Thursday, March 15, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD T HURSDAY M ARCH 15, 2007

Volume CXLII, No. 35

Keeney vandalism damage tops $10k this year

Cardoso: Brazil is unique in Latin America

BY DEBBIE LEHMANN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

BY SCOTT LOWENSTEIN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Vandalism in Keeney Quadrangle has cost the University more than $10,000 so far this academic year.

The vandalism prompted a stern e-mail to all Keeney residents Wednesday from Russell Carey ’91 MA’06, interim vice president for campus life and student services, and Margaret Klawunn, associate vice president of campus life and dean for student life.

“Over the past two weeks there have been a number of incidents of vandalism in different areas of Keeney,” Carey and Klawunn wrote in the e-mail. “We are also concerned about the overall number of incidents of vandalism, violence and disruptive behavior related to alcohol in Keeney.”

“To date this academic year the damage caused by vandalism in Keeney alone has exceeded $10,000,” Carey and Klawunn wrote.

The e-mail to Keeney residents referred to two specific incidents of vandalism in the last two weeks. In one incident, bathroom stall walls were removed from a Poland House bathroom and left in a hallway. “The Office of Student Life is following up on the Poland bathroom vandalism incident with judicial action,” Carey and Klawunn wrote.

More recently, tiles in Archibald House were ripped from the ceiling. ““There is no information yet about who is responsible although we have asked for your cooperation in identifying those who might have caused this damage,” the administrators wrote.

“I think they signal in a big way that somebody or some group has not respected the space of other people,” Klawunn told The Herald.

“Nobody likes to go into a bathroom, and certainly not if it’s been ripped up. … But even to go in and see that somebody has vomited in the showers, which is one that I keep hearing about, no one wants to go in and have to live in that.”

Klawunn said the vandalism is part of student life officials’ broader concerns about Keeney.

“If we look across the campus, larger incidents that are significant community disruptions … including sexual assaults, bias incidents and fights, as well as vandalism that happens on a more regular basis, a number for those incidents have occurred in and around Keeney Quad this year,” Klawunn said.

“We have tried to target the problem in a bunch of different ways so that people get the feeling that, ‘It’s my community and I don’t want this to happen here,’ ” Klawunn said.

In addition to sending an e-mail to all Keeney residents about the vandalism problem, University ofcontinued on page 10

INSIDE:

postINSIDE

Chaz Firestone / Herald The tunnels under Wriston Quadrangle were designated as nuclear bomb shelters in the 1960s. Mystery still surrounds them today.

The truth about Brown’s tunnels

BY CHAZ FIRESTONE SENIOR STAFF WRITER

FEATURE

With stories of robberies, pranks and even rape coloring their history, the tunnels running beneath Brown’s campus are sites of wellworn rumors about the University.

But few know the truth about the intricate system of passageways and crawlspaces that snake their way beneath campus buildings, fields and quadrangles. Students have fabricated and exaggerated some details — and have forgotten others.

“I’ve heard that around Wriston, all of the buildings are connected by underground tunnels,” said Kurt Roediger ’07. “But the administration closed them off because of muggings and rapes.”

“There are tunnels under Keeney,” said Molly Cohen ’09.

“They’re really hot and muddy, though.”

Roediger and Cohen have never been able to verify or deny

these rumors. They may have seen a mysterious door or poked their heads through an entrance, but most of their information has come from friends and upperclassmen who pass on fantastical tales of a subterranean world.

“Students have big imaginations,” said Jim Coen, director of maintenance and service operations for Facilities Management.

“But there is some truth to what they say.”

History and origins Most tunnels beneath the campus were constructed during the University’s significant physical expansion spanning from the 1940s to the 1960s.

Of the four main passages confirmed by Coen — under Wriston Quadrangle, Andrews Hall, Keecontinued on page 10

Asserting that Brazil is part of Latin America but strives to be “a little bit more than Latin America,” former Brazilian president and Professor-at-Large Fernando Henrique Cardoso spoke to a packed MacMillan 117 Wednesday night.

Cardoso’s lecture — titled “Brazil: A Latin American Nation?” — was part of the “Brazil at Brown” lecture series organized by the Department of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies and the Department of Latin American Studies. To come up with the theme for Cardoso’s speech, the departments tried to choose a topic that addressed not only political and economic issues but cultural ones as well, said Associate Professor of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies Luiz Valente, who moderated the event.

It has been difficult in the past for Brazil to “realize the meaning of being a Latin American country,” Cardoso said, partly because of the nation’s different culture and language. He also noted that Brazil is set apart from other nations in the region by its “strong state apparatus” capable of enforcing order and maintaining unity.

Cardoso, echoing a novelist, said Brazil and Latin America are like brothers joined at the shoulders.

“We’re together, but without looking at our faces,” Cardoso said. “This is the way we have been as nations since our independence.”

Cardoso said Brazil was unified in the past by its traditional Portuguese language, culture and institutions, as well as by its large size and clear borders. But globalization has changed much of this, he said.

“Globalization has created a nightmare because the very concept of borderlines of nations is under attack,” Cardoso said. Consequently, he said, some parts of Brazil have become more integrated with other areas of the world, while some regions of the country remain more isolated.

Cardoso said Brazil is different from many Latin-American countries because it is “not confronting globalization in a similar way.”

“I’m not saying that Brazil is less Latin American because it is much more integrated with Europe or China or the USA,” he said. But he said Brazilians are “much more closed” to Latin continued on page 8

Eunice Hong / Herald Former Brazilian president and Professor-at-Large Fernando Henrique Cardoso addressed a crowded MacMillan Hall Wednesday night.

Student-athletes miss out on March Madness brackets

BY ZACHARY CHAPMAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

As March Madness begins today, scores of Brown students will be poring over their tournament brackets on Facebook, hoping that their chances of winning the site’s $25,000 grand prize aren’t dashed by an unexpected first-day upset.

But a large segment of the Brown population is precluded from participating in Facebook’s bracket or other contests involving monetary bets on the tournament. Due to NCAA regulations

NEW TREND SWEEPS CAMPUS This may or may not be true.

Post- investigates this claim, eats chicken with- at Jo’s and gets all up in Machine Head’s grill. What?

www.browndailyherald.com

Since 1866, Daily Since 1891

3 METRO

regarding gambling on intercollegiate athletics, Brown studentathletes cannot enter Facebook’s pool without risking suspension from their team or a permanent ban on playing.

Sarah Fraser, Brown’s assistant athletic director for compliance, said the University has been stepping up its efforts to educate athletes about the rules for gambling on college sports in conjunction with the beginning of March Madness.

On March 7, Fraser sent a memo to all student-athletes and Department of Athletics staff —

GOODBYE ARNOLD Welcome Arnold, the largest homeless shelter in the state, will close its doors this morning, stranding a number of homeless people

11 OPINIONS

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

who are bound by many of the same rules as student-athletes — warning them about the risks of participating in gambling.

SPORTS In 2003, then University of Washington head football coach Rick Neuheisel was fired after it was revealed that he participated in two high-stakes NCAA basketball pools. Neuheisel admitted to spending over $11,000 in NCAA pools in 2002 and 2003.

Fraser’s memo explained that the NCAA considers “any contest RESURRECTING ROTC Brian Barbata ’68, an alum who participated in the Navy ROTC as an undergrad, argues that liberally berally educated army officers will help America

related to NCAA basketball tournaments that costs anything to enter or offers a prize” an impermissible form of gambling. The memo stated NCAA bylaw 10.3 as well as Brown Department of Athletics policies that prohibit student-athletes and athletics department staff — including volunteer staff and student workers — from “placing, soliciting or accepting bets, or otherwise participating in any gambling activity related to intercollegiate athletics and its professional counterparts.”

12 SPORTS

continued on page 11 FENCING TO NATIONALS The fencing team sent two players to the NCAA National Collegiate Fencing Championshops this weekend — Randy Alevi ’10 and Dan Mahoney ’07

News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com

TODAY THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

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WE A

T H E R

TODAY

THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 2007

Chocolate Covered Cotton | Mark Brinker TOMORROW

snow 35 / 29

rain 54 / 33

MEN SHARPE REFECTORY

U VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALL

LUNCH — Santa Rosa Calzone, Grilled Ham and Swiss Sandwich, Savory Spinach, Vegan Tofu Ravioli with Sauce, French Toast, Canadian Bacon, Cheesecake Brownies

LUNCH — Vegetarian Six Bean Soup, Minestrone Soup, Hot Roast Beef on French Bread, Vegan Tofu Ravioli with Sauce, Summer Squash, Vegetarian Six Bean Soup, Cheesecake Brownies

DINNER — Vegetarian Gnocchi a la Sometina, Italian Bread, Pizza Rustica, Roast Turkey with Sauce, Mashed Sweet and White Potatoes, Carrots Vichy, Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Frosting

DINNER — Turkey Cutlet with Herbed Lemon Sauce, Pasta Spinach Casserole, Braised Cauliflower, Roasted Butternut Risotto with Leeks, Italian Bread, Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Frosting

SU

WBF | Matt Vascellaro

D O K U

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

Hi, How Are You | Alison Naturale

Deo | Daniel Perez

CR ACROSS 1 Half half 8 19th-century humorist Ward 15 Abby and Martha’s poison of choice, in a 1939 play 16 Warmup acts 17 Kennedy designer 18 It’s usually used in twos 19 Mail destination 21 Carnival city 22 E-mail datum, perhaps 23 Make a mess of 28 It may be seeded 30 PayPal parent company 34 Suellen, Carreen or Scarlett 35 Rout 37 Mickey was her first husband 38 “Wobegon Boy” author 41 Breadbasket, so to speak 42 Fiber used for fishing nets 43 Substituted (for) 44 Pole or Croat 46 “The Princess Diaries” author Cabot 47 San Francisco State team 48 White House moniker 50 “I will speak daggers to __, but use none”: Hamlet 52 Single past short, e.g.

59 Celebrated 60 Polish site 62 Globe, for one 63 Bypassed 64 Squirrels away 65 UPS Store clients DOWN 1 “Tic __ Dough” 2 Trendy lunch 3 Bologna bone 4 Harry’s wife

O S S W O R D

5 Ltr. of approval?

6 Cassiterite, e.g.

7 Genre of many a movie with “star” in its title 8 Jai __ 9 ’60s Fontella Bass hit 10 Slender candle 11 Fit to be fried 12 Spanish surrealist 13 Windows alternative 14 IRS W-4 info 20 About half a month 23 Hall of Famer whose 3,000th hit was a homer 24 Penske rival 25 Kristen of “Lost in Space” 26 Chilly response 27 Hibernation habitation 29 Team connection 31 Heroic 1920s sled dog 32 To have, in Tours 33 Fish stories 35 Vague number

36 Italian tourist city 39 “Ditto” 40 Trop. of Cancer, for one 45 Scenic views 47 Smooth routine 49 “Countdown” host Olbermann 51 Jones and James 52 Bangkok bread 53 Focus of study

54 Time to beware 55 Clinton adviser Panetta 56 Seat of Oklahoma’s Garfield County 57 Blow over 58 Stadium section 59 Cream buys: Abbr.

61 Joseph Smith’s denom.

Deep Fried Kittens | Cara FitzGibbon

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Cloudy Side Up | Mike Lauritano

xwordeditor@aol.com

3/15/07

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once in July by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. POSTMASTER please send corrections to

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By Kelsey Blakley (c)2007 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

3/15/07

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 THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 2007

Homeless shelter closes doors, making way for police barracks

BY JESSICA ROTONDI STAFF WRITER

The state’s largest homeless shelter, Welcome Arnold, will close its doors this morning to make way for a new state police barracks at the Pastore complex in Cranston.

The state has made efforts to accommodate those who seek a bed there each evening, but a number of individuals don’t know where they will be sleeping tonight.

According to the Urban League of Rhode Island, the capacity of Welcome Arnold is 114, but “we don’t have a night where there have been over 100 people at the shelter,” said Noreen Shawcross, chief of housing and community development for Rhode Island.

But that figure was questioned

by Jim Ryczek, executive director of the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless and chair of the Implementation Committee — the committee assigned by the Office of Homelessness and Emergency Assistance to address the needs of Rhode Island’s homeless community — who said the number is not accurate.

“The nature of a night-to-night facility is that the 100 people staying there one night may be very

Jessica Rotondi / Herald Protestors demonstrate frustration with the closure of Cranston’s Welcome Arnold, the state’s largest homeless shelter.

different from the 100 people staying there the next night. There are more than 100 people that use the facility on a monthly basis.

We estimate between 150 and 200 people regularly use the facility,” he said.

On Monday, the Office of Housing and Community Development announced “Operation First Step,” a plan to replace the Welcome Arnold shelter with smaller, commu-

nity-based shelters.

“The biggest challenge has been doing this over a very short time frame,” Shawcross said. The state decided not to open another large contract shelter in December and began to make requests for alternate solutions in early January, she said. Housing placement decisions were made in late continued on page 6

Thayer improvements garner mixed response

BY ALEX ROEHRKASSE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Despite sidewalk restoration and clean-up efforts launched last year on Thayer Street, local business owners disagree about whether these improvements represent real progress in making the street a better place to do business.

The University and the city of Providence financed the $800,000 Thayer Street Improvement Project, which funded new street signs, trash receptacles and decorative crosswalks last year.

