Monday, September 8, 2008

The Brown Daily Herald M onday, S eptember 8, 2008

Volume CXLIII, No. 65

Since 1866, Daily Since 1891

TA shortage fuels caps on intro chem enrollment

s u stai n a b l e Bar b e c u e

By Nicole Dungca Staff Writer

Struggling to find available graduate student teaching assistants for the laboratory sections of the quickly growing CHEM 0330: “Equilibrium, Rate and Structure,” the Chemistry Department has placed limits this semester on the number of undergraduate students allowed to take the course, said Peter Weber, professor of chemistry and department chair.

With one lecture section offering spots to 200 students and two more offering 155 spots each, 510 students will be allowed to take the previously uncapped course this semester. As of yesterday afternoon, about four spots remained open in one section, but the other two sections were full.

It is unclear how many students could not register for the course be-

Meara Sharma / Herald

The Sustainable Food Initiative celebrates food in the student garden on Hope Street.

Timing puts Ramadan just before Orientation

By Anne Simons Senior Staff Writer

Around 7 p.m. Friday night, Muslim students removed their shoes as they poured into the space beneath the Morriss-Champlin lounge, home of the

FEATURE Brown Muslim Students’ Association.

At 7:12 p.m., the official time of sunset, the students munched on their first morsels of food since before dawn — cookies with some water — and then they headed to special mats in one corner of the room, knelt to the ground and faced Mecca.

They were attending a nightly iftar — or fast-breaking dinner — hosted by the BMSA and the Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life during the month of Ramadan, which is considered holy by observers of the Muslim religion, who fast and reflect each day of the month. This year, the Islamic month of Ramadan began Monday Sept, 1, just as many Brown students were arriving on campus.

The iftars bring together up to 50 students every night for a meal — often catered by a Thayer restaurant — in the BMSA center, where many students eat and chat for at least an hour. This is only the third year Brown has sponsored nightly iftars, said Janet Cooper Nelson, chaplain of the University. That change was fueled by Rumee Ahmed, the University’s first Muslim chaplain, who left last spring.

He and his wife, Community Director Ayesha Chaudhry —“ferocious organizers,” according to Cooper Nelson — worked to coordinate the meals,

By Jenna Stark Senior Staff Writer

As of the end of last semester, professors can no longer select A, B or C grades “with distinction” for students. Last April, the faculty voted to standardize the University’s grading system by removing the possibility of an “A with distinction,” essentially an A+, from Banner’s grade options.

“Removing A’s with distinction makes the (grading) process more transparent and gives students a clearer idea of where they stand,” said Registrar Michael Pesta . In the past, professors have given students A, B or C grades with

distinction, but those grades were never recognized on official transcripts.

The new policy intends to clarify and make the current grading scale more consistent, said Associate Professor of Psychology Ruth Colwill, the former chair of the Faculty Executive Committee.

Beginning last semester, professors were not able to assign A, B or C grades with distinction.

Pesta plans to send an e-mail to faculty updating them on the usage of distinction grades, he said.

Faculty members weren’t sure when to use the distinction mark.

“Professors were using the distinction mark with the A to make an A+, which runs counter to the ideas of the New Curriculum,” Pesta said, adding that in determining magna cum laude, the “A with distinction”

was counted as a regular A. However, distinction grades can be added to a satisfactory grade to become the equivalent of an A as counted towards magna cum laude degrees, Pesta said. The University awards the top 20 percent of the graduating class with magna cum laude.

“This all came up because it was unclear whether any faculty member agreed on what a distinction grade was used for,” Colwill said. “The procedure described for calculating magna was not consistent with how it was being done.”

The College Curriculum Council will review the procedure for determining magna cum laude this year, Colwill said, adding that some faculty are debating whether a stu-

3

ARTS & CULTURE

Richard Lewis is used to New England’s rapidly changing weather.

But when he traveled to Iceland with three Brown geology professors in late August, he began to appreciate New England’s relative consistency.

“In Iceland, if you don’t like the weather, wait 30 seconds,” Lewis said, alluding to Mark Twain’s quotation about the weather in New England.

Lewis, science media specialist for Public Affairs and University Relations, accompanied Professors of Geological Sciences Jim Head PhD’69 and Jack Mustard and Assistant Professor of Geological Sciences Michael Wyatt to Iceland. The professors researched Iceland’s geology to compare it to the surface of Mars, and Lewis posted regular updates to the University’s Web site about their progress.

Iceland’s surface has “hydrated minerals” that show that water has interacted with rock, much like Mars has, and researchers can use Iceland to enhance their understanding of the history of water’s presence on Mars, Mustard said.

Over time, as the water flows over rock, it can leave a precipitate on the surface, Mustard said. Using a spectrometer, scientists can compare Icelandic rocks with Martian rocks to see if they have similar precipitates so they can draw conclusions about whether there has been water on Mars.

Head called these similarities

continued on page 4

Meara Sharma / Herald

Art exhibition in the Bell Gallery showcases the aesthetic value of Soviet poster propaganda.

SOVIETS GOT STYLE A new art exhibition revisits under-appreciated political propaganda

www.browndailyherald.com

By Chaz Kelsh Senior Staff Writer

R e - v i e w i n g R u ssia

See Arts & Culture, page 3

continued on page 4

5

CAMPUS NEWS

easier Access CIS improves cellphone access to the internet — student productively likely to surge

7

OPINIONS

TWTP SHOULD Stay Robert Smith III ‘09 and Soyoung Park ‘09 defend the program and explain its history

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

continued on page 4

Research, and a little P.R., from Iceland

Usage of distinction grades limited S with distinction can still be granted

cause of the new limits, but Associate Professor of Chemistry Christoph Rose-Petruck, one of the three professors who teach the course, guessed that the number was between 50 to 100.

Attempting to determine how many students were inconvenienced by the course’s new limits, the Chemistry Department released a survey on Friday that asked for students to respond if they were unable to get into the laboratory or lecture section of their choice, or if they were unable to get into the course at all. As of Friday afternoon, 12 students reported not being able to get into both a lecture and a laboratory section.

