The Brown Daily Herald Wednesday, O ctober 17, 2007
Volume CXLII, No. 90
Six EU consuls speak at Watson By Melissa Dzenis Contributing Writer
Six European consuls extolled the successes of the European Union Tuesday afternoon, but were met with incisive questions from faculty and students in attendance who criticized their positive outlook. Hosted by the Watson Institute for International Studies, the panel discussion — “Social and Political Issues Facing the European Union at 50: Consuls from Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain Offer the Perspectives of Their Countries” — filled the Joukowsky Forum to capacity. Each consul spoke briefly on what they perceived to be the most important issues facing their own country and the EU at large. Because Portugal currently holds the presidency of the European Union, the Portuguese consul general in Boston, Manuela Bairos, began the program. Alenka Suhadolnik, Slovenia’s consul general in New York, spoke last. Of the nations present, Slovenia was most recently incorporated into the EU and will be following Portugal in assuming the six-month presidency of the EU starting in January. The EU was initially constructed as an economic arrangement, evolving from the embryonic European Coal and Steel Community in 1950, which sought to politically and economically consolidate the continent into the six-member European Economic Community. Each consul emphasized, however, that the 27-member modern EU is not simply a federation or an economic continued on page 4
Taubman policy conference addresses living wage laws By Michael Skocpol Senior Staff Writer
Three sharply differing views on addressing poverty were on display yesterday at a panel discussion of living wage ordinances hosted by the Taubman Center for Public Policy, part of an annual conference on urban policy issues. The discussion panel was titled “The Living Wage,” in reference to laws that cities have enacted in recent years that target employees of municipal sub-contractors
and mandate payments above the prevailing minimum wage. But the discussion ranged broadly, touching on the national minimum wage, the earned income tax credit or EITC and the role of labor unions. An audience of several dozen in Faunce House’s Leung Gallery listened to short presentations and posed questions to three national experts on wage policy: Paul Sonn, a minimum-wage advocate at the New York University School of Law’s Brennan Center; James Sherk, a labor policy fellow at the
Defunct since 2002, the African Sun will be published once again this fall as its staff looks to reestablish the journal in the Brown community and spread it to other campuses as well. The Sun, a publication that, according to its mission statement, provides a voice “for and about the black community at Brown University,” stopped printing after April 2002 because “there wasn’t a direct transfer of leadership,” said Cristina Rodrigues ’10, who is spearheading the comeback effort along with Megan Smith ’10. “Once (a publication) has fallen, it is easier for it to stay defunct,” Rodrigues said. Much of the Sun’s mission today is the same as it was in 2002, Rodrigues said, in terms of “creating a forum for alternative perspectives on mainstream news, while making room for specifically black issues.” The Sun also hopes to connect black students with black alums while educating the
INSIDE:
www.browndailyherald.com
wage laws do not cause job loss. In fact, Sonn said, allowing minimum wage laws to fall to well below their historic levels has had the effect of “artificially holding down wages for the entire bottom end of the economy.” Sonn said a current congressional effort, spearheaded by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and others, to raise the national minimum wage and legislate automatic cost-of-living increases, Sonn said continued on page 6
Rahul Keerthi / Herald With midterms in full swing, the Friedman Study Center in the Sciences Library has been especially hopping as of late.
Brown community at large about the black community on campus, she said. Rodrigues said a publication like the Sun is important because of its function as a historical record for the University’s black community. “Each generation isn’t starting on a blank state,” she said. Smith and Rodrigues plan to alter the format of the publication, starting with the first issue in December. “It (used to be) more creative writing and poetry. This will be more of a newspaper that includes poetry” and emphasizes alternate perspectives on mainstream media, Smith said. Smith expressed interest in an intercollegiate editorial board for the Sun. She and Rodrigues have spoken to students at Johnson and Wales University and Rhode Island College, and this is the first year of participation from students at the Rhode Island School of Design, Smith said. “We don’t just want submissions from other schools, we want them to be on the staff as well,” Rodrigues said.
FAUST IN AT HARVARD Drew Faust was inaugurated as president of Harvard UniCAMPUS WATCH versity last Friday, the first woman to hold the job.
3
conservative Heritage Foundation; and Oren Levin-Waldman, a public affairs and administration professor at the Metropolitan College of New York. Assistant Professor of Political Science Scott Allard moderated. Sonn spoke first, focusing on the national movement to raise minimum wage laws. The decline of these laws, he said, has contributed to a “stagnation of living standards” in the past 35 years. Citing recent research, Sonn said that, contrar y to the arguments of their critics, minimum
F ri S c F ra z z l e d
African Sun to be revived, expanded to RISD By Aditya Voleti Contributing Writer
Since 1866, Daily Since 1891
5
Philip Glenn, a RISD student who is a member of the Sun’s staff, said he is excited to have a publication that caters to his school’s black community. “I just know that my experience has been very different from (that of) a white or Asian student,” Glenn said. “Black students will be excited to know that they are being appreciated and noticed.” “We’ve had a black student union type of group, but never a publication,” Glenn added. He said the current political atmosphere is inspiring students to create groups to assert themselves as active members of the community, citing issues such as the “Jena Six” in Louisiana and immigration as motivation for student action. Glenn said the Sun’s main challenge is raising RISD student curiosity, since only a few professors remember the publication from five years ago and no students have heard of it. He said he hopes RISD students will contribute poetry, articles, artwork and continued on page 4
CAMPUS WATCH
THE NEW FACEBOOK? College.com hopes to attract student users by restricting access only to people with .edu e-mail addresses.
Eastside Marketplace tries to cater to students By Anita Tasavanh Contributing Writer
FEATURE
Eastside Marketplace, an independent grocery store located at 165 Pitman St., is trying to make grocery shopping more of an experience than a chore. But despite the local supermarket’s efforts, many student shoppers with access to cars prefer to make the drive to Seekonk, Mass., to take advantage of Stop & Shop’s lower prices. Liz Encarnacion ’09, who is not enrolled in the University’s meal plan, said she would rather go out of her way than spend extra money. “(Eastside) is a little on the pricy side, especially in comparison to Stop & Shop,” she said. Short of lowering prices to the levels of chain stores, representatives at Eastside said they are looking for new ways to appeal to the student population, as well as to the larger Providence community. “Because we’re an independent store, when you walk in here there’s a feeling and sense of familiarity,”
11
OPINIONS
195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island
SO NEAR, SO far Alison Schouten ’08 ruminates on her long-distance relationship with the RISD museum.
said Public Relations Manager Kim Moreau. “We have employees who have been around for 25-plus years. Customers have been here just as long, and you might not get that when you go to other stores.” Moreau said she feels at home at Eastside, though she’s only been with the company for four years. Moreau also said Eastside prides itself on its community involvement. “One of our greatest assets is that we give back to the community,” Moreau said. “It’s important that we support the community that supports us.” Recently, Moreau organized an unofficial focus group of about 15 Brown students in partnership with WBRU. According to Moreau, Eastside gathered the group to find out what students “were looking for, what they ate, what they liked and to find out what the needs of today’s continued on page 4
12 SPORTS
VOLLEYBALL WOES The volleyball team is 0-5 in the Ivy League, but is looking forward to nine home games out of 11 left.
News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com
T oday Page 2
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
But Seriously | Charlie Custer and Stephen Barlow
We a t h e r Today
TOMORROW
partly cloudy 64 / 55
rain 68 / 58
Menu Sharpe Refectory
Verney-Woolley Dining Hall
Lunch — Beef and Vegetarian Tacos, Spanish Rice, Refried Beans, Eggplant Parmesan Grinder, Spinach with Toasted Sesame Seeds, Raspberry Squares
Lunch — Gourmet Turkey Sandwich, Tomato Quiche, Glazed Carrots, Frosted Brownies, Mediterranean Eggplant Saute, Spinach with Garlic
Dinner — Spinach Stuffed Squash, Pork Medallions, Quinoto, Corn on the Cob, Italian Beef Noodle Casserole, Chocolate Sundae Cake
Dinner — Rotisserie Style Chicken, Sweet and Sour Tofu, Sticky Rice with Edamame Beans, Broccoli, Polynesian Ratatouille, Chocolate Sundae Cake
Aibohphobia | Roxanne Palmer
Sudoku Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.
Vagina Dentata | Soojean Kim
RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, October 17, 2007 © Puzzles by Pappocom
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
C
o s and s wo d Lewis Edited by RichrNorris Joyce r Nichols
ACROSS 1 Clamping device 5 It merged with BP in 1998 10 Seek status by mentioning, as a name 14 City NNW of Oklahoma City 15 One who’s finished 16 Mark replacement 17 C&W immortal with 28 #1 hits 19 Tilt a bit 20 Dessert in a tin 21 Welcome site 22 In a half-hearted way 24 Olympic skater Cohen 26 “Gorillas in the Mist” subject Fossey 27 Sun blockers 34 Highway warning 36 Hit on the head 37 Big name in Indian politics 38 On the less blustery side 39 One is hidden in 17-, 27-, 47- and 63-Across 42 Grant’s __: NYC landmark 43 Namely, to Nero 45 Comprehend 46 Historical times 47 Comprehend 51 Medical sch. class 52 Light songs 55 It may be served with chips 59 Network absorbed by The CW 61 Poet’s “prior to” 62 Latin I word 63 “Take another shot” 66 Wing statistic 67 Earns 68 Holiday lead-ins 69 Ilk 70 Tense feeling 71 Inconsequential DOWN 1 Many of them have gone on to become president
2 Where Darjeeling is 3 One crossing Main, maybe 4 Dreyer’s partner in ice cream 5 Taj Mahal site 6 __ Blanc 7 “Double Fantasy” artist 8 Boston pro 9 Trying experience 10 Hero maker 11 Regretted 12 Kind of hygiene 13 Yankee Doodle’s ride 18 Latin I word 23 Nabokov novel 25 Unbribable 26 Bank transaction 28 “Washboard” muscles 29 Fate 30 Czar known as “the Great” 31 Sailor’s request 32 Humorist Bombeck 33 10-Down offerings 34 Reagan secretary of state
35 Shoppe opening? 40 __ room 41 So far 44 Senator Cochran of Mississippi 48 Toughie 49 New Guinea native 50 Bone near the humerus 53 Judge or jury
54 Intuit 55 Outrun, say 56 Catch sight of 57 CEO’s “Quickly!” 58 Oriole : Maryland :: __ : Hawaii 59 Exploits 60 Classroom attention getter 64 Heart rendering 65 Bit of treasure
Octopus on Hallucinogens | Toni Liu and Stephanie Le
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Gratis | Nate Carlson
xwordeditor@aol.com
10/17/07
T he B rown D aily H erald Editorial Phone: 401.351.3372 Business Phone: 401.351.3260
University community since 1891. It is published Monday through Friday during the aca-
Eric Beck, President
once in July by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. POSTMASTER please send corrections to
Mary-Catherine Lader, Vice President Mandeep Gill, Treasurer Dan DeNorch, Secretary By Alan Olschwang (c)2007 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
10/17/07
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.
