The Brown Daily Herald M onday, F ebr uar y 4, 2008
Volume CXLIII, No. 9
Since 1866, Daily Since 1891
BEAR Day honors U. employees
Bear follows father’s footsteps In 1991, the New York Giants won the Super Bowl with a DeOssie on their team. Last night, history repeated itself as veteran Brown football player Zak DeOssie ’07, the Giants’ long snapper, won Super Bowl XLII. In 1991, his father, Steve DeOssie P’07 also took to the field with the triumphant team. Zak DeOssie’s jersey — number 51 — was seen on the field as he snapped Giants punter Jeff Feagles four times, but his big play came in the game’s final minutes, when he participated in a crucial tackle against the New England Patriots’ running back Laurence Maroney. With the Patriots down three points with 35 seconds left in the game, Maroney caught the kick at New England’s nine yard line and began a crucial kickoff return. The Giants stymied his progress, limiting his return to only 17 yards and starting the Patriots’ final, and ultimately futile, effort at New England’s 26-yard line. The number 51 flashed across the screen as Maroney went down, and Zak DeOssie contributed to a championship finish. — Franklin Kanin
Hunter to leave, Simmons reveals By Devin Gould Contributing Writer
Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa to a Feb. 12-13 conference held by the Center for Latin American Studies. Ideally, Fehrer said, they would have also met with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, but arranging that meeting was “more complicated” because of the political situation in Venezuela. The conference, “Changes in the Andes: Realities, Challenges,
Brown employees filled the OlneyMargolies Athletic Center Friday to celebrate the fourth annual Brown Employee Appreciation and Recognition Day. In her remarks thanking Brown employees, President Ruth Simmons also announced that Walter Hunter, vice president for administration, plans to step down from his position. “This is an opportunity to honor our exceptional staff,” Simmons said in her remarks to a packed room. “It is an opportunity to say thank you for the hard work that keeps Brown running efficiently and successfully.” Brown employees contribute a total of over seven million hours of work to the University each year, according to a video presentation at the beginning of the event. Simmons honored the over 490 employees who have been at Brown the longest, asking employees commemorating five, 10 and 15 years of service to stand and those marking 20, 25 and over 30 years to join her on the stage. Simmons and Hunter also recognized 28 “excellence award” winners in the categories of citizenship, diversity, efficiency, innovation, managing for excellence, service and “rising star.” The winners, who were selected by a committee of faculty and staff from among 78 nominees, were each given a check for $2,500 and had their photographs taken with Simmons. In her speech, Simmons thanked employees for the roles they played in the University’s successes in the past year — finalizing the BrownRISD dual degree program, pushing the Campaign for Academic Enrichment past the $1 billion mark and completing the implementation of Banner. Simmons took a moment to honor Hunter, the master of ceremonies at the event, who will retire and return to the private sector after more than seven years at Brown. Employees were pleased by the celebration. “It’s nice to be recognized for the job you do day to day,” said James McCurdy, a purchasing agent. McCurdy received an Excellence Award in Innovation for creating a furniture-recycling program that made unused furniture in a given department available to the entire University. Furniture not claimed by anyone within the University was donated to the Providence School System. He estimated that he has saved the University over $100,000. The first BEAR Day was in January 2005, after the Human Resources Advisor y Board and the Staff Advisory Committee began
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Rahul Keerthi / Herald
The New York Giants defeated the New England Patriots Sunday night, 17-14, in a Super Bowl upset.
Giants beat Patriots, students revel anyway By Simon van Zuylen-Wood Senior Staff Writer
Sunday night the New York Giants upset the New England Patriots, 17-14, behind a strong defensive effort and a gutsy performance by quarterback Eli Manning. Manning, whose brother Peyton won Super Bowl XLI with the Indianapolis Colts last year, threw two touchdown passes, including a 13 yarder to receiver Plaxico Burress with 35 seconds left. The Brown campus remained festive all night, even once the home-town team lost, as Giants fans emerged and could be seen high fiving and chest bumping each other.
Brown students, despite living in Patriots country, seemed divided about the game. The brothers of Delta Tau, watching the game on a projection screen, were up off their seats after every big play. When the Giants’ Manning fumbled the ball in the second quarter, half the room erupted in cheers. When a teammate recovered seconds later, the other half roared back. Delta Tau brother and Giants fan Sean Kotkin ’09 seemed pleased with Manning and had confidence in his team, but wasn’t impressed with half-time act Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. “The half-time show wasn’t too good — nothing memorable,” Kot-
kin said. Down the hall, Sigma Chi set up couches, five televisions and a projection screen for the big game. The fraternity also hired two exotic dancers and supplied beer out of an ice-filled garbage can. Guests were encouraged by Sigma Chi members to throw dollar bills at the dancers throughout their performance, which lasted the duration of the official half-time show. The show was an “eleven out of ten on the enjoyment scale,” said Jeremy Harper ’11, a guest at the party. Sigma Chi President Matt Bubley continued on page 6
Stone fired at student in Rock, breaking glass Shooter was in a passing car; no one hurt By Michael Bechek News Editor
A rock fired from a slingshot in a passing car hit the window next to where a student was studying in Rockefeller Library Saturday night, making a small hole in the window but failing to penetrate the thick glass. The student was unharmed, but the shot, which occurred shortly before 7 p.m., briefly created a scene when half a dozen police cars arrived and officers closed off George Street for 20 minutes between Prospect Street and Benefit Street in search of a bullet casing, treating the incident as a possible gunshot. Between 6:45 and 6:50 p.m., the student was sitting on the library’s lower level near carrel 67, facing George Street, when he was startled by the shot, he told The Herald. He added that he was a sophomore but declined to give his name. “All of a sudden I heard this really loud impact,” the student said, the result of which was a small hole, “kind of like a bullet
hole.” Sergeant Robert Enos of the Department of Public Safety said the student had also reported seeing “an orange flash” at the time of the shot. The student told The Herald he was so “shaken up” that he briefly “started reading again.” But he left the library shortly afterward and returned to his room, where he told his roommates what happened. He then returned to the library with friends and decided that he should report the incident. DPS received a call at 9:10 p.m., Enos said, and arrived in front of the library within minutes. The student said he was feeling much better once police had determined that the weapon fired was a powerful slingshot of some kind and not a gun. “It’s an interesting way to spend a Saturday night,” he said. There were no other students nearby on the library’s lower level at the time the shot was fired, said Jeffrey Sanford ’10, who said he spoke to the student about the incident when he returned to the library. “He was the only one down there,” Sanford said. Other people studying in the library were not alerted of what had
Note by note Organist James David Christie tickles the keys ARTS & CULTURE in Sayles Hall
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CAMPUS NEWS
Courtesy of abi.bo
Former Rhode Island Sen. Lincoln Chafee ‘75 with Bolivian President Evo Morales.
CLAS invites Latino leaders By Joanna Wohlmuth Senior Staff Writer
This winter break, a graduate student packed her bags and headed to South America to meet with some foreign heads of state. Kendra Fehrer GS and former Sen. Lincoln Chafee ’75, a visiting fellow at the Watson Institute for International Studies, went to South America to personally invite Bolivian President Evo Morales and
Dark Matters Associate Professor of Physics Richard Gaitskell is going underground to find dark matter
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OPINIONS
Fine Print Jonah Fabricant ‘10 argues the FDA does the public a disservice when it comes to truth in advertising
195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island
tomorrow’s weather The sky may cry Tuesday because it, too, didn’t get into Mande Dance
rainy, 45 / 36 News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com
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Monday, February 4, 2008
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Menu
But Seriously | Charlie Custer and Stephen Barlow
Sharpe Refectory
Verney-Woolley Dining Hall
Lunch — BBQ Beef Sandwich, CreoleMixed Vegetables, Pancakes, French Toast, Tater Tots
Lunch — Buffalo Wings with Bleu Cheese Dressing, Baked Macaroni & Cheese, Stewed Tomatoes, Butterscotch Cookies
Dinner — Rotisserie Style Chicken, Italian Couscous, Artichokes with Stewed Tomatoes & Wine, Green Beans
Dinner — Pizza Supper Pie, Tortellini Angelica, Roasted Herb Potatoes, Spinach with Lemon, Carrots in Orange Sauce
Sudoku
Dunkel | Joe Larios
Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.
Enigma Twist | Dustin Foley
RELEASE DATE– Monday, February 4, 2008
© Puzzles by Pappocom
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle o ssw or d Lewis Edited by C RichrNorris and Joyce Nichols
ACROSS 1 Nearly boil 6 Kind of school 10 The “m” in E = mc2 14 CD reader 15 Sly look 16 Choir member 17 Persian, today 18 Comfort 19 “You’re putting __!” 20 Goldilocks had a taste from his bowl 22 What hunters hunt 24 Underwear logo 25 Airport area concerned with contraband 26 “When is a door not a door?,” e.g. 30 Middle Corleone brother 31 Jordan neighbor 32 Place for space cadets? 36 Pleased 37 “Spare” meat 38 Eins plus zwei 39 Crazy about 42 Gloomy 44 “... friend is __ you give yourself”: Stevenson 45 Takes by force 46 Mountain chains 49 Buddy 50 Mounted the soapbox 51 “Saturday Night Live” character who introduced herself with “Hewwo” 56 Jeans pioneer Strauss 57 One needing tech support 59 Without face value, as stock 60 Individuals 61 H.S. science class 62 Tee shot 63 Home out on a limb 64 Talk show host Banks 65 Gives the nod to DOWN 1 Error
2 See 47-Down 3 Pronto, to execs 4 Singer Horne 5 Bounce the basketball 6 Beg 7 Stern, at sea 8 Some Caltech grads 9 “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace,” for one 10 1970 #1 hit for Three Dog Night 11 Last new Olds 12 Rainout cause 13 PlayStation and Walkman 21 Stunt biker Knievel 23 Meat-inspecting gp. 25 Bisque crustacean 26 Mrs. Peel portrayer Diana 27 Cuba, to Cubans 28 Pull along the ground 29 Arp or Duchamp 30 Coquette 33 Wall St. figures
34 Nair rival 35 Board members: Abbr. 37 Ring arbiters 40 Storybook monster 41 Railroad bridge 42 Shipboard mop 43 Disney World city 46 Athenian lawgiver 47 With 2-Down, “Fame” singer
48 House overhangs 49 Cheese city in northeast Italy 51 Microbrewery product 52 Nine-to-five routine 53 Samoan seaport 54 Like Pringles Original chips 55 Greek war god 58 A little short, as of money
Gus vs. Them | Zachary McCune and Evan Penn
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Free Variation | Jeremy Kuhn
xwordeditor@aol.com
2/4/08
Classic Nightmarishly Elastic | Adam Robbins
By Mike Torch (c)2008 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
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A rts & C ulture Monday, February 4, 2008
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Christie’s organ recital features the Baroque and Romantica By Rafael Chaiken Contributing Writer
Rahul Keerthi / Herald
The Liz Lerman Dance Exchange Residency culminated in a performance of “613 Radical Acts of Prayer” yesterday.