The new limits come a year after more than 600 students registered for the course in the fall of 2007, a no-

continued on page 5

8

SPORTS

WOMEN’S SOCCER SCORES Team rallies from Friday loss to trounce Albany in their home opener

News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com

T oday Page 2

Monday, September 8, 2008

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

We a t h e r TODAY

Vagina Dentata | Soojean Kim TOMORROW

rain / thunder 80 / 56

partly cloudy 81 / 61

Menu Sharpe Refectory

Verney-Woolley Dining Hall

Lunch — Vegan Curried Tofu Scramble, Dal Cali, Savory Chicken Stew, Vegan Brown Rice Pilaf with Mushrooms

Lunch — Cavatini, Vegan Stuffed Peppers, Sauteed Zucchini and Onions

Dinner — Macaroni and Cheese, Spice Crusted Chicken, Roast Beef au Jus, Creamy Rosemary Polenta

Dinner — Grilled Teriyaki Chicken, Sweet and Sour Tofu, Chinese Fried Rice

Free Variation | Jeremy Kuhn

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

Epitmetheos | Samuel Holzman

Enigma Twist | Dustin Foley

© Puzzles Pappocom RELEASE DATE– Monday, January 28,by 2008

Los Angeles Times Daily oCrossword Puzzle C r o ssw rd Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

ACROSS 1 Curved path 4 Stands guard, perhaps 9 Fern seed 14 Adriatic or Aegean 15 Make a payment 16 Asylum 17 Drop in the middle 18 Best a real estate tycoon?

20 West Texas city named by Russians 22 Like the fur seal 23 Nevada gambling mecca 24 Tongue’s sense 26 Moby Dick chaser 30 Cheap piece of jewelry 32 Leave no doubt about 34 Soda holder 35 Out in the open 38 Cell “messenger” 39 Fauna’s partner 41 Prefix with term or life 42 Frequently 44 Chat room guffaw 45 Travelers’ documents 47 Barrister’s field 48 Cut down to size 50 Correcting manuscripts, e.g.

54 Model’s stance 55 Yucca fiber 58 Sheltered, at sea 59 Russell of “American Gangster” 61 Flower fertilizer 63 Underpay a comic actor?

67 Infamous Amin 68 Conical abode 69 Minute amount 70 __ carte 71 Poet William Butler __ 72 Red deer 73 Diner owner in TV’s “Alice”

DOWN 1 Put in order 2 One enjoying a book 3 Lock up a movie star?

4 They can be fine or liberal 5 Scold 6 Six-foot Australian bird 7 “The __ They Are A-Changin’”: Dylan 8 Mar. 17th honoree 9 Loafer or sneaker 10 Zoo animals with Chinese names 11 Caesar’s eggs 12 Seminary subj.

13 Either extreme of a loaf 19 Bleak, in poetry 21 Sub locator 25 Tiny elemental components 27 Injure an actor?

28 ‘’Rule, Britannia’’ composer 29 Lima or fava 31 Jack in a deck

33 Popular vodka, familiarly 36 By way of 37 ’50s Ford flop 39 Dr. Dentons feature 40 Gray wolf 43 “__ Attraction” 46 “Under wraps” is one 49 Under wraps, so to speak 51 Portray

52 Sewing implement 53 Pleasantly cheerful 56 Mower’s path 57 __ firma 60 AAA suggestions 62 Bills not found in ATMs 63 Porcine pen 64 Bit of a titter 65 __-Locka, Florida 66 Sea dog

Alien Weather Forecast | Stephen Lichenstein and Adam Wagner

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Classic Nightmarishly Elastic | Adam Robbins

xwordeditor@aol.com

1/28/08

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A rts & C ulture Monday, September 8, 2008

Bell Gallery show reconsiders Soviet art

By Ben Hyman Arts & Culture Editor

An eye-opening new exhibition, “Views and Re-Views: Soviet Political Posters and Cartoons,” invites viewers to reconsider overly simplistic characterizations of the style of Soviet art known as Socialist Realism. On view until Oct. 19, the show encourages a recognition of the considerable artistic value and enduring relevance of political art from the former Soviet Union, which is too often dismissed as simple propagandistic depictions of flag-waving proletarians and smiling peasants.

Featuring over 160 works, the sprawling exhibition fills List Art Center’s David Winton Bell Gallery and extends to the John Hay Library and satellite spaces in the Rockefeller Library and the Cogut Center for the Humanities. Bell Gallery Director JoAnn Conklin and Professor Emeritus of History Abbott “Tom” Gleason curated the show.

“Views and Re-Views” presents a tremendous breadth of material, from delicate ink-and-pencil drawings to enormous posters in bold, geometric designs that dominate whole walls with swaths of vibrant red. The show is primarily organized into niches devoted to a particular artist or theme, with wall text providing helpful historical context. As Gleason explains in his catalog essay, the exhibition strives to highlight an absolutist strain in these works that broadcasts a certainty about the boundaries of good and evil.

The show’s cartoons and caricatures employ these strong dualities as a source of humor. The works of Viktor Deni, Dmitri Moor and Boris Efimov offer widely accessible visual jokes, many of which are still genuinely funny despite the large shift in time and context. The political photomontages of Alexander Zhitomirsky pack enormous visual punch, and the delicate ink-and-watercolor caricatures by the three-artist collective known as the Kukryniksy are among the most striking works in the exhibition. A 1943 drawing of Heinrich Himmler, for example, offers a clownish depiction of the Nazi SS director beaming a gap-toothed smile. It’s funny at first, but the chilling juxtaposition of Himmler’s foolishness with the barelyvisible bloodstains on his coat and

Page 3

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

hands stifles any laughter.

The poster as an art form seems to have been designed specifically with the Soviet Union in mind. Both populist and popular, and easy to reproduce, posters were an effective way to communicate with a largely illiterate or semi-literate society.

“Views and Re-Views” features several masters of the genre, including Gustav Klutsis, Nikolai Dolgorukov and Viktor Koretsky. Klutsis’s story demonstrates the perils of the artist’s role in Stalinist Russia. Despite his great contributions to art through his pioneering of the photomontage — a style of juxtaposing photographs that became a near-universal trope in the Soviet poster — Klutsis was nevertheless executed in the purges of 1938 for alleged dissident activities.

In the remarkable posters of Valentina Kulagina, Klutsis’ wife, human figures are iterated and abstracted into heroic, machine-like forms, alive with kinetic energy. The inclusion of Kulagina — and of other female artists — adds a welcome perspective to the show.