C ampus W atch THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Page 3
Congress may mandate increased U. spending
Harvard formally inaugurates Faust as first woman president
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
By Marielle Segarra Staff Writer
In an effort to make college more affordable, a panel of experts urged Congress last month to set a minimum amount that universities must spend per year out of their endowments in hopes of spurring financial aid spending, a proposal that, if it gains Congressional support, could have an impact at Brown. The experts, who testified at a Senate Finance Committee hearing in September, asked that universities — which are exempt from taxation because of their status as nonprofit organizations — spend at least five percent of their endowments each year, the same proportion charitable foundations must spend. The proposal seeks to increase financial aid for students who cannot afford to pay their full college tuition. University endowments are larger and more “aggressively invested” than ever before, said Lynn Munson, adjunct fellow at the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, at the Sept. 26 hearing. Endowments now receive large annual returns — often exceeding 12 percent — and can afford to pay out more than the average 4 percent they do, Munson told The Herald. Brown currently boasts a $2.8
billion endowment and is in the process of a $1.4 billion capital campaign. Brown’s highest governing body, the Corporation, sets the amount the University draws from its endowment each year — usually around four percent. Five percent should be a “starting point” for universities’ spending of endowment money, Munson said. “I believe that skyrocketing tuition is undoubtedly the biggest access problem in higher education. What can possibly be more discouraging to a capable student whose parents are not wealthy than a school with a $45,000 price tag on the door?” Munson said. The proposed change has caused great concern at Brown, according to Elizabeth Huidekoper, executive vice president for finance and administration. One concern to the University is that market fluctuations could lead to instability in payouts under the proposed minimum, Huidekoper said. The dependence of the value of the endowment on investment could lead to drops in aid levels, she explained. Universities with large endowments recognize that they are fortunate to have the ability to rely on their endowments for spending, but Brown currently spends over $55 million a year on financial aid, Huidekoper said.
Brown is also required by law to respect donors’ initial intentions for large portions of the endowment funds. Restrictions on the way some gifts are spent could make the proposed policy impossible to enforce, according to Huidekoper. Munson said that on average, 45 percent of endowment funds at independent schools and 20 percent of funds at public schools are unrestricted. She added that though financial aid is the top restriction designated by donors — with 36 percent assigned in 2005 — financial aid spending is “shamefully small.” Other Ivy League university officials are also opposed to the legislation, including University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann, according to a Sept. 28 article in The Daily Pennsylvanian. “The general philosophy of government in this country is not to have centralized control by a centralized government of literally what tens of thousands of nonprofits do,” Gutmann said in the article. “It would not be wise for government to go down that route.” Brown’s goal is to “optimize the returns to the endowment so (it) can support the University,” Huidekoper said. The propoall “may be good for the federal budget, but I certainly don’t think it would be good for the University’s budget,” she added.
SLU develops potential Alzheimer’s treatment By Evan Pelz Contributing Writer
Researchers at Saint Louis University have discovered a potential treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. Their findings, published in the August issue of Experimental Neurology, were part of a threeyear study led by William Banks, a professor at SLU, and Michael Steintiz of Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The study found that a certain protein injected into mice reverses learning problems, and may have important implications for humans. One difference between this study and past efforts to find a therapy for Alzheimer’s is its use of immunoglobulin M proteins instead of immunoglobulin G proteins. The IgM protein is an
antibody that grabs onto the amyloid beta protein in the brain and prevents it from changing into the toxic substance that is believed to contribute to Alzheimer’s, according to an Oct. 8 article in Science Daily. Banks told The Herald that one change in this study as opposed to earlier studies was the method of immunization used. In previous studies, subjects were given incomplete antibodies in the hopes the body would then begin producing the substance on its own, but the antibodies were rejected by the body before they were able to have any effect on the brain. For his study, Banks utilized passive immunization, a technique which involves giving premade antibodies to the test subject directly. Banks said this method was more successful. Banks also said that these IgM
proteins are much larger than other proteins, and that their large size might be the reason for their success. They have to “use the back door” in order to be effective, Banks said. “Once (IgG proteins) get in, the brain starts to pump them back out ... IgM proteins also lead (into the brain), but they can accumulate,” thereby having a more lasting effect on the brain. This is the first time these antibodies have been used, and Banks said that they have potential to help fight Alzheimer’s. As of now, the proteins have only been tested in mice. Banks said there is no word yet on when IgM proteins will be tested on humans or released to the public. But this initial research, Banks said, “shows antibodies can get in” and possibly reverse the effects of the disease in humans.
thanks for reading
By Oliver Bowers Campus Watch Editor
Drew Faust was officially installed as Harvard’s 28th president last Friday, the first woman in the history of the university to be appointed to its highest office. In her address to the Harvard community, Faust touched on the major hurdles the university would face over the next decade. Faust called her speech a “compass” she would use to guide her actions over the term of her presidency rather than a list of planned initiatives. “Lists seem too constraining when I think of what today should mean,” Faust said, according to a copy of her remarks on the Harvard Web site. “They seem a way of limiting rather than unleashing our most ambitious imaginings, our profoundest commitments.” Faust spoke of the public’s ambivalence toward institutions of higher learning and emphasized Har vard’s need to maintain “accountability” in its ability to engage world problems. Reform was another topic of Faust’s speech. “By their nature, universities nurture a culture of restlessness and even unruliness. This lies at the heart of their accountability to the future,” Faust said, though she did not go into specifics. Faust emphasized Har vard’s need to create “cross-school programs” that would bolster the flow of information between disciplines, particularly in the sciences. “We live in the midst of scientific developments as dramatic as those of any era since the 17th century,” Faust said. “We must organize ourselves in ways that enable us fully to engage in such exploration.” Harvard must also ramp up its internationalization efforts, Faust said — an ongoing initiative for a number of Ivy League schools, including Brown. A distinguished Civil War historian, Faust spoke of the need to reach to the past to define the direction of the future. She drew upon the words of past thinkers such as John Winthrop, James Conant —
Courtesy of harvard.edu
Drew Faust was inaugurated as Harvard’s first female president last Friday.
Har vard’s 23rd president — and W.E.B. Dubois, to assess the university’s future course. The two-day inauguration began last Thursday in Cambridge at Memorial Church with a reading by Toni Morrison. The Nobel laureate read from a work in progress and received a standing ovation from those in attendance, according to an Oct. 11 Harvard Gazette article. Morrison is a friend of Faust’s and delivered the keynote address at a ceremony in June, when Faust left her post as dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. In Thursday’s opening remarks, Morrison said she has been making a habit of visiting the inaugurations of women presidents at Smith College, Brown and the University of Pennsylvania, according to the Gazette article. “I actually insinuated myself into the proceedings — and the hint was received with enthusiasm,” Morrison said. “There’s no question about the deep satisfaction of this moment.” Faust was also welcomed by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, a Harvard alum, on behalf of the commonwealth. Faust assumed the Har vard presidency on July 1 after having served as head of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study since 2001. Prior to her term at the Radcliffe Institute, Faust served as a professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania.
Page 4
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
EU consuls speak at Eastside Marketplace seeks to Watson Institute reel in more student customers continued from page 1 association. Rather, said Consul General Constantinos Orphanides, representing Greece, “it is something much more.” Each of the six consuls’ comments struck a similar chord, praising the EU’s function in facilitating the recovery of countries emerging from extreme political instability or communism, such as Spain and Slovenia. Carlos Robles, consul general of Spain in Boston, said restructuring Spain after the rule of fascist dictator Francisco Franco depended on the supportive economic structure afforded by the EU when the nation was still weak from the stresses of dictatorship. “The EU, to Spain, meant liberty, or perhaps democracy, stability, and progress.” Italy’s consul general in Boston, Liborio Stellino, remarked that his country would not have developed as successfully as it did after World War II without the EU’s support. “Italy emerged from an occupation and fascist dictatorship, thus the vision of the Italian leadership ... was to join the country to the free Europe,” he said. Similarly, for Slovenia, Suhadolnik said, EU “acceptance ran parallel to democratization and independence” after the breakup of Yugoslavia. With regard to current geopolitical events, several of the consuls called for a revision of transatlantic diplomatic relations. “Personally, I do think our relationship with the United States needs to go beyond the military and economy,” Portugal’s Bairos said. All of the consuls spoke positively of the EU’s enthusiastic trend of expansion as well as the development of a transnational European culture. Rather than critiquing the impact of such globalization on individual national cultures, the consuls were optimistic. “The ultimate goal is not the homogenization of Europe. ... Rather
you can freely share the cultural richness,” said Stellino, who also hailed the EU as the “greatest laboratory of peace and prosperity in the century.” Portugal’s Bairos agreed. “We are going through a process of redefining the European identity,” Bairos said. After the consuls’ presentations, questions posed to the panel ranged from International Relations concentrator Aly Richards’s ’08 question about trends in bilateral relations to Renee Ahlers’s ’09 question about the future of NATO after the demise of the USSR as a common threat. The consuls attempted to smooth more abrasive criticisms from the audience, such as questions over the absence of meaningful action in alleviating citizen dissatisfaction with employment, or the economic challenges facing the EU as it looks to expand with other countries, such as Turkey. “We celebrate 50 years, not 150 years,” said Wolfgang Vorwerk, Germany’s consul general in Boston. One faculty audience member expressed a dissatisfaction with what he described as the consuls “propagandized presentation,” which provided no “empirical evidence” that the pending adoption of the Reform Treaty, which will soon be addressed in a summit at Lisbon, will be successful. Ruben Durante GS, a doctoral economics student, spoke of his experience as a native Italian. “Let’s face it. We spend more on our cows than on our brains,” he said, referring to what he perceives as misplaced priorities in terms of funding allocated to agricultural reform and education and research. Despite the questions challenging the priorities and effectiveness of the EU, the consuls remained positive. In response to one attendee’s suggestion for change, General Consul Robles responded, “If you move too quickly, the train stops.”
continued from page 1 young professionals are.” “It helps us to gain a better understanding of the foods they enjoy and allows us to provide the products and ser vice they have come to expect from Eastside Marketplace,” she said. Despite the connection between the local community and the store, some students without cars said they were less likely to shop at Eastside because of its distance from campus, noting its inaccessibility. At about one mile from campus, it’s a considerable walk away. But this year, thanks to the University’s partnership with RIPTA, students can take the Green Line trolley directly from campus to Eastside’s front doors for free. The trolley system is useful for younger undergraduates who don’t have access to transportation. To avoid unnecessar y additional hassle, some students said they are willing to pay the higher prices for groceries. Robert Malayev GS said he shops at Eastside “out of convenience.”
