Wednesday, December 5, 2007 by The Brown Daily Herald

The Brown Daily Herald Wednesday, D ecember 5, 2007

Volume CXLII, No. 121

Since 1866, Daily Since 1891

Internationalization agenda moves ahead with seed grants for faculty

Ex-agent Plame recounts CIA outing, criminal trial By George Miller Staf f Writer

Last night in a packed Salomon 101, Valerie Plame Wilson told her life story: how she grew up interested in public service, endured the CIA’s grueling “boot camp” and had her identity as a covert operative revealed by White House officials as retaliation for her husband’s criticism of the Bush administration’s case for the Iraq war. This last point spawned a sprawling, complicated and continuing controversy involving the resignation of an administration official and the jailing of a New York Times reporter. The situation thrust Wilson into the public spotlight, where she has since remained. On Tuesday evening, she gave an insider’s view

of a story that until now has been told by grand jur y investigation, media outlets and spin doctors, but not Wilson herself. In July 2003, Joseph Wilson, Valerie’s husband and a former ambassador, wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times arguing that the Bush administration’s claim that Iraq had sought Nigerian uranium was false. A week later, columnist Robert Novak, in a piece about Joseph Wilson’s article, identified Valerie Plame Wilson as a CIA agent. The subsequent criminal trial, investigating whether Wilson was illegally outed, ended in the conviction of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, on four counts continued on page 6

By Nick Werle Senior Staf f Writer

is a fundraising drive publicly launched in October 2005 that aims to raise $1.4 billion by 2010. The campaign reached the $1-billion mark in May. At the faculty meeting Tuesday, Simmons emphasized the importance of balancing faculty growth with infrastructure and facilities growth. Referring to the addition of more faculty members, Simmons said, “(We need to) grow more modestly to catch up with infrastructure needs. Continuing to expand the faculty without (that) would be a mistake.” However, Simmons added, that does not mean the University will stop hiring faculty altogether, and she said some people have suggested that the University focus its faculty expansion on “looking for preeminent scholars.” Similar questions of balance came up in regard to areas Simmons called “international prominence” and “research and teaching.” Faculty members shook their heads in dissent when Sim-

Six faculty groups will receive a total of $85,000 in seed funds for internationally oriented projects from the Office of the Provost, the University announced Tuesday. The grants are part of the University’s internationalization initiative, which aims to bolster Brown’s global profile and build relationships with institutions abroad. Intended to support work to be carried out in 2008, the grants will fund faculty members’ collaboration with researchers and universities in China, France and Brazil for projects in fields ranging from computational mathematics to gender studies. The seed funding initiative is the first concrete step in the broadly defined internationalization initiative first announced by President Ruth Simmons in September 2006. The Internationalization Committee released a report in September outlining ways to expand the scope of Brown’s international activities, and in October the University announced that Harvard Law School professor David Kennedy ’76 will serve as the first vice president for international affairs. “The fact that there were over 40 proposals shows how much interest there is in this initiative,” Provost David Kertzer ’69 P’95 P’98 said of the seed-funding selection process. A proposal for a global health initiative, to be developed by faculty members who served on the Internationalization Committee’s Global Health Working Group, received one of the six seed grants. Cochaired by Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology Susan Cu-Uvin, Professor of Community Health Stephen McGarvey and Associate Professor of Anthropology Daniel Smith, the group hopes to submit a detailed proposal by the end of this academic year. “The ultimate goal (of the global health initiative) is to improve the health of the global population,” Smith said. “The impact of Brown’s

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Chris Bennett / Herald

Former CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson addressed a crowd in Salomon 101 last night.

Expansion a balancing act, Simmons tells the faculty By Isabel Gottlieb Senior Staff Writer

Chris Bennett / Herald File Photo

Sidney Frank Hall for the Life Sciences has proven popular with students and faculty.

One year later, Sidney Frank Hall gets rave reviews By Joanna Wohlmuth Staf f Writer

It has been just over a year since the Sidney Frank Hall for Life Sciences opened its doors to faculty and students. Despite some minor problems, most seem enthusiastic about the impact the building has had on research and campus life. “It’s a pretty nice building. There’s lots of light, elevators run up and down, two bathrooms on every floor. It’s luxurious in a way,” said Professor Emeritus of Neuroscience James McIlwain, who has an office in the building. “Every floor has a kitchen with a refrigerator and microwave and a Xerox machine,” he added. A number of issues came up once students and faculty moved into the large, $95 million building on Meeting Street. Adjustments had to be made to fix problems with the temperature and humidity control systems, which delayed some re-

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search, McIlwain said. File cabinets installed at graduate student work areas still must be replaced because they are too small to fit standard hanging file folders, said Paul Dietel, director of project management for Facilities Management. Acoustic engineers were called in to assess the echoing hallways that forced people to close their doors in order to get work done, McIlwain said. The buildings’ south-facing windows require darker screens to block the sun, but these have been slow in coming, McIlwain said. He made a temporary one for his office, out of a black sheet from WalMart. “These kinds of problems are not uncommon for a large research building like this,” Dietel said, adding that there were never any safety concerns. “As issues arise, the team remains committed to finding solucontinued on page 4

Passionate for polo A group of students is advocating for the establishment of a polo club on campus for next year

CAMPUS NEWS

The Plan for Academic Enrichment has been well received on campus because “it has a set of goals and a direction,” President Ruth Simmons told the faculty Tuesday at its monthly meeting. But she stressed that despite the Campaign for Academic Enrichment’s “measurable progress” much more work needs to be done to achieve the plan’s goals, with a focus on balancing growth. This semester, University officials have collected feedback on the plan from various campus constituencies, such as the Brown University Community Council, the Brown Alumni Association, the Graduate Student Council and the Division of Campus Life and Student Services. In addition, administrators have organized open forums with students and solicited comments from faculty. The Plan for Academic Enrichment is a comprehensive blueprint for strengthening Brown’s academic profile, and the Campaign for Academic Enrichment

Pay as you text? mPay hopes to make cell phones the new credit cards By Leslie Primack Staff Writer

You and several friends go out to dinner. The check comes. You glance at each other, cringe and start the unsavory task of breaking twenties and gathering the correct amounts of cash. Now, imagine taking out your cell phone and directly wiring the money to the restaurant, no credit cards or cash necessary. By next fall, according to Adjunct ProfesBanner bugs The University is reviewing some of the complaints received about Banner’s implementation.

OPINIONS

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

sor of Computer Science Donald Stanford, that situation could be a reality. Ocean State Partners, a startup company run in part by Stanford, is looking to introduce mPay — a free system that allows customers to use their cell phones like debit cards — to campus in time for the fall semester. “We are slowly moving toward a cashless society,” Stanford said, continued on page 4 Hillary’s obstacles Lindsey Meyers ’09 respects Hillary’s ability to overcome in her drive for the White House.

Courtesy of brown.edu

Adjunct Professor of Computer Science Donald Stanford

12 SPORTS

Quinnipiac Quiz The men’s basketball team passed an early season test against Quinnipiac in overtime on Tuesday night.

News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com

T oday Page 2

wednesday, December 5, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

But Seriously | Charlie Custer and Stephen Barlow

We a t h e r Today

TOMORROW

partly cloudy 36 / 22

sunny 36 / 20

Menu Sharpe Refectory

Verney-Woolley Dining Hall

Lunch — Spinach Strudel, Eggplant Parm Grinder, Beef and Broccoli Szechwan, Polynesian Ratatouille, Seasoned Fries, Sugar Cookies, Raspberry Sticks

Lunch — Chicken Pot Pie, Pasta Bar, Pizza Rustica, Fresh Sliced Carrots, Vegetarian Squash Bisque, Turkey and Wild Rice Soup, Raspberry Sticks

Dinner — Macaroni and Cheese with Avocados and Tomatoes, Baked Sweet Potatoes, Pork Chops with Seasoned Crumbs, Seasoned Fries, Apple Oatmeal Crisp

Dinner — Roasted Honey and Chili Chicken, Egg Foo Young, Sticky Rice, Peas, Vegetables in Honey Ginger Sauce, Apple Oatmeal Crisp

Sudoku

Aibohphobia | Roxanne Palmer

Octopus on Hallucinogens | Toni Liu and Stephanie Le

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

Vagina Dentata | Soojean Kim

RELEASE DATE– Wednesday,©December 5, 2007 Puzzles by Pappocom

Los Angeles Times Daily oCrossword Puzzle C r o ssw rd Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis ACROSS 1 Payment option 5 Luggage attachment 10 ’70s-’80s Mazda model 13 Turkey neighbor 14 “So long” 15 “Nessun dorma,” for one 16 Product first mass-marketed by Kellogg in 1906 18 Lascivious look 19 Long-haired cat 20 Enliven 22 Bread that may be seeded 23 “Long Day’s Journey __ Night” 26 Supply-anddemand subj. 27 Accord, e.g. 28 Shutting out, as suggestions 31 Foundation 34 Attack 36 Actress Ullmann 37 Part of BPOE 38 “Foolish Games” singer 39 Author Austen 40 Floral necklace 41 Prestone competitor 42 “Cosmos” cocreator 43 Offer formally 45 Raring to go 47 Elaborate party 48 Work with a skein 49 Eddy Arnold won its first Entertainer of the Yr. award 52 Light source since ancient times 55 Soap suds 57 Seethe 58 Spy novelist who wrote “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” 61 Peruvian of old 62 1966 Michael Caine role 63 As well 64 Scream in a strip 65 Moth-eaten 66 Undiluted, in a whiskey order

DOWN 1 Anglican parish priest 2 O. Henry’s forte 3 Noncom nickname 4 __ Domini 5 Australia is one 6 Trafficking cops’ gp. 7 “__War”: Shatner novel 8 Affirmative votes 9 Accelerator 10 Resumption-ofthe-auto-race signal 11 Stead 12 Complain 15 Reynolds Wrap maker 17 Fast food staple 21 Refreshing rapper? 24 Stun gun 25 Common pay period 27 Certain sib 29 Singer Turner 30 Hot spot 31 Hit with a haymaker 32 Sheltered, nautically 33 Nudie movie

35 Houston athlete since 2002 38 Book after Isaiah 39 Pickle holder 41 Sixth Greek letter 42 Biological bristles 44 Perry’s secretary 46 Country singer Mickey 49 Country that’s nearly 25 times as long as its average width 50 Bright bunch

51 Computerese, e.g. 52 Theater award 53 Actress Skye 54 California’s __ Alto 56 Revenuer, briefly 59 HBO’s “Inside the __” (and hidden theme in this puzzle’s four longest answers) 60 “For shame!”

Classic Deo | Daniel Perez

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Classic How To Get Down | Nate Saunders

xwordeditor@aol.com

12/5/07

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c ampus N ews Wednesday, December 5, 2007

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Paging Ralph Lauren: Students seek approval for polo club

i n

r i e f

Proposed boycott of Israeli universities prompts speaker series on ‘intellectual exchange’

By Jenna Stark Staf f Writer

Come spring, some students may have a new reason to pop their collars — the founding of the first Brown University Polo Club. Adam Crego ’09, Nina Frost ’09 and Rachel Griffith ’10 are working to form an intercollegiate polo club that they hope, with enough support, will become official next year. Polo, a fast-paced game played on horseback, has four players per team. The goal is to hit a metal ball into the other team’s goal using a mallet. An outdoor polo field is the size of approximately nine American football fields, Frost said. “I’ve never played polo before,” Crego said. “I wanted to try something different. At Brown you definitely have the opportunity to try something you’ve never done before, and I’ve always wanted to play.” Frost started playing polo in high school and is currently playing at a polo club in France, where she is spending the semester studying abroad. “I always entertained the idea of playing polo at Brown, but I never found anyone who had more Rahul Keerthi / Herald

continued on page 4

Rachel Griffith ‘10 and Adam Crego ‘09 hope to start a polo club.