Lerman transforms meaning of dance
By Andrea Savdie Assistant Arts & Culture Editor
Choreographer Liz Lerman concluded her two-week residency at Brown yesterday with an intense performance that challenged the definition of dance. In a packed show at Ashamu Dance Studio, Lerman posed basic questions — “Who gets to dance? Where is the dance happening? What is it about? Why does it matter?” By exploring these questions, participants in the residency created this final performance. As the audience settled onto colorful pillows scattered throughout the studio floor, the dancers warmed up on the stage, hinting at the show’s unconventional nature. Their appearances and attire were far from uniform. While a crowd of dancers prepared center stage — some in leotards and sweatpants, others in prints and skirts — an older man in a suit and tie, his white hair combed back neatly, stretched and then did push-ups in a corner. At the far end of the stage, a cluster of young girls practiced AfricanAmerican step dancing. Lerman surveyed the scene from a seat in the front of the audience, coming forward to introduce the show. In the space of an hour, the performance explored a wide range of human experience, from the tragic to the spiritual. It was both multidisciplinar y and inclusive, based on the idea that everyone has a story to tell and a different way of telling it. The performance blended modern dance, interpretive movement, percussion beats and African-American stepping. Often accompanied by spoken word, the dances incorporated simple props, including stones, books and rags, keeping the focus on the dancers and their narratives. The opening piece, an excerpt from a performance about human rights that Lerman created for Harvard Law School, was based on Clea Koff’s book “The Bone Woman.” Combining recorded narration with dance movements, it tells the story of an archaeologist on a mission to unearth the bones of genocide victims in Rwanda. The dancers were sprawled on the floor so that they appeared lifeless, decaying and mistreated — bones destined to be touched and examined by forensic anthropologists in a futile attempt to under-
stand the personalities, emotions and voices that had once given them life. Moving to percussive beats, a dancer who was meant to portray the archaeologist lifted and examined the “bones,” haunted by the atrocities that placed them there. Following the piece, Lerman read some of the correspondence with Har vard Law School that preceded the human rights performance. She was accompanied by a dance piece that featured four performers sitting in chairs facing away from the audience and clasping their backs as they struggled with what seemed to be imprisonment and excruciating physical pain. Another dancer performed a piece behind them in which he fought to rise but continued to collapse loudly onto the hard floor. This part of the performance dealt with the incomprehensible topic of genocide — its victims and its perpetrators — and was undoubtedly the most tragic. The dances that followed represented the culmination of the work that made up the two-week residency, during which individual stories and prayers were shared and collected to create gestures and movements. One especially provoking piece perfectly conveyed the performance’s overall purpose. It involved phrases and words taken from past events that comprised Lerman’s ongoing project “613 Radical Acts of Prayer.” The dancers gathered in separate clusters on the stage and through spoken words, gestures and movements, conveyed personal and ideological struggles. A girl contemplated two different stones, repeating the phrase, “You ask me to choose, but I cannot choose,” while another dancer used extravagant and loud gestures as he recited, “It’s not radicalism, it’s fundamentalism.” Simultaneously another dancer organized rags, containing scribbled prayers, on
the floor with redundant motions, reading off their contents. As the words and movements overlapped and blended with increasing intensity, the piece began to resemble the chaos of the human mind. The other pieces appeared more as memoirs. A male dancer spoke of the ultimate college challenge — choosing a major. Starting off with political science, he worked his way down the list to literary arts, getting a few laughs from the audience in an otherwise serious performance. Another performer sang fragments of gospel songs as he recounted a day he found his family singing in tears. In an upbeat part of the performance, younger girls described their houses — from their bedrooms and living rooms to flat-screen TVs and stuffed animals — as they step-danced around benches dispersed on the stage. At times synchronized and at times chaotic, the dances juxtaposed individual prayer and inner struggle with social action and collective solidarity. The show’s attempt to cover a wide range of themes in a short period of time was both its weakness and its strength. With such a strong emphasis on storytelling, the show became slightly melodramatic. But overall, the performance gripped and inspired viewers, demonstrating that anyone’s story is worth being told. As Lerman frequently says, “Everyone can dance.”
James David Christie delivered the annual E. J. Lownes Memorial Organ Recital Sunday afternoon in Sayles Hall, demonstrating that a top-notch concert need not include composers with household names. He performed the hour-long recital without an intermission, assuring the good-sized audience that it would be finished in time for the Super Bowl. Christie’s program was divided into two sections, the first containing Baroque and early music and the second containing more recent Romantic music. The concert opened with Charles Piroye’s “La Beatitude,” from 1711. The piece’s quiet interludes contrasted with its exuberant and joyful sections, which made good use of the organ’s trumpets. Another Baroque piece was “Praeludium d-moll” by Georg Bohm, one of J. S. Bach’s teachers. The piece consisted of three parts: a foreboding prelude including an extended pedal solo played without the hands, a traditional fugue — a type of piece centered on a single theme — and a rollicking dance at the end. Christie transitioned to the second part of his program with “Sortie” from J. Guy Ropartz’s “Six Pieces.” By turns thundering and reflective, the piece was strikingly similar to Piroye’s even though it was composed in a different style. Christie used the organ’s swell shutters — wooden slats that open and close to vary the instrument’s volume — to good effect and showcased a variety of sounds. Albert Alain’s “Scherzo” was a change of pace from the rest of the concert. Composed in 1911 as a wedding gift for his wife Madeline, the piece had a humorous and even
slapstick quality. Pipe organs are often seen as Gothic instruments, and Jean Langlais’ “Suite Medievale” showed where this idea comes from. Clearly meant to evoke the Middle Ages, the sometimes-discordant work sounded dark and evil. Christie told the audience that Langlais was one of his major influences, and he played an original composition, “Elegie,” in memory of this famous blind organist. Making use of the instrument’s strings and flutes, Christie performed the contemplative piece with great feeling. It is a rare pleasure to hear music played by its composer, and “Elegie” was the concert’s highlight. The afternoon concluded with the third movement of Alexandre Guilmant’s “Sonata No. 1 in D Minor,” a virtuoso piece originally written for organ and orchestra but transcribed by Christie for organ alone. A Frenchman, Guilmant embarked on an American tour in 1908 during which he played in Providence. James David Christie is the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s organist and teaches at Wellesley College and the Oberlin College Conser vator y of Music. He also leads Ensemble Abendmusik, a period instrument group in Boston. Christie has played concerts in Europe, Asia, North America and Australia. On Feb. 9, Christie will hold an organ master class in Sayles. The event starts at 11 a.m. and is open to the public. Sunday’s concert was presented by the Edgar John Lownes Memorial Day Fund and sponsored by the Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life. The fund was endowed in 1924 by Therese Lownes in memory of her husband, according to Encyclopedia Brunoniana.
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Bolivian and Ecuadorian presidents to visit U. in near future continued from page 1 and Opportunities for Inter-American Relations,” will focus on the democratic transformations taking place in Ecuador, Bolivia and Venezuela. The meeting with Correa never occurred because of evacuations caused by eruptions of Tungurahua — a volcano in central Ecuador — but the pair met with the Foreign Minister of Ecuador instead. They did meet with Morales and other important political figures from Bolivia, Ecuador and the Andean region. “There was a sense of really having a meaningful and significant encounter with the political process in each nation,” Fehrer said. “I think involving Brown in that is fantastic for the University because it puts it on the cutting edge.” Fehrer, who had studied and worked in several Latin American countries before coming to Brown, became involved with the conference through a chance meeting with Associate Professor of History James Green, who is the director of the CLAS. Green approached Fehrer after she expressed interest in Venezuela at a panel event. He then asked if she wanted to organize the conference, Fehrer said. Though none of the three presi-
dents will be able to attend the conference, Morales is expected to visit Brown at the end of February and Correa is expected to make a trip in the next six months, Fehrer said. “People don’t understand how big a deal this is,” Green said. “Brown doesn’t get a lot of heads of state; we get former heads of state.” Green said Morales is an important symbol in Latin America because he is the first fully indigenous head of state in Bolivia, whose population is approximately 60 percent indigenous almost 500 years after Spanish colonization. The “Changes in the Andes” conference will focus on discussing the democratic changes in Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela. “The Andean region is ver y important in Latin America today,” said Ben Brown ’08, assistant to the director of the CLAS. “There is change in how politics is approached starting with the election of Hugo Chavez in 1999.” “We want to have real dialogue especially with controversial issues,” Fehrer said. “The University is a space to discuss ideas in a meaningful way. Most of the conversation around the three countries centers around the presidents. ... The conference brings to light some other issues.”
Scholars, policy makers and diplomats from Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela and the United States will attend the conference, which will feature keynote addresses from the Bolivian, Ecuadorian and Venezuelan ambassadors to the United States. There will be five panel discussions on topics important to the political and social evolution of Latin America today, including discussions of foreign policy, regional and national politics, economic development and utilization of natural resources. Last April, Bernardo Alvarez Herrera, the Venezuelan ambassador to the United States, visited Brown to speak about diplomatic relations between the two countries. During that visit, he met with Chafee and discussed holding a conference with the theme of political change in the Andean region, Green said. “The idea (for the conference) came about through Senator Chafee’s awareness that there were significant changes in Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela that were really poorly represented in the media,” Green said. “The conference brings together scholars and policy makers in those countries to understand and examine the change being made by these governments.”