Many of the posters deify Soviet political leaders, but Gleason hoped that the exhibition would provide viewers with the chance to re-evaluate the work from a post-Cold War political perspective.

“When it’s not ‘Communist art’ any longer, it becomes ‘art of the mid-20thcentury,’” he said. “I think we’ll see the political contrast may be somewhat lessened. We may see these things more with our eyes and less with our political antennae.”

Lynne deBenedette, senior lecturer in Slavic languages, felt that “Views and Re-Views” succeeded in re-contextualizing the posters and cartoons for those who had only seen this work through the lens of politics.

“When you began to learn Russian during the Cold War, as I did, these images were so much a part of the way we experienced the Soviet Union that to see them in this new context is really refreshing,” deBenedette said.

The exhibition represents more than a year of work on the part of multiple University offices, including the Bell Gallery, the University Library, the Cogut Center and the Office of the Vice President for International Affairs.

All of the materials in the show are on loan from a rarely exhibited collection of some 15,000 to 20,000 works held

in Prague by an anonymous collector whom Gleason and others refer to as “D.” Gleason believes that “Views and Re-Views” is the largest exhibition of this collector’s holdings to appear in the United States.

Gleason added that one of the advantages of seeing these works in an exhibition so extensive is the opportunity it provides to notice some surprising elements. The use of photomontage, the powerful geometry and the exaggerated or strange imagery in these posters subtly connect them to avant-garde movements like Dada, Constructivism and Surrealism, rarely associated with Socialist Realist art.

Gleason will lecture on the exhibition on Oct. 8, which will probably address visual sources for the material, and the Cogut Center is offering a symposium, “Political Art and Its Paradoxes,” on Oct. 10.

The presence of so many of these works at Brown also provided Gleason with the opportunity to design a course, HIST 1973D: “Friends, Enemies, and Heroes: Reading the Soviet Poster.” The class will address issues of propaganda, as well as the Soviet poster’s historical precedents in Russian art. Students will have access to a database of the larger collection — which is not currently available to the public — in order to do research.

Cogut Center Director and Professor of History Michael Steinberg, who organized the Oct. 10 symposium, was thrilled that a curriculum could be fashioned around the exhibition.

“It’s not only a fantastic treasure trove of art,” he said. “It’s also a wonderful teaching tool.”

Editors ’ picks Now to Oct. 19: “Views and Re-Views: Soviet Political Posters and Cartoons”; exhibition at the David Winton Bell Gallery in List Art Center and the John Hay Library, with auxiliary selections on view in the Rockefeller Library and the Cogut Center for the Humanities. Bell Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Open to the public.

Now to Oct. 26: “From Durer to Van Gogh: Gifts from Eliza Metcalf Radeke and Helen Metcalf Danforth”; exhibition at the RISD Museum inaugurating the Museum’s new Linda and Vincent Buonanno Works on Paper Gallery. Museum hours are Tuesday through Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm. Admission is $3 for college students with valid ID.

Sept. 11 to 12: “La Nueva Cancion chilena”; sponsored by the Center for Latin American Studies in collaboration with Assistant Professor of Music Kiri Miller. Thursday night’s performance, at 7 pm in Grant Recital Hall, features Lucia Diaz-Starr and accompanists, who will perform works in the style of 1960s Chilean protest songs. A conference, “Chile, 35 Years: The Pinochet Regime and Its Aftermath,” will be held all day Friday, also in Grant Recital Hall. Both events are free and open to the public.

Sept. 12: The Brown University Orchestra, under the direction of Paul Phillips, performs works by Leonard Bernstein, John Williams, and others on the Main Green at 5:30 pm.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Monday, September 8, 2008

Chem dept. works to accomodate demand

Timing of Ramadan helps and complicates activities

Page 4

continued from page 1 ticeable spike in enrollment, Weber said. For the fall of 2006, 547 students registered for the course at the beginning of the semester, according to Weber, and for about six years before that year, beginning course enrollment was consistently under 580. Weber said he could not find an exact reason for the course’s surge in popularity, but pointed to growing incoming first-year class sizes as one possible factor.

In response to the shortage of available spots in the course, the department plans to offer it again in the spring for the first time. The introductory chemistry course serves as one of the fundamental prerequisite courses for 18 concentrations, including biology, chemistry, neuroscience and engineering. It is also a pre-med requirement.

According to Weber, smaller incoming classes for the Graduate School’s Chemistry Department have made it difficult to staff the oftcrowded laboratory sections, which only have laboratory stations for a maximum of 17 students per section and are taught by graduate students, who are obligated to be teaching assistants for one course during their first year. The limit on the number of students that can be accepted to the course is based on how many spaces are available in the labs.

For the 2007-08 academic year, the Chemistry Department welcomed only nine new students to its graduate program, 14 students fewer than the 23 they accepted the year before. This year, at the department’s urging to the Graduate School, the number was increased to 18 incoming graduate students. In order to staff the laboratory sections for the

510 students of this semester, at least 15 graduate students will need to be available for the course.

“It’s better this year, but it’s still not sufficient,” Weber said. “We’re still struggling and we’re still trying to fill these last needs.”

During the last academic year, in order to accommodate the high number of students and a dramatic drop in first-year Chemistry graduate students, Weber said the department implemented an emergency measure that offered graduate students who were slated to spend the entire semester doing research the option of spending half the semester researching and the other half teaching a section.

For some professors and graduate students, the practice can be frustrating because it can impede graduate students from obtaining optimal results for their research projects, which often rely on outside grants.

“It’s a bad idea and not fair to the graduate students,” Prof. RosePetruck said. “Eventually, we have to let them do the research.”

Nicole Seah GS said that the halfresearch, half-teacher’s assistant option likely took a toll on those that were expecting the entire semester to be dedicated to research.

“If you have to pull out 15 to 20 hours for TAing, it affects your research and how much you get done,” said Seah, who has led sections for the course multiple times. “And also, it’s just exhausting.”

The limits have been a burden for a number of undergraduates, particularly the first-years who choose their classes after all other upperclassmen.

A number of students have been unable to register for the class, after

some first-years followed the advice of upperclassmen who said that getting into the course would not be a problem because of its size, Jyotsna Mullur ’12 said.