The Thayer Street District Management Authority — a coalition of the area’s commercial property owners, including Brown — will continue to manage the street’s upkeep, said Richard Spies, executive vice president for planning and senior adviser to the president.

Six months after construction began last September, business owners are offering mixed responses to the improvement project’s results.

Kenneth Dulgarian, director of the DMA and owner of several buildings on Thayer Street, includ-

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ing Avon Cinema, said given the difficulty rallying support around contributing cash for improvements, the project was a success.

“Overall, I’m very pleased. It takes a little time to turn a cruise ship around,” he said.

But some business owners feel that the improvement project promised more than it delivered.

“I thought it was over-packaged

“We’re not trying to make Thayer Street Rodeo Drive.”

Abigail Rider Director of Real Estate and Administrative Services and over-presented,” said Al Read, owner of Nice Slice. “It looked like general maintenance that was passed off as improvements.”

Others had hoped for greater infrastructural improvements as part of the project.

“As far as I’m concerned, what should have been done was bury

the utilities, widen the sidewalks and address parking for the Thayer Street business community,” said Ed Bishop ’54, who participates on the DMA board of directors as a member of the public and insures several businesses on Thayer Street. Such improvements, he estimated, would have cost around $2.5 million.

Dulgarian suggested that big projects like constructing a parking garage or widening the sidewalks could still be part of the DMA’s future plans, but he emphasized that improvement is a step-by-step process.

“There are different phases as to how something progresses.

We’ve just articulated one phase,” Dulgarian said, adding that the DMA has hired architectural consultants to advise the organization on how it can be creative in its improvements.

The DMA set aside $10,000 of its 2007 budget for professional parking consultation.

Abigail Rider, Brown’s director of real estate and administrative continued on page 4

East Side residents seek to revive Nathan Bishop MS

BY NANDINI JAYAKRISHNA CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The East Side Public Education Coalition — a group of parents and residents on Providence’s East Side — hopes to reopen Nathan Bishop Middle School, which closed a year ago following dropping student enrollment, by the fall of 2009.

The coalition has gained the support of Donnie Evans, superintendent of the Providence Public School District, in its bid to revive Nathan Bishop, which had been the only public middle school on the East Side. Now, it must present a concrete action plan to the Rhode Island Department of Education in order to receive funding to renovate or rebuild the school.

Thomas Schmeling, a member of the coalition, said Nathan Bishop was undergoing “a crisis” and failing to meet its academic goals before it closed. He said enrollments decreased because parents didn’t want to send their kids to a school where “things were so out of control.”

“It was a disaster,” he said.

“Students were roaming the halls and cursing at teachers.”

A total of 59 Nathan Bishop graduates attended Hope High School for the 2003-2004 school year. But by the 2006-2007 school year, only 30 graduates attended Hope High, said school district spokeswoman Maria Tocco.

Sam Zurier, a member of a committee appointed by Evans to deal with Nathan Bishop, said he is optimistic that “a high-quality school will bring kids back.”

Rich said the city has now hired an architect to determine whether the building needs renovation, rebuilding or a hybrid of both.

The design subcommittee of the Nathan Bishop committee has proposed a “non-exclusive academic program” with regular as well as advanced courses to cater to students with different needs and abilities, Schmeling said. Zurier said the new academic program would be “attractive” to parents who want advanced courses to be offered at the middle school level.

Students could also be drawn to the school because of its reduced size — the new school would have only 600 students compared to its former enrollment of 850.

Denise Carpenter, director of middle schools for the school district, said she has “no doubt” that the effort to reopen Nathan Bishop will be successful. A planning

committee of parents, teachers and district office staff will be appointed to oversee “what goes on at Nathan Bishop,” she said.

A new Nathan Bishop would require “a dedicated principal with vision, teaching staff, good management and advisories,” said Harlan Rich, associate professor of medicine, also a member of the coalition.

Zurier said, before the school reopens, its building must be either renovated or entirely rebuilt.

Renovation will cost $35 million, and rebuilding will require $23 million, not including demolition costs, Schmeling said.

Members of the coalition and officials from both the school district and the state Department of Education emphasized the importance of Brown’s involvement with Nathan Bishop, if and when it reopens.

“We would definitely like Brown to be involved in both the academics and the administration of Nathan Bishop,” Schmeling said.

Carpenter said she would like to have “members from Brown and other institutions” serve on the planning committee for Nathan Bishop when it reopens.

Elliot Krieger, a spokesman for the Department of Education, said schools like Nathan Bishop would welcome financial resources and “the expertise of faculty and students” from the University.

Lamont Gordon ’93, director of education outreach, said though the University does not have any specific plans yet, it would “be open to (getting) more involved given that (Nathan Bishop) is on the East Side.”

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THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 2007

Business owners mixed on Thayer Street improvement efforts continued from page 3 services, said such larger capital improvements were “financially not possible.” The goal of the project, she said, is to make the area — already a commercial success — a little nicer.

Some parts of the project have not been completed. Trees will be planted and planter boxes will be installed in the spring, and unfinished decorative crosswalks will be completed when daytime temperatures are warm enough — 75 degrees, Bishop said — to make impressions in the street.

Thayer Street property owners also contribute money toward improvements to Thayer Street through the DMA. Approved by the City Council in January 2006, the DMA is authorized to levy a tax of up to 5 percent on the district’s commercial properties in order to finance utility maintenance, infrastructure development and landscaping on Thayer Street.

In addition to the commercial property taxes, the University donated about a quarter of the DMA’s $80,000 budget last year, Rider said. That budget, she said, is mostly spent on sanitation, graffiti removal and street washing.

“We’re not trying to make Thayer Street Rodeo Drive,” said Rider, who added that basic steps like improving facades and planning events could go a long way toward sprucing up the area.

“I think the board of the (DMA) is hoping that the merchants will kind of wake up, because some self-help is a good thing too,” Rider said.

Some business owners are pleased with what they call a cleaner Thayer Street, while others seem quick to criticize the efforts of the DMA. “I won’t be part of it because there’s nothing that gets done,” said Chooky DeBeaulieu, owner of the fabric and gift boutique Yang’s.

In addition to overseeing the upkeep of Thayer Street, the DMA is an important link between the business community and the University, Spies said.

“We thought of the district management authority not just as a way to get particular things done but to have a regular dialogue with the property owners and the mer-

chants on Thayer Street,” he said.

A concern voiced by owners of Thayer Street businesses is that the DMA’s additional property tax has been handed down to them by landlords in the form of higher rent.

“The small guy can’t afford it,” DeBeaulieu said, adding that she has considered closing her business as her rent has increased. She said the old, collegiate character of Thayer Street is fading because only corporate franchises can afford to rent property in the area.

A similar organization of commercial property owners in downtown Providence banded together two years ago. The Downtown Improvement District has funded a full-time staff of 20 yellow-clad street workers — who make up “clean” and “safety” teams — to patrol an 81-square-block area.

“We’re fortunate to have quite a concentration of valuable buildings,” said Frank LaTorre, director of public space for the downtown district. Concentrated wealth, he said, is key to raising enough revenue to make things happen.

LaTorre said he lobbies frequently on behalf of the district in order to raise extra money from the city. Johnson & Wales University also contributes to the Downtown Improvement District, he added.

“The nonprofits don’t have to pay in, and yet ironically they’re our largest rate-payer because they saw the good of this,” LaTorre said.

The University has no plans for another capital contribution on the same scale as its $400,000 donation last year, Spies said, but he added that such considerations are not out of the question.

As for the functionality of the DMA in addressing Thayer Street’s needs, Spies said he hopes that early difficulties won’t hinder its ability to get things done in the future.

“I hope people won’t rush to judgment and say that it can’t work just because it isn’t working as well as they’d like right now,” he said.

Bishop, who is developing plans to build a 125-room hotel on Brook and Meeting streets, said despite business owners’ frustration, the DMA is a good thing.

“I think they have — oh, let’s say, lots of challenges,” he said.

beware the ides of march

C AMPUS N EWS THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 2007

AT T I T U D E S T O WA R D A B O R T I O N

New FAQ calms grad student concerns

BY OLIVER BOWERS SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Chris Bennett / Herald National Review Senior Editor Ramesh Ponnuru spoke Wednesday evening about the repercussions of the landmark court case Roe v. Wade. In the lecture, which was sponsored by the College Republicans, Ponnuru suggested that a variety of polls and media outlets portray more positive views about abortion than individuals may actually hold. The speech drew on themes developed in his 2006 book “The Party of Death.”

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UCS to track member voting records The Undergraduate Council of Students voted Wednesday night to change its internal code to maintain a public record of all members’ votes on all non-unanimous resolutions. The new language also provides for making this information available on the UCS Web site.

“I think it’s really good in a general sense to have a record of transparency in student government,” UCS Vice President Tristan Freeman ’07 told The Herald. Freeman, who wrote and introduced the code change, said there wasn’t a specific incident that sparked the need for the amendment and that it was “more of a principle decision.”

Freeman added that he hoped people would hold their UCS representatives more accountable with their voting records easily available.

The amendment was passed unanimously and was only briefly discussed.

The council also approved an amendment to modify a code that required leaders of student organizations to e-mail a draft of their group’s constitution to the UCS student activities chair two days in advance of meetings about its funding status. It is now at the discretion of the student activities chair whether to mandate this practice, instead of being automatically required.

Two more code changes were introduced but not voted on at the hour-long meeting last night. One amendment would reduce, from 48 hours to 24 hours, the amount of time that organizations seeking to endorse candidates in UCS elections must e-mail their endorsement in advance to the election board. The other would change the office of UCS appointments chair from an internally elected position to a position voted on by the student body.

Also at last night’s meeting, UCS approved Engineers Without Borders for Category III status, as well as the appointment of Zachary Townsend ’09 to the University Resources Committee. Townsend is a former UCS vice president and former Herald opinions columnist.

— Michael Bechek

Approximately 70 doctoral students in their sixth year at Brown will receive funding for the 20072008 academic year once a new structure for doctoral support — which guarantees only five years of support — is put in place this fall.

That figure was included in a list of frequently asked questions on the Graduate School Web site, following up on questions raised at a packed Feb. 28 meeting, during which graduate students discussed the new plan with Dean of the Graduate School Sheila Bonde and other officials.

Bonde wrote in an e-mail to The Herald that the meeting at the end of February and the posting of the FAQ were intended to help clear some of the confusion surrounding the stipend plan, as were meetings with Graduate Student Council representatives.

The FAQ is meant to be “interactive,” she wrote, meaning that as students continue to send in questions, they will be posted with answers.

“The uneasiness seems to be about change, which is often hard, and misinformation — and there the way to assuage anxiety is through real information, hence the FAQ and fora,” she wrote.

Grad students told The Herald that the forum and FAQ are good steps toward improving communi-

cation, but that more is needed.

Joseph Bush GS, the president of the GSC, said the forum and FAQ were effective ways of addressing student concerns, but he added that more information is still needed.

“I think that the forum was a valuable tool for the administration to develop an understanding of the concerns graduate students are facing. The FAQ was a start,” he wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. “I feel that there still needs to be more formal notification to the graduate community as a whole regarding the pay structure changes as well as for incoming classes.”

Paige Meltzer GS — who, along with other grad students in the history department, questioned the plan for doctoral support in a Feb. 7 letter to the editor in The Herald — wrote in an e-mail to The Herald that the FAQ has answered “a lot of specifics about certain aspects of the policy.”

Meltzer added, however, that some issues have yet to be resolved. She expressed concern that students have no way to judge their chances of receiving funding after their fi fth year because students are ranked within their departments but not within the whole Grad School.

The FAQ and forum addressed questions about support for grad students in the context of the new stipend program, set to go into effect next academic year. The plan has stirred controversy among

grad students worried about a possible lack of funding for studies continuing beyond the five years guaranteed by the new program.

But the 70 sixth-year doctoral candidates set to receive University funding next year are “the same number of same-stage students who are being supported this year and were supported last year. This number is also based on our meetings with departments and programs and meets, we think, the total outstanding need,” the FAQ states.

The FAQ said, since 2004, the average time to a Ph.D. at Brown has been 6.67 years — longer than the five years guaranteed in the new funding plan. But it noted that, “In reality, students have been supported for longer than five years in the past and will, we expect, continue to be supported past five years in the future.”

However, the FAQ said the University cannot make open-ended funding commitments — “Brown cannot simply declare that doctoral students will be funded for as long as it takes them to complete their degrees,” it reads.

The plan for doctoral support will guarantee five years of tuition remission and healthcare coverage to all doctoral students in good standing as well as a stipend of $18,000 to students who become teaching assistants or research assistants or who enter into fellowcontinued on page 9

ResCouncil recommends modified squatting policy

BY JOY NEUMEYER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Residential Council has made a recommendation to the Office of Residential Life to broaden the guidelines for squatting, a practice that allows rising seniors to remain in their current living spaces for the coming year.

Currently, at least two-thirds of the room or suite’s occupants must be rising seniors and declare intent to keep the space for the following year in order to squat.

Under the new proposed guidelines, students can squat if at least half the students in the room or suite are rising seniors and the remainder of spaces in the suite are

filled by rising seniors. ResLife is expected to approve the new policy, which would take effect next year.

ResCouncil is “easing up on their own policy … which is great,” said Richard Bova, senior associate dean of residential life.

