The Brown Daily Herald T hursday, N ovember 29, 2007
Volume CXLII, No. 117
Since 1866, Daily Since 1891
Professors weigh in on 2008 election
U. dodges study abroad scandal
By Jenna Stark Staf f Writer
By Chaz Firestone Senior Staff Writer
Three political science professors discussed their predictions for the 2008 presidential election in front of students and community members at a well-attended event Wednesday in Petteruti Lounge. Professor of Political Science Darrell West, Associate Professor of Political Science Wendy Schiller and Assistant Professor of Political Science Jennifer Lawless each gave 10-minute overviews of their analyses of the upcoming election before opening up the discussion to questions. West, the director of the Taubman Center for Public Policy, opened the meeting with his prediction that Sen. Hillar y Clinton, D-N.Y., will win the election and make histor y as the first female president of the United States. “I think the most impor tant factor that’s conditioning the 2008 election is Bush fatigue,” West said. “One of the most interesting public opinion numbers of this election is that about two-thirds of Americans feel our country is heading in the wrong direction. This is great news for the opposing party.” West said Clinton’s success would continue a historical pattern. In times of war, the American public has consistently chosen the more hawkish candidate for president. West also predicted Mitt Romney will be the Republican candidate since former New York City
As universities expand their study abroad programs and turn to thirdparty providers to meet increasing demand, some fear that cozy relationships and conflicts of interest may abound under the tables of the study abroad industry — and that students may be paying the price. The New York Times reported in August that some universities and their representatives were receiving perks and cash incentives in exchange for steering their students toward specific companies’ programs, entering tacit or explicit agreements of exclusivity. By entering preferred relationships with study abroad providers, universities are said to stifle competition between providers, giving preferred companies little incentive to offer competitive pricing and leaving internationally-minded students who want credit for their foreign study no choice but to enroll in university-approved programs. Three days following its initial article, the Times reported that New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo had begun an investigation of these practices, issuing subpoenas to five major study abroad providers, four of which — the Center for Education Abroad at Arcadia University, the Danish Institute for Study Abroad, the Institute for the International Education of Students and the Institute for Study Abroad at Butler University — currently lend their services to Brown. At Brown, “we have no exclusivity agreements whatsoever,” said Kendall Brostuen, associate dean of the College and director of international programs. “We approve programs, not providers.” Brostuen said he has never received the perks and cash incentives allegedly given to study abroad officers, and he added that he would condemn such practices as unethical. But the Times also reported that university officials benefit from free or subsidized travel to program locations and memberships on provider advisory boards — both of which Brostuen said are common in the industry and take place at Brown.
continued on page 4
Chris Bennett / Herald
Tom’s Tracks, which opened in 1985 on Thayer Street, will likely shut down at the end of the year.
Tom’s Tracks to shut doors at year’s end By Gaurie Tilak Staff Writer
On St. Patrick’s Day in 1985, Tom Farnsworth, Rick Bellaire and Kristin Kearney opened an independent record store on Thayer Street. When it closes at the end of this year, it will be the latest in a long line of independent stores to shutter on Thayer. Tom’s Tracks has survived a downturn in album sales in the last decade, but its doors will close partly because its namesake, Farnsworth, is suffering from deteriorating health. “I had planned to call it quits when I had my 25th anniversary,” Farnsworth said. The store will shut down after almost 23 years in business. Over the course of the ’80’s and
Ondaatje shares new book, but little else By Alex Verdolini Contributing Writer
www.browndailyherald.com
METRO In addition to Tom’s, there are only four other independent record stores left in the state, Farnsworth said. The store’s only remaining competition consists of the chain stores in the Providence Place Mall, he said. The music industry as a whole has suffered over the past decade. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, the recording industry grew from a net value of approximately $8 bil-
lion to $14 billion between 1991 and 2000. However, between 2000 and 2006, the industry shrank to $11 billion. Farnsworth was able to maintain his business by overseeing the store in person. “I was able to keep going because I didn’t have to hire retail counter help,” said Farnsworth, who worked at the store seven days a week from opening to closing for several years. But Farnsworth’s deteriorating health will partly force the store to close. Last October, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Additionally, he has suffered 14 strokes to date. In November, Farnsworth cut down on his hours after suffering from a stroke. In January, he became blind in both continued on page 4
S occ e r stunn e d
ARTS & CULTURE
Novelist and poet Michael Ondaatje offered little insight into his literary project last night. After reading for nearly an hour from his latest novel, he retired from the stage of Salomon 101. He returned with seeming reluctance to answer a single question before stepping down again. The writer spoke and signed copies of his book in the last event of the Literar y Ar ts Program’s “Writers on Writing” series. Ondaatje’s novel “The English Patient,” a fragmented romance set in World War II-era Europe and North Africa, has been his greatest success to date, winning a Booker Prize. In film adaptation, it garnered nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture in 1996. His next novel, “Anil’s Ghost,” the account of a woman’s return to Ondaatje’s native Sri Lanka to investigate war crimes, met with less commercial success but earned him the Irish Times In-
INSIDE:
’90’s, many retailers opened and closed record stores on Thayer Street. “Twenty years ago there were probably six record stores on Thayer Street,” said Bellaire, the store’s assistant manager and chief merchandise buyer.
ternational Fiction Prize, the Giller Prize and the Prix Medicis. After a brief introduction by Brian Evanson, director of Literary Arts, who called Ondaatje’s latest book “perhaps his boldest and most ambitious novel yet,” Ondaatje took the podium. In his distinct, inscrutable accent — it has traces of Sri Lanka, England and Canada in it — he read several long passages from “Divisadero,” tracing the story of Anna, one of the novel’s several protagonists and its closest approximation of an authorial mouthpiece. “Divisadero” is a novel of kaleidoscopic complexity. It opens with the account of peaceful family life on a North California farm — a widower living with two daughters and a young farmhand named Coop — but both the story and the continued on page 6
postpost- interviews Coheed and Cambria and Bon Iver and says goodbye to Volume 8.
3
METRO
Ashley Hess / Herald Kevin Davies ’08 gathers his thoughts immediately after ODU’s Ambane Emmanuel’s goal knocked the men’s soccer team out of the NCAA tournament. See Sports, Page 12
Crime at Hope high A Hope High School student was arrested last Tuesday for bringing a gun to school.
11
OPINIONS
195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island
Apple Inc. Stinks Matt Prewitt ’08 delves into all the reasons Apple and its products are wrong for consumers.
Questionable practices? When Brown students wish to study abroad and receive credit for their time off College Hill, they have three options: Brown-sponsored programs, approved third-party programs and petitioned programs. In order to ensure the quality of programs not run by the University, OIP officials are sent to schools all over the world on “familiarization visits” and “formal site reviews” to assess them for academic rigor, student support and other factors. “I can tell you from experience, they’re work,” Brostuen said of the visits. “It’s exhaustive, it’s worthwhile, but it’s not extravagant.” continued on page 7
12 SPORTS
Season over The men’s soccer team’s NCAA tournament run was halted by ODU last night at Stevenson Field.
News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com
T oday Page 2
Thursday, November 29, 2007
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
But Seriously | Charlie Custer and Stephen Barlow
We a t h e r Today
T O M O RR O W
rain 49 / 32
mostly sunny 43 / 26
Menu Sharpe Refectory
Verney-Woolley Dining Hall
Lunch — Vegan Tofu Ravioli with Sauce, Savory Spinach, Santa Rosa Calzone, Grilled Ham and Swiss Sandwich, Cheesecake Brownies
Lunch — Hot Roast Beef on French Bread, Vegan Tofu Ravioli with Sauce, Nacho Bar, Cheesecake Brownies
Dinner — Vegetarian Gnocchi a la Sorrentina, Roast Turkey with Sauce, Mashed Sweet and White Potatoes, Stuffing, Black and White Pudding Cake
Aibohphobia | Roxanne Palmer
Dinner — Turkey Cutlet with Herb Lemon Sauce, Pasta Spinach Casserole, Roasted Butternut Risotto with Leeks, Monterary Salad Bar, Black and White Pudding Cake
Sudoku
Nightmarishly Elastic | Adam Robbins
Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.