Weber spoke of one first-year that was shut out of the class when she first registered and only got into the class on Wednesday after repeatedly visiting Banner the next day, waiting for someone to drop the course.

While the vast majority of students were able to register without a problem, others found that the course limits have prevented them from shopping more classes.

Mullur was able to register for one section, but when she tried to switch into another that better fit her schedule, she found that it was full. Concerned that she may lose her spot, she is currently staying in the section in which she was registered.

“I wish they would up the caps.

It’s really frustrating because now I’m so worried about which section and which lab I’m going to get into,” she said.

As for taking the class in the spring, Mullur is rejecting the option because she must take CHEM 0350: “Organic Chemistry” — a course that has CHEM 0033 as a prerequisite — as another requirement in the spring because it is not offered in the fall.

Those two courses are required for seven concentrations.

“They keep saying they’re offering it spring semester, but I can’t do it. It would mess up the whole sequence,” she said.

Weber said he hopes those who are taking CHEM 0033 outside of their concentration will be willing to take the smaller classes in the spring, opening up more spaces for those that need to take the sequence.

continued from page 1 along with help from students.

But this year, with the absence of a Muslim chaplain, students are having to take on more responsibility.

To try to fill the gap, the University has created two organizational workstudy positions, which have been filled

by Amie Darboe ’10 and Shabneez Emambux ’11, Cooper Nelson said.

The Universityis “optimistic” that they’ll find a new Muslim chaplain soon, Cooper Nelson said, adding that the University has been “working like Trojans all summer” to find someone who meets Brown’s high standards and will fit in with Brown’s personality in a field that is still new and unconventional.

“Part of me just says, ‘hire anybody,’ ” but that “would not be doing it the Brown way,” she said. When summer ended and the University had not yet found a chaplain, “Ramadan arrangements began to be the highest priority,” she said.

In the meantime, students and budgets have been stressed to pick up the slack. The holiday’s timing has caused logistical problems for the organizers of activities and for recruiting new students to the community, but students say the hard work is worth being able to observe the holiday.

BMSA President Rashid Hussain ’10 said it was hard to get the word out about the iftars early on. No student organization was allowed to advertise before last Thursday’s Activities Fair, he said, and iftars have conflicted with unit meetings and dinners.

Cooper Nelson also pointed to her office’s recent move from Faunce House to J. Walter Wilson as a cause of disorganization. “Normally at this point in the year, we’d be doing more to reach out,” she said.

Both Darboe and Emambux, who organize the iftars, said they too have been experiencing logistical troubles.

Darboe, who contacts vendors, decides on menus and sorts out funding issues, said that even though Brown Dining Services pays the Office of the Chaplain for Muslim students’ unused meal credits, it has been tough to make ends meet financially.

Until she started working on the iftars herself, Darboe said, she didn’t “know how much work” Ahmed and Chaudhry put in and said they “went out of their way” to do a great job. The students relied a lot on Ahmed in the past, Emambux said. “We need a new (chaplain) ASAP,” Darboe said.

“I declare (Darboe and Emambux)

magnificent. They declare themselves swamped,” Cooper Nelson said. “With (Ramadan) coming right off the bat, it’s just really been tough,” she added, but iftars are “critical for every Muslim person at Brown who wishes to observe.”

“If you were thinking, ‘Gosh, how am I going to meet other Muslim friends?’ this certainly answers that question,” she said.

Emambux, who is from the African island of Mauritius, said she and Darboe “want the people arriving here to feel that even though they’re far away from home, they have a place where they can gather and be,” she said. As a first-year, she had time to attend the pre-orientation program for international students and get settled into campus life before Ramadan began. She said she felt “cocooned” by the BMSA and the Muslim chaplain because they “didn’t want you to feel alone.”

Returning students also seemed to appreciate reuniting with their friends from last year early on. “It’s definitely a really fast way to get to know each other and get back into the jump of things,” said Amrin Khander ’11, secretary of the BMSA. Overall, the timing of Ramadan seems to have had both positive and negative results.

“I think it is an advantage” for Ramadan to fall earlier in the year, said Atena Asiaii ’08 MD’12, adding that “it’s sort of like its own ice-breaker.”

“It gets people together from the first day,” she said.

Asiaii said she has noticed a lot of change over the five years she’s observed Ramadan at Brown. Until Ahmed came, it was impossible to do nightly dinners because there just wasn’t the support, she said.

But on the other hand, there have been problems getting first-years involved. “Little by little, we’re starting to get them all in,” Khander said. “It’s just going a lot slower than usual.”

“As a freshman, I was better prepared,” she said. “Since the Activities Fair was before (Ramadan), I knew where to go and what to do.”

Like this year, the next Ramadan will also have already begun by the time students arrive on campus. Osman Chaudhry ’11, treasurer of the BMSA, said he’s nervous about next year, but is confident that “things will get taken care of.”

Meanwhile, staff are trying to remain upbeat. “As one student put it,” Cooper Nelson said, “‘at least it’ll be shorter!’”

U. will no longer allow ABC’s with distinction continued from page 1 dent with a C or NC should still be applicable for magna cum laude.

Professors were divided on whether distinction marks are beneficial for students.

“We already have enough grade inflation,” said Professor of Mathematics Thomas Banchoff.

“People should have a real A or something that is not a real A. (Using distinction marks) is very untraditional and I don’t think people outside the University would understand it.”

However, other professors argued that they should be able to reward students for exceptional work.

“What do you do when you have

work that is so great that you wish you could recognize it in a special way?” said Luiz Valente, associate professor of Portuguese and Brazilian studies. “The distinction mark is a good way to recognize work that is essentially off the scale.”

Valente added that the two grading systems should be kept separate — making the “S with distinction” equivalent to an A provides students an easy alternative to reach magna cum laude.

“The trend is to equate the Scheck with what would have been an A when that kind of translation wasn’t supposed to be there. The student should choose S/NC on a philosophical basis — not as a way to manipulate the system.”

Monday, September 8, 2008

Profs travel to a Mars-like place: Iceland

HARPIN’ Tunes

continued from page 1 Mars’ “terrestrial analogues,” adding that volcanic eruptions underneath ice in Iceland have created ice and liquid water adjacent to each other — much like what the researchers believe may have happened on Mars.