After the event, a summary of the conference will be published in a book to be accompanied by a policy paper that will hopefully be circulated in Washington, D.C. and abroad, Brown said. Chafee’s political connections have been extremely instrumental in drawing the attention of political figures and the media, Green said. Chafee is widely respected in Latin America because he stood up to Condoleezza Rice in her 2005 confirmation hearings to become Secretary of State after she suggested that the United States might be very aggressive towards Chavez, Green said. Chafee is “well respected for taking a principled stance,” Green added. “Brown has a wonderful ambassador in Senator Chafee.” During his time in the Senate, Chafee served on the Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Peace Corps and Narcotics Affairs. He made numerous trips to Latin America and met with political leaders, including Chavez. Chafee said the conference and the invitations to Chavez, Correa and Morales to visit Brown are part of an effort to build bridges and heal relations. He said that it is hypocritical for the U.S. government to promote democracy around
the world but ignore it when it is on its doorstep. International monitors and the rejection of Chavez’s proposed constitutional referendum last year demonstrate the validity of the democratic process in these nations, Chafee said. “Sometimes the rhetoric can get elevated unnecessarily,” Chafee said. “Ultimately, we might have differences but we have a lot in common.” Latin Americans in general have a poor opinion of the U.S. government and their policies towards the region, Green said. “The conference will help to articulate the willingness of many people in this countr y to be interested in alternatives in Latin America,” Green said. “The Watson Institute is the perfect place (for this dialogue),” Chafee said. “(Brown is) a place of academic open-mindedness with a foundation in international relations. We told (the presidents) that they would be well received and well respected.” The conference could act as a precursor to the initiative, led by Vice President for International Affairs David Kennedy ’76, to create a forum at Brown in which people from around the globe can discuss policy and world issues in an academic setting, Green said.
Rock that damaged window likely came from a slingshot continued from page 1 happened, and the library remained open, a Sterling Security guard on duty outside the library last night said, adding he was not comfortable speaking officially about the matter. A number of students who were outside and saw the police cars, however, had asked what had happened, he said. The library closed at its normal time at 10 p.m. last night. Enos said police had determined that the weapon was probably a “rocket sling shot,” and that the rock was found “in pieces” near where it had hit the window. While a gunshot would have penetrated the glass, Enos said, the hole created by the rock’s impact could only have been made if the perpetrator used a weapon to hurl the rock, such as
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a slingshot. “That’s some pretty thick glass,” Enos said. “In order for that to shatter someone would have had to (use a weapon),” he said. “I don’t even think Roger Clemens could throw it that hard.” The hole, which was still visible around 10 p.m. Saturday night, was about “two inches, an inch” in diameter, Enos said. Officers from the Providence Bureau of Criminal Identification were taking photos inside the library late Saturday night. Reached by phone on Sunday, Enos said DPS, and not the Providence Police, would handle the investigation, and that there were no witnesses or suspects so far. “Nobody saw anything,” he said.
C ampus n ews Monday, February 4, 2008
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i n
Brief
emPOWER fair highlights green products Capping off a week of events promoting clean energy, the student group emPOWER hosted a climate change fair on Friday from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. in Sayles Hall. The week’s activities were part of Focus the Nation, a “national institutional teach-in” at more than 1,600 schools this week, event organizer Danielle Dahan ’11 said. One table at the fair allowed people to exchange their incandescent light bulbs for more energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs at no cost. Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron’s office provided the 84 new light bulbs to trade for attendees’ old light bulbs. The fair’s organizers said changing from 60-watt light bulbs to 13-watt bulbs would save $25 in electricity costs over each bulb’s nineyear life and reduce carbon emissions by several hundred pounds. Elsewhere in Sayles, the Energy and Environmental Advisory Committee educated attendees about the University’s goal to reduce its emissions from existing buildings by 42 percent by 2020. “People seem really excited about it,” said Michael Glassman ’09, a member of the advisory committee and president of the Undergraduate Council of Students. Across the room, members of the Brown Sustainable Food Initiative stressed the economic and environmental impact of buying local food. By reducing shipping and storage fees, purchasing local food cuts down on the use of gasoline and electricity. Drew Raines ’09.5 staffed a table for Climate Counts, an organization that created a rating system for corporations’ advances in environmental concerns. The group scores companies on a scale of 0 to 100 based on 22 criteria. “It’s a pretty advanced rating system,” Raines said. Companies received points based on their support for climate legislation, setting future environmental goals and other corporate stances. Among the top-rated companies on the list are Canon, Nike and Unilever. Five companies, including Burger King, CBS and Amazon. com, scored zeroes. Thayer Street eateries Au Bon Pain and Kabob and Curry provided free snacks. Food was also donated by Focus the Nation’s national sponsors, Clif Bar & Co. and Stonyfield Farm. A table in the front of the room provided postcards urging Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri ’65 to pledge to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent of their 1990 levels by 2050. Dahan said emPOWER collected 90 postcards at Friday’s event and several hundred overall during the week. Heavy rainfall may have contributed to the event’s low turnout. The event’s energy emissions were offset by a $50 contribution to the New England Wind Fund, which invests in local wind power. — Seth Motel
Using little tricks, students learn to work with Banner By Evan Pelz Staff Writer
Like countless other students, Courtney Hall ’11 woke up early on the first morning of preregistration — very, very early. Sleepy but determined, Hall picked up the list of course reference numbers she had made the previous evening and logged on to Banner. “I get up really early the morning we are supposed to register so I can be one of the first people to type in my CRN numbers and push the button,” Hall said. With Banner’s enforced enrollment caps, Hall and others are navigating registration with a mix of frustration, gamesmanship and, ultimately, acceptance. Katherine Goetz ’08 said that in her experience, Banner has been “hugely problematic.” Because both Banner and paper registration rely on seniority to enroll students, having caps on enrollment during preregistration is pointless, she said. “In the old system,” she said, “when you preregistered for a course, there was no cap, and after shopping, the professor decided who was in.” Goetz said that the number of students who attempt to preregister for a class during preregistration doesn’t predict how many students will actually take the course because “a lot of the time you’ll register for
a class you don’t intend to take.” In previous years, when caps were generally set by professors during shopping period, students could more easily preregister for courses and preview them before they fill up, allowing in the class the students who seriously wanted the course, she said. Though Tor y Har tmann ’11 wasn’t around for paper registration, she said the new system hasn’t been too tough. “Banner made the transition easier because once I got my PIN number from my adviser, I could just type it in and register for whatever classes I wanted.” The online nature of Banner also makes registration easier for students who frequently change their schedules during shopping period, said Hartmann, who has shopped approximately 12 classes. Hartmann also said she games the system to tr y to circumvent preregistration enrollment caps. “What I did was I preregistered for the classes that had caps that I was interested in,” she said. “Even if I knew I wasn’t going to take these five specific classes, if I was somewhat interested in them, I would preregister for them and then drop out if I desired not to take them. I was a freshman, so I was the last one to get to pick, and I still made it into all my classes.” continued on page 6
Chris Bennett / Herald File Photo
An alum donated three rare books in December, including a copy of “The Great Gatsby” with a note from T.S. Eliot.
‘Borne back ceaselessly into the past’ By Cameron Lee Staff Writer
A first edition copy of “The Great Gatsby” inscribed with a note from F. Scott Fitzgerald to T.S. Eliot was one of three rare books donated to the John Hay Librar y by Daniel Siegel ’57 in December. In addition to “Gatsby,” Siegel donated a copy of the first English edition of “Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus” by Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein and “The Quadrupeds of North America” by naturalist John James Audubon. Fitzgerald’s inscription in “The Great Gatsby” reads “For T.S. Elliot/Greatest of Living Poets/ from his entheusiastic/worshipper/F. Scott Fitzgerald/Paris Oct./ 1925.”
indicating not only that Fitzgerald was a poor speller, but also that he thought highly of Eliot, said Sam Streit, director of special collections at the John Hay Librar y. “The fact that Fitzgerald, who was no slouch of an author in his own right, would be in such praise of Eliot is part of what makes (the inscription) impor tant,” Streit said. Eliot also made notes along the margins of the book, remarking on Fitzgerald’s word choices and writing his own choices. Eliot may have been making notes on the book’s possible future for a British audience, Streit said. “I believe there was some talk at that point of there being an English edition of ‘The Great Gatsby’
. . . (so the notes are) probably a commentar y on Eliot’s view of American English,” Streit said. But Streit also said he wasn’t sure of the notes’ meaning, since they are “a little hard to decipher.” The copy of “Tractatus LogicoPhilosophicus” — British intellectual Frank Ramsey’s personal copy — contains notes in English by Wittgenstein himself, Streit said. While the copy of “The Quadrupeds of North America” does not contain any notes, it is distinctive because it’s still in an original paper wrapper. Works like “Quadrupeds” would come in digest format, so most readers would usually remove the wrappers and bind their continued on page 6
Prof. ‘shedding light on dark matter’ By Max Mankin Senior Staff Writer
Richard Gaitskell, associate professor of physics, is hunting dark matter 4,850 feet underground. Hunting dark matter is not as easy as game hunting though, because the elusive particles cannot be detected by telescopes, satellites, radios or other typical observational devices used in astrophysics. Dark matter is only known to exist because its gravitational field affects matter that scientists can directly observe. Gaitskell hopes to change that. He and his nine-university team are developing a dark-matter-detection device to be called the Large Underground Xenon detector, or LUX, which means “light” in Latin. Gaitskell joked that his team will be “shedding light on dark matter.” The fundamental dark matter particles — called weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs — are so elusive because of their ability to simply pass through most substances, including those that scientists would traditionally use as detectors. Gaitskell hopes that, by using an extremely dense detector, he might be able to record traces of dark matter activity. The LUX project, which began in Oct. 2006, will feature a detector containing 300 kilograms of liquid xenon, which is three times denser than water, maintained at around 165 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. As
the hypothesized WIMPs interact with the liquid xenon, the detector will record the energy released. In the next few weeks, testing of the sensors will begin so that
FEATURE they will be ready for the project’s launch about a year from now at the Homestake gold mine in Lead, South Dakota. The detector has to operate in a mine so that it will be shielded by bedrock from interfering radiation. The last time Gaitskell arranged
for a rendezvous with the particles, he came close to detecting them but failed to produce conclusive results. This time around, the determined physicist has a new set of tools to bring him face-to-face with the dark matter particles — his new detector is over 100 times more sensitive than the one he used in his previous project, XENON 10. “Last year, XENON 10 worked so well that we’ve gone ahead and scaled it up,” Gaitskell said. “It’s justified by how well the last experiment continued on page 6
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Monday, February 4, 2008
U. awards employees for hard work
Hay gets precious rare books
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continued from page 1 working on it in 2004. “I’m very grateful. I think it’s great,” said Adrian Doyle, a study abroad advisor for the Office of International Programs. He was there with his co-worker Linda Brault, senior study abroad adviser at the OIP, who was celebrating her 20th year working at Brown. Brault, a Rhode Island native whose father also worked at Brown for 20 years, said she was thankful not only for the honors but also for the hefty benefits that Brown gives its full-time employees. “Brown’s a great place to work. We have low co-pays on health insurance,” she said. “I love the 35-hour work week during the summer,” she added. Moving into her third decade at Brown, Brault now works alongside her son, Todd, “She’s great,” Doyle said of Brault. “She’s getting some welldeserved credit.” Norman Morse, a shipping and
receiving supervisor at the Brown Bookstore with 26 years of service, was given an Excellence Award for Citizenship. Morse runs a program he calls “Three Minutes of Love,” in which he volunteers his mornings before work to come to the OMAC and help people from the community get fit and stay healthy. Many at the event enjoyed the annual introductory video, which was filmed as a parody of the movie “Mission Impossible.” The mission: find out what makes Brown tick. The producers of the video interviewed dozens of employees, most of whom mentioned the diversity, enthusiasm and independence of the people at Brown. The video garnered laughs from the crowd of employees. “Wasn’t that fantastic?” Simmons asked of the video. “Our main goal was for the video was to be funny,” said Angel Hilliard, a manager in the human resources department for employ-
Students learn to register in a world without paper continued from page 5 Some students — like Goetz — might see Hartmann’s strategy as a flaw in the system, which Hartmann recognized. “It could work both ways, as students get shut out of classes they want to (take), and people are preregistering for them and not sure if they want to take them,” she said. “However, in my experience it hasn’t been a problem if you go and talk to the professor and ask them if you can be part of the class by asking them to override Banner’s cap.” But not all professors can let every interested student into their classes, regardless of Banner’s new policies. Pauline Ahn ’08 tried to get into TSDA0330: “Mande Dance, Music and Culture” without preregistering. She didn’t get into the class but said that preregistering wouldn’t have helped because the professor “ended up rejecting most seniors in order to have an equal ratio of interests, genders and grades.” The paper registration system may have allowed more “breathability” during shopping period, as most courses were not capped during preregistration, said University Reg-
istrar Michael Pesta. The problem with this system was that students didn’t know during preregistration if they would be guaranteed spots in the class, he said. Any enrollment limit that Banner has now was set by the department and the professor during preregistration and then approved by the College Curriculum Council, Pesta said. “I know students see that as a limitation on their freedom,” he said, “but if you think about it, you can still go to the class. Just because you couldn’t get a spot in Banner doesn’t mean you can’t go to the professor and get in. But is it better to know in April (that) there is a problem in a class than to register and find out in September?” One advantage that course caps could potentially offer is the ability to know what size room a professor needs in advance. But at least this semester, there hasn’t been any noticeable difference in the number of room changes required after classes begin. The registrar’s scheduling officer receives “hundreds of phone calls and e-mail messages” about room changes in the first few weeks of classes, an amount which has not diminished this year, Pesta said in an e-mail to The Herald. Pesta said adaptation to this new process will take time, and that he hopes students won’t be discouraged by enrollment limits. “The students have to learn the culture of registration,” he said. “Now, the culture has a bit more structure in the registration process, but it doesn’t mean you’re not going to get into the class.” —With additional reporting by Gaurie Tilak
Join The Herald Weds., Feb. 6 at 8 p.m. 195 Angell St.