“The only way I could shop at Stop & Shop is if one of my roommates has a car. I can’t exactly walk there,” Malayev said. Moreau said she wants Eastside to appeal more to students regardless of their means of transportation, and that the store has several programs to make groceries more affordable. For example, Eastside participates in the Bear Bargains program: On Wednesdays, students receive a five percent discount and on Thursdays, Brown staff and faculty can get the same discount. Eastside may put at ease the consciences of some students who feel that buying from a grocer y store takes business away from local vendors. Like the University’s Community Harvest Program, the store only purchases from local vendors and food producers, according to Moreau, who stressed that Eastside is “dedicated” to local vendors. Students can expect a wide selection of eco-friendly products at Eastside, which offers both organic and conventionally produced products and prepared foods. “We’ve put in a program where
our organic produce is priced as conventional so there’s no penalty to eating healthy. (It) takes the sting out of buying organic,” Moreau said. But these factors may not be enough for some Brown students to start shopping at Eastside. Hans Sprecher ’08, who is off meal plan, originally shopped at Whole Foods, then switched to Eastside and says he is now making the transition to Stop & Shop. “Eastside is far better than, say, Whole Foods, which simply confuses me and then leaves me with sticker shock,” Sprecher said. But he said the lower prices of Stop & Shop are drawing him away from the independent store. Some freshmen expressed appreciation for Eastside. Alicia Ambers ’11, who said she had been substituting CVS runs for traditional grocer y shopping, noted that she missed “being able to buy fruits and other groceries that you can’t find on Thayer Street.” “I shop at Eastside because it’s so much easier than carrying my groceries (from the Farmer’s Market) to class each week,” Ambers said.
Defunct since 2002, African Sun now reinstated, expanded to RISD continued from page 1 interviews with RISD professors to the Sun. In 2002, the Sun was a Category III group, meaning it received a budget from the Undergraduate Finance Board, but now it has to start over as a Category I group. “There has always been a struggle to get adequate funding from the University,” said Rodrigues, since the Sun caters to a smaller com-
munity within Brown. Rodrigues said the Sun has always done its own fundraising to supplement the money it is awarded through its classification by the Undergraduate Council of Students. The Sun currently receives no funding from RISD. Rodrigues said the Sun’s long term goal is to be financially independent. The Sun’s staff has plans to use the publication for jump-starting
other groups and events. Rodrigues and Smith plan to organize an open mic night and a release party. At RISD, Glenn is planning to submit architectural reviews to the Sun, in hopes of starting a chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects. “There is a lot of support from the black community,” Rodrigues said. Submissions for the December issue of the Sun are due Nov. 1.
C ampus n ews Wednesday, October 17, 2007
News
Page 5
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
i n
Brief
Visiting prof Jensen makes documentary on gender bias in developing world As part of the Watson Institute for International Studies’ Global Media Project, Robert Jensen, a visiting associate professor at the Watson Institute, is working on a documentary that explores gender bias in the developing world through the problem of missing women in India. The Global Media Project, Jensen said, provides a unique experience for academics to work with filmmakers and have their research disseminated to a larger, more diverse group of people. “There is all this really great and interesting research that’s going on that nobody knows about besides academics,” Jensen said, citing important yet largely unread research published in academic journals as an example. One goal of the project, launched in 2005, is to bring academics and filmmakers together to produce new documentary media on important issues, Jensen said. Other aims of the Global Media Project are “to see what lies behind and beyond the screen,” and “to study the expanding role of media in war and peace,” according to the project’s Web site. Jensen said he has been working with visiting fellow Deborah Scranton ’84 on a documentary in the hopes of exploring what it is about “the level of economic development and political and social institutions that pressures couples to have only sons,” in developing countries. Jensen said his interest in developing countries grew out of his concern for the state of poverty in the United States and the current welfare system. “I had always been interested in poverty because in my family background, we were not wealthy,” Jensen said. As a graduate student, he said, he met a prominent economist who had been doing work in India and South Africa who encouraged him to do work in these countries. Jensen took his advice and traveled to India, with little idea at the time as to what he wanted to research. As a “graduate student, you have to be an entrepreneur,” Jensen said, noting that most grad students do work based on the research their adviser is doing or has done. “Another way is, ‘Let me go around, out in the field, and poke around and strike out on my own.’ ” Jensen began studying a group of poor fishermen in Kerala, a southern region of India, examining how the introduction of cell phones affected their profits. He concluded that the use of cell phones helped the fisherman increase their profits by allowing them to find out which markets offered the highest prices on a particular day. “Information can be extremely powerful for alleviating poverty because there are so many inefficiencies related to information,” Jensen said. His work on the effects of information technology on poverty then shifted to how information technology raises the status of women, particularly in rural India. It was an interest in gender bias that brought him to Brown, Jensen said, and to his current documentary project. “The Global Media Project was definitely one of the things that brought me to Brown,” Jensen said. — Dana Teppert
College.com seeks Facebook’s discontents By Hannah Mintz Contributing Writer
Last year, when Facebook opened its cyber doors to the general public, many of its collegiate members became anxious that their profiles would be seen by parents or even future employers. But two people decided to do something about it. In October 2006, just weeks after Facebook changed its membership policy, Jon Davidman and Jason Levine began developing a competing social networking site, exclusively open to college students. An early version of the site was launched in September and a customized site for Brown is expected to launch by the end of the month. Though Levine and Davidman face a difficult uphill battle against the better-known and better-financed Facebook, they start with one major asset: their catchy domain name. College.com, which Levine obtained in 2004, emphasizes the site’s identity. Members must hold a “.edu” e-mail address to join. Sam Marks, one of College.com’s first employees, said he sees an opening in the market for a site open only to college students. Facebook is “trying to be everything to everyone,” Marks said. “As (Facebook) gets bigger, they’re getting farther away from their core users, which used to be college students.”
Marks said College.com is “doing things completely differently” from Facebook. Each school’s site will be customized with school colors — brown and red for Brown’s site — and include local weather and event calendars. A full listing of courses and professors will be uploaded to the site, making student reviews and show members’ course choices available. College.com’s academic component will be another deviation from Facebook’s traditional interface. Students will be able to create flashcards and upload notes to share with classmates. Professors will be able to post announcements and notes to their students, though they will not have access to profiles, Marks said. Students can also use College. com to share photos, write messages and make announcements. Many students said they felt more comfortable when Facebook was limited to the collegiate community, but they don’t think that it will be replaced as the social networking site of choice any time soon. “Facebook was part of the college bubble where there was a lack of consequences,” said Dan Rabb ’08, but with the public having access to the site, “that sense of security is lost.” Still, Rabb said he thinks that“in the immediate future, Facebook is pretty much locked in.” Emme LeBlanc ’10 agreed. “I
think that people are so invested in Facebook at this point that they won’t switch over,” she said. Mariah Erlick ’11 said she originally joined Facebook because “it was closed and it felt more secure than MySpace.” Now that it has opened to the public, “it’s become a little bit sketchier,” she said. But that alone isn’t enough to lure her to College.com, she said — the “general determinant” isn’t “what’s better, it’s where your friends are,” she said. As of Tuesday, 33 Brown students have joined College.com, but many of them say they have never used it. Marks said the staff of College. com is young and energetic. “We have people that are used to the college lifestyle and still have college in their minds,” he said. College.com has been most successful so far at Florida State University, where over 3,000 students have joined the site, Marks said. College. com threw a party for its members at FSU once its membership exceeded 1,000. Marks said if Brown’s membership exceeds 1,000, College.com will throw students a party like the one at FSU — which, Marks noted, was the best party he’s ever been to. Representatives from Facebook declined to comment for this article.