Octopus on Hallucinogens | Toni Liu and Stephanie Le
RELEASE DATE– Thursday, November 29, 2007 © Puzzles by Pappocom
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Crossword
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis ACROSS 1 Diminished gradually, with “off” 5 __ Picchu 10 Newt, once 13 Something to pump? 14 Blob 15 It’s near Miss. 16 Flop, figuratively 18 Doo-wop instrument 19 Kiefer’s dad 20 1951 Baseball Hall of Fame inductee 21 Lad 22 Get three runners on 25 Collie-like dog 28 Show one’s rage 29 Led at the end 30 Tex. team in Conference USA 32 Skin layer 35 What the word ladder involving the starts of 16-, 22-, 49- and 59Across represents 40 Lab glass 41 Elicitor of a dropped jaw 42 One of the Big Four record labels 43 Keats was one 46 Ascribed 49 Incite 52 Characterbuilding gp. 53 Actress Vardalos 54 Pair in a toolbox 58 Sound from the bleachers 59 Slacker 61 Like-minded 62 Artist Modigliani 63 Col. neighbor 64 Vicious of the Sex Pistols 65 __ man 66 Dudes DOWN 1 Like some jokers 2 Snack with several eating options 3 Horse of a different color
4 Ultimate purpose 5 Kind of biol. 6 Set aside 7 Attire 8 Owl, for one 9 Former “WWE Smackdown!” airer 10 Financial independence 11 Fruitcake 12 “Nothing’s truer than them”: “David Copperfield” 14 Ernst’s movement 17 Reputation blemish 21 Narrow 23 Moore of “G.I. Jane” 24 Melville’s “handsome sailor” 25 Kind of meet or shop 26 Devout 27 Trespassed 31 “Born in the __” 33 Lansbury Broadway role 34 During
36 Gossipy Hopper 37 Go 38 Lamebrain 39 Part-time player 44 Santa Rosa’s county 45 Did some detective work 47 __ sci 48 Worldwide relief org. 49 Lamb sandwiches
50 Saudi’s neighbor 51 Organizing container 55 Big name in kitchen utensils 56 Do another stint 57 Mex. titles 59 “For Me and My __”: 1942 screen debut for Gene Kelly 60 Teachers’ degs.
Vagina Dentata | Soojean Kim
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Classics Deep-Fried Kittens | Cara FitzGibbon
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11/29/07
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M etro Thursday, November 29, 2007
Metro
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
i n
Brief
High schoolers will enter Rhode Island business plan competition Entrepreneurs and college students will no longer be the only ones cashing in on the Rhode Island Business Plan Competition. Organizers of the competition announced Monday that a high school track will be added to next year’s contest. The competition awards about $150,000 in cash prizes each year to the best plans for starting businesses in Rhode Island. Rhode Island high school students are allowed to compete for the $1,000 high school prize, which will be awarded for the first time this May. Thirty-three sponsors, including local businesses, the University and the Brown Forum for Enterprise, fund the competition, which has been held annually since 2000. In the past it has only included a track for university students and an entrepreneur track for any de facto or would-be entrepreneurs. The high school track is being added next year because at least one high school student expressed interest in entering the competition, said Competition Co-chair and Garrett Hunter ’60, president of the Business Development Company of Rhode Island and a former Herald business staffer. Individuals and groups must submit applications by April 7. The competition usually receives roughly 50 proposals in total, Hunter said, out of which six semifinalists are picked for each track. The semifinalists then submit detailed business plans by April 22 — including an executive summary, a company description, an industry analysis, an analysis of target markets, a description of its management structure, sales strategy, plans of operations and financial and risk analysis. From that pool, three finalists will be selected. On May 6, the finalists will make presentations and the winners will be announced at the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce’s Business Expo. The winning individual or team in each track agrees to establish their operations in Rhode Island. Proposals may relate to any area of commerce as long as they are the original work of those making the submissions. The competition will also sponsor three workshops to help anyone interested in applying to the competition hone their entrepreneurial skills. The events will cover how to develop financial projections and how to write and present a business plan. The first is scheduled for Jan. 9 from 5-7 p.m. at the Culinary Archives and Museum at Johnson & Wales University’s Harborside Campus in Providence.
— Joanna Wohlmuth
Rental housing ordinance passes committee An ordinance passed at Monday night’s City Council Ordinance Committee meeting could improve housing for Brown students living off campus. The ordinance mandates annual inspections of Providence rental units and was passed unanimously by the committee. It will most likely penalize negligent or absentee landlords — but could also result in more tenant evictions, depending on how it is amended in the coming months. The goal of the ordinance, which will not take effect until it becomes law, is to regulate the number of absentee landlords by making annual safety and health-code violation inspections. Today, inspections are not regular, and they are made only when a neighborhood’s residents complain about a certain house. As a result, some landlords rarely bother to maintain rental properties or respond to tenants’ problems. The ordinance’s primary focus is to make negligent landlords responsible for their own houses, according to Ward 1 City Councilman Seth Yurdin, whose ward includes part of College Hill. “The idea is to make sure there is safe housing for people in the city today,” he said. Other members of the council said they wanted the ordinance to focus more on regulating rowdy tenants — specifically, college students. Ward 6 City Councilman Joseph DeLuca was adamant about penalizing young tenants for disrupting neighborhoods. “If there’s a problem — 99 percent of the time they’re the ones causing the problems because they’re the ones having these parties,” DeLuca told the council. DeLuca advocated less control over landlords and more penalties for disruptive tenants in addition to evictions. “We’re not talking about children, we’re talking about adults,” DeLuca said. “They’re adults — make them responsible. They’re the ones causing the damn problems.” At the meeting, Ari Savitzky ’06, former Herald opinions editor who lives on Williams Street with current Brown students, told The Herald of his own problems living in a rental property on College Hill. In the first few weeks of the semester, he “did not have electricity or heat and (his) boiler broke,” he explained. Savitzky blames the problems on his inexperienced landlord, who owns only the one house that Savitzky rents. In his senior year at Brown, Savitsky said his landlord at the time owned many properties in Providence, and Savitzky said he experienced no major problems with his off-campus housing. Though the ordinance was passed unanimously, some members disagreed about its focus. DeLuca and Ward 4 City Councilman Nicholas Narducci were concerned with tenants and the problems they caused for neighbors. Yurdin and the rest of the committee focused on the rights of the tenant and on keeping bad landlords in check. “The idea is, it’s not on the tenant to call when there is a problem,” Yurdin said. The current draft of the ordinance regulates absentee landlords and not necessarily tenants. Yurdin and Ward 10 City Councilman Luis Aponte called for simplification of the ordinance while DeLuca called it a “paper nightmare.”