Responding in part to a boycott of Israeli universities and professors proposed in May by the British University and College Union, the Cogut Center for the Humanities will hold a series of events this spring about intellectual exchange in academia. A May 30 motion in the UCU called for a boycott of Israeli academia in response to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory. The resolution condemned the “complicity of Israeli academia in the occupation” and urged UCU members to consider the moral implications of interacting with Israeli universities. The UCU announced in September that it had sought legal advice and determined that an academic boycott of Israeli institutions would be unlawful. The proposed boycott sparked a strong response from presidents of U.S. universities. In August, almost 300 university presidents signed a full-page ad in the New York Times declaring, “Boycott Israeli Universities? Boycott Ours, Too!” The ad featured a statement by Columbia University President Lee Bollinger, who said a boycott was “utterly antithetical to the fundamental values of the academy.” President Ruth Simmons did not sign the petition, but she condemned the boycott in a personal letter to UCU Joint General Secretary Sally Hunt. Simmons told The Herald in September that she was “weary of one-shot efforts for profound issues” and hoped to do something that would make a “salient and more prolonged” argument. Primarily, Simmons said she hoped to engage students and faculty in the issues of freedom of speech and intellectual exchange in the academy. The events planned for the spring will address these issues, even though the UCU ultimately did not impose a boycott. The president of Hebrew University of Jerusalem will speak, and the University has also invited the presidents of two Arab universities, according to Professor of History Michael Steinberg, director of the Cogut Center. Two visiting scholars from Israeli universities may speak as well. Since the events this spring will be sponsored by the Cogut Center, they will focus on the humanities. But Steinberg said he is “fairly certain that these ideas apply throughout the University.” — Debbie Lehmann

Mocha integration among Banner changes on tap By Caroline Sedano Staf f Writer

With Banner up and running, the University is turning its attention to accommodating complaints from students and faculty with a list of online registration enhancements. Next semester, administrators will provide a printed Course Announcement Bulletin and merge Banner and Mocha, among other changes. Those changes “are ver y focused on student experience and are important elements for planning a curriculum,” said Associate Provost Nancy Dunbar, who played a key role in creating the new Banner system at Brown. She is leaving at the end of the semester, but created the comprehensive list of improvements that administrators in the Registrar’s Office and at Computing and Information Services will need to address in the coming months and years. “The list of the changes will keep people meeting for a long time,” she said. The list was created based on surveys of students and conversations with students, advisers and faculty since Banner course registration was implemented last April. The list was distributed to Meiklejohn advisers for their opinions. “When we started this whole process, I knew that I was going to make a lot of decisions and I knew a certain percentage would be bad,” Dunbar said. “At this point, we know the kind of things that need to change. We’re just not sure how yet.” Students who responded to an unscientific poll conducted by the Undergraduate Council of Students agreed that a change is in order. Many students responded in favor of a printed course catalogue and

improving Banner’s search feature. Overall, 11.3 percent of respondents were very satisfied with registration through Banner. “It was confusing,” said Michelle Levinson ’11 of her registration process. “I figured it out by working with other people, and it went a lot smoother registering for next semester. But a printed course listing would have helped” both last semester and this semester, she said. Advisers are also looking for ward to the reprinting of the CAB. “I know the Biology department and classes, but I need the book to help students contemplating courses in different departments,” said Marjorie Thompson, associate dean of biological sciences. “With the online system, you need to know what you are looking for, instead of browsing. It’s like going into a restaurant and instead of being able to look at a menu needing to come up with something out of your head.” “I think I would have been less overwhelmed, as a freshman, if I could have had the printed CAB, and not been tied to a computer for the whole picking classes and registration process,” said Mallory Taub ’08, a first-year Meiklejohn adviser. “I know for me, I’m just kind of ignoring Banner and shopping whatever classes I want.” “We realized that the Course Announcement Bulletin created a foundation for advising that was not easily replaced by a computer screen. Paperless is not the best thing,” said University Registrar Michael Pesta. However, Pesta and Dunbar agreed that, because aspects of courses are always changing, the online course listings will be the most reliable source for

course information. As for the incorporation of Mocha, a student-created alternative to the old Brown Online Course Announcement that has become widely popular, into Banner, Dunbar and Pesta said it will alleviate many of the complaints. “Mocha was built for the way students search — it was built for Brown and has the creativity of people that have worked in Brown’s environment,” said Dunbar. Some of the other issues on the list include finding a new way to show XLIST classes (phantom classes that help students find classes they might be interested in from other departments), which are currently not on Banner; increasing the size of the menu list of departments in the search feature; extending or eliminating the fiveminute time-out during registration and adding a pop-up message when students drop a class to make sure they actually want to drop it. Aside from the complaints and future changes in store for Banner, many students and administrators said the switch to Banner was a good one. “I think the electronic registration was easier, faster and on the whole more streamlined. I like that I could do ever ything from my room,” said former Herald Staff Writer Ila Tyagi ’09, whose only complaint was that the interface could be more friendly. “Banner replaced 11-12 information systems with this one system. Registration is really only one aspect of Banner — but for students it is everything. Everything else is invisible and working quite well,” said Dunbar. The final version of Banner will hold students’ information from the start of their application process until they graduate.

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Prof. to test cell phone Sidney Frank Hall seems a hit so far pay service on campus continued from page 1

continued from page 1 “where cash is kind of the exception, instead of the rule.” Stanford, a former chief technology officer and senior vice president for the GTECH gaming and lottery corporation, formed Ocean State Partners with three other former GTECH executives and a business consultant for the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation. With mPay, a customer can send money instantly to anyone else with an mPay account — a friend, a business, a taxi driver or even a vending machine. The service requires no extra software or text messaging and works on any cell phone — even, Stanford said, a seven-year-old phone he bought on eBay. Money can be transferred directly from a checking account into an mPay account. From there, it can be sent to others by entering a PIN and the recipient’s merchant number on a cell phone and pressing “send,” then entering the desired amount to send. The recipient instantly gets a text message displaying the amount transferred to their mPay account. The transfer occurs in four seconds, according to Stanford, faster than a credit card is processed. No credit card machines are necessary, so merchants can be mobile — imagine, Stanford said, being able to pay a flea market vendor without cash. Stanford said he thinks merchants will be receptive to mPay because they would pay less commission than with credit cards, and mPay would reduce the amount of cash they carry on-hand. “Cash is actually very costly to merchants,” Stanford said, citing the risk of theft. The mPay service would be ideal for smaller merchants such as taxi drivers, who are particularly vulnerable to robbery. Stanford stressed the security of the system. No information is stored on the cell phone, so no one else can access the money if the phone is lost or stolen. “Credit cards are very insecure,” Stanford said. “Anyone can pick up a credit

card and start signing. It happens every day.” The mPay system is intended to work as an intermediary between sender and recipient, eliminating the risk of hackers stealing account numbers. “Digital phones are very hard to crack,” Stanford said. “And even if they cracked it, they still don’t see your financial information.” Ocean State Partners plans to offer mPay to Rhode Island college students before opening the service up to all of Rhode Island. The company is currently negotiating with Brown, the Rhode Island School of Design, and Johnson and Wales and Bryant universities. Eventually, the plan is to make mPay national. Stanford said Ocean State Partners has begun talking to local merchants and chain businesses such as CVS and Starbucks, as well as the Brown Bookstore and Brown’s eateries. They plan to conduct a limited trial this spring and launch the full-scale student service in the fall. “I would definitely try it,” Karen Tenner ’10 said of the mPay service. Several students expressed concern about bad cell phone reception, but many seemed enthusiastic. “It sounds like something that is going to become widespread,” said Johanna Jetton ’10. “Sounds too easy to spend money,” joked Kara Segal ’10. After a year of negotiations, Stanford’s company bought the U.S. rights to the mPay software, which was originally developed by the Polish company mPay International and is now fully instituted in Poland. Ocean State Par tners has partnered with Transol, which dominates the market for prepaid phone cards in Guatemala. Because Transol has connections to Guatemalan phone companies and banks, Stanford foresees mPay spreading easily to the Guatemalan marketplace. “We believe that the opportunity for mobile payments, if done properly, is huge,” Stanford said. “Everyone has their cell phones with them all the time.”

tions.” Currently, the building is at 92 percent capacity, wrote Wendy Lawton, assistant director of Brown News Service, in an e-mail to The Herald. About 50 faculty members have offices and work areas and 30 of the building’s 32 laboratories are currently being used for research. A staggered move-in took place over two-and-a-half months and was overseen by Sterling Office Services, an outside contractor. “There were no problems, everything was really terrific,” said Assistant Professor of Medical Science Tricia Serio, whose work was moved from J. Walter Wilson Laboratory. “We stopped experiments for less than

four days.” “(Being in Sidney Frank Hall has) had a big impact on our work,” Serio said, praising the technical advantages of the building. “It has made reproducibility in experiments better.” Since many of the labs are connected and equipment is shared, interaction between labs has increased, Serio said. The organization of the building and the increased storage space are also great advantages, she added. One of the building’s most underused resources is its large atrium, located just inside the entrance, which has several tables, chairs and couches for general use. Though she does not take classes or work in any

of Sidney Frank Hall’s laboratories, Frances Male ’09 said she goes there a few times a week to study. “It’s not usually too crowded like the (Sciences Library), and during the day it’s closer to my classes,” Male said. “It gives people that go to classes on Pembroke a good place to study. In comparison to other buildings it’s newer and kept up to date,” said Grant Garcia ’08. He said the design of the atrium and the impressive spiral staircase added to the appeal. The building is now in the final stages of receiving Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification, a nationally recognized rating system for environmentally friendly buildings.