Comet or meteors may have caused megafaunal extinctions By Michael Smith Contributing Writer
New geological evidence from an international team of researchers — including Professor of Geological Sciences Peter Schultz — suggests that the drop in woolly mammoth populations about 13,000 years ago may have been caused by extrater-
restrial impacts. At the end of the Pleistocene epoch, the Earth was populated by a host of very large mammals including the woolly mammoth, mastodon, giant sloth and sabertooth tiger. However, many of these species vanished from the fossil record about 12,900 years ago. These mysterious disappearances have been the subject of Schultz’s research, and he was brought in as an impact specialist to fact-check for the National Laboratory team, he told The Herald. The group of researchers — led by Richard Firestone of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory — theorize that these mass extinctions were caused by earth’s collision with one or more extraterrestrial objects. The impacts with these comets or meteorites caused worldwide climate changes, triggering the end of many of the large mammals. The team discovered clues to these events hidden in a layer of the Earth’s fossil record called the “black mat.” This three-centimeter-deep, carbon-based mat has been found in over 50 locations in North America alone and in many other locations worldwide. The layer’s formation coincided with the beginning of the “big freeze,” an abrupt phase of climate change in the Earth’s geological history. The team suggested that the mat might be related to the mass extinctions, leading them to further explore the formation. Researchers found rare chemicals and compounds like iridium and nanodiamonds in the mat, which they say are evidence of an extraterrestrial impact. Nanodiamonds —
microscopic fragments of diamonds — are the most telling discovery, as they can only be formed through an event such as the intense pressure of an extraterrestrial object colliding with Earth. Schultz said the evidence is not definitive and more research needs to be done. Researchers know the impact event occurred, but they do not know for sure how it occurred. The site of impact, the number of objects that fell and the trajectory of these objects remain unknown. But if this new theory is supported by additional evidence, it may indicate that such an impact event may have caused profound changes to human cultural development. One major question left to be answered is if the extraterrestrial object hit an ice sheet when it collided with Earth, Schultz said. Schultz said the new theory could have profound impact on geology as well as on other fields of science. Evolutionary biologists may find an explanation for the disappearances of apparently well-adapted species, and anthropologists may find a clue to the source of some of the earliest myths of mankind, as well as why certain groups of people decided to migrate. Schultz said the new theor y “makes your mind spring in terms of possibilities,” although further research is needed to fully confirm the theory. He said this particular area of study is growing quickly and that many students are entering it. Schultz was assisted by Brown graduate student R. Scott Harris GS, a specialist in petrology. The research by Schultz and his team was funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy.
www.browndailyherald.com
Page 6
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Experts discuss living wage in light of rising housing costs continued from page 1 he is optimistic about the direction of American wage policy. “It really does look like we’re within striking distance of returning the minimum wage to its historical level within the next ten years,” Sonn said. Speaking next, Sherk said minimum wage laws are not a solution to the problem of poverty. “I wish it were that simple,” Sherk said. “The fact is it’s not.” Sherk argued that mandating higher wages does indeed lead employers to cut jobs, asserting that economists who support Sonn’s assertion to the contrary represent “a minority of the profession.” The unavoidable economic reality of the situation, he said, is that “when it becomes more expensive to hire workers, employers will hire fewer.” Sherk cited statistics indicating that the unemployment effects following minimum wage hikes are greater than the growth in wages. Sherk attributed the push for
living wage laws for employees of municipal contractors in cities like Providence to the influence of unions, which he said have figured prominently in the movement. Their goal, Sherk said, is to protect high-paying government jobs from a recent trend towards municipal subcontracting. “It’s in their self-interest,” he said. “It’s not this push for economic justice and solidarity.” Instead, Sherk said the best approach to lifting people out of poverty is to ensure they have access to education and other training that will give them the better skills and higher productivity necessary to command higher pay in a competitive economy. “Two-thirds of the eighth graders in Washington, D.C. are functionally illiterate,” making their prospects of earning a decent wage bleak, Sherk said. “The solution to poverty is to fix that problem.” Levin-Waldman recast the question of the living wage movement as a “backlash” against policies taken
by urban “regimes” to “create favorable business environments” and trim municipal budgets. The question also reflects the decline of national wage-protection institutions such as unions and the minimum wage, he said. He presented data from his current research that he said suggests cities adopting living wage ordinances have less-educated and lowerskilled workers, more rapidly rising inequality and sharper declines in traditional urban industries such as manufacturing and transportation. It is “the wrong question to ask whether the living wage is a good thing or a bad thing,” Levin-Waldman said. “I would say it’s actually been inevitable.” “There has been an absence of serious wage policy in the last 20 years or so,” Levin-Waldman said, later emphasizing the importance of labor unions to bolstering such policies. To kick off the question-andanswer session, Allard presented the findings of a Taubman Center poll conducted annually in conjunction with the conference. The poll found that 70 percent of Providence residents support the adoption of a living wage policy in the city that would require city contractors to pay workers at least $12.30 an hour, plus an additional $1.25 an hour for health benefits. The poll also found that 90 percent of Providence residents support an increase in the national minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour and that 74 percent consider poverty “a big problem” in society. The poll was conducted Sept. 29-30 by Professor of Political Science Darrell West, director of the Taubman Center, and Professor of Political Science Marion Orr, director of the University’s Urban Studies Program. It was conducted from a
sample of 491 Providence residents, and its margin of error was plus-orminus five percentage points. During the question-and-answer session, Sonn said wage laws, support programs like the EITC and education and job training “all play important roles” in alleviating poverty, but emphasized that the country’s wage policy has “gotten out of whack” with the other two components in the past 35 years. But once again, Sherk emphasized that wage laws were the wrong strategy. “Simply trying to get the government to come in and wave a magic wand doesn’t address the problem,” he said. “The key to lifting up low wage workers is to make them more productive.” Levin-Waldman said labor unions used to play a key role in supporting both the poor and the middle class. “It’s no coincidence that the deterioration of the minimum wage occurred at the same time as there was a large assault on labor unions,” particularly during the Reagan administration, Levin-Waldman said. Asked to explain the effect of broad trends like international outsourcing and illegal immigration on wage policy, Sonn emphasized that globalization has a much bigger effect on higher-skill industries, but workers for whom minimum wage laws were most necessary — those in service industries — were not subject to international competition. He also urged the modernization of wage and labor law enforcement to mitigate the effects of illegal immigration. Another questioner pressed Sherk to explain who would fill the ser vice jobs once education and training raised the skill level of low-income workers, given that such jobs are labor intensive and may not be automated. But techno-
logical innovations are often “hard to foresee,” Sherk said. Sonn called municipal living wage laws “an important but symbolic first step toward raising the minimum wage.” When a Community College of Rhode Island student suggested that living wage laws might discourage skilled “paraprofessional” workers from pursuing education because they could potentially earn the same amount in service jobs without extra training, LevinWaldman said the minimum wage benefits not only the poor but also the middle class. “If we were to couch the minimum wage as a middle class issue, there would be a broader base of support for it,” he said. “It’s not just the wages of low income people that have fallen.” But Sherk disagreed, saying so-called “ripple effects” do not exist, and instead “wages get compressed” at the lower end of the pay scale. Raising the minimum wage “doesn’t help someone earning $40,000 a year,” he said. The panel was the eighth annual installment of the Thomas J. Anton/Frederick Lippitt Conference, organized by the Taubman Center, which aims to bring to campus each year “recognized national experts on significant urban problems, who will join with local audiences in discussing both problems and solutions,” according to promotional literature distributed in advance of the conference. Previous years’ topics have ranged from education policy to emergency preparedness. The living wage was chosen as the subject of this year’s conference because in light of rising costs for housing, fuel, health care, and other daily necessities, discussion of how to help the working poor is crucial, Allard said.
W orld & n ation Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Nation
Page 7
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
i n
Brief
Mukasey likely to be confirmed as AG WASHINGTON (Newsday) — Retired New York federal judge Michael B. Mukasey is likely to win quick Senate approval as attorney general, two key Democrats said Tuesday after meeting with him on the eve of his confirmation hearings. Nominated by President Bush to take over a Justice Department shaken by controversy over anti-terror tactics and charges of political interference, Mukasey will face tough questions in the hearings, which could continue through the week. But in visits on Capitol Hill Tuesday, he appeared to have assured two of Bush’s harshest critics that he would be no “yes man” to the White House. That’s a charge several senators leveled at the recently resigned attorney general, Alberto Gonzales. “I see a man who has the potential to clean up the Department of Justice,” Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Judiciary Committee chairman, said after meeting with Mukasey. “From what I’ve seen, I would expect him to be confirmed.” Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who called for the resignation of Gonzales and suggested Mukasey as his replacement, said he believes the 66-year-old New Yorker has integrity and independence. “I asked, ‘Would you be willing to look the president in the eye and say no if you thought what they wanted the Justice Department to do was either not legal or not ethical?” Schumer said. “Without batting an eye, he said, ‘Absolutely.”’ Mukasey also agreed to conduct his own review of the Office of Legal Counsel’s memos on wiretapping, the National Security Agency, torture and detentions of terror suspects, Schumer said. Mukasey appears to have won over senators during his visits, Schumer added. “If the hearings go as well as the interviews have, then he will be confirmed by a very large majority,” he said. “I don’t know of a single Democrat who is inclined not to support him.” But there is one Democrat who will be noticeably missing from the opening of the native New Yorker’s confirmation hearings: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y. It is customary for both senators to introduce a nominee from their home state for a major post, but Clinton will not join Schumer in that task Wednesday. At Mukasey’s request, his old friend Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., will fill in. Clinton, her press aide said, has a “scheduling conflict” — a hearing on Superfund cleanups of toxic waste sites by the Senate subcommittee on Superfund and Environmental Health, which she chairs. Clinton, the Democratic presidential front-runner, might have another conflict she does not want to mention: Mukasey is a longtime friend of Rudy Giuliani, the Republican front-runner. Until his nomination, Mukasey served as an adviser to Giuliani’s campaign and his son, Marc, who works for Giuliani’s law firm, still does.
Wash. teen arrested for hacking 911 (Los Angeles Times) — A teenager from Washington state has been arrested on charges of hacking into a telephone network to trick Orange County’s 911 dispatchers in Southern California into sending a SWAT team to the home of a randomly selected Lake Forest family, authorities announced Tuesday. Randal T. Ellis, 19 of Mukilteo, Wash., allegedly impersonated a caller from the Lake Forest home shortly before midnight on March 29, saying he had murdered someone in the house and threatened to shoot others. Allegedly hacking into systems maintained by America Online and Verizon, Ellis used the couple’s names, which he had confirmed earlier in a prank call to their home, authorities said. The Orange County Sheriff’s Department dispatched a SWAT team and surrounded the home with dozens of officers, dogs and a helicopter. As the two toddlers of Stacey Cerwin-Bates and Doug Bates slept inside, Doug Bates thought he heard a prowler rustling in the bushes outside and grabbed a kitchen knife. When he entered the back yard, deputies armed with assault rifles confronted Bates and handcuffed him and his wife until officers were able to determine the report was fake. Authorities spent more than six months tracking down Ellis before arresting him in his hometown last week. He was in the process of being extradited to California Tuesday and was charged with “false imprisonment by violence” and “assault with an assault weapon by proxy.” The crimes carry a possible prison sentence of 18 years. Elizabeth Henderson, the assistant Orange County district attorney in charge of the economic crimes unit, said a broad collection of sheriff’s department and district attorney investigators spent much of the intervening time piecing together the steps Ellis allegedly took to execute his scheme. “It was fairly difficult to unravel,” she said. In the end, the investigators said they discovered evidence that he committed the scam in at least three other states — Arizona, Washington and Pennsylvania —since 2005. That evidence has been passed to authorities in those states, but it is unclear if they will press charges. “Not everyone holds onto the 911 tapes that you may need to prosecute,” Henderson. Few details were released about Ellis’ background or how he acquired his alleged computer expertise. A police source said he had a juvenile criminal record in Washington, but he has never been caught in a similar hacking scheme. Neither Ellis nor the Bates family could be reached for comment.