— Simon van Zuylen-Wood
Hope High student arrested on gun charges By George Miller Staff Writer
A Hope High School student was arrested Nov. 20 for bringing a handgun to school. The student told police the gun was his and that he brought it to protect himself from another student, according to a Providence police report. His name was not released because he is a minor, but the report identified him as a 16-year-old black male. Hope, located just north of campus, has historically had problems with low test scores and graduation rates. The state reorganized the school in 2005 into three smaller, specialized schools in an effort to improve education, and reports since have shown improvement. Brown, recognizing Hope’s deficiencies, has tried to support the school through various efforts, including providing calculators to students and teachers last semester. Police followed an anonymous tip that several students had handguns, according to the report. Arthur Petrosinelli, one of Hope’s three principals, informed police that two of the students mentioned in the tip were present, and Arts Community Vice Principal Robert DiMuccio searched their lockers. Police searched a jacket found in one of the lockers and found a pocket knife and the gun, fully loaded. Police then went to the student’s classroom and handcuffed him. He was charged with two counts —
Tai Ho Shin / Herald File Photo
A student was arrested at Hope High last week for bringing a gun to school.
possession of firearms on school grounds and carrying a pistol without a license. The incident may have resulted from tensions due to “neighborhood factions,” Capt. Keith Tucker of the Youth Services Bureau told the Providence Journal in a Tuesday
article. Many students at Hope said yesterday they had not heard about the incident, or had heard about it secondhand. “I just heard about it today,” said continued on page 4
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Thursday, November 29, 2007
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Romney, Clinton predicted as 2008 frontrunners continued from page 1 Mayor Rudolph Giuliani neglected Iowa and New Hampshire in their presidential primaries. Following West’s argument, Schiller did not predict any particular candidate. Instead, she noted the significance of Rudy Giuliani as the current frontrunner among Republicans nationally. Voters are most concerned with basic human needs, such as the economy and health care, Schiller said. Republican voters are placing greater importance on Giuliani’s leadership in times of crisis and ignoring his liberal tendencies, such as his pro-choice stance. “I want to persuade you, especially the younger generation in the audience, that this is a landmark election,” Schiller said. “It used to be the candidate shaped his platform to win the nomination. Now, the candidate will shape the party’s platform,” she added.
Lawless, the final panelist, had a different view from both West and Schiller. “I think that Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee and Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee, so Romney will end up our president,” Lawless said. The panelists then answered the audience’s questions regarding the media’s role in the election, the impact of independent parties and the importance of the new generation of voters. The panelists agreed this election is significant not only for the important issues but also for the diversity among the candidates, especially the possibility for the first African-American, Mormon or female president. West said, “I think we will have a high-turnout election. Typically, when there are ver y important things on the agenda, people will respond. This time, they understand politics does matter.” Students said they were pleased with the discussion. “I thought it
was very informative,” said Becca Berwick ’08. “I thought they each presented differing opinions and backed them up well.” Max Chaiken ’09, chapter coordinator of Students for Barack Obama said, “I always think it’s very interesting to hear about what professors think personally.” He added, “It’s important to get students to engage and not be apathetic about the most important election of our lifetime.” Lawless said she was also happy with the turnout of the event. “It was terrific,” she said. “As panelists, we didn’t all agree on a lot of different things. At this point it’s still really an open election. That makes it even more interesting for students to follow over the next 40 days.” The event was part of the Campus Conversation Series, which aims to present research and work at Brown to the campus community and is part of the Plan for Academic
Atmosphere kept Tom’s Tracks alive continued from page 1 eyes. Around the same time that Farnsworth’s health deteriorated, the store’s profitability suffered, Bellaire said. “I wouldn’t be closing this year if I could go in,” Farnsworth said. Neither Farnsworth nor Bellaire could pinpoint the exact reason they were able to stay in business for several years while other stores closed, but both cited their customer-
centered atmosphere as one of their strongest attributes. “I don’t think the other stores were as service-oriented as I am,” Farnsworth said. The staff has always been very knowledgeable about music, Farnsworth and Bellaire said. “Everyone who worked at Tom’s was either a musician and/or a serious record collector,” Bellaire said. The store also offers a money-back guarantee with no questions asked — a convenience that most chain stores do
not offer. Bellaire said that despite being an independent store, Farnsworth always tried to keep his prices competitive. As the music industry weakened, the store found its own niche. “We decided to concentrate on collectibles — especially used vinyl,” Bellaire said. But selling collectible music couldn’t make up for lost sales in non-collectible CDs. “It’s been getting tougher and tougher,” he said. In the past, college students frequented the store, but in recent years fewer college students walk in. “People just don’t buy CDs anymore,” said Bellaire. “We haven’t really picked up any new customers in the last couple of years.” “I think the problem is a simple one,” said Music Librarian Ned Quist. “The only folks still buying CDs are the older generation.”
Student brings gun to Hope High continued from page 3 Javier Harney, a senior. Though he is aware of tensions, particularly between students from the South and East sides of town, he “(doesn’t) see a lot of it,” he said. “That’s scary, but I’m not surprised,” said Lauren Whittle, a senior, who hadn’t heard of the incident. Students who attend the school come from all over Providence, she said. Other students said they hadn’t heard about the arrest, though the Providence Journal reported Tuesday that the school sent a letter explaining the incident home to parents. “No one was hurt, nor does it appear that the student had any intention of harming any member of the student community,” the letter read. “We have worked very hard to create a school culture where students feel connected to their school community and are concerned about the health and safety of their peers and themselves.” School administrators and police did not respond to several calls for comment Wednesday.
C ampus n ews Thursday, November 29, 2007
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
39-year-old writer returns to hit the books By Nicole Dungca Staf f Writer
Chris Bennett / Herald
Aerospace engineer Robert Zubrin discussed his most recent book during a talk at the Watson Institute on Wednesday afternoon.
Aerospace engineer wants to bring Mars to cars By Anna Millman Staff Writer
Robert Zubrin, president of Pioneer Astronautics, spoke Wednesday on the links between oil and terrorism. His talk, titled “Energy Victory: Winning the War on Terror by Breaking Free of Oil,” drew from his recently published book of the same name. Zubrin, an aerospace engineer who has been a strong advocate of the manned exploration of Mars, said he recently worked on a project to derive fuel from the Martian atmosphere. His book, which took eight months to write, was inspired by the implications of his research on alcohol-based fuel. Zubrin told The Herald that he believes that widespread comprehension of the role alcohol-based fuels could play in the “war on terror” could lead to more funding for research into alternative fuels. “After Sept. 11th, I naturally started thinking about how I could do something useful,” Zubrin said. “Then I saw the Bush administration pushing hydrogen economy as their alternative to oil, and for various engineering reasons it was apparent that that was a nonstarter, but I saw methanol on the other hand, which we were making with Mars applications.” In his lecture, Zubrin discussed U.S. reliance on foreign oil imports. In addition to addressing the environmental and strategic implications of such reliance, he also addressed the economic implications of continued reliance on foreign oil imports. As an alternative to oil, Zubrin said he supported a mandate requiring Americans to purchase flex-fueled cars, which run on any combination of alcohol-based fuels, such as ethanol and methanol, and regular gasoline. “If you do that, you change the world,” Zubrin said. “Within three years of a flex-fuel mandate, there would be 50 million cars capable of running on flex-fuel.” Zubrin pointed to Brazil as a country that had already effectively introduced flex-fueled cars. In the 1970s, he said, Brazil had mandated the installation of ethanol pumps in every gas station in towns of more than 1,500. Since the introduction
of flex-fuel cars in 2001 and with the concurrent spike in world oil prices, Brazil now almost exclusively uses flex-fuel cars, Zubrin said. “Brazil actually is a very good model for the world ... Its mix of people and incomes is a microcosm of the globe.” Zubrin quoted figures on OPEC oil revenues, saying that enormous amounts of world oil revenue went to OPEC countries, the majority of which went to Saudi Arabia. “They simply waste a lot of the money — that’s true — on palaces, and concubines, and cocaine and racehorses, and yachts and you name it,” Zubrin said. Economically, Zubrin claimed that OPEC, with its “arbitrar y” price changes, was harming the world economy, especially lesser developed nations that cannot afford oil. “We are being looted, and other people who can’t afford it as much are being looted too.” Zubrin said that the introduction of flex-fueled cars would “break the vertical monopoly” that OPEC currently controls and lead to massive growth in demand for agriculture, which would in turn lead to economic growth for agriculturally-reliant lesser-developed economies. Zubrin told The Herald that though rising demand for agriculture would create demand for more land, it would not result in land degradation because rising value of land would lead people to take better care of it. “In general the worst land degradation occurs when agriculture is less profitable, when land is abandoned,” Zubrin added. Addressing the environmental impact the switch to flex-fuel would bring, Zubrin described alcoholbased fuels as “cleaner-burning” and mentioned that the water-soluble fuels would never cause disasters, such as the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. Paul Wilde, a teacher at a local elementary school, told The Herald that he agreed with much of what Zubrin said. “It’s a complicated set of issues we’re facing here,” he said. “One of the things the general public of the U.S. needs to become more educated about is the problems facing us and about alternatives out there.”