BEAR Day by the numbers • Brown Employees each year contribute over 7 million work-hours cumulatively • 28 “Excellence Award” winners given $2500 in recognition • 490+ employees have worked at Brown for more than 5 years ee programs, which planned this year’s event. The video also asked what employees considered their weirdest experience at Brown. Brown Dining Services employee Gail McCarthy was shown saying, “(Students) start doing push-ups in the middle of the dining room.” Other interviewees said the oddest thing they’d ever seen was the frequent nudity among the student body.
continued from page 5 combined digests, Streit said. The John Hay Librar y already houses a large Audubon collection, Streit said, so the gift was especially fitting for the librar y. Siegel, the owner of Wayland Square’s M & S Rare Books, said he donated the books from his private collection in part to encourage others to donate their own books. He said that by donating books in three different subjects he hoped to “show different areas where people could donate their own books.” Siegel is also a former member of a board of directors of a group that acquires rare books and manuscripts for Brown’s librar y system. Fifteen years ago, Siegel began donating books from his estate to Brown, starting with a manuscript of George Or well’s “1984.” “This year was another year to give some,” Siegel said. Siegel’s donation of the “1984” manuscript
led others to donate their first editions of Or well to Brown. The librar y’s collection of rare books depends primarily on gifts like Siegel’s, Streit said. Though some of the books in the John Hay Librar y have their own endowments, tight budgets often make it difficult for the librar y to purchase these rare books. Streit said donations have come from many different sources. “A lot of our donors are alums, some are faculty, some are just people who live in the city or anywhere else,” he said. Students taking of ENGL 0450: “Inventing America,” a first-year seminar from last semester that read “The Great Gatsby,” plan to view the donated copy of the book in March, Streit said. As with all other books in the John Hay Library, the three donated books can be viewed by Brown students and members of the general public, though the books cannot leave the librar y.
Gaitskell searching for a hidden world continued from page 5 actually worked.” But despite the promise of a new discovery, Gaitskell said he remains emotionally unattached to the search. “After 19 years, I’ve learned to be a little bit more philosophical than that,” he said. Gaitskell began his dark matter search as a Ph.D. candidate at Oxford University in the 1980s and then followed the particles to the University of California, Berkeley, a school known for its strong physics program. There he met friend and long-time collaborator Tom Shutt, who is now an associate physics professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. “I’ve known Rick for some time — 14, 15, 16 years,” Shutt said. “We were post-docs together at Berkeley and we were both on XENON 10. We’re friends at this point.” Shutt, who began his search in 1987 as a graduate student at Berkeley, said that at the time, little was known about dark matter, so it was regarded as a wild goose chase for something that may or may not exist. Regardless, Shutt said that when he heard about the search for dark matter, he thought that it sounded “totally cool!” However, recent decades have seen the development of a standard model of the universe that has strong implications for the search for
dark matter. This widely-accepted model, Gaitskell said, describes the universe as only four percent regular matter, 22 percent dark matter and 74 percent dark energy, which is another separate but strange, elusive form of energy needed to make the model of the universe agree with scientists’ observations. Gaitskell said more is known about dark matter than about dark energy, so it will likely be found first, hopefully in the “next five to ten years.” Of course, Gaitskell and Shutt hope that their project is the one to find it. “A new form of matter hasn’t been discovered since the 1930s, so learning the nature of dark matter or dark energy would be colossal,” Shutt said, laughing about using the word “colossal” to describe the tiny WIMPs. If dark matter is found, “someone will win a Nobel Prize,” Shutt said. The “stuff” that we’re made of –— all of the matter that we can see in our daily lives – doesn’t make up the majority of the universe, Shutt and Gaitskell said. They both said that “finding dark matter is the second Copernican revolution.” Just as Copernicus showed in the 16th century that Earth was not the center of the universe, researchers today hope to prove what we are is very different than what comprises most of the universe. “The evidence is conclusive of dark matter so it is no longer dis-
reputable to be looking for dark matter,” Shutt said. The team is using Case Western as a staging and assembly ground for the detector. In the next few weeks, a few sensors will be shipped to Cleveland to be tested in the detector. Once the detector is assembled and working, it will be shipped to South Dakota, where it will run in the closed-down Homestake gold mine. The LUX detector will be placed in Homestake’s historic Davis cavern, named for Raymond Davis Jr., who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2002 for the detection of solar neutrinos using a 110,000-gallon tank of chlorine-based chemicals. The Davis experiment shut down in 2001. The team is hoping to get the dark matter detector running in the mine by late 2008 or early 2009 and run it for about a year. The detector has to conclusively detect a few WIMPs to confirm their existence. “We don’t know exactly how small (WIMPs) are or how often they will hit the detector,” Shutt said. If the team is unable to detect WIMPs, Shutt said they would build an even bigger detector. Despite the uncertainty, Gaitskell said he is confident that dark matter is out there, waiting to be discovered. “If I really believed we were wrong,” Gaitskell said, “I wouldn’t be searching for dark matter.”
Students enjoy Super Bowl festivities continued from page 1 ’09, when reached on the phone, declined to comment on the party. Elsewhere on campus, Patriots fans prepared for a history-making victory. At the Ivy Room, where most patrons seemed uninterested in the game, Sara David ’11 feared the worst. “There’s going to be a riot if (the Patriots) win. My roommate is going to flip her (expletive),” David said. Miami resident Paul Ingelmo ’11 said he would “welcome a Patriots undefeated season” as punishment for his hometown Dolphins for their poor season. The 1972 Dolphins still remain the only undefeated team in National Football League history. Keeney Quadrangle, quiet for much of the night, got very loud
late in the 4th quarter as the Giants’ Manning escaped from a heavy pass rush, scrambled left and completed a 32-yard pass to little-used receiver David Tyree. As Tyree successfully caught the ball, securing it against his helmet while being tackled, Giants fans could be heard, and in some cases seen, celebrating in the hallways. After the play, Matt Sudfeld ’11, a receiver on Brown’s football team who predicted a Giants victory before the game, ran down the hallway to taunt his roommate, a rabid Patriots fan. The play set up the Manning’s touchdown pass, which gave New York the lead for good. After the game, the streets of College Hill were filled with New York jerseys and “Go Giants” chants, but New England fans had
not disappeared just yet. A few proNew England patrons remained at Spats Restaurant and Bar on Angell Street after the game, most of whom were hugging and shaking each other’s hands. On Thayer Street, one Patriots fan could be overheard telling another to “burn the jersey” he was wearing. If Patriots fans at Brown cannot take comfort in the Boston Red Sox’ World Series victory or Patriots’ QB Tom Brady’s Most Valuable Player award, perhaps they can be proud of Giant linebacker Zak DeOssie ’07. He tackled New England kick returner Lawrence Maroney on the kickoff after New York’s final touchdown, ensuring New England would start with poor field position and made a hero out of DeOssie.