Although he said the new policy cannot be implemented this year because it wasn’t proposed before Super Deadline Day on March 6 — the deadline for rising seniors to apply to squat — Bova said he will evaluate the new guidelines as soon as he receives a written proposal later this spring.

Bova said he expects to approve the change “in plenty of time” for it to take effect next

spring. “I think it’s an excellent idea, and I will investigate it fully with them,” he said.

Students who live in a Greek or program house are ineligible to squat because those rooms are part of the house’s internal lottery. Students are also barred from squatting in residence halls that are designated as special-interest or sophomore-only housing for the coming year.

Students approved to squat cannot enter the housing lottery and cannot store their belongings in their room during the summer.

ResCouncil Chair Justin Glavis-Bloom ’07 said squatting policontinued on page 6

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

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THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 2007

Homeless facility closure could leave many without shelter continued from page 3 January.

Ryczek says the state has “not been having much luck” placing Welcome Arnold residents in other facilities. “It has been pushed off and pushed off. They are replacing 100 beds with 100 beds in the community. I commend that decision — it was our idea. But our idea didn’t include just 100 beds.

The facility doesn’t represent 100 people.”

In a June 9, 2006, press release, Governor Donald Carcieri ’65 said, “I have pledged to ensure that every individual using that facility is accommodated before construction begins.”

But, Ryczek said, according to an official count conducted by the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless Monday morning, there are 48 people who have applied for housing and have not been referred.

“I don’t know if I agree with those numbers, I don’t know where they came from,” Shawcross said.

“It is a very mobile population. We will have 12 women counted at one meeting, and by the next, six have disappeared. I don’t think it is that cut and dry,” she said.

Shawcross said she plans to be at Crossroads of Rhode Island, a major Providence shelter, today and tomorrow to “assess further need.”

“The program that the state is funding is 95 beds,” Ryczek said. “I have trouble balancing my checkbook, but even I know that 95 is less than 100.”

Shawcross said the state had two major priorities when deciding eligibility for a replacement bed — placing people who have been staying at Welcome Arnold almost every night and women. The homeless are often housed in facilities that separate them by sex, and there are traditionally fewer beds for women.

“Operation First Step is a better way of providing assistance to people, a better level of case management and a greater level of dignity than can be provided in any large night-by-night shelter,” Shawcross said.

Operation First Step will place former residents of Welcome Arnold at several locations, including Crossroads of Rhode Island, which is providing a 20-bed emergency assessment shelter, and 20 beds each at Amos House of Providence and the Mental Health Consumer Advocates of Rhode Island in Providence, Ryczek said. The latter program will place women in a rented house and men in four rented apartments, Ryczek said.

Ryczek commended the governor’s decision to switch to a community-based program, adding that it gives residents more stability and more access to case managers.

Yet he says there is still work to be done. “With Welcome Arnold’s closing this Thursday, there will be no night-to-night shelter in Rhode Island,” he said.

“If a new woman comes into Crossroads and all these beds are filled up, there is nowhere for her to go. … Forty-eight people have

nowhere to go Thursday night,” he said.

“We have no long list of demands. All we ask is that you keep Welcome Arnold open until everyone has a bed,” said Dave St. Germain — “Doc” to his fellow residents at Welcome Arnold shelter.

“I was there when Welcome Arnold opened 15 years ago. I once said, ‘I was there when Welcome Arnold opened, and I expect I’ll be there the day it closes,’ ” he said.

St. Germain admits that conditions at Welcome Arnold were far from ideal. Up to 20 people were housed per room at Welcome Arnold, St. Germain said.

“The shelter opens at 5 p.m. At 5:30 a.m. you wake up. You must be out the door by 6:30 a.m. every single morning. There are uncomfortable beds with bedbugs and other rodents in the room,” he said. “The toilets don’t have doors. How can you live with dignity when you have to sh*t with the door open?”

St. Germain will have a place to sleep after Thursday — he has been placed in a studio apartment by the Riverwood program, a pilot program that recently placed 50 homeless people in apartments.

“In the end, it is about dignity, respect and common sense,” said Elizabeth Ochs ’07.5, co-chair of Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere. “We would not ask someone with a home to leave their home without a place to go. This is also the case for the residents of Welcome Arnold, some of whom have lived there for many years.”

“In the long term, the goal is not to keep Welcome Arnold open

indefinitely,” Ochs said, citing the issues of dignity and cleanliness addressed by St. Germain. “The way to get out of homelessness is to give people a place to stay with supportive service simultaneously,” Ochs said.

Members of HOPE have been meeting with residents of Welcome Arnold to do organizing work, spread the word about rallies and aid them in filling out applications for alternate housing once the facility closes. “So many of the problems in the state dealing with homelessness come back to the issue of communication,” Ochs said.

“I feel like a lot of problems would not have come to this stage if there was better communication.”

HOPE helped to organize a rally at the State House Wednesday afternoon. Organizers, students and members of the homeless community set up tents on the State House lawn. Several members of the homeless community said they planned to sleep in these tents in protest last night.

Eric Windehal — who was not assigned housing by “Operation First Step” — said he planned to occupy one of those tents last night. “I am a decorated veteran and I had to sleep in a dumpster last night. There is something wrong with that,” he said.

Protesters marched to the State House yesterday chanting, “Governor Carcieri, keep your promise,” and then maintained a silent vigil inside, holding a banner quoting Gov. Carcieri’s 2006 pledge to accommodate all residents before construction began.

Squatting change recommended continued from page 5 cies can “limit the fairness of the lottery” since desired rooms “aren’t up for grabs every year” if students are allowed to keep the same room for two years. But, he said, “if we can help people find rooms outside of the lottery, it makes it that much easier for everyone.”

Glavis-Bloom said he thinks the new policy strikes “a balance between allowing people to squat … and making sure people don’t hang onto” popular rooms.

Housing Officer Chad Mank said ResLife has received requests from 14 juniors to squat for the upcoming year.

Evan Kalish ’08, who plans to squat, said, “As (someone living in) a single, I absolutely loved the process” of squatting. He said the broader new policy “would be a shame if and only if it takes housing options away from people in the lottery” who are interested in living in such popular dorms as Barbour Hall and Young Orchard. If the new policy causes inconvenience for those still in the lottery, the new guidelines could be “a bit of a negative change,” he said.

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Senate budget plan expands heath care WASHINGTON (Washington Post) — Senate Democrats unveiled a spending blueprint Tuesday that envisions a massive expansion of the nation’s health insurance program for children, as well as billions of additional dollars for other domestic priorities such as public education, veterans’ health care and local police.

Despite the additional spending, Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said the Democratic budget proposal would virtually erase the federal deficit within four years without raising taxes and produce a surplus of $132 billion by 2012.

Under that scenario, Conrad said, Congress could extend President Bush’s signature tax cuts past their 2010 expiration date and halt the expansion of the alternative minimum tax, but only if sufficient revenues were raised elsewhere to cover the cost of about $800 billion over five years.

“We believe some of the tax cuts will be extended. Perhaps all of them will be,” Conrad said during a late-afternoon briefing for reporters at his Capitol Hill office. “You can extend any or all of them, if you pay for them.”

Conrad was vague on details of how that might be accomplished. Possible sources for the extra cash, he said, include improving taxpayer compliance, eliminating offshore tax havens and conducting a top-to-bottom overhaul of the nation’s tax system.

Soldiers testify against leader in Iraq case FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (Los Angeles Times) — The central fact in the court-martial of Staff Sgt. Raymond Girouard is undisputed: Three unarmed Iraqi men detained during an operation northwest of Baghdad on May 9 were shot and killed.

Precisely how and why those three Iraqis ended up dead formed the core of opening arguments Tuesday in a complex case that has pitted members of a 101st Airborne Division squad against one another.

A military prosecutor told a seven-member Army jury that Girouard, the squad leader, ordered his men to cut loose the detainees and shoot them as they fled. The prosecutor, Capt. Joseph Mackey, said Girouard then conspired to stage the murder scene to make it appear that the detainees had attacked soldiers guarding them.

“This is a case of fact versus fiction,” Mackey said. “The facts will reveal that Staff Sgt. Girouard orchestrated, planned and had his subordinates carry out the murders of three Iraqi detainees.”

Girouard’s civilian attorney, Anita Gorecki, flatly denied that he gave any such order. Two soldiers who actually killed the detainees — “the trigger-pullers,” she said — have falsely implicated Girouard in order to receive reduced sentences under plea bargains, she said.

“What you will hear out of them will be fiction,” Gorecki said.

The “trigger pullers,” Pvt. William Hunsaker and PFC Corey Clagett, testified Tuesday that Girouard told them to cut off the detainee’s plastic zip ties, order them to run, then shoot them. Minutes later, they said, they killed the men.

The soldiers first told investigators that they fired in self-defense after the detainees attacked them and tried to flee.

Mugabe opposition seeks to harness outrage over beating of party leader JOHANNESBURG, S. Africa (Los Angeles Times) — Zimbabwean police ordered opposition lawmaker Nelson Chamisa to lie on the ground Sunday afternoon and then kicked, punched and whipped him and beat him with batons, he said.

But the brutality Chamisa suffered, he said, was mild compared with what he saw meted out to party leader Morgan Tsvangirai in an incident that has sparked outrage in Zimbabwe and around the world.

Police had broken up a major opposition rally in Highfield, a township west of the capital, Harare, and began attacking Chamisa and other opposition figures at a police station. When Tsvangirai arrived, more than 20 officers — some in uniform, others not — directed their fury at him, Chamisa said.

Over the next 20 minutes, police attacked Tsvangirai with such ferocity that he collapsed on three occasions, apparently unconscious, Chamisa recounted in an interview from Harare on Wednesday. At one point, police dumped water on Tsvangirai to revive him, then resumed beating him. They also hurled Tsvangirai, 55, a beefy former union activist, against the wall, Chamisa said.

“You are a traitor!” the police shouted at Tsvangirai, according to Chamisa. “We are going to kill you today!”

Tsvangirai did not respond, nor did he shout out from the pain, Chamisa said. “He’s a strong man.”

The beatings have fueled anger that activists are working to fashion into a sustained anti-government campaign against President Robert Mugabe, 83. The outrage, both domestically and from international leaders, has developed into the most serious threat in several years to his almost 27 years in power.

The police attacks began as leaders of Zimbabwe’s fractured opposition gathered to launch a new “Save Zimbabwe” campaign.

Sept. 11 mastermind confesses, U.S. says

BY PETER SPIEGEL LOS ANGELES T IMES

WASHINGTON — Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the Kuwaiti national who is believed to be the highestranking al-Qaida operative in U.S. custody, told a military tribunal in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, last weekend that he was responsible for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to a transcript of the hearing.

In a written statement read to the three-officer panel, Mohammed claimed he was al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden’s “operational leader” for the “9/11 Operation,” responsible for the “organizing, planning, follow-up, and execution” of the plot.

“I was responsible for the 9/11 Operation, from A to Z,” Mohammed said, according to the transcript, which was released by the Pentagon Wednesday night.

Mohammed was present at the hourlong, closed-door hearing held on Saturday, and he interjected frequently in slightly broken English.

His admission was read to the tribunal by an Air Force lieutenant colonel who was serving as his personal representative.

But Mohammed gave a lengthy,

apparently spontaneous speech in which he likened al-Qaida operatives to American revolutionaries, described a war against a dominating U.S. presence and even expressed a measure of remorse.

“I’m not happy that 3,000 been killed in America,” he said, according to the transcript. “I feel sorry, even. I don’t like to kill children and the kids. Never Islam are give me green light to kill people. Killing, as in the Christianity, Jews, and Islam, are prohibited.”

In his 31-point statement, Mohammed claimed responsibility for a wide range of terrorist plots — including the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, the 2002 bombings of nightclubs in Bali, Indonesia, and the so-called “shoe bomber” plot to down U.S. airliners traveling across the Atlantic.

He said he took part in plans to kill former Presidents Carter and Clinton, as well as the late Pope John Paul II. Mohammed in the past has made similar claims about his involvement in attacks. The Sept.

11 commission report, published three years ago, cited several interrogation reports compiled by U.S. intelligence agencies in which Mo-

hammed described his role in the attacks in great detail. In addition, the trial of alleged al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui last year included statements by Mohammed that were read to jurors, in which he described his role in several other terrorist plots.

But Saturday’s hearing was the first time Mohammed has faced any U.S. legal proceeding since he was captured in Pakistan in March 2003. And it was the first time he was allowed to freely discuss U.S. allegations without interrogators present. He used the opportunity to present charges that he had been tortured by his U.S. captors, and attempted to portray himself as a mere soldier fighting a war of independence.

“What I wrote here, is not I’m making myself hero, when I said I was responsible for this or that,” Mohammad said, addressing the U.S. Navy captain who presided over the tribunal. “You are military man. You know very well there are language for any war.”

None of the military officers who participated were named, a common practice in the tribunals that is intended to prevent any possible retribution.

Bush ‘not happy’ with handling of fired attorneys

BY RICHARD B. SCHMITT AND RICHARD SIMON LOS ANGELES T IMES

WASHINGTON — President Bush said Wednesday he is “not happy” about how the Justice Department handled the dismissal of eight U.S. attorneys last year, and said Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has “got some work up there” in better explaining the events to Congress.

“Mistakes were made, and I’m frankly not happy about it,” Bush said during a joint news conference with Mexican President Felipe Calderon in Merida, Mexico.

Hours later, Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire became the first Republican in Congress to call for Gonzales’ dismissal, telling the Associated Press: “I think the president should replace him.”

