The Brown Daily Herald Wednesday, S eptember 10, 2008
Volume CXLIII, No. 67
Since 1866, Daily Since 1891
Task force report calls for review of concentrations By George Miller Senior Staf f Writer
After a year and a half of deliberations, study and feedback from the Brown community, the Task Force on Undergraduate Education released its final report Tuesday. Among its calls for broad changes in the undergraduate College are a comprehensive review of all concentrations within three years, a variety of attempts to improve advising, a new science resource center and a new focus on international studies. The task force’s report fulfills a dual purpose as the University prepares for reaccreditation from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges this spring. In addition to a visit from NEASC in early April, Brown must submit a self-study, for which this report formed the basis, said Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron, who chairs the task force. The report is available online, and printed copies are available at the customer ser vice desk in the Brown Bookstore, Bergeron said. Though the final report includes a new foreword and afterword intended to place the review in historical context, at the document’s heart is a detailed “Plan of Action” with projected or actual completion dates for many projects related to its goals. The plan “(puts) our money where our mouth is,” according to Bergeron, adding that it also mirrors the very specific requirements of the NEASC self-study.
Courtesy of the Center for Digital Initiatives
A football field-length panorama about Giuseppe Garibaldi’s life, digitized in 2007, is available online.
One long story in pictures, transformed into pixels the Department of Italian Studies, the panorama was digitized in July 2007 and is available on the Web They were the original motion pic- site of the library’s Center for Digitures. Amid dim lighting, the audi- tal Initiatives. Brown scholars and ence saw sweeping landscapes and students further developed the Web fierce battle scenes, described by site over the summer, adding the a narrator and embellished by live accompanying script and downloadpiano music. Popular well able images of the panorabefore the advent of cinema, FEATURE ma’s scenes. panoramas — huge paintings The roll of paper, fourwith many vignettes — turned news and-a-half feet tall and almost as long into spectacle. as a football field, is painted on both In 2005, Brown acquired one of sides and has almost 50 scenes in these moving panoramas, a massive bright watercolor flowing seamlessly scroll created in England in 1860 into each other. The panorama was depicting the life of the Italian patriot meant to be unrolled one scene at Giuseppe Garibaldi. Due to the joint continued on page 4 effort by the University Library and
Report recommends:
By Leslie Primack Staf f Writer
Courtesy of Brown.edu
This scene near the end of the panorama depicts Anita Garibaldi faltering, aided by her husband Giuseppe and a compatriot.
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A comprehensive review of every concentration by 2011, with the CCC shutting down programs lacking interest or resources
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Research stipends to faculty who advise for two years
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Creation of a new science resource center in the SciLi, to open in September 2010
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Increased UTRA awards, 20 percent per year for four years, with 450 awards by 2012
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Call for creation of more seminars and courses with an international bent
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Creation of self-reflective “eportfolio” by August 2009
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An outside review of writing programs sometime this month
Reviewing concentrations Among the boldest goals of the report is a call for a comprehensive review of every concentration program, including self-study and review by the College Curriculum Council, which may shut down programs without “sufficient interest or resources.” It also requires all concentracontinued on page 8
Unhappy with GOP, Chafee ’75 likes Obama
Potential doom? One last party, just in case
By Joanna Wohlmuth Senior Staff Writer
primary,” Chafee said. After considering the candidates, he chose to vote for Obama in the Democratic primary. It was the first time he had ever voted for a Democrat. Chafee said he based his decision on Obama’s “message of where he wants to take this country and the exceptional professionalism of his campaign.”