W orld & N ation Monday, February 4, 2008
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
American airstrike in Iraq kills nine Chad coup attempt could By Garrett Therolf and Saif Hameed Los Angeles T imes
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Nine people were killed and four were injured in an errant U.S. airstrike southeast of Baghdad, the military said Sunday. One child was among the dead, and two children were among the injured, U.S. Army Maj. Brad Leighton said. “We offer our condolences to the families of those who were killed in this incident,” Leighton said. “We mourn the loss of innocent life.” The news came the same day the military announced that a U.S. soldier was killed by a rocket-propelled grenade Jan. 31 in eastern Baghdad. The identity of the soldier was not released, pending notification of next of kin. At least 3,944 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq since the conflict began in May 2003, according to the independent Web site icasualties.org. At least three members of a so-called concerned local citizens group, or CLC, were among the dead in the mistaken airstrike, according to a U.S. military source. The citizens groups are mostly Sunni-Arab security forces organized and paid by the U.S. military in hopes that many eventually will be integrated into the Shiite-dominated Iraqi security forces. The airstrike comes at a time
when CLC members, typically paid $10 a day, are coming under deadly attacks by al-Qaida in Iraq and other militants because of their affiliation with the United States. The volunteers have received significant praise for their role in the improved security in many areas of the country. The airstrike occurred late Saturday night when the military spotted what it believed to be a team of insurgents readying a roadside bomb in a rural area 25 miles southeast of Baghdad, the military source said. A U.S. aircraft bombed a house that the suspected al-Qaida in Iraq insurgents were believed to have entered. A ground search later revealed that the bomb site actually was a CLC checkpoint, and the guns they had been seen carrying were part of their authorized duties, the military source said. Mohammed Ghrairi, the CLC commander in the area, said a U.S. military colonel immediately visited him to issue an apology. The incident was not reported to the media, however, until the military was contacted by the Los Angeles Times. In other news, Iraq’s threemember presidency council said Sunday that it had issued a new law that would allow thousands of former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party to return to government. The law, however, was issued over the objections of Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, the Sunni
Arab member of the council. “I don’t want to deliver any sort of challenge to the parliament or challenge to the government or the political entities. At the end of the day, what I need is to amend the law,” al-Hashemi told the Times. The legislation approved by parliament last month allows former Baathists to return to state jobs but also blocks high-ranking members from serving in the security forces, the Foreign Ministry and key leadership posts. The law could allow, by some estimates, about 38,000 low-level party members to regain their jobs. But in theory it could also lead to the dismissal of an estimated 7,000 senior officials who already have been granted waivers to return to work. Al-Hashemi said, “Behind the scenes, I have commitments from colleagues that we should come up with amendments to the law that will benefit Iraq.” The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David H. Petraeus, has issued supportive comments about the legislation and said he did not expect to it to purge former Baathists already integrated in the Shiite-dominated security forces. “We hope that it will not be (a purge of former Baathists), and I think ever yone is watching that there will not be,” Petraeus said. “If there is, I think there will be repercussions for the Iraqi government.”
Huckabee rejects call by Romney campaign to drop out By Perry Bacon Jr. Washington Post
Facing heat from backers of Mitt Romney, who say his continued presence in the race for the GOP nomination will hand that prize to Sen. John McCain, Mike Huckabee is not standing down. Desperate to stay relevant in this contest, the former Arkansas governor is instead dialing up his attacks on Romney and largely ignoring McCain, even though the latter has emerged as the clear GOP frontrunner heading into Super Tuesday, when Republicans in 21 states will vote. “Let me explain something to Mr. Romney and his supporters,” Huckabee told a crowd in Huntsville, Ala., on Saturday morning. “It ain’t the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog, and there’s a lot of fight left in this dog.” In a news conference in Macon, Ga., the next day, Huckabee noted that his poll numbers in Southern states are stronger than Romney’s and criticized what he called Romney’s “arrogance.” “Romney’s arrogance is offensive to my supporters and serves only to fire them and me up,” Huckabee said. “We’re even more determined to fight and win.” Romney has spent much of the past week working to undermine the case for Huckabee’s candidacy. Appearing on the “Hannity & Colmes” show on Fox News on Friday, Romney said, “most people recognize that a vote for Mike Huckabee is a vote for John McCain.” “There’s no question but that his voters are voters that in large measure that would come to me,” Romney said. “That’s the way the cookie crumbles. I’m not going to cry about that. ... If they want John McCain as
their nominee, why, that’s exactly what that vote would do.” Since a surprising win in Iowa, Huckabee has failed to win a primary or caucus, and has not been able to demonstrate that he can expand his support beyond the evangelicals who powered his win in Iowa and his second-place finish in South Carolina. And in states such as Florida and Michigan, he ran even with Romney, who is a Mormon, among evangelicals. “I’ve always known that evangelicals are not a monolithic vote,” Huckabee said. “I’m maybe one of the few that knows because I am one. ... Evangelicals are like everybody else, they’re evangelicals and those issues that are important to them, but maybe they’re evangelical and union members and they vote union before they vote gay marriage.” In some ways, his loss in South Carolina to McCain two weeks ago was as crippling as Rudolph W. Giuliani’s loss in Florida, a setback that led the former New York mayor to drop out of the race. After Iowa, Huckabee aides had hoped to use that victory as a springboard to raise $10 million before Super Tuesday, funds they planned to use to hire additional staff in key states and run television ads. But hopes that the money spigot would be turned on and that party establishment figures would flock to his candidacy were all predicated on a win in South Carolina. Huckabee aides were in tears as the results rolled in showing a second-place finish in South Carolina, and a campaign that had raised only $9 million in 2007 was forced to lay off staff the next day, dropped plans to air ads in Florida and was dogged by rumors that he would not compete in the Sunshine State. The campaign has struggled to raise $5 million be-
fore Feb. 5, although it was still able to air ads in some of the Southern states that will vote Tuesday. Huckabee argues that his money woes are tied to the fact that many of the party’s big fundraisers did not view him as a winner last year, making it difficult for him to raise money. He started courting big donors long after Romney and McCain, who spent much of 2006 preparing for their runs, and for months his campaign lacked a finance director, unable to find someone willing to move to Little Rock and take the post. Huckabee says that lack of money also prevented him from beefing up his team of policy advisers. “If we had raised even $5 (million) or $6 million more, or even $3 million more, it would have made a big difference,” Huckabee said. “But even so, our story is with resources we have, we’ve remained competitive.” At the same time, Huckabee’s team credits its relatively small size for breeding a loose, creative atmosphere that led to gambles such as a clever ad featuring actor Chuck Norris, a Huckabee supporter, that generated needed attention and drew donors to the campaign at a critical time. But since Florida — when Giuliani’s third-place showing caused him to drop out and Huckabee placed a distant fourth — Romney’s campaign has worked hard to portray the GOP race as a two-man contest. And activists such as Hannity and former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum are organizing a stop-McCain movement with Romney as their standardbearer. “If you’re a Republican, if you’re a Republican in the broadest sense, there is only one place to go right now and that’s Mitt Romney,” Santorum said on a radio show hosted by Laura Ingraham, another Romney backer.
alter balance in Darfur By Edmund Sanders L os Angeles T imes
NAIROBI, Kenya -- As rebels in Chad fought for a second day to take control of the nation’s capital, analysts said Sunday that the outcome of the attempted coup could have far-reaching implications for the Darfur conflict in neighboring Sudan. Foreign obser vers said the militar y standof f remained unresolved. President Idriss Deby appeared to be holed up with a large force of loyal troops in his presidential palace. The aid group Doctors Without Borders reported that scores of civilians had been wounded, mostly from er rant gunfire. Looting has been repor ted in N’Djamena, the capital, and the French government evacuated at least 500 foreigners. Rebels claimed to have seized control of the town of Adre, along the eastern border with Sudan, while Chadian authorities told reporters that the attackers had included Sudanese troops and had been repelled. Neither report could not be verified. A collapse of Deby’s regime likely would be felt beyond Chad’s borders. Deby has been a big supporter of Darfur rebels in western Sudan, and his fall would threaten to tilt the balance of power in Dar fur toward the Sudanese government, which is backing the rebel assault under way in Chad. “This could be a big win for Sudan,” said Reed Brody, special counsel for Human Rights Watch, the international advocacy group. “The rebel alliance will be beholden to Khartoum. They will control one of the main access points and windows into Darfur.” Chad is cur rently host to about 250,000 Darfur refugees who fled violence in western Sudan over the past four years. Chad also ser ves as an important gateway for humanitarian groups, journalists, human-rights activists and peacekeepers, many of whom are unable to access Dar fur through other areas of Sudan. Experts said that access could be at risk if a Sudan-friendly regime suddenly took control of Chad. In addition, Dar fur rebel groups use Chad as a safe haven and launching point for attacks against Sudanese government troops. Deby, who seized control of Chad through a coup in 1990, is from the same Zaghawa tribe as one of the main Darfur rebel movements. His government has supplied Darfur rebels with guns and allowed them to set up training camps along his border. “If Deby goes, that could be a decisive blow for the Darfurian rebel operations in Chad,” said John Prendergast, co-founder of ENOUGH, a grass-roots antigenocide group. A weakened Dar fur rebel
movement would complicate mediation talks between the Sudanese government and guerrillas to end a conflict that has killed an estimated 200,000 people and displaced more than 2 million. “It would shift the strategic balance in Khar toum’s favor and make it that much harder to get a (peace) deal,” Prendergast said. Sudan has denied supporting Chadian rebels. Government officials in Khartoum could not be reached for comment Sunday. But experts say Sudan played a key role in organizing Chad’s disparate groups of bickering rebels into the current coalition, the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development, that is fighting in N’Djamena. Sudanese officials pledged their support for an assault, but only if the rebels united. “Sudan knocked some heads together and obviously it worked,” Brody said. Unlike a similar 2006 attack on N’Djamena, when small bands of confused rebels got lost on the streets of the capital, the current force is better-armed and well-organized, experts said. The rebels are led by disgruntled former gover nment of ficials who defected from Deby’s government after he amended the countr y’s constitution to run for another term. The timing of the rebel attack is believed to be linked to the impending deployment of 3,700 European Union peacekeepers who were being sent on a humanitarian mission to protect refugees in eastern Chad. The Sudanese government had pressured Deby to resist the international deployment, but instead he said he would accept the troops. EU officials announced Saturday that the mission would be delayed. If Deby’s government falls, the fate of the deployment is uncer tain, raising concer ns about the protection of Darfur refugees. “There is a serious humanitarian catastrophe in eastern Chad, and Chad doesn’t have the means to deal with it,” said Paul Simon Hendy, security analyst at Institute for Security Studies in South Africa. He predicted that rebels, if they seized control of the countr y, would be under strong international pressure to allow the European force to deploy as planned. Already the United States and the African Union have condemned the rebel assault as unconstitutional. AU officials are threatening to expel Chad if the rebels take power by force. Hendy said a new regime would likely feel pressure to pursue democratic reforms and take other steps designed to appease the international community, including accepting international troops.
Thanks for reading.