Grants to benefit international efforts continued from page 1 initiative will be measured in how it helps improve the health of poor people around the world.” Among the other winning projects, two will use the grant money to strengthen ties with China’s Nanjing University. One project is a collaboration between Nanjing’s Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences and Brown’s Pembroke Center for Women, Cogut Center for the Humanities and Depar tment of East Asian Studies. Together, researchers from both universities ultimately hope to develop a scholar exchange program, a conference on female film directors to be held in Nanjing and a new Chinese scholarly journal focusing on gender studies. The seed funds will allow the group to publish the proceedings of the Nanjing conference in both English and Chinese. A second collaboration with Nanjing University will strengthen existing connections between Brown’s

Division of Applied Mathematics and Nanjing’s department of computational mathematics. Professor of Applied Mathematics Chi-Wang Shu said the funds will support a continuing faculty and Ph.D. student exchange program, a program at Nanjing University next summer that will include lectures for graduate students and faculty. Those funds will also support efforts to cultivate the reputation of Brown’s Division of Applied Mathematics abroad in order to attract top applicants to Providence for graduate school. Next year, the grant will help the division host Nanjing’s Professor Jianxian Qiu, an expert in computational mathematics. This would have been difficult to accomplish without the University’s support, Shu said. “There will be significant scientific benefits from this exchange, but more importantly, we’re trying to get more students and faculty over there to know about Brown,” Shu added. Also thanks to the seed funding,

a group of faculty members from the departments of visual arts, theater arts, music and modern culture and media will establish a program to host international artists whose work threatens their safety in their own countries. The program, modeled on the successful International Writers Project, will provide the artists-in-residence with a safe place to work. Another project will connect scholars at Brown, Stanford and Durham universities with counterparts at the Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art/Universite de Paris to study the beginnings of modern science. The project aims to post these early writers’ texts online to stimulate further research. Finally, in a project sponsored by the Watson Institute for International Studies and the departments of sociology and economics, a team of Brown professors will work with Brazil’s leading social science research institution, the Centro Brasileiro de Analise e Pesquisa, to study the development of slums in urban Brazil.

Students pushing for Brown polo club continued from page 3 than a halfway interest in the sport,” she said. “I got very lucky that Adam was also interested, so we’ve been trying to form the club.” If approved, the Brown team would compete against other clubs including those of Harvard, Cornell and Yale. The Yale club was founded in the 1920s as a way to train cavalry officers. Forming a club, however, is no easy task. “We’ve talked to people at the Newport Polo Club, and we’re talking to the assistant athletic director (at Brown),” Griffith said. “We need to write a constitution, write a budget and write basically a mission statement. Then we will go to people higher up and try to convince them.” The Newport Polo Club, about a 35-minute drive from campus, would provide practice space and lessons for club members. “In the U.S., polo essentially originated in Newport — another reason why Brown should get on this,” Frost said. “Newport is really nice because we have all the resources to do this through them,” Crego said. “At other schools, we would have to build the barn, go buy horses and do a lot of things that Newport already has.” Dan Keating, the founder and president of the Newport Polo Club,

said that no prior polo or horsemanship experience is necessary in order to play, though any familiarity with the sport is beneficial. “We’re used to people who don’t have much riding experience, but that have good hand-eye coordination and love sports,” he said. Keating said his club would offer lessons for $50, including horse and equipment rental. Lessons would incorporate basic horsemanship, riding, hitting drills and scrimmaging, Keating said. “Right now, I guess we’re just focusing on funding from the University, persuading Brown to give us money for lessons, which are actually quite reasonable (in terms of price),” Frost said. Funding is currently the greatest obstacle for the potential polo team. “We’re hoping at this point Brown will decide to give us some money,” Crego said. “We’re really hoping some alumni will decide to help us start this.” Frost said, “Having Newport there already established — that means we need less money to play than Harvard or Yale.” Recreation Coordinator Kristofer Newsome said the athletics department is supportive of the creation of new clubs, but it does not currently have the funding to add more sports. “If we get the funding we will make the sport, but if we don’t get

the funding it won’t be easy to make the team a reality,” he said. The club would not need many people to compete and already has 12 interested students, Crego said. The club would have co-ed practices, but men and women would compete separately, he added. Griffith said they are looking for interested students to get experience this spring, before a club is made official, through lessons at the Newport Polo Club. “We need to show Brown there is an interest in a polo team,” she said. “We’re trying to get approval this spring so we can start next fall,” she added. Polo is often stereotyped as a sport only for the wealthy. “People think you have a lot of people riding around on horses and players sipping tea in between matches and audiences clapping in their white gloves,” Frost said. “Polo players are athletes and shy away from those audiences.” “People have a misguided perception to what polo is, but we’re hoping to change their minds,” Frost added. Keating encouraged new riders to take on this challenging sport. “If you’re not a super-athlete with commitment already in something else, this is a great way to engage in a sport where everyone will be donning up at the same level,” Keating said.

C ampus n ews Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Conference explores cuttingedge field of neuroeconomics

Drinking and smoking do not compound HPV-related cancer, Brown researchers find By Max Mankin Staff Writer

By Erika Jung Staf f Writer

On Dec. 11, Brown will host four experts for a conference titled “Neuroeconomics: Decision-Making and the Brain” where they will discuss various aspects and applications of the increasingly popular emerging science. Professor of Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences Steven Sloman described the study of neuroeconomics as “a kind of offshoot of judgment and decision making, or more a field that lies at the convergence of judgment and decision making and neuroimaging.” “Some of what (these researchers) do is to take decision making tasks that psychologists have been studying for a long time and ask people to do them while they take pictures of their brains,” Sloman said. One of the scholars scheduled to speak at the conference, Drazen Prelec, professor of management science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management, has researched which products people prefer to save for and which they prefer to buy on credit, according to his Web site biography. According to Sloman, by attempting to understand why people perceive some things as pleasurable, rewarding, risky or trustworthy, the field has the potential to transform industries like marketing. Though it sounds like science fiction, neuroeconomics may make it possible to tap into people’s brains and market to them directly, Sloman said. Neuroeconomics is a relatively new academic field. There have been writings on it since the 1980s, but only recently has it begun to attract the attention of many economists, said Professor of Economics Roberto Serrano. “It’s still a reasonably small field, and we still don’t know yet what it’s bringing us,” Serrano said. “From the point of view of having a conference here, it’s very exciting stuff to hear what the experts have to

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Graphic by Rahul Keerthi / Herald

Neuroeconomists explore the brain’s biological basis for economic decisions. The University is hosting a conference on the emerging field on Tuesday.

teach us.” The experts slated to speak at the conference include Prelec, Kevin McCabe, professor of economics and law at George Mason University, Joseph Kable, researcher at New York University’s Center for Neural Science and Andrew Caplin, professor of economics at New York University. “The speakers were chosen in an attempt to reflect the different directions that have been taken by the field in the hope of conveying the variety of approaches,” wrote Associate Professor of Economics Kfir Eliaz, the main organizer of the event, in an e-mail to The Herald. Three of the speakers have already announced the topics they plan to address at the conference. Kable will give a speech entitled “The Neural Correlates of Subjective Value During Intertemporal Choice,” Prelec will discuss “Neuroeconomics and the Neural Determinants of Shopping” and Caplin’s topic will be “Testing Axiomatic

Models in Neuroscience.” The goals of the conference are to expose Brown researchers to some of the cutting-edge research happening at other institutions, and to showcase the research being done at Brown to some of the field’s leading experts, Eliaz wrote. “Brown University has excellent brain-imaging capabilities and a large community that is interested in decision making and the brain,” Eliaz wrote. “This community spans many departments such that researchers in one field are not aware of closely related work that is done in another field.” Eliaz, who came to Brown in September after six years as an assistant professor at NYU, wrote that NYU’s recent emphasis on neuroeconomics has put them in the spotlight of the popular press. “The hope is that this could be done also for Brown,” Eliaz wrote. The conference will take place in Room 220 of Sidney Frank Hall at 1:00 p.m. Tuesday.

Recent research co-authored by Professor of Community Health Karl Kelsey indicates that there is no association between alcohol- and tobacco-induced head and neck cancers and similar cancers correlated with HPV16. Human papillomavirus, commonly called HPV, is a broad category of DNA-based viruses that infect approximately 20 million Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. HPV16, a type of HPV, is known for causing over half of the cervical cancer cases in the United States, but it also increases the risk of some types of head and neck cancer. It is also known that alcohol use and tobacco use — independent of HPV16 — increase the risk of head and neck cancer. In 2000, Kelsey’s research team set out to examine the multiplicative risk increase caused by a combination of substance abuse and HPV16. Kelsey, also the director of the Center for Environmental Health and Technology, has served as the director of epidemiology and laboratory work for the research team. In collaboration with the pharmaceutical company Merck, whose female-only drug Gardasil is the sole vaccine against HPV-related diseases, the team studied 485 head and neck cancer patients in the greater Boston area and 549 cancer-free comparison subjects. Kelsey’s team’s results, published on Nov. 27 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, found that alcohol and tobacco use does not further amplify the risk of contracting HPV16-associated head and neck cancer. “When you look at diseases associated with

HPV16, there is no additive effect of smoking and drinking,” he told The Herald. The head and neck cancers caused by HPV16 and those caused by the use of such substances “can be spoken of almost as different diseases,” said Kelsey. “It’s very likely that it really is important to classify HPV-positive disease separately just like it is to classify different stages of disease differently.” According to this research, smoking and drinking will not increase the risk of cancer even if someone already has HPV16. “You can never go out and smoke and drink without long-term consequence” even if you have already contracted HPV16, said Kelsey. “There is no question that smoking and drinking is always bad for you.” With these findings, Kelsey supports the creation and implementation of a version of Gardasil for males. The results have “real public health implications,” Kelsey said. “In the case of a disease that is sexually transmitted, it doesn’t make sense to vaccinate one gender. I think that is rather shortsighted,” Kelsey said. “The way forward is clear. Someone has to test it in males.” Kelsey emphasized that there is “still a lot of work to do.” “I believe that we are still sufficiently ignorant,” he said. “We’re continuing to accrue cases and controls. This is an exciting time to be studying the disease.” Others on Kelsey’s team included researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, the University of Brunel in London, Louisiana State University, Boston University, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Merck.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

wednesday, December 5, 2007

Plame recounts CIA outing, life in political spotlight

Plan for Academic Enrichment assessed at faculty meeting

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continued from page 1 of perjury and obstruction of justice. The Wilsons have since filed a civil suit against Cheney, Libby, former presidential adviser Karl Rove, former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and several White House officials, seeking monetary damages. Wilson spoke at Brown as part of a tour promoting her book, “Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House.” Released this October, large sections of the book were redacted after the CIA’s required review process. Wilson’s publisher decided to leave black bars over the redacted words rather than remove them, she said. After remaining quiet during the months of investigation and others speaking about and for her, she was finally telling her side of the story, she said. But Wilson began her speech with the story of how she became a CIA agent. At the “Farm,” a training camp for the agency’s operatives, she wore fatigues, trained with a “variety” of automatic weapons and under went constant evaluation, she said, comparing the camp to the television show “Sur vivor.” But, she said, she enjoyed the experience. “I thought this was kind of fun,” she told the audience, to laughs. “I thought it was a camp for adults.” She later recalled recently being reminded that she had been the best marksman in her class with the AK-47 — a fact that her husband said has changed his view of their relationship, she said. Wilson also discussed sexism at the agency. “The CIA was certainly born out of the old boys’ network,” she said. “It took a long time to break that.” She recalled that on her first

day overseas, posted in southern Europe, her boss asked her to “twirl around” for him when they met, though she added that he was a great boss. Wilson was later assigned to the Counter-Proliferation Division, where she gathered intelligence on weapons of mass destruction. As part of an Iraq task force, she investigated its weapons programs. Though the intelligence the United States used to justify invading Iraq has since come under question, it was “prudent, at a minimum, to investigate and to look into this and to see exactly what (Saddam Hussein) was up to.” “I think it’s intellectually dishonest to say, as is so popular now,” that the intelligence community “always knew” Iraq had no weapons, Wilson said. But the story for which Wilson has become famous began in February 2002, when her husband was sent to Niger to investigate rumors of a sale of uranium to Iraq. He found no evidence of such a sale, she said. Later, in President Bush’s 2003 State of the Union address, months before the invasion and then-Secretary of State Colin Powell’s speech to the United Nations, the African uranium was brought to the American public as evidence. Watching Powell’s address from CIA headquarters, Wilson said she experienced “cognitive dissonance” — what Powell said didn’t match what she knew. She felt sick, she said, and when the United States and others invaded Iraq that March, she felt “the CIA had failed miserably” by not having enough time to ensure confidence in its intelligence. Her husband’s piece was intended to make public his disagreement with Powell’s comments before the United Nations and Bush’s words