Gonzales acknowledged that “mistakes were made” in the dismissal of eight U.S. attorneys last year, but he rejected calls for his resignation from Democrats incensed by fresh evidence that the Bush administration testified inaccurately about its role in the controversy.

Noting that U.S. attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president, Bush said that what Gonzales did in firing the prosecutors was “appropriate. What was mishandled was the explanation of the cases to the Congress, and Al’s got some work to do up there.” The increasing pressure on Gonzales to resign coincided with the House Judiciary Committee’s release of e-mails between Justice Department officials and the White House detailing a quiet two-year campaign to oust U.S. attorneys who had fallen out of favor with the administration.

The e-mails undercut the sworn congressional testimony of several Justice Department officials, including Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty, the department’s No. 2 official, about the circumstances of the departures. The release of the messages put the White House and the Justice Department on the defensive and fueled the burgeoning controversy on Capitol Hill.

On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee stepped up its investigation into the dismissals as well, sending letters seeking cooperation from past and present

White House officials, including Bush’s top political strategist, Karl Rove. The panel also sent letters to Gonzales and to White House counsel Fred F. Fielding seeking documents relating to the firings.

Gonzales sought to contain the firestorm at a hastily called news briefing Tuesday, accepting responsibility for the ouster of the eight prosecutors and acknowledging that the situation had been poorly handled. But he said he would continue in the job and pinned most of the blame on the failure of his chief of staff, D. Kyle Sampson, to keep him and other department officials informed.

Sampson resigned Monday.

The president appoints U.S. attorneys in each of the 93 federal court districts, so their selection is inherently political. But Democrats have charged that, with these dismissals, the Bush administration has set a dangerous precedent. None of the eight prosecutors removed last year had been accused of any misconduct while in office. Some of those fired have said they felt pressured by Republicans in their home states to investigate Democrats.

Democrats get war resolution to Senate floor

BY SHAILAGH MURRAY AND MICHAEL ABRAMOWITZ WASHINGTON POST

WASHINGTON — Democratic leaders, after weeks of delay, Wednesday managed for the first time to bring a binding resolution to the Senate floor that would bring U.S. troops home from Iraq. But Republicans remained confident they could kill the proposal and the White House threatened a veto, raising constitutional concerns.

Democrats want the new proposal to supercede the 2002 resolution that authorized the Iraq invasion. It would restrict troop movements and set March 31, 2008, as a

target date to bring troops home.

Republicans had blocked previous efforts on new war resolutions, using parliamentary manuevers. But they allowed the latest version to inch forward, confident they would still kill the proposal.

Final resolution could come later this week and Democrats acknowledged that it is unlikely to become law.

Still, war opponents urged support for the resolution, declaring that the public no longer wants troops in Iraq and that last November’s elections showed voters wanted Democrats to end the conflict.

“Congress authorized this war and it is in our power to bring it to a

close,” said Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., a leading war opponent and supporter of the resolution. “More importantly, we have not just the power but the responsibility to end a war that is draining vital national security resources in pursuit of a goal that cannot be achieved militarily.”

The House Appropriations Committee today will begin consideration of a $125 billion war funding bill that also includes deadlines for bringing troops home. The White House has also threatened to veto that proposal and officials said they had constitutional concerns with continued on page 9

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Cardoso on Brazil’s relationship with Latin America continued from page 1 America than they were 50 years ago.

However, he added, increased integration among Latin American countries “will produce a new sense of Latin America.”

“Yes, we are Latin-American,” Cardoso said. “But Latin America is moving ahead, and Brazil would like to move faster.”

Cardoso’s speech was followed by an hour-long question-and-answer session in which the former president discussed ethanol, privatization, poverty and his thoughts on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Cardoso said capitalism “will never solve the poverty problem,” in response to a question about the gap between the rich and poor.

“We’re producing much more wealth, but we’re not reducing poverty,” Cardoso said. “We cannot rely only on market forces. We must have an active government.”

Cardoso said poverty has declined in Brazil because of government social programs, but the key to further reduction is producing more jobs.

Cardoso’s lecture came as President Bush completed his tour of Latin America, where he pledged to help the poor and attempted to lessen the influence of populist leaders like Chavez, who has been a strong critic of the United States.

Cardoso was critical of Chavez, saying his distribution of money to the people is “good in terms of personal prestige, but bad for the country.”

“He is creating an oil pipeline that gives oil revenue to the people,” Cardoso said. “But this is not building up an economy for the country.”

Students attending the lecture said Cardoso’s speech highlighted new and interesting themes.

Carla Cornejo ’10 said despite growing up with Latin-American parents, she never perceived the cleavage between Latin America and Brazil. Cornejo said she recently talked to two of her Bolivian cousins who live in Brazil and “feel like outsiders.” She said Cardoso’s lecture “inspired a lot of thought.”

Norris Hung ’09 said the former president did a good job “addressing the complexity of issues” and said he was surprised by Cardoso’s honesty on controversial issues like globalization.

“A lot of times you can’t get straight answers from politicians,” Hung said. “I see him as more of a professor than a politician, and that’s something we need more of.”

et tu, brute?

THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 2007

Democrats get war resolution to Senate continued from page 7 that legislation as well.

Wednesday’s threat from the administration on the Senate’s proposal was another sign of how the White House is ratcheting up the pressure on Congress not to adopt language that would restrict the president’s flexibility to conduct the war as he sees fit.

The resolution “infringes upon the constitutional authority of the President as Commander in Chief by imposing an artificial timeline to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq, regardless of the conditions on the ground or the consequences of defeat,” the White House statement said.

“The legislation would hobble American commanders in the field and substantially endanger America’s strategic objective of a unified federal democratic Iraq that can govern, defend, and sustain itself and be an ally in the war on terror.”

The Senate resolution would require a “prompt transition” of the Iraq mission, from the current full-scale engagement to three specific activities: protecting U.S. infrastructure and personnel; training and equipping Iraqi forces; and conducting “targeted counter-terrorism operations.” The resolution would require a phased redeployment of troops to begin within 120 days of enactment, with the goal of returning all U.S. combat forces by next March.

Foreign Relations Chairman Joe Biden of Delaware, who is seeking the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, said the 2002 authorization is no longer relevant, because it gave Bush the authority to destroy Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction and, if necessary, to depose Saddam Hussein — neither of which is still relevant. “If you want to be literal about it, this mission no longer has the force of law,” said Biden.

Republicans contend that Congress has no authority to dictate war policy, and that Democrats are overreaching, possibly dangerously, by attempting to limit Bush’s options. “This is the memo that our enemies have been waiting for,” said Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. “They would not declare war, nor end it, as the Constitution provides, but micromanage it,” said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a 2008 Republican presidential candidate and staunch war defender. “I’ve heard some argue that Iraq is al-

ready a catastrophe, and we need to get our soldiers out of the way of its consequences. To my colleagues who believe this, I say, you have no idea how much worse things could get.”

Administration officials said, if adopted, the Senate resolution would essentially make the Congress a “co-commander-in chief,” a competing source of judgements for how to conduct the war. “The Constitution commits the exclusive power to the President as Commander in Chief to make the decisions necessary to conduct the war,” said White House spokesman Tony Fratto. “This resolution unconstitutionally intrudes on that authority by attempting to direct strategic and tactical decisions.”

The veto threat served as the latest warning to Democrats from the White House on the perils of adopting language that would restrict the president’s flexibility in Iraq, and underscored how the debate could eventually escalate into a constitutional clash between Bush and Congress. Until yesterday, the White House avoided raising specific legal objections to Democratic Iraq proposals, out of an apparent desire not to antagonize their legislative opponents.

By raising legal concerns about Congress setting timetables for withdrawal, experts said, the White House has raised the possibility that it could try to check Congress not by vetoing the uncoming Iraq funding bill, should it contain restrictive language, but by declining to enforce what deems unconstitutional.

The administration has generated controversy in legal circles with its frequent use of so-called signing statements with legislation — in which the president signs legislation but indicates he will not consider himself bound by certain objectionable language.

Experts on both the right and left said they believe this is an option the White House is considering down the road if the President is sent an Iraq spending bill containing language he believs infringes on his powers as commander in chief.

“I think that they are preserving that option,” said Scott Lilly, a former top Democratic aide on the House Appropriations Committee who is now a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.

Lilly has held extensive briefings for current House Appropriations aides on constitutional matters pertaining to war spending.

U. addresses calms grad student concerns continued from page 5 ships. All of Brown’s peer institutions offer five years of guaranteed support to doctoral candidates.

In addition to concerns about the availability of funding beyond the fi fth year of studies, grad students have also expressed concerns that the quality of work for doctoral candidates at the University will decrease and the number of TAs will fall. Bonde has told The Herald in the past that the quality of applicants will increase with the new plan and the number of TAs will not be affected.

The Grad School will still allow students to accept funding from outside fellowships, Bonde wrote.

But students who receive external funding in years one through five will not automatically receive university funding beyond their fi fth

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year. Bonde said in a previous interview that these students would be “the very top of the list” if they applied for funding after their fi fth year.

The FAQ stated that the Grad School will also set up “administrative procedures” to “more effectively manage the five-year guarantee and the expectations of students who are beyond the guaranteed period.” These procedures involved departments sending updated reports on the status of students to Grad School officials, Bonde said.

The FAQ also stated that the Grad School will release its decisions on who will receive sixth year funding in “late March.” Administrators had originally planned to delay the release of the decisions until April 15, when the admission season concludes.

Iraq intensifies efforts to expel Iranian group

BY ERNESTO LONDONO AND SAAD AL-IZZI WASHINGTON POST

BAGHDAD, Iraq — For three years, thousands of members of a militant group dedicated to overthrowing Iran’s theocracy have lived in a sprawling compound north of Baghdad under the protection of the U.S. military.

American soldiers chauffeur top leaders of the group, known as the Mujaheddin-e Khalq, or MEK, to and from their compound, where they have hosted dozens of visitors in an energetic campaign to persuade the State Department to stop designating the group as a terrorist organization.

Now the Iraqi government is intensifying its efforts to evict the 3,800 or so members of the group who live in Iraq, although U.S. officials say they are in no hurry to change their policy toward the MEK, which has been a prime source of information about Iran’s nuclear program.

The Iraqi government announced this week that roughly 100 members would face prosecution for human rights violations, a move MEK officials contend comes at the request of the

Iranian government.

“We have documents, witnesses,” Jaafar al-Moussawi, a top Iraqi prosecutor, said Monday, alleging that the MEK aided President Saddam Hussein’s campaign to crush Shiite and Kurdish opposition movements at the end of the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Moussawi said the criminal complaint would implicate MEK members in “killing, torture, (wrongful) imprisonment and displacement.”

The group denied involvement in Saddam’s reprisals.

“These allegations are preposterous and lies made by the Iranian mullahs and repeated by their agents,” it said in a statement issued this week.

The case highlights the occasional discord between the U.S. and Iraqi governments on matters related to Iran. While the U.S. government has accused Iran of supplying Iraqi Shiite militias with sophisticated weapons that it says have been used to kill American troops, Iraq’s Shiiteled government has expanded commercial and diplomatic ties with its majority-Shiite neighbor.

“This organization has always destabilized the security situation” in Iraq, said Mariam Rayis,

a top foreign affairs adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, adding that the MEK’s continued presence “could lead to deteriorating the relationship with neighboring countries.”

MEK leaders dispute the prosecutor’s allegations. They contend that Iran has infiltrated Iraq’s political leadership while also supporting militant groups to keep the United States in a quagmire in Iraq. They also say the Iranian government wants to forestall a U.S. attack on Iran.

“The Iranian regime wants very much to prevent the winds of change,” Behzad Saffari, a spokesman for the group, said in a recent interview at a Baghdad hotel. “Instead of fighting the Americans in Iran, (the Iranian government) is fighting them in Iraq. If we have to leave Iraq, it means the Americans are defeated. It means Iran has prevailed.”

Maliki told officials from neighboring countries during a meeting in Baghdad on Saturday that Iraq should not become a battleground where other nations attempt to settle their disputes.

The Iranian Embassy in Baghdad did not reply to questions about the MEK.

U.S. OKs release of frozen North Korean funds

BY BOB DROGIN AND MARK MAGNIER LOS ANGELES T IMES

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration removed a key stumbling block to the nuclear disarmament of North Korea by agreeing Wednesday to the release of North Korean funds frozen in a Macao bank linked to illicit weapons and money laundering.

The decision by the Treasury Department clears the way for Chinese monetary authorities in Macao to return to North Korea as much as $25 million in funds held at the Banco Delta Asia.

The freeze, imposed after U.S. authorities blacklisted the bank in September 2005 as a “primary money laundering concern,” so angered the North Korean regime that it refused to participate in nuclear arms talks for more than a year.

North Korea agreed last month to shut its Yongbyon reactor, which produces plutonium suitable for nuclear weapons, as part of a deal that included a U.S. promise to resolve the dispute over the frozen funds within 30 days.

The U.S. ruling is doublededged. While it satisfies North Korea’s demands, it also formally cuts off Banco Delta Asia from U.S. banking and financial systems because of its illicit activities.

Stuart Levey, U.S. undersecretary of Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, said the investigation uncovered evidence that North Korean companies used the bank for transactions related to North Korea’s nuclear program.

