Tuesday, January 30, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD T UESDAY, J ANUAR Y 30, 2007

Volume CXLII, No. 5

Since 1866, Daily Since 1891

$100 million gift renames Med School

BY ROSS FRAZIER NEWS EDITOR

Millionaire entrepreneur Warren Alpert has given $100 million to the Medical School, which has been renamed for him. Alpert’s gift — tied with a 2004 donation from liquor magnate Sidney Frank ’42 as the single largest in Brown’s history — will be used in part to fund a new buildCourtesy of the Warren Alpert Foundation

With landmark gift, Alpert values Providence ties

BY STEPHANIE BERNHARD FEATURES EDITOR

Warren Alpert, who donated $100 million to the medical school now named for him, is a self-made millionaire whose ties to Providence led him to support medical education at Brown.

THE MAN Alpert was born in 1920 to Goodman and Tena Alpert, both immigrants from Lithuania. He grew up in the economically depressed town of Chelsea, Mass.

“He was the poor kid in the poor city,” said Herbert Kaplan, Alpert’s nephew and president of the nonprofit Warren Alpert Foundation.

After high school, Alpert attended Boston University and received a bachelor of science degree in 1942. He joined the U.S. Army shortly after graduating and served in military intelligence during World War II. Alpert landed in Normandy on D-Day, Kaplan said.

He was awarded the Purple Heart in 1945.

When Alpert had fulfilled his military service, he enrolled in Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.

“He heard it was a place to make money,” Kaplan said. Alpert successfully completed the program, and with the help of the GI Bill of 1944, which provided educational funding for veterans, received his master’s degree in business administration in 1947.

In 1950, Alpert came to Providence and started his own business, a small oil-marketing company with limited capital and an office on Eddy Street. Warren Equities Inc. quickly flourished and became one of the largest independent gasoline and convenience store marketers and one of the leading independent wholesale petroleum marketers in the Northeast. The company’s products are sold at over 400 Xtra Mart stores.

“He worked very hard, and he put pressure on the people he worked with,” Kaplan said of Alpert.

“He never took a vacation,” said continued on page 6

INSIDE:

3 METRO

THE GIFT ing for the Med School, bolster scientific research and med student financial aid and endow at least two new faculty positions, University officials and Warren Alpert Foundation representatives announced at a press conference Monday.

“Never did I anticipate anything so momentous or remarkable as this moment,” said Dean of Medicine and Biological Sciences Eli Adashi. “This gift exceeds all expectations.”

Provost David Kertzer ’69 P’95 P’98 said the donation will dramatically enhance the 35year-old Med School’s national reputation. “This gift essentially allows us to make up for a centur y of lost time,” he said.

Gov. Donald Carcieri ’65 and Providence Mayor David Cicilline ’83 both said they expect the gift to be a boon to both life sciences research and the local economy. “This will allow an enormous amount of investment in biomedical research,” Cicilline said. “The limits to that are virtually without limits.”

Kertzer told The Herald that University officials have already considered in general terms how the donation, which will be paid out over time, will be allocated.

Christopher Bennett / Herald

Gov. Donald Carcieri ’65 (left) and Warren Alpert Foundation President Herbert Kaplan at Monday’s press conference.

continued on page 4

Med students, faculty respond

BY KRISTINA KELLEHER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

THE REACTION

As University officials reveled in the excitement of a $100 million donation to the Medical School, Med students and faculty spent Monday pondering the gift’s implications.

“The extraordinary gift was not only welcome but essential to continue the transition from the early years to a leading medical school in the country, on par with the medical schools of universities in Brown’s peer group,” said Martin Keller, professor of psychiatry and human behavior and chair of the department.

The gift will “improve medical education for all levels — medical students, interns, residents

and fellows,” said Neel Shah ’04 MD’08, president of the medical student senate.

“The excitement in class this morning was palpable,” said Kartik Venkatesh ’06 MD’10.

But Venkatesh noted that the money’s effects won’t be seen at the Med School for eight or 10 years and so won’t directly benefit current students. While they may not reap the benefits of new faculty or research money, all med students will have to get used to the school’s new name. The Med School will now be known as the Warren Alpert continued on page 4

Black History Month begins with deconstruction of social progress

BY AUBRY BRACCO CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Austin Freeman / Herald

The Rev. Dr. Michael Eric Dyson spoke in Salomon 101 Monday night to kick off Black History Month.

PROJECT ARISE ARRIVES The grant program will bring together U. professors and R.I. public school science teachers to improve the quality of science teaching

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The Corporation, the University’s governing body, will discuss at its meeting next month how the donation affects the Med School’s strategic plan, he said.

“All the things we imagined in (the Plan for Academic Enrichment) — this allows us to do that at a higher level,” said Richard Spies, executive vice president for planning and senior adviser to the president. “I don’t think any of us thought we’d have a new Medical School building in our lifetimes.”

President Ruth Simmons was expected to speak at the press conference to announce the gift, but she was unable to do so because of a medical problem. She appeared briefly midway through the press conference but left the room shortly thereafter, apparently due to a nosebleed. Later, she was well enough to attend a luncheon for representatives of the Alpert Foundation yesterday afternoon, said Michael Chapman, vice president for public affairs and University relations.

Alpert, who is 86 years old and in poor health, did not appear at the press conference but was represented by his nephew and foundation president, Herbert Kaplan. “I was invited last week to meet the new president of Northeastern University, but I said I couldn’t go because I don’t have any money left,” Kaplan joked at the press conference.

Alpert’s gift is distinctive not only because of its size but also because of the relatively few restrictions placed on how the money should be used, University officials said. Alpert’s “un-

5 CAMPUS NEWS

OFF CAMPUS v2.0 ResLife’s video and paper application has been replaced by a mandatory PowerPoint and an online application

The Rev. Dr. Eric Michael Dyson launched the University’s celebration of Black History Month Monday evening with a convocation keynote speech about “the nuanced and complex notion” of social progress “invested with racial realities.” The address, a response to this year’s theme for Black History Month, “Beyond Brown v. Board of Education: 21st Century Concepts of Progress in an Era of Increased Social Freedom,” drew a large crowd in Salomon 101.

Dyson, who taught at Brown from 1992 to 1994, is currently a professor of religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also the author of several books, including “Is Bill Cosby Right?” and “Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina,” and hosts his own syndicated radio show.

11 OPINIONS

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

TALKING ABOUT ISRAEL Matt Prewitt ’08, writing from Tel Aviv, discusses the complexity of the Israel debate and the danger of choosing sides in a volatile debate

Daliso Leslie ’09, the Third World Center programmer for the month’s activities, said he became interested in Dyson after reading his book, “Is Bill Cosby Right?” Published after a series of controversial comments Cosby made in 2004, the book analyzes Cosby’s criticism that the black community needs to take responsibility for social problems that affect many black Americans. “(Dyson) actually took a look at Cosby’s statements,” Leslie said of the speaker’s book. “ (Cosby) didn’t think before he spoke. … (There were) a lot of things he said that he didn’t take into account.”

Leslie said he “was really impressed by (Dyson’s) comments” and that Dyson’s speaking ability made him an ideal choice for the keynote address.

Following a welcome from Leslie, Professor of Africana Studies Tricia continued on page 6

12 SPORTS

SQUASHING BOWDOIN The women’s squash team blanked Bowdoin 9-0 on Saturday to even their record at 4-4 for the year, but the men’s team did not fare as well

News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com

TODAY THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

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WE A

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TODAY

TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2007

WBF | Matt Vascellaro TOMORROW

snow showers / wind 34 / 22

mostly sunny 32 / 22

MEN SHARPE REFECTORY

U VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALL

LUNCH — Shaved Steak Sandwich, Tuna Noodle Casserole, Parslied Rice, Stewed Tomatoes, Butternut Apple Bake, Pasta Bar, Fudge Bars, Raspberry Yogurt Pie

LUNCH — Vegetarian Roasted, Butternut Soup with Apples, Chicken Vegetable Soup, Vegetarian Pot Pie, Spinach with Lemon,Fudge Bars

DINNER — Curry Chicken and Coconut, Basmati Rice Pilaf, Indian Green Beans, Whole Kernel Corn, Onion and Dill Rolls, Vegan Chana Masala, Pasta Bar, Chocolate Pudding, New York Style Cheesecake

DINNER — Vegetarian Roasted, Shepherd’s Pie, Vegan Vegetable Couscous, Baked Sweet Potatoes, Italian Vegetable Saute, Fresh Sliced Carrots, Onion and Dill Rolls, New York Style Cheesecake

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How to Get Down | Nate Saunders

D O K U

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

Deo | Daniel Perez

12 Pictures | Wesley Allsbrook

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O S S W O R D

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis ACROSS 1 Cherished people 5 Speak off the cuff 10 Triangle component 14 “The heat __!”

