how academic writing intersects with more realistic writing genres like creative nonfiction.

“He is inspiring for other young writers because he himself is a young writer,” Taylor said.

D’Agata began his lecture by saying, “I don’t do chit-chat very well.” This set the tone for the

rest of the lecture, as he avoided explicitly defining the term lyric essay. For the remaining 30 minutes, D’Agata read one of his essays titled “Creative Nonarrangement.”

The writer said he derived inspiration for this essay from science fiction stories and encyclopedia volumes describing various predictions for the end of the world.

D’Agata also researched other see D’AGATA, page 8

PAGE 6 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2006

WORLD & NATION THE BROWN DAILY HERALD · THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2006 · PAGE 7

FDA board’s mission seems hazy

BY KATHLEEN KERR NEWSDAY

A need to protect business secrets balanced against an obligation to inform the public about the risks of prescription medicines has created a dilemma for government drug regulators.

Last February, the Food and Drug Administration promised a new openness after reports of more than 1,000 deaths linked to the arthritis drug Vioxx.

Citing an “emboldened vision,” FDA officials unveiled plans for a new board that would monitor drug safety issues and inform the public about possible dangers.

By the time the FDA announced the creation of its new Drug Safety Oversight Board, the agency already had received about 28,000 complaints concerning patients’ adverse reactions to Vioxx, made by Merck & Co. The adverse event reports included 1,282 deaths and almost 3,000 heart attacks, strokes or blood clots. The drug was taken off the market in September 2004.

During the past eight months the drug safety board has been trying to find its way – determining its role within the FDA and providing input on certain drugs.

But as concerns about prescription drug safety have escalated, the oversight board has met only five times — always in private.

Composed solely of government officials, the board is empowered to seek input from outside medical experts or patient representatives but has not done so, according to its chairman.

And members of the panel, all government officials,

have guarded the proprietary interests of pharmaceutical manufacturers.

Douglas Throckmorton, deputy director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research and chairman of the safety board, said it must strike a delicate balance between concerns for patient safety and the need to protect proprietary information received from drug manufacturers.

“The board’s being asked to look at very delicate, very private information,” Throckmorton said last week in a telephone interview.

He added: “There is no legal mechanism we could use to have an open meeting.”

But when pressed, Throckmorton said he could not point to a rule that prevents public board meetings.

Arthur Caplan, director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Bioethics, questions the board’s decision to block the public from its meetings.

“I’m a little nervous that they don’t have public sessions,” Caplan said. “It’s not in the spirit of what the FDA promised the public in the wake of Vioxx. It’s not good public policy.”

But Brian Strom, chairman of biostatistics and epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine, sees things in a somewhat different light.

Strom says that although openness is useful, the board is an internal governmental body that may, indeed, need to protect certain proprietary information.

And, Strom says, the FDA’s regular advisory committees provide open forums, although, he said, it’s still unclear what the drug safety board’s role is.

Even the Pharmaceutical

Research and Manufacturers of America, the organization that represents pharmaceutical makers, seems a bit befuddled by the oversight board.

Alan Goldhammer, the group’s associate vice president for regulatory affairs, said it’s too early to judge the board, but he admitted to some haziness on what exactly it does.

The board has, in fact, contributed to some recent FDA actions on certain drugs, Throckmorton said. But he declined to discuss which actions he meant, referring a reporter to summaries of the board’s meetings posted on the FDA Web site.

The summaries offer few details but indicate the board has had input into certain FDA actions and patient safety information sheets released by the agency concerning risks posed by drugs including mifepristone, a pill that helps induce abortions; Accutane, a problematic acne drug; narcotic pain-relief skin patches containing the drug fentanyl; and Viagra, the popular impotence pill.

The summaries have not impressed David Graham, the FDA drug reviewer and whistleblower who stunned a Senate Finance Committee with his revelations about Vioxx-related problems more than a year ago.

“The Drug Safety Oversight Board is one of several deceptive moves by FDA management to try to convince Congress that it’s capable of reforming itself,” Graham said.

“The whole notion of privacy is bogus,” said Graham, who still works at the FDA. “Most of the time they’re (the board) not talking about proprietary information.”

Ward 1 continued from page 3 casional wine-and-cheese affair.

“But the meat and potatoes of the campaign is printing literature,” he added.

Ris said he planned to use his finances similarly.

Debate over Ris’ strong fundraising has spurred contention between the candidates.

A column penned by five Segal supporters in Monday’s Herald questioned the character of Ris’ financial backers, a charge Ris countered two days later with a letter of his own to The Herald.

Both candidates said they are counting on issues, not personalities, to drive their campaigns.

Segal cited child poverty, affordable housing and segregation in Providence as his most important issues, while Ris identified education and transportation as his two “pet issues.”

Ward 1 includes Fox Point and part of College Hill — including Brown’s campus.

www.browndailyherald.com

Three more dead in Pakistan’s cartoon protests

BY ZULFIQAR ALI AND MUBASHIR ZAIDI LOS ANGELES TIMES

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Three people died Wednesday during violent protests in two cities over caricatures of the Muslim prophet Muhammad published in Western newspapers.

Demonstrators continued to ransack foreign companies and franchises across the country as the death toll in protests this week rose to five.

Pakistani authorities said two people died Wednesday here in Peshawar, capital of North-West Frontier Province, while one person was killed in the city of Lahore.

In Peshawar, an 8-year-old boy was slain by a stray bullet, police officials said, while an electric cable that was snapped by gunfire killed a 25-year-old man, police said.

A doctor at one of the staterun hospitals in the city said 50 people were brought to the emergency ward for injuries.