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Monday, February 4, 2008
Monday, February 4, 2008
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Two games, 2 victories for William and Mary best m. tennis m. icers past weekend continued from page 12
continued from page 12 back, cutting the lead to 4-2 with just over seven minutes left, when a shot from behind the net deflected off Rosen’s skate for a goal. The Crimson continued to attack, taking advantage of three power plays to out-shoot the Bears 17-3 in the final period, but Rosen’s 16 third-period saves held the lead for Brown, which won 4-2. The next contest did not start as auspiciously for Brown, as Dartmouth struck first 5:41 in, when J.T. Wyman, who entered the game with 13 goals, scored a power play goal from the top of the left face-off circle. The Bears tied the game just over six minutes later, though, when Prough tipped a shot from Robertson past the goalie to put the score at 1-1 heading into the second period. Early in the period, Br uno grabbed the lead on a crafty goal by Sean McMonagle ’10. An errant Dartmouth pass took a bounce off the boards toward the Dartmouth goal, and after gaining control of the loose puck, McMonagle skated toward the crease, juked the goalie left and backhanded the puck into the top right corner of the net. But seven minutes in, Mike Stuart ’09 picked up back-to-back penalties, to give Dartmouth a five-minute manadvantage, and 2:38 into the power play, Dartmouth’s Nick Johnson redirected a shot past Rosen to tie the game, 2-2. Bruno regained the lead with 7:22 left in the period, when Ryan Garbutt ’09 had his
shot deflected and Eric Slais ’09 put home the rebound. “You always go to the net looking for a rebound, and it just happened to pop on my stick,” Slais said. “Garbs did a good job busting down the wing and getting the shot off ... and it just happened to find my stick.” Early in the third period, Garbutt, who had eight shots on goal, finally put one home on a shot from the slot. “I got a lot of room from my linemates ... and they were able to find me with good passes,” Garbutt said. “It was awesome, it felt great to give the team a bigger lead to work with in the third period.” With 6:12 remaining, Rosen appeared to have control of the puck in the crease when a Dartmouth player skated into him, but the officials ruled it a goal, despite protests from the Bears. The disputed goal failed to rattle Rosen, who made several clutch saves to protect the lead and secure the win for Brown. “I thought Rosie played well in the net, and when you get strong goaltending and you put some numbers up, you’re going to have a good chance to win,” Grillo said. The two victories were also a timely gift for Grillo, whose birthday was on Friday, though Grillo said he has reached an age where “you don’t celebrate birthdays anymore.” Brown will go on the road next weekend to face off against Princeton and Quinnipiac.
Gymnasts overcome Friday slump for Sunday win continued from page 12 floor exercise was Whitney Diederich ’09, finishing in 14th (9.275). Binkley and Sobuta finished third (36.00) and fourth (35.525) respectively in the all-around. The girls were given a day off from practice in exchange for a team meeting on Saturday. The team watched video and talked about their meet, reasserting that they knew they were capable of working harder and getting better, according to Carver-Milne. After encouragement from Carver-Milne, Brown came into the next day, prepared to prove they were much better than Friday’s disappointment would suggest. The Bears pulled away with the victory (186.2) on Sunday afternoon to claim the Ocean State Challenge title over main rival University of Rhode Island (185.0) and Rhode Island College (168.8). “We were a cohesive unit today. (We) never lost momentum. We fought through every routine,” said Carver-Milne. Sarah Durning ’08 made a great showing on the vault leading the way for Brown with a third place finish (9.6). Three Bears — Sobuta, Binkley and Albert — finished fourth through sixth following Durning, who had been nursing a nagging knee injury from a meet two weeks prior. She had remained out of competitions since their meet against University of Cal-State Fullerton on Jan. 20, and it was still questionable if she would get to participate in
one of her last home meets. “It was very exciting being a senior and performing well,” Durning said. “It was one of the best meets Brown has had in my four years here. We had very few falls.” Bruno swept second through fifth place on the uneven bars with Victoria Zanelli ’11 securing second place (9.525) followed by Binkley, Rivera and Sobuta. Albert, Sobuta, Diederich and Vida Rivera ’11 finished third through sixth in the floor exercise, which proved to be one of the best events for the Bears again this week. For the second week in a row, Sobuta set a personal best on the beam (9.825), coming in first overall. Albert kept building her confidence on the beam, as she set a personal best, finishing third overall (9.55). “We were all disappointed after Friday. It gave us a fire to show what we are capable of doing,” Albert said. “We were determined to hit all routines.” She said the team is gaining confidence for Ivy League competition with every meet. Sobuta finished first (38.15) in the all-around, setting a new personal best, as she did the week before. Binkley finished behind her in third (36.8). The women get a much-needed 10-day break before squaring up with URI in Kingstown on Feb. 13. In case Super Bowl preparations kept you from venturing to the Pitz this weekend, there are still three more opportunities to catch them in action at home on Feb. 9, 14 and 21.
in his first set in just twenty minutes, and ultimately went on to grab the first victory of the afternoon for the Bears at 6-1, 6-4. Pearlman seemed to be riding the wave from his win in doubles by grabbing the first set at No. 3 singles, but then appeared to lose his spark, eventually dropping the match 4-6, 7-5, 6-4. “I definitely relaxed after I grabbed the first set, I lost my intensity and when he broke back and won the next four games in a row, I couldn’t get my game back,” Pearlman said. Pearlman’s doubles partner for the day, Kohli, struggled through his singles match having only strong bursts of energy ever y other game. Dropping the first set, Kohli displayed a valiant effort for a comeback in the second set, but fell just short of sending it into a third set at 6-4, 7-5.
Another loss came at No. 4, as Gardner dropped his match 6-3, 6-2. However, the game was a lot closer than the score indicated. Harris stuck close to Gardner throughout his match, talking to him at every court changeover. While Gardner didn’t grab the victory, his hard work was evident. “I was surprised, in a good way — it’s the best I had seen him play,” Harris said of Gardner’s performance. “He worked hard and played well, and that’s all I can ask for.” With the match already in favor of William and Mary, the final two players worked to end the afternoon on a high note. Kendrick Au ’11 snatched the victory at No. 5 singles in a third set tiebreaker 6-0, 4-6, (10-6) followed by Garland at No. 6 also winning in a tiebreaker 4-6, 6-2, (10-6). With a real test of what to expect this season, it appears that the Bears have a lot of work to do to get
ready for the Ivy League season. The lone senior, Kohli, knows what it takes to be at the top of the Ivy polls. “We’ve got the skill. We could go out and beat the number one team right now if we wanted, but we need more intensity, more confidence in ourselves,” Kohli said. “It’s a lot more mental than it is physical.” Gardner agrees that the Bears have the skill, but need confidence in each other. “To get back to the caliber of team we were when we won the Ivies is to believe in the guy next to you on the court, knowing that he is going to step up and perform,” Gardner said. “Any one of the guys, numbers one through nine, at anytime will go hard for every point in every single match.” The Bears face off against Virginia Tech University on Saturday before taking on Binghamton University and the University of Rhode Island on Sunday.
M. hoops to play Dartmouth Friday continued from page 12 despite the Bears’ full-court pressure. “I think we do a pretty good job when teams trap us,” Donahue said. The players “have a pretty good sense as to how to play the game.” It never felt as if Brown had a chance to win in the final 10 minutes of the game. The Bears trailed by six with 7:19 left, but two turnovers let Cornell extend the lead. After the game, Brown Head Coach Craig Robinson lamented his team’s poor shooting. “You just can’t miss shots and lay-ups and free throws against what is considered the best team in the league,” Robinson said. Brown shot just 33 percent from the floor, compared to Cornell’s 50 percent. The Bears made 27 of 36 free throws, while the Big Red made all but one of 19. Huffman, who entered the game as the team’s top scorer, went just 2-for-12 from the floor for four points. But Robinson said that wasn’t Huffman’s fault, since the Bears’ inside players couldn’t score to open up shots for Huffman. McAndrew finished with a gamehigh 22 points, and forward Peter Sullivan ’11 added 13. Dale scored 15 points for Cornell, which routed Yale Saturday night to improve its record to 12-5 overall and 4-0 in Ivy play. The Bears’ poor shooting didn’t carry over to the next night, however. Against Columbia (8-11, 1-3 Ivy), Brown, which entered the weekend with league’s second-best 3-point percentage, held a slim lead for most of the first half, with McAndrew and Sullivan both hitting a pair of 3-pointers. After McAndrew’s second trey, Brown had a 21-14 lead at the 8:36 mark. But the Lions countered by feeding the ball to 6-foot-8 forward John Baumann in the post. Working Brown’s post players, Baumann hit a slew of layups and short jumpers and ended the half with 16 points. At the half, Columbia led 35-34. But after the break, the Bears came out looking to stop Baumann on defense. They forced two turnovers from him in the first four minutes on the half, helping to go on an 11-0 run. The Bears held about a 10-point lead for most of the half, scoring lay-ups with excellent backdoor cuts. They were mostly successful at keeping the ball away from
Baumann, who scored just seven second-half points. The Bears made the game closer than they liked at the end. With Brown leading by six with less than two minutes to play, Columbia began fouling to send Brown shooters to the free-throw line. After Adrian Williams ’11 missed a free throw with 30 seconds left, the Lions converted a three-point play to make it 66-63. But Sullivan hit two free throws to give the game its final score of 68-63. After the game, Robinson praised Sullivan, who has started Brown’s last seven games, and Williams. “It doesn’t surprise me that Peter and Adrian can play,” Robinson said. “What surprises me is that they can play so soon.” Sullivan had 19 points, and Williams had a career-high 12. McAndrew had a team-high 21 points. Both teams shot about 46 percent from the field, but Brown shot 12
more free throws than Columbia and made eight more than them. Robinson said that despite the split, he is happy with his team’s 2-2 league record because the Bears had been playing teams picked to finish ahead of them. (Yale was picked to finish second, Columbia fourth and Brown fifth). The Bears might even get a boost this weekend, with the possible return of starting center Mark MacDonald ’08, who missed both games this weekend. MacDonald was diagnosed with a concussion after colliding with Chris Skrelja ’09 against Yale last Saturday and hadn’t practiced all week. Before Saturday’s game, the 6-foot-9 captain said he was feeling better and was hopeful he could begin practicing by Wednesday. The Bears will play again at the Pizzitola Center this upcoming weekend. Dartmouth visits on Friday, and Harvard on Saturday. Both games are scheduled for 7 p.m.