Since leaving Brown in 1990, Scott Poulson-Bryant ’08 helped found VIBE Magazine, wrote for prominent publications like the New York Times and the Village Voice, interviewed Prince and Beyonce Knowles and sold two books. Yet, for the 39-year-old journalist and author, something still seemed to be missing. “There was a part of me that felt sort of unfinished,” he said. As an aspiring writer who was eager to make it in New York City as soon as he could, he left Brown in the fall of 1990 before completing his bachelor’s degree. Now in his first semester back, PoulsonBryant is getting closer to finally achieving his goal of graduating from Brown. But that’s not to say that Poulson-Bryant regrets the decision he made 17 years ago. After leaving Brown, Poulson-Bryant built up quite an impressive resume. After paying his dues at an entry-level job at the Village Voice, he was hired by Spin as the first black staff writer at a major music magazine. In 1992, he received a call from music impresario Quincy Jones about an up-and-coming urban magazine, then called Volume. Only in his mid-20s, Poulson-Bryant became one of the founding editors of the magazine and renamed the publication VIBE. After leaving the magazine as a senior editor in 1997, he freelanced for several publications. He also worked for the hip-hop magazine America and participated in a dotcom business that eventually went bankrupt. In between his various jobs, he also found time to publish two books, including the criticallyacclaimed “Hung: A Meditation on the Measure of Black Men in America,” a 2005 book discussing the myths of the sexuality of black men. It was during a book tour for “Hung” that the idea of returning to school came to him. He visited a number of universities for publicity, including Duke University, Howard University and the University of Southern California. “I was back in a college environment and I was really enjoying speaking to students about writing and about culture. I thought, ‘You know, I feel like I could do this. Maybe I could be a professor after 16 years as a journalist,’” he said. But to do that, Poulson-Bryant had to get his bachelor’s degree first. After contemplating his return to school over and over again, he finally wrote a letter to Brown about finishing up his concentration in American Civilization. Within a few months, he received a response saying that he could return. After revealing his decision to others, the reactions were mixed. When telling friends who were Brown alums, they were ecstatic and perhaps a bit jealous of the chance to go back to Brown. Others, though, questioned his decision. “A lot of my friends said, ‘You have a career, you’ve done a lot of great, successful things. Why go back to college?’ ” he said. But Poulson-Bryant’s decision seemed fairly clear to him.
“It’s partly the idea of a career change. I’ve been a journalist for so long that I’ve wanted to parlay that into another kind of career,” he said. In addition, Poulson-Br yant wanted a chance to get out of his home state of New York for a little while. “Don’t get me wrong, I love New York, but I thought it would be nice to get out and be in Providence for a year.” Yet even with his decision, Poulson-Bryant still had a bit of anxiety over his return for several reasons. For one, Poulson-Bryant still holds down a full-time job with GIANT Magazine in New York, where he is the editorial director. He does most of his work via e-mail, but he has been to New York so many times this semester that he has begun to lose count. He recently sold his first novel to a publisher, and he’s still working on a draft that should be done by the end of the year. And on top of that, he’s taking four classes. “I don’t know what I was thinking that I could come to school full time for a year and continue my full-time job in New York,” he said with a laugh. Another particularly big concern was that he would “stick out like a sore thumb.” “I was going to be the old man. You know, this late-30s guy among all these 20-year-olds,” he said. “I felt a little like I would be completely out of place.” As soon as he got back into school, however, he realized that his concerns were largely unfounded. At first, some of his classmates gave him odd looks and thought he was a teacher’s assistant. But he soon met a number of friends in his classes and found that professors were understanding about his situation — he was balancing a full course-load and a job in another city. “He probably had more anxiety about (the transition) than he needed to. He had plenty of experience because he knew Brown as a place. I think he had a lot more experience to count on than he thought he did, and he made the transition fairly smoothly,” said Samuel Zipp, an assistant professor of American Civilization who teaches Poulson-
Austin Freeman / Herald
Scott Poulson-Bryant ‘08
Bryant in a seminar. But there are still times when all his commitments can be overly taxing. At one point during the semester, his workload was so heavy — GIANT was finishing up an issue and he was busy with midterms — that he was getting only two hours of sleep a night and falling asleep in the carrels of the Rockefeller Library. Still, Poulson-Br yant is dedicated to doing well in his classes, and his professors have recognized this passion. Elliot Gorn, professor of history, noticed that this is the case for many students who return to school after years of being elsewhere. “They’re not here because their parents told them to be here. They’re here because they want to be here,” Gorn said. “If anything, he’s more ready to do the kind of work he needs to do here than a regular college student. He knows what he wants to do and why he’s here,” Zipp said. With his first semester back quickly coming to a close, PoulsonBryant is looking at various Ph.D. and graduate programs. He’s still unsure if he’ll have time to apply to all the programs this school year — he already has enough on his plate — but for now, he seems content with receiving is diploma in the spring. “I tend to be a finisher, and this was one part of my life that I hadn’t yet closed,” he said.
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Thursday, November 29, 2007
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Ondaatje reads passages from ‘Divisadero’ continued from page 1 family soon violently explode. The novel’s single plotline breaks up into at least four, and by its second half the focus has moved from the contemporary West Coast to turnof-the-century southern France. Ondaatje has called his work a Cubist novel — he makes heavy use of the jumbled and fragmented narration that characterized “The English Patient.” Between selections, he explained that the novel’s name, drawn from Divisadero Street in San Francisco, gestures towards its intent. “Divisadero,” he said, has a double etymology. It is derived both from the Spanish word for division and from “divisar,” to look at from a distance. Ondaatje’s intent, it seems, was to smash a story to pieces and then indicate connections between the shards. This is an ambitious blueprint for the brave new novel, a novel that functions like jazz music or poetry. But despite the accolades “Divisadero” has received, it seems to fall short of the standard he set in previous work. Ondaatje’s prose is often awkward, and though he told The Herald that “Divisadero” might be his “most personal” work, its tone feels a bit contrived. It lacks the astonishing lucidity that carried “The English Patient” to success. But at the reading, Ondaatje’s deep, strangely melodic intonation alchemized his lacking prose. Even
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Oona Curley / Herald
Author Michael Ondaatje delivered a reading in Salomon Center Wednesday.
his most stilted sentences became streams of liquid vowels and crisp consonants, mesmerizing and occult. The words’ meaning yielded to their sound, and that sound
gave at least this reviewer hope that the limpid and poetic prose of “The English Patient” might make a comeback in Ondaatje’s future work.