15 Actress Davis 16 Kerfuffles 17 Nutritious repast 19 Yo-yo string feature 20 Prepared to cook, as corn 21 Confed. stronghold captured in 1862 23 Potato buds 24 Most gloppy 26 Quilting bee relative 30 Go speedily 33 Hadrian’s garb 34 Views from behind 35 Wild West family name 37 Pebbles’s mom 40 They’re paid to play 41 Athens marketplace 43 Sicilian landmark 45 Rock musican Brian 46 Soap opera staple 50 ’70s family pop group 51 Honolulu’s home 54 Woman’s name meaning “heavenly” 56 Australian folk hero “Breaker” __, subject of a 1979 film 58 Name that rings a bell?

59 Presidential workplace 62 Repressed, with “up” 63 Extend, as a subscription 64 Info in links, on the www 65 Bills with George on them 66 Span. misses 67 Caustic compounds DOWN 1 Screen legend Lillian

2 Ending for Arab 3 Timid 4 Slithering hissers 5 Like quality balsamic vinegar 6 JFK or FDR, partywise 7 Appomattox signatory 8 Dazed 9 $60 avenue in Monopoly 10 Demo case carrier 11 “Whatever” 12 Portal 13 Behold 18 Bowling lane button 22 Estate beneficiary 24 1958 Chevalier film 25 Like a dog being trained 27 “Amazing!”

28 Author __ Hubbard 29 Exxon predecessor 30 Ardor 31 Othello’s betrayer 32 Italian cheese

36 Under-the-tree items 38 The Andes, e.g.: Abbr.

39 “Brokeback Mountain” director Lee 42 Money dispensers, briefly 44 Standoffish 47 Copter spinners 48 “Well, __!”: “Harrumph!”

49 Outpouring of outrage 52 Like the Abominable Snowman 53 Aunt’s mate 54 Gangland boss 55 Divisible by two 56 Trims the lawn 57 Thomas Hardy heroine 60 Formicary denizen 61 Pasture

Jellyfish, Jellyfish | Adam Hunter Peck

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Homefries | Yifan Luo

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1/30/07

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The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is an independent newspaper serving the Brown demic year, excluding vacations, once during Commencement, once during Orientation and P.O. Box 2538, Providence, RI 02906. Periodicals postage paid at Providence, R.I. Offices are located at 195 Angell St., Providence, R.I. E-mail herald@browndailyherald.com. World Wide Web: http://www.browndailyherald.com. Subscription prices: $319 one year daily, $139 one semester daily. Copyright 2007 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.

METRO TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2007

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Supercuts to open on Thayer Street

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Au Bon Pain reopens with new decor

BY RACHEL ARNDT SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The Au Bon Pain on Thayer Street reopened Saturday after nearly six weeks of renovations, resulting in updated decor and lighting, a largely new staff and a few additions to the menu, said General Manager Anuj Bidani.

“It’s been packed since then,” he said.

After a soft opening on Friday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., the cafe opened officially Saturday morning at 7 a.m. High-backed cushioned booths along the windows are the most visible change, but Bidani said they aren’t the only one. The menu now offers a “Create Your Own Salad” option for $5.89, panini sandwiches for $6.19 to $6.79 and rice bowls for $6.49 to $6.79.

Three-quarters of the approximately 25 employees are also new to Au Bon Pain, Bidani said. Recruited in early January and trained at other Providence Au Bon Pain locations, employees “feel proud of working on an opening team,” he said.

“No one has quit yet,” he added.

Reaction from customers has been equally positive, Bidani said. “They love the decor and love the food,” he said. Vidya Putcha ’07 praised the new lighting and booths, but customer Charu Gupta ’07 said he “didn’t even know they had new food.”

Students looking for a cheap, quick haircut will soon have a new option on College Hill. Supercuts will move into the space above specialty gift shop Only In Rhode Island at Thayer and Cushing streets in roughly two months’ time, according to a spokeswoman for Supercuts’ parent company, Regis Corporation.

Until 2004, the national hairdressing chain had a shop at 288 Thayer Street, where J & J’s Candy Bar is now located. The company describes itself as a “male-focused, affordable” chain, and though it has over 2,000 locations nationwide, its Seekonk, Mass., location is currently the closest to Brown.

Justin Glavis-Bloom ’07 used to get his hair cut at the old College Hill Supercuts location. “I thought it was great,” he said, adding that he has since switched to getting haircuts at Salon Kroma. Though it’s “a lot more expensive,” he enjoys getting his hair cut by the same stylist every time.

Of the three salons closest to campus, Salon Persia will be the closest salon to the new Supercuts — only a block away. But Salon Persia stylist Sara DeCristoforo said Salon Persia’s stylists have “more

— Simmi Aujla

R.I. minimum wage rises to $7.40 per hour The Rhode Island state minimum wage increased to $7.40 per hour on Jan. 1, up 30 cents from $7.10 per hour. The increase — effective for workers aged 16 years and older — is the final stage of a law passed in early 2006 that mandated raising the minimum wage by a total of 65 cents in two increments. The first stage of the law increased the minimum wage from $6.75 to $7.10 and went into effect on March 1 of last year.

— Sara Molinaro

Living wage ordinance won’t affect U. employees Providence’s living wage ordinance, passed by the City Council’s finance committee on Dec. 18, would require businesses receiving new city tax breaks and nonprofit organizations receiving grant funding from the city to pay workers a minimum of $10.19 per hour. The City Council approved the ordinance, which was backed by former Ward 1 City Councilman David Segal, once on Dec. 22, but the ordinance, which needs to be passed twice by the full City Council to become law, has not been voted on a second time.

The largest nonprofit organization affected by the ordinance would most likely be the Providence Public Library, and wages of Brown employees would not be affected, according to Segal.

— Sara Molinaro

Debit cards replace R.I. unemployment checks Debit cards will soon be used to distribute unemployment insurance benefits, replacing unemployment checks, the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training announced last week. The debit cards, which will be supplied

by JP Morgan Chase, can be used to take cash out of an ATM or pay at stores accepting Visa cards.

Under the new system, recipients without a bank account will have access to their benefits without having to pay check-cashing fees. ATM transactions using the new debit cards will be surcharge-free at machines run by Washington Trust, Allpoint and Chase banks. Recipients of unemployment insurance will also be able to receive payment just 24 hours after they are approved for benefits.

Cardholders will be able to check their balances on the Internet or by calling a toll-free phone number. Funds represented by the debit cards are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and fully covered by federal banking regulations.

— Sara Molinaro

Lindsay Harrison / Herald

A sign hangs in the window of the Thayer Street store that will soon be home to a Supercuts.

experience” than Supercuts’ employees.

Still, Supercuts’ prices are lower than those of the existing Thayer Street salons. A haircut at Supercuts’ Seekonk location is $13.95, while women’s haircuts at Salon Persia are $50 and men’s are $25.

Haircuts for women at Salon Kroma start at $40 and men’s are $25 and up, and at Squires Salon on Euclid Street, women’s cuts start at $35 and men’s at $25, but prices can run as high as $60 depending on the

style.

But despite its cut-rate prices, Supercuts won’t be trimming Professor of Religious Studies Harold Roth’s hair. He said he used to get his hair cut at Michael Anthony’s hair salon, which until last year occupied a space in the basement of Faunce House. In an e-mail to The Herald, he wrote of Supercuts: “I have little idea what they are and little interest except that this continues the destructive homogenization of Thayer Street.”

Project ARISE to provide science teacher training

BY JESSICA ROTONDI STAFF WRITER

Beginning this summer, Rhode Island high school biology and neuroscience teachers will receive materials and training from Brown professors and graduate students.

A three-year, $636,000 grant by the National Center for Research Resources earlier this month will fund the program, called Project ARISE: Advancing Rhode Island Science Education.

Project ARISE will begin in August with a two-week workshop on inquiry-based approaches for teachers. During the school year, instructors will have access to mobile lab equipment, supplies and trained lab consultants for their classes and will meet every two months to evaluate what they’ve gained from the program. In the spring, a “nature of discovery symposium” will invite participating teachers and students to campus to present results of projects generated by the program.

Lecturer in Neuroscience John Stein, Senior Lecturer in Education Lawrence Wakeford and Jennifer Aizenman, a scientist and

curriculum design specialist in the division of summer and continuing studies, first proposed the program. It is intended to help the state’s science teachers meet new science standards for public schools approved last year by the Rhode Island Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education.

“It really gives teachers a chance to bring concepts to their students that are relevant and important today,” Aizenman said of the program. “Everyone eats genetically modified foods. How are they made? Why are they in our food supply? Should we be concerned? Our whole way of teaching this content is going to be an inqui-

ry-based way of learning. Science is all about asking questions.”

