Friday, November 30, 2007

The Brown Daily Herald F riday, N ovember 30, 2007

Volume CXLII, No. 118

CCURB will fund student projects to cut carbon emissions

By Taryn Martinez Staff Writer

President Ruth Simmons and the Sidney E. Frank Foundation committed $350,000 last month to reducing carbon emissions at Brown and in the Providence community.

Now, students and administrators are brainstorming how to put the money to work.

First recommended by the Energy and Environmental Advisory Committee, the Community Carbon Use Reduction @ Brown, or CCURB, program will primarily allocate funds to student-led projects, said Vice President for Finance and Administration Beppie Huidekoper.

But instead of focusing on efforts at Brown, CCURB will concentrate on reducing emissions in Providence

cutt i n g a rug

while helping to meet the city’s needs. Brown students, faculty and staff and community and civic groups will work together on the projects that are eventually approved.

The University has already avoided 37,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions through on-campus initiatives and recently received an Excellence in Energy Efficiency Award from National Grid, Huidekoper said. CCURB is “intended to complement the work that Facilities Management is doing on campus” to reduce Brown’s carbon footprint, said Kurt Teichert, Environmental Stewardship Initiatives manager.

A committee of 12 administrators, students and faculty, chaired by Huidekoper, will develop a proposal continued on page 4

Kim Perley / Herald The Fall Dance Concert, which runs through Sunday at Ashamu Dance Studio and is produced by Body and Sole, features campus groups.

See Arts & Culture, Page 3

U. to offer free HIV testing today

By Noura Choudhury Staf f Writer

Free HIV testing will be available today in Leung Galler y for all Brown students, faculty and staff as part of an observance of World AIDS Day, which is Saturday.

The event, which has taken place the last two semesters, offers students the opportunity to get rapid HIV testing with results in approximately 20 minutes,

said Madeline DiLorenzo ’08, the founder of the Brown chapter of Global Alliance to Immunize against AIDS, which is co-sponsoring the event along with Queer Alliance, Health Services, the Division of Campus Life and Student Ser vices and AIDS Care Ocean State.

“Even if you don’t think you have a risk, it’s good to get tested and find out more information,” DiLorenzo said. “You can see what

your peers are doing and talk to more people about how to get more involved.”

Today’s HIV testing, which is performed by AIDS Care Ocean State, includes pre- and post-test counseling so students can evaluate their risks and access support when receiving results. DiLorenzo estimates that the entire process should take about 30 to 45 minutes continued on page 8

Fenlon ’10 on his way to rock stardom

By Sophia Lambertsen Staff Writer

INSIDE:

3

ARTS & CULTURE

www.browndailyherald.com

Limited campus parking irks students, Herald poll finds

By Scott Lowenstein Senior Staf f Writer

As the University and its East Side neighbors struggle to find solutions for the dearth of parking on College Hill, a Herald poll conducted earlier this month found that students with cars would continue to bring them to College Hill — even if parking is pushed further off campus.

According to the poll results, 11.4 percent of Brown students currently keep a car on campus.

Of those, 39.8 percent said that they would use off-campus parking with a shuttle service to campus — a solu-

tion that has long been considered by the University — if it was the only available option. Only 3.6 percent of students said they would be not bring a car because of off-campus parking, while 41 percent said that they would find an alternative way to park their car on campus.

The Herald poll was conducted from Nov. 5-7 and has a 3.9 percent margin of error with 95 percent confidence. A total of 621 Brown undergraduates completed the poll, which was administered as a written questionnaire to students in the continued on page 4

Lord of the languages: Prof teaches with Elvish, Orkish

While most students are starting to stress out about final papers, Quinn Fenlon ’10 is getting ready to take the spring semester off. He’ll spend the new year writing an album with his rock band, TGL. The group was just signed by Oort, an offshoot record label of California-based Lobster Records, and will start recording in March.

TGL, which Fenlon said stands for “The Good Life,” began in a Greencastle, Ind., high school in 2002. Indiana native Fenlon, who was friends with the other band members in high school, said he joined just over two years ago.

As the band’s lead guitarist, Fenlon says the physical distance between him and the other band members, all of whom attend DePauw University, has hindered their creative process.

“Being so far away, we don’t get to write together, play together or have any shows,” Fenlon said. “When we do get back together over the summer we have to cram in writing, recording — if we’re going to do it — and then touring.”

But despite the cross-country distance, the band has managed to produce four albums and tours regularly. continued on page 6

Since 1866, Daily Since 1891

By Meha Verghese Staff Writer

Courtesy of Quinn Fenlon

Quinn Fenlon ’10 will leave Brown after this semester to pursue a professional music career with his rock band, TGL (pictured above).

Bust a move The fall concert series showcases the best of Brown’s diverse dance community.

7

CAMPUS NEWS

Crime Log Brown security unsuccessfully pursued a suspect who assaulted a student cellist on Charlesfield St.

You won’t find a course in Elvish or Orkish listed in the Banner course catalog, but “Lord of the Rings” fans seeking an expert in J. R. R. Tolkien’s invented languages need look no further than Geoffrey Russom, professor of English and medieval studies. Author Tolkien created Elvish and Orkish, which are modified versions ofolder real languages, for his classic fantasy trilogy.

“It’s a nice puzzle if you’re interested in the subjects that interested Tolkien, like Dark Ages languages and narratives,” Russom said. He said he became interested in Elvish and Orkish when “Lord of the Rings” was first published, and he later used his linguistic training from SUNY Stonybrook, where he earned a Ph.D., to decipher the languages.

“Tolkien’s plan with this was to reach a huge number of kids and undergraduates and get them interested in his subject,” Russom said. “The whole thing is propaganda for the study of ancient literature.” He said

11

OPINIONS

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

changing tracks Boris Ryvkin ‘09 argues the U.S. must reorient its foreign policy to continue to be a global leader.

Courtesy of brown.edu

Professor of English Geoffrey Russom

many students have shown an interest in Tolkien’s languages, noting that a lecture he gave at King House on Elvish drew over 100 people — making it one of his most popular lectures at Brown, even though it wasn’t part of a class. “Brown students pretend not to be nerds, but they really are,” Russom joked. continued on page 6

12 SPORTS

Ice Breakers Women’s hockey will host two Eastern powerhouses on home ice this weekend.

News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com

T oday Page 2

Friday, November 30, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

But Seriously | Charlie Custer and Stephen Barlow

We a t h e r Today

TOMORROW

partly cloudy 44 / 26

sunny 36 / 18

Menu

Sharpe Refectory

Verney-Woolley Dining Hall

Lunch — Chicken Fingers, Roasted Eggplant and Tomato Sandwich, Swiss Corn Bake, Lobster Bisque, Vegetarian Leek and Potato Soup

Lunch — Chicken Fingers, Vegan Nuggets, Sticky Rice, Sugar Snap Peas, Sticky Rice, Butter Cookies

Dinner — Seafood Pot Pie, Garlic Butter and Infused Rice, Vegetable Turnover with Cheese Sauce, Tri-Color Cavatapi, Chocolate Cake

Aibohphobia | Roxanne Palmer

Dinner — Italian Meatloaf, Grilled Chicken Corn Souffle, Garlic and Butter Infused Rice, Green Beans, Carrots Vichy, Anadama Bread, Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Frosting

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

Nightmarishly Elastic | Adam Robbins

Octopus on Hallucinogens | Toni Liu and Stephanie Le

RELEASE DATE– Friday, November 30,by2007 © Puzzles Pappocom

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

C

o ssw or d Lewis Edited by RichrNorris and Joyce Nichols

ACROSS 1 Relish 5 Lodgings 9 Vinegary prefix 14 To whom Rick said “We both know you belong with Victor” 15 Individually 16 The Persians conquered them under Cyrus the Great 17 Place to learn cheerleading?

19 Conclude by 20 Bond 21 Invoicing method?

23 Daytona warmup circuit 26 “The hostess with the mostest” Maxwell 27 Underwater films?

32 Animal’s mouth 35 One on an autobahn?

36 Indiscretion 37 2002 Olympics locale 39 __ Lama 42 Outer covering 43 Swing with abandon 45 Further 47 Egg holder 48 Liars’ club competition?

52 Last Stuart queen 53 Worth remembering 57 Where Elsie relaxes?

61 Earmark 62 Spout 63 Wampum?

66 Be successful in 67 Shakespearean villain 68 Prep school for some princes 69 “Nothing beats a great pair of __”: ad slogan 70 Ring decisions 71 Run-of-the-mill DOWN 1 Mom’s coldmorning reminder 2 Actress Verdugo

3 Jellied garnish 4 Went on 5 Morse bit 6 NYSE debut 7 Error 8 Ill humor 9 Copious 10 See 65-Down 11 MacDonald’s film partner 12 Windows 98 standard background color 13 Bone: Prefix 18 “The Color Purple” sister 22 Tree of a kind 24 Hardly reluctant 25 Clinton’s transportation secretary 28 Faith of more than one billion 29 Classes 30 “East of Eden” director Kazan 31 Accord 32 Hand warmer 33 Mythical Hun king 34 WWII noncombat unit 38 Got stuck 40 Former California senator Cranston

41 Analogy words 44 Finch family birds 46 Pizza slices, often 49 Wee hour 50 Author of the 1899 children’s book “The Wouldbegoods” 51 Nimbi 54 Frequent kidnapper of Olive

55 Firm symbols 56 Culture: Prefix 57 Monk’s hood 58 Redheaded kid of old TV 59 Flying aid 60 Deck wood 64 Gone by 65 With 10-Down, opinion south of the border?

Vagina Dentata | Soojean Kim

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Classic Deo | Daniel Perez

xwordeditor@aol.com

11/30/07

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 Merle Baker (c)2007 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

11/30/07

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.