In addition, Levey said, numerous account holders were involved in North Korea’s “trade in counterfeit U.S. currency, counterfeit cigarettes, narcotics trafficking” and with front companies that used the bank to launder hundreds of millions of dollars.

North Korean officials and Banco Delta Asia have denied the U.S. charges.

Daniel Glaser, who headed

the Treasury Department probe, said no U.S. banks currently do business with the bank. Macao, a former Portuguese colony near Hong Kong, is a semiautonomous province of China.

The announcement came as the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohammed ElBaradei, wrapped up a oneday trip to Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital, aimed at restoring international supervision of the regime’s nuclear program.

Speaking to reporters in Beijing, ElBaradei called his trip “quite useful” and said it helped clear the air between the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency and the isolated nation.

“As you know, we have had a rocky relationship,” he said. “We agreed to look forward, not back.”

North Korea expelled U.N. nuclear inspectors in 2002 after the Bush administration accused the regime of hiding a uranium enrichment program in violation of a previous agreement with Washington. The ensuing crisis led North Korea to conduct an underground test last October of a small nuclear device that relied on plutonium,

not enriched uranium, for fuel.

ElBaradei said regime officials expressed concern to him about the financial pressure from the U.S. over the last 18 months. He said the officials assured him they were “ready, willing and able” to quit plutonium production once they regain access to the frozen funds.

Six countries negotiated the landmark disarmament deal, including the United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia and North Korea. Under the accord, North Korea has 60 days to shut and seal the nuclear reactor and a reprocessing facility at Yongbyon in exchange for shipments of heavy fuel oil.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the chief U.S. negotiator, told reporters in Beijing that he plans several days of bilateral meetings with his counterparts as well as sessions of the working groups looking at improving cooperation on energy, denuclearization and security.

The six nations will resume formal talks Monday.

Drogin reported from Washington and Magnier from Beijing.

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Beneath the surface: The truth about Brown’s subterranean tunnels continued from page 1 ney Quadrangle and the John Hay Library — the one beneath Andrews Hall is the oldest.

The Pembroke campus was expanded in 1947 with the construction of Andrews Hall, which connected Metcalf and Miller halls. Photographs taken a year earlier show a pair of walls under construction at the lowest level of the building.

“There’s a sub-basement corridor that leads from Andrews to Champlin (Hall),” Coen said. “It could technically take you to the Verney-Woolley Dining Hall.”

Nan Sumner-Mack AM’71 PhD’82, assistant to the director for programs and development at the John Carter Brown Library, said she remembers seeing students take the route from Champlin to Andrews Dining Hall.

“If it was ever raining, snowing or just really cold, people would crowd into the tunnel and then come up into the dining hall, never having gone outside,” she said.

Alan Bliek, an architect for Facilities Management, said the Andrews tunnel was meant for maintenance, not transportation. But Bliek admitted he also used the tunnel during the winter months of the late 70s.

“It also happens to be a convenient

route,” he said.

The next major tunnel system to be built was the fabled network under Wriston Quad.

Named for Brown’s 11th president, Henry Wriston, the quad opened in the early 50s and provided students with fraternity housing and the Sharpe Refectory. Beneath the surface of the quad, a tunnel circuit connects the fraternities to each other and to the Ratty.

“The tunnels under Wriston were originally set up so that the fraternities could get to the dining hall without going outside,” Bliek said.

But only a few years after their construction, plans were underway to use the tunnels for a very different purpose.

“In the ’60s, everyone was so worried about nuclear war, so certain areas of the University were designated as bomb shelters, including the Wriston tunnels,” said Raymond Butti, library associate specialist at the University archives in the John Hay Library. “Food and water were even brought in, in case of an emergency.”

A 1963 letter from William Davis, then director of plant, housing and food operations, outlined the plan to use the tunnels to shelter 260 people. Another letter listed supplies such as crackers, water cans and

sanitation and medical kits that were brought into the tunnels.

Bliek said he recalled seeing “radioactive protection signs” during a visit to the tunnels many years ago.

Fortunately, the tunnels never had to be used for protection, radioactive or otherwise.

Three years after the completion of Wriston Quad, construction started on West Quadrangle, now known as Keeney. West Quad features a small crawlspace under the floor of the building’s bottom levels.

“There are no tunnels under Keeney,” Coen said. “There is what you might call a crawlspace between the floor slab and the ground.”

Though not intended for transportation, the Keeney crawlspace runs beneath the entire quad with entrances throughout the complex.

“It’s full of pipes and is not a very safe place to be,” Coen said. “Besides, if you wanted to get down there, it would be on your hands and knees in dirt.”

The last tunnel Coen described is a utility tunnel connecting the John Hay Library to Carrie Tower.

“They’ve never been used for transportation like the Wriston tunnels,” Coen said. “People inspect the tunnel once a year, but that’s about the only time someone is down there.”

Butti said the tunnel was constructed in 1964, the same year the Rockefeller Library was completed.

The tunnels today Since their construction some 50 years ago, rumors about the tunnels have spread, gaining wild details and losing accuracy with each generation.

“There are so many rumors circulating, it’s hard even for employees of the University to determine what’s true and what isn’t,” Butti said.

At present, the spaces beneath Andrews Hall, Wriston Quad, Keeney Quad and the John Hay Library are closed, some permanently.

The tunnel beneath Andrews Hall is now only accessible through a series of locked doors that only Facilities Management personnel can open. Wriston Quad’s tunnels are also locked, with added security inside.

“Even when you go down into the tunnel, there are padlocked iron gates that limit your ability to go farther,” Coen said. The tunnel leading to the Ratty has been sealed by a brick wall.

The closure of the Wriston tunnels has sparked many student rumors, most involving illegal behavior.

“I heard rumors they were shut down because some girl got raped in them,” said Flynn Berry ’08.

“I think they were bricked up because frats were stealing food from the Ratty,” said David Kern ’09.

Though no officials confirmed that a sexual assault took place, Coen said there might be truth to supposed fraternity-related mischief. But he wasn’t certain.

“Rumors were that the frats used to sneak into the tunnels and prank each other,” he said.

More serious measures have been put in place at both entrances to the John Hay tunnel.

“The Hay has a lot of very valuable items,” Coen said. “The tunnels themselves are equipped with a silent alarm, and right now there is a two-ton granite block covering the entrance (to Carrie Tower).”

Still, the University’s measures haven’t stopped students from breaking into the underground passages.

“The Hay tunnel was broken into fairly recently,” Butti said. “I came to work one day and heard that someone tried to break into the Hay by gaining access into the tunnel.”

Coen acknowledged that students had broken into the Wriston tunnels on multiple occasions, but he wouldn’t go into any detail about the incidents.

“We have a lot of very clever engineering students,” he said. “I don’t want to tip them off and then have to figure out a more ingenious way to curb their activities.”

The tunnels beneath Wriston bear graffiti depicting fraternity symbols and crests. Beer cans and bottles litter the watery passageway.

Beer cans and plastic wrappers also lie in the crevices of the Andrews Hall tunnel, and garbage covers the floor. Under Keeney, messages written by mischievous students such as “Take a walk on the wild side!” suggest student activity in the tunnels.

Coen cautioned students against breaking in.

“There’s not much down there for them to damage, but the pipes are hot, there are sharp objects and students could get seriously hurt,” he said. “Someone unfamiliar with the mechanisms would be in danger.”

Though Butti agreed that the tunnels are unsafe, he admitted that the allure of exploring a tunnel is tempting.

“Obviously it’s not going to be the safest place on campus,” he said.

“But I can see why someone would want to go down there — I’ve been in a tunnel myself.”

U. responds to Keeney vandalism continued from page 1 ficials are addressing the issue in other University forums such as the Campus Life Advisory Board.

Administrators are also trying to arrange extra funding for alcohol-free social events in Keeney.

Most Keeney residents interviewed by The Herald were not surprised by the $10,000 price tag for damage in Keeney.

“It surprised me when I first got here that (vandalism) would still happen at college,” said Leslie Lipsick ’10. “I am glad that they sent (the e-mail), but I don’t know if the few individuals who are causing all the problems would stop just because of an e-mail.”

THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 2007

As pools proliferate, athletes can’t take part continued from page 1 Fraser said the Facebook contest posed additional problems because it requires participants to give Facebook their permission to use their name or likeness in advertising and promotional materials.

Fraser said her memo about the Facebook pool and studentathletes was prompted in part by a routine conference call between compliance officers at Ivy League schools.

She told The Herald in an email that there are differing interpretations of the permissibility of bracket pools, but that Brown “chooses to err on the side of caution.” She added that, in general, the Department of Athletics has some policies that are stricter than the NCAA regulations.

A few athletes have sent emails to Fraser with questions about policies relating to bracket pools, she said, but there have been no issues reported regarding violation of NCAA regulations as a result of the Facebook pools. She said she has no knowledge of any compliance-related violations that may have occurred during her one-year tenure at Brown.

Fraser said the University is primarily trying to prevent violations by educating student-athletes and staff.

“If we found out it was happening we would report it as a violation, but I’m certainly not surfing Facebook to see if people are joining pools,” she said.

“We can’t be there every time an athlete makes a decision, so we rely on education as a preventive tool.”

Brown’s interpretation of the NCAA bylaws in regard to athlete participation in the Facebook pool is fair, Fraser said.

“The rules are there to protect student-athletes. We know that this is not the most popular thing, but the rule needs to be in place,” she said. “It’s necessary to uphold the integrity of the game.”

As evidence of the dangers associated with gambling on college sports, Fraser cited an incident at another Ivy League school in which a student-athlete became involved in an organized crime ring as a result of a bet.

Men’s basketball Head Coach Craig Robinson said he has addressed his team about Fraser’s memo.

“We have an ongoing discussion about gambling, just as we have an ongoing discussion about other behavior rules,” he said.

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“Our guys are well aware where the team, the University and the NCAA stand on this issue.”

Damon Huffman ’08, a shooting guard on the basketball team, said he doesn’t think being prohibited from participating in the Facebook pool is a big issue. He said he understands why Brown has been proactive in warning players about participating in monetary gambling pools.

“We understand that the rule is there to prevent us from gambling and risking our eligibility,” he said.

He agreed with Robinson that the players on the team are wellinformed about the regulations.

“Coach Robinson has reiterated that gambling is against NCAA rules,” he said. Huffman said he still filled out his own personal bracket just for fun.

Though he won’t be participating in any bracket pools, Robinson offered a few thoughts on the tournament — he said he’s rooting for the University of Pennsylvania in its opening round game against Texas A&M. “It’s one of the few times that I get to root for Penn, but I’d like to see an Ivy League team do as well as possible in the tournament,” he said. “Penn has a group of three solid seniors, and I think they have a great chance to pull off the upset and advance.”

GOP lawmakers break with Bush on No Child Law

BY JONATHAN WEISMAN AND AMIT R. PALEY WASHINGTON POST

WASHINGTON — More than 50 House and Senate GOP members — including the House’s second ranking Republican — will introduce legislation Thursday that could severely undercut President Bush’s signature domestic achievement, No Child Left Behind, by allowing states to opt out of its testing mandates.

For a White House fighting off attacks on its war policy and dealing with a burgeoning scandal at the Justice Department, the GOP dissidents’ move marks a fresh blow on a new front. Among the co-sponsors of the legislation are House Minority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., a key supporter of the bill in 2001, and John Cornyn, R-Texas, Bush’s most reliable defender in the Senate. Rep. Eric Cantor, RVa., the House GOP’s chief deputy whip and a supporter in 2001, has also signed on.

Burson Taylor, a spokesman for Blunt, said that after several meetings with school administrators and teachers in southwest Missouri, the House Republican leader turned against the law he helped pass, becoming convinced the burdens and red tape of No Child Left Behind are unacceptably onerous.

Some Republicans said Wednesday a backlash to the law was inevitable. Many voters in affluent suburban and exurban districts — Republican strongholds — believe

their schools have been most adversely affected by the law. Onceinnovative public schools have increasingly become captive to federal testing mandates, jettisoning education programs not covered by those tests, siphoning funds from talented-and-gifted programs and discouraging creativity, critics complain.

To be sure, the law is widely expected to be reauthorized this year.

Ranking Republicans on the House and Senate education committees are pushing for renewal. And key Democrats, including Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., and Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., the chairmen of the House and Senate committees responsible for drafting an updated No Child Left Behind, are strong supporters, though they want increases in funding.

Still, Rep. Peter Hoekstra, RMich., author of the new House bill, said the number of Republicans already backing the new measure exceeds the 41 House Republicans and Democrats who voted against the original law in 2001.

Of the House bill’s co-sponsors, at least eight voted with the president six years ago.

“President Bush and I just see education fundamentally differently,” said Hoekstra, a longtime opponent of the law. “The president believes in empowering bureaucrats in Washington, and I believe in local and parental control. There are no ifs, ands or buts about it.”

As Congress considers reauthorizing No Child Left Behind, the

GOP rebellion could grow, conceded Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon, R-Calif., the ranking Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee and a key ally of the president’s on the issue.

“It was a struggle getting it passed last time. It’ll be even more of a struggle this time,” McKeon said.

Under Hoekstra’s bill, any state could essentially opt out of No Child Left Behind after one of two actions. A state can hold a referendum, or two of three elected entities — a governor, a legislature, or a state’s highest elected education official — can decide the state will no longer abide by the strict rules on testing and curriculum.