This year’s workshop, which will be held from Aug. 6 to 17, will provide teachers with four model lesson plans on subjects such as detecting genetically modified foods using polymerase chain reaction, using DNA analysis to study human ancestry and evolution, sensing oxygen and carbon dioxide to assess cellular respiration and measuring EKGs, EEGs and nerve cell activity with recording equipment.

“What is truly exciting about ARISE is that it offers teachers professional development training in continued on page 6

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Med School named for $100 million donor continued from page 1 derstanding of the value of flexibility is unusual,” Spies said.

Alpert, who received a Purple Heart for his ser vice in World War II, graduated from Boston University in 1942 and was a member of the first class of Har vard Business School. He made his fortune largely by distributing fuel and groceries to more than 400 gas stations and convenience stores along the Eastern seaboard. Alpert is the founder, chairman and sole owner of Warren Equities Inc., which he founded in Providence in 1950. Currently, the company is listed in Forbes magazine as one of the 400 largest privately owned U.S. companies.

Alpert’s foundation has previously given millions to Har vard Medical School and Mt. Sinai Hospital, but his donation to Brown is by far the foundation’s largest.

Neil Steinberg ’75, vice president for development and director of the Campaign for Academic Enrichment, and Larr y Zeiber, senior associate dean for medical advancement, originally approached Alpert’s foundation last summer about making a donation. Steinberg, the former CEO of Fleet Bank-Rhode Island, said his relationship with Alpert dates back to Steinberg’s days as a banker.

Steinberg, Adashi and Alpert’s representatives continued to discuss the gift throughout the summer, and a formal agreement, which included renaming the Med School as the Warren Alpert Medical School, was proposed in October. Several sources indicated this timeline was unusually short, particularly for a gift of this size.

The donation was still not a done deal when members of the foundation visited Brown on Jan. 22. “I had the opportunity to talk to them about the ways the gift would enhance medical education, I think that was very important to them,” said Neel Shah ’04 MD’08, president of the medical student senate.

“Ever ything really came together in the last couple of weeks,” Spies said.

The Corporation’s advisory and executive committee formally accepted the gift and approved the Med School’s new name during a special meeting on Jan. 18, and a final agreement was signed in University Hall on Jan. 26, according to a campus-wide e-mail from Simmons. Corporation approval is required for all gifts to the University of $1 million or more.

Because an agreement has been signed and approved by the

www.browndailyherald.com

Corporation, the Med School’s name has already officially changed. The University will work up a visual identity and update Web sites and logos for the Med School “very soon,” Chapman said.

Kertzer told The Herald that members of the Corporation had no objection to renaming the Med School and were excited about the gift’s potential to attract additional resources.

“I thought someone might have said something, but they were very much in favor of the change,” Kertzer said. “The excitement was palpable.”

Alpert’s donation is a significant windfall for the University’s campaign to raise $1.4 billion by 2010. The gift brings the funds raised so far to $935 million.

The Med School and the Division of Biology and Medicine have expanded rapidly in the past several years through the Plan for Academic Enrichment, hiring an additional 19 tenure-track professors since 2002 with plans for at least 20 more. The Med School also plans to increase enrollment to 400 by 2011. Last year, the University acquired seven properties in the Jewelry District, where an expanded Med School will be located, Simmons said at the Nov. 7, 2006 faculty meeting.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2007

Med students and faculty consider gift’s impact continued from page 1 Medical School of Brown University.

“Some will undoubtedly express concern with losing our identity with the name change.

I don’t believe this will be the case,” said James Wilkerson MD’08, vice president of the medical school senate. “We are not losing the Brown name or the identity that comes with it, but rather expanding the reach of Brown into the community.”

“It’s not unusual to name a school after someone who makes a donation of this size,” said Agnes Kane, professor of medical science. “We need the money.

As a young medical school, with young alumni, we don’t have a huge endowment.”

Part of the donation will finance construction of a new Med School building that will likely be located in the Jewelry District. “Being able to move the school closer to the hospital will draw the clinical and pre-clinical communities closer, allowing for more interaction between students and faculty,” Wilkerson said.

“The building itself will have a huge impact on medical edu-

cation,” Shah said, stressing the benefit of having all med students “housed in the same place.” Currently, med students spend most of their first two years on College Hill and move away from campus to the hospitals for their clinical rotations in their final two years.

“We didn’t have the space on campus and in the hospitals necessary,” Kane said. “The Jewelry District is really up-and-coming and bio-med research is a growing industry.”

The donation will help fund research, faculty recruitment and new research facilities. It will help “bring top scientists here,” Keller said, adding that “we’re at a point in the history of medicine where we need to build translational research,” or research that finds practical applications for scientific discoveries.

Some of the $100 million will also be used to provide financial aid for med students — an increasingly important need as tuition continues to escalate.

“The opportunity costs of becoming a doctor are rising — a lot of my colleagues are coming out of school with six figures of debt, more than $200,000 in some cases,” Shah said.

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Hillel led winter trips to Israel, Thailand

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Oxfam fighting for fair-trade bananas on campus Bananas are the next target of the campus fair-trade movement, as members of Oxfam at Brown seek to increase the University’s offerings of fair-trade products in the dining halls.

“The (fair-trade) movement has been really big in the coffee industry, and other industries are starting to have fair trade too,” said Hope Turner ’08, former co-president of Oxfam at Brown.“We haven’t been able to get fair-trade coffee into the dining halls, so we decided to expand” to bananas.

Oxfam decided to advocate for fair-trade bananas in the dining halls after representatives from a fair-trade banana company came to Brown last semester to discuss their cause. Dining Services bought a box of fair-trade bananas in late November, giving some to Oxfam for sale at a sustainable alternative gift fair and giving away the remainder in the Sharpe Refectory.

Though she said the University has not yet made any official decision on the banana proposal, Turner remained optimistic. “I think there’s a good chance that fair-trade bananas will be offered, if not in the dining halls then in some of the other eateries like the Blue Room or the Ivy Room.”

— James Shapiro

Jindal ’91.5 to seek La. governorship U.S. Rep. Bobby Jindal ’91.5, R-La., will challenge incumbent Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, a Democrat, in the 2007 gubernatorial election. Blanco defeated Jindal in the 2003 runoff election by a 5248 percent margin.

“Our state, our communities and our families have been through some very tough times. There is clearly a hunger for a new approach to governing,” Jindal said in a Jan. 23 post on his Web site announcing his candidacy.

Jindal’s chances in the race seem promising. A recent poll showed Jindal with a 24-point lead over Blanco in a head-to-head race, according to a Jan. 28 article in the Shreveport Times.

Blanco has been criticized for her role in the state’s lackluster response to Hurricane Katrina and the slow pace of recovery in the state.

A native of Baton Rouge, Jindal was elected to the House of Representatives in 2004. He had previously served as head of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals and assistant secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. After graduating from Brown, he received a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University in England.

— Zachary Chapman

U. scientists study bat flight Using 3-D video recordings and a laser-imaging device, Brown researchers have developed new insights into the aerodynamics of bat flight patterns. The results of the study, funded in part by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, may lead to advances in the fields of evolutionary biology and engineering.

The research casts doubt on traditional assumptions about the evolution of bats from other flying mammals. Stark differences between squirrel-type gliding wings and bats’ thin, flapping wings decrease the possibility of a close relationship between the two types of animals, according to Associate Professor of Biology Sharon Swartz, a collaborator on the project.

The study holds particular promise for biomimetics, a field of engineering that uses organisms’ natural functions as a model for mechanical designs. “We want to understand bat flight and be able to incorporate some of the features of bat flight into an engineered vehicle,” said Kenneth Breuer ’82, professor of engineering, in a Jan. 18 University news release.

— James Shapiro

R.I. likes Hillary and Cicilline ’83, new poll says Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., is the favorite candidate of Rhode Island Democrats for president in the 2008 election, according to a poll conducted Jan. 27 by Darrell West, professor of political science and director of the Taubman Center for Public Policy.

If the primary were held now, 33 percent of voters who said they would likely vote in the Democratic primary said they would vote for Clinton. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., came in second in the survey, with the support of 15 percent of likely voters, followed by former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., with 8 percent of likely voters.

In a general election match-up between Clinton and Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, 49 percent of Rhode Island voters said they would support Clinton, 36 percent favored McCain and 15 percent were undecided. Voters also favored Clinton over other potential Republican nominees — former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

The survey polled 475 registered voters in Rhode Island over one day. The poll had a margin of error of 5 percentage points, except for the questions on the Democratic primary race, which had a margin of error of 6 percent.

— Zachary Chapman

BY ROBIN STEELE STAFF WRITER

More than 30 Brown students spent winter break floating in the Dead Sea and riding camels in Jerusalem while on a Birthright trip to Israel. The trip, which was organized by Brown Hillel, took place between Jan. 9 and Jan. 19 and also included several students from Johns Hopkins University and the College of William and Mary.