Four police officers also suffered injuries when tear gas shells exploded in their hands as they prepared to fire them at the mobs.

In Lahore, a Punjab University employee was slain in crossfire between students and police.

Caricatures mocking Muhammad were originally printed in a Danish newspaper in September.

But the cartoons were reprinted recently in several Western countries by publications whose editors insist they are defending freedom of the press. Many Muslims view such images as blasphemous.

Wednesday’s violence in Peshawar erupted when tens of thousands of people went on the rampage, dragging the U.S. flag through the streets as they torched shops and offices.

In many areas of the city, angry protesters opened fire as riot police tried to disperse them.

“We will not forgive Danish dogs for publishing cartoons against our holy prophet,” said a banner in the city’s main square.

Peshawar’s roads were littered with burning tires and bricks.

Students from “madrassas,” or Islamic seminaries, and Afghan refugees also joined the protesters, who shouted slogans such as, “Down with America and its allies. Death to Denmark.”

Rioters set fire to gas pumps, movie theaters, shops and banks.

In addition, they damaged 16 buses owned by a South Korean transportation company, Sammi-Daewoo; offices of the Norwegian telecommunication company Telenor; and fast-food restaurants of the American chain KFC. “The protesters are rudderless. To my knowledge, it was the worst agitation in the history of Peshawar,” said Senior Superintendent of Police Saeed Khan Wazir, who was commanding the security forces.

He said that more than 200 protesters had been detained for damaging public and private property.

The North-West Frontier Province government closed down all education institutions, including schools, colleges and universities, for one week in an effort to prevent more protests.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz appealed for calm and said government officials would not allow anyone to disturb law and order.

Aziz said the provincial governments have been directed to take any steps necessary to protect the life and property of citizens and stressed that “anti-social elements” must be identified and dealt with sternly.

PAGE 8 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2006

D’Agata continued from page 5 scholars who imagined how the apocalypse would unfold.

During the question-andanswer period that followed, D’Agata explained that the purpose of his essay — which often took the form of a list and was full of statistics and dates — is to prove that there is no such thing as perfect objectivity in nonfiction writing.

“It is not possible to engage the world without transforming it,” D’Agata said.

D’Agata also addressed the recent controversy over James Frey’s memoir, “A Million Little Pieces,” a nonfiction memoir that received pointed criticism after parts of it were discredited.

According to D’Agata, it is illusory to think that nonfiction must always be truthful. He added that Frey fabricated parts

of his memoir because the lies actually helped him to achieve an emotional truth. “The emotion of the experience meant something different than the facts,” he said.

Several times throughout the lecture, D’Agata said he does not use the term nonfiction.

“It is art, so stop calling it nonfiction,” he said.

Catherine Imbriglio, a lecturer in the English department, said D’Agata is concerned with looking at the essay as an art form. This semester, Imbriglio is teaching D’Agata’s anthology, “The Next American Essay,” as part of EL 118.6: “Creative Nonfiction: Lyricism and Lucidity.” She said she finds D’Agata’s work innovative because he examines the ways in which poetry can inform nonfiction.

“He’s thrown out some ideas that you can pick up and run with whether you are a poet or a different type of writer,” Imbriglio said.

www.browndailyherald.com cooler than a polar bear’s toenails

Polling continued from page 1 error means that it is possible less than half of undergraduates at Brown are happy with their representative governing body.

“It’s not exactly resounding support for UCS,” Braun wrote, though she pointed out that the 53.5 percent of students expressing approval of UCS is much larger than the 12 percent of respondents who disapproved of the job UCS has done this year.

“Students who do have an opinion about UCS seem to be more in favor of it than not,” Braun wrote.

Thompson was reluctant to draw negative conclusions about the poll results.

“Ideally we’d like those people to have a positive view of UCS, but at the same time I think some people might feel like we’re doing our job and we’re there.

Our job is to advocate, they’re pretty happy with us,” he said.

Thompson became chair of the UCS Communications Committee at the beginning of the spring semester, replacing Tristan Freeman ’07. Under Freeman — who now chairs the council’s Committee for Academic and Administrative Affairs — the Communications Committee expanded to 12 members.

Last fall, committee members completed their first dorm rounds in an attempt to communicate with as many students as possible, scheduled office hours at high-traffic locations on campus such as the Rockefeller Library and the

Science continued from page 1 research opportunities with University faculty and requiring its students to complete a senior thesis with a member of the University’s science faculty.

Dean expects that this emphasis on research will better prepare science concentrators to engage in the complex, multidisciplinary areas of modern science, such as nanotechnology.

“Students will have ... the experience of working with other scientists on all kinds of problems that require multidisciplinary effort,” Dean said.

Dean and Tan also expect that the program will increase diversity among Brown’s undergraduate science concentrators. According to Dean, women, blacks and Hispanics are represented less in the science departments than in the larger student body.

Through targeted recruitment of a distinctly diverse body of high school seniors, the program is designed to prepare talented science students of all

Sharpe Refectory and began sponsoring regular WebCT polls in an attempt to tap into the various issues concerning students across campus.

“Communication strategy is far more effective when we do things on students’ own terms,” Freeman said. “UCS is most successful when it doesn’t force people to change their habits — i.e., coming to a meeting.

The most important thing in student government at a school as small as Brown is to go out there and literally meet every undergraduate at Brown,” he said.

Freeman said that a major difference in strategies between the UCS of years past and today’s UCS is that students are now involved with UCS in numerous ways, whereas in the past UCS acted more as a body that made decisions for students.

But when asked how UCS obtained student input before its recent reshuffling, Freeman was unsure.