in the State of the Union. “We were prepared for the backlash,” Wilson said. But Wilson was not prepared for what happened one week later, when Novak named her as a CIA operative in his syndicated column. “Well, the S.O.B. did it,” she recalled her husband saying, showing her the newspaper the morning of Novak’s column. Overnight, Wilson said, she went from a very private person to a very public figure. Eventually, the criminal investigation revealed that several administration officials, including Libby, Rove and Armitage, told reporters that Wilson worked for the CIA. The White House had hoped to discredit her husband by accusing her of nepotism, saying she used her position in the agency to get her husband the assignment to Niger, she said. She told the audience her role in his assignment was much smaller. Wilson eventually resigned from the CIA in January 2006, a “bitter moment,” she said. After recounting her professional histor y, Wilson spoke more about her ongoing civil case against White House officials and her family’s recent move. Attendees, as evidenced by the turnout, seemed excited to hear Wilson speak.The speech was a “neat insider’s perspective,” said Sudhir Paladugu ’09, who got a book signed by Wilson, as did many others who waited in line in Sayles Hall after the speech.Wilson told The Herald she now plans on “catching my breath, spending time with my family, and thinking about what I should do next.” She mentioned teaching as a possibility. She and her family have recently moved to Santa Fe, N.M. “We don’t want to be defined by this,” she said.

continued from page 1 mons asked, as an example of the challenges of allocating resources, “Should we ration multi-disciplinary centers and concentration departments? ... Have we gone too far?” Simmons told the faculty that an open forum about advising and the curriculum showed that students overwhelmingly support strengthening the advising system. Multidisciplinar y concentrations and diversity of students and faculty are other concerns among students, according to Simmons, as well as the “bifurcated environment for financial aid” in which students wealthy enough to afford Brown’s tuition outright or those qualified for significant financial aid are drawn to the school — but students “squeezed” in the middle, Simmons said, do not want to rely on loans to finance their Brown educations. Compared to other schools that have begun reducing the load of student loans, “we will be at a disadvantage if we don’t reduce loans,” Simmons said. “But that’s an enormous cost,” she added. “It may be the most important, but if we do it something else has to go.” Other student concerns include improving campus life spaces and residence halls, adding common space for graduate students and expanding wireless Internet access, Simmons said. In response to questions from faculty members, Simmons cited the improvement or expansion of Undergraduate Teaching and Research Assistantships and student internships and the University library system as other possible fundraising targets for the future. A more formal review of feedback collected about the plan will be presented to the Corporation, the University’s highest governing body, in February. Balance of resources is also a serious consideration for the Graduate School. The University’s net investment in support for doctoral students has risen over the past few

years, from $7.01 million in 2005 to $12.06 million in 2008, Provost David Kertzer ’69 P’95 P’98 said at the meeting. The most significant budget increase has been in individual stipends for doctoral students. “Six to seven years ago, we were not competitive with top grad schools (in terms of) stipends,” Kertzer said, but now doctoral students at Brown receive larger stipends. The increase in financial support for doctoral students also reflects the rising costs of health insurance, which the University covers for grad students. The Grad School’s selectivity has also increased in recent years. Only 9 percent of the most recent pool of applicants to the Grad School were admitted, though Kertzer noted that enrollment was lower in this year’s entering class than in previous years. A somewhat contentious issue — and another example of the budgetary balancing act of which Simmons spoke — has been the question of the availability of teaching assistants in each department. “Some departments are hardpressed for TAs, which has remained the same even as the number of students supported goes up,” Kertzer said. As the faculty expands, the shortage of TAs to assist with classes worsens. Although it has felt the “growing pains” of the University’s expansion, Kertzer said, “The Graduate School is a high priority of the plan. We need it to be strong and flourishing.” Also at the faculty meeting, Associate Professor of Psychology Ruth Colwill, chair of the Faculty Executive Committee, reported that the FEC is reviewing the now-temporary position of faculty ombudsperson to consider making it a permanent position. Professor of Neuroscience Diane Lipscombe put forth a motion by the Academic Priorities Committee to reword part of the Faculty Rules and Regulations dealing with concentration and graduate degree proposals, but after some heated discussion the issue was postponed until a later date.

Extra time can’t help Quinnipiac stop m. hoops continued from page 12 baseline jumper with one second left was off-line. The Bears never trailed in overtime, scoring six straight points on free throws and a Huffman 3-pointer. Mullery had another two blocks on defense. When the Bobcats fouled in desperation, McAndrew and Friske iced the game with three more free throws. “We never felt like we were in a position where they were going to win” in overtime, said Huffman, a guard and tri-captain. “From the tip-off we got fouled, we got our free throws. We felt that we were really in control.” Robinson praised Friske for his play, especially late in the game.

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“He played a terrific game,” the coach said. “He’s getting more comfortable with his role. He had nine rebounds in that game, and we needed every one of them. The Bears will play the University of New Hampshire at the Pizzitola Center on Thursday evening, and then play Providence College at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center on Sunday. The Providence game will end a stretch where Brown plays five games in 12 days. Robinson is concerned about player fatigue, but the players downplayed the issue. “We’re all in pretty good shape and we’re all playing a lot of minutes, but we’ll be all right,” said swingman Chris Skrelja ’09.

C ampus n ews Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Cicilline ’83 cuts cheese, officially bringing R.I. artisan cheeses to city By Nandini Jayakrishna Senior Staff Writer

“Say Cheese,” read a sign in bold black letters that greeted hordes of smiling visitors as they entered Eno Fine Wines in downtown Providence Monday night. But they weren’t going to get their pictures taken. Instead, they were gathering to celebrate the official cutting and release of Rhode Island’s first artisan cheeses. As local farmers, retailers, private cheese-makers and cheeselovers filed into the crowded shop and helped themselves to cheese and champagne, Providence Mayor David Cicilline ’83 and Secretary of State Ralph Mollis cut a flat 10-pound wheel of Divine Providence — a smooth, pale gouda created by Louella Hill ’04. The cheese-makers of Providence’s Narragansett Creamery set up colorful platters of fruit, baskets of crackers and mounds of all their handmade cheeses on two high wooden tables in the middle of the shop. Besides Divine Providence, the creamery displayed a crumbly seasalt feta called Salty Sea, a versatile farmer’s cheese called Queso Blanco, a cream-colored cheese called Atwell’s Gold and a glossy white cheese called Renaissance Ricotta. Cicilline said in his five years as mayor, he had never been invited to a cheese-cutting ceremony before, but was happy to be part of an event important to Providence’s food and culinary arts. Hill, who started cooking professionally when she was 14, said the flavor of an artisan cheese depends on several factors — the grass cows graze on, the smell of the air, and the water and the microbes in the soil where the cheese is made. Hill has been working at the Creamery since it opened in late August. In a world witnessing the “globalization of our dinner plate,” artisan cheeses made in small batches are fresh and unique in flavor, Hill said. “The idea behind artisan cheese is that no two would ever taste the same,” Hill said. Some artisan cheeses, such as Divine Providence, are made with raw milk obtained within a 50-mile radius of the creamery and aged for 60 days using traditional European methods, said Mark Federico, owner of the Narragansett Creamery. “In America, people want to pasteurize the heck out of everything,” Federico said. “The bacteria (are) produced in a lab somewhere; you have a pasteurized flavor which is the same everywhere.” Federico said all batches of the cheeses made at his creamery have “minor flavor differentials.” Though the Creamery is currently using milk from Connecti-

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FEATURE cut, Federico said his eventual goal is to use milk produced in Rhode Island. Hill said it is “awesome” that she is making her own line of cheese — “stirring, cutting and pressing it by hand.” As an Environmental Studies concentrator at Brown, Hill said she realized she could not learn about food from books alone. She took her junior year off to live on two farms in Italy and learned to make pecorino cheese, which is made with sheep’s milk. This past summer, she worked with a farmer in Maine, learning the art of making goat cheese. Hill is originally from Bisbee, Ariz., but said she decided to name her cheese Divine Providence after her current hometown. Hill has already thrust roots into Rhode Island soil: she and Noah Fulmer ’05 co-founded Farm Fresh Rhode Island, a non-profit organization that connects farmers with local markets. Speaking to the crowd after the cutting ceremony, Fulmer said producing foods like cheese locally helps create more jobs in the state. Fulmer said he hopes to see healthier, locally produced cheeses on the menus of Providence school lunches soon. Hill said in the future, she would like to start a guild of people who like making cheese to spread awareness of local cheeses in Rhode Island. Connoisseurs and cheese-lovers present at the event unanimously praised the cheeses and the Narragansett Creamery’s efforts to produce cheese locally. “It is amazing that Rhode Island has its first artisan cheeses,” said Darren Montgomery, who helps run the cheese counter at Venda Ravioli, an Italian restaurant, food store and wine bar on Federal Hill. Montgomery said it was about time that Rhode Island produced its own cheeses like other New England states. Stephanie Wheeler ’05 said she loved all the cheeses, especially Divine Providence — which she described as “mild and not pungent at all.” Another cheese-lover, Juliette Rogers GS said she was “thrilled” to be at the event to support cheese and local foods. Divine Providence is “a cheese with great promise,” she said. “It is this good now: the more it ages, the more divine it will be,” said Rogers, an anthropology student who studied the French dairy industry in Normandy. Divine Providence will be available for sale at a few selected outlets, such as Farmstead Inc. in Wayland Square, starting in late January or February of 2008.

thanks for reading

Loans eliminated from more colleges’ aid plans By Evan Pelz Staf f Writer

Davidson and Amherst colleges and Wesleyan University have recently taken steps to reduce or eliminate loans from their financial aid policies. Davidson announced last spring that it could afford to stop issuing need-based loans to students, according to Linda Erickson, a financial aid counselor at Davidson. The college now covers full tuition aid through grants and campus jobs after determining financial need, Erickson said. Before the policy change, “students were borrowing money in their own names and graduating with a lot of debt,” she said, adding that students who want to enter the workforce after graduation often land jobs that do not pay enough to cover their debt. “Given the nature of our student body, many students hope to work for non-profit organizations following (graduation). These are not high-paying jobs,” Erickson said. Absent loans, she explained, students can choose a career without having to take this debt into consideration. After the changes in financial aid policy were announced last spring, the yield of accepted students who matriculate at Davidson increased from 39.4 percent to 41.6

percent, according to a Nov. 2 article in Inside Higher Education. Amherst will also eliminate all loans as par t of its financial aid packages next academic year, said Joe Case, the college’s director of financial aid. Amherst has been reducing debt for some time, he said. “Since the mid-1980s, the college has packaged reduced loan levels for students from lower-income backgrounds,” Case said. “In 1999, this practice was expanded to students from modest-income backgrounds, and loans were eliminated from aid packages for students from lowestincome backgrounds.” Case said the new policy might not eliminate

CAMPUS WATCH loans altogether for some students if they incur additional expenses, such as for a new computer or noncredit music classes. Wesleyan has announced that it will eliminate loans for students with family incomes of less than $40,000 starting in the fall of 2008, according to David Pesci, the university’s director of media relations. “The president saw a need to reduce debt,” Pesci said, “and this is what we can presently do with our given endowment.” One of the first schools to switch from loans to grant-based financial aid was Princeton Univer-

sity, which eliminated loans from all financial aid packages in 2001. Robin Moscato, director of undergraduate financial aid at Princeton, said, “The University felt that the amount of debt for students was escalating, and we wanted to avoid this.” Instead, she said, funds are given to the students through grants, supplied by the university’s endowment, and a work-study requirement. Williams has also announced that it will eliminate loans in its financial aid packages, according the Inside Higher Education article. Brown has not followed these schools in eliminating loans. But Director of Financial Aid James Tilton emphasized Brown’s commitment to lowering student debt, saying the average student needbased loan debt has fallen from $22,000 in 2002 to $16,000 in 2003, following changes in the financial aid policies. “Student loans are not considered the main source of financial aid,” Tilton added, “but instead are used with other components such as parent and student contributions, federal and state grants, (University scholarship) and student employment to make up a student’s financial aid award. Brown continues to look for aggressive ways of reducing loan debt for our students.”