Reil ’09: Rollins not really worthy of MVP continued from page 12 the league’s highest range factor. Rollins got to more than 100 fewer balls than Tulowitzki did, despite playing in over 50 more innings. Coincidence? Oh, I don’t think so. I really mean no offense to Rollins, but I don’t see how a guy can
win the MVP when he is the thirdbest player in his team’s infield. Second baseman Chase Utley is Philly’s best player, hands down, and he also plays a premium position. Utley missed 30 games near the end of the year with a broken right hand. Without him, Philly was 16-14. After his return, they were 21-11. Ryan Howard, last year’s MVP, hit .411 in the Phillies’ last 10 games, belted seven home runs and drove in 16. Those who argue that Rollins carried his team down the stretch might want to take a look at Howard’s numbers. Oh, and the aforementioned Holliday only batted .358 in his last 10 games, nine of which the Rockies won. As for Philadelphia, it wouldn’t even have made the postseason if not for a historic collapse by the Mets. Being that I’m from Massachusetts, I really have nothing to complain about when it comes to sports. Well, except the stupid New England Revolution losing in the finals. Unacceptable. But man, do I feel for the Colorado Rockies. First, your incredible shortstop loses a tight battle for Rookie of the Year and misses out on the Gold Glove he clearly deser ved. Then, just to make things worse, your best player gets shafted hard in the MVP voting and on top of all this you got stomped in the World Series. Shhh, stop crying, state of Colorado, it’s gonna be all right.
Shane Reil ’09 can’t add, but he can count as high as the number of Patriots victories this season.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
OIP officers’ overseas trips ‘exhaustive’ not ‘extravagant,’ director says continued from page 1 Andrea Lipkin, a study abroad adviser at the OIP, went on a 12-day familiarization visit last April to Chile and Ecuador through IES, one of the companies under investigation by Cuomo’s office. “We arrived and right away we were visiting institutions that the program is affiliated with,” Lipkin said. “It was packed.” Lipkin said the visits are essential if the University wishes to adequately inform students making important decisions about their education. “When a student comes and says, ‘I’m interested in studying in such-and-such a place,’ being able to speak from first-hand experience lets us better help students to evaluate programs based on academic fit,” she said. Arguing that the trip wasn’t a ploy to woo OIP advisors, Brostuen pointed out that half the programs Lipkin assessed were not approved. “Chile is on our approved list,” he said. “Ecuador is not.” Another practice that has come into question is providers’ appointment of study abroad officers to advisory board positions, intended to allow further quality control but possibly granting them further perks. Brostuen, who serves on IFSA Butler’s Latin American Advisory Committee, the National Advisory Council for CEA Arcadia and the School for International Training’s Partnership Council, said all his board memberships are unpaid and are usually limited to rotating terms of three or four years. “They are completely unpaid — as they should be,” he said. “The only ‘perks’ I get out of those positions are once-a-year dinners in American cities like Indianapolis.” “And lest anyone argue that my advisory role implies any sort of exclusivity with Brown,” Brostuen wrote in an e-mail to The Herald, “of the 573 students who went abroad last year through the OIP, only six students participated in programs offered by the Institute for Study Abroad, Butler University; 18 students studied abroad on Arcadia University programs and 20 students studied abroad on SIT programs.” Weighing the options Brostuen said he thinks the petitioning option best demonstrates that Brown is not engaged in unethical conduct with third-party providers. If students are unsatisfied with what the OIP has to offer, they can research their own programs at the schools and cities of their choice and then apply for approval. Some students say the seemingly cumbersome process deters some from applying, but students who have studied through petitioned programs say the process is easier to complete than it appears. “We encourage students to petition,” Brostuen said. “And they certainly do.” Last year, roughly 12 percent of all Brown students who studied abroad did so on programs they had petitioned themselves. But that means nearly 90 percent of students — over 500 last year — did not. In order to petition a program to the OIP, students must submit material from the school at which they want to study, write multiple essays giving their reasons for picking that program and have an interview with a study abroad adviser simply to begin the approval process. Only after further interviews — and in some cases more than 10 faculty signatures — can a program be approved. Leah Harrison ’08 spent last spring in Spain. Though she consid-
ered petitioning her own program, Harrison said she thought it would be “too much of a hassle,” so she elected to study through IES. “It’s already enough of a hassle trying to apply abroad when you’re dealing with classes,” she said. “Petitioning just seems like extra work.” Harrison said that among most students interested in studying abroad, the petitioning process “seems like a mess that just isn’t worth it.” Giorgio DiMauro, associate director of the Office of International Programs at Harvard University, told The Herald that a greater percentage of last year’s Harvard study abroad students petitioned their own programs than Brown students did. “Last year, about 25 percent of students did apply for programs that weren’t on our approved list,” DiMauro said. But DiMauro said the statistic is deceptively high because Harvard’s OIP has not updated its Web site to include programs that it typically approves. “Our Web site has a pretty restricted list so there are some programs that we know about already and would approve upon request,” DiMauro said. “In reality, we’re probably not far off from Brown at all.” Susanna Makela ’08, an applied math concentrator who spent a semester at the University of Helsinki in Finland, petitioned her own program when she found the OIP didn’t offer a program there. “You had to write a couple essays stating why you wanted to go to that particular place and why the pre-approved programs didn’t match your needs,” she said. “And you had to have an interview with the OIP people.” But Makela, who is of Finnish descent, said the petitioning program was not very cumbersome. “It was really pretty painless,” she said. “And very simple.” “The number of students who petition is going up,” Brostuen said. “Brown students are pretty adventurous.” Little effect on students In the end, the primary concern of critics of the study-abroad industry is the possible effect of these practices
on students. Cuomo’s office hopes to discover whether undergraduates have to pay more for programs because of incentives and exclusivity deals with universities. But even if Brown did engage in these practices, it is unlikely that students would be affected. In addition to the 30 credits needed to graduate, students are also required to pay at least eight semesters of Brown tuition, whether those semesters are spent in Providence or in Peru. “Students, regardless of where they go abroad, are charged Brown tuition,” Brostuen said. “It’s taken the cost factor out of the picture.” While this policy means that inflated program costs do not affect the amount students pay, it does direct the difference between a program’s price and Brown’s standard tuition to the University rather than saving the student’s cash. Jessica Bloome ’08, who spent last fall in Tanzania at the University of Dar es Salaam, said she spent far more on her Brown-sponsored study abroad program than it actually cost. When Bloome tried to petition for a University of Florida program held at the same university for a fraction of the cost, her request was declined. “They have the same program but for $5,000 instead of $40,000,” Bloome said. “But the Brown policy wouldn’t allow it.” Students have long had to pay full Brown tuition to study abroad through Brown-sponsored programs, but the class of 2010 will be the first to pay full tuition for alternate programs, including petitioned and Brown-approved ones like IES and IFSA Butler programs. Brostuen said the OIP takes many factors into account when deciding whether to approve a petitioned program, but financial concern is not one of them. “Financial considerations are secondary to the academic rationale,” he said. “We want students choosing programs because academically they make sense.” An industry under scrutiny Earlier this month, a few dozen representatives of universities and study abroad providers gathered in Toronto and then in Carlisle, Pa., for
a meeting of the Forum on Education Abroad, the official standards development organization for education abroad, recognized by the United States Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission. The meetings, which focused on ethics in the study abroad industry and addressed topics such as institutional transparency, incentives, conflicts of interest, program approval, fair competition and focus on students, laid the groundwork for a code of ethics that will be available to the public in January. Though the New York State Attorney General’s office did not respond to calls and e-mails from The Herald, the Times reported in August that more subpoenas would be issued to other study abroad providers. Brostuen said the increased attention on the study abroad indus-
try could be positive for the field, weeding out unethical players and ensuring honest practices and fair treatment of students’ concerns. “We’re a professional field here, and our keen interest is students that are going on programs,” Brostuen said. “It’s not in anyone’s interest to be steering students into programs that are not academic fits for them — that completely goes against the grain of what we stand for.” “That’s why we are strongly encouraging universities and colleges to be fully on board with the forum,” he added. Brostuen said he has not received contact by any investigators from the New York State Attorney General’s office. “We’ve been very transparent,” he said. “I don’t expect any contact whatsoever.”