Hillel also helped organize a winter break trip to Thailand for eight Brown students through American Jewish World Service.

The students on the Birthright trip to Israel spent three days in Jerusalem, touring the Old City and visiting the Western Wall, said Benjamin Bregman ’02 MD’07, one of the trip’s leaders. After leaving Jerusalem, the group traveled to Afula and played with children at a day care and orphanage facility for at-risk children before moving north to Galilee and the Golan Heights.

Sophie Waskow ’07 said she enjoyed traveling with other Brown students. “(The trip) is defined by the people you’re with and how good a guide you have. I think we lucked out on both.”

Waskow especially enjoyed visiting the Western Wall. “I’m not religious — to see people that moved by religion was very interesting and unique,” she said.

Though Waskow said she had difficulty interacting with the children in Afula because she does not speak Hebrew, she noted, “Be-

Courtesy of Hannah Levintova

Students ride camels during a Birthright trip to Israel sponsored by Brown Hillel.

ing silly is kind of a universal language of kids.” Some of the children she and the group met with will be traveling to Providence in March as part of a tour for their singing group, she said.

Also accompanying the Hillel group were two Israeli ex-soldiers who acted as guards, Bregman said, adding that there were no problems with safety on the trip. “(There was) a joke that the guards did nothing. One put a Band-Aid on,” Bregman said.

During the trip, the students met up with a group of seven young Israeli soldiers and had an opportunity to learn about their lives, Bregman said. “We had a wonderful group of Israeli soldiers and we developed tremendous relationships,” he said.

Waskow said she found military life demystified after meeting the Israeli soldiers. “The obvious conclusion to come away with was, ‘Wow, they’re just like us,’” she said. Waskow also said she became desensitized to the presence of guns after seeing armed security guards at so many locations.

Bregman said the trip was “very coordinated and organized.”

Throughout the journey, guides with specialized training for leading groups of college-aged Americans led the tour, he said.

Rabbi Serena Eisenberg ’87, executive director of Hillel and the tour’s other leader, said the best aspect of the trip was “travcontinued on page 9

Students praise online off-campus approval process

BY CHAZ FIRESTONE SENIOR STAFF WRITER

As many students begin thinking about applying for off-campus housing, they can take comfort in the knowledge that they’ll no longer have to trudge to Wayland House to watch a mandatory video. Students seeking University approval to live off campus can now do so from the comfort of their dorm rooms, and most say it has made the process simpler.

Residential Life abandoned its paper-based system in favor of an online system in 2005.

“The old system required students to come into the office, pick up a form, complete the form and then we had to file it,” said Richard Bova, senior associate dean for residential life. “The new, automated system allows students to complete the form wherever and whenever they want.”

Ann Kidder ’08, who applied for permission to live off campus starting last semester, was part of the first group of students to fill out an online application for permission, available at ResLife’s Web site at http://reslife.brown. edu.

“It was really easy,” Kidder said of the online approval process. “I was approved seconds after I filled out the form.”

Kevin Burns ’08 said he had a similarly positive experience with the online system.

“There were some forms with all the information we had to read and fill out,” he said. “It was ver y

convenient.”

Aside from the ease of the paperless process, a notable difference between the old system and the online system is the PowerPoint presentation displayed on the Web site, which replaced a video students had been required to watch at the ResLife office.

Though the new presentation conveys the same information as the old one — how to be a good neighbor, how to keep track of rent and other responsibilities — there seems to be a greater risk of students passing over and ignoring the information in the new presentation than had been the case before.

Bova said the online application cannot be submitted until all slides of the PowerPoint presentation have been seen by the applicant. But some students may click through the slides without reading the information on them.

Kidder and Burns both said they did not pay close attention to the online presentation, which they felt presented information they already knew.

“I read it, but not so thoroughly,” Kidder said, while Burns said that he “glanced at” the presentation.

“A lot of the things that were on the presentation should have been obvious to anyone thinking of living off campus,” Kidder said. “It was more like a checklist of things I had already done, instead of a list of things to do.”

Elizabeth Fison ’07, who filed

for permission using the paperbased system, said not much has changed in that respect.

“I felt like I knew what I was doing already and that I didn’t need more information,” Fison said, adding that she recalled signing up for a time slot to watch the video but never actually made the appointment.

“I kept meaning to watch the video,” she said. “But it wasn’t enforced.”

Paul Baier ’08 did watch the video, but he echoed the sentiments of Kidder, Burns and Fison.

“It didn’t do much for me,” Baier said. “I don’t know anybody who wouldn’t already know that stuff.”

But Bova cautioned against ignoring the PowerPoint presentation, which he said provides critical information to students thinking about living off campus.

“It has great information about being a good neighbor, some policies and most definitely safety and security,” he said. “I think it would be very irresponsible of any student to keep clicking.”

The new process is easier for administrators as well as students, 1,484 of whom applied for off-campus permission last year, according to Bova.

“I think it’s great that they’ve gone electronic,” Fison said. “Online would have been a lot easier.”

Bova said feedback from students on the new system has been nothing but encouraging.

“We received about 10 e-mails,” he said. “All were very positive.”

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

PAGE 6

Alpert’s landmark gift honors Providence ties continued from page 1 Bevin Kaplan, Kaplan’s daughter and Alpert’s great niece.

Alpert is still the chairman of the company he founded. Warren Equities currently grosses over $1 billion in annual sales, employs more than 2,000 people and is ranked by Forbes as one of the 400 largest privately owned companies.

In 1986, Alpert founded the Warren Alpert Foundation, a philanthropic effort funded solely by Alpert himself. The Foundation’s original purpose was to grant an annual $150,000 award, known as the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize, to a leading scientist or researcher in the field of medicine.

Since 1986, the foundation has enabled Alpert to make many donations supporting medical education, research and practice.

Among the most significant are a $20 million gift to Harvard University in 1993 to name a research center at its medical school and a

$15 million gift to Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City.

According to Kaplan, Alpert chose Brown as the recipient of his largest donation because he wanted a way to give back to the Providence and Rhode Island communities.

“His relationship was with Providence,” Kaplan said. “He wanted to motivate science and health care in this state.” He said Alpert has made several small donations over the years but otherwise had no prior connections to the University.

“There’s a sort of beautiful harmony with him having his business here and now knowing his legacy will be wedded with Brown,” Bevin Kaplan said. “He thought the best way to better mankind was through medicine, and in that way this gift makes a great deal of sense.”

Neil Steinberg ’75, vice president for development and director of the Campaign for Academic Enrichment, first met Alpert 25 years

ago when Steinberg was a banker at what used to be Independent National Bank, and Alpert was his client.

He said Alpert was a “very dynamic man” whose gift would be “transformative” for the Med School. “It was a great opportunity for them, a great opportunity for us,” Steinberg said.

Making a major donation to health care was “the kind of thing he wanted to do as he contemplated his immortality,” said Ronald Vanden Dorpel MA’71, senior vice president for University advancement, of the aging and infirm Alpert. Vanden Dorpel said the University would reap many benefits from a gift large enough to name the Med School after Alpert. Beyond providing ready resources for improvement, the gift would boost the Med School’s visibility and “catapult us up” in national ratings, Vanden Dorpel said.

“There’s a lesson with these self-made men: They give back,” Steinberg said.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2007

Dyson deconstructs social progress in black America continued from page 1 Rose introduced Dyson. Rose called Dyson a “tour de force” and commended his “unflinching courage” and ability to challenge people of opposing views.

During his speech, Dyson cited race, gender and class as complex components of the “notion of progress” and criticized the use of “black bodies” “as the litmus test” for determining how far the nation has come since Brown v.

Board of Education abolished segregation in public schools in 1954.

“If we’re going to measure … progress, we can’t do it in a racist fashion,” he said.

Dyson addressed the multifaceted issue of progress with illustrative, often critical and occasionally humorous references to pop culture, including rap artists, the degradation of black women, the Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake “wardrobe malfunction” Super Bowl scan-

dal, the Bill Cosby controversy and Oprah.

At the end of the speech, he encouraged affluent and well-educated blacks to “muster the moral might” to address issues of poverty within their community.

Following a standing ovation, Dyson answered questions from the audience.

“I thought it was very challenging and engaging,” Cory McAlister ’09 said of the speech.

Madalasa Bista ’08 said Dyson “was very well-spoken” and called the address “beautiful.”

Programs for Black History Month will be held throughout February. Princeton professor and author Cornel West is scheduled to speak on “The Life and Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.” on Feb. 2 at 4 p.m. in Salomon 101. Leslie said he is particularly excited for “Stomp the Yard,” which “looks into the history of step shows” and the Black Love Forum and Dating Game scheduled for later this month.