A RTS & C ulture Friday, November 30, 2007

s n a ke f i sh s i n g

Body and Sole’s Fall Dance Concert showcases student choreography

By Andrea Savdie Staf f Writer

Samantha Cohen / Herald Israeli band Hadag Nachash, whose name translates to “Snake Fish,” performed in Salomon 101 on Thursday evening.

Convoluted relationships and murder upstairs at PW

By Marisa Calleja Staf f Writer

“Speaking in Tongues,” a play by Australian playwright Andrew Bovell and directed by Michael Dean ’09, opened Thursday night in the Production Workshop’s upstairs space.

The show, partly a psychological thriller and partly the story of several unraveling relationships, chronicles nine characters — played by four actors — as they grapple with their emotions and struggle to live in a world where strangers and intimates are one and the same.

At the beginning of the play, two couples stand in a hotel room having nearly identical conversations. They are all on the verge of cheating on their spouses and are wrought with guilt. At the end of the scene, it is unclear which spouses have gone through with the affairs, but that night catches up with them throughout the play.

Jane (Lauren Neal ’11) and Leon (Julian Cihi ’09), the two who eventually commit adultery, are left by their respective partners, Pete (Dennis Kozee ’10) and Sonja (Olivia Olsen ’08), who coincidentally almost sleep together that same night.

With their spouses gone, both Jane and Leon bear witness to what they believe are murders. When ever y actor changes character for the second act, the audience slowly comes to understand the truth and reasoning behind their allegations. “(Speaking in Tongues) maps an emotional landscape typified by a sense of disconnection and a

Page 3

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

shifting moral code,” Bovell wrote in the author’s note. “It’s about people yearning for meaning and grabbing onto small moments of hope and humor to combat an increasing sense of alienation.”

Bovell accomplishes this in the same minimalist set used in act one — four chairs and two benches that are re-arranged to fit the needs of a given scene. Props are equally scarce. But despite the simplicity of the set, “Speaking in Tongues” is anything but simple.

“The biggest challenge was staging two scenes at same time,” said Dean, the show’s director.

“Just trying to make sure everyone sees it and being able to stage things where it’s not just set in someone’s living room. The play goes all over the place in terms of setting: living rooms, bars, the bush. That was a real challenge for me, as well as the actors.”

The script presented obstacles for the adept and talented cast: two genres, a nonlinear plot and multiple characters played by each actor. The performers — most played two characters, but Kozee played three — had to rise to the challenge of portraying wildly different yet believable roles.

Cihi must exhibit the biggest range to portray the stern detective, Leon, as well as the misunderstood Nick, who is accused of the crime Leon is investigating.

Though Dean contemplated the production for over a year, the entirely student-run production has been in the works for three and a half weeks. While they used a space from PW, the show is not affiliated with a campus group.

four

“Don’t tell Mama,” but this weekend, Brown students will be “Shakin” at the Ashamu Dance Studio on Waterman Street. These are the titles of two of the choreographies that comprise this year’s Fall Dance Concert, which opens tonight and runs through Sunday.

The concert is a representation of Brown’s diverse dance community with a wide variety of dance styles — including belly dancing, tap, contemporary hip-hop, jazz and classical ballet — and an equally eclectic selection of music, including traditional Indian music, the Temptations and Missy Elliott.

Produced by Body and Sole, an umbrella organization that unites Brown’s various dance groups, the concert provides an opportunity for student choreographers to showcase their work. During the selection process for the concert, choreographers and dancers present an already prepared piece twice to a board comprised of faculty and students, according to Julie Strandberg, senior lecturer in the department of theater, speech and dance.

After the first round, the groups receive feedback and are given a chance to improve their pieces.

The final dances are selected during a second round of evaluation, Strandberg said.

“We chose the best drafted, best developed and best performed within each genre,” she explained. “We didn’t want a bunch of pieces that all looked alike.”

The concert opens with “Get Your Drink On,” an East-meetsWest piece choreographed by Tiffany Chen ’10 that combines the traditional Chinese cup dance — native to Inner Mongolia — with contemporary hip-hop, exploring themes of transition and adaptation. The piece is initially set in a Chinese feast, with clinking cups and graceful movements that depict joyous yet polite hospitality. The dancers then switch gears to the beats of Missy Elliot’s “Get Your Freak On” and J-Kwon’s “Tipsy” while still holding a cup in each hand, celebrating the old and the new simultaneously.

Another piece,“Kish Bish,” which is Hindi for “mish-mash,” is choreographed by Julia Vazquez ’09 with help from Herald Senior Staff Writer Nandini Jayakrishna ’10 and Shruti Parekh ’10 and blends traditional Indian dance with modern styles.

“The Lament of Gilgamesh” experiments with staging. The piece opens with a dancer suspended from the ceiling, curled up in a contraption made of ropes, as another performer, Miya Perr y ’08, lays flat on the floor playing the cello.

To Perr y’s ominous melody, the

dancers’ often strange, animalistic movements depict primitivism and physical pain coupled with human emotions of grief.

On a lighter note, the sexy, mischievous jazz piece “Don’t Tell Mama” takes the audience into the scandalous Kit Kat Klub, creating the feel of a smoky, dark cabaret.

Inspired by musical theater and choreographed by Ashley Chung ’08, “Don’t Tell Mama” includes lipsynching and dramatic gestures that contain a tinge of mocker y, though overall, the piece is light and enjoyable to watch.

Other pieces, such as “A New Understanding,” an expressive solo

by Dianna Anderson ’09 and “The Statue at Czarskoe-Selo,” choreographed by Autumn Graham ’09 are mellower. “Czarskoe-Selo,”a short, bittersweet, moving ballet piece accompanied by two student musicians, Ian Sherman ’08 on the piano and Nora Blackall ’07.5 singing, evokes a feeling of solitude as two dancers simultaneously take the stage yet appear to be moving in separate worlds. The piece seems intentionally anticlimactic, as the only attempt to forge a connection between the dancers is marked by just a fleeting touch.

“Ever yone has their own take and angle on it,” said Blackall, who chose the song from an album of continued on page 8

Page 4

Friday, November 30, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

U. looks at solutions for parking shortage continued from page 1 University Post Office in Faunce House and in the Sciences Library.

The margin of error for questions addressed to students with cars was 10.7 percent with 95 percent confidence because of the smaller number of respondents with cars.

The shortage of parking is especially pressing as the University prepares for the construction of the new Nelson Fitness Center at the site of the parking lot adjacent to the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center — a project that will destroy several hundred parking spaces, said Elizabeth Gentry, director of business and financial services, who oversees University parking.

The construction of the Nelson Fitness Center will reduce the number of on-campus spaces below the number the University has committed to in the Institutional Master Plan that it submits to the city.

Because of this, “we can’t even get a building permit (for the Center) without addressing parking,” Gentry said.

To address the impending parking shortage, Brown has joined with other educational institutions, neighborhood associations and government entities to form a parking task force, Gentry said. The task force, established last year, “is looking on a comprehensive basis at the whole (parking) situation … to identify solutions that accommodate the most number of number of people that want to park on College Hill,” she said.

Though the committee has not made any official recommendations and is unlikely to do so until early next spring, moving student parking off campus to the Jewelry District or another location already on Brown’s shuttle route is a likely solution.

Gentry said the University must find 200 to 250 new spots, which closely matches the number of students who currently pay the University to park on campus.

Still, the parking shortage is “about more than just parking,” Gentry said. Brown is using “sup-

Alex DePaoli / Herald

Tickets are a constant reminder of the lack of parking around campus for students.

ply and demand management” to find ways to reduce the demand for cars on campus. Gentry cited the recent implementation of Rhode Island Public Transit Authority’s UPASS program, which allows Brown ID holders to ride all RIPTA buses and trolleys for free, as a successful example of reducing demand for cars on campus. She also suggested that finding a balance between parking fees for on-campus parking and supporting other alternatives like carpooling and biking can also decrease the demand for parking.

“We know it is an issue, but the fact of the matter is that we are in an urban setting,” Gentry said. “You have certain restrictions on how much (parking) you can provide ... so we are working to make it so that a car is not needed on campus.”

Students inter viewed by The Herald generally agreed that a car is not required to get around College Hill.

A car “is a nice convenience to have, but it is not a necessity,” said Mallory Taub ’08. Though she has had a car on campus since her sophomore year, Taub said she mainly uses it to get weekly groceries and to travel to her home in rural Vermont, which is not easily accessible by public transportation.

Taub, who parked in a private space her sophomore year and in a Brown lot her junior and senior

years, said she was unsure that a plan to move parking off campus would be successful in reducing parking around campus.

“I usually use my car when I am in a hurry,” she said. A car “wouldn’t be useful if I had to take a shuttle to get to it.”

Despite the inconvenience, Taub cited the environmental benefits of decreasing the number of cars on campus as a reason the change might be positive.

Andrew Jacobs ’08 described the move to off-campus parking as “an unfortunate necessity.”

“It will be great to have an awesome gym ... and part of what’s great about Providence is its narrow streets,” Jacobs said. “But that means that parking is going to be a problem.”

Jacobs, who has parked in private spaces for the last two years, said he would consider using the off-campus parking with a shuttle, if the price made up for the inconvenience.

Gentry said addressing student concerns is important in deciding how to alleviate the College Hill parking crunch, adding that she hopes to form a committee with student, faculty and staff members to discuss potential solutions.

“We don’t have a choice,” Gentry said. “We have to get this (issue) out there and moving.”

Students to help reduce local CO2 emissions continued from page 1 review process for potential CCURB projects. To introduce the effort and proposal submission guidelines, the committee held an information session on Wednesday night that drew more than 30 students. Those spearheading the initial CCURB committee — such as Huidekoper, Teichert and Undergraduate Council of Students President Michael Glassman ’09 — emphasized the need for projects that demonstrably reduce carbon emissions in the greater community.

