Wednesday, March 22, 2006

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006

Volume CXLI, No. 39

www.browndailyherald.com

An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891 TAPPED OUT No keg stands will be seen on the firstyear substance-free floors in Perkins and Emery halls CAMPUS NEWS 5

HARVARD’S HUNT Four candidates for Harvard’s top spot say they aren’t interested, but still no comment from President Ruth Simmons CAMPUS WATCH 3

REBUILDING BRUNO Three teams rely on the strength of their younger players to fill gaps left in last year’s lineups SPORTS 12

TODAY

TOMORROW

mostly sunny 45 / 29

partly cloudy 44 / 30

From UChicago to Brown and back

OPEN MIC TO OPEN WALLETS

After ratcheting up research at Brown, Zimmer will return to research giant UChicago

BY ERIC BECK NEWS EDITOR

Jacob Melrose / Herald

The Hourglass Cafe hosted an open mic event to benefit the Children’s Cancer Society last night. Event organizer Brian McNary ’08, on stage (left), was among the performers.

No date set for online course registration

Admissions, financial aid offices to implement Banner later this year

BY SIMMI AUJLA SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The third floor of University Hall may one day become a foreign land to students — but not any time soon.

Three years after the University began the process of implementing Banner — a comprehensive program that will replace systems and databases used for admissions, financial aid and course registration — administrators cannot specify a launch date for the highly-anticipated online registration system. They do know that the process will take a long time, said Associate Provost Nancy Dunbar and Ellen Waite-Franzen, vice president for Computing and Information Services.

The Office of Admission and the Office of Financial Aid will begin using Banner in late September and late October of 2006, respectively, Dunbar said.

But plans for using Banner for course registration remain less clear. “(Online) registration is going to be there after (the Office of Admission and the Office of Financial Aid start using Banner), but we don’t have an absolute idea when,” Dunbar said.

Last semester, the organization of those in charge of the project changed.

Now, Dunbar leads an administrative group that is taking on more work related to the project. The University hired David Whiting, a consultant from the Columbia, S.C.-based consulting and training firm Cornelius and Associates, who began overseeing the day-to-day aspects of implementation two weeks ago. Dunbar described Whiting as “an experienced enterprise system director” who will ensure employees in all departments meet deadlines and will help prevent the University from getting behind schedule.

When administrators decided to bring Banner to Brown in early 2003, they expected online course registration to be ready in the spring of 2005. In October of

2004, The Herald reported that the University was pushing the launch date back to spring of 2006. Last semester, after administrators announced that the timeline in place did not take into account several factors that would delay a launch of the online registration system, WaiteFranzen tentatively told The Herald students would be able to register for their courses online in the spring of 2007.

The Office of the Registrar currently uses a system that is over 20 years old, Waite-Franzen said. Banner will replace that system and 10 others, including the Brown Online Course Announcement.

“Some of the systems (that Banner

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see BANNER, page 7

As Brown’s chief academic officer since 2002, Provost Robert Zimmer has worked to mold Brown, traditionally seen as a liberal arts-focused institution, into a stronger research university. When he becomes the president of the University of Chicago July 1, he will take the helm of an institution that has long been known for its emphasis on research and graduate schools.

Zimmer spent over two decades as a professor of mathematics and administrator at UChicago prior to becoming Brown’s provost. While at UChicago, he served as chair of the mathematics department, deputy provost and vice president for research and the Argonne National Laboratory, which the university has operated for the U.S. Department of Energy since 1946.

Professor of Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences Kathryn Spoehr, who previously

served as Brown’s provost and dean of the faculty, said Zimmer’s positions at UChicago shaped his four years as Brown’s provost.

“He is very clearly focused on research, almost to the exclusion of the undergraduate experience. This reflects his University www.brown.edu of Chicago back- Provost Robert ground. … He fo- Zimmer will become cused on research president of the University of Chicago. here because he was in charge of research at Chicago,” Spoehr said, explaining that administrators tend to be “acculturated to a certain view of what academics is really about.” see ZIMMER, page 4

Keeping an eye on U. Hall Recent alums establish ‘watchdog’ for intellectual diversity

BY MARY-CATHERINE LADER FEATURES EDITOR

There is a Foundation for Intellectual Diversity at Brown University, though few students and even fewer faculty or administrators are FEATURE likely to have heard of it. Five recent alums who were involved in conservative political groups as undergraduates founded the organization to promote underrepresented ideas by funding a variety of on-campus activities.

Stephen Beale ’04, who chairs the group’s board of directors, said no administrators or faculty were made aware of the Foundation for Intellectual Diversity, which is unaffiliated with the University. Though the group’s Web site prominently displays a picture of Uni-

versity Hall and describes itself as the “Foundation for Intellectual Diversity at Brown University,” Beale said these features are largely “aesthetic.”

Beale and the other board members — Travis Rowley ’02, Eric Neuman ’04, Joseph Lisska ’04, local radio host Brian Bishop and Christopher McAuliffe ’05 — hope to raise money from conservative alums and fund on-campus lectures that would counterbalance the “fact the University has become so politicized,” McAuliffe said.

Though the group only gained tax-exempt status recently and has yet to begin fundraising, much less bring a speaker to Brown, Beale said it has already received $15,000 in pledged donations. “There are see DIVERSITY, page 6

Three years after Iraq war began, veterans and others discuss ‘anti-war patriotism’

BY MELANIE DUCH SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Speaking yesterday at an all-day conference called “Anti-War Patriotism,” Providence Journal columnist Bob Kerr said the Iraq war has an “awful lot of similarities with Vietnam” and claimed the U.S. government uses embedded journalists to “control the coverage” of the war. Kerr, who was joined on a discussion panel by two veterans of the Iraq war and two family members of military men killed in Iraq, also urged audience members to support returning veterans.

The panel was the closing event of the conference, which was held in the List Art Building.

After five panel members related personal stories for 90 minutes, an hour-long debate developed that pitted the panel and several audience members against future Marine Evan Pettyjohn ’06, who expressed adamantly pro-war views.

All the panel members called for the return of American troops and withdraw-

al from Iraq as well as laid out their reasons for opposing the war.

Andrew Sapp, a 49-year-old veteran and high school English teacher from Massachusetts, originally left the military to attend community college and Yale and Harvard universities on the GI Bill. After he ran into financial difficulty, he rejoined just before the Iraq war began.

“When (the government) started making a case for war and pretending to play diplomacy to try to avoid it, I knew they were already drawing up battle plans.

They were already amassing troops to get overseas for the invasion,” he said.

Upon his return from Iraq, Sapp said he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Since then, he said his family has had its “life really taken away from us.”

Sapp emphasized that his story is not unique, saying many returning veterans will experience dependency on drugs and alcohol and deal with depression.

He added, however, that he hopes the

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sacrifice he made was “worth it” and that Americans will take back their country from the “petty little men” who “mortgaged our grandchildren” to pay for the war.

Patrick Resta, another veteran who served as a medic in Iraq for just under a year, expressed similar anti-Bush administration sentiments, calling the handling of the war a “gross negligence and criminal incompetence.”

He described permanent military bases he saw in Iraq, which he said had Pizza Huts, indoor swimming pools, milliondollar gyms and outlets selling iPods and televisions. Resta cited this as evidence that the United States has no immediate plans to leave Iraq.

“There is no exit strategy because leaving was never a part of the plan,” he said. “Once I got there, I realized quickly that we had no real mission.”

He added he was ordered “not to treat Iraqi people unless they were about to see ANTI-WAR, page 4 News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com

THIS MORNING THE BROWN DAILY HERALD · WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006 · PAGE 2 Jero Matt Vascellaro

TO D AY ’ S E V E N TS “GENOMIC APPROACHES TO UNDERSTANDING THE GENETIC BASIS OF HUMAN DISEASE” 12 p.m., (CIT 368) — Benjamin Raphael of the University of California, San Diego will deliver a lecture.

“EMPOWERMENT, ACTIVISM AND ENGAGEMENT IN THE SOUTH ASIAN CONTEXT” 5:30 p.m. , (Third World Center) — Shamita Das Das Gupta of New York University Law School will speak about her activism and research in the areas of domestic violence and cultural diversity.

“SUGGESTION REDUCES CONFLICT IN THE HUMAN BRAIN: CONVERGING NEUROIMAGING ACCOUNTS” 4 p.m., (Hunter Lab 206) — Amir Raz of Columbia University will give this Michael S. Goodman ‘74 Memorial Lecture.

FIGHT FOR SAME-SEX MARRIAGE 8 p.m. , (Salomon 203) — Queer Alliance’s Queer Political Action Committee will discuss the same-sex marriage struggle and the battle for equality.

MENU

M for Massive Yifan Luo

SHARPE REFECTORY

VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALL

LUNCH — Beef and Broccoli Szechwan, Sticky Rice with Edamame Beans, Polynesian Ratatouille, Paprika Potatoes Grilled Breakfast Ham, Cappucino Brownies, Raspberry Sticks

LUNCH — Vegetarian Squash Bisque, Turkey and Wild Rice Soup, Chicken Pot Pie, Pizza Rustica, Vegan Tomato Rice Pilaf, Fresh Sliced Carrots, Cappuccino Brownies

DINNER — Spring Round-Up Dinner Special

DINNER — Spring Round-Up Dinner Special

3

Chocolate Covered Cotton Mark Brinker

Homebodies Mirele Davis

more days ‘til freedom (sorry, thesis writers...)

RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, March 22, 2006

CR O S Daily SWO RD Los Angeles Times Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis ACROSS 1 Pot filler 5 Visit 11 It has its ups and downs 14 “__ there, done that” 15 Fruit or vegetable, depending on whom you ask 16 “__ Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” 17 Part of COLA 18 Saws 19 Olympics chant 20 “The Fantasticks” classic 23 Indy 500 letters 25 CIA precursor 26 Harbor protection 27 __-toity 29 Filming session 32 General guideline 35 Reagan era prog.

38 Kind of collar 39 Lord, or his subject 40 Loads 41 Apr.-to-Oct. setting 42 Make a personal discovery?

44 Bell ringers 45 Really enjoy 46 Grammy-winning British guitarist Julian 49 Contemptuous sound 51 Big period 52 Actor in “Beverly Hills Cop” films 57 “__ to Joy” 58 Land by the River Shribble 59 Chaplin’s wife 62 Dream indicator 63 Like scrapbooking 64 Squeeze 65 Heston was its pres.