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M. swimming splashes off to good start continued from page 12 earned a time of 6:50.62 for third place, and their second team of Kikuchi, Rob Glenn ’08, Pinto and Peter Volosin ’08 finished sixth in 6:57.71. On Sunday, Brown took another second-place finish in the final event of the competition, the 400 freestyle relay, as Ricketts, Kelly, Hug and Wetmore clocked in at 3:01.95. “I think our relays were the most impressive swims of the meet,” Hug said. “Our 400 freestyle relay (Ricketts, Kelly, Hug, Wetmore) and 400 medley relay (Hug, Carlucci, Ricketts, Kelly) put up great times for this point in the season, and I think we have a very good chance at breaking school records in both events by the end of the season.” The Bears earned a handful of top-10 finishes in the individual events as well. Kelly and Huxley finished fourth and 10th in the 50 free with respective times of 20.72 and 21.18. In the 1,650 free, Volosin finished in 15:52.88, good for ninth place, and he also placed tenth in the 500 free with a time of 4:34.20. Kelly earned his second individual top-10 finish during the competition when he placed third in the 100 free with a time of 45.50 seconds. “I should be pretty happy with the way I swam, since I have never been this fast this early in the season before,” Kelly said. “My times, along with the rest of our team’s times, are a good amount faster than they were last year. But I am still hoping to drop some time before (the) Eastern Championships.” Kikuchi also claimed a pair of top-10 performances, placing sixth in the 400 individual medley with a time of 4:00.14 and fourth in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:50.16. He was joined in the 200 back by Hug, who claimed fifth place in 1:50.69. Hug also had a strong finish in the 100 meter backstroke, where he

wednesday, December 5, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

clocked in at 51.01 for fourth place. In the same event, Ricketts took seventh place with a time of 52.54. “I am quite happy with my swims,” Hug said. “I am swimming as fast now as I did fully rested at the end of last season, which means that I am in a good position to swim very fast at the end of this season.” Carlucci finished seventh in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:09.88. He also had a strong performance in the 100 breast, earning fifth place in 58.01, while Garcia earned ninth place in 59.50. “I am very proud of our freshmen, specifically Connor Carlucci and Ryan Kikuchi,” Hug said. “It is a big help to have freshmen that can contribute points to the team so quickly.” Kelly agreed, saying, “I think the freshman class deserves a lot of attention because they managed to get three or four — possibly more — finals swims, and they managed to score a lot of points. Ryan Kikuchi and Connor Carlucci both are both great additions to the team this year.” In the diving events, C.J. Kambe ’10 scored 276.05 in the one-meter dive for fourth place, and Jonathan Speed ’11 scored 276.40 on the three-meter for seventh place. On the women’s side, Penn State earned a team total of 1,057 points for the victory, while Princeton tallied 639 for second place and Washington State University tallied 495 for third. The University of Pittsburgh, Rutgers University and Columbia took fourth, fifth, and sixth place respectively, and Brown was not far behind in seventh place with a total of 173 points. “I feel that it was a strong performance for where we are in the season,” said Stephanie Pollard ’11. “As a whole, our team performed very well. There are a few things we need to work on, but overall our performance was strong.”

The Bears’ top finishes of the competition were nabbed by the first-years. In the 200 free, Pollard clocked in at 1:52.15, good for eighth place. “Given that the Big Al Open was my first large college meet, I thought I did well, and it gave me a good indication of the level of competition I am up against,” Pollard said. Meanwhile, classmate Candice Sisouvanvieng-Kim ’11 finished eighth in the 50 free with a time of 24.25. “I feel like the training I’ve been doing has really paid off,” she said. The Bears earned another eighth-place finish when Sage Erskine ’11, Ally Wyatt ’08, Natascha Mangan ’11 and Sisouvanvieng-Kim recorded a time of 3:55.94 in the 400 medley relay. Erskine also claimed two tenthplace finishes, swimming the 100 back in 57.66 and the 200 back in 2:04.23. In the 800 free relay, the team of Pollard, Ainsley McFadgen ’09, Kelley Wisinger ’11 and Wyatt finished fifth with a time of 7:40.79. Though the Bears had some success in the relays, SisouvanviengKim said that they were not entirely satisfied with their results. “We’re going to work a lot on relay exchanges,” she said. “We need to work on transitioning more smoothly.” Both squads will compete next in the Florida Atlantic University Invitational, which will be held in Boca Raton on Jan. 5. Brown will take advantage of the time off to put in some extra training time. “We are now taking a break from competition until after finals,” Hug said.”We are going to use these next few weeks as an opportunity to get in some solid training that should give us a good base as we head into the heart of our in-conference dual meet season in January and February.”

In Iowa debate, Democrats criticize policy on Iran By Scott Martelle and Robin Abcarian Los Angeles T imes

DES MOINES, Iowa — Democratic presidential candidates teamed during a National Public Radio debate here Tuesday to blast the Bush administration over its policy toward Iran, arguing that a new intelligence assessment proves the administration needlessly has ratcheted up militar y rhetoric. While the candidates differed somewhat over the level of threat Iran poses in the Mideast, most of the candidates sought to liken the administration’s approach to Iran with its buildup to the war in Iraq. “I vehemently disagree with the president that nothing’s changed and therefore nothing in American policy has to change,” said Sen. Hillar y Rodham Clinton of New York. “We do know that pressure on Iran does have an effect. I think that is an important lesson.” But Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the new intelligence report indicated that Iran dropped its program before international pressure came into play. “It was like watching a rerun of his statements on Iraq five years earlier,” Biden said. “Iran is not a nuclear threat to the United States of America. Iran should be dealt with directly with the rest of the world at our side. But we’ve made it more difficult now, because who is going to trust us?” The debate was aired live without a studio audience over National Public Radio from the Iowa State Historical Museum. It covered Iran, China and immigration, offering the contenders a chance to delve more deeply into subjects that often receive shallower debate treatment. Clinton and Biden were joined by Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio and former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson missed the debate to attend the funeral of Cpl. Clem Robert Boody in Independence, Iowa, a Korean War soldier whose remains Richardson had helped retrieve from North Korea earlier this year. The National Intelligence Assessment repor t on Iran, which was released Monday, was the focus of much of two-hour debate. The assessment concluded that Iran halted its nuclear program in 2003 largely because of international pressure — reversing a conclusion made two years ago that the nation aggressively was pursuing nuclear weapons. The Democrats used the issue to criticize each other as well as President Bush. Yet their own prescriptions for dealing with Iran are similar -- and fairly close to the Bush administration approach of increasing diplomatic and economic pressure to force Iran to

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suspend enriching uranium that can be used for making nuclear weapons. The leading Democratic candidates have differed over whether to negotiate directly with Iran. In a July debate, Obama said he would be willing to meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a position that was criticized by Clinton and others. But front-runners Clinton, Obama and Edwards all have said they would not rule out militar y action against Iran. In the Democrats’ debate Tuesday, the focus on foreign policy issues gave Clinton a chance to bring up what many people believe was the high point of her eight years as first lady -- her speech at the 1995 U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. In it, she castigated China over its treatment of women, arguing that women’s rights no longer could be considered separate from human rights. The Chinese government blocked the speech within China. As at the Black & Brown Forum here Saturday night, the debate did not provide any landscape-shifting moments. Exchanges among the candidates were polite -- but also at times direct, particularly over the recent Kyl-Lieberman bill to declare the Iranian Revolutionar y Guard a terrorist organization. Clinton was the only Democratic candidate to vote for the bill. When asked whether she thought the Revolutionar y Guard were “proliferators of mass destruction,” she said “many of us believe that” and suggested that earlier comments by Obama and Edwards about Iran indicated that they did, too. Edwards and Obama responded that they believe Iran is a threat to stability in the Mideast but that the Bush administration was moving toward an unnecessar y war. Obama, who missed the KylLieberman vote in the Senate because he was campaigning in New Hampshire, also drew parallels to the Iraq war build up. “What I’ve been consistent about was that this saber-rattling was a repetition of Iraq, a war I opposed, and that we needed to oppose George Bush again,” Obama said. “We can’t keep on giving him the benefit of the doubt, knowing the ways in which they manipulate intelligence.” Kucinich, who has been a vocal opponent of the war in Iraq since before it began, accused his rivals of embracing the use of militar y action where it’s unwarranted. “When people say all options are on the table, as the three senators have, they actually encouraged President Bush and licensed his rhetoric,” Kucinich said. “What I’m saying is that I’m the only one here who in Congress repeatedly challenge, in ever y chance and ever y legislation, repeatedly challenge this mindset that said all options are on the table and that Iran had nuclear weapons programs.” Times staff writer Doyle McManus in Washington contributed to this report.