When the first beams of protons zipped around the track of the Large Hadron Collider at 0730 GMT (1:30 a.m. EDT) this morning, the scientific world was holding its collective breath in anticipation of one of two likely outcomes: Either physicists would finally capture the elusive Higgs boson that their models had predicted, or they would learn that they had been on a decades-long scientific goose chase. But a few risk-averse Brown students made plans for a potential third outcome not usually entertained by physicists — that little black holes created in the LHC would rapidly expand and “eat the planet from the inside.” “Doomsday Preparation Party” was the name of the Facebook event, with an agenda befitting the expected destruction: “morbid poetry reading,” “baptism ‘just in case’” and, of course, “being sucked into a black hole” — all while wearing attire you’d “want to die in.” The party’s host, Michael Dean
continued on page 4
continued on page 9
Two years ago, Lincoln Chafee ’75 was a Republican senator. After losing his re-election bid for one of Rhode Island’s Senate seats and leaving his party, he has thrown his support behind the Democratic nominee. Chafee, a visiting fellow at the Watson Institute for International Studies, campaigned for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) in Florida last week to encourage Republican and independent voters to support Obama in his bid to become president. Chafee and local Republicans spoke to groups in the Fort Myers, Tampa and Orlando, Fla. areas to “send the message to like-minded Republicans ... that this (election) is more important than any party,” Chafee said. “When the Rhode Island presidential primary was approaching last March, I realized that as an independent I could choose to vote in the Republican or Democratic
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HIGHER ED
Courtesy of U.S. Senate
Former Sen. Lincoln Chafee ‘75, a visiting fellow at the Watson Institute
NeEd Protection? Condoms, dental dams will be sold via vending machine in a Faunce House bathroom
www.browndailyherald.com
By Chaz Firestone Features Editor
Courtesy of Brown.edu
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CAMPUS NEWS
CeREAL SWAP Rising food prices, rampant theft cited in V-Dub’s switch to bulk cereal containers
11
OPINION
Physics professors Meeknashi Narain, center, and Greg Landsberg, right, will be some of the first scientists to analyze data generated by the Large Hadron Collider.
MCCAIN’s WISE MOVE Anish Mitra ‘10 argues in favor of Gov. Sarah Palin’s nomination as VP
195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island
12 SPORTS
BaLLIN’ In Belgium The men’s basketball team toured Belgium and played a former teammate
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T oday Page 2
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
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We a t h e r
Vagina Dentata | Soojean Kim
TODAY
TOMORROW
sunny 68 / 46
sunny 70 / 49
Menu Sharpe Refectory
Verney-Woolley Dining Hall
Lunch — Tacos, Spanish Rice, Spinach with Toasted Sesame Seeds, Polynesian Cookies
Lunch — Polynesian Chicken Wings, Tomato Quiche, Sticky Rice, Polynesian Cookies
Dinner — Pork Medallions with Portobello Sauce, Spinach Stuffed Squash, Quinoto, Chocolate Sundae Cake
Dinner — Rotisserie Style Chicken, Pizza Rustica, Polynesian Ratatouille, Chocolate Sundae Cake
Enigma Twist | Dustin Foley
Sudoku Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9. Alien Weather Forecast | Stephen Lichenstein and Adam Wagner
Dunkel | Joe Larios
Puzzles by Pappocom RELEASE DATE– Wednesday,©January 30, 2008
Los Angeles Times Puzzle C r o sDaily s w oCrossword rd Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Syrian president 6 CBS series set in a Vegas lab 9 “Aquarius” musical 13 Northern Indian metropolis 14 Sacks on bases 15 Heavenly bear 16 Faith that rejects supernatural revelation 17 Over, in Osnabrück 18 Organizing aid 19 One crippled the Northeast in 2003 22 Everyone at a sitdown dinner has one 24 “__ a Wonderful Life” 25 Sign of summer 26 Red thing that’s really blue? 27 Fire starter, perhaps 31 Copter’s forerunner 32 Mendes of “Hitch” 33 Simpson trial judge 34 Vogue 36 Screw up 38 Maldives phenomenon 42 They, in Tours 44 Ring item 46 “En garde” weapon 47 A breaker is designed to protect against it 52 Chronology datum 53 6-Across evidence 54 Rage 55 Lady of la casa: Abbr. 56 Theme of this puzzle? 60 __ monde: high society 61 Mediterranean peak 62 Pound
65 Feminine ending 66 Agitate 67 Strong suit 68 Sputnik reporter 69 Instant lawn 70 Robust DOWN 1 Contribute 2 Get it 3 Hard to catch 4 “Now I get it” 5 Knucklehead 6 Eponymous salad creator 7 “A Streetcar Named Desire” role 8 Begin or Sharon 9 Unwieldy ship 10 Melodic passage 11 Magazine publisher 12 Knocking noise 14 Youngster’s writing challenge 20 Elementary French verb 21 __ del Sol 22 Staying power 23 Landed 28 Infant ailment 29 Hold things
30 Marriott, for one 35 Escape 37 Evangelistic assembly 39 Cat-sized marsupials 40 King of drama 41 Helen of Troy’s mother 43 Ones seeking redemption 45 Simple 47 Official seal
48 Williams title lizard 49 Nick at Nite fare 50 Body language? 51 Apartment, usually 57 GPS offerings 58 “National Velvet” author Bagnold 59 Drive-__ 63 Witty remark 64 Act like a yenta