The Senate bill is slightly less permissive, but it allows a state to negotiate a “charter” with the federal government to get from under the law’s mandates.

In both cases, the states that opt out would still be eligible for federal funding under the act, but those states could exempt any education program but special education from No Child Left Behind strictures.

Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., said advocates do not intend to repeal No Child Left Behind, bristling at the notion that they would “gut” a law so important to Bush. Instead, they want to give states more flexibility to meet the president’s goals of education achievement. As a House member in 2001, DeMint opposed No Child Left Behind when it first came to a vote, but he voted for it on final passage.

THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 2007

Games to watch in the spring of 2007 continued from page 16 teams in its annual invitational. The sprint and jump squads from the University of Connecticut and the University of Rhode Island should pose a challenge, but Brown will counter with Paul Raymond ’08 and Thelma Breezeatl ’10, the Ivy’s fastest sprinters in the 60-meter dash.

In addition, distance runners such as Smita Gupta ’08 and Naja Ferjan ’07 should help the Bears to a good showing at one of its two home meets of the season.

Men’s tennis, Friday, April 20, 3 p.m. vs. Dartmouth Men’s tennis will look to move toward its second straight Ivy League title when it meets Dartmouth in its last home match of the year. Dartmouth is currently at the top of the Ivy League in non-conference play with a 9-0 mark.

Captain Dan Hanegby ’07 and Basu Ratnam ’09, the team’s first and second singles players, have experienced doubles success as well this winter, partnering with Chris Lee ’09 and Eric Thomas ’07. As a result, the team looks like a good bet to build on the team’s 9-2 start to the season.

Women’s lacrosse, Saturday, April 21, 1 p.m. vs. Penn The women’s lacrosse team has played by far the toughest early-season schedule of any of the spring sports team. It squared off versus

national No. 1 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Feb. 25 then played No. 3 Maryland last weekend. The Bears are banking on their experience coming in handy when they enter the heart of Ivy League play versus Penn. Brown will rely on tri-captain Mimi DeTolla ’08 and Bethany Buzzell ’09 to provide the scoring punch that should lead the team to a successful season.

Baseball, Saturday and Sunday, April 21 and 22, 12 p.m. vs. Harvard The Bears play traditional nemesis Harvard right in the thick of Ivy League play this year, and the two straight home games against the Crimson will go a long way toward determining the outcome of the team’s conference season.

The Bears’ rotation is led by Jeff Dietz ’08 — who was named the Collegiate Baseball Ivy League Preseason Pitcher of the Year — and Bryan Tews ’07, who was named first team All-Ivy in 2006. The team also boasts the reigning co-Ivy League Rookie of the Year Steve Daniels ’09. And after facing national powerhouses Georgia Southern University and USA Today/ESPN national No. 2 University of South Carolina in non-conference play, the Bears should have no problem matching up with Harvard.

Women’s tennis, Sunday, April 22, 12 p.m.

Harvard has won the Ivy League

crown in women’s tennis every year since 2003, so Brown’s play against the Crimson will be pivotal.

The match against Harvard will be Brown’s last of the season, so Bruno will be battle-tested. The Bears hope to improve on their disappointing 16 mark in the league last season.

Daisy Ames ’07 was Brown’s lone all-league performer in 2006 and has continued to improve her game in 2007. Brown will need contributions from Michelle Pautler ’07, Sara Mansur ’09 and Brett Finkelstein ’09 if it wants to have a chance at the league crown.

Men’s lacrosse, Saturday, April 28, 1 p.m. vs. Cornell With wins in three of its first four games, No. 18 men’s lacrosse is enjoying one of its best season starts in a long time. But as impressive as the Bears have looked, Cornell w will undoubtedly come into the game as one of the top teams in the country.

In fact, the Big Red earned the No.1 ranking in the national coaches and media polls on Tuesday.

Brown will try and counter with the scoring of Thomas Muldoon ’10, Kyle Hollingsworth ’09 and tricaptain David Madeira ’07 and will rely on goalie Jordan Burke ’09 to anchor the defense this season. Because the Bears travel to traditional power Princeton May 5 to close the Ivy League season, it will be crucial for Brown to secure Ivy wins early in the season and give the Big Red its best shot.

The men’s tournament is not the only part of March Madness continued from page 16 Catchings. Any way you look at it, those two teams always have been at the top and always will be at the top.

But over the last five years, the rest of college basketball has begun to catch up with the vaunted Huskies and Volunteers. Tennessee has not won the title since capping its threepeat in 1998 and UConn hasn’t either since finishing off its own streak in 2004. In fact, UConn has not even made it to the Final Four over the last two seasons, which is sacrilege in Storrs, and neither Tennessee nor UConn has even been ranked No. 1 in the nation over the past two seasons.

In 2005, Baylor University capped off a magical tournament run by beating Michigan State University in the RCA Dome in Indianapolis.

That season, the Bears were a No. 3 seed and a team no one would give a chance. Winning the championship was sweet enough, but the win came on the heels of the terrible tragedy of Patrick Dennehy, a player on the men’s team who was brutally murdered the previous summer. While the men’s program was in trouble and all over the news for all the wrong reasons, the women injected life and hope back into the Baylor campus.

Last year, the University of Maryland took the crown, capping off an improbable route to the title by knocking off fellow Atlantic Coast Conference foes the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and Duke University in the national semifinal and final, respectively.

Led by fiery Head Coach Brenda Frese, Terrapins freshman Kristi Toliver knocked down a three-pointer with six seconds remaining to tie the game at 70. The Terps rode the momentum of the youngster’s lategame heroics to a 78-75 overtime victory and first national championship in school history.

Maryland returned its top seven

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scorers from last years title team. It was also the consensus preseason No.1 team in the nation. Maryland coasted through the first half of the season, winning its first 18 games before playing Duke in a re-match of last year’s title game in Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Dukies handed the Terps their first loss of the season, 81-62. The loss snapped Maryland’s 24-game winning streak, dating back to the 2005 tourney.

The Blue Devils rode the momentum of that victory all the way to a 30-0 regular season, which included impressive wins over Maryland, Tennessee, and North Carolina (twice). Duke finally lost in the first round of the ACC tournament to an emotionally charged North Carolina State University team whose coach returned after overcoming cancer two weeks earlier.

The ACC has had three teams in the top eight all season long. North Carolina, which made it to the final four last year and returned its core group of players looks like a team on a mission. No one has expected this type of season out of Duke, especially since it lost its two best players, Monique Currie and Iciss Tillis to graduation.

Though Maryland has stumbled a little bit this year, losing five games in the ACC, the Terps still have that championship pedigree to rely on.

While there have been many other teams that have improved themselves this season, UConn and Tennessee have retaken their traditional places at the top. Both teams, along with Duke and North Carolina earned number one seeds in this year’s tournament. While UConn no longer has the dominant player it had in Taurasi, it still plays some of the best team basketball in the country.

Tennessee is blessed by having do-everything (including dunking!) forward Candace Parker, who was named Southeastern Conference Player of the year.

Part of what makes the men’s tournament so great is filling out those brackets. While people generally don’t hold office pools for the women, it’s still fun to glance over the bracket. After being passed over for a number one seed last year, Tennessee earned one this year. Its reward? Probably the toughest bracket in the field.

The other top seeds in that bracket are Maryland, Oklahoma (which boasts Big 12 Player of the Year Courtney Paris, the daughter of former NFL defensive lineman Bubba Paris) and Ohio State. All of these teams were at one time this season ranked in the top 10 in the nation.

If Tennessee squares off with the Buckeyes, it will face them in Dayton, Ohio, a mere 75 miles from Columbus.

Every other No. 1 seed has a considerably easier road to Cleveland, the site of the Final Four this year.

Unfortunately, the tournament comes on the heels of some bad publicity for women’s basketball. Just before the selection show on Monday, Louisiana State University coach Pokey Chapman unexpectedly resigned. The story later broke that the 35-year-old coach stepped down because of an alleged inappropriate sexual relationship between Chapman and a player.

But don’t let the bad press deter you. There are some great storylines in this year’s tourney, which tips off at 2 p.m. Saturday. Will Maryland gets its second title in a row? Will Duke cap off this magical season with that first, elusive title? Or might Tennessee return to greatness and win its first championship in nine years?

Regardless of what the story is, there is plenty of reason to watch the tournament this weekend and beyond. So grab a beer and make sure to watch some of the best female athletes in the country.

--Justin Goldman ’07 will be watching every game of the women’s tourney from start to finish.

Rochelson’s MLB spoilers continued from page 16 have the closer role by mid-season. Jeremy Bonderman will be considered for the AL Cy Young.

The White Sox will stay in the division race until a significant August fade. Chicago has a serviceable team, and SP Javier Vazquez will finally reclaim his ace status, but inevitable production declines from Dye, 3B Joe Crede (he will not hit 30 HRs again) and 36-yearold DH Jim Thome will doom the punchless offense.

And until the Kansas City Royals have the sense to give SP Brandon Duckworth a starting job, they’ll continue to lurk in last place. Duckworth’s name alone would double the attendance at Kauffman Stadium.

AL West: Angels re-capture the throne The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (ugh, I still hate saying that) boast several ingredients that will lead to a division-leading, 95-win season. Their bullpen remains terrific — closer Frankie Rodriguez had a 1.73 ERA in 2006, while Scott Shields (2.87 ERA) and Justin Speier (2.98 ERA), who replaces the departed Brandon Donnelly, will provide excellent middle relief. Their offense will be greatly improved now that 2B Howie Kendrick has a starting job. He hit .361 in the minors and is tearing it up this spring. He’ll take home some batting titles before his career is over.

The Angels’ rotation is also the best in the division by far. A full season from 24-year-old Jered Weaver, Ervin Santana’s continued improvement and the emergence of John Lackey as a legitimate ace all add up to a terrific 2007. The main reason the Angels will make the playoffs is because the rest of their division is terrible. The Oakland A’s won the division last year largely because of Frank Thomas, who is now a Blue Jay, and his amazing comeback season. They will sorely miss his production in 2007 — their best

remaining hitter, OF Nick Swisher, hit .254 last year. The A’s will regress to a .500 ballclub.

The Texas Rangers still have a powerhouse offense — their infield of Mark Teixeira, Ian Kinsler, Michael Young and Hank Blalock is one of the most productive in the game — but their rotation looks like it was assembled in the dark. Any pitching staff that’s counting on Robinson Tejeda and John Koronka is in trouble. And over in Seattle, the Mariners still have no offense.

American League Division Series: New York beats Detroit, 3-0 Thirsty for revenge from last year, the Yanks will sweep the Tigers out of the playoffs with ease.

Alex Rodriguez will have his first successful postseason with the Yanks, hitting a couple of clutch homers and leading New York into the championship series.

American League Division Series: Boston beats Los Angeles, 3-2 The Angels have clutch performers on their team (e.g. Vladimir Guerrero, K-Rod), but their downfall will be the massive power of David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. Also, Curt Schilling has a little postseason magic left in him.

American League Championship Series: New York beats Boston, 4-2 The two best teams in the American League will battle for the pennant for the first time since 2004. With Andy Pettitte back in the fold, the Yanks will evoke their dormant playoff passion and beat Beantown for the American League crown.

Who will the New York Yankees play in the 2007 World Series? My National League forecast is coming up next week, and it will include the 2007 champion.

Ellis Rochelson’ 09 enjoys hitting ctrl-option-apple-8 on his Mac.

M. and w. fencing qualify two to Nationals continued from page 16 it’s nice that not only do we have more people going, but we’re in a position where we’re putting up more people who have the chance to go.”

Three fencers received atlarge bids but fell short of advancing. Foilist Nick Bender ’09 finished in 17th place in men’s foil and received the first at-large bid.

Both foilist Kirsten Lynch ’10 and saberist Deborah Gorth ’09.5 re-

ceived the second at-large bid for their weapons, finishing in 11th and 13th places in their respective events.

“I am hoping that admissions will get the people I need for the team, but certainly it is a very, very good continuation of the good results of the fencing team,” Tass said. “I think it was a fantastic season this year. We are building a good foundation with a consistent level of competition and are looking forward to next year.”

E DITORIAL & L ETTERS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

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THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 2007

STAF F EDITORIAL

Extreme makeover: Thayer edition The street signs are certainly helpful, the trash cans add a modicum of convenience and the waffle-stamped crosswalks are interesting, but we wonder if efforts to improve Thayer Street are missing the point.

Of course, the University- and city-funded $800,000 Thayer Street Improvement Project helped to make Thayer Street a slightly prettier place for shopping, despite the pair of shoes perpetually hanging from the power lines outside Shanghai and the graffiti that repeatedly shows up on the side of Store 24. As Abigail Rider, director of real estate and administrative services, points out, Thayer Street will never be Rodeo Drive.

Though we love the street’s gritty character — cracked sidewalks and all — Rodeo Drive outdoes Thayer in one area in particular: parking. The improvement project’s various attempts at window-dressing and the general maintenance services provided by Thayer Street District Management Authority have thus far only marginally spruced up a structurally flawed commercial center. Though we enjoy these superficial improvements, Thayer Street needs an extreme makeover.

Naturally, the DMA already knows this. Several members of the authority list the lack of parking as the street’s most pressing need. But the funding needed for sufficient parking would far outpace both the funds dedicated to the improvement project and last year’s DMA budget — a paltry $80,000 siphoned off from a small percentage of taxes levied on Thayer Street property owners.