Water is one of the three essential ingredients for life, along with heat and organic material, Head said, explaining the importance of proving water’s presence on Mars.

Though the professors didn’t discover anything revolutionary — no “smoking gun,” Head said — their trip did help build their understanding about Mars’ history.

“It totally transforms your perspective to sit among the processes while they’re active,” Mustard said.

“We could really nail it,” he added, referring to the presence of the same minerals on Earth and Mars.

Their research could also help

Kim Perley / Herald

A musician strummed the harp in Big Ma’s Talent show last weekend.

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i n

B

r i e f

U. now providing WiFi to iPhone users Computing and Information Services has made it easier for students with handheld cellular devices like the iPhone or the Palm Treo to access the Internet.

CIS installed Exchange ActiveSync on the University’s e-mail servers during the summer, coinciding with the iPhone 2.0 firmware release.

ActiveSync is a Microsoft program designed to help synchronize mobile devices with network servers. Users will now also be able to access Brown’s VPN network, allowing them to log into library resources off-campus.

For students with handheld cellular devices like the iPhone or the Palm Treo, the change means they are returning to a more technologyaccessible campus.

Connectivity has previously been an issue for iPhone users. According to a Sept. 18, 2007 Herald story (“Despite devotees, iPhone reception weak”), students reported difficulty accessing the Brown wireless network, which required them to reauthenticate every 10 minutes.

The Brown-Secure network was not available for handheld devices last year, although it now works on iPhone and iPod Touches.

“We upgraded the wireless controls because we knew there would be more wireless devices on the network this year in addition to laptops,” said Christopher Grossi ’92, manager of help-desk field support and software distribution.

“The issue was basically that the previous versions of the iPhone were not compatible with (Brown’s security requirements),” Grossi said. But “manufacturers like Apple are coming to that standard,” he added, which has allowed for the recent changes.

The addition of a third-party software like ActiveSync enables students to use their phones to check their e-mail, Grossi said.

Ethan Mack ’11, who received his iPhone last January, said he noticed the efforts to make Internet access at Brown “more inclusive.”

“I think they’ve done everything they can do,” Mack said. “I have had more problems with the Internet on my computer than my phone,” he added.

However, for some students, the improvements come too late.

Sara Papamarcos ’09 said, after experiencing difficulties with oncampus e-mail access, she just set her iPhone to connect to AT&T’s EDGE network.

Those with access to the Brown network can download the software to enable VPN and Brown-Secure wireless access at the CIS Web site.

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build the case for a specific landing site for a future Mars expedition, Mustard said, because scientists could now point to certain features of the Martian landscape that could yield more helpful information.

“We were very encouraged,” he said.

Lewis said he accompanied the expedition after hearing from Wyatt about the trip and asking if he could go along. The trip already had enough equipment to accommodate another traveler, so the only additional cost was his airline ticket, he said.

Lewis proposed the trip to Public Affairs and University Relations to “help showcase what Brown faculty are doing around the world,” he said. “Brown is an international institution. What better way to show that?”

After an initial post to the Today at Brown Web page from Providence, Lewis posted from Iceland six times

about the researcher’s progress, trying to “chronicle every aspect of the trip.”

At one point during the trip, the Icelandic equivalent of a nor’easter swept through their camp, which was buffered by a V-like formation of their all-terrain vehicles, he said.

“As soon as the food came off the stove, it was already turning cold,” Lewis said. Eventually the group had to spend the night at a ranger hut.

They later found out that the storm fell into the strongest category of Icelandic storm — a 12 on a 1-to-12 scale.

It was “apocalyptic,” Lewis said.

Lewis said his writing will allow the geological sciences department to show off its work to prospective students. It could “make it a more personal thing,” he said.

The professors agreed. The writing showed how scientists approach research, Head said. “That’s great for the education,” he added.

Coach carries country’s flag in Beijing continued from page 8

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

main said. “I think the whole stadium was in shock (after his world-recordbreaking 100-meter performance) ... but we do tend to pull for each other (with Caribbean athletes).”

Romain also found that friendship is prized over the competitive edge within the international track circles.

“There’s a lot of coaches in my (jumping) events, and we brainstormed and got some new ideas that I will be implementing in my own training,” Romain said. “I observed one of the high jumpers from Croatia.

She was doing a three-step drill with a bungee cord attached, and it had the athlete stay tall and keep the shoulder away from the turn. The first time I saw it, I got a pen and paper and

wrote it down right away.”

As for 2012, if he is still involved as Dominica’s overseas liaison, Romain said he would consider going to London.

“That’s not even close in my mind right now, though,” Romain said, as he returns his focus to preparing his jumps squad for another successful run at indoors and outdoors this year.

E ditorial & L etters Page 6

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Monday, September 8, 2008

Staf f Editorial

An appeal for safety Imagine: You’re out on a weekend night with a new friend.

Your friend drinks too much, and you’re concerned. Does he need medical attention? Are you in the position to call Emergency Medical Ser vices for him without his consent?

Before the Rhode Island Division of EMS began in July enforcing its regulation that patients requiring ambulance transport must go to a facility staffed by a physician, the decision wasn’t as hard. Calling EMS likely meant your new friend would spend the evening or night at Health Ser vices, taken care of by a nurse. Your friend would not have a large bill to pay, nor would his parents necessarily be informed of the incident. You could make the safest decision without worr ying about the consequences your call could have on a friend you may not know well.

But now, as you wonder whether your friend needs medical attention, your decision is made more difficult by the enforcement of the regulation. If you call EMS and your friend needs ambulance transport, you now have to consider two major complications.

Can your friend — whose bank account you’ve never seen — afford what will easily be an over-$1,000 bill for emergency ser vice. If he can’t pay this bill out of pocket and he draws on his health insurance, his family could find out about the incident. Could this pose a risk to your friend’s relationship with his parents?

When Health Ser vices could treat students for these types of emergencies on nights and weekends, there was much less hesitation for an onlooker to call EMS on behalf of a friend. But with these predicaments forefront in a student’s mind, a well-meaning friend could easily make the least-safe decision — not to call at all.