E ditorial & L etters Page 10
Monday, February 4, 2008
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
S t a ff E d i t o r i a l
A spark from South America Brown has long been noted for being a center of academic freedom. We’ve brought Nonie Darwish, Zhou Wenzhong and Robert Spencer to campus in spite of resistance, and though our student body and faculty do lean in one direction on the political spectrum, the free exchange of radical, sometimesoffensive ideas has long been honored here. The Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) is a key player in the University’s role as a center of free speech, despite its low profile on campus. The CLAS and the Watson Institute for International Studies have brought a number of former Latin American heads of state and diplomats to teach and research here, including former Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso and former Chilean President Ricardo Lagos, both on part-time bases. Too often these appointments go almost unnoticed by the student body. The latest in the series of high-profile guest lecturers and visiting scholars from Latin America will be on campus next Tuesday and Wednesday as part of the CLAS- and Watson-sponsored “Changes in the Andes” conference. This conference promises to improve students’, scholars’ and diplomats’ understanding of the process of democratization in central South America, thanks in part to former Rhode Island Sen. Lincoln Chafee ’75, a visiting fellow at the Watson Institute, and Kendra Fehrer GS, who traveled to parts of Latin America to promote diplomacy and interaction over winter break. Chafee and Fehrer paid personal visits to top politicians in the Andean nations and extended invitations to Hugo Chavez, Rafael Correa and Evo Morales — presidents of Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia, respectively — to attend the CLAS conference next week. These men are not the most radical heads of state, but their brusque, confrontational styles of discourse are shocking and seemingly contradictory to our own, more civil model. Chavez made headlines in September 2006 for calling President Bush a “devil,” and Correa stunned casual U.S. observers by saying that Chavez’s comparison was unfair to the devil. But radical discourse is different from radical politics, and none of these presidents has called for national enemies to be “wiped off the map,” as has Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who spoke at Columbia last September. Though Chafee and Fehrer were only able to meet with Morales, and though none of the presidents can actually attend next week’s conference, both Correa and Morales are planning visits to campus. These events can only be good for students’ understanding of extreme political discourse. The next step is to bring Chavez here to speak. We question Columbia’s wisdom (or lack thereof?) in hosting last fall a known proponent of mass destruction and of cruel repression of dissidents, whatever his status as a pivotal international leader. Chavez is guilty of none of those, and we think that the controversy of his visit would provide not only an educational experience but also a heated political discourse. There is a limit as to which international figures should be honored with an invitation to speak on Brown’s campus. But unless these people are responsible for atrocious or hugely offensive acts, it’s completely appropriate to seek to broaden the scope of our curiosity as much as possible.
P ete fallon
Letters BrunoBooks ‘professor’ offers VIP status To the Editor: I was a little disappointed to have received coal in Friday’s BDH. That said, I have ice to suffice, so no hard feelings. I do want to apologize for not approving your course override request. There are no overrides in PIMP101, only low rides. Regardless, space was extremely limited and I refuse to deal with tricks like Banner. I hope you understand.
I wanted to make amends by making sure that you are the first to know about a special Graduate Seminar that I will be teaching in the fall: PIMP2020 “Ballin’ and Shot-Calling”. You’ve been placed on the guest list and awarded VIP status (more on that later), and I hope this means we can put this matter behind us. Jesse Maddox ’08 Feb. 2
T he B rown D aily H erald Editors-in-Chief Simmi Aujla Ross Frazier editorial Arts & Culture Editor Robin Steele Asst. Arts & Culture Editor Andrea Savdie Higher Ed Editor Debbie Lehmann Features Editor Chaz Firestone Asst. Features Editor Olivia Hoffman Metro Editor Rachel Arndt Metro Editor Scott Lowenstein News Editor Mike Bechek News Editor Isabel Gottlieb News Editor Franklin Kanin News Editor Michael Skocpol Opinions Editor Karla Bertrand Opinions Editor James Shapiro Sports Editor Whitney Clark Sports Editor Amy Ehrhart Sports Editor Jason Harris Asst. Sports Editor Benjy Asher Asst. Sports Editor Andrew Braca Asst. Sports Editor Megan McCahill
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Corrections An article in Friday’s Herald (“Bear Fills Giant Shoes,” Feb. 1) incorrectly spelled the name of New England Patriots’ Head Coach Bill Belichick. The caption for the picture corresponding to the same article referred to Zak DeOssie ‘07 incorrectly as Zak DeOssie ‘08.
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 Monday, February 4, 2008
Page 11
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ in November ZACK BEAUCHAMP Opinions Columnist
Much of John McCain’s strength as a presidential candidate, and part of the reason why so many Democrats are worried about facing him in November, is that he is widely perceived as “strong on defense.” However, some of McCain’s positions belie this reputation and hence could be used by Democrats to chip away at McCain’s positives on national security. One such issue has been little discussed since the very first Republican debate, where McCain, along with the nine other Republicans on stage, voiced his adamant opposition to even discussing the issue. I’m referring to the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy (hereafter referred to as DADT) that currently bars gays and lesbians from openly serving in the military. On this particular issue, McCain’s position, in addition to being intellectually bankrupt, is politically vulnerable. If either Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., or Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., were to emphasize McCain’s view on DADT in the general election, he would be stuck between a very large rock and a very hard place — defend the policy and risk tarnishing his reputation as “strong on defense,” or reverse his stated position and face a massive rebellion from the Republican establishment. DADT is, at this point, an indefensible policy. At a time when the military is so desperately in need of soldiers that it has begun admitting members of neo-Nazi groups previously barred for promoting violent racism in the ranks, thousands of otherwise qualified soldiers are being barred solely on the
grounds of their sexual orientation. 12,000 service members have been discharged under DADT since its institution in 1993, and, according to one statistical analysis, a whopping 41,000 people would enlist if the policy was overturned. Further, 800 of the discharged soldiers were specialists whose skills were in short supply. Of these specialists, 323 were linguists, including 55 proficient in Arabic. The main conservative argument against eliminating DADT — allowing gays to serve would somehow damage military readiness — is no longer credible. Several top retired generals, including John Shalikashvili, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs at the time DADT was introduced who had previously supported the policy, have recently come out in favor of open service. Every internal study done by the Pentagon has concluded that gays ought
military, where very religious Jews make up 30 to 40 percent of combat troops, has not experienced any problems stemming from open service suggests that soldiers’ views on homosexuality don’t affect how they relate to gay service members. Evaluating the viability of DADT as a political issue requires more than just examining the arguments on the issue, as public perception of an issue is far more important than the truth about it in political strategy, and it is possible that the public hasn’t quite caught up to the facts in this case. However, polling evidence actually shows that the public has long been ahead of the curve — since 2003, polls have shown that between 60 percent and 80 percent of the population supporting open service. The most recent poll, done in May 2007, was at the upper end of that range — it
On “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” McCain’s position, in addition to being intellectually bankrupt, is politically vulnerable. to be allowed to serve openly, in part because all 24 countries that have allowed open service have seen no recruitment or morale problems. The claim that the United States is different because our military is “more conservative” is not supported by the evidence — in a recent poll, 73 percent of soldiers reported being “personally comfortable” around gays and lesbians, and only five percent said they were “very uncomfortable.” Finally, even if this poll data is wrong, the fact that the Israeli
found that 79 percent of Americans are in favor of allowing gays to serve openly. It is unlikely that anything like that number will vote solely on the basis of a candidate’s view on gays in the military, but the fact that such high numbers approve of eliminating DADT suggests that most Americans believe the policy actually does harm the military’s effectiveness, which is why the issue would be such a potent political weapon against McCain. The Democratic nominee could use the
issue to cut into McCain’s principal strength, being perceived as strong on national security issues, by painting his stance as one that prioritizes political concerns over national security. This message could be hammered home in the debates, where either of the very articulate potential Democratic nominees could use the arguments made above to embarrass McCain. His line on the issue (“My friends, it [DADT] is working. The current policy is working.”) would be laughably inappropriate when faced with evidence that the military is losing Arabic translators, an absolutely crucial resource in Iraq, Afghanistan and the war on terrorism in general. While attacking McCain on this issue may not by itself win over undecided voters, it will hurt his credibility on national security issues, which indirectly may result in a fair number of voters going Democratic. But can’t McCain just change his position? Not really, as it would subject him to endless charges of flip-flopping (which have been the centerpiece of his attacks on Mitt Romney) and a torrent of criticism from the conservative wing of his party. Conservative support for the status quo is unlikely to hurt a Democrat emphasizing change, as they already know and expect that Democrats are in favor of ending DADT. Furthermore, “values” voters, the type likely to be energized by DADT, are outnumbered 10 to one in this election by those concerned with Iraq and terrorism, suggesting that the potential benefits for the Democratic nominee far outweigh the risks. Hopefully, the Democratic candidate employs and benefits from this strategy and then makes eliminating this unjust and counterproductive policy one of his or her top legislative priorities.
Zack Beauchamp ’10 knows why they call it the “Straight Talk Express.”