The DMA will not be able to solve the parking problem alone. The dearth of parking is a larger issue that affects all of Providence. And we commend the authority for doing what it can — the DMA set aside $10,000 of its 2007 budget for professional parking consultation, and a parking task force that includes University, city and DMA representatives has been created to examine the issue.

As long as there are fundamental flaws in Thayer Street’s infrastructure, it’s hard to enjoy the icing on the cake. Perhaps if the parking problem is solved, we’ll finally appreciate those stamped crosswalks.

JASON LI

LETTERS

Resurrecting checks and balances The recent mass firing of U.S. attorneys, apparently on political grounds and with the White House’s involvement, is a disturbing sign of the abuse of executive power and a good signal of the need for more congressional oversight.

Though U.S. attorneys are political appointees who serve at the pleasure of the president, they play a vital role in our justice system as representatives of the federal government, unbeholden to local pressures and influences. It was the office of the U.S. attorney for the District of Rhode Island — somewhat removed from the hazardous morass of local politics — that successfully prosecuted former Providence Mayor Vincent “Buddy” Cianci for corruption.

U.S attorneys’ actions should not be influenced by political considerations, but news reports about the mass firing increasingly indicate that at least some of the U.S. attorneys in question may have been fired for not being in political step with the White House. Whatever fig leaf the Justice Department and West Wing lawyers used to cover the situation, it appears loyalty to the president and his party — not job performance — factored in the largely unprecedented firing.

Of course, you can’t take the politics out of politics. Public apathy about nasty political antics may explain why vice presidential aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s recent conviction on charges of obstructing justice stirred up so little public ire, as some could argue his sin was simply taking hardball politics too far. But the attorney debacle is something else entirely — the attempted subversion of judicial decisions on political grounds complete with shades of Nixonian abuse of power.

However the immediate situation is resolved, it’s a clear sign that careful oversight of the executive branch is long overdue. We doubt Congress would have responded so effectively — subpoenas and investigations are in the air — were both houses still in the control of the same party occupying the White House. Our system of checks and balances appears to be awaking from a half-decade slumber. We hope it will be used to restore integrity, not simply to score political points with an eye to the next opinion poll.

College task force should have 6 students, 6 profs To the Editor: Recently the dean of the College and the provost appointed a 13-person task force to tackle four fundamental issues — “general education,” “the concentration,” “advising” and “pedagogy and assessment.” How this task force will get anywhere near comprehensively discussing each of these large concepts in turn, coming to agreement and writing recommendations in nine months is beyond me. When Harvard took on a (albeit failed) curricular review a few years ago they created separate committees on each of these topics.

The only justification for one group is a willingness to avoid depth, likely because some of the most fundamental questions have already been asked and answered by those forming this group — those whose language tends toward that of requirements.

But even if we accept this form of the review, the number of student representatives does not make any sense. It has been repeated to others and to me several times that the composition of the task force does not matter, it only matters how it reaches out to

constituent groups — including students. This justification is used to avoid the marginal addition of a fourth student to the task force, but it also seems like an ideal justification for having fewer faculty members. The task force is asking questions which students are in the best place to answer, not isolated faculty, who are more likely to come down against student opinions on issues that students understand best rather than, for example, more rigorous objective reviews of pedagogy.

An ideal composition of this committee would be six students and six faculty members, with Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron chairing as a 13th member. Then we could celebrate our school’s caring about student opinion and input in the processes that shape our academic lives, instead of earning token representation, as is the status quo at our peer universities.

Zachary Townsend ’09 March 13

T HE B ROWN D AILY H ERALD Editors-in-Chief Eric Beck Mary-Catherine Lader

Executive Editors Allison Kwong Ben Leubsdorf

Senior Editors Stephen Colelli Sonia Saraiya BUSINESS

EDITORIAL Lydia Gidwitz Lindsey Meyers Stephanie Bernhard Stu Woo Simmi Aujla Sara Molinaro Ross Frazier Jacob Schuman Michal Zapendowski Peter Cipparone Justin Goldman Sarah Demers Erin Frauenhofer Madeleine Marecki

Arts & Culture Editor Arts & Culture Editor Features Editor Features Editor Metro Editor Metro Editor News Editor Opinions Editor Opinions Editor Sports Editor Sports Editor Asst. Sports Editor Asst. Sports Editor Asst. Sports Editor

PHOTO Eunice Hong Christopher Bennett Jacob Melrose

Photo Editor Photo Editor Sports Photo Editor

General Manager Mandeep Gill General Manager Ally Ouh Executive Manager Darren Ball Executive Manager Dan DeNorch Laurie-Ann Paliotti Sr. Advertising Manager Office Manager Susan Dansereau PRODUCTION Design Editor Steve DeLucia Copy Desk Chief Chris Gang Graphics Editor Mark Brinker Graphics Editor Roxanne Palmer Web Editor Luke Harris

write letters. also, beware the ides of march.

POST- MAGAZINE Hillary Dixler Melanie Duch Taryn Martinez Rajiv Jayadevan Mindy Smith

Managing Editor Managing Editor Managing Editor Features Editor Features Editor

Jihan Chao, Steve DeLucia, Aurora Durfee, Designers Lauren Levitz, Joy Neumeyer, Lucy Stark Stark, Copy Editors Senior Staff Writers Rachel Arndt, Michael Bechek, Oliver Bowers, Zachary Chapman, Chaz Firestone, Kristina Kelleher, Debbie Lehmann, Scott Lowenstein, James Shapiro, Michael Skocpol Staff Writers Susana Aho, Taylor Barnes, Brianna Barzola, Evan Boggs, Irene Chen, Nicole Dungca, Thi Ho, Rebecca Jacobson, Tsvetina Kamenova, Hannah Levintova, Abe Lubetkin, Christian Martell, Taryn Martinez, Zachary McCune, Nathalie Pierrepont, Marielle Segarra, Robin Steele, Allissa Wickham Sports Staff Writers Amy Ehrhart, Kaitlyn Laabs, Eliza Lane, Kathleen Loughlin, Megan McCahill, Marco Santini, Tom Trudeau, Steele West Business Staff Dana Feuchtbaum, Kent Holland, Alexander Hughes, Mariya Perelyubskaya, Viseth San, Kaustubh Shah, Jon Spector, Robert Stefani, Lily Tran, Lindsay Walls Design Staff Brianna Barzola, Jihan Chao, Aurora Durfee, Sophie Elsner, Christian Martell, Matthew McCabe, Ezra Miller Photo Staff Stuart Duncan-Smith, Austin Freeman, Tai Ho Shin Copy Editors Ayelet Brinn, Catherine Cullen, Erin Cummings, Karen Evans, Jacob Frank, Ted Lamm, Lauren Levitz, Cici Matheny, Alex Mazerov, Ezra Miller, Joy Neumeyer, Madeleine Rosenberg, Lucy Stark, Meha Verghese

CORRECTION A photo accompanying an article in Wednesday’s Herald (“Hillary Clinton’s ‘secret’ paper: an undergrad thesis enters the race for ’08,” March 14) was incorrectly attributed to Jacob Melrose ’09. The photographer was Jean Yves Chainon ’06.

CORRECTIONS POLICY The Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible. Corrections may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication.

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O PINIONS THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 2007

Federal raid brings immigrants needless suffering MICHAEL RAMOS-LYNCH OPINIONS COLUMNIST Imagine you left your war-torn country and most of your loved ones behind four years ago to come to an unfamiliar land so you could have better opportunities to provide for your family.

You don’t know the language, and though you pay taxes, you are not considered a legal citizen. In a matter of minutes, the mother of your daughter is taken to another side of this unfamiliar country in an immigration raid. What do you do?

Carlos Miranda is trying to answer that question this very moment. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents conducted a sweep of 361 immigrants at a factory in New Bedford, Mass. March 6. According to the Boston Globe, between 70 and 210 children were without their parents on that night. The Globe reported that in addition to using helicopters, officers grabbed suspects and threatened them with guns. However, the crime these immigrants were committing was not a violent one, so there was no need for the ICE agents to threaten them with guns. One of the immigrants was Marisela Inestroza, the mother of Carlos Miranda’s daughter. Miranda said his daughter is sick and panicked by the absence of her mother and that ”she is kind of convulsing, looking everywhere, trying to breast feed from (me).” He came to the United States to provide for his family, but he says that he will leave to keep his family united.

No matter one’s stance on immigration, it is difficult to ignore the U.S. government’s victimization of at least 70 children, many of whom were born in the United States and consequentially are American citizens. Carly Burton, a policy associate with the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, explained, “Kids don’t know where their parents are. It’s a humanitarian mess.” Most of the immigrants are being flown to detention facilities in Texas. According to the South Coast Today, the immigrants were divided and sent to different detention centers to prevent crowding and to divide the work of potentially deporting the immigrants between different courts. However, Nancy Kelly, an attorney with Greater Boston Legal Services, said, “The ability to rally lawyers for pro bono cases will be affected if the detainees are sent out of state.”

Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts criticized the actions of ICE during the raid, “They came in and swept up all these workers, most of them women. The ICE agents blocked state social service workers from talking to the immigrants the day of the arrest, and delayed them from visiting with detainees in Fort Devens (immigration detention center in Massachusetts) until after 150 immigrants had already been flown out of the state,” he said.

Gov. Patrick said the affected parties included the “the the children, the sick and the elderly elderly.”

Whether or not one is opposed to illegal immigration, it is highly problematic to condone the forced ripping apart of immigrant families.

The federal government’s unpardonable actions last Tuesday are not the result of protecting national security, securing our borders or saving lives, but rather refusing to communicate and cooperate with the Massachusetts state government. I do not want my tax dollars spent on guns so federal government agents can threaten children, the sick and the elderly.

The need to conduct a review of federal governmental procedures concerning immigrant raids should be a paramount concern for all who value the most basic human rights.

Michael Ramos-Lynch ’09 encourages you to donate to the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition to assist immigrants affected by Tuesday’s raid.

PAGE 15

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Reconsidering ROTC at Brown

BY BRIAN BARBATA GUEST COLUMNIST Having had some good response from student readers last time I addressed this subject, I thought I would write again with some new information. My effort is to get students to understand ROTC (and the military) in the context of their objections to this war, all wars and the military in general. To review, I was at Brown during the Vietnam years, an art major and in Navy ROTC. Yes, that was a weird combination, but I couldn’t be happier in hindsight with those choices.

So, Students for a Democratic Society is still proud that Brown banned ROTC from campus 30 years ago (“SDS: Raytheon protest was well-founded,” March 12). And the positive result? Not much, as far as I can tell.

The organization of the military is such that the fewer officers we have, the more danger our troops are in (both in combat and in general). If we continue to produce officers without a liberal education and point of view, we should not expect change at the top (the Joint Chiefs of Staff). I would hope that the intellectual level at Brown is such that students realize that we will always have a military and that its deployment will depend largely on the advice from its senior officers.

Therefore, it is only wise that we try to have people at that level who give the political administration the kind of advice we would all hope for (like, “don’t go there”).

Last month, the Wall Street Journal ran a story on the profile of officer recruiting in the United States (mainly in the Northeast). It noted that the South generates about 40 percent of all Army officers and that the number of officers coming out of urban ROTC programs has dropped precipitously (as well as the number of programs in the Northeast). The article describes the result of ROTC’s retreat from “elite” colleges — that would be Brown — as a lowering of the intellectual and professional base of the military and a lack of ethnic and cultural

balance. Can anyone possibly see this as a good thing?

Not to be repetitive (or insulting), but if the leaders of the hundreds of thousands of enlisted people in the military are going to be coming from less liberal, more traditionally pro-military areas, what can we expect from our future military? Can we agree that no action of any kind for any length of time is going to erase our military and wars? In that case, your common sense should tell you that it is in all of our best interests to make sure the best people are in leadership positions. What we are doing now, by virtue of making it difficult to have convenient, oncampus ROTC programs, is abdicating this important function to others. Not to mention sticking our heads in the sand.

After my last Herald column on this subject, I got a nice letter from a recent Brown graduate in Iraq. He seemed to me to be a typically well-informed, broad-minded Brown graduate. His observation was that this country’s biggest failures in Iraq were the lack of cultural and historical awareness and the leadership abilities of regular Army officers. I would attribute Abu Ghraib and other scandals to this — perhaps even the whole approach to what we are doing there.

Some of these young officers will stay in the Army and become generals. So how is that going to change? Not by media pressure or protests, and certainly not by chasing ROTC further into the hinterland. It is going to change by getting the right officers in at the source. In the case of the Army, that’s primarily ROTC. I don’t know what courses are taught at Brown today regarding leadership, but it is a very important subject, as you will learn no matter what you do after Brown. It is without a doubt the most important aspect of the military, going way beyond the “take that hill” leadership. History shows us that nothing really will change the military other than leadership. Even the election of your favorite president is not going to change it much, as it is an embedded bureaucracy like any other in the federal system. The only

way to “get it right” is to lead it right. Perhaps no other organization — except maybe the CIA — has more influence on political foreign policy decisions. By the way, the CIA gets the most resistance to its theories from the military. For schools like Brown to blindly resist ROTC is a very short-sighted, non-productive stance which clearly has no effect other than to contribute to the gradual downgrading of the officer corps. Many schools are beginning to figure this out, and a reversal may be underway. Is Brown going to lead or follow? Brown’s faculty and administration, which love to crow about “intellectual diversity,” and President Simmons, who has said that no subject is so controversial it cannot have open discussion at Brown, refuse to address the subject. In effect, students are being spoon-fed a narrow point of view that amounts to nothing more than a sophomoric protest and pandering to emotional responses. You should want to understand this subject more and provide ROTC on campus. At least it will give you someone to debate the issues with. Are we afraid of that?