66 Talks back to 67 Tough fiber DOWN 1 “Lost” airer 2 Prefix with -lithic

3 Aerospace company employee 4 __’acte 5 RBI and ERA 6 Melees 7 Epps of “House” 8 One running for Congress?

9 Newsy bit 10 Rhinoplasty 11 Have reservations 12 Commencement 13 Spent 21 It has its ups and downs 22 Brave rival?

23 Cover one’s tracks, in a way 24 Sells tips 28 Half a score 29 Hoe holders 30 Sci-fi award 31 Sign 33 Wilson who played Geraldine 34 Pointy part 35 “On the Waterfront” extra

36 Grief 37 Red beginning 40 Red-beet link 42 Provokes 43 Old Sinclair rival 44 Disreputable paper 46 Rival of Ilie and Jimmy 47 Less civil 48 Plant swelling 49 Rudely sarcastic

50 Revolutionary rebel Daniel 53 __ avis 54 “__ Tu”: 1974 hit 55 Roadside stops 56 Laddie’s vacation spot 60 “Apocalpyse Now” setting, briefly 61 Rock blaster

Freeze Dried Puppies Cara FitzGibbon

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Silentpenny Soundbite Brian Elig

xwordeditor@aol.com

3/22/06

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3/22/06

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CAMPUS WATCH THE BROWN DAILY HERALD · WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006 · PAGE 3

Eight top schools to provide support for community college transfer students

BY KRISTINA KELLEHER STAFF WRITER

Eight highly selective colleges and universities — including Cornell University — are teaming up with a nonprofit foundation to invest $27 million to improve opportunities for community college students to attend four-year colleges.

With the aid of a $7 million grant from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, the eight participating schools are providing $20 million of their own money to create programs to recruit some of the 6.5 million students who attend community colleges nationwide, according to a press release from the Cooke Foundation. Community college students make up 45 percent of college undergraduates in the country.

The Cooke Foundation sought proposals for such support programs from the nation’s 127 most selective colleges and universities, said Pete Mackey, a spokesman for the Cooke foundation. Forty-eight institutions submitted proposals, and the eight selected were Amherst College, Bucknell University, Cornell, Mount Holyoke College, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Michigan, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Southern California.

Mackey declined to name the other schools that submitted proposals and would not say if Brown applied.

The eight contributing schools are expected to enroll 1,100 new community college transfer students from lowto moderate-income backgrounds, provide another 2,100 community college students with information about fouryear schools and instructional services and partner with 50 community colleges to build and improve transfer programs, according to a March 6 press release from the Cooke Foundation.

In selecting the grant recipients, the foundation’s staff looked for schools that have already proven a commitment to providing support to low-income students and community college transfers. Staff members also tried to identify schools that would be able and willing to sustain the program after the grant money was exhausted. The foundation’s grant is expected to last four years.

While many colleges and universities have recently fo-

cused on recruiting students from lower socioeconomic levels, these programs “typically focus recruitment and financial aid on high school graduates,” Mackey said, noting in particular programs in place at Harvard and Yale universities.

Many, including Kurt Thiede, vice president for enrollment management and communications at Bucknell, believe community college students are discouraged from transferring to four-year institutions because of the lack of available financial aid.

“I believe community college students have (previously) had admissions access to Bucknell similar to that of other transfers. However, I don’t believe they have had consistent access to financial aid, which would have made enrollment more possible to most of them,” Thiede said.

Amherst has many programs that recruit disadvantaged high school graduates, but the college has not done much previously to reach out to community college students.

“For a lot of students from disadvantaged backgrounds attending community colleges, sometimes largely for financial reasons, there is a perception that transferring to a place like Amherst or Brown simply isn’t an obtainable goal, academically or financially,” said Darren Reaume, Amherst’s coordinator of admissions outreach. “Because we haven’t done much outreach to community colleges, I think we haven’t been on the radar for students looking to transfer.”

Amherst’s proposed program has two goals: to increase and improve outreach and recruitment strategies and to ease the transition to campus for community college transfers.

While Amherst currently lacks a community college outreach program, at least one other school funded by the Cooke Foundation’s grant is building upon already established connections to community colleges.

Prior to this recent partnership, Bucknell had already utilized transfer enrollments to “top off” its enrollment numbers. But financial aid for transfer students ebbed and flowed, not allowing Bucknell to enroll a consistent number of transfer students and low-income transfer students on an annual basis, Thiede said.

“Our partnership with the Community College of Philadelphia was called STEP (Student Transfer Enrichment see TRANSFERS, page 4

College Roundup

www.browndailyherald. com

Four top candidates for Harvard presidency say they are not interested in the job Four highly regarded candidates to replace Lawrence Summers as the next president of Harvard University have said they have no interest in the position.

University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann, Columbia University President Lee Bollinger and Tufts University President Lawrence Bacow have told student newspapers at their universities that they are content with their current positions and have no intentions of leaving for Harvard. Nannerl Keohane, former president of Wellesley College and Duke University, said in a March 16 Boston Globe article that she also has no interest in Harvard’s presidency.

The four leaders mentioned above have been named as top candidates for the Harvard post by publications including the Globe and the Chronicle of Higher Education.

But another frequently mentioned candidate has not made a statement about her interest in the Harvard spot. Since Summers resigned, the office of Brown President Ruth Simmons has declined to answer any questions regarding Simmons’ intentions. After declining to comment to The Herald about “the situation

at Harvard” in an e-mail earlier this month, a University spokesman released a statement to the Globe last week: “The president’s office declines to comment on any speculation about leadership issues that are taking place at Harvard.”

Cornell student dies during visit to the University of Virginia Police are investigating the death of a Cornell University freshman who died while visiting a friend at the University of Virginia over spring break.

Matthew Pearlstone was found lifeless in a bed on the morning of March 17, according to Associated Press reports. Authorities said that there was no evidence of foul play, and the cause of death has yet to be determined.

Howard Pearlstone, Matthew’s grandfather, told the AP that his grandson had been “partying” the night before he died.

“He went to sleep and never woke up,” Howard Pearlstone said. “The whole thing is beyond my comprehension.”

Memorial services for Pearlstone were to be held when Cornell students return from spring break this week.

—Stu Woo

Amherst opens arms to low-income students

BY JUSTIN AMOAH STAFF WRITER

Amherst College President Tony Marx has set in motion an initiative to attract lower-income students whose annual family income is less than $40,000.

Amherst has practiced race-conscious admissions practices for approximately 40 years, but the college is now looking to be more mindful of class during the recruitment and admissions process.

Administrators at Amherst hope this initiative will prompt other elite colleges and universities to follow suit.

The college plans to expand its total enrollment by admitting approximately 30 more students each year. Of those 30 additional students, administrators project 10 to 12 will be from the low-income quartile. Currently, 16 percent of Amherst students are recipients of Federal Pell Grants.

Part of Amherst’s initiative is designed to lessen the disparity in higher education between the lower and upper class. According to the Century Foundation, a New York City-based public policy think tank, just 3 percent of students from the 146 most selective colleges in the nation comes from the lowest socioeconomic quartile, while 74 percent is from the top quartile.

“I really do believe, as does our president, that we have an absolutely ironclad moral responsibility to be teaching a broader range of socioeconomic backgrounds than we currently are,” said Thomas Parker, dean of admissions and financial aid at Amherst.

Although there have been concerns that admitting more lower-income students would jeopardize academic standards, Parker said the college’s new initiative will be implemented without lowering these standards.

Parker said the initiative aims to actively recruit first-generation college and low-income students in order to foster a more diverse student body. “Lowincome kids have been a forgotten constituency in selective colleges,” he said.

Geoffrey Woglom, an economics professor at Amherst, said he believes the new initiative will not lead the college to admit under-qualified applicants.

“A lot of the kids who are ready to move very quickly come from prep schools and really highquality public high schools. Some of the kids who are not quite ready to do that come from much less advantageous schools,” he said.

Woglom said the needs of these students cannot always be met in the same classroom, and that the economics department at Amherst has created advanced sections for those students ready for more intensive work and intermediate sections for students who want more detail-oriented instruction.

Parker said this practice does not create a divide between students. “It’s not as if they are unable to do the work academically; they are doing superb academically and they’re not alienated,” he said.

In an e-mail to The Herald, Michael Simmons, who is from a lower-income family and is president of the student government at Amherst, wrote, see AMHERST, page 4

PAGE 4 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006

Anti-war continued from page 1 die” and only if an injury was caused by U.S. troops.

Dante Zappala, whose brother died in an explosion in Iraq, agreed with the view of Resta and Sapp that the Bush administration has been lying to the American public.

“The thing that is still missing to me right now is truth,” he said. “We all have to be invested in what’s happening. It is vital as a country that we are.”

Stephanie Kern, who lost a son to an improvised explosive device in Iraq, called for journalists to report the truth.

“We need real journalists; we need to teach the young journalists who are getting their education now not to be afraid,” she said.

Resta added he had not spoken to a journalist while in Iraq because journalists were only allowed to speak to “pre-picked soldiers.”

Kerr echoed the sentiment, saying that embedding journalists was “genius on the part of the government” because it allowed governmental control of the media.

Although the audience largely expressed support for the

Transfers continued from page 3 Program),” Thiede added. “This was a summer program that provided a six-week academic experience for 20 to 30 CCP students on the Bucknell campus. In any given year, after the STEP experience, three to six students indicated an interest in enrolling at Bucknell the following year.”

Bucknell has taken a hiatus from STEP for the past two summers to revise the program so the partner relationship could be offered to more community colleges. The proposal to partner with the Cooke Foundation “could not have come at a better time,” Thiede said.

Bucknell’s partnership with the Cooke Foundation includes five partner commu-

panelists, at least one member of the audience — Pettyjohn — disagreed. Pettyjohn, who is president of the College Republicans and will receive his Marine Corps commission at Commencement in May, challenged the panelists to explain why so many people in the military believes in the war.

He told The Herald that although he appreciated the panelists’ appearance on campus, he said he believed “they paint a one-sided picture.”

Carl Sheeler, a Marine veteran who is running for U.S. Senate, spoke at the conference earlier in the day and stayed to attend the panel discussion.

During the question-and-answer session, Sheeler and several other veterans in the audience encouraged Pettyjohn to rethink his positions on the war and debated with him about his views.

Sheeler told The Herald he believes Pettyjohn was displaying “naiveté” but added, “Twenty-five years ago, I probably would have felt he same way.”

Catherine Lutz, professor of anthropology and moderator of the panel, ended the lengthy discussion by praising the panelists for speaking out at a time when many Americans display “violent” opposition to their views.

nity colleges that will identify individual students for the program. Students in the program will be matched up with a faculty mentor and peer mentor from Bucknell. Trips to the Bucknell campus will be planned during the school year so the community college students can gain a better sense of the community into which they will enter. A summer program will be available to these students between their first and second years at the community college.