“I’m not really sure, to tell you the truth,” he said. “It was more informal, things people had heard from friends.”

Communication mechanisms like WebCT polling were designed to give each and every undergraduate the opportunity to voice an opinion on the major things that UCS does, according to Freeman.

“It is grassroots to a certain extent … a relatively big department for the committee,” he said.

The extent to which UCS WebCT polls accurately represent the opinions of the undergraduate student body is unclear, since the WebCT

polls are conducted online, entirely optional and, therefore, completed by a self-selecting pool of students.

In a fall 2005 UCS WebCT poll, almost two-thirds of the over 2,000 respondents said they were at least fairly satisfied with UCS performance so far that year, a remarkably high approval rating.

“Perhaps it’s not as accurate a pool as possible, but it’s a step in the right direction,” Thompson said. “Having WebCT polls is better than having no polls. You can take it at face value.”

“We understand that it doesn’t necessarily speak for all undergraduate students,” Freeman said.

A new WebCT poll will be introduced at the end of the month, and dorm rounds for this semester are scheduled to begin Feb. 23. The Communications Committee also plans to run a preliminary forum in March to educate students about the College Curriculum Council’s own larger, University-wide forum on adding pluses and minuses to the grading system.

As far as new communication efforts are concerned, Thompson said that the committee is thinking of promoting services on campus that people don’t know about. For example, he said, it is a little-known fact on campus that students can rent movies from the Sciences Library.

“Our job is one of the most essential in UCS: we have to make sure that UCS represents the student body effectively,” Thompson said. “We have to really engage effectively with students to do our jobs well.”

backgrounds for a strenuous career in multidisciplinary science. “It’s a tragedy when you have talent and lack opportunity,” Tan said.

Deputy Provost Vincent Tompkins — who took over leadership of the proposal from Dean in October — said that recruitment for the program will center on making high school counselors and science teachers aware of the excellent education in the sciences available at the University. “These are the people (prospective students) go to for advice,” Tompkins said.

Tan stressed that the differences between Brown and other prestigious science schools, such as the open curriculum and Brown’s strength in the humanities, will make the University especially attractive to prospective Integrative Science and Engineering Program students. “Brown isn’t only focused on science,” he said.

Tan added that the high availability and willingness of University faculty to support undergraduate education will add to the program’s appeal.

Although Dean expects that many of these courses will need to be created, both he and

Tompkins said that many classes currently available in both the chemistry and engineering departments would already be appropriate for the program’s multidisciplinary requirements.

Although a faculty steering committee will oversee the administration of these courses, ultimate discretion over course structure will fall to the pairs of professors themselves. “(The faculty) have to own the courses,” Dean said.

Tompkins said criticism of the program has already stemmed from faculty both within and outside of the sciences. He said those opposed to the program worry that it will isolate its students from the student body as a whole.

However, Tompkins emphasized the program’s “porous” nature — students will be free to abandon the program once at Brown, and students not enrolled in the program will have access to the three introductory courses in multidisciplinary science.

He added that some faculty fear the program’s five required courses — on top of a full science concentration — will deny students the opportunity to engage in the broad liberal arts education available at Brown.

However, Tompkins said the multidisciplinary requirements will likely contribute to students’ traditional concentrations and consequently will not take time away from elective courses.

“There will be overlap,” he said.

Dean said that as the frontiers of scientific research further blur the lines among traditional disciplines, collaboration among scientists trained in multiple disciplines is becoming increasingly necessary.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2006 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 9

Olympics continued from page 4 was ready to become a media darling after a silver-medal performance at the 1994 Games in Lillehammer. Images of her crying “Why me?” after associates of rival Tonya Harding struck her in the knee won her worldwide sympathy. But during a paid appearance in a Disney parade, Kerrigan was filmed saying: “This is so corny. ... I hate this.”

“She could have been the next Mary Lou Retton,” Dorfman said. “You just don’t disparage Disneyland. That’s a holy icon in America, and there’s no way to kind of fix that.”

Jerry Solomon, Kerrigan’s

Goldman continued from page 12 any idea who these people are.

Since NBA stars refuse to do the dunk contest, NBA Commissioner David Stern should ask stars from other sports to participate. It would be pretty awesome to see Terrell Owens, Torii Hunter or Steve Smith (of the Panthers, not the retired shooting guard) in the contest. People see Lebron James or any other NBA player dunk every day of the week. Seeing someone that people never see dunk would add freshness that the contest absolutely needs.

Owens, to nobody’s surprise, asked to enter the dunk contest, but Stern would not hear of it. He really should rethink his decision to keep T.O. away —while he is a complete team cancer, he does

Vallely continued from page 12 you know that when the pitchers and catchers arrive — while spring training starts in only a couple of weeks — the regular season still stands six weeks away. It will remain cold in New England. The days will be short and you’ll have to shovel your car out at least twice more and probably scrape your windshield with an old CD, because the trunk — where the real scraper is — has been frozen shut.

But the promise is there: The baseball season will come soon.

Right now, I know that people are playing baseball somewhere, in some tropical or desert paradise in which 80 percent of the population has an AARP card.

Tomorrow, when I’m spending another day working toward graduating on time, my spirits will be buoyed by the knowledge that some 1,500 miles away Curt Schilling and Jason Varitek are stretching it out with a little long-toss. Behind them, in the dugout of the City of Palms Park, “Tito” Francona will call bullpen coach Al Nipper to get an update on Keith Foulke’s mechanics.

Seconds later, Julian Tavarez will walk by and punch the telephone out of Tito’s hand.

Writing that paragraph just gave me chills.