All Brown community members are eligible to submit proposals, but at least $200,000 will be used to fund student projects. To spur discussion, Glassman said the committee might consider proposals to distribute compact fluorescent lamps to a low-income neighborhood, start educational initiatives with public school partners or work with Providence public transportation. Proposals can request a maximum of $100,000 and a minimum of $5,000.

Funding will be managed by the Office of the Vice President for Research, Teichert said.

Projects should also engage nonUniversity groups in thinking about increased sustainability and provide learning opportunities for all those

involved, Teichert said. Community partners are required for all projects but are not to be contacted until after letters of interest — a brief overview of the proposal and how it fits into the program objectives — have been approved by CCURB, Teichert said.

Though CCURB intends to select projects affecting Providence at large, proposals targeting some as yet unexamined aspects of Brown’s energy use, such as supply chain purchasing of computers or food, could possibly be considered, Glassman said.

“This is an initial set of funding,” Teichert said. “We’re hoping that this is successful and can lead to expanded funding and more programs.”

Students interested in submitting a project should first send a letter of interest — which will be made available Dec. 10 and is due Jan. 28 — to CCURB@brown.edu.

After letters of interest are approved, grant applications will be due on Mar. 22, and grant allocation decisions will be made by April 15.

Successful proposals, Terichert said, will have “verifiable, measurable reduction” and strong relationships with community partners. Teams of multiple participants are not required but encouraged, and individu-

als who submit similar projects may be joined together.

Committee members don’t yet know how exactly proposals will be chosen and who will serve on the grant allocation committee, Teichert said.

Those involved with CCURB’s creation have high hopes for the program.

“We want to make sure that we do it really well, and become a model for other institutions,” Huidekoper said.

“What’s exciting about this program is that there aren’t a whole lot of limits,” Glassman told those at the information session. “You guys should try to think outside the box.”

Jennifer Baumstein ’08, a member of the Sustainable Food Initiative, said she was impressed.

“I think that it’s a much better solution than what most other schools have,” she said, adding that SuFi will most likely be submitting several project proposals.

“We’ve been really into it from the get-go,” she said. “We want to see this succeed, too.”

For students who are interested in learning more, there will be another CCURB information session Dec. 11 from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in MacMillan 115.

C ampus n ews Friday, November 30, 2007

Even at Brown, e-mail scammers go phishing

By Sam Byker Staff Writer

Brown e-mail users are being bombarded with an increasing number of scam e-mails, a practice known as “phishing.”

“Dear Brown.edu subscriber,” began one that arrived this week in many Brown inboxes, purporting to be sent by “the Brown University Webmail Team” at “support@brown. edu.” “To complete and verify your Brown.edu account, you must reply to this email immediately and enter your password here (*********).

Failure to do this will immediately render your email address deactivated from our database.”

Connie Sadler, director of IT security at Computing and Information Services, told The Herald that such e-mail scams are becoming increasingly common.

Every year “there are phishing attacks that target students, particularly around the beginning of the semester,” Sadler said. Many use e-mails similar to those sent by major banks or online retailers to entice readers into visiting fraudulent Web sites. Once there, visitors are asked to give passwords and other personal information.

Phishing techniques are becoming much better targeted, said Peter Cassidy, secretary-general of the Anti-Phishing Working Group, which monitors trends in phishing emails across the Internet. “By 2005, it

Page 5

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

was really professionally done. Phish mail was indistinguishable from any communications from, say, the bank itself.”

In May 2005, Cassidy added, the University of Kentucky suffered one of the cleverest attacks to date. “They took names of staff, students and faculty off of all the Web site directories,” Cassidy said, “then e-mailed them phishing e-mails purporting to be from the University of Kentucky Federal Credit Union, on the belief that they would likely… be customers of the bank.”

The most recent phishing e-mail posing as an official Brown correspondence is similar. “It looks like they’re going after Brown students in particular,” Cassidy said. If students comply with the e-mail, the scammer gets their account password and access to their e-mail.

“Once they’ve got the ability to spoof you and pretend to be you and rummage around in your e-mail, they know pretty much a big chunk of your business,” Cassidy said. “They’ll roll out and see if you’re using the same username and password in other accounts, like eBay. Because a lot of people do that.”

An almost verbatim e-mail was used to target users of Optimum.net, a Web portal run by New York-based Cablevision, according to Optimum’s Web site.

Scammers “re-use whatever resources work,” Cassidy said. “These guys don’t want to work for a living

— that’s why they’re phishing.”

A 2006 study by researchers at Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley, found that some phishing attacks convince up to 5 percent of recipients to provide personal information. Overall the attacks generate $1.2 billion in losses each year.

Sadler said she doesn’t know of any Brown students fooled by the most recent scam e-mail. Other phishing scams, however, have done far more serious damage, including one sent to a Brown student in the spring.

“I think the e-mail said something like ‘We are Bank of America’s fraud detection team, and we have reason to believe that your account may have been compromised. ... Click on this link to verify your information,’ ” Sadler said.

A student told her that “she clicked on the link and filled out the information, and within minutes her bank account was empty. They got everything,” Sadler said.

Eventually, Sadler added, “she did get her money back. But it was during finals ... and she had to go through a lot of process and red tape.”

Another e-mail, reported to Sadler by several Brown account holders, purported to come from a hit man who had been contracted to kill the recipient. For $4,000, the messages said, he would lay off — but he would need the money soon.

de n i m f o r ch a r i t y

Tai Ho Shin / Herald Kappa Alpha Theta held its second annual charity denim sale Thursday in Faunce House.

Assault on Charlesfield Street and more stolen bikes among incidents reported to DPS The following summary includes all major incidents reported to the Department of Public Safety between Nov. 1 and Nov. 14. It does not include general service and alarm calls. The Providence Police Department also responds to incidents occurring both on and off campus. DPS does not divulge information on open cases that are currently under investigation by the department, the PPD or the Office of Student Life. DPS maintains a daily log of all shift activity and general service calls which can be viewed during business hours at its headquarters, located at 75 Charlesfield St. Friday, Nov. 2: 3:20 p.m. A Brown employee reported that her vehicle on Charlesfield Street had been broken into and the radio had been taken. Providence Police responded and took the report.

Saturday, Nov. 3: 1:41 a.m. While on patrol, an officer observed two individuals — later identified as Brown students — trying to open windows at Grant Fulton Hall. When asked what they were doing, they explained that they were just trying to get inside so they could play the piano. They were advised the building was locked and that gaining access this way is breaking and entering. They were released from the scene and the case has been turned over to the Office of Student Life.

5:47 p.m. A Brown student reported that his bicycle had been stolen on Oct. 21 between the hours of 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. from 166 Waterman St. He filed a report with Providence Police the day after the larceny and then chose to file a report with this

department after reading an article about the recent bike thefts.

7:03 p.m. Student occupants reported they left their dorm room door in Chapin House locked on Nov. 2 at approximately 2 p.m. and returned on Nov. 3 at approximately 7 p.m. and found their dorm room door and handle broken. The door was open. They searched the room and found nothing was missing.

There are no suspects at this time.

CRIME LOG 7:23 p.m. Reporting person stated that, due to high winds, a metal construction fence at 195 Meeting St. had fallen on his vehicle and broke the driver’s side mirror. The officer assisted in lifting the fencing from the vehicle and observed the broken mirror and minor scratches.

9:56 p.m. A Brown student reported seeing a former Brown student throw a football at the exit sign located on the first floor southeast hallway of Chapin House. The suspect fled before police arrived, and Facilities Management was notified to fix the broken sign.

Sunday, Nov. 4: 12:16 a.m. It was reported that a window on the door of East Andrews had been smashed. Facilities Management was notified.

Monday, Nov. 5: 11:19 a.m. A male walking down Thayer Street near Vartan Gregorian Quad A informed an officer of a bullet casing on the ground. It was in the dirt area near a tree located on the south side of the gate near

the curb. The casing was placed in an evidence bag and taken to DPS headquarters.

3:50 p.m. A Brown student reported her mountain bike was left on the bike rack outside Andrews Hall, was secured with a cable combination lock and was last seen at about 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 22. When she returned at 3:30 p.m. on Nov. 5, she discovered that her cable combination lock and bike were gone.

The bike was not registered with the Department of Public Safety. There are no suspects at this time.

4:34 p.m. Student reported that his bicycle was stolen from near the Sharpe Refectory sometime between 10:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. He said he did not have his bike secured to the rack with the lock, but the lock was wrapped around the upper rail of the frame. The bike is registered with DPS. There are no suspects at this time.

Tuesday, Nov. 6: 1:51 a.m. Officers responded to a call of an assault. A Brown student reported he was walking west on Charlesfield Street next to Health Services toward Brown Street, rolling his cello in a big case, when a white male unknown to him asked him some nonsensical questions.

The unknown male then began punching him in the face. Then the suspect ran away as a Sterling guard who witnessed the event chased the suspect. The suspect got into a waiting vehicle which left the area. The student was taken to Rhode Island Hospital for evaluation. Providence Police and DPS detectives are incontinued on page 6

thanks for reading

Page 6

Elvish-speaking professor feeds students’ ‘inner nerds’ continued from page 1 Russom said he incorporates Elvish and Orkish into his linguistics class, ENGL 1210: “The History of the English Language.”

“The sounds that Tolkien uses to make Orkish sound evil and Elvish sound beautiful is an interesting exercise for students, directly related to what they are learning,” Russom said.

Sarah Denslow ’08, who has taken three classes with Russom, said he often uses the fictional languages to explain certain linguistic concepts.

“One time he actually recited a whole bunch of Orkish and Elvish to demonstrate a point about high vowels and low vowels,” she said. “He always uses examples from ‘Lord of the Rings’ when they’re related to points about old English literature — which is almost always.”

Lindy Brady ’08 said members of her class found Russom’s knowledge of Elvish impressive. “Just that it’s a made-up language and he speaks it fluently is incredible,” she said.