“We anticipate enrolling at least 15 students annually beginning in the fall of 2007,” Thiede said. “Over the fouryear period of the grant, the Cooke Foundation will commit $806,400 for operations.

Bucknell will commit $416,300 for operations and at least $1,677,300 in new scholarship funds.”

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

Zimmer continued from page 1 During Zimmer’s tenure as provost, the balance between the undergraduate College and graduate and biomedical initiatives has “swung way out of line,” Spoehr said.

Zimmer acknowledged that UChicago is a “larger and more complex organization” than Brown and has a different culture. UChicago has a multitude of graduate and professional schools and a greater focus on research. Its undergraduate curriculum features a strict core curriculum, while Brown shuns a core curriculum and distribution requirements.

“If you look at any pair of universities, you’re going to find some differences in culture and differences in the way they think about things,” Zimmer said.

“While there are always differences, the job of a university administrator and leader is to build on the strengths of the particular university and on the particular cultural climate that the institution has. I tried to do that at Brown, and I’ll try to do it in a very different way at Chicago.”

In his nearly four years at Brown, Zimmer has managed the implementation of many of the initiatives of the Plan for Academic Enrichment and significantly ratcheted up the University’s focus on research.

In a March 9 campus-wide e-mail announcing Zimmer’s departure, President Ruth Simmons cited his leadership in expanding the faculty and launching multidisciplinary programs such as the Environmental Change Initiative, the Initia-

Amherst continued from page 3 “I cannot detect any palpable divides along income lines. Our problem, like that at so many other colleges and universities, is that kids clique. And unfortunately, sometimes that cliquing can happen based on background.”

Simmons also wrote that this initiative would not sacrifice the college’s academic prestige.

“Not only will more young people get a top flight education, but Amherst College de-elitifies itself while continuing to offer elite education,” Simmons wrote.

“By incorporating more economic diversity within the student body, we give Amherst a more cosmopolitan dimension, which benefits the entire campus. I cannot think of a single reason not to support (Marx’s) plan.”

The biggest challenge in increasing the number of low-income students lies in recruitment, Parker said, because there aren’t the same tools in place to recruit low-income students as there are to recruit students from diverse racial and cultural backgrounds. “We can spend a week in New York visiting high schools and talk to a significant amount of black, Latino and Asian-American students, but low-income

tive in Spatial Structures in the Social Sciences, the Center for Computational Molecular Biology and the Cogut Center for the Humanities.

“The most important thing I really wanted to help achieve was to increase the level of ambition that Brown had about academic programs. … I think that’s been manifested in many ways. It’s quite satisfying,” Zimmer said.

Even after almost four years at Brown, Zimmer retains a deep connection to UChicago. “It’s an institution I spent many years at, so I know it well and of course have a significant emotional attachment to it,” he told The Herald.

‘Stepping stone’ to a presidency Zimmer’s appointment as UChicago’s next president was not surprising, said Stephen Nelson, an associate professor of educational leadership at Bridgewater State College and the author of a book titled “Leaders in the Crucible: The Moral Voice of College Presidents.”

“Provostships at places like Brown usually end up being stepping stones to university presidencies or to bigger provostships which themselves are stepping stones to presidencies,” Nelson said. “For Zimmer to go back to where he was before — or to anywhere else — as president is not surprising.”

“Even though people would have loved to see him stay longer, everybody knows that when you get to that level, provosts often serve a very brief time because of their profile. There’s no better preparation ground for a presidency than getting to a provostship,” he said.

Deputy Provost Vincent Tompkins ’84 said, “It was a surprise to me, but it wasn’t a sur-

prise in the sense of his accomplishments as a scholar, as a university administrator and given his deep familiarity with the University of Chicago.”

Nelson said many presidential search committees consider provosts since they are typically the top day-to-day decision-makers at universities, implementing plans and achieving goals set by the president.

Suggesting that the relationship between president and provost could be considered akin to a “co-presidency,” Nelson said presidents tend to be highly visible and focus on development and fundraising, while provosts work as “delegated decisionmakers” to manage the academic functions of universities.

Tompkins said, “The president set the vision. The major things in the Plan for Academic Enrichment were things that the president developed, but the provost has been really crucial in implementing those.”

Presidential search committees generally judge provosts based on the professors they have hired, programs they have implemented to attract and retain faculty, their management of the budget and their ability to attract financial support, Nelson said.

As the University’s second-incommand during a period of dramatic change called for by Simmons and the Plan for Academic Enrichment, Zimmer was directly involved in the key areas Nelson said presidential search committees generally consider.

Nelson said Zimmer’s career path — leaving an institution to gain experience elsewhere, only to return a few years later to take up a higher position — is not uncommon.

students are much more scattered,” he said.

One tool Parker would like to use is currently prohibited.

About 20 years ago, colleges could target and contact lowincome students by mail, but when schools started to use family income to exclude students rather than to include them, the College Board barred schools from having knowledge of a student’s family income, Parker said.

Parker said that if the College Board would allow schools to write directly to low-income students and talk about their loans, scholarships and grants, then a lot of students who would never be thinking about schools like Amherst and Brown would start seeing these institutions as possibilities.

Parker said the success of the initiative is contingent upon the quality of a student’s grade and secondary school education.

“K-12 is in desperate need, particularly for lower-income kids,” he said. “I think that there are plenty of low-income kids that are very talented and who would benefit tremendously from a Brown or an Amherst, we just have to identify them.”

“Part of the reason why a place like Brown or Amherst needs to be racially and socioeconomically diverse is that these are folks that go into leadership positions

in their communities and are much more likely to say, ‘Look, education is so crucial that all schools need to be good, not only the schools in affluent suburbs or public schools,’” Parker added.

Brenda Allen, Brown’s associate provost and director of institutional diversity, said despite a divide between economic classes, “education is the best equalizer of the human experience.” She added that high-quality education should be available to all classes.

“The circumstances that you’re born in do not determine your ability to contribute to an intellectual environment,” Allen said, adding that when low-income and high-income students interact, there are “profoundly positive” effects because they help to eliminate class stereotypes that pervade society.

Allen said admissions officers try to present Brown to all economic classes by annually visiting many large inner city and rural high schools.

Allen said policies like needblind admissions help to evaluate students regardless of class and resources. She cited the Sidney E. Frank Endowed Scholarship Fund, which provides certain undergraduates with full scholarships, as an example of a program that provides significant assistance for the neediest undergraduate students.

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

CAMPUS NEWS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD · WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006 · PAGE 5

Independent concentrations may soon be on the rise, say IC Week organizers

BY SPENCER TRICE STAFF WRITER

Organizers of this year’s “Independent Concentration Week,” which runs through Friday, speculate that programming changes along with a recent on-campus trend toward interdisciplinary studies in both medicine and digital media will draw more students to the week’s events.

On average, Brown graduates approximately seven independent concentrators a year, one of the smallest totals of any University concentration.

Associate Dean of the College Carolyn Denard, who has overseen the Independent Concentration Program since the fall of 2005, said she thinks “Independent Concentration Week” will serve to inform more students of the potentially rewarding academic path.

“The problem is that many students do not know about (the program),” Denard said. In the future, she hopes the low number of independent concentrators each year will not be attributed to a general lack of knowledge regarding options within the program.

Tiffany Villa-Ignacio GS, a graduate proctor for the Independent Concentration Program, said the fact that independent concentrators need to demonstrate that their proposal does not fall under Brown’s existing concentration offerings in order to secure approval might limit the number who complete such programs.

Shoshana Lavinghouse ’06, an independent concentrator, indicated that a lack of knowledge might deter students from pursuing independent concentrations, but she added that the diversity of Brown’s standard concentrations might cause many students to find an existing concentration that already covers their academic interest.

Still, Villa-Ignacio believes there is a growing trend of students developing interdisciplinary programs to cater to their specific interests.

“Merging interdisciplinary fields — for example bioethics — are beginning to show themselves in the Independent Concentration Program,” Villa-Ignacio said.

Such independent concentrations, Villa-Ignacio speculates, could eventually become standard in five to 10 years.

Administrators and students within the Independent Con-

Where will you be on spring break?

centration Program hope to raise student awareness through open discussions about possible options within the program.

Independent concentrators will present their research and projects over the course of two roundtable lunches taking place today and Thursday. Four current and two tentatively approved independent concentrators will give presentations on topics ranging from “Trauma Studies” to “Interactive Digital Media.”

In addition to attracting students interested in emerging interdisciplinary fields, this year’s “Independent Concentration Week” organizers are hoping for a higher turnout due to format changes.

According to Lavinghouse, unlike previous years, this week’s programming is designed to be more invitational and accessible for students. Lavinghouse, who decided to pursue an independent concentration at the end of her first year, will be speaking at today’s meeting about her concentration, which is titled “The Development of Science” and incorporates science and history.

In the past, meetings and discussions devoted to the program were scheduled in the evening and were only centered on the work of seniors.

This year, members involved in the week hope casual lunchtime discussions featuring both juniors and seniors will draw more of an audience.

Reflecting on her own experiences completing an independent concentration, Lavinghouse said she perceives herself as “more able to talk about what I learned.” She added the experience forced her to fully assess what she was doing at Brown.

For some students, realizing that an independent concentration is not for them may be a rewarding experience in itself. “The fact that it’s an option makes you think about your education,” Villa-Ignacio said.

Works at best student art exhibit allow for personal interpretations

BY LYDIA GIDWITZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER

crazy as other people.”

The third floor of Emery, designated as both substance-free and all-female, is an environment that residents said suits their lifestyles. “We usually just hang out or go to movies, and there are so many performances on campus,” said Michelle Snyder ’09, who lives on the third floor. “We can have fun without getting drunk every night.”

Both Meltzer and Snyder requested substance-free housing on their housing applications last summer, though Snyder was originally placed in Keeney Quadrangle. She filed for a room change last semster due to the “noise and the garbage trucks” of Keeney and was happy to find herself in substance-free housing the second time around.

In determining which

The convergence of an artist’s intention and a viewer’s interpretation is central to this year’s exhibit of the best student artwork, located in the David Winton Bell Gallery in List Art ARTS & Center. Open to CULTURE all members of the Brown community, the exhibit showcases the talent of student artists representing an array of concentrations. Jurors Maureen O’Brien, the Rhode Island School of Design Museum curator of painting and sculpture, and Ron Hutt, an assistant professor of art and art history at the University of Rhode Island, selected the works included in the exhibition.

Although this year’s submissions were fairly homogenous in terms of medium — most pieces were two-dimensional — the themes and representations are incredibly diverse, said JoAnn Conklin, director of the Bell Gallery.