Brown EMS should be the one making the decision if and what type of medical ser vices your friend needs — not you. Of course, sometimes patients will clearly need a physician’s care, and Brown EMS can take them to the hospital when they deem them in need of serious medical attention.

Few friends would not call EMS if they saw another in clear danger, but in borderline situations, most would also be hesitant to call and necessarily incur a large medical bill on behalf of their friend.

The University is right to appeal the state’s regulation. The safest policy in this case is one that recognizes that college students will make mistakes that they are not yet fully able to be responsible for.

Health Ser vices has ser ved its students’ needs in emergencies for years; putting students in the position that they are unsure if they should report an emergency is the greatest risk in the situation.

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O pinions Monday, September 8, 2008

Page 7

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

The blue-collar myth

BY KEVIN ROOSE Opinions Columnist I don’t remember exactly when I started to get a little tired of the phrases “blue-collar,” “small-town” and “working-class.” Maybe it was during the Democratic National Convention, when Michelle Obama spent the better part of her prime-time speech refashioning her Hawaiian-raised, Harvard Law Reviewediting husband as a meat-and-potatoes line operator.

Maybe it was the 400th time I heard Sen. Joe Biden referred to as a “scrappy kid from Scranton.” Or maybe it was during Gov. Sarah Palin’s speech at the Republican National Convention, when I learned that people from small towns are responsible for “the hardest work in America.” (Unless, of course, that work is community organizing. Can you say “cushy?”)

Every election year, it’s the same dog-andpony show — well-fed bureaucrats across the country try to convince the American public that they grew up in poverty, lugging wood planks up steep hills or subsisting on government cheese or what have you.

Of course, the facts rarely agree. Nationallevel politicians and their kin are by definition wealthier than most Americans, and their backgrounds are often not as rugged and underprivileged as they would have you believe.

When it comes down to it, Barack Obama is the son of an economist and an anthropologist, Joe Biden is a middle-class sales manager’s son, and I’m pretty sure Cindy McCain didn’t

win those $280,000 diamond earrings in a church raffle.

But what’s more, none of this matters one iota, because the setting of a political candidate’s upbringing and his or her current financial situation have absolutely no bearing on the candidate’s fitness for public office. None. Not a bit. The requirement that every person on a presidential ticket fake a hardscrabble background, vigorously hide all traces of personal wealth and drool over the working class is a cynical political tactic,

member of the working class functions as a sort of moral skeleton key.

Consider a recent ad from the Obama campaign in which Joe Biden credits his Scranton upbringing for his values of “responsibility, determination, respect,” and “(standing) up for the dignity of all our families.” Tucked away in that commercial’s subtext is this assumption: If Biden had been born to a pair of corporate lawyers in Seattle, he wouldn’t be responsible or determined or respectful, and he wouldn’t give a damn about his fam-

Choosing a president the right way has everything to do with policies and voting records and nothing to do with blue-collar roots or personal net worth. and a stupid one at that.

Now, I’m not bothered by this election’s monomaniacal emphasis on America’s bluecollar voters. Those voters have specific concerns, and it behooves both candidates to address them at length. What bothers me is the implicit claim behind all this blue-collar rhetoric: that being (or having once been) a

ily’s dignity. In fact, he would probably choke puppies for sport.

This blue-collar litmus test is part of the reason America was so floored by the discovery that former Senator John Edwards is actually kind of a jerk. We’ve all bought into the myth that if your daddy was a mill worker, you must be a righteous and upstand-

ing citizen.

Well, I’ll say it here: It’s not true. I grew up in a small town in the Midwest, and I can say with confidence that small towns don’t have a monopoly on trustworthiness, compassion or hard work. My hometown has a lot of wonderful people in it, but it also has a few grouches, bigots and garden-variety a**holes. No town (or social stratum, for that matter) can be defined by a single adjective. You can be lazy in Scranton, and you can be a workaholic in Malibu; our job as informed voters is not to assess those towns based on the income level of the people who live there, but to separate the townspeople with good ideas from the townspeople with bad ideas. Choosing a president the right way has everything to do with policies and voting records and nothing to do with blue-collar roots or personal net worth. A thousand things about John McCain make him a bad candidate for president, but the fact that his wife owns more real estate than McDonald’s isn’t one of them.

I fully expect that this election will continue to revolve around wage earners from the Midwest, as perhaps it should. But let’s not kid ourselves: Obama’s talk about his single-parent upbringing and Palin’s yammering about her small Alaska town are forms of political currency, not absolute validations of their humanity. No politician should ever be judged solely on his or her roots, and in November, if the Democrats somehow manage to lose this election, I’ll blame Barack Obama and Joe Biden, not their zip codes.

Kevin Roose ’09.5 is a member of the twerking class.

Why TWTP is still necessary in 2008

BY Soyoung Park and Robert Smith III Guest Columnists In December 1968, a group of students from the Afro-American Society at Brown walked out of Pembroke campus and marched to Congdon Street Baptist Church where they stayed for three days. Their demands during the walkout included an increase in black enrollment to 11 percent, an increase in black faculty and more financial aid for students of color. University administration responded to the walkout’s demands with the creation of the Transitional Summer Program, an academic enrichment program meant to help prepare black students, most of whom attended underprivileged high schools, for the academic demands of Brown.

This program evolved into the Third World Transition Program.

We disagree with the yearly mischaracterizations of TWTP. We believe that TWTP is not only a productive but a necessary beginning for students of color.

As three-time participants — once as firstyears and twice as leaders — we know that TWTP is more than just a transitional program.

It is a safe space for students of color to explore their identities, often for the first time, in relation to racism, imperialism, sexism, heterosexism and classism.

Some may characterize such a space for students of color as unnecessarily divisive. We believe in the need to provide separate spaces for every group to discuss these issues as they relate to them. These spaces are a necessary first step to building a broad coalition to fight oppression.

We continue to use the term “Third World” in the tradition of student activists, who sought

to unite their struggles against racism at Brown with the struggles of other communities of color worldwide.

These student activists adopted Frantz Fanon’s definition of “Third World” from his 1963 book “The Wretched of the Earth.” Rather than adhering to either First World capitalism (United States, Western Europe and others) or Second World communism (the Soviet Union and others), Fanon challenged members of the Third World to construct a third way of life. “The Third World ought not to be content,” Fanon wrote, “to define itself in the terms of values which have preceded it.” Instead, they “ought to do their utmost to find their

sues of injustice in particular ways and need a space to discuss these issues with others who share similar experiences.