Russom said Elvish and Orkish compound and disguise words drawn from Germanic languages such as Old English and Old Norse, and Celtic languages such as Old Irish, Old Welsh and Breton. The name for Gandalf, a wizard in “The Hobbit” and “Lord of the Rings,” comes from the Old Norse “gand,” meaning magic wand, and “alf,” or elf.

“What Tolkien does is that he loves all these ancient stories and poems in Northwest European languages, and he takes words and story plots from them and integrates them into his own stories and his own languages that he makes up,” Russom said. As an example, he cited the kings of the Rohirrim — a fictional people — who have names that are Old English words for kings.

Russom said he uses Elvish and

Orkish both inside and outside the classroom. “All this mental exercise is useful,” Russom said. “I’m sure I can think better because I do this recreationally.”

Russom has published several articles on Tolkien, and one of his essays, “Tolkien’s Versecraft in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings” was published in a collection of essays on Tolkien’s work. Russom has also compiled a dictionary of the Elvish language.

Russom’s love of Tolkien’s writing begs the question: What does he think of the recent movie adaptations of the “Lord of the Rings?” Though he thought the movies were “a little too heavy on the battle scenes,” Russom said he liked the films.

“I thought it was a good way to take important parts of the plot and make a movie out of them that was quite true to the original,” he said.

Russom said the popularity of Tolkien’s work allows him to reach a wide audience. “I can use books like that to get to a very large audience with technical stuff like poetic meter,” he said.

Students said they find Russom a knowledgeable teacher whose enthusiasm is infectious.

“I love him — he’s my thesis adviser and he’s wonderful,” Denslow said.

“I thought that he was so informed and engaged in his subject matter that you couldn’t help but get sucked in,” said Julia Horwitz ’08, who took a class with Russom her sophomore year.

Horowitz and Denslow, her roommate at the time, applied information about Elvish from Russom to their Old English studies. “It helped a lot,” Horwitz said. “It also fed our inner nerds.”

“It’s fascinating to hear (Russom) speak, because he has an encyclopedic knowledge of every conceivable antecedent to Old English literature,” Brady said.

Fenlon ’10 looks to hit it big continued from page 1 Publicity from mtvU, an offshoot of MTV dedicated to music and student life on campuses, has brought TGL a small fan base. The group finished in the top five out of 1,500 entries in mtvU’s 2007 Artist of the Year contest, and mtvU still contacts them occasionally.

“They called us up a little while ago to ask if they could use our music in the breaks of their Woodie Awards,” Fenlon said.

These days, TGL’s decision to sign with Oort is constantly on Fenlon’s mind.

“It’s definitely affected me quite a bit,” he added. “By signing it, I was basically agreeing I had to leave school.”

Fenlon and his band spent more than a month deciding whether or not to sign with the label. The contract requires TGL to record its new album before the summer, promising that Oort will help with recording, distributing, promoting and planning a tour.

But the creative process, Fenlon said, is still completely up to the band.

“We don’t really have to show the label anything until the final tracks are done,” he said. “I’m not really nervous working with the label so much because we’re not bound to that much, and most of the things coming from it are going to be positive.”

TGL isn’t in it for the money, Fenlon said. “Nobody really knows us,

Friday, November 30, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

so they don’t have the money to put a lot into us and risk us not going anywhere,” he added.

Though TGL broke even on the four records they have already released thanks to tour revenues, they have not yet made significant profits.

But TGL will get all profits from their upcoming tour, Fenlon said. Most of Oort’s newly signed bands start with East Coast tours, he added, so Brown students may soon see TGL in Providence.

Though he enjoys touring, Fenlon said he is more excited about having time to work with his band and write an album without being rushed. “Being able to tour with a good album makes the touring aspect that much better,” he said.

Fenlon predicts a new sound for the upcoming album, different from the style that has attracted their nearly 8,000 MySpace friends and received attention so far.

“The stuff that’s online right now for people to listen to was written in probably a tenth of the time we’re giving ourselves to write this new album,” he said. “There’s a lot of pressure going into something like this.

All of TGL’s members are taking an indefinite amount of time off school.

“It depends on how the summer goes with the album and the tour,” Fenlon said. Becoming sufficiently famous as to never return, he said, is “always the dream.”

ANN M A R Y B R O W N M E M O R IAl tur n s 1 0 0

Chris Bennett / Herald Toni Adashi recited selected poems during the 100th anniversary celebration for the Annmary Brown Memorial. The event also featured a cappella and string quartet performances.

Exit signs, toilet vandalism among crime casualties reported to DPS continued from page 5 vestigating.

10:00 a.m. A music professor reported that two pieces of music equipment were missing from a storage area in Steinert Hall. The incident occurred sometime between Oct. 8 at 12 p.m. and Oct. 29 at 10 a.m.

Wednesday, Nov. 7: 3:39 p.m. A dining employee stated he placed his cell phone on a shelf near the dishwasher in the Verney-Woolley Dining Hall around 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 6. When he went to retrieve it at 8 p.m., it was gone. There are no suspects or witnesses.

Saturday, Nov. 10: 10:58 a.m. Complainant stated that on Nov. 9 her wallet was taken out of her jacket, which was left unattended at a party in Machado House. There are no suspects at this time. On Nov. 10 at approximately 2 p.m., a University custodian found the wallet outside Machado House and gave it to a DPS officer. Missing from the wallet were cards and cash.

4:35 p.m. An officer was dispatched to meet with a student who placed her jacket and purse against a wall as she went to work out at the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center.

She returned 30 minutes later to find that her purse was missing.

At approximately 5:50 p.m. a Sterling officer found the purse near a heating duct connected to the Bio-Medical Center. The reporting party responded to DPS headquarters at 75 Charlesfield St. to review the contents of her purse. The only thing missing were two books of stamps. There are no suspects at this time.

2:00 a.m. An officer was dispatched to Buxton House to take a report of property damage to a toilet bowl. Upon arrival on scene the custodial supervisor was already standing by. He informed the officer that a few residents of the fourth floor had called Facilities Management about the toilet. He had already been in the bathroom at the time and called in that the mess needed immediate attention.

The tank for the toilet was shattered and gallons of water over-

flowed into much of the hallway.

The officer spoke with the residents who stated they did not know what happened. They said there had been a party in a common area outside the suite, and to their best guess, someone found their way into the suite and broke the toilet when no one was around.

Sunday, Nov. 11: 11:02 a.m. While admitting a student who was locked out of a room, an officer noticed two damaged exit signs in Bronson House.

Facilities Management was notified.

3:04 p.m. An officer was dispatched to meet with Facilities Management personnel in regards to 17 ceiling mounted exit signs that were smashed, ripped down and/or missing from the first through fourth floors in Emery Hall. The damage was estimated between $4,000 and $5,000. There are no suspects at this time.

8:48 p.m. Officers were dispatched to Ives Street in reference to a noise complaint. The complainant was an East Side resident. Upon arrival officers observed what appeared to be broken bottles of glass on the porch, sidewalk and in the street. Providence Police were on scene and asked the occupants, who are all Brown students, to step outside. After further investigation it was discovered that the noise was coming from the second floor apartment. Officers proceeded to the second floor and discovered a large table in the living room with open cans of beer and cups arranged on opposite sides. There was also a keg located on the second floor terrace. When asked about the noise, the student to whom the apartment is leased stated that she did have friends over but was not aware of how the broken glass got outside.

She stated that she was not at the residence in the early morning hours of Nov. 11 at the time the complainant observed individuals from her second floor apartment throwing bottles out of the window.

Providence Police did not issue a noise citation but verbally warned the second floor occupants on the noise and requested that they sweep all the broken glass off Ives Street and the adjacent sidewalk.

This case has been forwarded to the Office of Student Life.

9:42 p.m. An officer was dispatched for a report of three subjects trying to get into a window in Meehan Auditorium. Upon arrival, the officer noticed the three subjects standing in front of the auditorium. Sterling Security informed the officer that the three subjects were responsible for graffiti on the front doors of Meehan Auditorium. A switchblade was found in the front pocket of a subject, and it was confiscated from him. A marker was found near the scene and tagged as evidence. All subjects were identified as Rhode Island School of Design students and were released to the RISD Public Safety sergeant. Facilities Management was called to have the graffiti removed. DPS detectives are investigating the matter.

Tuesday, Nov. 13: 3:02 p.m. An officer spoke with a Brown student who stated that on Nov. 9 at approximately 11:15 p.m. he left his dorm room in Perkins Hall for 15 minutes. He stated his door was left open and when he returned his wallet was missing.

The wallet was located in the rear pocket of his blue jeans, which were on his bed. There are no suspects at this time.

11:14 p.m. An officer was dispatched to speak with a Brown student who stated that his laptop computer was stolen. It was last seen on Nov. 13 at 10:30 a.m. The student went to class and when he returned to his dorm room in Minden Hall at approximately 11 p.m., he noticed the laptop was missing and called DPS. The student also stated that an unknown black male had entered his room and when confronted as to his reasons for being there, the unidentified man stated he was looking for the reporting person’s roommate. This subject then went into another room and engaged in conversation with another Brown student who advised the officer that the subject stated that he was told he could teach him to “burn CDs.” The student then stated he did not know the subject’s name, that he did not even know this person and believed he was not a Brown student. The victim of the laptop theft left for class before the unknown subject left the suite. DPS detectives are investigating.

W orld & n ation Friday, November 30, 2007

Facebook makes purchase-tracking feature optional

By Ellen Nakashima Washington Post

WASHINGTON — Sean Lane’s purchase was supposed to be a surprise for his wife. Then it appeared as a news headline — “Sean Lane bought 14k White Gold 1/5 ct Diamond Eternity Flower Ring from overstock.com” — last week on the social networking Web site Facebook.

Without Lane’s knowledge, the headline was visible to everyone in his online network, including 500 classmates from Columbia University and 220 other friends, co-workers and acquaintances.