The installation by Madeleine Bailey ’06, “Catharsis,” grapples with concepts of identity through the intermingling of pig intestines and waxed thread on a white wall. Growing up in an Italian family, Bailey often made sausages with her grandmother using pig intestines as casings.

In this piece, Bailey allowed the pig intestines — a unique medium familiar to her — to meander around the wall. The goal of the work is to express problems of

see HOUSING, page 9

see STUDENT ART, page 9

Kam Sripada / Herald

The third floor of Emery is designated substance-free and provides a haven for first-years who want to avoid the college party atmosphere.

Substance-free, carefree

First-years in substance-free housing enjoy the communal atmosphere it provides

BY KAM SRIPADA STAFF WRITER

Some first-years come to Brown expecting the stereotypical rowdy college experience, but, for those incoming students seeking a sober lifestyle, the University provides special substance-free housing.

According to the policy on the Office of Residential Life’s Web site, “residents in substance-free housing agree that they and their guests will not consume alcohol or be under the influence of alcohol or other substances while in the residence hall.”

This year, approximately 80 first-years are living in substance-free halls, located on the second floor of Perkins Hall and the third floor of Emery Hall. Though these residences are “dry,” life on substance-free floors seems to provide everything its residents want.

“There’s always stuff to do,” said Dan Meltzer ’09, who lives on the second floor of Perkins. “We can be just as

PAGE 6 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006

Diversity continued from page 1 vast numbers of alums who are very disturbed over the direction the University has taken in the past few years” and will not donate to the University, Beale said.

These alums are primarily former athletes or individuals who graduated before 1960, said Beale, who is currently a reporter in New Hampshire. He added that he has met several of these discontented alums, one of whom, a class president from the 1950s, said the creation of the University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice sparked a flood of angry phone calls from his former classmates.

Ronald Vanden Dorpel ’71, senior vice president for University advancement, said he had heard of neither the Foundation for Intellectual Diversity nor the disgruntled alums the group hopes to tap for donations.

Vanden Dorpel said he is unconcerned about the group’s endeavors.

“Periodically, in Brown’s history there have been groups set up, on the left and right and in between, that have proposed to solicit Brown alumni for other things, and I can’t recall any of them having a particularly long life or duration,” he said.

But Beale said longevity is the foundation’s purpose — it hopes to endow the Brown Spectator, the conservative publication Beale founded in 2002.

“I’m familiar with conservative movements at other col-

leges and these movements are very short-lived,” Beale said. “We wanted to ensure that what we started lasted for the long term.”

Beale said he founded the Spectator in response to the controversy following The Herald’s publication in 2001 of an ad written by conservative commentator David Horowitz opposing reparations for slavery.

The event “made a great impression on” the group’s board members, who were all students at the time, as they believed the University suppressed free speech, McAuliffe said.

Beale said, “You cannot trust the administration, you cannot trust the faculty and you cannot trust the students to restrain themselves and preserve what I think should be an ideal academic environment of free thinkers and academic freedom.”

“The foundation does not exist to oppose the University, we hope to have a positive relationship with them,” Beale said. “But there will always be a need for an independent organization to act as a watchdog because the University can get very carried away by itself.”

This fall, the group will bring its first speaker to Brown, and though the lecturer has yet to be determined, Beale said it would be a “big name.”

Beale said the group’s initial focus is on Brown, but he hopes it will eventually become a regional organization in southeastern New England with an “indirect influence far beyond Rhode Island,” even soliciting donations from “other conservative databases.”

Despite its focus on conser-

vative donors and the conservative make-up of the foundation’s board, Beale said the organization is non-partisan and not interested in promoting solely conservative ideas. Though none of its board members are politically liberal, Beale said a few liberals are involved, but he did not specify in what capacity.

“We may all be conservatives, but there’s a lot of diversity and wide variety of opinion within our group,” Beale said. “Part of what we’re trying to do is get beyond the dichotomy of liberal versus conservative.”

McAuliffe and Beale suggested speakers might range from writer Christopher Hitchens to pundit Andrew Sullivan. “I think when we start bringing speakers, people will see that we’re all over the place,” Beale said.

“We don’t want ideas just because they’re diverse because being diverse isn’t enough to qualify as being good,” McAuliffe said, adding that the Foundation for Intellectual Diversity defines diversity in a broader sense than the politically correct definition he thinks the University espouses.

Brenda Allen, associate provost and director of institutional diversity, agreed that the group and the University have different definitions of diversity. Though she was not previously aware of the foundation, Allen said its Web site suggested a narrower approach to diversity than what her office seeks to address.

“It’s not a quest that’s inconsistent with anything we’re trying to do,” Allen said of the group’s mission. “But out of this office

we define intellectual diversity in a much broader way.”

President Ruth Simmons’ Kaleidoscope Fund for intellectual diversity, Allen said, represents this broader definition. “We don’t allow that fund to only include political diversity as intellectual diversity. It’s not just relegated to political things, just as we try to make clear that diversity is not just about race,” she said.

Beale and McAuliffe said the creation of the Kaleidoscope Fund was a step in the right direction. “Obviously it should be the beginning of a long process of reform,” Beale said, adding that the fund may have been created to “pre-empt” the Foundation for Intellectual Diversity.

McAuliffe said the Kaleidoscope Fund has made progress, but it “was a cheap way for the University to buy innocence on the intellectual diversity question.”

Marisa Quinn, assistant to the president, oversees the Kaleidoscope Fund and said its purpose is to fund speakers with diverse or controversial perspectives who might not otherwise find support to come to campus.

The fund, which consists of $100,000 taken from the president’s discretionary fund, has funded five speakers so far, but Quinn said its impact is hard to assess. Though the fund could be continued if it proves popular, Quinn said the existing money will last for some time.

Quinn said she was not familiar with the Foundation for Intellectual Diversity, but “the more groups there are dedicated to increasing intellectual diversity, the better we are as a campus community.”

The foundation’s initial goal may be to bring speakers, but Beale said it hopes to support the creation of a new curricular track of “Western civilization” courses, similar to the existing tracks of diversity perspectives and liberal learning courses — tracks that Beale said have a “very shallow notion of diversity.”

Despite their discontent with the climate of political discussion at Brown, Beale and McAuliffe said they enjoyed their time at the University and see their endeavor as a way to give back.

“We’re trying to find a way to give to a University that we like, not to undermine them,” McAuliffe said. “This is just something above and beyond what Brown already offers.”

Disney to close unit devoted to Pixar sequels

BY CLAUDIA ELLER LOS ANGELES TIMES

The first casualty of Walt Disney acquisition of Pixar Animation Studios came Monday when the Burbank entertainment giant shuttered a computer animation unit created to make sequels to such Pixar hits as “Toy Story” and “Finding Nemo.”

Thirty-two employees, or nearly 20 percent of the 168 artists, production managers and support staff were told they would lose their jobs effective May 26.

The remaining 136 will be absorbed into Disney’s feature animation division and redeployed to work on such productions as “Meet the Robinsons,” “Rapunzel” and “American Dog.” In a statement, Disney confirmed Monday’s developments with the Los Angeles Times and said it would help laid-off employees find new work. At least half a dozen hired to work on “Toy Story 3” were foreigners working in the United States on visas.

Workers should find themselves in demand, with computer animation enjoying a boom.

Studios such as DreamWorks Animation, 20th Century Fox and Sony Pictures are poised to release a slew of digitally animated movies this year.

Dubbed “Circle 7” after the Glendale, Calif., street where the unit sits, the sequels operation was quietly set up last year by former Disney Chief Executive Michael Eisner at a time when Disney’s lucrative partnership with Pixar was strained and in danger of dissolving.

Rivals derided the attempt to replicate Pixar’s unique creativity, nicknaming the operation “Pixaren’t.”

Disney had the right to make Pixar sequels under its previous distribution agreement. Its decision irked Pixar executives, who worried that a botched effort would hurt their company’s reputation.

WORLD & NATION THE BROWN DAILY HERALD · WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006 · PAGE 7

A gift of glitz for New Californians are still breathing dangerous levels of toxic air Orleans prom

BY AVIS THOMAS-LESTER WASHINGTON POST

WASHINGTON — Seventeenyear-old Marisa West was shopping for her prom dress last month when she started thinking about the high school students in New Orleans who are still dealing with the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

Would they be able to have their proms? she wondered.

Would they have anything to wear?

Among the fancy dresses at the department store was born a campaign to collect 100 prom dresses and ship them south.

Less than six weeks later, Marisa’s Prom Dresses for New Orleans had received more than 425 dresses, including one promised from a former Miss America.

“It hit me as I was shopping and remembering how much fun last year’s prom had been for me and my friends — how magical it had been to shop for the perfect dress, find the perfect shoes and the perfect earrings, get the perfect hairstyle,” said Marisa, of suburban Beltsville, Md. “When I realized that thousands of girls in New Orleans wouldn’t have that this year, I wanted to try restore it for girls at one high school, if I could.”

The first step was finding a high school still planning a prom. From news reports, Marisa knew that many of the city’s schools remained closed.

With the help of her mother, Leathia, the teen-ager began calling New Orleans schools.

At many, no one even answered. At others, no proms were planned. Finally, they made contact with a counselor at all-girls Cabrini High School, where more than half the students’ families lost everything in the hurricane. Cabrini’s prom is set for May 12.

“That’s when Marisa went into high gear,” said her mother, a social worker and ceramics teacher. Marisa set a deadline, which she has since extended to April 1 — plenty of time to collect the dresses and transport them south before prom night.

She set up a Web site, arranged for a post office box and established drop-off spots in the Washington, D.C., and suburban Silver Spring, Md. West, who was crowned Miss D.C. National Teenager in October and also holds the title of Miss Teen Annapolis, began talking up her campaign with her contacts on the pageant circuit.

She and her mother kicked in the first 15 dresses.

“We’re real glamour girls, so we have stuffed closets,” said West, a senior at Georgetown Day School in Washington.

Two weeks after she started, she met her goal. A week later, she doubled it. Her classmates and teachers have contributed dozens of dresses. Miss Maryland, Rachel Ellsworth, has sent a dress. A former Miss America, Heather French Henry, whom West met recently, promised to contribute.

Last week alone, more than 100 dresses came in. By the time Marisa closes shop, she could have 500, more than the racks set up in the guest room in her family’s home will hold.

“We’re going to have to move to FedEx Field or something to fit them all,” Leathia West said.

“It has been heartwarming to see how people have responded.”

Judy Thompson, chairwoman of Cabrini’s guidance department, said the students are ecstatic about the effort. The school — founded by Frances Xavier Cabrini, the first American citizen saint, and operated by the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus order — escaped the destruction because it was on high ground. But many of its students lost everything.