Knowing that this day would come has all but kept me going throughout winter. Pathetic?

Entirely.

But it’s a pretty accurate statement. Over the last few

husband and agent, said that her words were taken out of context and that she had secured numerous endorsements before the Harding ordeal. Although a television movie by Disney was canceled, Solomon said the comment had nothing to do with it.

“I think that it’s always fun for everybody to speculate on the dollar,” he said. “I don’t really know whether any of that cost her a dollar or a million dollars or made her a million dollars.”

Skater Timothy Goebel won no endorsements after winning the bronze in Salt Lake City in 2002. “Men’s figure skating is really not such a huge draw for sponsorships,” said Goebel, who is retiring from competitive skating after failing to win a spot

on the Turin team. He has since had “very limited” opportunities, and only in figure-skating circles, Goebel said, and though he’d welcome the chance to do professional skating tours before attending college, that may not happen as much as he would like.

“A lot of it depends on whether another American man medals in Turin. If someone comes along and gets a medal, I’m kind of old news,” said Goebel, who stressed that he wanted U.S. skaters to do well.

Not every Olympian wants a celebrity career. Gold medalist Sarah Hughes was flooded with commercial opportunities after becoming the surprise darling of the 2002 Olympics but turned most down, said her agent,

provide a lot of entertainment.

The one and only thing that has generated buzz for this year’s dunk contest is that Nate Robinson, who is 5’9” on his tiptoes, is in the competition.

One of the most memorable dunk contests of all time was when Spud Webb soared above the competition in Dallas’ Reunion Arena in 1986, and some hope Robinson will bring back memories of that classic.

Keeping with that theme, the NBA could limit the dunk contest to people that are 6’3” and under.

There is something about seeing a shorter guy rise up and throw it down that excites people. People do not get as excited to see guys that are 6’8” and 6’9” dunking.

Lastly, there just needs to be some sort of rivalry created. This doesn’t have as much to do with the NBA as it has to do with the players that actually participate in the contest. In 1987, 1988

and 1990, Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins had some of the most memorable aerial displays in the contest’s history.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Dr. J had great bouts with Connie Hawkins, David Thompson and Larry Nance.

Now, no one has anything close to that sort of competitive attitude. The aforementioned players actually cared about winning the contest, but now no one really cares. If someone could enter with the same aura and cockiness that Isaiah Rider exhibited in 1994, then maybe we could get somewhere. Until that time, we are stuck in the same monotony as we have been for the last five years.

months, while there was plenty to talk about in Red Sox Nation — the arrival of Josh Beckett, the Manny and David Wells trade requests, the departure of Johnny Damon, the arrival of Coco Crisp, the apocalyptic rumors of the Rocket’s return — I was getting a little desperate.

In fact, it was getting ugly.

When you call three people in a day to discuss, in all sincerity, the future of Sox utility outfielder Adam Stern, you’re really digging. When you scour the Internet for stories about Rich “El Guapo” Garces — the former Sox reliever who pushed 270 pounds — and his recent return from a three-year hiatus to pitch for the Sox’s rookie-ball affiliate, well, that’s when you know you

have problems. And when you consider getting medical help for those problems and can’t decide whether to call former Sox Doc Bill Morgan or current one, Dr. Thomas Gill, that’s when you’ve gone insane.

But through all of this, I always knew this day would come, when people still have the heat on but the Hot-Stove Season has come to a close. The pictures from Florida will start appearing in the Boston Globe and, soon enough, Manny Ramirez will ask to be traded to the Calgary Flames. Because it’s happened: those three words are in the air.

Squash continued from page 12 which against a team like that is really important.”

Unfortunately, Tuesday’s game was an even less endearing affair for the team, as it was crushed 9-0 by No. 1 Trinity. Brown captured only one set in the tie, that coming from No. 26 Dan Petrie ’07 in his four-set loss to No. 10 Jacques Swanepoel 9-3, 6-9, 9-3, 9-3.

The No. 7 women’s team only managed to catch one set from the top-ranked Elis in their tie on Saturday, then dropped all nine matches in straight sets to No. 3 Trinity Tuesday night to fall to 5-6 on

the year.

Saturday’s notable performance was from seventh seed Katie Lew ’07, who won the first set before eventually falling to Nicky Shiels 5-9, 10-8, 9-0, 9-4.

Fifth-seed Breck Haynes ’09, who lost 9-4, 9-4, 9-7 to Yale’s No. 30 Kate Rapisarda, applauded the Bulldogs’ performance. “They are very deserving of the nation’s top rank” she said. “They are simply very efficient and don’t really make the mistakes.”

The men next travel to Princeton, N.J. for the threeday Intercollegiate Team Championships beginning Friday. The women’s next match is against Tufts University on Feb. 21 in Cambridge, Mass., their final tune-up before the Howe Cup.

Assistant Sports Editor Justin Goldman ’07 was the original inspiration for the infamous “Blind Man’s Bluff” dunk, eye slits and all.

Herald Assistant Sports Editor Charlie Vallely ’06 aspires to one day be a fat man with a big hat.

www.browndailyherald.com

EDITORIAL/LETTERS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD · THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2006 · PAGE 10

STAFF EDITORIAL

Put away the politics Ward 1 contains parts of three Providence neighborhoods — College Hill, Fox Point and Wayland. Of these, College Hill is the only one with a population greater than 5,000, according to figures provided by the Providence Plan. A significant portion of this neighborhood, however, is located in Ward 2, currently represented in the Providence City Council by Rita Williams.

In a city with a population totaling over 170,000 in the 2000 census, it is clear that Ward 1 fills a small, albeit significant, position on the local political landscape.