Ultimately, the controversy over TWTP is not about participants making friends before white students arrive on campus. This debate is really about two conflicting philosophies on how to fight racism in the United States. One philosophy advocates that TWTP should be open to all students, regardless of race, so that together we can build cross-cultural understanding and combat racism. Although this colorblind philosophy has good intentions, it ignores the particularities of racial identity.

In our white-dominated society, colorblind-

The social injustices that inspired the creation of TWTP over 30 years ago still persist today. own particular values and methods and a style which shall be peculiar to them.” This notion of self-determination lies at the root of TWTP, which gives students of color an opportunity to define themselves on their own terms as well as to begin the process of envisioning a more just world.

The social injustices that inspired the creation of TWTP more than 30 years ago still persist today. Although we challenge all students to work towards social justice, it is important to acknowledge that students of color relate to is-

ness homogenizes diverse peoples into our society’s white-centered norms and, as such, perpetuates racism. A colorblind philosophy suggests that TWTP is racist because it divides along racial lines. “Racism,” as Kwame Ture and Charles Hamilton wrote in “Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America,” “is not merely exclusion on the basis of race but exclusion for the purpose of subjugating or maintaining subjugation.” TWTP is not a racist program.

Our philosophy recognizes differential experiences and the need to build coalitions among

people of color first before joining with our white allies to combat systems of oppression.

We believe in pluralism, not colorblindness. In the program’s racism workshop, we discussed the ways in which people in power imposed racial definitions upon us. We rejected these impositions and redefined ourselves on our own terms. TWTP is a necessary space for students of color at Brown to begin this process of redefinition, a fundamental component to fighting racism.

Our theme for this year’s TWTP was “re:define, re:claim, re:build.” During the program, students of color redefine who they are, reclaim their silenced histories, and rebuild a community of color at Brown committed to social justice. The erasure of such a space for students of color would reinforce white privilege and would be detrimental to the fight against racism. The fact that a program that lasts only four days causes a yearly controversy reveals the extent to which white students feel entitled to all spaces at Brown.

We understand that many white students at Brown are also committed to the fight for social justice. Just as the Third World Transition Program was the result of tireless student protests, we encourage white students to take the initiative to create their own space to talk about white privilege with white people. This suggestion intends not to divide, but to eventually lead to coalition building across all races.

We must respect the need for separate spaces to tackle issues of racism, imperialism, sexism, heterosexism and classism so that we can appreciate our particularities and envision a third way. By providing such a space, TWTP starts the year off on the right foot.

Robert Smith III ‘09 and Soyoung Park ‘09 are active members of the Third World community at Brown.

S ports M onday Page 8

Monday, September 8, 2008

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

M. soccer rebounds after a sluggish opener Women’s soccer ends

weekend on high note

By Katie Wood Assistant Spor ts Editor

The men’s soccer team kicked off its season this weekend at the AdidasBrown Classic. The No. 12 Bears opened up play Friday night with a 1-0 loss against No. 22 St. John’s and followed up with a 2-0 win against Villanova on Sunday.

The game on Friday night drew a huge crowd thanks to a campus-wide barbecue and curious first-years, but the extra cheering and crowd support could not push the Bears past the Red Storm. At the end of the first half of play the game remained scoreless, but St. John’s forward Adam Himeno scored the game’s only goal in the 72nd minute, when he shot the ball past the reach of goalkeeper Paul Grandstrand ’11.

The Bears had many more opportunities to tie up the score, doubling St. John’s shots on goal, six to three.

“Our passing and concentration weren’t good enough,” said Head Coach Mike Noonan. “We didn’t play to win the game. We deserved the result.”

With one more game left in the Classic, the Bears had to put the loss behind them and come out to play Sunday against Villanova.

The Bears struck early when midfielder Nick Elenz-Martin ’10 scored off of a rebound in the 14th minute, with the goal assisted by M David Walls ’11 and defender Rhett Bernstein ’09. M Jon Okafor ’11 followed up with another goal in the very next minute of play.

Many substitutions were made during the game after the team pulled out to an early 2-0 lead.

“We wanted the opportunity to look at them and see if they could handle the big game,” Noonan said.

Subs came in on both sides of the ball as some of the starters returned to the lineup periodically. With all of the new bodies on the field, the defense stayed strong and the team

Sp

o r t s

By Amy Ehrhart Sports Editor

Herald File Photo

Rhett Bernstein ‘09, above, assisted in a goal by midfielder Nick Elenz-Martin ‘10.

pulled away with the victory. The Wildcats outshot the Bears, 19-13, but failed to connect on any of their attempts.

“We make it a point to never lose two games in a row,” Elenz-Martin said. “We had more energy and were attacking well today.”

Jarrett Leech ’09 made five saves in his season debut in goal and was named to the Brown Classic All-Tournament Team, earning Defensive MVP honors. Evan Coleman ’12 was also named to the AllTournament team, making a strong showing in his collegiate debut.

i n

B

r i e f

Raymond ‘08 jets into NFL career After one of the most successful careers in Brown football history, Paul Raymond ’08 got a taste of professional football this summer when he participated in training camp and preseason games with the New York Jets.

After racking up a team-high 978 receiving yards in his senior season, including four touchdowns, Raymond went undrafted but was signed as a free agent by the Jets. Raymond, who is also a Herald File Photo two-time Ivy League champion Paul Raymond ‘08, now with the Jets. in the 60-meter dash, saw action in three preseason games for the Jets. In their Aug. 16 game, a 13-10 loss to the Washington Redskins, Raymond entered the game in the second half and made three catches for 24 yards.

His most notable action came the following week in a preseason matchup against the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants.

With the Jets trailing 7-3 with just over six minutes remaining in the game, backup quarterback Brett Ratliff found Raymond for a 24-yard touchdown pass, giving the Jets a 10-7 victory. Raymond followed up with another strong performance in the final preseason game, against the Eagles, when he rushed for 21 yards on a reverse and also caught three passes for 36 yards, including an 11-yard touchdown from Ratliff in the second quarter of the 27-20 win for New York.