Project ARISE to provide science teacher training continued from page 3 cutting-edge science research, using the latest technology that is not always available in public schools,” said Linda Jzyk ’74, an education specialist for science and technology at the Rhode Island Department of Education. “It will bring us up to speed in biology, biotechnology and physiology in 2007.”

Tony Beck, program director for the Science Education Partnership Award that provided the grant for the program, wrote in an e-mail to The Herald that initiatives like Project ARISE bring many important lessons to teachers, students and their families.

“We also want to show all students that they have the talent and opportunities to envision careers in medicine, clinical research, drug discovery and the basic sciences,” he wrote.

Fifteen teachers from Rhode Island high schools will be admitted into the ARISE program each of the program’s three years. Jyzk said teachers are encouraged to apply as part of a team from their school, since collaboration among teachers will ensure the program has a lasting effect on school curriculums. She said special consideration will be given to teachers from high-need school districts, defined as those where at least 20 percent of the student population receives free or reduced price lunches.

Aubrey Frank GS and Megan Gasparovic GS will help instruct teachers this year as part of Project ARISE, and William Holmes GS will be in charge of troubleshooting when mobile units are brought into classrooms this fall, Aizenman said.

Holmes, a first-year graduate student in the department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry, said the ARISE program offered him the opportunity to have a positive effect on students. “Here at Brown, we are doing cutting-edge science and (through Project ARISE we are) teaching that same science to teachers, who in turn teach it to kids,” he said.

W ORLD & N ATION TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2007

Israeli resort hit by Palestinian suicide bomber

BY RICHARD BOUDREAUX LOS ANGELES T IMES

JERUSALEM — A young Palestinian set off an explosives-laden backpack in a bakery in the Red Sea resort of Eilat on Monday, killing himself and three other people in the first suicide attack against Israel in nine months.

The blast occurred far from Eilat’s beachfront hotel strip, a popular tourist destination, thanks to an Israeli army reserve officer who unwittingly had agreed to drive the hitchhiking bomber toward the city but became suspicious and dropped him on a remote bypass road.

As police summoned by the officer closed in, the backpacker walked to a poor neighborhood, entered the only shop open and ignited 33 pounds of explosives, officials said. The 9:36 a.m. blast killed the Lechamim Bakery’s two owners and an employee, the only other people inside.

Two Palestinian groups, Islamic Jihad and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, claimed joint responsibility for the bombing and said it was meant to encourage rival Palestinian factions to stop fighting each other and “point the guns” at Israel instead.

Israeli leaders said the attack jeopardized a 2-month-old truce accord between them and Palestinian leaders in the Gaza Strip. The bomber was identified by the two militant groups as a 20-year-old male from Gaza whose family said he had left home on a suicide mission three days earlier.

“This is an escalation, and we shall treat it as such,” Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said as he convened an emergency meeting of top security officials in Tel Aviv. “No terror organization will get away. The cease-fire will not

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prevent us from hitting them.”

The blast also cast a shadow over U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s plan to hold a threeway meeting in February with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on ways to revive peace talks.

Abbas has been unable to stop sporadic Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza in violation of the ceasefire. Some rockets have come from the al-Aqsa group, which is loosely affiliated with his Fatah movement.

Suicide bombings have become rare in Israel, and Monday’s attack prompted Israeli television stations to break into programming with live coverage from the scene. The bakery and neighboring shops were shown in shambles, with shattered glass, loaves of bread, metal bread trays and body parts strewn on the bloodstained sidewalk.

Benny Mazgini, 45, told Israel Radio that he watched from a balcony across the street as a man in a black winter coat and a backpack entered the bakery. It was 53 degrees outside.

“I said to myself, ‘What’s this idiot dressed like that for?’ ” Mazgini recalled. “I went inside, and a few seconds later I heard a massive explosion.”

Yossi Voltinsky, a lieutenant colonel in the Israeli army reserves, said he saw the oddly dressed young man on the side of the road north of Eilat while driving to work at a hotel. The man signaled for a ride. Voltinsky stopped, thinking the man might have missed the bus to work.

“As soon as he entered the car, I saw that he was very nervous,” the officer told Israel Television.

“His coat was tightly closed, and continued on page 9

Equipment lacking for surge troops; added forces must make do, officials say

BY ANN SCOTT TYSON WASHINGTON POST

WASHINGTON — Boosting U.S. troop levels in Iraq by 21,500 would create major logistical hurdles for the Army and Marine Corps, which are short thousands of vehicles, armor kits and other equipment needed to supply the extra forces, U.S. officials said.

The increase would also further degrade the readiness of U.S.-based ground forces, hampering their ability to respond quickly, fully trained and well equipped in the case of other military contingencies around the world and increasing the risk of U.S. casualties, according to Army and Marine Corps leaders.

“The response would be slower than we might like, we would not have all of the equipment sets that ordinarily would be the case, and there is certainly risk associated with that,” the Marine Corps commandant, Gen. James Conway, told the House Armed Services Committee last week.

President Bush’s plan to send five additional U.S. combat brigades into Iraq has left the Army and Marines scrambling to ensure the troops could be supported with the necessary armored vehicles, jamming devices, radios and other gear, as well as lodging and other logistics.

Trucks are in particularly short supply. For example, the Army would need 1,500 specially outfitted — known as “up-armored” — 2 1/2-ton and fiveton trucks in Iraq for the incoming units, said Lt. Gen. Stephen Speakes, the Army’s deputy chief of staff for force development.

“We don’t have the (armor) kits and we don’t have the trucks,” Speakes said in an interview. He said it will take the

Army months, probably until summer, to supply and outfit the additional trucks. As a result, he said, combat units flowing into Iraq will have to share the trucks assigned to units now there, leading to increased use and maintenance.

Speakes said that although another type of vehicle, the uparmored Humvee, continues to be in short supply Army-wide, there would be “adequate” numbers for incoming forces, and each brigade would receive 400 fully outfitted Humvees. But he said that to meet the need, the Army would have to draw down pre-positioned stocks that would then not be available for other contingencies.

Still, U.S. commanders privately expressed doubts that Iraq-bound units would receive a full complement of Humvees.

“It’s inevitable that that has to happen, unless five brigades of up-armored Humvees fall out of the sky,” one senior Army official said of the feared shortfall.

He anticipated that some units would have to rely more heavily on Bradley Fighting Vehicles and tanks that, although highly protective, are intimidating and therefore less effective for many counterinsurgency missions.

Adding to the crunch, the U.S. government has agreed to sell 600 up-armored Humvees to Iraq this year for its security forces. Such sales “better not be at the expense of the American soldier or Marine,” Speakes told defense reporters recently, saying that U.S. military needs must take priority.

Living facilities in Iraq are another concern for the additional troops, who would be concentrated in Baghdad, Army officials said. The U.S. military has closed or handed over to Iraqi

forces about half of the 110 bases established there after the U.S.led invasion in 2003. Decisions are being made on where to base incoming units in Baghdad, but it is likely that, at least in the short term, they would be placed in existing facilities, officials said.

Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, the new top U.S. commander in Iraq, has requested that additional combat brigades move into Iraq as quickly as possible. But accelerated deployments would mean less time for units to train and fill out their ranks. Brigades are required to have an aggregate number of soldiers before deploying but may still face shortages of specific ranks and job skills.

Meanwhile, the demand for thousands more U.S. forces in both Iraq and Afghanistan is worsening the readiness of units in the United States, depleting their equipment and time to train, Army officials said. “We can fulfill the national strategy, but it will take more time and it will also take us increased casualties to do the job,” Speakes said.

Army Chief of Staff Peter Schoomaker testified last week before the House Armed Services Committee that, regarding readiness, “my concerns are increased over what they were in June.”

“To meet combatant commanders’ immediate wartime needs, we pooled equipment from across the force to equip soldiers deploying in harm’s way,” he said. “This practice, which we are continuing today, increases risk for our next-to-deploy units and limits our ability to respond to emerging strategic contingencies,” he said. He called for additional funding to fix “holes in the force” and “break the historical cycle of unpreparedness.”

www.browndailyherald.com

tenants

TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2007

M. track struggles against Big Red continued from page 12 in the field events, where underclassmen repeatedly put points on the board. In the shot put, Bryan Powlen ’10 pulled in a first-place finish with a 15.01-meter toss. In the same event, David Howard ’09 placed fourth with a 14.93 throw and he also took home silver in the weight throw with a 17.01-meter toss.

Ikenna Achilihu ’08 bagged a second-place finish in the triple jump with a leap of 14.21-meters, while Mike Woods ’09 brought home a bronze in the pole vault with a 4.25.

The Bears hit the road again this weekend, traveling to the Glegengack Invitational at Yale on Friday.