‘Superbug’ bacteria becoming more common by Delthia Ricks Newsday
MELVILLE, N.Y. — A drug-resistant form of staph has become so prevalent it may cause more deaths than those attributed to HIV, and upstate New York doctors have identified a “superbug” linked to pediatric ear infections that repels all 18 government-approved antibiotics, doctors will report in separate analyses Wednesday. Drug-resistant organisms are increasing at an explosive pace, doctors said Tuesday. One investigation examined the national prevalence of drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, for methicillinresistant staph aureus, and estimated that 90,000 people nationwide are becoming infected annually. The bug, which can cause flesh-eating damage, has been associated with hospital infections but now is spreading in communities. The other superstrain is an emergent form Streptococcus pneunomiae. Even though a vaccine exists to protect against seven related strains, there is no vaccine against this one.
The bacteria often cause ear infections in children and pneumonia in the elderly. A doctor Tuesday said the strain is of such concern that physicians may have to relearn the lost art of fine-needle eardrum puncture to drain fluid from ears of infected children. “This is a superbug that we’re reporting for the first time — and this is frightening,” said Michael Pichichero, a professor at the University of Rochester. He is also a partner in a private Rochester pediatric practice called Legacy, for which he has named the strain. Pichichero has identified 11 Legacy cases. Data on nine will be reported Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, but Pichichero said he has since diagnosed the superstrain in two other children. The first child with the infection developed a hearing loss in both ears because Pichichero and his colleagues were uncertain of the cause. Subsequent children, he said, were treated with oral levofloxacin, a highly potent antibiotic that is not
approved for children. Pichichero said physicians in Alaska and Massachusetts also have identified the strain. Dr. Lorry Rubin, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at Schneider Children’s Hospital in New Hyde Park, said the number of victims is still small so there is no need for alarm. Antibiotic misuse destroys weak bugs and leaves hardy survivors behind that learn new and sometimes deadly tricks. “Any long-term antibiotic use will lead to the natural selection of resistant organisms,” said Dr. Roy T. Steigbigel, a Stony Brook University Medical Center professor. Meanwhile, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in the same journal that the incidence of MRSA is now 32 invasive infections per 100,000 people, a statistic that was deemed “astounding” in a journal editorial. The editorial also posited that if the CDC statistics on MRSA infections for 2005 are correct, 18,650 deaths could attributed to the strain compared with 17,011 to HIV/ AIDS.
Libya, Vietnam elected to Security Council By Colum Lynch Washington Post
UNITED NATIONS — Libya and Vietnam were elected overwhelmingly on Tuesday to serve two-year terms on the U.N. Security Council, marking the diplomatic revival of two of the United States’ former Cold War enemies, and raising the possibility of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi one day presiding over the world’s premier security body. The vote in the U.N. General Assembly showed how much the ideological map has been redrawn at the United Nations since the Cold War, when U.S. troops battled communist forces in Vietnam and U.S. fighter jets bombed Tripoli in retaliation for Libya’s 1986 attack that killed two Americans at a Berlin nightclub frequented by U.S. servicemen. Now, Washington is promoting oil and commercial deals with its
former adversaries. The changes have been particularly dramatic with Libya, which had been the target of U.S. and U.N. sanctions for its role in the 1988 bombing by Libyan agents of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Gadhafi’s son last month and is planning the first visit to Libya by the top U.S. diplomat in more than 30 years. Libya’s U.N. envoy, Giadalla Ettalhi, hinted Tuesday that the Libyan leader might one day participate in a Security Council meeting. “Why not?” he said. “They were involved in promoting terrorism for a long time against Americans,” countered Vincent Cannistraro, a former CIA expert on Libya who served in the White House when President Ronald Reagan decided to bomb Tripoli.
“To see that we now liaise with the Libyans, that we are promoting diplomatic relations, signing new oil agreements — it’s kind of a bitter pill for a lot of people.” Relatives of the Lockerbie victims expressed disappointment that the State Department had not derailed Libya’s candidacy — as it did in 1995 and 2000 — even though Libya had failed to fulfill its commitment to pay $10 million to each of the victims’ families. James Kreindler, a victims’ lawyer, said that Libya had paid $8 million to each family but refused to provide the final $2 million due after Libya was dropped from State’s list of terrorism sponsors. Kathleen Flynn, whose son, J.P., died in the Pan Am attack, sat in the General Assembly visitors gallery as Libya received the support continued on page 8
Armenian genocide bill loses steam on Hill By Elizabeth Williamson Washington Post
WASHINGTON — Chances for a U.S. resolution calling the mass killings of Armenians that began in 1915 genocide eroded dramatically Tuesday night, as sponsors dropped off in droves and senior Democrats urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to abandon her support. The number of lawmakers supporting the bill slipped below a majority as four more withdrew from the legislation, making nearly a dozen to do so since Monday. The White House strongly opposes the resolution, saying it will damage U.S. relations with Turkey. Legislators cited those objections, along with warnings from the Turkish government and from Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Baghdad, that the resolution would cause Turkey to scale back its assistance in the Iraq war, as reasons for rejecting it. The House Foreign Affairs Com-
mittee passed the nonbinding resolution on a 27 to 21 bipartisan vote last week, but several of those who voted yes have since switched. Pelosi, who has a large population of ethnic Armenians in her district, reiterated her promise to bring the resolution to the full House for a vote in a conversation with President Bush Tuesday. “The president called the speaker today and requested that the resolution not be brought to the House floor. The president and the speaker exchanged candid views on the subject, and the speaker explained the strong bipartisan support in the House for the resolution,” said Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly. But with the resolution’s chances of passage apparently doomed, senior Democrats were urging Pelosi to declare victory with the successful committee vote and move away from the divisive issue. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., who chairs the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe and Rep. John Tanner, D-Tenn., chairman of
the House delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, wrote to Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., Tuesday urging them to drop the legislation. “We urge you to not bring the resolution before the House for a vote at this critical time for our men and women in uniform in the region, and for the stability of the Middle East,” they wrote. The pair, along with Reps. John Murtha, D-Pa., Robert Wexler, DFla., and Stephen Cohen, D-Tenn., plan a news conference today urging Pelosi and Hoyer to reconsider. Rep. Allen Boyd, D-Fla., said the defections were fueled by a briefing for several House members by Petraeus, who grimly warned that the resolution would risk Turkey’s assistance in Iraq. Turkey has threatened to would cut off U.S. access to a critical air base. In the run-up to the committee vote last week, all eight living forcontinued on page 8
Page 8
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Armenian genocide Libya joins U.N. Security Council legislation losing momentum continued from page 7
continued from page 7 mer secretaries of state and three former defense secretaries warned Pelosi that the resolution would endanger national security in the Middle East. The Turkish government has spent millions of dollars on lobbying against the resolution since it was introduced in late January by Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., whose district contains one of the nation’s largest ethnic Armenian populations. Schiff
won his seat in 2000 after then-House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., pulled an Armenian genocide bill from the House floor, dooming the reelection chances of Schiff’s Republican predecessor. After the House panel passed the resolution last week, Turkey called its ambassador to the United States, Nabi Sensoy, back to Ankara for consultations, and military leaders in the country warned of grave consequences for U.S.-Turkey military cooperation.
of 178 of 192 U.N. members in a secret ballot. “I thought it was a very sad day at the United Nations for us and for Americans in general,” Flynn said. “We have now let a terrorist nation that blew up an American plane and killed 270 innocent people from 21 countries ... have a seat on the U.N. Security Council.” “Any American government that is ready to shake Gadhafi’s bloody hands has lost any claim to morality or patriotism,” said Dan Cohen, whose 20-year-old daughter died in the bombing. “But he has a lot of oil, and perhaps that
trumps everything.” Ettalhi, the Libyan diplomat, insisted that his government had met its Lockerbie-related obligations. The issue is “behind us,” he told reporters after the vote. “I think our relations with the United States nowadays are back to normal,” he added. Alejandro Wolff, the U.S. deputy ambassador to the United Nations, said the United States would press Libya to meet the final payment but that it was time to turn a page. “The world obviously does change,” he said. But Wolff said he recognized the concerns of the victims’ relatives who attended Tuesday’s meeting. “Their presence was felt here today,” he said.
Vietnam’s election to the Security Council proved less controversial in Washington, where prominent Republican and Democratic war veterans have long pressed for closer ties. At the U.N. General Assembly, Vietnam gained 183 votes in favor of its first Security Council seat since it joined the United Nations in 1977. The U.N. Security Council is made up of five permanent members with veto power — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — and 10 rotating members that ser ve two-year terms. Burkina Faso, Costa Rica and Croatia also won Security Council seats. They will begin their two-year terms on Jan. 1, 2008.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2007
Page 9
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Many top GOP fundraisers staying on the sidelines in ’08 dogfight By Chris Cillizza and Matthew Mosk Washington Post
WASHINGTON — More than a third of the top fundraisers who helped elect George W. Bush president remain on the sidelines in 2008, contributing to a gaping financial disparity between the GOP candidates and their Democratic counterparts. Scores of the Bush Pioneers and Rangers are not working for any Republican candidate, citing discontent with the war in Iraq, anger at the performance of the Republicans in Congress and a general lack of enthusiasm. More than two dozen have actually made contributions to Democrats. Matt Fong, a former California state treasurer, 1998 U.S. Senate candidate and two-time Bush Pioneer, said that after months of disappointment in the Republican Party, he had hoped to be recharged by the new crop of presidential candidates. “I have yet to get interested in any of them,” he said. “I’m just not happy with the direction of our party. I think we have a huge credibility problem, which I have not seen any of the candidates show the ability to rise above.” Democrats now have more than twice as much money to spend in the upcoming primaries as Republicans, according to Federal Election Commission reports released this week. Some leading Republicans said they fear that lack of enthusiasm could translate to indifference from rankand-file Republicans in next year’s election.