We don’t doubt that incumbent City Councilman David Segal and challenger Ethan Ris ’05 feel strongly about issues facing Ward 1 voters. Similarly, their supporters imbue this race with great importance. Since Ris told The Herald last March that he was considering a run for the Ward 1 council seat, The Herald has received a near-constant stream of letters in support of both candidates that only escalated when Ris confirmed his decision to run in October. While some of these letters have been more substantive than others, they have, on the whole, focused on which candidate will better serve the ward’s interests.

Recently, however, debate regarding the election seems to have shifted from relevant topics to sharper attacks on each candidate’s character. Moreover, the tenor of this bitter politicking has not come solely from the candidates themselves.

We find discussion of Segal’s alleged careerism and Ris’ supposed inability to run a true grassroots campaign irrelevant to an election that sits nine months off on the horizon.

At this point, both candidates deserve to be defined by how they perform in their current positions — Segal as a councilman, Ris as a schoolteacher and activist. In addition, we encourage constructive dialogue surrounding the issues that will hopefully frame voters’ decisions come Election Day. These include, among others, efforts to reform the city’s struggling public school system, address social justice issues like workers’ rights and develop additional affordable housing.

The source of either candidate’s campaign dollars, though interesting (and perhaps a compelling read), should not be the dominant concern of those with a vested interest in the race. At this point, Segal has thoroughly voiced his skepticism regarding the grassroots nature of Ris’ campaign, and Ris has articulated his defense. We fail to see how beating this issue into the ground will help illuminate how either candidate would serve Ward 1 constituents if elected. The debate should now move to a public forum in which voters can actively dictate what issues are addressed. Hopefully, more time will be devoted to issues like poverty and policing, and voters will be spared the petty politics. Let’s move on.

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

PHOTO 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

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JOSEPH NAGLE

LETTERS Supporters of Ris ’05 speak up To the Editor: As a Ris ’05 supporter, I observed some glaring discrepancies in Monday’s opinions column (“Segal supporters: Funny money funds Ward 1 opposi-tion,” Feb. 13) on the Ward 1 City Council race. The authors attempted to characterize Ethan Ris ’05 as an inside-the-beltway political outsider based on his fourth quarter out-of-state individual fundraising receipts.

Ris has raised $290 from individual Providence supporters in the fourth quarter. Segal, in contrast, raised no money from disclosed individual Providence supporters during that time period. The $400 in donations he did receive from individuals were from supporters hailing from New York, Cambridge, Mass., and Reno, Nev. Talk about the

pot calling the kettle black — Segal’s individual support is more concentrated out of state than Ris’.

As an incumbent city councilman, Segal received zero dollars in donations (large enough to be disclosed) from individual Rhode Islanders. It is surprising that he hasn’t garnered more support in his three plus years as a city councilman. It is not surprising that he has attempted to deflect attention away from his dismal fourth quarter fundraising efforts. It’s all in black and white at www.ricampaignfinance.com.

Jeff Tiell ‘06 Feb. 13

To the Editor: Ethan Ris ’05 is a proud long-time resident of Providence. In fact, he has been living here longer than David Segal, a registered Republican in New York who moved here just a few months before the 2002 election. Ethan is a teacher at an innercity public high school, unlike David Segal, whose only experience with employment in Providence has been tutoring wealthy children on the East Side. Ethan is a true Democrat, unlike David Segal,

who has spent years bashing Democrats, both as a Republican and as a member of Ralph Nader’s Green Party.

David Segal should be ashamed of himself, and he owes Ethan Ris and the voters of Ward 1 an apology.

Michael Kadin ‘08 Feb. 13

Critiques of English curriculum unfounded To the Editor: I am writing to correct some misinformation about the English Concentration at Brown given by Sarah Geller ’08 in her column (“Academic obscurity slights students,” Feb. 2) on the University’s Plan for Academic Enrichment. The recent changes in the English concentration absolutely do not require students to “take additional specialized courses.”

Instead, the English department has committed itself to teaching more, not fewer, broad-based courses and to offer several such courses every year in each broad historical period of literature from the Middle Ages to the present. The three large lecture courses required by the old English concentration have been replaced by multiple

courses, each of which covers the same breadth of literary history as the lecture courses were designed to encompass. So, the result is exactly the reverse of Geller’s description: more, not fewer, broad-based courses available to English concentrators.

The new concentration requirements in English were in fact designed to do more effectively precisely what Geller asks: provide students with a broadbased knowledge of literature written in English throughout the entire history of the language.

Kevin McLaughlin Chair, Department of English Feb. 15

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OPINIONS

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD · THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2006 · PAGE 11

Public ready to invade Iran Who framed Ayatollah Khamenei?

BY MICHAL ZAPENDOWSKI OPINIONS COLUMNIST

Everyone knows that the best cure for a hangover is to keep drinking, but that doesn’t mean that the best cure for the current mess in Iraq is to invade Iraq’s neighbors. In a recent FOX poll, 59 percent of the public said that America should use “whatever force necessary” to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons if diplomacy fails to do so, and 46 percent specifically endorsed a ground invasion. That’s nearly a majority, and the government hasn’t even launched any fear campaigns.

Normally, I would’ve discounted polling by FOX, but then I saw that 51 percent of respondents disapproved of Bush. Why is the public so eager to invade Iran, while still in the midst of the mess in Iraq?

The thought of nuclear weapons in the hands of the Iranian mullahs, who regularly issue fatwahs calling on Muslims to murder Western individuals such as author Salman Rushdie or televangelist Jerry Falwell, is not a reassuring one.