And his wife.

The wraps came off his Christmas gift thanks to a new advertising feature called Beacon, which shares news of Facebook members’ online purchases with their friends. The idea, according to the company, is to allow merchants to turn millions of Facebook users into a “word-ofmouth promotion” service.

Lane called it “Christmas ruined,” and more than 50,000 other users signed a petition in recent days calling on Facebook to stop broadcasting people’s transactions without their consent.

Thursday night, Facebook backed down and announced that the Beacon feature would no longer be active for any transaction unless users click “ok.” Beacon is a core element of Facebook’s attempt to parlay the personal and behavioral information it collects about its members into a more sophisticated advertising business, an effort to turn a user’s preferences into an endorsement with commercial value.

The merging of social networking and online advertising combines two of the most powerful forces on the Internet today, and privacy advocates say it raises issues about the way personal data are disclosed for marketing purposes.

“Sites like Facebook are revolutionizing how we communicate with each other and organize around issues together in a 21st-century democracy,” said Adam Green, a spokesman for MoveOn.org, a liberal activist group that has launched the petition drive to pressure Facebook to stop broadcasting members’ purchases and using their names as endorsements without explicit permission. “The question is: Will corporate advertisers get to write the rules of the Internet or will these new social networks protect our basic rights, like privacy?”

The site, which was started in a Harvard dorm room, has become a Silicon Valley powerhouse, recently valued at $15 billion. It allows its users to share messages, photos and updates on their lives.

Facebook launched Beacon as part of a wider social advertising campaign Nov. 6, with 44 announced partners, including Overstock, Travelocity, the auction site eBay, the movie ticket site Fandango, Blockbuster and the shoe site Zappos. The Beacon feature is not restricted to commerce.

A person’s high score on an online game might also be posted for friends to see.

Facebook puts a string of code called a cookie on a user’s computer, which tracks the user on Beacon partner sites. In the version that Facebook launched, a person logged into Facebook who bought, say, a movie ticket, was alerted that the Web site was sending a “story” to his profile and had a chance to opt out — both at the merchant’s site and on his own

Page 7

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

page, Facebook says.

But privacy advocates criticized the opt-out feature — a pop-up box — because it disappeared after a few seconds and said Facebook should allow users to turn off Beacon and include an “opt in” feature for those who wish to receive the service.

Thursday night, Facebook apparently added the “opt in” feature but still did not include a way to shut off the service permanently.

Beacon is a key part of what Facebook founder and chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg called “a completely new way of advertising online.” Sometimes, ads accompany the news feeds. The ads could contain a person’s photo.

Thursday Facebook issued an apology on MoveOn’s Facebook page: “We’re sorry if we spoiled some of your holiday gift-giving plans.”

In a news release Thursday night, Facebook said “we appreciate feedback from all Facebook users and made some changes to Beacon in the past day. Users now have more control over stories that get published.”

Marketers can target social ads on Facebook according to criteria such as age, gender, political views and taste in movies, Zuckerberg told media and ad executives at the launch, according to Online Media Daily.

“What’s unique about Facebook is it’s really turning over personal profile data to advertisers,” said Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a privacy advocacy group. “In essence, it’s telling advertisers, we know exactly who your targets are, what their favorite entertainment is, the books they read, the kinds of social networks they have, what their political leanings are.”

Chester’s group, along with the US Public Interest Research Group, has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether Facebook and MySpace, a rival social networking site that is also targeting members for ads, are using deceptive practices to violate people’s privacy.

MoveOn has created a blog on its Facebook page for people to post comments. The wall contained more than 800 as of Thursday.

They include Tasha Valdez from Michigan, who wrote: “Oh my gosh, my cousin’s entire Christmas shopping list this week was displayed on the (Facebook News) feed. That’s so messed up. This has gotta stop!”

Beacon’s risks go beyond ruining someone’s Christmas, said Mike Rogers, editor and publisher of a gayoriented Web site, PageOneQ. “We teach young people to be very careful about what they post and all of a sudden comes along an automated system like this. What happens if a kid is on a football team and he buys a ticket to Brokeback Mountain (a gay-themed film)?” he said, alluding to the possibility that the youth could be outed and harassed as a result.

For Lane, spoiling his wife’s surprise was bad enough.

Within two hours after he bought the ring on Overstock.com, he received an instant message from his wife, Shannon: Who is this ring for?

What ring, he messaged back, from his laptop at work in Waltham, Mass.

She said that Facebook had just put an item on his page saying he bought a ring. It included a link to Overstock, which noted that the ring was priced at a 51 percent discount.

Lane, a technical project manager at an online printing company, was crestfallen. He had gone to lengths to keep the ring a secret, even telling Shannon he was not going to give her jewelry this year.

Lane complained to Overstock.

Company spokesman Judd Bagley said this week that on Nov. 21, Overstock abandoned its Beacon feature until Facebook changes its practice so that users must volunteer if they want to participate.

“I was really disappointed because for me the whole fun of Christmas is the surprise,” said Shannon Lane, 28, who married Sean a year ago in September. “I never want to know what I’m getting.”

Motives behind Sean Taylor’s murder are murky

By Amy Shipley and Peter Whoriskey Washington Post

MIAMI — Four days after Sean Taylor was fatally shot in his Miami home, family and friends of the Washington Redskins safety struggled Thursday with competing theories about the motives behind the attack but had few tangible clues.

While Taylor’s father made arrangements for his wake, and his mother visited the 5,000-seat arena at which his funeral will take place Monday, an array of contradictory statements, a retraction and crime-scene details not fully explained have seeped out from a variety of sources, adding to the mystery over whether Taylor was a random victim or targeted.

Among the questions: Why was Taylor’s house burglarized just eight days before the shooting, with the thieves taking virtually nothing and leaving a kitchen knife on a bed? Why was Taylor in Miami again — without notifying Redskins Coach Joe Gibbs — after having returned briefly after the first break-in? Why did Monday’s intruder or intruders kick in the bedroom door? Why was at least one carrying a gun, which legal experts say is uncommon among burglars since breaking and entering with a weapon carries much harsher minimum sentences?

Why did Taylor have a machete in his bedroom?

People close to Taylor on Thursday attempted to counter speculation that he was the intended target of the gunman who burst into his bedroom early Monday morning. They said they believed one or more intruders kicked down Taylor’s bedroom door in search of a safe, not Taylor himself, during a break-in in which the Pro Bowl defensive back was

shot in the groin.

“They were shocked when they saw somebody there,” said Ed Hill, who said he was a cousin and former roommate of Taylor’s father.

“He really spooked them.”

Miami-Dade police said Wednesday they had “no reason” to believe the break-in was anything other than a botched burglar y and that the evidence suggested Taylor was a random victim. Even so, Taylor’s childhood friend Antrel Rolle, now a cornerback with the Arizona Cardinals, and others have postulated that Taylor was targeted by someone who harbored a grudge.

“This was not the first incident,” Rolle said. “They’ve been targeting him for three years now.”

Two of Taylor’s closest friends on the Redskins, Santana Moss and Clinton Portis, on Thursday gave credence to Rolle’s comments because Taylor had known him since age 6.

“Antrel Rolle and Sean grew up pretty close together,” Moss said.

“If he knows something that we don’t know, then all you can do is respect what he said. I don’t know how true it is, but he might know something that we don’t know.”

Law enforcement obser vers said the Taylor case was one of the most buttoned-down investigations they had ever encountered in the city and the lack of information has failed to bring clarity to the probe. Thus far the police work has produced no suspects and no witness description.

There has also been much confusion over several details. Initial reports said the phone line to the house had been cut, forcing Taylor’s girlfriend, Jackie Garcia, to call 911 on her cellphone.

Miami-Dade police later said they found no evidence the line had been cut.

Page 8

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Friday, November 30, 2007

Free HIV testing today marks World AIDS Day continued from page 1 or less if students come earlier in the day. Testing will be offered from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The goal of the event is to encourage students to make HIV testing part of their annual health care, said Chantal Tape ’09, co-president of the Brown GAIA chapter.

Testing at the event could appeal more to students who are not ready to take the responsibility of scheduling regular HIV tests themselves, Tape added.

“I think it’s a more comfortable environment,” Tape said. “It makes it a little bit more accessible to get tested.”

Other local facilities, such as AIDS Care Ocean State and Planned Parenthood, offer HIV testing but typically either charge a fee or can be difficult for students to readily access, DiLorenzo said. Health Services offers HIV testing for $25.

At last fall’s event, GAIA members were forced to turn students

away after the tests ran out.

DiLorenzo said even if this occurs again, it will only encourage the group to continue offering testing days. GAIA plans to schedule at least one more testing day in the spring semester, she added.

GAIA has acquired 100 HIV tests, which are administered through a finger prick, for this semester’s event. Though Abbott Laboratories has donated the tests in the past, they have since stopped offering free tests to non-profit groups, Tape said. GAIA fundraised approximately $1,100 for the cost of the tests, with contributions from QA, the Office of the President, the Department of Community Health, Health Services and the Division of Campus Life and Student Services.

The Queer Community Committee, a QA subcommittee, played a role in fundraising and advertising for the free HIV testing day, said Alex Morse ’11, the council’s newly elected chair.

QA initially requested funding

from the Undergraduate Finance Board for the event but was denied because the UFB designated HIV testing as a student service. QA has co-sponsored the event in the past with GAIA and will continue to do so, Morse said.

Tomorrow GAIA, along with Brown University AIDS Program and Center For AIDS Research, will also host the World AIDS Day Symposium featuring speakers Stephen Lewis, Judy Lieberman and Leigh Blake in MacMillan 117.

Lewis is the former U.N. Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, and Blake is the founder of the Keep a Child Alive Foundation, with which the Brown chapter of GAIA is affiliated. Lieberman is the director of the Division of AIDS Department at Harvard Medical School.