Thursday, November 29, 2007
M. soccer falls continued from page 12 Emmanuel easily chipped the ball into the left side of the net from 16 yards out. “The difficult thing is that it’s so hollow after what this team accomplished all season. Its like going to a funeral,” Noonan said. “This team has more character and trust then any team I have seen at Brown.” The loss was Brown’s third straight in the NCAA tournament’s second round. The Bears fell to Duke University last year, and the University of Maryland in 2005. Still, the team pointed to its fantastic regular season as the silver lining. “The whole team has something special this year. I’m proud of this team,” Britner said. In addition, Britner is optimistic about the team’s future. Britner, Davies, Manuel and Jon Behrendt ’08 will not return next year, but the majority of the team’s nucleus will be back for another run next season. “We have a good program and tradition and I don’t expect anything to change,” Britner said.
Shots don’t drop, but m. hoops does continued from page 12 allowed the Bears to stay in the game by shooting just 40 percent from the field. The Bears weren’t able to take advantage. While they shot 44 percent from the field, they went 3-for-21 from 3-point range and were only 14-for-23 from the line, missing many down the stretch that would have cut into the Seahawks’ modest lead. “We got the looks we wanted,” said swingman Chris Skrelja ‘09. “They just didn’t go down.” Brown squandered a terrific performance by Skrelja, who scored a team-high 21 points and even threw down a dunk — his first-ever in a Brown uniform. “I feel terrible,” Skrelja said. “I would have rather scored zero points and have us winning.” “I told him after the game, it’s a shame to (lose) the best game of his career,” said Head Coach Craig Robinson. McAndrew added 14 points, and center Mark MacDonald ’08 had 12. Huffman had an uncharacteristically poor game, going 3-for-13 overall, and 0-for-6 from 3-point range. He took only two shots in the first half and finished with nine points. “Damon is one of the best players on the team,” Robinson said. “He needs to recognize that (and take more shots.)” Robinson was disappointed with the way the Bears played, but was impressed his players kept the game close, even on an off day. “To play as poorly as we did and lose by one — I hate moral victories as much as anyone, but we were in it,” he said. The Bears now embark on a stretch in which they play four games in nine days before finals. Robinson said the team will focus on breaking full-court pressure. “People are going to see this (game) tape and they’re going to pressure us,” Robinson said. “They’re going to try to take our center out of the game.” The Bears next play the University of California at Davis at the Pizzitola Center at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
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E ditorial & L etters Page 10
Thursday, November 29, 2007
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Staf f Editorial
No minor matter Brown’s open curriculum is the single most defining characteristic of undergraduate education on this campus, and even perceived threats to the New Curriculum — be they the proposed introduction of pluses and minuses in grading or the enforcement of prerequisites under the Banner registration system — have been met with protest and anger from many students. But in all that healthy debate, the issue of concentrations has not struck a nerve, except in the occasional case of funding cuts or deficiencies in advising. That may soon change. The Task Force for Undergraduate Education is now focusing on the role of concentrations in the educational experience and expects to release a preliminary report with recommendations next spring. A designated subcommittee, charged with evaluating the current state of concentrations at Brown, will make recommendations for their “appropriate breadth, depth, perspective and rigor,” according to the task force’s Web site. This is an important subject for the task force to take up. Every year, students in their fourth semesters pick up concentration forms from University Hall, schedule meetings with their new concentration advisers and chart out their educational plans for the next two years. That’s the idea, at least. At its best, the system helps sophomores carefully consider how their focused study will contribute to broader academic goals at Brown and beyond. At its worst — and it happens all too often this way — the system forces students to haphazardly scribble down a few sentences and hurriedly schedule last-minute meetings to get their forms signed and done with. As the deadline passes, many are still unsure of the commitments they’ve made. Plans change, but we wonder if this is the best way to do things. The task force, we think, should consider the option of a “mini-concentration,” what our peer institutions would call a minor (after all, we don’t have majors, remember?). That choice would give students the opportunity to show evidence of familiarity in additional fields without having to make the often-onerous time commitment for a second concentration, squeeze in courses to complete multiple degrees or spend a fifth year at Brown for the A.B./Sc.B. program. We realize that it may not be practical for all programs and departments at Brown to offer minors. Interdisciplinary concentrations, especially, would be troublesome: the nature of a program like international relations, for example, is to draw extensively on different academic fields, and such a field could not in good faith be condensed to merely five or six courses. But for other concentrations, some recognition that students have explored other areas in depth — outside of their concentrations — could be useful, both as goals for undergraduates and as credentials for jobs or professional or graduate schools. We may craft an education for ourselves that is unique, but many employers or schools will only cursorily glance at our transcripts. A minor in economics, biology or Hispanic studies, for example, would go far in demonstrating a distinct area of expertise outside of a concentration. There is a thorough debate to be had on this subject and about Brown’s undergraduate curriculum as a whole. We’ve noted in this space before that we’re eager for the opportunity to take stock of what a Brown education means, and the task force raises a great opportunity to do just that.
jon guyer
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C o r r e ct i o n s An article in Wednesday’s Herald (“U. lobbies Congress as Higher Ed. Act reauthorization goes to House,” Nov. 28) incorrectly reported that the federal Department of Education is conducting a study on the size and use of university endowments. In fact, the study has been proposed as part of the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act currently before the House of Representatives and is not yet underway. An article in Wednesday’s Herald (“With Clinton’s help, colleges go carbon neutral,” Nov. 28) stated that the University has committed to reducing greenhouse gases to 15 percent below its 1990 level by 2020. In fact, while the University’s Energy and Environment Advisory Committee has recommended that goal, the University has not committed to it.
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O pinions Thursday, November 29, 2007
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Rotten Apple BY MATT PREWITT Opinions Columnist I do not like Apple Inc. I do not like their distinctive and influential aesthetic, I do not like their unshaven, t-shirt wearing Apple Store employees and I do not like Steve Jobs’ Orwellian presentations at trade conferences. I also do not like that smarmy bastard in their TV commercials who makes fun of the well-meaning, awkward PC guy. I root for some companies, but I do not root for Apple. Neither should you. It is worth mentioning that I own a lot of Apple products, and I don’t regret buying any of them. In the future, I will undoubtedly dump hundreds, even thousands more dollars into Steve Jobs’ color-coordinated Gringotts vault. Apple apologists will tell you this undermines my credibility — if I don’t like them, why do I continue to buy their products? Slipper y rhetorical sleightof-hand, I say. I don’t like ExxonMobil either, but their crude is so light and so sweet. In other words, the quality of Apple’s products is not the source of my wrath. Rather, I dislike Apple because they have perfected the art of abusing their customers and making them like it. They manage to employ ruthlessly anti-competitive, anticonsumer business practices, and we still feel like they’re a bunch of harmless nerds working to improve our lives.