W orld n ation Wednesday, December 5, 2007

U.S. scrambles to maintain coalition against Iran By Peter Baker and Robin Wright Washington Post

WASHINGTON — President Bush scrambled Tuesday to hold together a fragile international coalition against Iran, declaring that the Islamic republic remains “dangerous” and that “nothing has changed” despite a new intelligence report that Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program four years ago. While his top diplomats reached out to key counterparts, Bush began calling world leaders and held a White House news conference to argue that the new National Intelligence Estimate only reinforces the need for diplomatic pressure against Iran. Although the report determined that Iran stopped seeking a nuclear bomb in 2003, Bush said Tehran’s secrecy shows it cannot be trusted. The new intelligence electrified Washington and foreign capitals, transforming the debate on what has been widely characterized as a central threat to international security. It dominated a Democratic presidential debate Tuesday, as rivals of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., used it to attack her for being too supportive of Bush’s approach to Iran. And it once again put the credibility of the U.S. government in dispute five years after intelligence agencies wrongly reported that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. Iranian leaders boasted that the new report vindicated them, but European allies agreed with Bush that Tehran’s continued uranium enrichment program for what it says are civilian purposes remains a threat that merits international action. A senior U.S. envoy won agreement from other permanent U.N. Security Council members and Germany to push forward for additional sanctions, according to U.S. and foreign officials, although some worried that the consensus would tatter. Bush defended his approach during a televised session in the White House briefing room, saying “our policy remains the same” regardless of the new intelligence. “Look, Iran was dangerous, Iran is dangerous, and Iran will be dangerous if they have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon,” he said. “The NIE says that Iran had a hidden — a covert nuclear weapons program. That’s what it said. What’s to say they couldn’t start another covert nuclear weapons program?” The estimate, based on intercepted communications and other fresh information gathered in recent months, concluded that Iranian leaders tried to develop nuclear weapons until 2003, when U.S.-led diplomatic pressure led them to halt it. The finding represented a striking about-face from a 2005 intelligence report that said Iran was actively trying to build a bomb, and it undercut stark warnings by Bush in recent years. Bush said the willingness to reverse the assessment showed the success of his effort after the Iraq debacle to revamp U.S. intelligence and make it more open to contrary information. He said he was first told about the new information in August by Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, but not in detail because analysts needed to evaluate it before intelligence

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agencies reached a formal consensus last week. He made clear it did not change his view and would not have changed his rhetoric, including his October warning about the possibility of World War III if Iran builds nuclear weapons. He argued that uranium enrichment technology could be used to help develop weapons and noted that Iran has tested ballistic missiles. “Nothing has changed in this NIE that says, ‘OK, why don’t we just stop worrying about it?’ ” he said. “Quite the contrary. I think the NIE makes it clear that Iran needs to be taken seriously. My opinion hasn’t changed.” And while arguing for diplomacy, he repeated that “all options are on the table,” including military force. Bush’s comments triggered harsh criticism. Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a presidential candidate, scoffed at the notion that McConnell did not tell Bush the details of the new intelligence in August. “If that’s true,” Biden said, “he has the most incompetent staff in modern American history and he would be one of the most incompetent presidents in modern American history.” Biden said military force should be off the table, saying he would support impeaching Bush “if he were to attack without provocation.” In Tehran, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki welcomed the U.S. assessment and said it is time that countries “correct their views.” Other Iranian politicians called for a formal apology and compensation for sanctions. Government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham charged that U.S. “lies” had inflicted serious “damage” to Iran, and that Washington should “pay the price for its action.” President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was more understated, saying that the United States and its allies “should accept nuclear rights of the Iranian nation.” China, which has resisted tougher action against Iran at the U.N. Security Council, said the new intelligence makes it less likely that additional sanctions will be imposed. “I think the council members will have to consider that, because I think we all start from the presumption that now things have changed,” Ambassador Wang Guangya told reporters at the United Nations. Israel, on the other hand, dismissed the importance of the intelligence and called on Washington to keep up the pressure. “It is vital to continue efforts to prevent Iran from attaining a capability like this, and we will continue doing so along with our friends the United States,” Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said. The development frustrated U.S. allies. “The NIE has given comfort to America’s opponents and a new diplomatic challenge to its allies,” said a senior European diplomat familiar with the emerging debate. Key diplomats were especially annoyed that the report was released just two days after a U.S.-orchestrated meeting in Paris last weekend to discuss the next stage of sanctions. Bush and his advisers are optimistic that they can salvage their diplomatic initiative. Bush talked with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the new intelligence

Tuesday and plans to call other leaders in coming days. White House officials were heartened that Putin later told Iran’s visiting nuclear negotiator that the country’s enrichment program should be “open, transparent and conducted under control of the authoritative international organization.” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in the past two days called nearly all five of the foreign ministers of countries involved in the Iran sanctions discussions and told reporters traveling with her to Africa Tuesday that easing pressure on Tehran would be a “big mistake.” Undersecretary of State R. Nicholas Burns, traveling in Australia, called his counterparts from Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany, and reinforced the need to move ahead with a new U.N. resolution against Iran. Several allies issued statements noting that the new intelligence validates concerns about Iran’s long-term intentions and the ongoing risk that it could divert its uranium enrichment to develop a nuclear weapon. The report confirmed “the double approach chosen by the international community of incentive and measures from the U.N. Security Council was right,” German Foreign Minister FrankWalter Steinmeier told Deutsche Welle. But diplomats said the situation is so fluid that any agreement may not survive the week. “At least at this point, the NIE has not had any particular impact on how people wish to proceed,” said a senior State Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to speak freely. “But, you know, proof is in the resolution passing.” Another official, noting “unhappy feelings” in allied capitals, said: “We are trying to hold it together, but won’t know for a while what (the) prospects are.” Some Bush suppor ters expressed doubt that the current diplomatic strategy will work, given the new intelligence. Robert Kagan, a foreign policy analyst close to the administration, said that the military option “is now gone,” and that winning European support for serious sanctions is “impossible.” In an op-ed column in Wednesday’s Washington Post, Kagan wrote: “With its policy tools broken, the Bush administration can sit around isolated for the next year. Or it can seize the initiative, and do the next administration a favor, by opening direct talks with Tehran.”

British teacher released from Sudanese jail By Janet Stobart Los Angeles Times

LONDON — British schoolteacher Gillian Gibbons plans to get back to the classroom once she finishes celebrating her release from a Sudanese jail. “I’ll be looking for a job,” she said Tuesday morning during a news conference after her arrival at London’s Heathrow Airport, where she met by her overjoyed son and daughter, John and Jessica. Gibbons, a primar y school teacher from the northern town of Liverpool, was sentenced to jail by a Sudanese court for insulting Islam, in an incident involving a teddy bear. She couldn’t stop smiling as she told reporters she was “very glad to be back and a little shocked at the media attention I have been getting.” Her release came after tense negotiations between two British members of the House of Lords and the Sudanese government. “It has been an ordeal but I would like you to know I was well-treated in prison and everybody was very kind to me,” she said. “I’m just an ordinary middle-aged teacher in search of adventure, and I got a bit more of an adventure than I bargained for.” Her ordeal began when she asked her class at the Unity Primary School in Khartoum, which teaches a Western curriculum to mainly Muslim children, to name a teddy bear that would then be used as a sort of roving ambassador, sending messages to children in other countries. Her class of 7-year-olds chose to name the bear Muhammad. Complaints of sacrilege for taking the name of Islam’s prophet in vain reached the government. Such an offense is punishable by a prison sentence, a fine and 40 lashes, according to hard-line Muslim officials. Despite receiving support from parents and children at the school, Gibbons was arrested Nov. 28 and charged with insulting Islam. She was sentenced to 15 days in prison. The case prompted thousands of demonstrators to take to the streets of Khartoum, with calls for a sterner sentence, even execution, and a public outcry in Britain, against the absurdity and severity of the Sudanese reaction. Critics included leader of the Muslim Council of Britain — Muhammad Abdul Bari — who called the sentence “a gross overreaction.” He praised the efforts of two British

one

peers who negotiated her release. “There was clearly no intention on the part of the teacher to deliberately insult the Islamic faith. ... We are glad this has finally been recognized.” Lord Nazir Ahmed, a Labor Party peer, and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, a Conservative, met with Sudanese officials and President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir, who granted Gibbons a presidential pardon. The two mediators told the BBC that the two-day negotiations seesawed between hope and concern. “As we set off, we had been presented with some hope from the Sudanese authorities,” Sayeeda Warsi said. When they arrived Saturday, the day after street riots in Khartoum, “we found very quickly that the tables had turned and from a situation from where we were asking for a lady to be released early, we were faced with a situation where there were calls for a re-trial and possibly a much tougher sentence.” There were very clear divisions within the government with hardliners calling for a retrial and newspaper headlines shouting “Shoot This Woman,” Lord Ahmed said on BBC’s 24 hour news. “Others were saying `This is an embarrassment, we need to honor our word.’ “ “It is an unusual case which came about as a misunderstanding which was not managed well in the early stages and then it got out of hand and when it became a court case,” said Dr. Khalid al Mubarak, media spokesman at the Sudanese Embassy in London. “If the government intervened in the legal process, there would be an outcry and people would say, ‘They haven’t got an independent judiciary.’ If they did not intervene, people would say, ‘Look at them, how they treat someone who went there to help in order to teach their children.’ ” Mubarak insisted that the pardon was a logical step by the president after the judiciary had imposed a minimum sentence. “She had no idea what she was doing, we are convinced of that,” he said. Gibbons herself was eager to stress she had no quarrel with the Sudanese and enjoyed her time there until her arrest. Although her eight days in custody left her more than terrified, she would encourage anybody to go work there. “In fact I know of a lovely school that needs a new Year Two teacher,” she joked to reporters at the airport.

E ditorial & L etters Page 10

wednesday, December 5, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Staf f Editorial

Signing off Brown students are inclined to focus their attention on world issues, and they should. Thanks to newsfeed aggregators, text message news alerts and pervasive Internet access, it’s easier than ever to keep abreast of national and international news. But one constituency is at risk of going unheard: the local community. That’s where The Herald comes in. Reporting about the Brown community is our top priority. Without us, a daily record of life on this campus wouldn’t exist. Updates on ambiguous administration initiatives like internationalization and student thoughts on gender-neutral bathrooms may not interest ambitious Brown students as much as strife in a distant land, but what happens here matters too. Local issues and institutional matters at Brown affect us as much as decisions made on Capitol Hill. College students today can more easily influence the world outside of their Ivory Tower, using media and the Internet to take national and global leadership positions previously out of their reach. But let’s not forget that it’s not just this time in our lives but the unique campus environment that is a testing ground for our ideas and ability to act on them. The most successful student efforts localize global issues, whether calling for city and University divestment from Sudan, advocating for affordable housing in Rhode Island, drawing student attention to pro-democracy protests in Burma or promoting improved energy efficiency in our classrooms and dorms. Even curricular changes and financial aid policies, while they may not seem earth-shattering to most of us, deserve our attention. But after 122 issues and nearly a calendar year at the helm of The Brown Daily Herald, it’s time for us to step down. Bringing you the news hasn’t always been easy. As a campus newspaper, we have heightened accountability to our readers, and we can’t hide behind the veneer of an impenetrable institution. When we mess up, you tell us about it — sometimes in person, as we’re rushing to class. Not to mention balancing all-nighters, schoolwork and stacks of pizza boxes with an impossibly nocturnal schedule. Yet while it’s our responsibility to cover this dynamic community, it’s also our privilege. We’ve enjoyed chronicling the 244th year in the University’s history, and it’s hard to say goodbye. Thanks for reading.