Each has performed extensive research, advocated or otherwise encouraged awareness of the AIDS pandemic and will be honored at the symposium with GAIA’s Hope is a Vaccine Award.

Kim Perley / Herald

Global Alliance to Immunize against AIDS is co-sponsoring free HIV testing on campus today. The event is timed to coincide with tomorrow’s World AIDS Day.

Fall concert showcases student choreography continued from page 3 Russian revolutionar y music she came across during the summer.

“I pictured it as a clip from a black and white film. These people, in the middle of a chaotic turnover in their home, get together and make something pure, simple and beautiful to escape from it all,” she said.

The concert also includes an authentic belly dance, a tap dance to Daft Punk’s “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” and a traditional Indian solo dance.

While established student dance groups such as Fusion and Badmaash put the majority of the pieces together, their names are not all included in the program. “We wanted to focus on the choreographers,” Strandberg said.

Though she acknowledged it is often difficult for independent dancers not in student dance groups to become involved in the concert, Strandberg said the purpose of the Fall Dance Concert is to give student choreographers a chance to showcase their work while also representing the diverse cultures and talents that make up Brown’s artistic community.

four

Friday, November 30, 2007

Bydwell ’08 juggles both rugby and hockey at Brown continued from page 12 ginning of the hockey season has clearly weighed on Bydwell.

“It’s hard not to be there,” she said, adding that all of her teammates have been understanding.

She played in only two of the team’s first ten games and will miss more during her tour in England.

Juggling the two spor ts has been a challenge for Bydwell, but she has never considered stopping play for either sport.

“It is pretty hard to juggle both sometimes because you want to be able to give yourself fully to one,” she said. But, “my Brown career wouldn’t be the same without either one of the two.”

She described rugby as her “less intense” sport when she was growing up in Montreal.

“Hockey was year round, but

rugby was only in the spring,” she said.

In fact, Bydwell stopped playing rugby when she switched high schools to play hockey for the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut.

She was recruited to Brown as a member of the hockey team and has played forward on the team for four years. Now, as she approaches her 100th hockey game for Brown, Bydwell is a co-assistant captain and a key member of the penaltykilling unit. Women’s hockey cocaptain Hayley Moore ’08 praised Bydwell’s leadership and play.

“As a senior captain she is a ver y vocal leader and is full of energy ever y time she steps on the ice,” Moore wrote in an e-mail to the Herald.

Those same qualities will hopefully secure her spot for the World Cup team and help in her many other rugby dreams to come.

Mazerov ’10 mourns the loss of No. 21 Sean Taylor continued from page 12 much the same impact on much of the Washington region. As the Washington Post reported on Wednesday, devastated fans overloaded local sports-talk radio stations with calls expressing their grief, and several hundred tearful fans gathered at the Redskins’ training facility in Virginia on Tuesday night for a candlelight vigil.

As I struggled to come to grips with what had happened, football became the last thing on my mind.

A young man with a promising life ahead of him had died, and his 18-month-old daughter would now be growing up without a father. I realized that the letdown after depressing Sunday losses I had grown so accustomed to feeling during my years rooting for the Skins was beyond insignificant, incomparable to the pain and anguish Taylor’s family and friends must be going through.

Indeed, the controversy over Coach Joe Gibbs’ questionable decision to go for it on fourth down in the third quarter in Sunday’s loss against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — a choice which was unsuccessful and probably led to the Redskins’ third crushing defeat in as many weeks and that I had spent all of Sunday night kicking myself over — was rendered completely moot.

Tragedies like this really do put things into perspective. I also got to wondering why I, and so many Skins fans like me, reacted as we did to Taylor’s heartbreaking passing. After all, I’d never met him, and, since he rarely granted interviews, most of the real insight I had into Sean Taylor as a person had come from media reports of his various on- and off-the-field transgressions. And I can’t even count the number of times I’ve cursed at the TV over the past four seasons after a trademark boneheaded play by No. 21, be it blown coverage downfield or a late hit out of bounds. Yet my intense reaction — and the emotional response that I’m sure thousands of fellow Redskins faithfuls also experienced — seems to suggest that we all knew him well and even loved him.

Maybe it was that only in his absence — in coming to terms with the fact that No. 21 would never again suit up in the Burgundy and Gold — could we truly come to appreciate how special a person and

Page 9

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

phenomenal a talent he was, and therefore how much he would be missed. With his linebacker-esque size and cornerback-like speed, the player who teammates came to call “the Meast,” for half-man, half-beast, was one of the great safeties in the NFL and was still getting better. The passion Taylor brought to the game was incredible and awe-inspiring, almost — maybe even oftentimes — to a fault. Anyone who has seen a clip of Taylor absolutely decking AFC punter Brian Moorman during a fake punt in last year’s Pro Bowl, normally a mild-mannered affair, can certainly attest to that. Nevertheless, Taylor’s intensity and athleticism instilled fear in his opponents but also a great deal of respect. His death leaves a gaping void both in the Redskins’ locker room and in the team’s secondary.

Maybe it was that we diehard fans are so deeply invested in the team — to the point that we get incredibly worked up over its every success and failure, no matter how insignificant in the grand scheme of things — that we come to treat our team’s fortunes as our own. Maybe, as we saw clips on television of Gibbs and other Redskins coaches and players, some of the toughest guys anywhere, struggle to stay composed after losing such a close and revered friend and teammate, we just couldn’t help choking back tears ourselves.

Or maybe it was just the tragedy and senselessness of it all. That Taylor was shot during an apparent burglary attempt. That the bullet struck a vital artery, of all places. That he died a loving father, protecting his fiancee and young daughter. That the only reason he was at his Miami home in the first place was because he had injured his knee several weeks ago and wasn’t required to be with the team. That, as teammates, coaches and friends have said, he had matured so much in recent months, both on the gridiron and off. That Taylor was in the process of turning his life around, of leaving his troubled past behind him. That a life with so much promise ahead of it had been extinguished much too soon. And that a hero to so many had to meet such a tragic end.

Rest in peace, No. 21. You will be sorely missed.

Alex Mazerov ’10 says goodbye to No. 21

W. hockey gears up for two big games continued from page 12 focating defense that has held opponents to an average of 1.44 goals per game. On offense, Britney Selina and Melissa Waldie are tied for the team lead with eight goals each.

Brown split last year’s series with Clarkson, but a victory over St. Lawrence would break a streak of futility against the Saints. The Bears have not beaten St. Lawrence in six games, with their last victory coming on a 3-0 triumph on March 4, 2005, in the ECAC quarterfinals.

St. Lawrence swept the next two games to knock Brown out of the playoffs, then beat Brown twice

during the regular season in each of the past two years. The seniors, who knocked off the Saints twice as freshmen, are trying to help the underclassmen learn how.

“Being a senior, I have beaten St. Lawrence, so I know what it takes to beat that team,” Moore said. “The upperclassmen are trying to take our experience from playing St. Lawrence in the past and make (the younger players) feel we did beat them before.”

These two games are crucial to the Bears because the first part of the season is almost over.

After Saturday, Brown has only one game remaining before winter break — against Yale on Dec. 9 in

New Haven.

“I think this weekend is very important for us to get some confidence going into break,” Moore said. “If we can win these games, that will carry on through the winter break and hopefully into the second half of the season.”

Moore thinks the team has the ability to pull off the upsets as long as it plays consistently.

“I think what we have to do this weekend to win the games is just put three periods together of hockey,” she said. “I don’t think we’ve done that yet. If we all come out and just play our system and work for three periods, then we’ll beat these teams.”

Athlete of the Week: Hoops’ Sullivan ’11 continued from page 12 Uh, do you think being tall helps you in basketball?

Um. Yeah, I mean definitely.

Typically, basketball players are taller, it definitely gives me an advantage. (But) some of the best players are 6’0”, 6’1.”

I’m trying to adjust. Really, in high school, I was one of the tallest guys on the team, but in college, I’m not anymore. In high school, I could really use that to my advantage, but now I’m in the middle of the pack.

So I’m just trying to adjust. I try to do some stuff now, but it doesn’t work as well.

In the Northwestern game over the weekend, you had a great game playing in front of your friends and family. Why were you able to do so well? Did you promise your mom 19 points?

(Laughs) No, no, no. (Head) Coach (Craig) Robinson was saying he didn’t plan on playing me that much, just because it was really hard to go home and play well in front of your home crowd. But a couple of our guys got in foul trouble, so I was fortunate enough to get an opportunity. I wasn’t trying to come in there and be the star of the game or anything, because we do have our seniors, our upperclassmen, our captains — they’re going to take the main role in the game. I was just trying to take my role and just do the little things that I thought I would be able to do. I guess Northwestern’s focus might have been to stop a couple guys on our team, so I was able to get some open looks and I was able to knock them down.

Who was at the game?

For me, my parents were, my whole family was. I hadn’t seem them in a while, since I left for school, so it was good to see them. All my friends were back for Thanksgiving break, so a lot of them were able to go to

the game. And then, coaches from high school, from grade school — a lot of people were in the stands. ...

In total, in terms of people that I knew, there were probably a hundred there.

Did that pump you up, or did that make you nervous?

Yeah, I was definitely excited. I was a little nervous before the game, because I wanted to play well, obviously. But it was fun, though, being able to see everyone and being able to play well in front of everybody.

And our team ended up beating Northwestern, which was also really good.

What kind of mentality does your team take when it goes into a game against a big-conference school like Northwestern?

It’s funny because we run the same exact stuff as Northwestern.

The same offense, the same defense, because Coach Robinson used to coach at Northwestern. So we were very prepared for them. We knew what they were going to do, and on the other hand, they knew what we were going to do. So it was just who would execute better. We had great practices up until the game, and Coach Robinson was telling us we had four great practices in a row and that should translate to the game, and it did for us.