What am I talking about? First and foremost, cross-functionality. Apple does a spiffy job of ensuring that the full functionality of their products cannot be realized without using them in conjunction with Apple software like iTunes and iPhoto. Their products complement each other so well that by the time you’ve invested hundreds of dollars and dozens of hours organizing your media
chasing the dragon. Apple’s other nasty habit is usage restrictions. Buying something from Apple is really more like renting. When you buy a music file, it comes with a leash. iPhones are sweet, but they are disturbingly like ankle bracelets in that all hell breaks loose when you tamper with them. Apple wants it to be this way so that they can keep control over the software
Apple has perfected the art of abusing their customers and then making them like it. in their programs, it will never be worth your time to consider a product made by a competitor. Once Apple gets its claws into you, you’re hooked: you’re afraid of what might happen if you quit using their stuff. So sure, that first iPod had a revolutionar y interface, but now that you’ve spent hundreds of dollars in proprietary-format iTunes Store music, Apple has you in the palm of their hand. They could let their quality plummet and you’d still spend the rest of your life
that people are using and protect their deals with partners on the project like AT&T. All of this is understandable. Apple is a good business. They have learned from the missteps of companies like IBM, which screwed up in the early days of personal computing by allowing third parties (read: Microsoft) to control their platforms and capture most of the value of the PC boom. Accordingly, Apple doesn’t allow anyone else to control anything This is good for
them and bad for us. Consumers win when companies build products that work with products made by their competitors. When I see dorm room after dorm room decked out in Apple everything, it tells me that consumer choice is being restricted. So I don’t blame Apple, but I definitely don’t like them. It is perhaps Apple’s most stunning corporate achievement that ever yone still adores them. In the ’90’s Apple was the plucky little guy, hanging for dear life against big bad Microsoft. But the ’90’s are ancient histor y, and Apple has outMicrosoft-ed Microsoft. Still, people spend their hard-earned money with Apple, and then say thank you. I view their products as basic lifestyle utilities, and I don’t thank Apple for selling them to me any more than I thank the gas company when I turn on my gas stove. So, without any special vitriol, let’s reclaim our sanity and start seeing Apple as just another large corporation with mildly fascist aesthetic sensibilities. They do business with unusual ruthlessness, and while I don’t blame them for that, I will experience schadenfreude when a competitor takes them down. Pixar, on the other hand — now that’s an amazing company.
Matt Prewitt ’08 will probably be assassinated soon by henchmen wearing minimalist plastic helmets wielding touch-screen lasers.
When medical insurance isn’t enough BY HELEN JOHNSON Guest Columnist In his Nov. 14 article, “No to universal health care,” Boris Ryvkin attempts to challenge the argument of suppor ters of universal health care by undermining what he perceives to be their two major points — that current systems in Europe and Canada are praiseworthy and should be emulated, and that a shameful number of American citizens lack sufficient health care coverage. As I do not wish to ignite a debate about the merits or shor tcomings of universal health care systems, I will not comment on his first line of attack. I feel compelled, however, to point out the flaws in his second line of argument. Ryvkin claims that supporters of universal health care “have exploited to death the number of Americans without health insurance,” suggesting that they have done so for selfish political gain. He then goes on to reveal the supposed truth of the matter by showing “who most of the uninsured actually are.” Citing a statistical analysis of 2003 Census Bureau data, he states that “49 percent of the uninsured earned more than $50,000 and could afford private coverage” and that “most of the remainder were eligible for Medicaid and other federal programs.” Thus, Ryvkin claims, “only 8 million” of the alleged 45 million uninsured Americans were “truly uninsured.” First off, the $50,000 statistic does not delineate the range of incomes of the approximately 22 million Americans who are, according to Rvykin, uninsured for no valid reason. This ambiguity suggests a manipu-
lation of data, a reluctance to be forthright ,which begs the question, “What exactly are you hiding and why?” Though I cannot be sure of the precise salaries of this sector of the uninsured, I can say with certainty that incomes only slightly above the $50,000 mark are not suf ficient for families with chronically ill members. Take, for example, a family with a $60,000 income and a toddler with Down syndrome who requires 24/7 care. Should
substantial medical needs. Even families who have private coverage suf fer financially because insurance companies are unfairly selective about what they will cover. For example, in Florida, parents of autistic children must pay outof-pocket for speech and behavioral therapies because the insurance industr y deems these to be medically unnecessar y, despite over whelming evidence from controlled studies that have shown other wise. Patients
I can say with certainty that incomes only slightly above the $50,000 mark are not sufficient for families with chronically ill members. one of the parents quit his or her job to care for the child, the family will be unable to af ford private insurance? Should they both keep their jobs in order to pay for the insurance, they will have to hire a nurse to care for the child during business hours, a cost which is simply out of their budget? Our current health care system does not do justice to middle-income families with
with Crohn’s disease are denied coverage of vital prescriptions and must either foot the bill or, if they cannot afford to do so, suffer. Chronically-ill patients who undergo frequent hospitalizations and/or surgeries can testify that while insurance companies pay the majority of the expenses of a hospital stay, they are still responsible for tens of
thousands of dollars in hospital bills. Regarding those uninsured who are eligible for programs such as Medicaid, Ryvkin should consider the possibility that perhaps these people do not participate in these programs not because they lack “personal responsibility,” but rather because these programs do not meet their needs. In Florida, Medicaid patients who earn more than $85 per month must forfeit their coverage. This stipulation forces people to either remain or become indigent or else go without medical care. How does this ser ve justice? Moreover, many doctors do not accept Medicaid patients and even fewer specialists do so, a reality which makes it virtually impossible for Medicaid patients to receive the medical attention they need. Fur thermore, when Medicaid patients are taken to the emergency room, they have no say in the choice of doctor and can be assigned physicians who do not accept Medicaid, which results in the patient having to pay the full bill. How is this possible on a $85 per month salar y? Medicaid and its sister programs are both unaccommodating and ineffective. As an advocate for the disabled, I implore the Brown community to take a second look at who these 45 million uninsured “actually are.” Even if Ryvkin’s argument had a shred of validity, his conclusion that “only eight million” are “truly uninsured” does not prove that changes to the current health care system are unneeded. Ryvkin’s article reveals an inconceivable amount of ignorance on his part. It is he who needs to “get with the program.”
Helen Johnson ’11 is a proud member of the Autism Society of America.
S ports T hursday Page 12
Thursday, November 29, 2007
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Upset: M. soccer knocked out of playoffs By Jason Harris Assistant Sports Editor
After it was over, the crowd at Stevenson Field fell silent for only the second time Wednesday night. Several men’s soccer players collapsed to the field, while others stood in disbelief as Old Dominion University’s Ambane Emmanuel tore off his shirt and streaked for the corner flag after scoring the overtime goal that gave the Monarchs a 2-1 win. Twice, the unseeded Monarchs struck unexpectedly, with the finally tally sending the favored No. 6 seed Bears and their postseason hopes home in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Brown ends the year 15-2-1 overall. The Bears’ week-and-a-half layoff between games showed early in the game, as Old Dominion clearly held the upper hand. Brown couldn’t string together more than two passes before turning the ball over, leading to Monarch counterattacks. Just eight minutes into the match, ODU capitalized on Brown’s slow start by scoring on a fluky play. Midfielder A.J. Kulp, the Monarchs’ points leader, took a seemingly innocuous free kick from 40 yards out, until it skidded off a defender inside the 18-yard box and skipped by goalie Paul Grandstrand ’11, who had no time to react. “I was just trying to get one of my guys and it worked out,” Kulp said, who added that he was still surprised at his goal. “The goal was tentative like our play in the first half,” said a visibly shocked Head Coach Mike Noonan after the game. The goal put Bruno in a quick 1-0 hole, a situation the team had not often faced this season. The deficit woke the Bears up however, and they generated a few chances later in the half, but could not find the equalizer before intermission. Brown’s best opportunity came with 13:31 to play in the half, when forward T.J. Thompson ’10, who had just entered the game, received a pass from defender David Walls ’11
Ashley Hess / Herald
Two Old Dominion defenders separate forward T.J. Thompson ’10 from the ball in last night’s game.