Hillel offers winter trips to Israel, Thailand continued from page 5 eling to Israel with these incredible Brown students and falling in love with the countr y through the eyes of twenty-year-olds.” Eisenberg said she previously lived in Israel for several years and had traveled to Israel as a Brown student, thanks to a scholarship she received through Hillel to study at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Bregman and Eisenberg both said the only downside of the trip was not having time to do more.

Bregman noted that the majority of students who went on the trip had not previously been involved in Hillel. “Already, a couple of people on the trip came in for the first time,” he said.

Hillel may offer an additional trip to Israel in June, Eisenberg said, noting that Hillel provides support for anyone wishing to travel to Israel.

As the Birthright group trekked through Jerusalem, Samantha Pohl, program director for Hillel, accompanied eight Brown students on a ser vice-oriented trip to Thailand. The trip, which lasted from Jan. 9 to Jan. 21, was facilitated by the American Jewish World Ser vice, an organization that “seeks to raise funds and awareness for issues of global poverty,” according to Pohl.

Hannah Perrin ’08, who went on the trip, said she had long hoped to visit Thailand and first learned about the trip after seeing a table slip in the Sharpe Refectory. After flying to Bangkok, the group traveled to a small village along the Burmese border.

While athere, the students helped local volunteers build a sewer system and a trash incinerator, Perrin said. “I think we provided a lot of entertainment for (the villagers) because we definitely did not know how to dig ditches,” Perrin said.

Perrin said she enjoyed the cultural experiences, which included a visit to a monaster y and a meeting with three sex workers to hear about their experiences.

She said she especially loved mingling with the villagers and hearing about their lives. “(The trip) made me question and re-evaluate everything I believed,” she said.

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W. squash ices Polar Bears, 9-0; m. squash crumbles in 6-3 loss continued from page 12 3.

The promising start had the Bears hopeful they would snap Bowdoin’s seven-match winning streak. However, Brown dropped six of its last seven matches, with its lone win coming from co-captain Daniel Petrie ’07. He easily dispatched his opponent in the number one slot, 9-4, 9-5, 9-2.

Despite the loss, co-captain Patrick Haynes ’07 was pleased with the team’s effort, and said, “Bowdoin really showed up (to play).”

“Bowdoin really played as well as they could, and we were a tad off our game,” LeGassick said.

Haynes echoed his coach’s sentiment in regard to the lack of team cohesion. The Bears were missing two key players: Jacob

Winkler ’09, unable to play due to a back injury, and North Whipple ’08. The absences of the two teammates forced other players into higher positions than usual, which might have contributed the somewhat disappointing result, according to Haynes. Both missing players are expected to be ready to play next Friday when the team joins the women’s team for the match at Williams

College.

One bright spot on the day was the fan support.

“We had a really good showing, which was great to see,” Haynes said.

LeGassick remained optimistic as well. “The best part of the season begins on Friday against Williams and then continues until late February,” he said.

Israeli Red Sea resort hit by Palestinian suicide bomber continued from page 7 he wore a strange hat. His eyes expressed tremendous stress. He sat in the back and didn’t speak.

He only signaled with his hand that he wanted to reach lower Eilat, the resort area.”

“I understood right away that this is probably a suicide bomber,” he added. “It was pretty clear there was a bomb in his bag.”

Voltinsky said he drove to a sparsely populated stretch of the Eilat bypass road, stopped the car and, after a tense argument, persuaded the passenger to get out.

Then he called the police and tried to stay on the suspect’s trail. But the man broke into a run and escaped, the officer said.

Mayor Yitzhak Halevy said he was worried that the attack could scare tourists from Eilat, which

counted 2 million visitors last year. The city’s 57,000 permanent residents have been largely insulated from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but its economy was hurt when many travelers canceled visits during and after Israel’s war in Lebanon last summer.

Police and army units set up checkpoints across the city, but “at this point there is no panic or people leaving Eilat,” said Shabtai

Shay, general manager of the city’s hotel association.

In their joint declaration of responsibility, Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade identified the suicide bomber as Mohammed Siksik. Relatives said he was unemployed, dejected over the death of his 7-month-old daughter and driven to avenge his best friend’s killing by Israeli troops.

E DITORIAL & L ETTERS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

PAGE 10

TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2007

STAF F EDITORIAL

Table of needs We know University officials are giddy about the hefty checks they’ll be receiving from the Alpert Foundation in the coming years, and they’re under pressure to draw up a strategic plan for the money’s potential use ahead of next month’s Corporation meeting. As administrators scuttle around University Hall in excitement, pondering the possibilities of $100 million, we thought we’d offer a few suggestions. Here’s what $100 million could buy for the Alpert Medical School:

149,253,730 Band-Aids 10,000,000 disposable syringes 2,763 years of Alpert Med School tuition 3,225,806 sets of scrubs 4,347,826 disposable scalpels 1,666,666,667 small latex gloves 1,450,326 Gray’s Anatomy textbooks

ROXANNE PALMER

5,002,501 sets of “Grey’s Anatomy” Season One DVDs

LETTERS

6,309 appendectomies 10,000,000 bottles of Tylenol 1,785,714 bedpans

Action, not art, will solve Darfur

8,333,333 cases of tongue depressors

To the Editor:

4,255,319 lab coats

The Janjaweed fanatics committing genocide in Darfur will not be dissuaded by feel-good regional conferences and Ivy League art exhibits. A torrent of American unilateral air strikes coupled with regime change in Sudan, on the other hand, offers a realistic solution for dealing with the crisis. Perhaps Brown Darfur

1,000,000 meningitis vaccinations 5,707,762 stethoscopes

activists should consider channeling their admirable energy toward advocating a plan which might actually help the Darfur victims suffering everyday as the United Nations stands by idly.

2,857,142 aneroid sphygmomanometers 23,529,411 reflex hammers 228 neurologists’ annual salaries (or 3,333 journalists’ yearly wages)

Pratik Chougule ‘08 Jan. 29

Join The Herald.

Come to an information session.

1 Sidney E. Frank Hall for Life Sciences, give or take $7m

7 p.m.

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photographers, cartoonists, writers, columnists, copy editors and prospective business staff members are all welcome.

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O PINIONS TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2007

There is ample evidence for the Armenian genocide

BY ADAM AKULLAN GUES UEST COLUMNIST

I am appalled by the misleading historical information presented by Ozge Can Ozcanli GS, Cengiz Pehlevan GS and Mert Akdere GS in their column (“Slavery and justice report misleads on Armenian ‘genocide,’” Dec. 6). In their attempt to dispel the Slavery and Justice Commission’s use of the term ‘genocide’ to describe the Turks’ mass killings of Armenians during World War I, the authors fail to mention the Ottoman Turks’ premeditated plan to exterminate all Armenians living in Eastern Anatolia. The authors state that “During the relocation process, hundreds of thousands of Armenians were killed by famine, epidemics or by attacks from Muslim gangs and some corrupt policemen.”

Hundreds of thousands of Armenians did indeed die of famine, epidemics and violence. Yet the authors fail to explain that the Ottoman Turks prohibited deportees from supplying themselves with food and medication, a decision the government foresaw would result in significant deaths among men, women and children. Furthermore, the Ottoman government specifically chose the most violent and ruthless soldiers, most of whom were released prisoners, to facilitate the relocation, which resulted in the rape and killing of many innocent people.

Experts estimate that about 1 million Armenians died at the hands of the Ottoman Turks. If this number does not communicate the degree of devastation, then personal accounts of the atrocities should. An American diplomat visiting Lake Goeljuk, one site of mass murder, found the bodies of nearly 10,000 Armenians dumped into ravines. The New York Times ran hundreds of articles in 1915 alone, describing the deportations as state-sanctioned genocide.

Henry Morgenthau, the United States ambassador stationed in Constantinople, met two of the masterminds behind the Armenian deportation and wrote later in his memoirs: “When the Turkish authorities gave the orders for these deportations, they were merely giving the death warrant to a whole race; they understood this well, and, in their conversations with me, they made no particular attempt to conceal the fact … I am confident that the whole history of the human race contains no such horrible episode as this. The great massacres and persecutions of the past seem almost insignificant when compared to the sufferings of the Armenian race in 1915.”

Whether we call it ethnic cleansing, mass murder or genocide, we must acknowledge the atrocities that occurred at the hands of the Ottoman Turks. I am saddened that the three authors who wrote to the Brown Daily Herald, to say nothing of the current Turkish government, continue to deny that such atrocities occurred. The debate on nomenclature may go on, but, in the scheme of things, it is irrelevant. What really matters is that acts like those committed by the Ottoman Turks during the First World War are still being committed today in places like Darfur. These types of heinous crimes will continue as long as the world looks the other way while governments commit mass murder and claim self-defense.

Adam Akullan ‘07 is standing up for what’s right.