How long have you been playing basketball?

Since I’ve been in about third grade.

Since you played center in most of grade school and high school, has it been tough to adjust to becoming a swingman?

I knew I kind of had to do it if I wanted to play in college. I worked a lot on my perimeter skills. Coach Robinson will give a hard time when I make a bad play on the perimeter, but he’ll attribute that to me playing center in high school. I had to work at it ... because I knew I wouldn’t be

read this herald share this herald recycle this herald

able to play down low forever.

What’s your favorite part about playing basketball?

I would say one of my favorite parts is being able to beat teams that you knew are favored over you, like Northwestern, especially because I am so familiar over at Northwestern because I live about five minutes away from campus. I would say that’s a lot of fun, being able to overcome the odds that were against us and go and beat them.

I see you’re wearing a Chicago Bulls cap. Did you root for them growing up?

Oh yeah, I’m a big Bulls, Bears and Cubs fan.

Who was your favorite player growing up?

I was always a big Michael Jordan fan, a big Scottie Pippen fan. I actually really liked Dennis Rodman. I was kind of obsessed with the Bulls when I was younger. I think everyone was in grade school. I’d say Dennis Rodman is probably my favorite, though.

Why Rodman?

He was just a real weird guy, a different kind of player. I’d see him around every once in a while — once, he was looking to buy a house relatively close to my house, so I always drove by, looking at the house, hoping he would buy it, which he didn’t end up doing. But I always liked to watch him play.

He was kind of a badass. Do you imagine yourself to be one, too?

I always liked to think so, but I don’t know. Probably not like Dennis Rodman. He’s a one-of-a-kind type of player. I don’t think I play like him or anything. He’s just fun to watch.

You don’t have any tattoos or date Carmen Electra?

No, no. I tried once, but it didn’t work out.

E ditorial & L etters Page 10

Friday, November 30, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Staf f Editorial

Diamonds and coal Coal to the vandals terrorizing our campus’s exit signs — 17 destroyed in Emery Hall on one Sunday afternoon alone? Come on, folks. At least the nonconformist barbarians who drunkenly smashed up a toilet in Buxton House showed some innovation in their, you know, crime.

Speaking of nonconformists, coal to Ruth Simmons’ cult-leader-like popularity among students. Soon to come: giant statues in shipyards and socialist-realist posters.

A hopeful diamond to the sight of administrators and student leaders sharing their beverages at this week’s UCS meeting as they seek common ground on important issues like card access and meeting attendance.

Can the dawning of a new era of peace in the Middle East be far off? Or, you know, an unfortunate mono outbreak in University Hall?

A diamond to the intrepid thermometer-wielding of Adam Merberg ’08, who is tracking extra-high temperatures in dorms that he says can be “unhealthy” and “uncomfortable.” We’re all for saving the environment, but once the snow hits, we’re not going to complain about curling up in front of a gurgling radiator. pete fallon

A diamond to Robert Zubrin, engineer and Mars-colonization visionary, who told student he envisions kicking America its foreign oil habit in exchange for a new addiction to alcohol-based fuels. Now that’s an environmental measure 77.8 percent of students can reconcile with their current vices.

A diamond to our most successful campus sports — men’s soccer, men’s basketball and ... Taekwondo. Wait, really? Hey, whatever brings in the gold is good in our book.

Coal to con artists who come into the newsroom and trick us out of $16. But a diamond to the coconut nacho bar and other Ratty treats that may exist only in our mind. Anything beats Hot Ham on Bulky Roll.

Coal to the imminent shuttering of Tom’s Tracks, which has been a Thayer Street staple since before most of us were born. And another one bites the dust.

have an opinion?

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 Darren Ball Dan DeNorch Susan Dansereau

General Manager Executive Manager Executive Manager Office Manager

share it. only four more issues this semester. e-mail us at:

production Steve DeLucia Catherine Cullen Roxanne Palmer

Design Editor Copy Desk Chief Graphics Editor

letters@browndailyherald.com

post- magazine Hillary Dixler Melanie Duch Taryn Martinez Rajiv Jayadevan Sonia Kim Matt Hill Arthur Matuszewski

Managing Editor Managing Editor Managing Editor Features Editor Features Editor Associate Editor Associate Editor

Chaz Kelsh, Steve DeLucia, Designers Jake Frank, Jennifer Grayson, Seth Motel, Elena Weissman, Copy Editors Chaz Firestone, Lydia Gidwitz, Franklin Kanin, Night 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 Stefanie Angstadt, Amanda Bauer, Brianna Barzola, Evan Boggs, Caitlin Browne, Sam Byker, Marisa Calleja, Zachary Chapman, Joy Chua, Patrick Corey, Catherine Goldberg, Olivia Hoffman, Erika Jung, Chaz Kelsh, Jessica Kerry, Sophia Lambertsen, Cameron Lee, Sophia Li, Emmy Liss, Max Mankin, Christian Martell, Taryn Martinez, Brian Mastroianni, George Miller, Anna Millman, Evan Pelz, Sonia Saraiya, Andrea Savdie, Caroline Sedano, Marielle Segarra, Melissa Shube, Jenna Stark, Gaurie Tilak, Simon van Zuylen-Wood, Matt Varley, Meha Verghese, Joanna Wohlmuth Sports Staff Writers Andrew Braca, Whitney Clarke, Han Cui, Evan Kantor, Christina Stubbe 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 Oona Curley, Alex DePaoli, Austin Freeman, Emmy Liss, Meara Sharma, Tai Ho Shin, Min Wu 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

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 Friday, November 30, 2007

Page 11

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Overheard on College Hill

By Spencer Amdur and Jacob Izenberg

What are your thoughts on the work of the Task Force on Undergraduate Education?

Overall, I’m pretty supportive of the work they’re doing. I went to their open panel with (President) Ruth Simmons and Dean (Katherine) Bergeron and all the members of the task force on the Monday before Thanksgiving. I learned a lot about what they did. I thought what they’re tackling is great because I think the open curriculum is great, but there are things that could be improved.

One thing that I really liked that they’re tackling is advising. I had a pretty bad advising experience myself my freshman year because of the lack of communication between advisers, who were faculty in different departments. I know this is something they’re tackling. The fact that they’re doing something about it is brilliant.

I met Dean (Katherine) Bergeron last year when I was working on the Banner issue. I was happy with the way that she talked to us and the way she was willing to listen to us on the issues. I have kept talking to her occasionally since then — I’m currently enrolled in her class.

In terms of what she’s doing, a lot of people have been worried at first about the task force hurting the curriculum and playing a large role in changing the curriculum. I certainly think there were issues like that — Banner was one issue that had the potential to cause problems. But in the end I think that the task force — at least it seems — is not going to be touching the curriculum in a major way.

It’s clear from my discussions with her and from my discussions with other members of the task force that she respects the open curriculum, she understands that it’s something

Shyam Sundaram ’08 I was initially concerned about the introduction of requirements, but Dean Bergeron in the beginning of that panel said that the talk of mainstream requirements never came up, so I don’t think that’s a concern anymore.

Matthew Gelfand ’09 that’s unique to Brown, something that Brown needs to set itself apart from other schools.

In that respect, I think she intends to keep it at least mostly the way it is at the moment.

At the onset, a lot of us had misgivings about what Dean (Katherine) Bergeron’s and the task force’s roles on the campus were. They really did a poor job of communicating themselves to the students. But I think in recent weeks, with their focus groups and their coming to UCS, and their general presence on campus and soliciting of support, they’re doing a pretty good job of seeing what’s out there. I’m curious to see what their recommendations are going to be.

My one major concern was whether or not they were going to touch the heart of the New Curriculum, which is the openness of Brown classes and the absence of a core curriculum, which is why I think most Brown students came here. But at the UCS meeting a couple weeks ago, Dean Bergeron and the task force addressed those fears by saying they were not looking at that, it was not their priority, the priority was to work within the new curriculum. Right now my main concern is that they look at capstone experiences — what we’re supposed to be doing junior and senior year to round out our Brown education. Also the adding of a minor, something like that, since for many people, a second concentration isn’t really doable, especially if you’re an engineer or in (international relations).

Dean Bergeron has a horrible reputation, some of which is deserved, in the sense that she isn’t quite what we’re used to. We’re used to (President) Ruth Simmons, and the pres-

Stefan Smith ’09 ence of comfort and familiarity that comes with that. Dean Bergeron, being brought in from Berkeley and being new to the system that we have in place here put her at a disadvantage in terms of articulating her goals to the student body. But I do think she’s doing a really good job when it comes to putting herself out there now. I see her more around campus now, I see her going to events, she’s been invited to a lot of things, and she actually is a very interesting person.

Toward a practical foreign policy BORIS RYVKIN Opinions Columnist

What Machiavelli wrote in “The Prince” applies as much to states as it does to rulers.

Power continues to hold the international system together. Those who fear power usually lack the ability to wield it or suffer some other fundamental weakness. Unable to rely on direct means to balance rivals, these “vulnerable” actors use more subtle methods and couch their intentions with appeals to legalism, reciprocity and human rights. They rely on international institutions as their battlefields of choice, where the dominant state can be most effectively cornered and its legitimacy compromised.

Our world sees the United States, the system hegemon, as the main target. In challenging the 2003 Iraq campaign, French President Jacques Chirac was less interested in strengthening multilateralism and preserving the sanctity of international law than in dealing a diplomatic blow to America’s global standing. Then-Chancellor of Germany Gerhard Schroeder exploited latent anti-Americanism to win re-election. Russia and China, whose strategic partnership has little fundamentally to do with the United States, have nevertheless coalesced to challenge America via the United Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and numerous other venues. All of this is not at all surprising, since hegemons are not loved, but feared and respected. Thus the lengths to which America’s policymakers, and some in the broader society, want the country to go in boosting its global image are quite astounding. Whereas the United

States should play off its rivals, resist institutional traps and wield its power in pursuit of tangible gains, there are those who want us to be a global samaritan instead of a normal superpower.