“The Republican brand is not selling very well,” said Christine Todd Whitman, the former New Jersey governor, Bush Cabinet member and 2004 Ranger. “There are a lot of frustrated people. They are not seeing anybody who has sent them over the top.” Alvin R. “Pete” Carpenter, the former chief executive of CSX Transportation and a Bush Pioneer in 2000, said it was a combination of the Iraq war and the free spending of Republicans when they controlled Congress that slowly drained his enthusiasm for the party. Carpenter, 65, said he has been a lifelong Republican and was a “Goldwater kid.” But this year he sent a contribution to Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. “I have opted out for all the welldocumented reasons that disaffected Republicans use,” Carpenter said. “I’m not sure which primary I’ll vote in. At the moment I will say I’m keeping my powder dry. It’s the first time I’m really a bit confused about what I should be doing, or where the country should be headed.” For months, Republicans have worried about the lack of energy displayed by their loyalists and donors, especially when compared with the enthusiasm of Democrats. Polls consistently show Democrats to be far more excited about their field of candidates than Republicans are with theirs. That inequity in fervor is most apparent in the raw fundraising totals for both sides. Through Sept. 30, the Democratic field had taken in $223 million in contributions, compared with $150 million for Republicans. In the first nine months of 2007,
the Democratic front-runners, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and Obama, combined to raise about $150 million for their bids. The bestfunded Republicans, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, together raised about $90 million over the same period. Of course, scores of the roughly 630 men and women who made up Bush’s famed corps of Pioneers and Rangers in 2000 and 2004 remain involved with campaigns. (Pioneers were those who raised at least $100,000, Rangers at least $200,000.) Al Cardenas, a former chairman of the Florida Republican Party, is aiding Romney. Former ambassador to Luxembourg Peter Terpeluk Jr. is with Giuliani, Pilot Corp. founder James A. Haslam II has signed on with former senator Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., and former commerce secretary Robert Mosbacher has gotten behind Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Some of the top Bush fundraisers have stepped aside from politics
for other reasons. There are those who had personal friendships with the Bush family that do not extend to other candidates, those who have tired of constantly soliciting friends for checks. Some are in jail or dead. A sizeable number are still taking a wait-and-see attitude, despite the fact that the field appears to be set after the late entry of Thompson and the decision by former House speaker Newt Gingrich to stay out. “I’ve been courted by several of them, but I really haven’t made a decision,” said John Etchart, a Helena, Mont., businessman who was a Pioneer for Bush in 2004. “With the Bush campaign, I was connected to it, so it was natural for me. I had an affinity for Governor Bush,” Etchart said. “That’s not the case now. There’s a natural barrier to entry that I have not overcome. I’m watching it and I’m staying tuned in.” Etchart said he is not convinced the party is in such dire condition that it cannot bounce back before
November 2008. “Obviously these aren’t the rosiest times,” he said. “But I do think the Republican nominee will stand a very good chance of winning, notwithstanding the present difficulty.” Many Republicans argue that if Clinton is the Democratic nominee, the party’s financial woes will disappear. “We have a handful of candidates that will be acceptable to the `Hate Hillar y’ crowd,” said Anne Dunsmore, a veteran Republican fundraiser based in California. “You don’t see us trying to take her out.” But John Weaver, a former senior adviser to McCain’s presidential bid, argued that the fundraising dynamic speaks to a broader problem for the party. “There is currently a lack of energy, a lack of enthusiasm, a lack of optimism about the near-term future of the party,” Weaver said. “If it doesn’t change quickly, it’s a leading indicator of what kind of problem we are going to have next fall.”
www.browndailyherald.com
E ditorial & L etters Page 10
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Staf f Editorial
Suffering the TA shortage? Last year, the Graduate School announced that it would guarantee five years of full funding to all graduate students. The move met harsh opposition from some grad students and professors, who argued that five years of funding weren’t enough in some disciplines and that the policy would force some grad students to forgo teaching in order to finish their PhDs in time. But University officials promised that the new policy wouldn’t affect the availability of grad students. Tell that to the students in HIST 1740: “Civil War and Reconstruction.” Despite the University’s assurance that departments like history wouldn’t be hurt by the new policy, Associate Professor of History Michael Vorenberg, who teaches HIST 1740, found himself with just three TAs for 151 students. To ensure that discussions can actually take place in discussion sections, Vorenberg was forced to slash section frequency to biweekly. Students in his class are expected to watch films over the Internet during off-weeks. Perennially overcrowded CHEM 0330: “Equilibrium, Rate and Structure” faced a similar TA shortage this semester until Professor of Chemistry Peter Weber, the department chair, scrambled to come up with a system that would allow grad students to split their time this semester between research and TAing CHEM 0330. The problem with the five-year guarantee is that, in some disciplines, it usually takes longer than that to get a Ph.D. While additional funding may be available to grad students — and all of last year’s requests for a sixth year of funding were granted — the new policy pushes grad students to complete their Ph.D. more quickly, possibly forcing them to sacrifice their teaching responsibilities. Grad School administrators are quick to point out that there are actually 11 percent more TAs this semester than last fall. But an across-the-board increase in TAs doesn’t mean that every popular course will have enough grad students to match the number of undergrads who want to enroll, especially in departments in the social sciences and humanities in which grad students feel most at risk of losing funding after their fifth year. And this shortage may only grow worse in the future, as 23 fewer grad students entered the University this year compared to last. That reduction won’t hit the TA numbers this year since most departments don’t give teaching responsibility to first-year grad students, but it may in the future. This Grad School policy may seem distant to undergrads — until the consequences of continued TA shortages in some classes become clear. Some professors are already considering capping currently open-enrollment courses — easy enough with the new online course registration system — to reduce the strain of having too many students and too few TAs. As Vorenberg told The Herald, “The simplest, most effective and least expensive way to solve it is for an increasing number of professors to cap their courses to avoid the situation that I am currently in. … All signs point to me never teaching a class of this size again — in fact, never a class larger than 50.” If only a few of the University’s most popular courses are capped, the groveling and persistence now needed to get into seminars could become a necessary skill.
T he B rown D aily H erald Editors-in-Chief Eric Beck Mary-Catherine Lader
Executive Editors Stephen Colelli Allison Kwong Ben Leubsdorf
Senior Editors Jonathan Sidhu Anne Wootton
editorial Lydia Gidwitz Robin Steele Oliver Bowers Stephanie Bernhard Simmi Aujla Sara Molinaro Ross Frazier Karla Bertrand Jacob Schuman Peter Cipparone Erin Frauenhofer Stu Woo Benjy Asher Amy Ehrhart Jason Harris
Arts & Culture Editor Arts & Culture Editor Campus Watch Editor Features Editor Metro Editor Metro Editor News Editor Opinions Editor Opinions Editor Sports Editor Sports Editor Sports Editor Asst. Sports Editor Asst. Sports Editor Asst. Sports Editor
photo Christopher Bennett Rahul Keerthi Ashley Hess
Photo Editor Photo Editor Sports Photo Editor
Business Mandeep Gill General Manager Darren Ball Executive Manager Dan DeNorch Executive Manager Laurie-Ann Paliotti Sr. Advertising Manager Susan Dansereau Office Manager production Steve DeLucia Catherine Cullen Roxanne Palmer
Design Editor Copy Desk Chief Graphics Editor
post- magazine Hillary Dixler Melanie Duch Taryn Martinez Rajiv Jayadevan Sonia Kim Matt Hill
Managing Editor Managing Editor Managing Editor Features Editor Features Editor Associate Editor
Aditya Voleti, Steve DeLucia, Designers Ted Lamm, Ben Mercer, Sara Slama, Copy Editors Senior Staff Writers Rachel Arndt, Michael Bechek, Irene Chen, Chaz Firestone, Isabel Gottlieb, Nandini Jayakrishna, Franklin Kanin, Kristina Kelleher, Debbie Lehmann, Scott Lowenstein, Michael Skocpol, Nick Werle Staff Writers Amanda Bauer, Brianna Barzola, Evan Boggs, Aubry Bracco, Caitlin Browne, Joy Chua, Patrick Corey, Catherine Goldberg, Olivia Hoffman, Jessica Kerry, Cameron Lee, Hannah Levintova, Abe Lubetkin, Christian Martell, Taryn Martinez, Anna Millman, Marielle Segarra, Matt Varley, Meha Verghese Sports Staff Writers Andrew Braca, Han Cui, Kaitlyn Laabs, Kathleen Loughlin, Alex Mazerov, Megan McCahill Business Staff Diogo Alves, Emilie Aries, Beth Berger, Steven Butschi, Timothy Carey, Jilyn Chao, Ellen DaSilva, Pete Drinan, Dana Feuchtbaum, Patrick Free, Sarah Glick, Alexander Hughes, Claire Kiely, Soobin Kim, Katelyn Koh, Darren Kong, Christie Liu, Philip Maynard, Ingrid Pangandoyon, Mariya Perelyubskaya, Viseth San, Paolo Servado, Kaustubh Shah, Saira Shervani, Yelena Shteynberg, Jon Spector, Robert Stefani, Lily Tran, Hari Tyagi, Lindsay Walls, Benjamin Xiong Design Staff Brianna Barzola, Chaz Kelsh,Ting Lawrence, Philip Maynard, Alex Unger, Aditya Voleti, Wudan Yan Photo Staff Stuart Duncan-Smith, Austin Freeman, Tai Ho Shin Copy Editors Ayelet Brinn, Rafael Chaiken, Erin Cummings, Katie Delaney, Jake Frank, Jennifer Grayson, Ted Lamm, Max Mankin, Alex Mazerov, Ben Mercer, Ezra Miller, Seth Motel, Alexander Rosenberg, Emily Sanford, Sara Slama, Jenna Stark, Laura Straub, Meha Verghese, Elena Weissman
alexander gard - murray
Letters
Herald editorial misrepresents CDC To the Editor: As Career Development Center student volunteers, we felt that Tuesday’s staff editorial (“Fall means... job hunting,” Oct. 16) misrepresented the CDC and its goals. Fall mostly means job hunting for specific industries that recruit early for their specialized training programs. But these are not the only companies on campus this semester. In the next two weeks, the American Film Institute, Christie’s, Bloomingdales, Ruder Finn Public Relations, DreamWorks, the MATCH school and other non-finance and consulting companies will be on campus. Though many seniors may begin looking for jobs in the fall, most employers begin recruiting in the spring or on a need-to-hire basis. The Fall Career Fair may have included many finance and consulting employers, but the Spring Career Fair historically draws more diverse industries. Many “off the beaten track” employers cannot come to Brown — or any college campus for that matter — because they lack funding and manpower. The CDC encourages those employers to recruit through other means, such as the Brown Career Connection Web site and collaborative events and consortia including the All-Ivy Environmental Career Fair and the Non-Profit Career Fair. Alumni employees are often the driving force behind on-campus recruitment. According to Barbara Peoples, senior associate director of the CDC, consulting companies re-appeared after the economic downturn several years ago due to the direct involvement of alumni. The claim that the CDC offers few non-paid and lowpaying internship awards is noteworthy. The awards, Brown Internship Award Program and Aided Internship Program, are funded through endowments and annual