“They didn’t evacuate with prom dresses,” Thompson said.

“And even in the cases where their homes weren’t completely destroyed, if you had a long prom dress hanging in the closet and got one foot of water, it was destroyed.”

When the shipment arrives in April, the girls of Cabrini will have plenty to choose from: fancy little black dresses, cocktaillength silk sheaths and elaborately sequined, full-length gowns in every size from 2 to 2X. Somebody even donated a Vera Wang dress.

“It’s a simple little black dress with short sleeves — very respectable and gorgeous,” Marisa said, sounding like an announcer at a fashion show.

Her favorite is a bubble-gum pink number she nicknamed “the Cupcake Dress.” “It basically looks like a Cinderella dress. It has a tight bodice, and then it explodes in tulle. If you are wearing it and you sit down, the skirt part doesn’t really sit down,” she said, laughing.

She has also collected accessories. An artist friend offered to pitch in 25 hand-painted handbags. Another artist will donate 100 pairs of earrings that she is making especially for the New Orleans students.

As her deadline nears, Marisa is worrying about the logistics of getting the dresses south.

Her family had planned to ship the 100, but now that 500 are expected, she is hoping that a freight company will pitch in.

She is also trying to arrange to make the trip to meet the girls of Cabrini High.

“I would just love to see their faces as they try on the dresses,” she said. “I would love to go to their prom to see how beautiful they look and how wonderful they feel that night, despite everything they’ve gone through.”

Thompson said she notified her students of Marisa’s program two weeks ago in an intercom announcement. The students were thrilled and hope to meet their benefactor. The school has about 200 juniors and seniors eligible to attend the prom and they’ll get first dibs, but younger students might also be offered a dress to save for next year, Thompson said.

BY MARLA CONE LOS ANGELES TIMES

Despite two decades of cleaning up carcinogenic fumes from cars and factories, Californians are breathing some of the most toxic air in the nation, with residents of Los Angeles and Orange counties exposed to a cancer risk about twice the national average.

A nationwide, county-bycounty snapshot of the cancer threat posed by air pollution provides a troubling portrait of California, revealing that many potent chemicals still pose an excessive risk.

New York tops the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s list, followed closely by California, while residents of the rural West, in Wyoming, South Dakota and Montana, have the least chance of contracting cancer from breathing the air.

One in every 15,000 Californians — or 66 per million — is at

Banner continued from page 1 will replace) are very robust and healthy,” Dunbar said. “Others aren’t as good,” she added.

WebCT is one program Banner will not replace, Dunbar said.

WebCT will maintain its current functions and also facilitate Banner’s inputting of academic records. Professors will enter students’ grades throughout the semester into WebCT, which will then transfer final grades into Banner. Students will also have the option of allowing their parents to view their grades online, Dunbar said.

Once online course registration is set up through Banner, students’ academic records will be put into the database. Eventually, students will have access to different types of records on Banner, including billing and financial aid information.

Online registration will prevent students from registering for courses for which they have not taken the prerequisites, Dunbar said. But she added that faculty will be able to override any restrictions, and each department will make its own decisions regarding prerequisites.

“There will be some experimenting to decide what’s best,” Dunbar said, in reference to how the new system will handle prerequisites.

Banner implementation will cost the University over $20 million, Waite-Franzen said. The software itself will cost less than $1 million, she added. The largest cost is paying over 100 people to work on the project, she said. Other expenses include hardware, storage and a database license. The database license alone will cost more than software consulting fees, WaiteFranzen said.

“We could easily have spent a lot more money,” she said.

Last semester, Harvard University launched an online registration system, making Brown the

risk of contracting cancer from breathing the air over his or her lifetime, according to the EPA’s National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment, which was released in February and based on emissions of 177 chemicals in 1999, the most recent data available.

In the Los Angeles area, the cancer threat is much higher, 93 per million in Los Angeles County — or one person in every 10,700 — and 79 per million in Orange County. The national average is 41.5 per million: one in every 24,000 Americans. Riverside and San Bernardino counties are near the U.S. average.

Although a tiny fraction of all cancers in the United States are caused by chemicals, an array of air pollutants has been shown to cause lung cancer or leukemia in human and animal studies. Some have been classified as known human carcinogens for 20 years or longer.

The biggest contributors, by

far, are cars, trucks and other mobile sources that burn gasoline or diesel fuel.

Breathing chemicals is “one of the most significant environmental exposures” to cancercausing agents for Californians, said Melanie Marty, chief of air toxicology and epidemiology at the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. “People should understand that mobile sources have very large impacts on health. It’s not just asthma and heart disease. It’s cancer too.”

A Los Angeles Times review of the national assessment as well as other, more up-to-date federal and state databases shows that the levels of most carcinogenic chemicals have declined substantially in California in recent years.

Nevertheless, for at least 10 chemicals, Californians are still exposed to higher cancer risks than the levels considered acceptable under government guidelines.

only Ivy League school without some form of online registration.

The hundreds of universities that already employ Banner for online course registration systems include Dartmouth College, Yale and Rice universities and the College of William and Mary, Waite-Franzen said.

Yale operates an older, more customized version of Banner, while Dartmouth, Rice and William and Mary use newer ones, Waite-Franzen said. She added

that administrators she talked to at these schools were pleased with the program.

Jesse Silberberg, a freshman at Dartmouth, said Banner works well at his school. “I don’t really notice it that much,” he said.

The degree to which such a program registers in the mind of the student is a measure of its success, Dunbar said.

“It’s working the best when you don’t notice it,” she said.

PAGE 8 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006

Softball continued from page 12 gan, they had an extra practice at 7:30 a.m. in order to prepare them for the season. They have also shown constant strides in practice, which has given them confidence on the mound this season.

“Their work ethic has been very impressive,” Wilson said.

“In practice they are working hard and you can see the improvement carry over to the games. They are hitting the corners a lot better and their pitches have a lot more movement now than they did in the very beginning of the year.”

Catching for the young guns will be returning starter Amy Baxter ’08. On the other side of the plate, Baxter provides some power for Brown. Last year she was second on the team with four home runs and has already hit two this season.

While the three pitchers have been steady on the mound and Baxter has been a mainstay behind the plate, the Bears have three new starters in the field.

Second baseman Ava Ameni ’09, first baseman Kelsey Wilson ’09 and outfielder Kaitlyn Laabs ’09 are second, third and fourth, respectively, in batting average.

“Ava and Kelsey have shown the ability to hit really well in

key situations,” Sarah Wilson said. “They have really been able to drive in runs.”

Those three have made an impact offensively, while Kari Best ’09 has flashed some leather in centerfield. She is leading the team in putouts with 20, and has a perfect fielding percentage. The highlight of Best’s young career came last weekend when she robbed a hitter of a home run in a key situation.

“They are all extremely confident and have no fear,” said tri-captain Rachel Fleitell ’06.

“They came in ready to contribute and have already done that.”

Helping aid the growth of the first-years will be the return of All-Ivy infielder Jaimie Wirkowski ’06 to the lineup after being sidelined all season with an injury. She will make her debut when Brown takes the field this weekend in Baltimore at the University of Maryland-Baltimore classic.

With this growing nucleus of young talent, the softball team is headed in the right direction.

“This is the best freshman class since I have been here,” Fleitell said.

Mahr continued from page 12 Texas, such as Brian Leetch.

That said, things do need to change for the red, white and blue. It isn’t the lack of winning that I’m concerned about.

It’s our inability to even get to championship games anymore that bugs me. The very least we can do is to be in a position to win at international competitions, and so I present, to whoever is in charge of assembling America’s teams, a list of suggestions for change.

For starters, don’t simply look for the best athletes that are available. As hackneyed as it sounds, look for the players and athletes that will best fit into the team concept. When Herb Brooks coached the men’s ice hockey team in the 1980 Olympics, this was the approach he used to assemble his team, and the rest is sports history. If you have a team on which each athlete fills a role that contributes to the team’s overall performance, that team will win much more often than it loses.

Regarding the disaster that was the 2004 Olympic men’s basket-

ball team, the United States had too many ball-hogging swingmen and no pass-first point guards or pure shooting guards. The 2006 Olympic men’s ice hockey team had several established veterans but no young, energetic talent.

The team that represented the United States at the World Baseball Classic had a bevy of studs in the bullpen but only two quality starters: Jake Peavy and Roger Clemens. When you’re making a team for a world competition, make sure each team role necessary for success is filled.

Once a team is formed, it’s necessary to get them to play together for at least a few months leading up to an international event. Even if a team has all the right components to be successful, it’s not possible for all of them to be thrown together at the very last moment and form a cohesive unit. The best teams out there know themselves inside and out. There’s an established rapport among coaches and players that comes about only through familiarity with one another, and this intra-team chemistry was lacking in all those aforementioned squads.

I am aware of all the arguments and excuses for the lack of familiarity in our most recent international outfits. The season ended too recently and the players were burned out; the season hadn’t started yet; the players weren’t in midseason form; and this team was thrown together at the last minute. Frankly, if the athletes are tired of losing, they won’t mind making a few sacrifices. If it means giving up downtime during the offseason, so be it. If it means finding athletes at either the college or minor league level who are willing to put in more of a commitment to the team’s formation, so be it.

Teams win because they’re great teams, not because they have the best collection of talent.

The final suggestion for getting America’s international mojo back is probably the most idealistic, hard-to-achieve solution of them all: toning down the predictions and media coverage so that the weight of expectations doesn’t get to the heads of the athletes. It’s idealistic because even with its recent struggles, the United States will always be expected to win any world competition it enters as dictated by its “winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing” mindset. It’s hard to achieve because we live in the age of suffocating media coverage that always asks the talking heads for their predictions. We need teams with humility representing us at the world stage, and until the weight of the expectations and media coverage are eased, this won’t happen.

Buying into the team concept and humility are by no means revolutionary ideas for success in athletics. In fact, they’re referred to ad nauseum in the sports world. However, I do feel that our most recent national teams have lost sight of these two key elements to success. If we don’t rediscover them, our “winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing” mindset might just become a “winning isn’t everything” one.

Chris Mahr ’07 bats fifth for the Dienasty softball team, which features overwhelming talent AND players that buy into the team concept.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 9

Student art continued from page 5 distortion, sickness and disease, she said.

“I want people to be drawn to the texture. They should go up close and investigate,” Bailey said. The piece is ephemeral in that she reconstructs the installation each time she exhibits it.

Because the piece is physically deteriorating, the medium itself changes with time. Thus, the experience of viewing this piece changes with the work itself, reacting to both time and space.