The United States was practical throughout the Cold War, and many were upset about it. Perhaps it has something to do with our county’s alleged exceptionalism. America just could not play the game the same way its rivals did and had to stay true to its liberal principles. During his efforts to overthrow the openly Marxist president of Chile, Salvador Allende, in the early 1970s, Henry Kissinger said, “I don’t see why we need to stand by

The United States funneled money and arms to friendly authoritarian regimes, fomented coups and used its massive military might to protect its position across the globe. It was not Ghandiism, but it was the way the international system operated and, in many ways, continues to operate.

What is occurring today is a terrible distortion of America’s priorities as a superpower and global hegemon. Cries for multilateral engagement, institutionalization and diplomatic openness abound from all directions, with a growing number of Americans desiring their country be more constrained. Yet what our foreign policy really needs is thoughtful

Whereas the United States should play off its rivals, resist institutional traps and wield its power in pursuit of tangible gains, there are those who want us to be a global samaritan instead of a normal superpower. and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its people. The issues are much too important for the Chilean voters to be left to decide for themselves.” The public responded with outrage. For Kissinger, as for other Cold Warriors, the aims were stability, balance and concrete limits to Soviet expansion, which meant placing morality on the back-burner. Considering the dearth of genuine democracies during that period, this mentality was both logical and natural.

restraint and reorientation, not constraint by undesirable international pressures.

There is little doubt that the United States has overreached itself and is going against its own interests on numerous fronts. Although partition is the effective reality on the ground in Iraq and a regional balance of power between Saudi Arabia and Iran is advantageous, Washington clings to the fanciful goal of building a unified democratic state.

American policy toward Russia, aimed at its

isolation and containment, has weakened our position in Central Asia and the Far East.

Nevertheless, the United States cannot retreat from the international system and should not be fooled by institutional rhetoric. We should embrace greater bilateralism and move to the politics of old, where back channels predominated over international debating clubs.

America should not stop intervening, but intervene pragmatically, unlike what it did in the Balkans and with its current involvement in Israeli internal affairs vis-a-vis the Middle East Peace Process.

Robert Kagan illustrated the current situation well in his paper, “Power and Weakness.”

Focusing attention on America’s relationship with Europe, he points to the latter’s abandonment of power politics and shift toward an institutional, post-modern view of international relations. Kagan writes that military weakness, not ideals, led Europe to embark on this path.

America has a greater military and political capacity to tackle global challenges and, ironically, gives the Europeans the security they need to maintain their “Kantian paradise.”

When America was a dwarf and the Europeans were carving up one continent after another, there was little talk of fair play and legalism in Berlin, London or Paris.

The United States needs to reform parts of its foreign policy but keep the benefits of its global position in place. It should intervene in other state’s affairs only when its narrow interests are concerned and avoid entangling itself in dangerous institutional obligations.

We are envied, feared, and targeted by an international community upset by the current international order, but that should not make us want to give our demise a helping hand.

Boris Ryvkin ’09 wants the United Nations moved to Sub-Saharan Africa.

S ports W eekend Page 12

Friday, November 30, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

This weekend, w. hockey hosts two formidable foes

RIP, No. 21 I didn’t even need to read the text messages or listen to the voicemails.

I already knew what they were all going to say: Sean Taylor was dead.

Early Monday morning, Taylor was rushed to the hospital for surgery after he was shot in the thigh by an intruder in his Alex Mazerov Miami home. Late Maz’s Minute in the afternoon, media reports suggested that Taylor was responsive to external stimuli. The fourth-year NFL standout was no longer on the brink of death and was going to pull through, we were led to believe.

The news lifted the spirits of thousands of still-stunned Redskins fans like me. That night, the possibility of Taylor losing his life was completely absent from my thoughts. Instead, I kept thinking that the worst was over, that No. 21 would be back on the field leveling opposing wideouts in no time. I even allowed myself to have a chuckle over the fact that he kept a machete by his bed, as the press had reported. Only Sean Taylor, I thought.

Like many other Skins fans Monday night, I went to bed anticipating more good news in the days to come.

I woke up late Tuesday morning, however, to find that I had several missed calls and texts on my phone from between six and seven in the morning. I knew there was only one reason why I’d have so many from so early in the day. Indeed, Taylor had died at 3:30 a.m., his injuries proving too severe even for such a wellconditioned and fearless athlete. As I watched ESPN report on Taylor’s death, I found myself fighting back tears. My initial disbelief turned to downright shock. Making it all the more surreal for me was that I had just gotten my sister a Taylor jersey for her birthday three days earlier.

Taylor’s death, it seemed, had continued on page 9

By Andrew Braca Spor ts Staf f Writer

Ashley Hess / Herald File Photo

Hayley Moore ’08 and the women’s hockey team will take on No. 5 St. Lawrence University and Clarkson University this weekend.

The women’s hockey team will get a chance to upset two Eastern College Athletic Conference powerhouses on home ice this weekend. The team hosts No. 5 St. Lawrence University on today at 7 p.m. and Clarkson University tomorrow at 4 p.m. in Meehan Auditorium in two of its last games of the semester.

Brown’s record stands at 1-8-1 (1-5-1 ECAC), and the team has not won since its season opener, a 1-0 win over Union College on Oct. 26. But an encouraging sign is that the Bears have hung tough against three ranked opponents.

Brown took then-No. 8 University of Connecticut to overtime before losing 2-1 on Nov. 4, then played well two weeks later in a pair of 2-0 losses to previously ranked No. 9 Dartmouth and No. 7 Harvard. But finally getting over that hump against top opponents has been challenging for a Bears squad with an inexperienced defense.

St. Lawrence comes in at 9-3 (5-1 ECAC), while Clarkson stands at

10-4-2 (3-3), but both teams are coming off tough weekends against No. 5 Harvard and No. 8 Dartmouth.

The Saints slipped past the Big Green but fell to the Crimson, while the Golden Knights could not pull out a victory in either contest.

That could mean that both teams will be hungr y for a win, but the Bears view their opponents’ losses in a positive light.

“We’re viewing that as a good thing, because they’re not really used to losing and they won’t know how to react to it,” said co-captain Hayley Moore ’08. “We’re going to try to use that to our advantage and carry on from their losses last weekend and try to hit them while they’re down.”

Wounded or not, both teams are dangerous opponents. St. Lawrence boasts a powerful offense that averages 4.1 goals per game. Tara Akstull leads the Saints with 10 goals.

The primary goaltender, Meaghan Guckian, has a 2.20 goals-againstaverage.

Clarkson’s strength is a sufcontinued on page 9

After Northwestern win, Sullivan ’11 talks hoops and Rodman

By Stu Woo Sports Editor

Peter Sullivan ’11 had a fairly typical Thanksgiving break. The Wilmette, Ill., native went home, ate turkey, saw friends and family and played some basketball.

The only difference between his break and yours was that he played basketball for a Division I team. Not just any Division I team, but a Brown Bears team that upset the Big Ten’s Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. In front of nearly 100 friends and family, Sullivan dropped 19 points — 16 in the

second half — to lead the Bears to a 73-67 win in a performance that even Dennis Rodman, Sullivan’s idol, would envy.

For that, Sullivan is The Herald’s Athlete of the Week.

Herald: Wow. You’re really tall.

Sullivan: Umhmm.

ATHLETE OF

Exactly how tall are you?

I’m 6’5”.

Get out!

Uh-huh.

No way.

Yep, 6’5”.

Whoa. Do you ever get comments on how tall you are?

Well, I did THE WEEK more when I was in high school than now, just because there are taller guys on the team. I’m not one of the taller guys anymore, but in my high school, I was one of the taller guys, so I used to get comments all the time.

Would people just come up to

you and ask if you were a basketball player?

Yes, all the time, especially when we’re just walking in the airport with the whole team, people are always coming up and asking us, “What school do guys you play for?”

Does it ever annoy you that people just assume that because you’re tall, you play basketball?

It gets annoying when people ask you, “How’s the air up there?” and questions like that, but it’s not too annoying. continued on page 9

Bydwell balances excellence in both rugby and hockey

by Christina Stubbe Spor ts Staf f Writer

When most Brown students hunker down in the library this December, Emilie Bydwell ’08 will be doing something a little different.

After helping lead the women’s rugby team to the number one national ranking this fall, Bydwell will take off for England to play on the U.S. Women’s National Rugby Team. There, the All-American center will play on a squad that will take on three of England’s top teams.

National Team Coach Kathy Flores chose Bydwell, one of only six college students on the team, after Bydwell’s impressive summer tour with the U-23 developmental team in New Zealand. Bydwell was selected primarily because Flores has publicly expressed a desire to develop young players who will peak in time for the 2010 World Cup. Bydwell said she feels the trip will move her toward her goal of playing in the World Cup. Training for play at the international level will be a full-time job for

Bydwell. After graduation, Bydwell plans to join a club team as well as train with the national team. Rugby players peak in their late 20s, she said, so the competition “only gets better after you graduate.”

In addition to rugby, Bydwell plays on the Brown women’s ice hockey team. Bydwell’s national team aspirations have shifted her focus on rugby this season.

In past years, Bydwell chose to miss the fall rugby season to play hockey. But this year, with the rugby team competing for a spot in the national championships, Bydwell has missed most of the beginning of the hockey season.

Her decision has paid off for women’s rugby. Led by a strong core of veteran players, the rugby team secured the top ranking in the countr y and was regional champion in the Northeast Rugby Union tournament. In the spring, the team will be seeded 5th at the U.S. Rugby Division I National Championships.

But the decision to miss the becontinued on page 9

Kyle Coburn / Herald File Photo

Emilie Bydwell ’08, who plays on both hockey and rugby for the Bears, will join the U.S. Women’s National Rugby Team.