on the right side of the 18-yard box. Thompson turned toward traffic in the middle of the field and ripped a left-footed shot just over the outstretched arms of Monarch goalie Evan Newton — and just over the crossbar. Down 1-0 at halftime, Brown turned it around in the second half, dominating play the rest of the way. “In the first half we were feeling it out. We came out tentative” said co-captain Matt Britner ’07.5. “In the second half we had more confidence. We got a goal, which got the crowd into it, which got us into it.” The tying goal came just 3:08 into the second half. A Walls corner kick was knocked down at the penalty area and it trickled to forward Kevin Davies ’08 at the right edge
of the 6-yard box. Davies appeared to have a wide open net, but Newton scrambled to the near post and deflected Davies’ point-blank shot out for a corner. Walls took the ensuing corner kick from the right side and sent it to the back post, where it was knocked back to the near post. Davies found the rebound about 10 yards out, took one dribble and lofted a left-footed shot over the crowd of players and into the top left corner to tie the score. “I had the right side open, but the goalie came across quickly,” Davies said. “The play after, I was at the right place at the right time and I just finished it.” The tally pumped new energy into the home crowd and team. The Bears controlled play and had many more
opportunities than the Monarchs for the remainder of the game. Bruno received particularly strong play from its defense, led by Britner, the Ivy League Player of the Year, and defensive midfielder Chris Roland ’10, whose recently bleached blonde hair dashed around the pitch and won nearly every 50-50 ball. The team also had solid production from midfielders Laurent Manuel ’08 and Jeff Hay ’10, filling in Darren Howerton ’09, who was out with an illness. Despite Brown’s pressure, Old Dominion stayed strong, anchored by its defense, which has surrendered just 15 goals all season. “All season, we bend but we don’t break,” Kulp said. “(Brown) had a lot of chances, a lot of corners. Credit our defense for holding them off.” ODU was able to prevent Brown from scoring a go-ahead goal for the rest of regulation, despite numerous opportunities for the Bears. In overtime, Brown continued the onslaught. With each cross, each shot, the crowd grew louder, expecting the Bears to break through at any second. “We have a belief that we only need five seconds to score,” Davies said. “One play, one cross. We’ve won four overtime games already this season.” With Brown still unable to get the winner, despite out-shooting the Monarchs 3-0 in the first overtime, the game went to a second extra period. With a penalty-kick shootout looming and only 3:15 to play, the Monarchs shocked the entire stadium again with another quick strike. Midfielder Nane Joseph played a long ball from deep in his own end over the top to a sprinting Emmanuel. Defender Rhett Bernstein ’09 was locked in a footrace with Emmanuel and appeared to have reached the ball first when he started to slip. Bernstein fell, leaving Emmanuel one-on-one against Grandstrand. The Brown keeper came out to cut down the angle, but had no chance: continued on page 9
Wagner walks off with win as m. hoops can’t capitalize By Stu Woo Sports Editor
It’s been the same story for most of Mark McAndrew’s ’08 career at Brown: The men’s basketball team pulls off a big win, as it did this weekend against Northwestern University, but then fails to carry the momentum over to the next game. The Bears missed free throws and open 3-pointers against Wagner College at the Pizzitola Sports Center last night, and then squandered a chance to win in the game’s final seconds, losing 64-63 in a tense, back-and-forth contest. “It’s kind of been that way since I got here,” said McAndrew, a shooting guard and tri-captain. “We have a good game, we have a bad one. We win, we win and then we lose. It’s about getting consistency.” With the Bears down 62-61 last night, McAndrew was fouled just outside the paint with 26 seconds left in the game. He calmly hit both free throws to give Brown the lead. But in a fitting end to a game that saw 18 lead changes and 11 ties,
Wagner came back down the court and fed the ball to senior point guard Mark Porter. Damon Huffman ’08 fouled Porter with 6.7 seconds left, and Porter, who air-balled an earlier free throw, nonchalantly hit both his shots to give the Seahawks the one-point edge. The Bears had enough time to set up one last shot, but McAndrew caught the inbounds pass near his own basket and was trapped by two Wagner players. He dribbled the ball off his foot and by the time he recovered, Brown had to call a timeout with 2.7 seconds left. After the inbound, Huf fman threw up a wild 3-point shot that clanged off the backboard and rim The loss dropped the Bears to 2-3 on the season. Brown was out-hustled and outmuscled by Wagner — the small, gritty team from New York City epitomized by Porter, its lightningquick senior point guard who had a game-high 23 points. The Seahawks out-rebounded the Bears 44-31 but
Rollins worthy of MVP? Not really If I told you two plus two was five, I bet you would probably just laugh uncomfortably because I made a bad joke. But what if your math professor told you the same thing? What if someone published it in a journal or if it was on the news? That might make you think. Well, I know exactly how that Shane Reil feels, and it’s Are You For Reil creepy. The other day, someone told me Philadelphia’s shortstop, Jimmy Rollins, was the National League’s Most Valuable Player, and I was all like, “Ha, yeah sure, whatever, dude.” Then, I saw it on Sportscenter. And read the headlines on ESPN.com. And it started to really sink in. Soon, I was biting my nails. Then I was talking to myself while walking around campus, wild-eyed and chuckling ever y few feet. Sure enough, just a few days prior, almost all of ESPN’s experts had picked Rollins to win. Only four of ESPN’s numerous pundits had picked Colorado’s Matt Holliday for MVP, whereas I was certain he should have won. Four. An entire nation of respected sportswriters had cast their votes and somehow Rollins had come out on top. I just couldn’t see it. Was I crazy? Sure, if I was crazy, I probably wouldn’t admit it, but you have to hear me out. Just take a look at some numbers with me Reil quick: Holliday — .340 batting average, .405 on-base percentage, .607 slugging percentage, 36 home runs, 137 RBI, 11 stolen bases. Rollins — .296 batting average, .344 on-base percentage, .531 slugging percentage, 30 home runs, 94 RBI, 41 stolen bases. It is as clear as my beautiful skin that Holliday is a much better hitter than Rollins. Seriously, it isn’t even a question, so how do the experts defend their choice? For one, they argue that Rollins is more valuable because he is a shortstop. OK, so how does Rollins compare to another NL shortstop, say, the Marlins’ Hanley Ramirez? Rollins — .296 batting average, .344 on-base percentage, .531 slugging percentage, 30 home runs, 94 RBI, 41 stolen bases. Ramirez — .332 batting average, .386 on-base percentage, .562 slugging percentage, 29 home runs, 81 RBI, 51 stolen bases. If we’re gonna take a shortstop, why not Ramirez? He has a higher average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage and even beats Rollins in steals. Despite this, Ramirez managed a meager 49 points in the MVP voting, to Rollins’ 353. Some of the writers have argued that because Rollins won the Gold Glove he was a better candidate than Ramirez or Holliday — his defense should give him the edge. Unfortunately, Rollins didn’t deser ve that award, either. He had a lower fielding percentage than Rockies rookie phenom Troy Tulowitzki, who also boasted
Ashley Hess / Herald File Photo
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Chris Skrelja ’09 dropped a career-high 21 points against Wagner.
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