Eric Beck ’08, Editor-in-Chief Mary-Catherine Lader ’08, Editor-in-Chief Stephen Colelli ’08, Executive Editor Allison Kwong ’08, Executive Editor Ben Leubsdorf ’08, Executive Editor Jonathan Sidhu ’08.5, Senior Editor Anne Wootton ’08.5, Senior Editor

Letters

frances choi

Dining Services reneges on late-night bonuses To the Editor: Three years ago, when the Gate and Josiah’s extended their hours to 2 a.m., there was concern on campus for Dining Services student employees who would be kept at work so late. Dining Services addressed these concerns by offering students bonuses of $75 per semester per late night shift. However, despite promises made to student employees at the start of the semester, Dining Services does

not plan to give the late night bonuses due to alleged budget shortfalls. As a dedicated student worker, I find this both disappointing and unfair. Student employees feel misled by Dining Services officials, who maintain that there was no written agreement to give bonuses. Dining Services should reverse its decision and honor its commitment to its student workers. Deborah Saint-Vil ’10 Dec. 4

U. only partly responsible for free AIDS testing To the Editor:

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

production Steve DeLucia Catherine Cullen Roxanne Palmer

Design Editor Copy Desk Chief Graphics Editor

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

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

Phil Maynard, Steve DeLucia, Designers Ted Lamm, Ben Mercer, Fariha Ali, Copy Editors Isabel Gottlieb, Scott Lowenstein, 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, Noura Choudhury, Joy Chua, Patrick Corey, Catherine Goldberg, Olivia Hoffman, Erika Jung, Ben Hyman, 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, Leslie Primack, Sonia Saraiya, Andrea Savdie, Caroline Sedano, Marielle Segarra, Melissa Shube, Jenna Stark, Catherine Straut, 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

While I have no complaints about the content of the recent article regarding on-campus World AIDS Day events, I must object to its headline (“U. to offer free HIV testing today, Nov. 30”). Yes, the testing event was funded by generous donations from various University offices and departments, but in order to test a maximum number of people, student groups — namely the Brown chapter of the Global Alliance to Immunize against AIDS and Queer Alliance — also had to contribute. Furthermore, the actual testing was graciously performed by AIDS Care Ocean State staff, who are unaffiliated with and not paid by the University. To wholly attribute the

offering of free HIV testing to the University is simply not the whole story. GAIA organizes these free testing days — and will continue to do so — with the hope that one day we will not have to. That said, I urge the University to consider eliminating — or at the very least, substantially lowering — the $25 fee for an HIV test through Health Services. The fact that 118 students were tested last Friday should be evidence enough that there exists a considerable demand for this imperative health service. Jeanne Tong ‘10 GAIA@Brown Co-president Dec. 2

U. should install bike shelters To the Editor: If you live in Graduate Center like I do, you must notice the many bikes locked up along the ramp or in the adjacent bike racks on the terrace, exposed to the elements. My bike was there, too, until said elements rusted my lock shut (thankfully, the last time I got it open was in getting my bike off the rack). Now my cumbersome bike sits awkwardly in my room, taking up much-needed space. But what choice do I have? Grad Center has no indoor bike rooms, so residents are forced to store their bikes outside. Has Brown never seen a problem in this? Before my lock kicked the bucket, my bike was outside 24/7, and it wasn’t long before the first instances of rust made their presence known. I did bring my bike in during the longer breaks, but I can’t be expected to bring it

inside at every sign of rain. If the University would just install a simple overhanging shelter that would protect the bikes from rain, sleet, snow, etc., my fellow bike owners and I would not have this problem of seeing our investments deteriorate day by day. This shelter would be useful for outdoor bike racks campus-wide, but the need for one at Grad Center is especially pressing due to the aforementioned lack of indoor bike rooms. The 30-some Grad Center bike owners, judging by the number of bikes on the Grad Center terrace, would be grateful to have one. Winter break is an opportune time to build, before the slush storms of February have a chance to take their toll. Kevin Neal ’09 Dec. 4

C O R R E C T I O N S P olicy The Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible. Corrections may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication. C ommentary P O L I C Y The staff editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial board of The Brown Daily Herald. The editorial viewpoint does not necessarily reflect the views of The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Columns, letters and comics reflect the opinions of their authors only. L etters to the E ditor P olicy Send letters to letters@browndailyherald.com. Include a telephone number with all letters. The Herald reserves the right to edit all letters for length and cannot assure the publication of any letter. Please limit letters to 250 words. Under special circumstances writers may request anonymity, but no letter will be printed if the author’s identity is unknown to the editors. Announcements of events will not be printed. advertising P olicy The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. reserves the right to accept or decline any advertisement at its discretion.

O pinions Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Page 11

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

From Adam’s rib to Hillary’s campaign BY LINDSEY MEYERS Opinions Columnist OXFORD, England — Every president has had his First Lady. The question now is whether Hillary will have Bill as her First Man. This issue is as new as today’s headlines and as ancient as the competition between the sexes itself. Ever since Eve, men have been concerned about women equaling or surpassing them. According to some, that’s why there are contradictory biblical accounts of Eve’s creation in Genesis. At first, the Bible suggests that Eve and Adam are equals — simultaneously created by God. Later, it indicates that Eve is created from Adam’s rib and is subordinate to him. This ‘tempts’ some to conclude that the second Genesis story is an afterthought meant to impose the inferiority of women as the ‘second sex.’ More than that, it suggests that men define women by subordinating and criticizing them. Hence, Eve who gives humanity the gift of knowledge is condemned instead as the cause of all sin. In some respects Hillary is like a modern Eve, since male criticism of her falls into two categories. Either she is a reconstituted version of her husband Bill’s failed policies, or she represents the original sin of Democratic Party politics — a failing some say can only be redeemed by the progressive policies of men such as Barack Obama or John Edwards. So, like Eve, Hillary is either fashioned from Adam’s rib (a mere political appendage to Bill) or the source of original sin (the singular representation of everything evil in the Democratic Party).

Why does the prospect of a female president seem to be a source of consternation for some men, even if they happen to be presidential candidates who otherwise claim to embrace feminism like Obama and Edwards? The answer, it seems, is that it is one thing for them to support women’s rights in the abstract, but quite another when Hillary exercises those rights to lead them in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

his steadfast liberal commitment. These attacks have taken a toll on Hilary’s campaign. And as Hillary’s lead in the polls seems to be diminishing as a result, one imagines that the attacks of Obama and Edwards against Hillary will become ever more robust in the future. Though no one, not even the most ardent Hillary supporter, should demand that Hillary be exempt from the rough and tumble of

Though no one would demand that Hillary be exempt from the rough and tumble of politics because she is a woman, we must remember that as a woman, she faces a political Catch-22. At first, Edwards and Obama were restrained in their attacks against Hillary. But now they realize they can’t catch Hillary unless they slow her down first. Seeing this, they have begun slinging mud at Hillary with the gusto of schoolyard bullies at recess. In fact, as the Democrats race to Iowa, Obama and Edwards are using rhetoric of contrast to distinguish themselves from Hillary. In an attempt to portray Hillary as politically calculating, Obama trumpets his willingness to openly tell the people the truth. And Edwards attacks Hillary’s credibility by contrasting her inconsistency on political issues with

politics because she is a woman, we must remember that as a woman she faces a political Catch-22 in responding to these criticisms. To understand why, consider what Lisa Belkin regards as the conundrum all women face, whether they are working 9-to-5 jobs or running for president (“Feminist Critique,” New York Times, Nov. 1). If Hillary, or any working woman, is too passive in responding to criticism, she will fall prey to what Belkin calls the feminine “gender stereotype” of being weak. However, if Hillary is too combative in her response, she, like all women, “will be seen as too tough and too unfeminine,”

according to the research Belkin cites in her article. The result is that Hillary faces a significant political disadvantage. She must walk a political tightrope between submissiveness and aggression, while Obama and Edwards are given freer latitude to express what Belkin calls traditionally “male” attributes such as aggression and ambition when they attack her. Though Hillary is a remarkably adept politician, her sometimes less than stellar performance in responding to these criticisms suggests just how difficult it is for her, as for any working woman, to walk this tightrope. Given this gender imbalance, I cannot help but think of another “Adam’s Rib” — the classic movie in which Hepburn and Tracy play a “perfect married couple,” until they meet as opposing lawyers in court. In their courtroom battle of the sexes, Hepburn requests leniency for her client saying, “For years, women have been ridiculed, pampered, chucked under the chin. I ask you, on behalf of us all, be fair to the fair sex.” As she does, Tracy’s character, aptly named Adam, smirks and mutters under his breath, “We’ll be here a year.” With the presidential election almost a year away, some men are no doubt muttering similar thoughts to themselves about Hillary’s campaign. However, most women have a different perspective. Though we recognize that “playing nice” is not the mantra for politics, we want Hillary and all the members of our fairer sex to be treated fairly. I may not support Hillary, but I do think everyone should demand a Democratic primary process untainted by unfair gender politics.

Lindsey Meyers ’09 thinks gender equality is more important than party politics.

It’s time to be idealistic, again BY SCOTT WARREN Guest Columnist In the last three years, I have written seven op-eds in The Herald concerning the genocide in Darfur. This one will be the hardest to write. It has nothing to do with five semesters of college classes deteriorating my writing skills. And sadly, Darfur still provides plenty of writing material. But rather, it’s hard to write this column because in the last three years, the situation in Darfur has only worsened. A once internationally hailed peace agreement is acknowledged as a complete failure. The Sudanese government is showing opposition to an eminent United Nations peacekeeping force. The Janjaweed militia groups are still attacking civilians, who are being displaced at record numbers. The International Crisis Group notes that “violence is again increasing, access for humanitarian agencies is decreasing, international peacekeeping is not yet effective and a political settlement remains far off.” People are still dying. And, worst of all, the situation has spilled into the rest of the country, as a landmark Comprehensive Peace Agreement between North and South Sudan is in danger of falling apart. If things don’t change, Sudan — already considered the world’s most failed country — will be in a state beyond repair. When I arrived on College Hill in September 2005, activism around the issue was just starting to heat up. As idealistic as a Brown first-year can be, I was convinced that student efforts could — and would — end the genocide. Working with members of the Darfur Action Network, we organized a massive lobbying campaign aimed at then-Senator Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., held rallies, sent angry e-mails to officials until Brown and the city of Providence divested from Sudan, participated

in die-ins and held town hall meetings. We literally saturated the campus with Darfur awareness and action. Two and a half years later, while the situation is the same, my mentality is not. While I’m now the national student director of STAND, a student anti-genocide coalition organizing over 800 high schools and colleges throughout the world, I have found myself at a loss for what students should do next. I sometimes feel as jaded as a life-long Chicago Cubs fan. When are we going to end this thing? While some point to the fact that movements, from Civil Rights to Apartheid, take a long time, I don’t buy that argument for two main reasons. First, with all due respect

action in Darfur. I’m not mentioning these as huge successes — while genocide is still going on, we’re ultimately failing. I’m citing these as proof of what activists in this movement can accomplish. It floors me. Today, we will continue that trend. Student activists at over 800 schools representing 50 states and 11 different countries are taking matters into their own hands. If our government is not protect civilians in Darfur, we will. Students will be fasting from a luxury good, such as coffee, chocolate or cigarettes, and donating the money they would have spent to the Genocide Intervention Network’s innovative Civilian Protection Program. All of the money collected today will go to protect