Although the title of the installation alludes to Bailey’s own experience, it also encourages the viewer to examine its specific qualities. The temporality of the work itself creates an intensely unique viewing experience. This emphasis on personal interpretation is seen in other pieces as well.

“I hope people will take away their own sense of what is happening,” said Lauren Gidwitz ’06, whose two oil paintings are on exhibit. One of her pieces, “Gaeas,” which refers to the Greek goddess

Housing continued from page 5 students to place in first-year substance-free housing each summer, ResLife must take into account both the number of requests as well as the physical limitations of the dorm facilities. Rosario Navarro, assistant director of housing ResLife, wrote in an e-mail to The Herald that “the number of first-years who request substance-free varies from year to year, which in turn determines where the students are assigned. … Last year we had a significant number of firstyears request substance-free housing. We will not know the numbers of incoming firstyears who will request substance-free until the end of June.”

In general, members of substance-free floors form a self-sustaining community to find modes

W. lax continued from page 12 ing into this year, Brown understood that it would have to expect some production from its first-year class in order to compete in the Ivy League.

“We knew that they were going to be a huge part of our team before the season even started,” Staley said. “The older girls kind of pulled them aside and told them what we expected of them heading into the year.”

One position where the Bears

worshipped as the mother of the earth, depicts several lounging, female nudes who are decapitated. On the edge of the painting, half of a man carries a woman’s head — a representation of the artist — by the hair. The figure’s assertive gaze raises questions of agency and identity as well as responsibility in representing women in art. Although this painting is a reaction to the images of femininity by male artists that Gidwitz has seen, the main context of the painting is open to interpretation. “I try to keep it ambiguous to have viewers make their own perceptions of it. So it becomes personalized,” she said.

For Shanay Jhazeri ’07, who was born and raised in Bombay, India, his experience at Brown facilitated an artistic freedom that allowed for him to raise questions about his identity.

In his experimental film, “Adoration/Adornment,” which he made for MC 71: “Introduction to Filmmaking,” Shanay grapples with issues of identity under patriarchy. He was inspired by his grandmother’s experience as a widow after his grandfather’s death.

“Eastern women do not have

the freedom in choice range whereas the white man has the ability to transform himself,” Jhazeri said.

Some artists, however, seek to invoke specific emotions from viewers. In Sean Tiner ’06’s digitally manipulated photograph, “Katrina Nightmare,” he depicts the rubble-filled city of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Through his work, Tiner said he wanted to show the need for continued support in the affected region. Tiner said he was shocked by what he saw during a trip to New Orleans in January.

“Right after the hurricane there was a lot of intense exposure, but now there still needs to be a lot of work,” he said. “My goal is to have the viewer (of the work) become a viewer of the disaster and then feel the need to assist.”

Ultimately, the works of art exhibited foster a discussion about the interaction between artist and viewer. Without prompting specific conclusions, these works are innate products of each individual’s experience and concept of self.

The exhibit is on view through April 2.

of recreation that do not involve alcohol or drugs and respect one another’s social philosophies.

“It’s not like we had to sign anything,” said Meltzer. “Everyone wants to be there.”

Jordan Chesin ’09, another resident of Perkins’ second floor, sees his hall as “a large family. … The experience has been so enjoyable that (many) of us will be living together again in substance-free housing in Barbour Hall next year.”

However, those placed on the substance-free floor without requesting it do not always share this enthusiasm.

Ida Specker ’09, a resident of Emery’s third floor, said “it seems unfair for people that didn’t request substance-free to be placed in specialty housing with certain standards they have to adhere to.

And for the people that did request it, they’re expecting a certain vibe. I feel like ResLife could have filled this hall with people that actually wanted it.”

“I’m kind of upset that I

didn’t get that stereotypical freshman dorm experience,” she added. “I guess I’ll have to get that sophomore year.”

Within Perkins, Chesin estimated that “at most, five or six people on the floor drink at parties and the like, but they do not come back to the dorm drunk and disrespectful towards our wishes to be substance-free. We never have to deal with drunk friends, with puke in the bathroom or with any sort of harassment due to alcohol and/or other substances.”

Should any students breach the code of conduct on the substance-free halls, Navarro said ResLife would contact the student to review the concerns. “We have not had any concerns with students who have violated the contract this year, but typically the Residential Peer Leaders on the floor would inform us of such concerns,” she wrote. “I have not had this type of meeting to date, thankfully.”

will rely on a returning member of the squad is in net, where goaltender Melissa King ’08 assumes the starting role. She served as the backup to Julia Southard ’05 last year and saw action in only two games. This year, King has been impressive early and boasts a record of 2-2 so far while saving over 54 percent of the shots she has faced.

The team will continue to work itself into shape with three more non-conference games heading into the start of Ivy League play in April. Brown has two games over Spring Break — at home against St. Bonaven-

ture University and at the University of New Hampshire.

“We’re really focusing on getting into a groove once we hit the Ivy games in April,” Staley said.

Before it gets to break, Brown will try to even its record on Thursday at the College of the Holy Cross.

“We’re pretty psyched about the season,” Staley said. “We have a lot of experience and some young players that are almost there. Once we get closer to the Ivy League season, we should be right there with the top teams.”

Time Inc. agrees to refund

BY STEVEN LEVINGSTON WASHINGTON POST

WASHINGTON — Time, whose stable of magazines includes Time, Sports Illustrated, People and Fortune, agreed to refund an estimated $4.3 million to consumers in 23 states who claimed they were billed for subscription renewals they didn’t

order.

Under the settlement with the states’ attorneys general, Time will also pay $4.5 million to cover the costs of the investigation. More than 100,000 consumers are eligible for refunds on subscriptions that were automatically renewed between January 1998 and May 2004. Under the settlement, Time must clearly

inform customers of the terms of automatic renewal and notify them prior to a subscription’s expiration so they can opt out if they prefer.

Consumer complaints about the marketing and sale of magazine subscriptions persist despite periodic crackdowns on deceptive practices, according to the Better Business Bureau.

Baseball continued from page 12 base when he is not pitching.

Tews has swung a hot bat to start the season, collecting nine hits in only 16 at-bats, a .562 average. Catcher Devin Thomas ’07, also a preseason All-Ivy selection, starts behind the plate for the third year in a row. Thomas leads the team in doubles so far this year with three.

The Bears’ lineup also welcomes some new faces that will fill the holes left by last year’s graduating class. Leftfielder Ryan Murphy ’08 only appeared as a pinch-runner in his rookie campaign but has stepped into the starting lineup and gone 7for-18 in the early-going, batting mostly from the leadoff spot.

“He’s done a great job,” Hughes said of Murphy. “He’s made a huge turnaround since last year. He’s done a really good job of getting on base and just putting the ball on the ground. He’s done a really good job setting the table.”

A trio of first-years — Robert Papenhause ’09, Matt Nuzzo ’09 and Dan Shapiro ’09 — have also shown promise and are competing with each other for starting jobs on the left side of the infield. Papenhause and Shapiro will vie for the shortstop position; Shapiro is also in the running for the third base job with Nuzzo and Brian Kelaher ’08.

“Those positions aren’t defined yet, but we (have) some guys in the mix and sometimes it’s just going with who you feel has the hot hand,” Drabinski said. “We expect a lot out of this freshman group and I think they expect a lot from themselves, which is good.”

Another new face in the Bears’ lineup is a familiar one.

Jeff Dietz ’08 led the Bears with a 4-0 record and 3.60 ERA last year, but he only had four at-bats. This season, Dietz will see time at first base on days he does not pitch, and could bat for himself on days he does.

“He’s got great instincts

and he knows how to play the game,” said Drabinski of Dietz, who hit his first career home run against Vanderbilt.

“He worked really hard on his hitting this off-season and he’s really become a much better hitter.”

Dietz joins Tews and cocaptain Shaun McNamara ’06 in a solid starting rotation.

Last year, Dietz pitched well down the stretch, including a complete-game, eight-strikeout victory over Harvard. Tews was the Bears’ most consistent starter, pitching 60 innings and going 2-3 with 5.55 ERA. McNamara went 3-1 with a 4.96 ERA. “(McNamara’s) throwing a lot more strikes,” Drabinski said.

“He’s had a good, lively fastball.

He’s pitched pretty consistently and I’m looking for that from him every start.”

Drabinski has not picked a fourth starter, but he says that Ethan Silverstein ’07 currently has the advantage over Alex Silverman ’08. He said he will most likely make his decision over the team’s spring-break trip to Virginia and North Carolina.

Whoever does not earn the fourth spot will be expected to work out of the bullpen.

Rob Hallberg ’08 took over the closer’s role last season and has returned to the position.

Hallberg had an outstanding outing in the final game against Vanderbilt, hurling 3 2/3 innings of one-run ball and coming one strike away from a four-inning save.

“As a freshman it was really nerve-wracking (being a closer), said Hallberg, who throws his fastball in the lowto-mid 90s and has added a split-finger fastball to his repertoire. “But I’m much more confident in my pitching this year. I’m comfortable in the role.”

The Bears travel to Lexington, Va., this weekend to play three games against the Virginia Military Institute. They will then take on three North Carolina teams — Elon University, Davidson College and Greensboro College — during the week, before starting the Ivy season at the University of Pennsylvania on April 1.

EDITORIAL/LETTERS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD · WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006 · PAGE 10

STAFF EDITORIAL

An eye on diversity In addition to including the University’s name in its title, the Web site for the Foundation for Intellectual Diversity cites “a survey of academic freedom and intellectual diversity” on campus as its sole current project. The group, which was founded by five alums who actively participated in conservative political groups while at Brown, also features an image of University Hall on its homepage. But the group’s official ties to the University seem to end there — administrators interviewed

by The Herald said they were unfamiliar with the foundation or its aims.

Stephen Beale ’04, chair of the group’s board of directors, said the inclusion of such features as the University Hall image is largely for “aesthetic” purposes. But we wonder if a direct relationship with those who influence University policy might help the foundation enact tangible change and contribute to a campus climate foundation member Christopher McAuliffe ’05 described as increasingly “politicized.”

Clearly, the foundation sees some benefits to retaining its independence. We don’t dispute that this outsider position enhances its presence as a “watchdog” that can, as Beale said, help prevent the University from getting “carried away by itself.” But, at the same time, it seems the goals of foundation members and University administrators are not so different that increased communication would hinder the work of either body. Beale’s goal of extending beyond “the dichotomy of liberal versus conservative” seems to align itself with the University’s stated goal of promoting intellectual diversity on campus, even if views differ on what intellectual diversity actually entails.