And Sept. 11, 2001 proved how vulnerable America is to its enemies. Nonetheless, I think we all agree that foreign policy should be based on reason and facts, not emotions and presumptions. So let’s all sit down, take a deep breath, and take a good hard look at this situation.

Public reasoning is that the Iranian mullahs are seeking to develop nuclear

weapons because they want to attack Israel or America, or hand them over to terrorists.

The problem is that this reasoning assumes that the Iranian mullahs are suicidal and want to have their country blown off the map. Certainly, this might seem possible for a regime that has sent children running through minefields. However, state actors — be they democratically elected representatives or despotic radicals — always behave “rationally.” That is, they weigh certain factors against others and make logical choices. If their behavior seems irrational to us, it is because they

how much he hated Communism and Jews, would never have attacked the Soviet Union in 1941 if he had known the outcome would be his own downfall and the ruin of his Reich. Nuclear weapons provide leaders with a crystal ball, because the principle of M.A.D. guarantees that any aggressive use of nukes will end in disaster. So effective is this “crystal ball effect” that nuclear proliferation has proven, historically, the most effective guarantee of peace among nations.

There was no international uproar, no talk of invasion or sanctions when Israel, India and Pakistan (all of which are today ‘allies’ of Washington) peacefully developed nuclear weapons.

Neither have any of these states become a threat to world peace because they possess nukes. On the contrary, war between India and Pakistan has suddenly become unimaginable, and nukes have again achieved what a legion of peacemakers could not. Similarly, an Arab attack on Israel is no longer possible.

If Pakistani, Israeli, Indian and Arab lives are worth anything to the world, then nuclear proliferation is a good thing.

So why is the Iranian regime developing nuclear weapons, if it cannot use them? The atom bomb is a strictly defensive weapon — unless only one nation or alliance possesses it, as was the case in 1945. It is the ultimate guarantee of sovereignty. If Saddam had held nukes,

The arguments for invading Iran and aggressive non-proliferation are based solely on fear. are weighing certain variables more lightly and others more heavily than we do. In the complex reasoning that determines state actions, launching a nuclear weapon is a decision that no modern state, no matter how angry or how little it respects human life, is willing to take. Launching nukes cannot possibly carry any profit for any regime. That truth is founded on a principle, known as “Mutually Assured Destruction,” which states that any nation that launches nuclear weapons provokes its own nuclear annihilation.

No matter how aggressive the regime, it has to see some potential profit if it launches an attack. Hitler, no matter

we could not have invaded Iraq and put him on trial. The mullahs in Iran want nukes solely because of the regional prestige the bombs would bring, and because they don’t want to share the fate of Saddam. Is it really worth an invasion to keep them from achieving this?

All this reasoning is reassuringly true for state actors, but not for terrorists.

If a terrorist network got its hands on a nuclear weapon, there would be nothing holding it back from using it as a massive suicide bomb. However, no terrorist network is ever going to get a nuclear weapon from any state, for the same reasons elaborated above. Nuclear weapons and state-sponsored terrorist attacks are both immediately traceable to their government sources: just look how quickly the CIA traced Sept. 11, 2001 to the Taliban. Giving a nuke to terrorists is the same as launching a nuclear attack, and therefore a suicidal decision that no regime will ever make.

The arguments for invading Iran and aggressive non-proliferation are based solely on fear. Nuclear bombs are terrifying weapons, but their effect on the world has been a profoundly pacifist one. One of the key tests of the “war on terror” is not just whether we can win ground campaigns and uproot terrorist networks but whether we, as a society, can keep our cool despite coming under pressure. Let’s leave the foreign policy blunders to our enemies.

Michal Zapendowski ’07 secretly works for Iran.

Food — who needs it?

Messages from the media and parents push younger children into dieting

BY CHRISTINA MA OPINIONS COLUMNIST

Dieting has become the norm for adolescents and teenagers. Kids are no longer ashamed of wanting to lose weight; instead, they announce their dieting regiments proudly. The Eating Disorder Foundation reported that “25 percent of seven-year-olds have dieted to lose weight,” and that approximately 90 percent of adolescent girls and 70 percent of adolescent boys are uncomfortable with their body image.

Dieting has become a new eating disorder for adolescents. When students claim to “be on a diet,” parents and teachers immediately disregard the possibility of a serious eating disorder.

Diane Mickley, director of the Wilkins Center, an outpatient center focused on the treatment of eating, weight and psychological difficulties, stated, “Dieting is rampant. Disordered eating is common. The loathing of fatness that sets the state for this (has) become normative.”

Nowadays, the typical teenager is unsatisfied with his or her body, and, for this reason, dieting has become an accepted habit.

Recent studies conducted by the National Eating Disorder Association showed that 50 percent of girls have “significant eating disturbances” during their teenage years.

But this problem does not only affect teens. Dieting and eating disorders have become more prevalent among younger children as well. Research notes that children as young as the age of four want to be thinner. But rather than eating healthy and exercising, many kids are joining up in strict programs to monitor

their progress. Weight-loss programs have opened their doors to children as young as six.

So, why is dieting becoming so prevalent among younger kids? Many argue that our obsession with an obese America has led to a greater awareness of health and weight. Kids are being introduced to the dangers of being obese in grade school; this kind of education continues to be inundated well into the high school health class. Admittedly, obesity is a major problem for adolescents in the United States. Greg Toppo of USA Today reported in 2004 that “30 percent of kids in the USA are overweight or risk being too heavy, making it more likely that they’ll become overweight or obese adults.”