On Aug. 30, the Jets waived Raymond as they made the final selections for their 53-man roster. A few days later, though, the team Web site reported that Raymond had been one of eight players given a spot on the practice squad for the rest of the season. Though he is unlikely to take the field on game day this regular season, Raymond’s professional football prospects are still very much alive.

— Benjy Asher

Despite ending the weekend on a high note, Noonan believes the team has a long way to go. With a number of away games ahead on the schedule, Noonan says the team must be more focused and ready to go for every game.

The Bears head to South Carolina for the Nike/Aaron Olitsky Memorial Soccer Classic next weekend, where they will take on Furman on Friday at 5 p.m. and Charleston on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. They will next return to Stevenson Field on Sept.

20 at 7 p.m., when they will face the University of Rhode Island.

After a 3-0 loss at Boston College on Friday, the Bears rebounded nicely for a 4-1 win against Albany last night in their home opener.

Tri-captain goalkeeper Brenna Hogue ’10 did all she could for the Bears against the Eagles on Friday, making a career-high 12 saves in her season debut after missing last year because of a dislocated kneecap.

Despite Hogue’s efforts, Boston College went up 2-0 by halftime and never looked back. The Bears could muster only five shots on net to the Eagles’ 26.

But on Sunday, the Bears were ready.

“We came back and refocused and put that game behind us,” said Hogue who made seven more saves on Sunday. “We were excited for our home opener and it lit a fire under everyone.”

Against the Great Danes, the Bears’ renewed fire lead to a secondhalf surge of three unanswered goals after a 1-1 tie at the half.

“We dominated the midfield, we did not control the midfield on Friday,” said Head Coach Phil Pincince of his changed team. “We also exploited the flanks.”

A key component to their domination was the play of Kate Scott ’11, who scored her first two career goals off of three shots and assisted on another.

She scored the first goal for Bruno in the first half off of a corner kick and her second was a diving, lunging shot that squeezed past Albany goalkeeper Cate Crenson to top off the game for Brown.

“Set plays are my strong point,” Scott said. “We were also at home and just wanted to show the crowd a good game.”

“She had a great game at center-

back, she’s very dangerous on offense and defense,” Pincince said.

Tri-captain Lindsay Cunningham ’09 started off the second-half tallies with a shot that zoomed out of a group of swarming Bears in front of the Albany goal.

Marybeth Lesbirel ’12 scored about two minutes later with a breakaway shot off of an assist from Cunningham.

Brown continued to pressure the Great Danes, with a shot by Sarah Hebert-Seropian ’12 hitting the crossbar and several crosses by Lesbirel falling inside the six-yard box, before Scott put in her second goal.

The firepower of Scott and Cunningham working in tandem was key to the Bears rebounding from Friday’s loss.

“We both work really hard and can judge where each is going to be,” Scott said. Scott also cited that the defensive line of Allison Kagawa ’12, Charlotte Rizzi ’11 and Sylvia Stone ’11 “couldn’t get any better than this.”

However, the team is quick to make concessions of success for the rest of the season.

“We had a good home opener,” Pincince said. “Not great, but good.”

Playing the No. 10 and No. 2 ranked teams in Penn State and UCLA this weekend at the UConn Classic, the Bears look to keep their momentum going during the toughest nonconference schedule they have had in years.

“I believe in this group and this team is mentally tougher than any we’ve had in awhile,” said Pincince.

The Bears will not return to Stevenson Field until Oct. 1 when they take on Holy Cross.

“It’s worth (being on the road so long) with who we’re playing,” Hogue said. “Hope we can keep the streak going.”

Jumps coach receives an Olympic honor

By Amy Ehrhart Sports Editor

While many Brown athletes competed a month ago in the Summer Olympics in Beijing, none held the distinct honor that track and field jumps coach Jerome Romain had: the privilege of being his country’s flag-bearer during the Opening Ceremonies.

“It’s very humbling (to be chosen),” said Romain, who held Dominica’s green flag featuring a parrot for the rest of the world to see. “The day before the ceremonies I found out (I was carrying it). It was a little surprise. I always thought athletes should be the ones carrying it.”

As for the flag, it wasn’t too heavy, but the heat was rather intense.

“By the time we were going (walking into the stadium), I was pretty much drained in sweat,” Romain said.

Romain represented the small Caribbean island nation for the second time, after reaching the final of the triple jump competition at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. This time around, Romain came back as the coach of the Dominica track team, which had two athletes competing in the sprints — one in the 200-meter

race and one in the 400.

Although the lighting of the torch was not as breathtaking or as “great an honor” for him this time around as it was when he watched Muhammad Ali back in Atlanta, he said the ceremonies were still amazing to take in. He also got the chance to connect with old friends from 1996, like former 100-meter world recordholder Donovan Bailey and Sunday Bada, who won a silver medal in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Romain learned of his appointment towards the end of July and oversaw Lloyd and Hurtault’s workouts for the weeks leading up to their departure to China. Although neither made it past the first round after each placed one spot out of qualifying in their respective heats, Dominica’s track representatives enjoyed being at the track most of the day and sightseeing after practice.

“I would definitely have to say, the organizing committee went all out and really did a great job as far as facilities, accommodations and transportation—it was by far the best I’ve seen,” said Romain of the hosts.

A typical day for the Dominica track team included breakfast at 7 a.m., catching the bus to the sta-

dium and practicing, then coming back to the Olympic Village at noon.

Napping and sightseeing ensued on most evenings, although sometimes the team went to watch some of the other events. A particularly special event for Romain was watching the semifinal of the men’s soccer tournament between Brazil and Argentina.

After growing up playing soccer and idolizing Argentine star Diego Maradona, the Olympics brought a piece of Romain’s childhood dreams to life when he turned around at the semifinal and saw Maradona sitting behind him. Tantamount to everything was shaking Kobe Bryant’s hand in the Village cafeteria.

Romain brought notoriety not only to Dominica, but to his home university as well.

“I wore my Brown hat pretty much every day,” Romain said. “A lot of people know about us and when my team attache found out, he was so excited.”

The humidity stood out more than the pollution to Brown’s jumps coach, and he felt that only the longdistance races were really affected by the weather.

“Usain Bolt still set records,” Rocontinued on page 5