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Talking about Israel MATT PREWITT COLUMNIST ABROAD TEL AVIV, Israel — Over the past few months, I’ve informed nearly everyone I know of my plans to spend the spring studying in Tel Aviv. It’s not at all like telling people you’re going to Barcelona — it’s really more like telling people that you’re joining the military. Nearly everyone has some sort of reaction. Most people begin with mild surprise. Then they tense their brow a bit, move their head back a few millimeters, and think for a tic before doing anything else. Then they usually ask an exploratory question like “Why Tel Aviv?” and proceed to change the subject. By and large they aren’t rushing to judgment, just struggling to update the Matt Prewitt file in their mental database. It creates confusion and distance.

Supporters of Israel have a dramatically different reaction. When I tell these people where I plan to study, they usually relax the muscles in their face, nod approvingly and say something to the effect of “good for you.”

Spending a semester in Israel is a political act, whether I want it to be or not.

The nervous energy that hangs over these trifling exchanges back in the States is just an aperitif for the lightning storm of political conflict that animates Israel itself. I actually see that as Israel’s main attraction — I am drawn here largely by the intensity of feeling that infuses the place.

Unfortunately, as a result of that same intensity, discussion of Israel is frequently distorted or even precluded by emotionality and factionalism. When people of radically different political leanings try to discuss Israel, conversation usually degenerates into nasty insinuations of ignorance and inhumanity before substantive issues are even broached. I’m not suggesting that the Arab-Israeli conflict is just a misunderstanding — it is certainly much more than that. But at least within America, we really ought to be able to raise our level of dialogue on the subject.

Palestinians how to conduct themselves. But in the rest of the world, where the IsraeliArab conflict plays out in ideological proxy wars, we can make a difference by rejecting this framework and making it possible for cooler heads to achieve prominence.

The way forward is to think of Israel as a normal state — it has been around for over half a century now. While Israel’s unique circumstances often justify unique behavior, the throngs of supporters who think it should continue to operate with impunity outside of international norms deserve to be marginalized. That said, Israel exists, and people who object categorically to the state or its actions shouldn’t be given any more respect than someone who has basic objections to the existence of Mexico or England.

In Israel, the virulent strain of nationalism from the early 20th century was bottled up and preserved. It functions much like a hazardous weapon that they have been unable to dismantle due to persistent immediate threats. In America and elsewhere, though, we have the advantage of detachment. It’s a small step (and it’s easier said than done), but we need to employ our clear-sighted impartiality to marginalize extremists and diffuse the mechanisms of polarization that frustrate intelligent debates on this subject. I hope that when our generation runs America, the terms “for Israel” and “against Israel” will be nonsensical — outside of a soccer match.

Individuals who publicly opine on

Israel will quickly find themselves swept into a vortex of polarities.

There is a tendency on both sides to impose a framework of “pro-Israel” or “anti-Israel” over every person and argument related to the Jewish state. Extremists on both sides frame the debate this way, but when reasonable people succumb to these terms, they lose control of the discourse.

It’s a lazy way of simplifying the conflict.

Individuals who publicly opine on Israel will quickly find themselves swept into a vortex of polarities — one side offering an ideological home, and the other side behaving with appalling hostility. The extremists on each side of the debate are, perversely, almost justified in sacrificing nuance to counterbalance their frothing opposition.

I don’t presume to tell Israelis or

Matt Prewitt ’08 is spending the spring semester at Tel Aviv University.

Europe has come a long way

BY DEREK BANGLE GUES UEST COLUMNIST Europe has come a long way — Winston Churchill would be proud. Not only has Europe been at peace for the longest period of time since the Thirty Years’ War, but strong alliances have been forged between former enemies, and political extremism has been displaced by democracy. The Iron Curtain has been demolished. cultural and economic bridges have been erected in its place. Despite a variety of social problems, Europe in its current state is a continent to be proud of — especially as a German.

You can imagine my shock at reading Sean Quigley’s column (“An iron curtain has descended across the Continent,” Jan. 24).

It displays not only a flagrant ignorance of the culture and history of Europe as a whole, but in its zealous idealism, it overlooks the responsibilities associated with free speech.

Furthermore, in calling Germany and Austria tyrannical, it is an affront to the very principles these governments have sworn to uphold.

To begin, I would like to examine the “free speech” Mr. Quigley accuses Europe of repressing. Idealistically, shouldn’t Germany and Austria allow every individual to voice their opinion without fear of reprisal, no matter how misguided and untenable their position? This right is guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified in 1976 and now legally binding in 150 nations: 1. Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference.

2. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, and through any media of his choice.

However, in his argument, Mr. Quigley

does not consider the Covenant’s crucial third paragraph: 3. The exercise of the rights provided for in paragraph two of this article carries with it special duties and responsibilities. It may therefore be subject to certain restrictions, but these shall only be such as are provided by law and are necessary: 1. For respect of the rights or reputations of others; 2. For the protection of national security or of public order, or of public health or morals.

In other words, freedom of speech is a right to be exercised with great responsibility — and in Europe, this is taken very seriously. Thus “Volksverhetzung” (incitement of hatred against part of the population) clearly does not fall under free speech according to the International Covenant. Therefore, the arrest and dissolution of a band spreading anti-Semitic and xenophobic messages has nothing to do with censorship or repression — such opinions are not protected as free speech. Germany is not “censoring” racial hatred — it is endeavoring to defend minorities from hostility and oppression.

In fact, Germany and Austria are not the only countries to have such laws. The United Kingdom ruled incitement of ethnic or racial hatred a criminal offense in 1986, and since then, France, Ireland, Sweden, Singapore and Canada have passed similar laws.

Furthermore, seven European nations have signed a treaty defining revisionism — the denial or minimization of genocides and crimes against humanity — as a form of hate crime, and therefore punishable by law.

Laws such as the “Verbotsgesetz” and its German equivalent were not written in a vacuum: they are products of a distinct era of history. In the case of Germany and Austria, it was the end of World War II. Germans and Austrians were forced to accept that the government in which many of them had invested all their hopes, energies and even their lives was directly and indubitably responsible for the extermination of 6 million Jews,

Sinta and Roma, disabled people, homosexuals and other minorities. German cities were ravaged, razed to the ground by Allied bombings. The German population was left utterly destitute, many of them refugees, displaced and without possessions. Those who outlived the war were left irreparably traumatized. The very last thing Germany wanted to create in its new constitution was an opportunity for tyranny to re-emerge.

I would entreat Mr. Quigley to ask my former schoolteacher, who survived the bombing of Berlin and its subsequent rape by the Soviets, whether the rock group “Landser” should be allowed to perform. Perhaps he could explain to my old neighbor, who was imprisoned and tortured in Dachau for hiding banned books, that the lies espoused by the putative historian Irving should be allowed to embolden future neo-fascists.

In view of the cultural history that surrounds the “Verbotsgesetz,” it becomes evident why Holocaust denial and revisionism is considered a hate crime. Not only is it an invidious offense to those who suffered from such persecution, it represents a potent feeding ground and source of justification for neo-Nazism. As such, the governments of Germany and Austria see it as their duty to combat revisionism in order to safeguard their nascent democracies.

Yet the “Verbotsgesetz” aims at more than precluding future dictatorship: it allows a culture overshadowed by atrocities, misery and grief a chance to heal. It gives a deeply wounded people a chance to regain their footing. This sapling of a new society, so horribly disfigured by war, has to be protected from the inflammatory machinations of political extremism, lest it collapse into fascism once more. This is not cold idealism — it is not ridiculous, tyrannical or oppressive. It involves real people, real scars and a very arduous and slow process of healing.

And it is far from over.

Derek Bangle ‘10 is a first-year student.

S PORTS T UESDAY TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2007

W. track dismantles Harvard but no match for Cornell

BY SARAH DEMERS ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

Coming off a successful meet last weekend at the Sorlein Memorial Indoor Classic, the women’s track and field team faced the best the Ivy League had to offer this weekend.

On Saturday, the team traveled to Cambridge to compete against Cornell and Harvard and the day turned out to be a split decision. The Bears fell to Cornell 94-47 but buried Harvard 47-18.

“Going into the meet, we wanted to compete to our ability and give our all,” said Director of Track and Field Craig Lake. “We had a number of athletes do just that, but we have a number of athletes that have more to give as well. As an athlete, each year you are more experienced and stronger, so it should be a goal to continually improve and have personal bests. We had a number of these this weekend.”

The biggest thrill for most of the athletes was a chance to compete against Cornell, the reigning Ivy League champions. “(We were) excited to get our first taste of Ivy action,” said Akilah King ’08. “Our goals going into the meet were to crush Harvard and compete with Cornell by winning as many events as possible. Since we do not have the depth that Cornell has, it was important for us to win most of our points by getting first (places).”