While educators encourage a healthy body image, they also send out the message that America is obese. Students respond by dieting, if anything, for the purpose of preventing future obesity. Sheri Findlay, medical director of the eating disorders program at McMaster Children’s Hospital, stated, “The majority of children aren’t overweight. The majority of children don’t need a diet. But because dieting has become such a normalized behavior in our society, parents don’t necessarily pick up on it as a potential problem.”

This focus on obesity is often fueled, however, by the media’s fixation on beautiful and, you guessed it, skinny idols. Joanne Richard of the Toronto Times reported in 2004 that “Girls are developing fat phobias, body hang-ups and disordered eating attitudes and

behaviors at a younger age, and experts believe that our fixation on fat, calories and body shape, coupled with the relentless media bombardment of ultrathin images, is feeding this unhealthy preoccupation.” This constant bombardment of media images is also being targeted at younger age groups.

For children, says Andrea Gordon, writer for the Toronto Star, “the media is their touchstone, their source of entertainment and bonding. But overwhelmingly, the media sets kids up to constantly compare themselves in unhealthy ways — to each other and to the unrealistic faces and body

whomever and whatever on any given day: Atkins, South beach, Dr. Phil, Jenny Craig, low carbohydrate, low sugar. This dieting craze rubs off on kids. Parents express displeasure about self-perceived body flaws, weight gain, body shape and share their newest diet details. As a result, kids feel that it is normal to be unsatisfied with their bodies. A panel of eating disorder experts said, “The best way for parents to diet-proof their children is to model sensible eating and reasonable exercise.” Unfortunately, parents are dieting more, and eating and educating less, rather than providing kids with a healthy role model to follow.

While the fixation on an obese America and the unrealistic images presented by the media may be significant causes of the epidemic of dieting among adolescents, a more direct cause is this lack of proper modeling by parents. If parents are uncomfortable with their bodies, kids will learn to be uncomfortable with their body images as well. When parents diet, kids will pick-up many of these habits.

And until parents jump off the dieting bandwagon and onto one that advocates a healthy, not “skinny” body image, these trends with adolescent dieting will only get worse. While the media contributes to the problem, it appears that the daily inundation of dieting by parents has caused an even greater shift towards an unhealthy, skinny adolescent population.

Weight-loss programs have opened their doors to children as young as six. shapes portrayed on page and screen.”

Unfortunately, the images provided to children by the media can often lead to misperceptions as to what is fat. Gordon interviewed seventh-grade students who report, “Some friends won’t even eat cake on their birthday, because in all the magazines they say the stars are about 100 pounds.”

At the point where kids aren’t eating their birthday cakes, the new obsession with dieting has has robbed children of the “worry-free” childhood with which we are familiar. Yet these changes can be paralleled with the changes in parental culture as well. Parents advocate dieting for their children. More than ever, adults pursue intense diet regimens, following

Christina Ma ‘09 says “improve body image now!”

SPORTS THURSDAY THE BROWN DAILY HERALD · FEBRUARY 16, 2006 · PAGE 12

‘Pitchers and catchers’ are the new magic words Those three words have been spoken.

No, not “I love you,” though we stand in the wake of St. Valentine’s Day, and these three words do, arguably, stir up similar emotions.

I’m talking about the words that some have had on the tips of their tongues all winter, waiting anxiously for them to once again become a CHARLIE VALLELY reality. Five syllables C’EST LA V. that signal the arrival of a new season: Pitchers and catchers.

After three and a half months, baseball is back. Yesterday, eight teams worth of pitchers, catchers and injured players reported to their spring training facilities in Florida and Arizona. Another wave of eight clubs will arrive today, seven will show tomorrow and, on Saturday, most important for the V Man, the Red Sox hurlers will report to the City of Palms Park, at long last giving their desperate fan base new pictures of players in uniform.

Some say that the baseball season never ends in Boston and New York — the media continues to cover every move, from free agent signings to trade rumors, from front-office squabbles to mentally insane left-fielders.

But even in this baseball-saturated

community, the arrival of pitchers and catchers brings with it something that mere off-season chatter cannot. I think all of the real baseball nerds out there — and if you’ve ever talked about the tragic career of Todd van Poppel in January, you’re one of them — know what I’m talking about. They know that “pitchers and catchers” means that all of the offseason talk will finally, once again, be connected to the game itself.

Theories about Josh Beckett’s shoulder problems will finally be put to the test. At long last, we get to see if Felix Rodriguez, the Mariners’ pitching phenom, is really the next Doc Gooden. Finally, we get to see if Barry Bonds will come back to pass Ruth on the home run list or if the coal in his heart will land him on the disabled list again. Pitchers and catchers, in other words, means that baseball talk really means something again.

Some baseball writers have compared the arrival of pitchers and catchers to Groundhog Day, and I think the comparison is an apt one. As everyone knows, the groundhog never sees its godforsaken shadow. The fat men with the big hats pull him out of his crate, he convulses for the camera and then the fattest big-hat gravely announces that six more weeks of winter remain.

Minus the big hats, pitchers and catchers is a similar ceremony. Every year see VALLELY, page 9

NBA dunk contest is in dire need of a makeover As the NBA All-Star Weekend nears, there just isn’t quite the buzz that there once was. Part of the reason is because the competitions prior to the actual game just do not generate the energy they used to.

The NBA slam dunk competition used to mean something. When Dr. J, Dominique Wilkins, Michael Jordan and Spud Webb used to roam the skies it was actually exciting. Now, no NBA stars want anything to do with the dunk contest, now called the “Sprite Rising Stars Slam Dunk” to justify the lack of marquee talent.

Many of the league’s best are too worried JUSTIN GOLDMAN about nursing their GOLD STANDARD egos and not risking injury to compete in the contest.