We support any group that aims to make long-lasting contributions to Brown’s campus and works to improve conditions it perceives as negative. To this end, members of the foundation should take administrators at their word when they cite initiatives such as the Kaleidoscope Fund as part of a broader effort to enrich dialogue. Contrary to Beale’s suggestion, we doubt that administrators see such efforts as a way to “pre-empt” the foundation. Moreover, if the foundation hopes to increase curricular offerings and expand beyond diversity perspectives and liberal learning courses, direct communication with administrators will undoubtedly be necessary.

At the same time, administrators should help legitimize the foundation by taking steps to familiarize themselves with its mission and tactics. Though Ronald Vanden Dorpel ’71, senior vice president for University advancement, may be right when he says that past groups of alums lacked “a particularly long life or duration,” this is no excuse to dismiss the foundation’s work.

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

Allison Kwong, Night Editor Chessy Brady, Taryn Martinez, Copy Editors Senior Staff Writers Simmi Aujla, Stephanie Bernhard, Melanie Duch, Ross Frazier, Jonathan Herman, Rebecca Jacobson, Chloe Lutts, Caroline Silverman Staff Writers Justin Amoah, Zach Barter, Allison Ehrich Bernstein, Brenna Carmody, Alissa Cerny, Ashley Chung, Stewart Dearing, Hannah Furst, Hannah Levintova, Hannah Miller, Aidan Levy, Taryn Martinez, Kyle McGourty, Ari Rockland-Miller, Chelsea Rudman, Kam Sripada, Robin Steele, Spencer Trice, Ila Tyagi, Sara Walter Sports Staff Writers Sarah Demers, Amy Ehrhart, Erin Frauenhofer, Kate Klonick, Madeleine Marecki, George Mesthos, Hugh Murphy, Eric Perlmutter, Marco Santini, Bart Stein, Tom Trudeau, Steele West Account Administrators Alexandra Annuziato, Emilie Aries, Steven Butschi, Dee Gill, Rahul Keerthi, Kate Love, Ally Ouh, Nilay Patel, Ashfia Rahman, Rukesh Samarasekera, Jen Solin, Bonnie Wong Design Staff Adam Kroll, Andrew Kuo, Jason Lee, Gabriela Scarritt Photo Staff CJ Adams, Chris Bennett, Meg Boudreau, Tobias Cohen, Lindsay Harrison, Matthew Lent, Dan Petrie, Christopher Schmitt, Oliver Schulze, Juliana Wu, Min Wu, Copy Editors Chessy Brady, Amy Ehrhart, Natalia Fisher, Jacob Frank, Christopher Gang, YiFen Li, Katie McComas, Sara Molinaro, Heather Peterson, Sonia Saraiya

D A N I E L L AW L O R

LETTERS Student activists have clear agenda, goals To the Editor: Laura Martin ’06 makes an important point in her March 20 column “Students talking action now: Darfur.” Effective political movements always need clear goals, and student activists all too often fail because they forget this.

Martin should be pleased to know, however, that Students Taking Action Now: Darfur does not suffer from these shortcomings. On the contrary, we are currently in the midst of a nationwide student campaign that calls for very clear action from the U.S. government to end the crisis in Darfur.

The Power to Protect Campaign calls on American leaders to save civilian lives in Darfur in three specific ways: 1. Extend and increase funding for African Union peacekeepers, the only international troops currently deployed to Darfur. While President George W. Bush has earmarked money for a force in Darfur, Congress has yet to fully pass this measure. Martin is mistaken when she says that there is a United Nations force in Darfur; the U.N. forces in Sudan are actually working to resolve a completely separate conflict in southern Sudan.

2. Demand the rapid deployment of 20,000 to 30,000 well-trained, well-equipped NATO troops

who can begin to establish real security in all of Darfur. Bush has indeed given lip service to this possibility when pressed, but he must actively campaign for such a force with NATO allies to make it a reality.

3. Ultimately, push for a large-scale intervention, as provided for by Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, that can comprehensively resolve the crisis. We agree with Martin that UN resolutions are little more than paper statements. We want a peacekeeping force that will get the job done, and we are calling on the United States to use its influence at the United Nations to make this happen.

STAND and the Genocide Intervention Network offer regular updates and guidance on all of these goals — and on April 28, we will bring over 500 students to Washington, D.C., to directly lobby our leaders for concrete action on Darfur. If Martin or anyone else would like to find out more, we welcome them to visit www.powertoprotect.org.

Gabriel Corens ’06 Lisabeth Meyers ’06 Scott Warren ’09 Leaders, Darfur Action Network- STAND March 20

Don’t hold your tongue!

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OPINIONS

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD · WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006 · PAGE 11

A counterblast to Barnes and Noble A Brown Bookstore employee gives us eight reasons why Brown should not outsource the bookstore

BY PETER SPRAKE GUEST COLUMNIST

Members of the Brown community need to know about the deleterious consequences of outsourcing the Brown Bookstore to Barnes and Noble. In the first of two columns arguing against outsourcing, I want to share eight reasons why the University should not outsource the bookstore that I have arrived at from my experience working there: 1. Let’s begin with something that’s elementary but underappreciated. Brown occupies the best retail footprint on a top destination street in the region. If you Google Thayer Street, you’ll find tour companies running coaches to southeastern New England that feature Thayer Street as a highlighted stop. The corner of Thayer and Angell streets is, for the time being, Brown geography. It’s stupid to give it up to Leonard Riggio, owner of Barnes and Noble.

2. The bookstore is the default campus visitor center. Its employees can talk knowledgeably about Brown because they carry Brown IDs, go to Brown events, take staff development courses, use the Rockefeller and Orwig Music libraries, use the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center and are ordinarily rather fond of the place. (Just try talking about Harvard for any length of time in the Harvard Square Barnes and Noble and see how far you get.)

3. Brown students pay less for their textbooks now than they will if the University outsources the bookstore to Barnes and

Noble. That sounds counterintuitive, but it’s an industry fact, and here’s why: Barnes and Noble takes a markup over list price to recover its margin on short-discount textbooks. In contrast, the bookstore stays close to list price.

4. The bookstore’s advantage in used books is even greater. There’s a trade organization called the National Organization of College Stores that issues annual rankings, and the bookstore is number one among selective universities in the percentage of discounted used books it sells. Every third textbook you buy at the bookstore is marked down 25 percent. Barnes and Noble can’t touch that.

Considering the lip service University Hall gives to reducing textbook prices, you’d think this alone would be a Barnes and Noble deal-breaker.

5. Brown faculty will see their syllabuses narrow if the University outsources to Barnes and Noble. We at the bookstore know this because professors who’ve taught at Barnes and Noble campuses tell us their stories.

Barnes and Noble is often unaccommodating on hard-to-get titles, imported titles, non-returnable titles and the whole world of books that don’t pay. At the University of Chicago, the humanities faculty has switched from Barnes and Noble to an independent store to get syllabus satisfaction.

6. How does the bookstore beat Barnes and Noble on syllabus breadth? Eightyfour years of experience is the short answer. There are three buyers here who secure textbooks, and among them they have 84 years’ employment at the bookstore and very big Rolodexes. Because Brown’s curriculum is so idiosyncratic, textbook buyers literally have to go to the ends of the earth to service it. Professors often sit with the buyers to provide obscure contact information. It’s a safe prediction that

discourages students from transcribing ISBN numbers while on Barnes and Noble premises. At the bookstore, one of our undergraduate employees worked for Barnes and Noble at her previous school and had the unpleasant job of transcription cop.

She has described to us an entirely alien bookselling culture.

8. The textbook refund policy at Barnes and Noble is stingy compared to ours. At Harvard, students have three days to return a book, while students at Tufts and Boston universities only have two days. At the bookstore, the refund policy is 10 days, with sympathetic flexibility depending on your predicament.

It is clear that outsourcing the bookstore will reduce the quality of the bookstore’s service to the community. Yet, there is even more to say in defense of keeping the bookstore independent. A forthcoming column will address outsourcing’s potential effects on the bookstore’s trade books department and the Campus Shop.

Barnes and Noble is often unaccommodating on hard-toget titles, imported titles, nonreturnable titles and the whole world of books that don’t pay.

Barnes and Noble’s profit-oriented mentality would afffect many departments, including Portuguese and Hispanic studies, literary arts, comparative literature and history.

7. Barnes and Noble’s profit-oriented mentality even affects the provision of information to students. Students who’ve transferred to Brown from Barnes and Noble campuses tell us their stories. Barnes and Noble often restricts student access to syllabi before the start of school and then

Peter Sprake ‘07 is a Brown Bookstore employee and invites you to check out savethebookstore.org for more information regarding the bookstore’s and Barnes and Noble’s business practices.

This is not a column Contemporary art and politics suffer from a lack of genuine confrontation

BY MICHAL ZAPENDOWSKI

OPINIONS COLUMNIST

You can usually tell when you’ve moved from the “modern” to the “contemporary” section of an art museum, even if you don’t look at the signs. You go from Picasso’s distortions to a fuzzy video projection of some guy’s grandma trying to fish her glasses out of a toilet, while letters scroll by on an electronic screen like termites. You go from the world of Dalí’s melting clocks, which somehow seem to explain themselves, to a section of the museum where all the artwork seems to lack an explanation. Despite some notable exceptions, contemporary art is clearly suffering from malaise.

This is important is because the art world has always been an outgrowth of our culture in general, and the world of avant-garde art is closely linked to the world of progressive politics. Two generations ago, no one questioned the dynamic nature of the art world or its ability to effectively confront society’s notions of artwork to a constructive end. To understand how we went from Picasso and Dalí to the homemade videos and Q-tip sculptures that populate contemporary art museums, you have to look at the social context in which art was being created.

Two generations ago, people believed in manifestos, ideologies and collectives.

They had the courage to attack one another, to say “that is not art.” Today, that statement has become ridiculous. Everyone in the art world now seems to agree that art is anything its creator says is art, a belief

that has filled contemporary art museums with objects that, if found outside of a museum, would be quickly discarded as garbage. I think it would be cathartic to make big piles of all the bad artwork and burn them. Unfortunately, that idea has already been taken, and I don’t want to be associated with it.

The root of the cancer eating away at the art world is clearly an excessive individualism and privatization. It is no accident that modern artwork reached a climax during

In order for a political or artistic confrontation to be successful, it has to seduce, and then it has to penetrate. the age of totalitarian ideologies and total war, when the autonomy of the individual was profoundly called into question. Once upon a time, before everyone in the middle class got their own room, their own car, their own computer and their own blog, “the masses” actually existed, and what happened in the public sphere actually mattered. Today, as a result of privatization, we have lost our ability to confront one another in the arenas of politics or art.