Danger in the fine print: how the FDA fails us BY JONAH FABRICANT Opinions Columnist Advertising and deception pretty much go hand in hand. Even cautious consumers are occasionally taken in by misleading marketing, often accompanied by nearly illegible fine print giving them all the details they should have had to begin with. This trick is nothing new — generations of people have been crushed to learn that they didn’t actually have good enough credit to lease a sedan for $169 a month — but its uses can be more dangerous than most Americans realize, as evidenced by the questionable health claims that accompany many dietary supplements. Some disclaimers are fairly innocuous. My most recent encounter with a dream-crushing disclaimer came during the last episode of the hit game show “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” At the end of the show, a disclaimer flashed revealing the horrible truth about the show’s premise: The fifth grade prodigies featured on the show are given a workbook to study, on which the producers “may base questions.” Basically, the show spends an hour touting the smarts of a bunch of child actors who are given a cheat sheet beforehand. Now, my basis for moral indignation might seem shaky considering I just admitted watching Jeff Foxworthy’s game show, but fine print disclaimers often reveal information far less innocuous than the sordid details of Fox’s latest ratings stunt. I am far more concerned with a disclaimer I see at the bottom of the screen during almost every commercial break. Anyone who has entered a health food store should be familiar with the ubiquitous disclaimer on dietary supplements, reminding consumers that although the product makes statements about the wonderful things it can
do for your health, “these statements have not been evaluated by the FDA” and the product “is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.” Over the past 15 years the Food and Drug Administration’s regulations for dietary supplements have changed several times, but since 1994 manufacturers have been allowed to make statements on labels about the ways in which nutrients affect the “structure or function” of the human body. These state-
dietary supplement lobbyists) the final rules allow manufacturers to make many claims that the FDA initially wanted to exclude. The upshot of the weak regulations and patchy enforcement is that many products are being marketed accompanied by dubious if not patently false health claims. The people most harmed by this false advertising belong to a particularly vulnerable segment of the population. A quick Internet search reveals dietary supplements that promise to alleviate
The U.S. market has been flooded with such an influx of unproven medical therapies billed as dietary supplements that without thorough research and a good bit of luck, patients can end up paying exorbitant amounts for supplements that have little scientific evidence to rest on. ments are not screened by the FDA and can contain a wide variety of claims so long as they do not purport to address a disease and are accompanied by the disclaimer above. The FDA’s rules governing what qualifies as a structure or function claim are complex, but due to pressure from Congress (whose legislators were no doubt under pressure from
the symptoms or slow the progression of such serious diseases as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis. To be sure, there are many promising complementary alternative treatments to serious diseases, and I wouldn’t presume to judge those who seek alternative therapy in the face of debilitating conditions. However, the U.S. market has been flooded
with such an influx of unproven medical therapies billed as dietary supplements that without thorough research and a good bit of luck, patients can end up paying exorbitant amounts for supplements that have little scientific evidence to rest on. These treatments need to be held to the same standards as other drugs because their claims to treat diseases obviously go beyond the FDA’s allowable structure and function criteria. The main problem here is one of enforcement. The FDA doesn’t have the resources to police the dietary supplement market effectively and the situation will never change unless consumers speak up on their own behalf and demand that Congress alter its regulations to grant the FDA more latitude. At the very least, claims should be reported to the FDA along with the scientific evidence to back them up before products are allowed on the market. As it stands, the rules are so confusing that it’s difficult for a layman to tell if individual manufacturers are breaking them, but there’s something decidedly incongruous about websites that tout memory pills that can halt the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, accompanied by a disclaimer (so small as to be illegible) reminding the visitor that the supplement being sold is not intended to “treat, cure or prevent any disease.” Some natural and homeopathic remedies have a proven track record and have voluntarily had their claims approved by the FDA. The government must step up its oversight of those dietary supplements which have thus far faced little scrutiny in order to be consistent with its stated goals of preventing fraudulent claims and protecting consumers. Then they can move on to ensuring the legitimacy of our game shows.
Jonah Fabricant ’10 supports the marketing of gummy bear vitamins.
S ports M onday Page 12
Monday, February 4, 2008
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
M. hoops falls to Cornell, defeats Columbia By Stu Woo Senior Editor
The Pizzitola Center crowd could feel the momentum shifting Friday night. The men’s 64 b a s k e t b a l l Brown 75 t e a m h a d Cornell closed the first half on a 68 16-5 run to tie Brown Columbia 63 Cornell, the favorite to win the Ivy League. With Columbia beating Yale, another contender, the Bears looked as if they might emerge from the weekend as the league’s team to beat. Instead, Cornell solidified its frontrunner status. The Big Red hit 3-pointers down the stretch while Brown missed layups, and the Ithaca, N.Y. team won, 75-64.
Ashley Hess / Herald
Since Nov. 10, the Bears have been unable to pick up a win — until last weekend, that is, when they defeated Harvard and Dartmouth.
M. icers awake from slumber Benjy Asher Assistant Spor ts Editor
The men’s hockey team finally awoke from a long slumber this weekend, ending a 15-game winless streak dating 4 Brown back to Nov. 10. With two 2 Harvard much-needed Eastern Col4 Brown lege Athletic Dartmouth 3 Conference wins over Ivy opponents Harvard and Dartmouth, the Bears push their record to 3-14-4 overall and 3-8-3 in league. Assistant Captain David Robertson ’08 scored his first two goals of the season to lead Brown to a 4-2 win over the Crimson on Friday night, and the team repeated the performance on Saturday, defeating the Big Green 4-3. “This was a game we needed to win. We had a big crowd behind us, and hopefully this will give our fans more confidence in us,” Captain Sean Hurley ‘08 said after the Harvard game. “When you don’t win for 15 games, you need to take baby steps, but tonight was a giant baby step, if there is such a thing.” Brown’s of fense got rolling quickly against Harvard, creating several shot opportunities within the first minute of the game. Just 1:42 in, Aaron Volpatti ’10 got the puck in the right face-off circle and found Robertson wide open at the top of the left circle. Robertson got the puck under control and fired a wrist shot past the goalie to put the Bears on the board first. The Bears were unable to find the back of the net for the rest of the period, but they held Har vard scoreless with their aggressive checking and a few big saves from goalie Dan Rosen ’10. “We’ve switched to being a more aggressive team,” said Head Coach Roger Grillo. “Some nights the aggressiveness hasn’t been there, but tonight it was there, and we were able to establish our team identity.” Throughout most of the second period, the Bears continued to hold Harvard scoreless, largely because of 12 saves by Rosen, including one
save on a Crimson breakaway. But with 5:46 left, Harvard finally converted, on its sixth power play of the night, when Alex Meintel redirected a slap shot by teammate Jimmy Fraser to tie the game. Penalties plagued Brown all night, with the Bears heading to the penalty box 12 times. The game stayed rough, with several altercations between players. “Any time we play Harvard, we know it’s going to be a high-energy, high-octane game, so the guys were really fired up,” Robertson said. “It’s a great rivalr y, and we love it.” Shortly after the Crimson tied the game, the Bears found themselves with a 4-on-3 power play, and began to dominate possession of the puck. With his teammates playing close to the net, Robertson waited patiently on the blue line, looking for a play to develop. Finally, Hurley got the puck behind the net and sent it back to a wide-open Robertson, who sent a one-timer into the net to give Brown a 2-1 lead with 3:42 left in the period. “I guess goals come in bunches,” Robertson said. “I was just focusing on getting pucks through … and my teammates made great plays, and I was fortunate enough to get shots.” The assist was the 50th of Hurley’s career. Assistant Captain Jeff Prough ’08 reached that mark earlier this season. Brown picked up another penalty with 1:38 left in the second period, but this time, the Bears caught Har vard off-guard when Hurley found Jordan Pietrus ’10 on a fast break opportunity, and Pietrus converted the short-handed goal to give Bruno a 3-1 lead. This season the Bears have struggled to hold third period leads, but not so on Friday. Just 57 seconds into the final frame, Matt Vokes ’09 scored on a onetimer from the slot, off a pass from Devin Timberlake ’10. “That was a huge goal,” Grillo said. “It deflated Harvard for a good ten minutes.” Har vard threatened to come continued on page 9
Brown did rebound the next night to beat Columbia, 68-63, with help from exemplary play by two freshmen. The weekend split brings the Bears’ record to 10-8 overall and 2-2 in league play. On Friday night, Brown got off to a quick start against Cornell, forcing seven turnovers in the first six minutes to grab an 11-4 lead. But Cornell then went on a 24-6 run, with forward Ryan Wittman, last year’s Ivy League Rookie of the Year, hitting three 3-pointers in that stretch. Wittman would finish with a teamhigh 21 points, going 5-for-10 from beyond the arc. “He’s one of the top shooters in the nation,” Cornell Head Coach Steve Donahue said. “You can’t leave him open.” But Brown began chipping away at the 11-point deficit before the first half ended, making several layups
and a string of free throws. The crowd of 1,812, largely silent during the Cornell run, erupted after a spectacular play involving Brown’s two leading scorers. With less than two minutes in the half, guard Damon Huffman ’08 poked the ball from Cornell point guard Louis Dale. Huffman and Dale then both dove for the ball, and Huffman knocked it in the path of a streaking Mark McAndrew ’08, who glided in for a layup. The score cut the deficit to two, and the teams ended the half tied at 33. But that would be the last time the Bears would be tied with Cornell. The Big Red scored the first seven points of the second half, starting with — what else? — a Wittman 3-pointer. The Bears pulled within two at the 14- and 13-minute marks, but Cornell opened its lead again continued on page 9
M. tennis feels first loss of its season By Meagan Garza Contributing Writer
After the Bears breezed past their last two opponents, dropping only one of 18 matches, Head Coach Jay Harris decided to schedule William & Mary University to offer a serious challenge to the team. This match would measure their caliber of play, showing how much work it will take over the next couple of weeks to be contenders for this year’s Ivy League title. The match started off slow for the Bears, ranked No. 75, as No. 38 William & Mary came out with enough intensity to shake Brown into dropping the first three games in all three doubles matches. In a battle of the big serve, it
was only a matter of time before the Bears’ ser vice was broken and William & Mary took charge. The teaming of Basu Ratnam ’09 and Chris Lee ’09 at No. 1 doubles was a match filled with close, linecalling dramatics, culminating in their 8-5 defeat. The loss of the doubles point came as co-captain Noah Gardner ’09 and Sam Garland ’09 also dropped their match 8-5 at No. 3 doubles. The Bears’ No. 2 doubles team could easily have thrown the match, but newcomer Jonathan Pearlman ’11 and co-captain Saurabh Kohli ’08 were able to break William & Mary’s serve to send the match into a tiebreaker. Spurred on by an ace delivered by Kohli at 3-3, they swept the next four points to
grab the victory at 7-3, swinging the momentum back to the Bears for the upcoming singles matches. It was this intensity at the end of his match that Kohli pinpointed as the Bears’ strategy going into singles play. “During our team huddle, Coach told us we needed to come out with more intensity and be fired up for our matches if we wanted to win,” Kohli said. “Chris Lee came out and went hard, which really helped us — especially for me, who needed that extra energy when I was down.” The momentum seemed to stay with the Bears at the start of singles play as Lee, at No. 2 singles, locked continued on page 9
Gymnasts turn around in two days By Katie Wood Contributing Writer
Two days after an unsatisfactory performance at the University of New Hampshire, the gymnastics team revived themselves for Sunday’s meet at the Pizzitola Sports Center. After a long day in the classroom, the women traveled to UNH for a meet they soon wanted to forget. The Bears finished a disappointing fourth place at UNH, trailing the University of Alaska and the University of Bridgeport. Neither the girls nor the coaches were happy with the results at the end of the day. “It was rough. We weren’t focused, and we weren’t pleased with our performance,” said Head Coach Sara Carver-Milne. She thought her team’s lack of focus came from the transition to having classes. The team went from training together every day over intersession to having busy class schedules that forced the girls to practice separately. Jen Sobuta ’09 was the top finisher on the vault for the Bears in 12th (9.475) followed by Chelsey Binkley ’11 and Stephanie Albert ’10. Albert came into her element on the beam, finishing eighth (9.575). The top finisher in the continued on page 9
Ashley Hess / Herald
Chelsey Binkley ’11 earned third in the all-around at the Ocean State Challenge yesterday, helping Brown beat in-state rivals URI and RIC.