If 800 schools simultaneously taking action around the world for Darfur doesn’t inspire you, what the hell does? to the movements of yesteryear, people are dying right now in Darfur. We cannot afford for this to be a long, drawn-out movement. Second, my growing cynicism has nothing to do with the activists behind this movement. This movement has been absolutely unprecedented. Thousands of Americans now care about a conflict occurring thousands of miles away. We’ve gotten robust sanctions, divested more than 50 universities and 22 states from companies facilitating genocide in Sudan and led a campaign that has sparked China to take

civilians in Darfur by establishing firewood patrols outside of the camps, preventing countless rapes and attacks that occur when Darfuri women travel outside of these camps to collect firewood to cook food for their families. Students have spearheaded this effort, which will undoubtedly save lives and raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Civilian Protection Program. While this will make a difference, I also completely acknowledge it won’t stop the genocide. And while most days I feel more

like a cynical 40-year-old than a bushy-tailed 20 year old, there is hope for Darfur. Like a jaded Cubs fan, I’m not giving up hope, but rather going after that $200 million free agent. It’s all or nothing, baby. There is no next year. DarfurFast will show millions across the world how much students care about Darfur. In the next year, we need to show the world that it’s now or never. The United States government absolutely must make this issue a priority. While President Bush showed a surprising interest in Sudan early in his administration, he is now spending more time replacing administration officials than taking action to stop genocide. And the current U.S. envoy to Sudan is a part-time Georgetown professor who is probably spending more time creating finals for his classes than he is on focusing on the impending United Nations force in Sudan. So, President Bush and Congress, follow the lead of the students. Appoint a full-time envoy to the region. Fund the peacekeepers in Sudan. Organize a multi-lateral diplomatic effort to secure peace. Ensure that Sudan has democratic elections in 2009. Make ending genocide in Darfur a priority! I’m treating today like opening day. I’m fasting from cynicism and retaining my idealism. Because if 800 schools simultaneously taking action around the world for Darfur doesn’t inspire you, what the hell does? Today, I’m realizing that activists have the potential to end genocide in Darfur this year. Today, I’m hopeful. Today, I want to feel like a 20 year old again. Today, I hope that you’ll join me in fasting, donating to the Civilian Protection Program and ensuring that we make this the year to end genocide. Because, at the end of the day, I don’t want to be a Cubs fan. I want to be a 2004 Red Sox fan.

Scott Warren ’09 urges you to donate to Darfur at Darfur Action Network tables located at the Ratty or the PO.

S ports W ednesday Page 12

wednesday, December 5, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

M. hoops slows down quicker Quinnipiac in OT By Stu Woo Sports Editor

Twice at home this season, the men’s basketball team has been bullied by opposing teams. The University of Rhode Island and Wagner College, both more athletic squads, out-muscled Brown for rebounds and darted in passing lanes for steals as the Bears lost to both. The positives from the losses? The Bears went to school. On Monday night, they proved they learned their lesson by beating another team respected for its quickness — Quinnipiac University — 86-79 in an overtime game in Connecticut. Scott Friske ’09 hit two free throws to tie the game at 74-74 with 1:14 left in regulation, and the Bears dominated in the extra period. Mark McAndrew ’08 scored five of his team-high 21 points in overtime, and Damon Huffman ’08 hit a 3-pointer to go along with his 18 points. DeMario Anderson scored a game-high 22 points for Quinnipiac, which fell to 2-4. The Bears, now 4-3 overall, won with rebounding, though the Bobcats still had a 40-31 edge in the category. And though the Bears turned the ball over 14 times, they also forced 20. Head Coach Craig Robinson said playing URI and Wagner helped prepare the Bears to contain a quick team. “We played those other teams already, so we had an idea of what

Daydreams from the sporting world

we needed to do and of what we did wrong (previously),” Robinson said. Until overtime, the game was a back-and-forth affair with 14 lead changes. In the first half, the Bears kept pace with the Bobcats with early 3-pointers, hitting six of their first seven attempts from beyond the arc. The Bears took a 31-25 lead with 4:35 to play in the half and went into the intermission with a 38-36 lead. Brown came out re-energized at the start of the new half, going on a 13-3 run. But it quickly lost that edge as Quinnipiac went on a 22-6 run to take a 63-57 lead with less than nine minutes left. “I actually think we got tired there,” said Robinson, taking the blame for leaving players in too long. “When you’re on the road, you try to go with your starters for as long as you can.” Brown came back to tie the game at 70-70 with 3:46 left. Then, with the Bobcats leading 74-72, Friske was fouled and hit those two free throws to tie the game. The Bobcats had a chance to win, but Matt Mullery ’10 blocked a layup attempt at the other end. After McAndrew missed a 3-pointer, Friske, who had a game-high nine rebounds, pulled down an offensive board to give the Bears one more chance at the last shot, but Huffman’s Ashley Hess / Herald File Photo

continued on page 6

Scott Friske ’09 filled up the box score again as the Bears quieted Quinnipiac.

Swimming and diving make a splash at Big Al Open By Erin Frauenhofer Sports Editor

The first splash of the season was a big one for the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams. Over the weekend, the Bears competed at the Big Al Open, hosted by Princeton. The men’s squad claimed third place overall, and the women’s squad finished seventh. On the men’s side, Brown tallied

a total of 554 points, behind firstplace finisher Penn State, which had a total of 1,065, and second-place finisher Princeton, who had a total of 792.5. “From top to bottom, we swam incredibly well as a team,” said Kevin Hug ’08. “This is by far the strongest team we have had in my four years at Brown, which gets me very excited for the rest of the season.” On Friday, Hug, Brian Kelly ’08,

Tucker Wetmore ’10 and Daniel Ricketts ’09 gave Brown a secondplace finish in the meet’s opening event, the 400 meter freestyle relay, with a time of 1:22.68. Later that day, Hug, Conor Carlucci ’11, Ricketts and Kelly captured third place in the 400 meter medley relay with a time of 3:22.98. The Bears continued their strong relay performances the next day, starting with the 200 meter medley

relay. Zack Levko ’10, Carlucci, Richard Alexander ’09 and Trent Huxley ’10 took fifth place in 1:34.93, while the Bears’ second team of Ryunosuke Kikuchi ’11, Grant Garcia ’08, JD Pinto ’10 and Wetmore took sixth place in 1:35.21. The Bears closed the day with the 800 meter freestyle relay, where Ricketts, Kelly, Alexander and Hug continued on page 8

Cards don’t fall for wrestling at Las Vegas Invitational By Han Cui Sports Staff Writer

The wrestling team had a tough and disappointing tournament at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational last weekend. None of Brown’s 10 wrestlers advanced to the second day of the tournament. The team finished with 16 points, putting it 35th out of 50 schools. The Bears compete in the Cliff Keen Invitational annually in what is usually their most competitive tournament of the season. The University of Michigan, ranked 10th nationally, took the tournament title with 127.5 points. Other Big Ten and Big 12 schools, such as the Ohio State University and the University of Missouri, followed close behind. Three other Ivy League schools also competed in the tournament. The University of Pennsylvania finished with the most points of the three with 52, tied for 14th place. Harvard finished 20th with 39 points and Columbia finished 27th with 22.5 points. Despite the Bears’ unlucky draw — eight of the 10 Bears faced a seeded opponent in their first match —

Ashley Hess / Herald File Photo

The wrestling team struggled in Las Vegas with only Jeff Schell ’08 advancing to the round of 16.

Head Coach Dave Amato was still displeased with the team’s overall performance. “I was very disappointed with the team. We lost six matches in a row on Saturday. Had we won, we would have remained in the tournament on Sunday,” Amato said. In the 133-pound weight class, tri-captain Jeff Schell ’08 advanced into the round of 16 before being

eliminated. Schell defeated his first round opponent, Blayze Bahe of University of North Colorado, with a major decision of 12-0. He then won a close match against the No. 12 seed Todd Schavrien of Arizona State University, 5-3. But in the third round, Schell was stopped by the No. 5 seed Reece Humphrey from Ohio State and lost 15-2. In his wrestleback match, Schell could not pull

out a win against Nick Murray of Virginia Tech and lost 3-2, ending his tournament. Schell said he expected to be matched against “the toughest kids in the country,” but he was determined to win “no matter who the opponent is.” Levon Mock ’08, Matt Gevelinger ’09 and Mark Bloom ’09 were the only other Bears to win two matches in the tournament. The Cliff Keen Invitational is the last tournament of the season before the dual meets begin. Schell said the team needs to “take it up a notch” from here on. “This is when the real competition begins,” he said. “We all need to step up our game and win for the team.” The team will travel to Texas to compete in the Lone Star Duals in January. The Bears will wrestle four duals back-to-back against University of North Carolina, Utah Valley State University, University of Wisconsin and the United States Air Force Academy. “The team needs to make a big jump between now and January,” Amato said.

Rather than complain about the ineptitude that is Isiah Thomas, pretend to care about college football (they’re still using the BCS, wtf, mate?) or write about the Patriots’ league, aka the NFL, I’d like to take Tom Trudeau this opportunity to Tru Story share some of my most common sports daydreams. I know we all have them, so here are mine. Daydream No. 1: I am an 80 percent 3-point shooter from anywhere within 30 feet. I can be fading away, with a man in my face, but as long as I don’t get blocked I drain 4-of-5 every single time. Anything more than 80 percent somehow ruins the daydream, because it seems too unrealistic, which is ridiculous considering the best 3-point shooters connect on around 40 percent of their attempts. The part of the daydream that is fun is trying to decide if my sharp shooting would make up for my lack of average athleticism, let alone NBA athleticism, which would make me the biggest liability in NBA history at every other aspect of basketball. Would I ever be able to get a shot off without being blocked with Ron Artest chasing me around screens? Would I average less than 15 turnovers per game with Chris Paul stealing the ball every time I put it on the floor? Would my team ever make a defensive stop with me trying to defend Allen Iverson? Daydream No. 2: This is a bit twisted, but I only think about it once a week, I swear. I become David Ortiz for a day. I invite Tom Brady, Kevin Garnett and, recently, Clay Buchholz to dinner — on me. The only variation on the dream is the means by which I effectively end all of their playing careers. Before going to jail for life, I admit, still as Ortiz, to juicing since 2004 and I implicate Curt Schilling as a user as well. Then I lob hand grenades around an empty Fenway Park just to piss off Larry Lucchino and then I become myself again. Daydream No. 3: I am Phil Hughes, only I don’t get traded to the Twins for Johan Santana, and I pitch using the controls from MVP Baseball 2004 for the Xbox. So rather than actually throwing a ball, I simply use a remote control. I doubt many people have ever played MVP Baseball 2004, but let’s just say you can paint corners like Bob Ross in his prime. It’s almost impossible to miss your spots and your breaking balls have the same tight spin on them every time. I would likely win Cy Youngs as long as my fingers can stay healthy and break every record known to man. I could also be the ultimate headhunter/protector of my teammates, with the power to drill an opposing batter anywhere on his head — I mean body. Daydream No. 4: I am not a huge tool. I don’t know who the Golden State Warriors selected with their second round pick in 2001. I get back hundreds of hours of my life that I wasted playing Madden, Gameday, NFL 2k, NFL Blitz, NBA Live, NBA Jam, NBA Street, NBA 2k, NHL ’95, NHL 2k, Wayne Gretzky Hockey, Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball, All-Star Baseball, Baseball Simulator 2000, MVP Baseball, Tiger Woods, Waylay Country Club Golf, Mario Golf, Virtua Tennis, Top Spin and Mario Tennis. Tom Trudeau ’09 can make 18 percent of his 3-point attempts.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Published on Dec 5, 2007

The December 5, 2007 issue of the Brown Daily Herald

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