gifts given by alums, parents, corporations and anonymous donors. If Brown students feel these programs are under-funded and under-supported, they should pressure the administration to advance these causes. The Campaign for Academic Enrichment neglects to mention the CDC as a target for alumni support. Maybe with President Ruth Simmons’ reassessment of the campaign in coming months, this will be reconsidered. The CDC encourages student groups to lead career discussions and panels. Unfortunately, the CDC cannot organize programs for every single student constituency, but we, as student volunteers, are working toward this goal. We heartily encourage any student group to contact us for program support and speaking commitments. This semester, we have already reached out to the residential and Meiklejohn advisers and are beginning to collaborate with the varsity and club athletic teams, DUGs, Bruin Club and Greek Council. If you or your student group feels underserved or would like career support, e-mail James_Rowan@brown.edu, Khara_Gresham@brown.edu or Yaa_Sarpong@brown. edu, and we can organize group-specific events. At the very least, students should stop by the CDC during office hours (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday or Friday, 1 p.m.-3:30 p.m., or Wednesday, 4 p.m.-6 p.m.) or set up an appointment with a counselor (401-863-3326). Also, the CDC is seeking students to serve on a student liaison group, allowing students to have their voices heard and participate in creative initiatives. Email Betsy_Valle@ Brown.edu. Happy job hunting! James Rowan ’08 Khara Gresham ’10 Yaa Sarpong ’10 Oct. 16
Correction An article in Tuesday’s Herald (“Anonymous donor gives $250,000 to public education fund, Oct. 16)” incorrectly reported that Hanna Rodriguez-Farrar ‘87 MA‘90 had a doctorate in education, with a focus in K-12 policy. In fact, Rodriguez-Farrar is currently completing her doctorate at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Educaton, with a research focus on education policy in higher education. She works as a project manager and research assistant for Prof. Tom Kane’s Project for Policy Innovation in Education, which does education policy research on K-12 issues. C O R R E C T I O N S P olicy The Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible. Corrections may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication. C ommentary P O L I C Y The staff editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial board of The Brown Daily Herald. The editorial viewpoint does not necessarily reflect the views of The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Columns, letters and comics reflect the opinions of their authors only. L etters to the E ditor P olicy Send letters to letters@browndailyherald.com. Include a telephone number with all letters. The Herald reserves the right to edit all letters for length and cannot assure the publication of any letter. Please limit letters to 250 words. Under special circumstances writers may request anonymity, but no letter will be printed if the author’s identity is unknown to the editors. Announcements of events will not be printed. advertising P olicy The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. reserves the right to accept or decline any advertisement at its discretion.
O pinions Wednesday, October 17, 2007
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Page 11
The ugly truth about Burma BY WILLIAM MARTIN AND DANIEL FEINGLOS Guest Columnists The recent news from Burma has been disturbing, even to the most jaded or apathetic observer. The military government’s brutal quashing of pro-democracy demonstrations has resulted in thousands of arrests and as many as 200 deaths. What’s more, the protests have helped draw attention to the regime’s ongoing crimes. The economy has been irreparably stunted by decades of mismanagement, and a counterinsurgency campaign against some of Burma’s recalcitrant ethnic minorities has displaced hundreds of thousands from their homes. Burma’s well-wishers in the international community hope that the generals will cede power to a democratically elected coalition. Unfortunately, the prospect of such a transition is abysmally remote. Most advocates of the regime’s downfall believe that economic pressure will prove effective. Burma’s shattered economy relies heavily on exports of oil and natural gas, and if its customers could be convinced to stop buying, the generals would certainly take notice. When it comes to this policy, the first hurdle is a big one: China. The two nations have considerable economic ties, especially from the Burmese perspective. China provides discounted military equipment and in return receives huge quantities of cheap oil and natural gas, as well a chance to take advantage of Burma’s other natural resources. As long as this exchange
Letters Extra Students should interact with administrators To the Editor: I’m particularly disturbed by Josh Teitelbaum ’08’s conclusions in the final paragraph of his column (“Dirty dining: Student leadership ser ved over a bed of arugula” Oct. 15). He somehow suggests that student representatives on the Undergraduate Council of Students are ineffective because their frequent interactions with administrators prevent them from taking a stand. I’m not a member of UCS, but I am a student representative on the Task Force on Undergraduate Education and was appointed as such by UCS. Serving in that capacity, I meet weekly with Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron and other administrators and prominent faculty members to discuss major issues facing the University today and in the future — we’re critiquing the ver y essence that is Brown. I can tell you from experience that I have no fear in standing against something proposed by any member of the task force, vehemently if necessary. In our discussions I have been treated as an equal and not some lowly student representative there for appeasement and finger sandwiches. While establishing a working relationship with the faculty and administration does require good judgment, it does not require that one abandon convictions. It is simply not sufficient to shout one’s opinion at the opposition week after week in the form of demands, and it is paramount that one can present constructive, practical responses and solutions even when they fly in the face of what the administration or faculty had previously conceived. When I’ve presented these responses and solutions, they’ve been heard and fairly considered. Sometimes this leads to the adaptation of my suggestion, and often it may lead to overhauling the original proposal so that it addresses my concerns. The reality, having sat in the Faculty Club with this committee, is not Teitelbaum’s cynical “deliciously tender bite of filet mignon.” Jason P. Becker ’09 Oct. 16
persists, the dictatorship will be sustainable, and China will protect its interests by vetoing potential U.N. sanctions. A boycott of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing is widely recognized as the best option for driving a wedge between the two countries, but its chances for fruition are slim. Despite worldwide protests in solidarity with Burmese activists, most governments are reluctant to withdraw their Olympic delegations. A grassroots effort is even less likely to be successful. Athletes would have to choose between their consciences and their life ambitions, and given the ruthless competition for a place in the Olympics, those who chose the former wouldn’t be hard to replace. Potential spectators, another possible target for boycott advocates, are in even more plentiful supply. Though unlikely, a boycott of significant size would embarrass the Chinese. But their basic political and economic calculus would remain the same. Olympic humiliation might damage China’s international prestige, but the abandonment of lucrative and well-cultivated connections to Burma would have a concrete and immediate economic impact. Also, China’s leaders know that Burma is not their only public relations liability. Appeasement on this front could embolden human rights activists to assail their relationship with the Sudan. In the end, if the price of silencing their international critics is too high, the Chinese will just stop listening. China may attempt to defuse a potential boycott by curtailing its economic relations with the Burmese government — cutting back fuel or arms trade, for example. But China is only one of three energy-hungry, rapidly develop-
ing nations on Burma’s borders. India already supplies the regime with weapons and equipment to secure a share of its energy wealth, and Thailand is Burma’s most important trade partner. Without deterrence from the U.N. sanctions that China is currently sure to veto, India and Thailand will snap up any contracts with Burma that China abandons. All these factors set the bar very high when it comes to an Olympic boycott. The only meaningful result would be a complete end to trade with Burma, along with Chinese acquiescence to U.N. sanctions that would prevent India and Thailand from filling the void. But even a successful boycott won’t guarantee a democratic triumph. The final barrier is the psychology of Burma’s rulers. General Than Shwe and his peers are the heirs of a military tradition forged by anti-imperialist guerilla campaigns against the British and the Japanese. They fiercely believe that Burma must never again bow to the will of foreigners, and to them enduring total economic isolation will be just one more phase of the struggle for their nation’s freedom — perverse as that may seem. They also have their personal self-interest to look after. While the military is far too influential to be completely ousted from the government, any concession to democracy would threaten to diminish their power. This means that mere isolation won’t cause the generals to change their minds. Only the slow erosion of the morale of Burma’s soldiers, who currently hold a position of relative privilege contingent on their loyalty, could effect such a shift. If the general misery of complete isolation degrades soldiers’ standard of living
to such a degree that insubordination becomes common, the generals might reevaluate their stance in order to stave off mutiny. Such a scenario is only slightly far-fetched. The military, which claims to be a great patron and defender of Buddhism, has already damaged its legitimacy by beating and imprisoning Buddhist monks, who are exalted by their fellow Burmese. When this damage is compounded by the general misery of isolation, the formidable morale and cohesion of the military might start to crack. Until then — until the campaigns, the boycotts and the sanctions have all had their fullest possible effect — the military will remain an immovable barrier to democratic change. There are also serious questions about how much Burma’s situation will really improve with the advent of democracy. Over the past 45 years, the doctrine of military primacy has become deeply engrained in Burmese life. Even Aung San Suu Kyi, the regime’s most prominent opponent, has admitted that the military will play a major role in any democratically elected government. If the regime’s leaders are shrewd enough, such an arrangement could allow them to continue all their current abuses under a veneer of democracy. The protestors at Brown and across the world are admirable, and many are clearly prepared for a long, hard slog towards Burmese democracy. But they are struggling against staggering odds.
William Martin ’10 and Daniel Feinglos ’09 are the Foreign Policy editors of the Brown Policy Review.