The NBA has tried many gimmicks to try to inject some sort of life into the dunk contest, but most of them have been utter failures. One year, contestants had to spin a wheel of famous dunks and then recreate whatever jam the wheel landed on. That idea fell flat on its face because it slowed the competition down, and most fans had never heard of half of the dunks on the wheel. In fact, some of the contestants didn’t even know what dunk they had just been assigned.

The NBA has also banked on LeBron James saving the dunk contest each of the last three years, but every year he has declined his invitation. In lieu of James, the league has had a bunch of no-names participate, creating absolutely no buzz for the contest.

I am still going to tune in because I want to watch fellow Philly native Hakim Warrick and 76ers guard Andre Iguodala, but otherwise I wouldn’t even think of

watching.

The dunk contest needs a lot of help, so I will play armchair commissioner and try to give it some juice.

Part of the reason the contest is so brutal these days is that no one knows who the participants are. The past three winners have been Josh Smith, Fred Jones and Jason Richardson, who won it twice.

Outside of die-hard NBA fans, nobody has see GOLDMAN page 9

Ashley Hess / Herald

Charlotte Steel ’09 and the women’s squash team suffered two tough defeats to No. 1 Yale and No. 3 Trinity College over the past week.

Squash teams unable to stay with elite Yale, Trinity squads

BY STEELE WEST SPORTS STAFF WRITER

The men’s and women’s squash teams took turns competing against the firstand third-ranked teams in their sports over the past week, hosting Yale on Saturday and traveling to Trinity College Tuesday. Both nights were forgettable ones for the Bears, as all four matches ended in 9-0 defeats.

The No. 3 Yale men’s squad, boasting eight players ranked in the preseason top 70, did not dominate its hosts as much as the team score might indicate.

Two matches went to five sets, the most painful for the No. 10 Bears coming when sixth seed Patrick Haynes ’07 watched three match points slip away at 8-5 in the final set before being defeated by preseason No. 62 Andrew Vinci 8-10, 8-10, 9-2, 10-8, 10-8.

“It was a really tough loss,” Haynes said. “For the team’s sake I feel we deserved at least one match from the tie (the squash match).”

Preseason No. 40 Ed Cerullo ’08 seemed to be on his way to a victory over preseason No. 44 Ho Ming Chiu at third singles, taking the first two sets, but Chiu also battled back to a 7-9, 1-9, 9-4, 9-6, 9-1 victory.

Brian Rifkin ’06, playing at number five for Brown, had similar sentiments regarding his straight-set loss to Avner Geva, 9-2, 9-2, 9-2. “(It was) disappointing that I’d suffer a score line like that,” he said. “I played a lot better than that, as did the rest of the guys in their losses. This wasn’t a walkover for them in any other way than the scoreboard — we made them fight, see SQUASH, page 9

Torino 2006: Hedrick’s bid for five medals ends

BY LES CARPENTER WASHINGTON POST

TURIN, Italy — For months U.S. speedskater Chad Hedrick talked of the five gold medals he was going to win here at the Turin Olympics, practically counting the ways they were going to hang from his neck. Then, on his second day of racing, the dream died in a qualifier for the team pursuit.

It came on a technicality, on a rule that says only the winners of the quarterfinal qualifying laps could advance to Thursday’s semifinals. On Wednesday, the U.S. team of Hedrick, Charles Ryan Leveille and KC Boutiette sailed around the Lingotto Oval in a blistering 3 minutes 44.11 seconds, the second-best time of the field. The problem was that the only faster team was the one they were racing — Italy.

When Boutiette glided over the finish line nearly a half-second behind the Italians, Hedrick slapped his hands on the ice in disgust. Then he walked past a news conference set up for him. He later apologized on a conference call, saying he was angry with the defeat.

“You guys with the press have really

put the pressure on me about the five medals,” he said. “The important thing is to have the best race. The five medals are not a big thing, one medal is a good enough honor.”

Yet Hedrick had talked repeatedly about winning five medals before the Olympics even started. He also said he expected the United States would probably win gold easily if the team’s other top skater, Shani Davis, competed in the pursuit. But Davis withdrew from the pursuit over the weekend, saying he wanted to concentrate on other races and felt he should let the alternate skaters have a chance to participate.

On Wednesday, Hedrick, who won a gold in the 5,000 meters on Saturday, was asked if things would have been different if Davis had skated.

“You know, I can’t think of what would have been with Shani in the race,” he said. “We have a team with a lot of great skaters out there. I had confidence in my team and I had a lot of confidence in myself. This has nothing to do with whether Shani was there or not.”

He said he had not spoken to Davis about the pursuit and did not beg the skater to join them. He said he didn’t

think it was his place to judge another skater’s preparation.

But clearly the U.S. team was one fast skater short. Against Italy, Hedrick and Leveille crossed the finish line first but Boutiette finished far behind. Boutiette later told the Associated Press that he felt his body gave out and he didn’t have that final kick.

Hedrick said he told Boutiette afterward that “you gave it 100 percent and there’s nothing you can do.”

The defeat also didn’t seem to take the edge off Hedrick’s boastful personality.

He remained enthusiastic and seemed to look forward to his next race, the men’s 1,000 meters on Saturday. It will probably be his best head-to-head competition with Davis.

“I feel really great that I was part of Team USA,” Hedrick said. “Every opportunity I get to go out there and show everyone I’m the best skater in the world I’ll do it.”

Hedrick did express disappointment that his group finished with the secondbest time only to be eliminated.

“But you know what? The rules were set, and we didn’t qualify with the rules given,” he said.