The day began on a resounding note with Thelma Breezeatl ’10 blazed to first-place finishes in both the 60-meter dash and the 200meter dash with times of 7.62 and 25.40, respectively. King wasn’t too far behind in the 200. She recorded a third-place finish in the 200 with a time of 25.67 Nicole Burns ’09 had the Bears’ other win in the running events on the day. She took first in the 400-meter dash with a time of 55.97.

With the sprint events down, the middle and distance athletes kept the pace. Smita Gupta ’08 blazed to a second-place finish in the mile, and Naja Ferjan ’07 and Emily Bourdeau ’10 recorded second- and fourthplace finishes in the 800-meter run.

The 4x400-meter and 4x800-meter relays both came in second, right behind the Cornell squads.

The field events allowed the Bears to accumulate some points.

In the shot put, a strong event for the Bears over the past few weeks, teammates Jenna Silver ‘10 and Alex Hartley ’10 locked up the top two positions with throws of 12.67 meters and 12.46 respectively.

In the long jump, volleyball star Rikki Baldwin ’07 made her track and field debut by placing second with a jump of 5.41 meters, just .03 behind first place.

“Rikki is a great addition to the team,” King said. “After losing (AllAmerican triple jumper) Britney Grovey (’06) last year, we really need our jumpers to step up. Not only was this her first meet, she only took one jump which placed her in first until the last jump. As she continues to improve, I think that Rikki is going to be our best-kept secret at (Heptagonals).”

The Bears will now turn their attention to this weekend’s meet at the Giegengack Invitational at Yale.

PAGE 12

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Grapplers can’t hold on in losses to No. 24 Lehigh, Army

BY HAN CUI CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The wrestling team came up just short against a back-to-back helping of some stiff competition this weekend. Brown lost to No. 24 Lehigh University 30-15 on Saturday and suffered a 23-10 defeat at the hands of the United States Military Academy on Sunday. The setbacks leave the Bears’ record at 1-7 overall and 1-4 in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association.

Brown has been competitive in the six matches since the Lone Star Duals at the beginning of the month, but the team has a 1-5 record to show for its effort.

“There is no doubt that we wrestled below our capabilities in the season so far,” said Assistant Coach Mike Burch.

Some key injuries have contributed significantly to the squad’s struggles.

“Three of the four co-captains, … Leo Saniuk (’08), Shawn Kitchner (’07) and David Saadeh (’07), all incurred significant or seasonending injuries,” Burch said. “It is a big challenge to compensate for these injured wrestlers … after losing a lot of graduates last year and the remaining seniors to injuries this year, 7 out of 10 wrestlers on the team are first- and secondyear wrestlers.”

In their match against Lehigh, the Bears’ few veteran wrestlers

led the way. Matt Gevelinger ’09 won a 5-3 decision in the 184-pound weight class. At 149 pounds, Lenny Marandino ’09 picked up six points for the Bears when his opponent had to forfeit due to an arm injury suffered late in the third period.

Although the team match had already been decided, the best individual showing of the day came when co-captain and heavyweight Levon Mock ’08 pinned No. 17 Paul Weibel just 1:52 into the match.

In the dual against Army, the Bears were tied with the Black Knights 10-10 at the conclusion of the sixth match but were unable to secure any victories in their final four bouts.

Jeff Schell ’08 secured a 9-1 major decision at 133 pounds, and at 157 pounds, Tom Fazio ’09 won a 4-2 decision. Bran Crudden ’10 followed by posting another win for Brown with a 4-3 decision at 165 pounds. According to Burch, the weekend’s duals prove that the team’s young wrestlers, though still lacking in Division I experience, show great potential for further improvement.

As an upperclassman, Schell said he is attempting to fill the holes left by the injured senior captains.

“With the injured captains out for the season, I feel more pressure to perform better,” Schell said. “In the match against Army, I was more aggressive and less de-

W. squash ices Polar Bears, 9-0; m. squash crumbles in 6-3 loss

BY JASON HARRIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The men and women’s squash teams hosted Bowdoin College on Saturday at the Pizzitola Center, and both teams raced out to hot starts against the Polar Bears. The seventh-ranked women’s team held to form and recorded a resounding 9-0 shutout of the Polar Bears, but the men’s team faltered late with its 3-3 tie devolving into a 6-3 loss.

The women’s team pushed its record closer to the .500 mark with the win, to 4-4. The men’s squad dropped to 1-5.

Laura Pyne ’10 set the tone for the women’s team with a big win in the third match. Finding herself trailing two games to one after a 9-2 defeat in the third game, Pyne battled back and pulled out a 3-2 victory in which she dominated the final game, winning 9-0.

“Coming off a hard intersession, this win was really important because it gave us the confidence that we need moving ahead for the rest of the season,” Pyne said.

Tri-captain Erin Andrews ’07 helped finish off Bowdoin with a 3-1 victory in the No. 1 position. Andrews was pleased with the team’s play and said it would create some momentum for its next contest.

“This really helped us get ready for our match next week, which will be our toughest test all season,” Andrews said of next Friday’s match at Williams College.

“The players need to really

Ashley Hess / Herald File Photo

Mark Goldberg ’07 spotted Bowdoin’s Peter Cipriano a two-game lead before running off three straight wins to claim the match in Saturday’s competition.

pick up the intensity of the practices next week in order to compete well against Williams and Dartmouth ... two strong opponents,” said Head Coach Stuart LeGassick.

On the men’s side, things looked promising when Adam Greenberg ’10 won in the third match and Mark Goldberg ’07 finished off his opponent in the sixth match to force a 3-3 tie. Greenberg came back from a 2-1 deficit to win, outlasting his opponent in a hard-fought, five-game victory. Similarly, Goldberg dropped the first two games but won the next three games convincingly, 9-6, 9-0, 9continued on page 9

Ashley Hess / Herald File Photo

Brown suffered two setbacks this weekend, but Levon Mock ’08 pinned the nation’s 17th-ranked wrestler, Paul Weibel of No. 24 Lehigh, in just 1:52 on Saturday.

fensive. I executed my techniques well and was able to secure the win for the team.”

Gevelinger said a big problem the team faces is consistency, noting that he “wrestled very well against Lehigh but did not do well the next day against Army.”

Burch also noted the team’s inconsistency. “Right now, the coaches and the wrestlers are

working together to correct mistakes and yield better results in the future,” he said.

At the season’s halfway mark this weekend, the squad will face its first Ivy League opponents.

The Bears will wrestle the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University in Philadelphia on Friday and travel to Princeton on Saturday.

M. track struggles against Big Red

BY SARAH DEMERS ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

The men’s track team had its hands full on Saturday when it traveled to Cambridge to face Harvard and Cornell. Although the Bears put up several standout performances, the reigning Ivy League champion Big Red rolled to an easy victory. Brown finished in second place with 36 points, well behind Cornell’s 108 points but ahead of the Crimson’s 18.

“We need more depth and are recruiting hard to ensure this for the future,” said Director of Track and Field Craig Lake. “Cornell’s team is extremely large and loaded with talent. It is our goal to build a similar type of well-rounded program, and we are already on our way there.”

Although the Big Red could not be challenged in most events, the Bears managed to place a top-four finisher in 12 out of 15 events.

“The mentality for the meet was focus,” said sprinter Jamil McClintock ’08. “Personally, I was relaxed and I felt the whole men’s team felt the same.”

The day opened with Paul Raymond ’08, a two-sport specialist from the football team, racing to a second place finish in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.04 seconds. Next, McClintock posted a second-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles with an 8.22 second mark.

It became clear that silver would be the color of the day for Brown when Sean O’Brien ’09 ran to a second-place finish in the 800-meter run with a time

of 1:53.38 and Christian Escareno ’10 also put up a second-place showing in the 3,000-meter run, recording an 8:26.18. Chris Burke ’07 ran to a fourth-place finish in the same event with a time of 8:27.10.

Stephen Chaloner ’09 gave Brown some much-needed points with a first place finish in the mile event, with a time of 4:11.87. That was a personal best by almost nine seconds.

“It was fantastic to see (Chaloner) have a huge personal breakthrough and to run with such confidence and run to his potential,” Lake said. “He is an athlete that struggled a little in terms of adjusting to college, then was sidelined with illness.

Many in Steve’s situation might have given up or quit because he wasn’t one of our best, but instead (he) got tougher and really proved himself this weekend.”

Teammate Nick Sarro ’08 rounded out the scoring in that event with a fourth-place finish.

Though the Bears put out a relatively young squad in the meet, the team members feel the younger contributors are making major strides.

“With a limited amount of seniors, we do depend on a lot of underclassmen to contribute,” McClintock said. “In order to be successful as a team, we need them to step up and be consistent. At the same time, this team doesn’t lack leadership. People on the team know they are in a leadership position no matter what year they are.”

That mindset was evident continued on page 9