In order for a political or artistic confrontation to be successful, it has to seduce, and then it has to penetrate. Its goal is to alter or dislodge people’s most cherished beliefs. The era of total war, when mass terror was used to try to “re-fashion” people into obedient ideological automatons, was the high point of political confrontationalism.

Today, confrontationalism has reached a

low point. We live by a philosophy of tolerance when “art” can be anything.

As a result of this, the art world has become closed in on itself, no longer really trying to challenge any of society’s notions.

Artists have become their own public. The real public, meanwhile, has come to appreciate primitive, classical and modern art — art produced before the 1960s — much more strongly than anything that has been produced since. Just look at which museums are most famous and which are not.

Confrontation has been undermined by the relativistic attitude that the validity of artwork is defined solely by its creator.

It has been undermined by a complete abandonment of any effort to “reach out” to find a mass audience for the work. By definition, the artist is a solitary genius, so why should he stoop to trying to be understood by the ignorant masses?

Fake confrontation has substituted itself for the real thing.

Let’s look at some examples of true and fake confrontation in both postmodern art and politics. In 1968, a whole group of college hippies volunteered to join the campaign of anti-Vietnam War candidate Gene McCarthy, a campaign which eventually brought down incumbent president and one-man political steamroller Lyndon Johnson. As part of their campaign, these young volunteers cut their long haircuts, changed their tie-dye shirts for button-ups and went door to door. This was called “going clean for Gene.” This is an example of true confrontation, because they reached out to the general public without surrendering any of their core beliefs. A little less than four decades later, a group of Brown students lay down on the Main Green as a metaphor for Iraqis who had been killed by bombs. That is an example of fake confrontation. No effort was made to reach out to

anyone.

In 2004, a marriage equality group organized a rally in Boston City Hall at which everyone participating stuck together and sang patriotic songs all day long for the cameras. This wasn’t easy to do since several marriage equality demonstrators kept trying to chant more militant slogans, but it looked really good in the press coverage. The rally created an image of patriotic activists, regular people wanting regular rights, enduring the abuse of a bunch of Christian counter-protestors with black armbands who stood across the way screaming obscenities. That was an example of true confrontation for the TVviewing public. The activists confronted in the same way that Dali’s clocks or Picasso’s enormous painting of the bombarded town of Guernica confront, because the artist made an effort both to challenge and to reach out to the general public, making his artwork intuitively understandable without being formulaic.

Genuine confrontation combines the tactics of challenging your audience’s beliefs with coming out to meet your audience to make sure you effectively challenge them. Without reaching out, pseudo-confrontations, both political and artistic, are delusional, ineffective and masturbatory exercises. Without recognizing common, core values, art and politics become futile by definition.

The world of progressive politics and the world of avant-garde art have always been intimately intertwined. Today, they are both suffering from the same problems. Either we fix the art world and the real world at the same time, or neither.

Michal Zapendowski ’07 was appalled when they first put up the Eiffel Tower but today accepts it as a work of art.

SPORTS WEDNESDAY THE BROWN DAILY HERALD · MARCH 22, 2006 · PAGE 12

Last season’s success is this season’s goal for baseball team full of new faces

BY CHARLIE VALLELY ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

Last year’s baseball team may have been the best in school history. Led by Ivy League Player of the Year Matt Kutler ’05, the Bears rode a potent offense to a 146 record in Ivy League play — a school best — and finished a game behind Harvard in the Red Rolfe Division.

After starting the year against perennial powers No. 1 Florida State University and Vanderbilt University, the Bears are 0-6. However, they still look capable of a repeat performance in the Ivies. Though Brown graduated six seniors — including Kutler, who hit .427 last year and was drafted by the Florida Marlins — the Bears have a strong core of returning players. First baseman Danny Hughes ’06 said this season’s squad could not only match last year’s team, it could surpass it.

“I think a lot of us would be disappointed if we don’t win (the Ivy League),” he said. “I expect it to be a close race again, but I think we have a team this year that could win it all.”

If the Bears make a run, they will probably do so on the shoulders of an offense that returns much of last season’s firepower. The lineup is anchored by first-team All-Ivy rightfielder Paul Christian ’06, centerfielder Eric Larson ’07, co-captain Hughes and second baseman/pitcher Bryan Tews ’07. Head Coach Marek Drabinski said no one can replace Kutler but that the offense has the tools to make up for his absence.

“I think we have enough offensively, I really do,” he said. “We definitely have the ability to score and be a good lineup.

We have enough offense to replace Matt.

We’re not going to have one guy do it, but we’ll have two or three guys that will provide enough to win games.”

The 2006 women’s lacrosse team is off to a solid start in accomplishing its first goal of the new season — improving on last year’s 4-11 record. Head Coach Keely McDonald, now in her second campaign, lost only four seniors from last year and adds a strong core of new recruits. After two season-opening victories over Sacred Heart University and Boston College, Brown (2-3) is primed to make some noise in the Ivy League.

“It’s a building program because the coach started last year,” said tri-captain Kate Staley ’06. “We’re really excited because we’ve worked really hard all spring so we’re looking to be a threat and surprise the league this year.”

Though the team started out hot, it has dropped its past three games to some of the nation’s best lacrosse programs. Then-No. 4 the University of Maryland downed the Bears by a score of 21-5, but Brown played tough in its last two losses. Brown fell 9-8 in overtime to the University of Delaware and 16-11 to Temple University but outplayed the Owls for the majority of the game after falling behind 8-1 early.

The Bears have been led so far by BROWN SPORTS SCHEDULE WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22 W. TENNIS: vs. Connecticut, 3 p.m., Pizzitola Center

see BASEBALL, page 9

see MAHR, page 8

Ashley Hess / Herald

W. lax aims to improve, make noise in Ivy League standings

BY TOM TRUDEAU SPORTS STAFF WRITER

There’s a reason they have the accolades they have.”

Three other position players return to the starting lineup. After hitting .315 with 36 RBIs last season, Hughes will split time between first base and leftfield and bat in the heart of the order behind Christian and Larson. Tews, a preseason All-Ivy selection, will play second

During Monday night’s championship game of the inaugural World Baseball Classic, it seemed a little surreal to me that Team USA wasn’t in the finals.

What nagged at me even more was that the Americans did not even make it to semifinals — they were never even in a position to qualify for the championCHRIS MAHR ship game.

MAHRTIAN Un f o r t u n a t e l y, ENCOUNTERS America’s failures at team athletic competitions on the world stage have become all too frequent recently. It started with the men’s basketball team’s sixthplace finish at the 2002 World Championships and subsequent bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. It has since continued with the performance of the men’s ice hockey team at the 2006 Winter Olympics and now the World Baseball Classic choke job.

This column is not a patriotic call to arms asking for Americans everywhere to help re-establish our motherland as the premier world sports power. We still possess some of the best athletes in the world, and they are stronger and faster than athletes ever have been. Furthermore, sports have never been more popular or more far-reaching across the country. We have basketball players from Alaska, such as Carlos Boozer, and hockey players from

Devin Thomas ’07 enters his third season behind the plate for the Bears. He earned a second straight All-Ivy Honorable Mention last year after knocking in 26 runs.

Christian and Larson were both named to the preseason All-Ivy team by Baseball America and will spearhead the Bears’ attack. Last season, Christian hit .355 with a team-high eight home runs and 38 RBIs, second only to Kutler. Larson hit .350 with five home runs and 30 RBIs, despite missing the second half of the conference schedule with a groin injury. He was also drafted last summer, taken in the 44th round by the Toronto Blue Jays.

“We’re hoping we can ride (Christian and Larson) all season,” Hughes said.

“Those guys are studs and they hit the ball as well as anyone (in the league).

their tri-captains: defender Rachel Schumacher ’06, Staley and midfielder Meg Sullivan ’06. Staley, along with Amie Biros ’07 and Mimi DeTolla ’08, has provided the offense expected with impressive contributions. Biros tops the team with 10 goals, and Staley notched six over the weekend to give her nine on the year.

One very promising sign through the early portion of the schedule has been Brown’s first-years. Six rookies have seen extensive playing time so far, and their continued development will be very important to the program’s success. Krystina DeLuca ’09 and Bethany Buzzel ’09 provide energy and youthful enthusiasm on attack, while Lauren Vitkus ’09 has been great defensively, learning from more experienced defenders such as Jen Redd ’07.

Buzzell said the adjustment from high school level competition to the Division I college game has been what she expected it to be.

“I think the biggest thing so far is that I look around the huddle and see how (good) everyone is around me,” she said. “We have some of the best defenders around on our backline and (the upperclassmen) have made (the transition to college) much easier for me.”

The team graduated only four seniors last year, but one of those was Sarah Passano ’05 who had 25 goals last year. Headsee W. LAX, page 9

Team USA’s record at World Baseball Classic is standard

Performance of new pitchers will be key to softball in 2006 JUSTIN GOLDMAN ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

Filling a departing senior’s shoes can be a difficult proposition for a college freshman. So far, however, the firstyears on the softball team have made a seamless transition.

Last season, Brown depended on Uchenna Omokaro ’05 and Marissa Berkes ’05 on the mound. The duo pitched every inning for Bruno with great success. Omokaro was named second team All-Ivy, while Berkes racked up 125 innings with 51 strikeouts and only 25 walks.

This year, the Bears welcomed three newcomers to the mound. All of whom have had an immediate impact.

“There is an extreme amount of pressure on them because there are no other upperclassmen pitchers for them to look up to,” said outfielder Sarah Wilson ’06. “However, they have really been able to handle that pressure.

There have been a lot of situations this season where they have had to pitch out of bases-loaded jams and they were able to do that with success.”

Although Melissa Moses ’09 has a 14 record, the number in the loss column is a bit misleading. Two of her defeats were by only one run, and she leads the team with 26 strikeouts, a 3.18 ERA and an opponents’ batting average of .233.

So far, Heather Garrison ’09 has complemented Moses nicely on the mound, with hopes of forming a onetwo punch, much like Omokaro and Berkes from a season ago. Garrison is the team leader in wins with three and in innings pitched with 36 and is sec-

ond in complete games with three.

“Replacing Uchi and Berke is something that is very difficult,” said Head Coach Pam McCreesh. “But this has been a process. Each day they are getting better and gaining valuable experience.”

While Garrison and Moses have been piling up a lot of innings for Brown this year, Kristen Schindler ’09 has shown the ability to be another reliable pitcher for the Bears. In limited innings, she is second on the team in ERA (3.78) and first in hits allowed (17).

These first-year hurlers have made the smooth transition into the spotlight thanks to their tireless work ethic from the fall to now. Before the season besee SOFTBALL, page 8

Ashley Hess / Herald

Amy Baxter ’08 is responsible for handling Brown’s young pitching staff while also providing some pop at the plate.