My two years in Navy ROTC at Brown were testy, but I learned many things that have served me well ever since. Leadership was among them. They also taught me a lot about the views of others in a turbulent time, since I was regularly engaged by both sides of the Vietnam issue. It is all too easy to cloister yourselves in the shelter of Brown and revel in self-supporting, marginally informed discussions with those who already agree with you. Perhaps there are brave students willing to challenge Brown’s assertion that it is prepared to give any subject due consideration, and that it strives for balance.

What could possibly be more worthy of debate than the structure of our military leadership at this important juncture in history and how to better it? I urge you to stand up, be counted and demand the administration stop ducking it.

Brian Barbata ’68 likes acronyms.

Updating meal plan for the 21st century

BY CHELSEA RUDMAN GUEST COLUMNIST Undergrads, let’s have a round of applause for the great changes Dining Services has made this year. Pita chips, salads and sushi have cropped up at Jo’s, the Blue Room and the Ivy Room, and this semester, even the Ratty and V-Dub have boosted their weekly offerings, adding new stir-fry flavors and other recipes to the mix. Most importantly, Dining Services finally began offering Flex Plans this year so unused meal credits won’t go “poof” come Thursday night. Dining Services, thanks for showing us you care.

But wait a minute. If you’re paying for 20 meals per week on a normal mealplan, each swipe comes out to $5.07. If you switch over to the Flex 460, theoretically the Flex alternative to the 20-per-week plan, the cost of a meal rises to $6.40. Okay, $1.33 more, no big deal, and you do get an additional 300 Flex points. But how much more are you paying per meal to have a smaller meal plan? Would you pay double?

If you’re on the smallest Flex plan, you already are paying double. Meals on Flex 240 are $11.20 apiece — and your credits are still worth just $5.20.

It’s a classic business strategy: Offer discounts for buyers of bulk. But while it would be naive to suggest that Brown is not in any way a business, it is cynical to advocate an approach that emphasizes the bottom line over making food available and affordable for all students By the way, those of you swiping entire boxes of Cinnamon Toast Crunch from

the V-Dub are not making meal plan more affordable for the rest of us. Just saying.

Flex plans were introduced this year as flexible variations of the weekly plans, according to Dining Services Director Gretchen Willis, not to provide smaller options for students who want the security of ready-togo food without shelling out top dollar. With the exception of the 50-meals-per-week plan, which is available only to off-campus students, Dining Services has yet to offer smaller plans.

Why no Flex 90 or Flex 120 for on-campus students? And why are there no Flexpoint-only plans? After your initial Flex points run out, you can buy them discounted at the rate of $1.15 Flex points for $1.00 — but only if you’re a meal plan subscriber. The all-or-nothing nature of current meal plan offerings is scaring off students who want to eat on campus, but only sporadically.

Conversely, the current set-up may also be forcing students who are intimidated by the post-meal plan world to pay for meals and points they don’t want. And for students who realize halfway through the year that going off meal plan isn’t so scary — and trust me, it’s not — it’s too late. When my suitemate tried to cancel her meal plan at the start of this semester, she was told she couldn’t cancel mid-year.

I appreciate the extra hummus and orange juice from Jo’s that wind up in my fridge, but I think she would appreciate the refund a little more. There is no reason students should not be allowed to cancel meal plans halfway through the year.

If a student decides not to return to Brown for second semester, he or she can get a tu-

ition refund. Why should students be locked into staying on meal plan year-round when every other choice we make, even whether or not to return to Brown, can vary from semester to semester?

And it doesn’t seem like Dining Services has to worry about losing customers midyear, anyway. Thanks to the addition of the Flex plans, meal plan participation is at a high this year, with 4,420 out of 5,754 undergraduates signed on, according to an Oct. 11, 2006 Herald article. 38 percent of them have Flex plans.

Making smaller, more flexible meal plans available should only entice the remaining 23 percent of the student body to opt in, as evidenced by the success of the off-campus 50-meals-per-year plan. A sizeable 140 offcampus, commuting and RUE students opted in. Since 1,170 students live off campus this year, that’s not a bad turnout, considering that having a private kitchen is often half the reason students move off campus in the first place.

So, Dining Services: You done good, but you ain’t done yet. Both you and the student body can benefit from an increased number of meal plan options. And yes, maybe you’ll lose a little money if you let people cancel mid-year, but think of how much more pleasant interacting with students will be if they don’t think you’re out to rip them off.

Now just bring back the pizza bites at Jo’s, and all will be forgiven.

Chelsea Rudman ’08 can teach you how to cook a stir-fry like you’ve never tasted at the Ratty.

S PORTS T HURSDAY THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 2007

March Madness isn’t just about the men This is the time for March Madness.

There’s no debating that. The men’s college basketball tournament has dominated ratings and headlines over recent years — and it should, given that it’s one of the most captivating, nail-biting and thrilling events in sports.

But while the men’s tournament is great, the women’s tournament has given the country some highJustin Goldman level entertainGolden Boy ment over the past few years.

Part of the reason the women’s tourney turns people off is because most people perceive it as a tournament of only two teams — the University of Tennessee and the University of Connecticut. One of the reasons people think this is that both programs have absolutely dominated women’s college basketball. Tennessee won three titles in a row from 1996-1998, and UConn completed a three-peat of its own from 2002-2004, while also winning the title in 2000, giving the Huskies four titles in five years.

Those two programs have also had some very recognizable players from Rebecca Lobo to Diana Taurasi to Chamique Holdsclaw to Tamika continued on page 13

PAGE 16

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Spring 2007: Games to watch Two fencers

BY PETER CIPPARONE SPORTS EDITOR

With the weather warming up, Brown’s spring sports have just begun to hit the fields. Between three straight wins from men’s lacrosse and the men’s tennis team’s season-opening 11-2 record, many teams are already out to hot starts — and in a few weeks, the teams will begin their Ivy League play. Here are a few home games to mark on your calendar.

Softball, Saturday, March 31, 12 p.m. vs. Princeton Softball has been cruising through its non-conference schedule so far. After playing four games in California over spring break, the Bears will open their Ivy League season against Princeton.

The Tigers are the league’s defending champions, but AllAmerican pitcher Erin Snyder has graduated. As a result, the Bears look poised to climb the Ivy League standings behind the bats of first baseman Kelsey Wilson ’09 and designated hitter and catcher Amy Baxter ’08.

Ashley Hess / Herald File Photo Bryan Tews ’07 was a first-team All-Ivy selection last year. If Brown wants to content for the title, it must win both of its home games against Harvard on April 21 and April 22.

Men’s and women’s track and field, Saturday, April 14, Brown Invitational After going on the road all winter for the indoor season, the track team will host numerous continued on page 13

Spoiler Alert: 2007 MLB results, Part 1

Robinson nabs coaching award

The other day, when watching an episode of “24,” I totally predicted what was going to happen before the hour was over. I can’t explain it. It’s as if Jack Bauer was in my head, whispering sweet nothings and telling me exactly how he was going to save the world.

Ellis Rochelson As the digital Ellis’ MLB Exclusive clock on the screen ticked to 5 p.m., I thought, “Hey, if I can predict what happens in ‘24,’ I bet I can foretell the outcomes of the 2007 baseball season!” So, here’s how the American League will shape up.

Men’s basketball Head Coach Craig Robinson was recently named the Ivy League Men’s Basketball Coach of the Year

by Basketball U., a Web site that covers Division I men’s basketball news.

In his first year with the Bears after six years as an assistant coach at Northwestern University, Robinson led the team to its 11-18 overall record, including a 6-8 Ivy League record. Robinson was hired by the Bears in July and implemented new offensive and defensive schemes as well as continuing to develop several players.

After losing nine of 11 games played between Dec. 30 and Feb. 10, Robinson helped inspire the Bears to finish the season in dominating fashion.

In the Bears’ last six games, all of which were against Ivy rivals, the team won four of the match-ups — a four-point victory over Harvard, who defeated the Bears on Jan. 27, a dominating 20-point win over Dartmouth, who downed Bruno by four points on Jan. 26, a 64-59 triumph over Columbia and the thrilling 64-55 win over Robinson’s alma mater, Princeton.

In addition to the team’s overall improvement, Robinson guided two individuals to All-Ivy accolades. Mark McAndrew ’08 emerged as one of the dominant players in the league this season under Robinson’s tutelage. The junior guard led

AL East: Yanks take 10th straight division title The Red Sox will put up a fight, boasting an improved rotation and a healthy Manny Ramirez, but they’ll have to settle for a wild card berth. The 2007 New York Yankees may be one of the best teams ever assembled. They have a former All Star at every position except for first base, where they have goldglover Doug Mientkiewicz. The

SPORTS SCHEDULE WEDNESDAY, DAY MAR. 14 DAY, W. WATER POLO: vs. Harvard

THURSDAY, DAY MAR. 15 DAY, M. TENNIS: at Blue/Gray Invitational (Montgomery, Ala.) WRESTLING: at NCAA Championships (Auburn Hills, Mich.)

Yanks rotation is well-rounded and powerful — when Japanese 2006 strikeout king Kei Igawa is your No. 4 starter, you’re in good shape.

Oh, and they still have the best closer of all time in Mariano Rivera. New York will win 100 games for the first time since 2004.

The exciting story in the AL East will be the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, who will finally have their first .500 season. With one of the best outfields in baseball in Carl Crawford, Rocco Baldelli and Delmon Young and a healthy Scott Kazmir leading the rotation, the DRays will leapfrog the Toronto Blue Jays late in the season and take third place in the AL East. Look for crucial breakout seasons from SP James Shields, OF Young and the talented Japanese 3B Akinori Iwamura.

AL Central: Detroit Tigers edge the ChiSox The Tigers will continue to lack star power, but they will take their first division title since 1987. Every other AL Central team has some big-name stars: The Indians boast Travis Hafner, the White Sox have Jermaine Dye, the Twins have Johan Santana and even the Kansas City Royals are introducing slugger Alex Gordon. The Tigers, with no notable star, have the most complete and competent team in the division. They led all of baseball in 2006 with a team ERA of 4.17, and their staff will be even better in ’07.

Joel Zumaya, the 22 year old with the 102-mile-per-hour fastball, will continued on page 13

Jacob Melrose / Herald

Craig Robinson led Brown to an 1118 overall record this season. Brown showed constant improvement down the stretch, winning four of its last six games.

the Ancient Eight in scoring with his 18.6 points per game and earned First-Team All-Ivy honors for his efforts. Last season, McAndrew averaged only 1.2 points per contest.

Guard Damon Huffman ’08 was named an honorable mention All-Ivy selection. After struggling through injury through the first part of the season, Huffman impressed from beyond the arc, averaging 2.83 three-pointers per game, which ranked him second in the league.

— Madeleine Marecki

qualify for Nationals

BY ANDREW BRACA SPORTS STAFF WRITER

Randy Alevi ’10 and Dan Mahoney ’07 qualified for the NCAA National Collegiate Fencing Championships with a strong showing Sunday at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships. At the tournament, hosted by Tufts University, Alevi gained an automatic berth to Nationals, and Mahoney earned an at-large bid. Alevi and Mahoney will compete against the best collegiate fencers in the country at Drew University in Madison, N.J., starting March 22.

“This is a tremendous result,” said Head Coach Atilio Tass. “The team did very well. They were very focused and prepared. Given the nature of the very high quality of the opponents, I think we did very, very well.”

Alevi automatically qualified for the national championships by finishing in the top eight in the women’s saber event at Regionals, capping a highly successful freshman year. She posted Brown’s best Northeast Fencing Conference record, 29-3 — earning the title of NFC Fencer of the Month for November along the way — then finished 9-8 in Ivy League competition.

“It’s pretty exciting, but it’s nerve-wracking at the same time,” Alevi said. “It wasn’t really sinking in before, but now I really have to start training hard. Still, I’m really excited just to be able to go.”

“It was my goal the whole season to qualify for Nationals,” she added. “It is by far the high point of all my fencing.”

For Mahoney, competing at Nationals will be the culmination of a stellar career. But earning the berth was no cakewalk. Mahoney was not one of the top eight finishers who automatically qualified out of the Northeast. Instead, he finished 11th and earned the second at-large bid for the region — a long shot to qualify for Nationals. But when the selections were announced on Tuesday, he learned he would be one of 24 saberists to compete in the national championship.

“I am absolutely thrilled right now,” Mahoney said. “Making Nationals has been a goal of mine for the past four years, and after Sunday at Regionals, I didn’t think I did it.”

“Making it was very surprising because I was not only an at-large, but I was the second at-large out of the region, so I could only get in if the first one got in and I got in as well,” he added. “It happened, and I’m so excited about that. I just found out quite recently, and I’m just thrilled.”

Sending two fencers to the national championship is a big step up for the fencing team — last year, only epeeist Ruth Schneider ’06 qualified for Nationals.

This year, several fencers came close to making Brown’s national championship contingent even bigger.

“We had a couple other people that were very close but didn’t quite make it,” Mahoney said. “So continued on page 13