Fear and (self-) loathing in the RISD museum BY ALISON SCHOUTEN Opinions Columnist
When I was accepted to Brown, I immediately began planning my life here. I’d take classes pass/fail, smoke some of that dope I’d heard so much about and cure AIDS by showing prostitutes how to make jewelry. Friday afternoons would be spent at the Rhode Island School of Design’s museum, where, I was thrilled to learn, I could gain free admittance with my Brown ID. My life would be perfect. None of those things happened. I couldn’t figure out pass/fail because apparently it’s called S/NC. I didn’t realize until this year that this doesn’t stand for South/ North Carolina and is not Brown’s way of saying that Southerners are stupider than the rest of us. Dope turned out to be pot, which I had already smoked. I got kind of sidetracked, so I never actually pursued the prostitute-bracelet miracle plan, although I’m sure I could cure AIDS if I felt like it. Worst of all, I am embarrassed to admit I have never been to the RISD Museum. Ever. And because of this, no matter how many plays or concerts or other museums I go to, I am, according to self-judgment, culturally vapid. God, it feels so good to just come out and say it already. At this point I’m frightened to go to the RISD Museum, and not just because I don’t quite know where it is. The RISD Museum holds an aloof appeal. All my trendiest friends have been, flaunting their cultural saturation with off-kilter references to paintings made of shrimp and inside jokes full of substance and style. It’s not like I can enter a conversation with any warning that my wounds of insecurity might be salted. A simple question about a friend’s day might turn into this: Me: What’d you do today? Hip: Oh, I went to the RISD Museum and then had some hookah in my Marc Jacobs teepee. I love the RISD Museum. Me: Oh, yeah. Totally. Hip: It’s such a great date spot, you
know? Me: (panic attack) And the feeling of inferiority doesn’t end when I finally get there. What if I can’t find the art? What if the walls are blank and everyone there is the art but I’m not the art? What if the art is mean to me? There’s no “what if” to the fact that everyone there will be cooler than me. Plus, I’m sure I’ll compound that factor by making some inappropriate joke or destroying something interesting or being totally underdressed for spacesuit day. The more I worry about it, the greater the inevitability that I will self-destruct upon entering the museum. I’m sure the moment I set foot inside, even though I’ll be completely focused on not doing it, I’ll make a Seth Cohen reference. Loudly. I didn’t even really watch “The OC.”
These doubts make me wonder if there are places I go, things I do, that make other people feel the same way. When people see my unbeatable self-made burrito, do they wish they could just get over it and go to the Ivy Room already? Do freshmen look at the confidence with which I select my favorite table in the periodicals room and say, “someday…?” Is there anyone out there cursing himself for making it to his senior year never having used Safewalk, looking at me cheerfully sandwiched between reflective vests with loathsome envy? I hope so. Oh, I really hope so. So I’m going to do it. By the time this goes to print, I hope I’ll have taken the plunge and gone to the RISD Museum. This is Brown after all, and new experiences are part of the game. Plus, I think I saw a girl with pink hair and boots made
At this point I’m frightened to go to the RISD Museum, and not just because I don’t quite know where it is. The RISD Museum represents all my underdeveloped good qualities. The people who frequent it are smart and pretentious, with piercings and portfolios. They smoke. They go by their initials. Why can’t I be more like them? Perhaps if I just worked harder at it. I must push myself to get through an entire article in the Indy without longing for Teen People. I must understand Professor Vanel. I must ready myself, and then I will go to the RISD Museum, a scholar and a winner!
out of ice eyeing my Netflix envelope with fear and longing. I could have sworn she whispered to her cigarette, “I really need to sign up for that.” I can understand how jealous she must be of me. But, anonymous RISD girl, if you’re out there, here’s my advice: J ust go for it.
Alison Schouten ’08 likes to paint watercolors of unicorns.
S ports W ednesday Page 12
The Rockies: America’s darling On Saturday night, a few of my friends from high school visited campus. I hadn’t seen them since their beloved New York Mets had plummeted out of postseason baseball, so I followed my “Hey!” with “Oh, man, I’m sorry about the Mets.” They expressed their condolences about my Ellis Rochelson beloved Yankees, and we all shook our heads MLB Exclusive in shared frustration. I then asked what I thought was a rhetorical question: “So now you’re gonna root for the Red Sox, right?” (FYI: Bitter Mets fans tend to root for the BoSox once their Mets are eliminated, just to spite the Yankees.) I was thrilled when I heard the unanimous response. “Rockies all the way, baby!” “Yes! Me too!” I responded. “Let’s go Rox!” Those lovable losers from the Mile High City have united fans across the country. They have blossomed into America’s darling, the feel-good story of 2007. But why? First of all, no one saw this coming. Literally, no one. Even the city of Denver wasn’t expecting this kind of a miracle. Not one of ESPN’s 18 expert analysts predicted that the Colorado Rockies would even make the playoffs. In fact, most projections placed the Rocks in the cellar of the National League West. And yet, here we are. The Colorado Rockies have won 21 of their last 22 games — an astonishing feat — and have reached the World Series for the first time in their 15-year existence. As recently as Sept. 10, with only 19 games left in the regular season, the Rockies were treading water in fourth place in the NL West, seven games behind the division-leading Arizona Diamondbacks. Then they began their amazing streak, leapfrogging the Dodgers, Padres and Mets to seize the NL Wild Card. This is even more impressive when you realize that the Rockies haven’t had a winning season since 2000. The Rockies are the epitome of a wellrounded, small-market ballclub. Their homegrown talent is responsible for a large part of their success. First baseman Todd Helton, third baseman Garrett Atkins, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, left fielder Matt Holliday, right fielder Brad Hawpe and pitchers Jeff Francis, Aaron Cook, Ubaldo Jimenez, Franklin Morales and Manuel Corpas are all lifelong Rockies. This is in stark contrast with, for example, the New York Yankees, who infamously phone in their talent from the free-agent pool each winter. The Rockies’ payroll is the sixth lowest in baseball, so they certainly didn’t buy their success. And they didn’t just mash their way to the World Series either. Many Colorado teams of the past have been built around the long ball, but this year the Rockies finished eighth in the NL in home runs. They got this far by playing smart baseball. Their offense led the majors in sacrifice hits, while their pitching staff induced more ground balls than any team. To top it all off, the Rockies’ defense led the major leagues in fielding percentage. They played old-school baseball, a style of play that fans appreciate and have been yearning to see for years. The Rockies are like the scrawny kid who somehow hits a home run in a Little League game. You’re not sure how it happened, or if it will ever happen again, so you’re going to give him a standing ovation. Ellis Rochelson ’09 could be Todd Helton’s grandson.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
After another 2 losses, volleyball looks forward to home stretch By Amy Ehrhart Assistant Sports Editor
The last three weekends on the road have not been kind to the volleyball team. After losing to the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton last weekend, the Bears fell to 0-5 in the Ivy League and 2-13 overall. But if it’s any consolation, the Bears have finished the roughest part of their schedule this season. Of their final 11 matches, nine will be at home. “We’re getting there,” said captain Katie Lapinski ’08. “Next weekend should be much better.” As they have all season, the Bears were able to keep last weekend’s games close, but couldn’t manage to eke out wins. Against Penn, the teams were tied at 22-22 and 26-26 in the first two games, before the Quakers put together strings of four and five kills to put the Bears away. Penn eventually swept the match 30-24, 30-26, 30-25. In the match versus Princeton, the Bears did steal a game of their own, but the Tigers held on to win 30-24, 27-30, 30-19, 30-21. Tied 26-26 in the second game, Moira Gallagher ’10 — playing in only her second match this season — put down two kills to help finish off the Tigers. “Moira did well picking up the energy,” Lapinski said. Gallagher had eight kills in that game and a season-high 16 for the match. “Moira stepped up and did really well,” said Head Coach Diane Short. “She’s more of a terminator, and we need to go with people who are little more aggressive right now.” Penn and Princeton both out-hit and out-dug the Bears, something Short hopes to change with the implementation of a new offense
Ashley Hess / Herald File Photo
With four aces against Penn last weekend, Megan Toman ’11 helped keep the Bears close late in games.
this weekend. Against Cornell and Columbia universities, Short plans to put an extra setter, likely Annie Matusewicz ’11, in the rotation, which will allow her to sub in an extra hitter. “We need more kills per game,” Short said. “That’s our biggest thing to focus on.” Other highlights from the weekend included a double-double of 12 kills and 14 digs from outside hitter Lyndse Yess ’09 and 11 kills from Megan Toman ’11 against Penn. Brianna Williamson ’11 put down 14 kills and had four block assists
in the Princeton game, and Toman added 10 kills with four aces. Lapinski led the team with 33 digs on the weekend. Although their record is nothing to cheer about, the Bears remains upbeat for their upcoming home matches. “We have some really positive vibes going on right now,” Gallagher said. “In Ivies, (the teams are) so even, and rankings and records do matter, but any team can win.” Brown takes on Columbia on Friday and Cornell on Saturday
in its first two home matches of the month. “It’ll give us a little boost and it’s always a lot more fun playing in front of a home crowd,” Yess said. Two wins this weekend could move the Bears to as high as fifth in the league standings. Columbia is also winless, and Brown is hoping to keep it that way. “The intensity is there from everyone, and we’ve just got to decide, ‘Okay, we’re going to do this,’ ” Gallagher said. “We just want to win!”
Sports in Brief
M. soccer No. 8 in national rankings
Ashley Hess / Herald File Photo The men’s soccer team has risen to No. 8 in the country thanks to timely goals such as the one Kevin Davies ’08 scored against Harvard.
After beating two top-25 teams last week, the men’s soccer team is now No. 8 in the latest national college rankings. The Bears (9-1-1 overall, 2-0-0 Ivy League) moved up 12 spots in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Poll, which was released Tuesday. Brown appears to be a legitimate national-championship contender after edging out No. 11 Boston College (which beat then-No. 4 Duke University earlier this season) and No. 7 Harvard in overtime wins last week. Soccer America ranked Brown No. 5 in its poll on Monday, and Brown is No. 6 in the SoccerTimes. com College Coaches Poll. Also announced yesterday was the selection of Nick Elenz-Martin ’10 to Soccer America’s Men’s Team of the Week. Elenz-Martin, a midfielder who scored the game-winning goal against Harvard, had already been named the Ivy League Player of the Week. The Bears will next play the Cornell Big Red (5-4-1, 0-1-1 Ivy) in Ithaca, N.Y., on Saturday. —Stu Woo