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H igher E d Wednesday, September 10, 2008
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Higher Ed
i n
Brief
Obama, McCain to talk about public service today at Columbia Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama will share the stage at Columbia’s Roone Arledge Auditorium tomorrow for the ServiceNation Presidential Candidates Forum. The televised event, which will take place on the seventh anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, will be their first in a series of upcoming joint appearances. The candidates will give separate, back-to-back interviews on Thursday beginning at 8:00 p.m. Judy Woodruff, a PBS News anchor, and Richard Stengel, the managing editor of Time magazine, will question McCain and Obama about the role of public service in American society. The event’s sponsor, ServiceNation, is a nonpartisan umbrella organization of 118 state and national civic service groups. Columbia’s Arledge Auditorium — which seats approximately 1,200 people — will be filled with members of the press, campaign staff and families of victims of Sept. 11, in addition to students. According to the Columbia Spectator, only about 200 tickets were made available to Columbia students in a university-wide lottery last week. The appearance will be Obama’s first at Columbia, his alma mater, since the beginning of the presidential campaign. McCain delivered the Columbia College Class Day Address in 2006 and his daughter Meghan graduated from the university in 2007. — Matt Varley
U. plans to make safe sex coin-operated By Kyla Wilkes Staff Writer
A new vending machine in Faunce House will soon cater to students’ late-night cravings for more than just the munchies. In the next two weeks, a vending machine containing condoms, dental dams, lube and latex gloves will be installed in the gender-neutral bathroom on the second floor of Faunce in order to provide students with 24-hour access to contraception, Health Educator Naomi Ninneman said. Condoms (both lubed and unlubed) and latex gloves will cost 10 cents, lube will be 25 cents and flavored dental dams will be available for 50 cents, Ninneman said. The “safer sex” machine is a pilot program started by Health Education, a branch of Health Services, to encourage safe sexual activity on campus, Ninneman said. “Our general approach is risk reduction and trying to give students the resources they need to be safe and healthy,” she said. Ninneman said Health Education
Meara Sharma / Herald
Condoms and dental dams are currently available on many RCs’ doors and from Health Services, but soon students will have another choice.
wanted to provide a private option for all students, including those living off-campus. Privacy was also a major consideration: The gender-neutral bathroom on the second floor of Faunce is a single-use facility with a lock on the door. Condoms are currently available at Health Services for 15 cents each,
but Health Services closes at 5 p.m. Many RCs also place condoms in envelopes outside their doors, but in both cases students often take them without paying, said Ninneman. And Elijah Shelton, a member of the RPL program, said the RCs often continued on page 8
Candidates weighing in at Science Debate At big party conventions, students make their mark By Juliana Friend Contributing Writer
A coalition of scientists, academics and concerned citizens is pushing the presidential candidates to clarify their policies on science, technology and academic research, demanding that they answer questions about such issues. With over 38,000 supporters, including President Ruth Simmons and Professor of Biology Ken Miller ’70 P’02, Science Debate 2008 was able to elicit some answers late last month from Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama. In a written response, Obama answered 14 questions — whittled down from thousands submitted by supporters — and discussed his plans to advance the country’s capacity for scientific innovation if elected. Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee, has promised to respond to the same 14 questions. Science Debate 2008 was conceived in response to a shared desire within the scientific community to make science issues more prominent in political discussion, said Matthew Chapman, the organization’s president. “Science underlies just about every issue in political debate, but no one was talking about it,” said Chapman, who has written books on the controversy over teaching intelligent design in schools. While the group was disappointed that the candidates did not seriously debate academic issues in the primary elections, it hopes that the list of 14 questions will turn voters’ focus to science and research, Chapman said. “We want to raise these issues and make people, par ticularly young people, demand discussion of these issues,” Chapman said. Miller, who met Chapman while testifying at an intelligent design case in Pennsylvania, was the first to sign Science Debate 2008’s petition. “I jumped on board right away,” he said. Energy, global warming, stem cell research and the amount of federal funding for scientific re-
search were among the pressing scientific issues at stake in this presidential election, Miller said. The next president must increase federal funding for innovative research, since funding has become increasingly difficult to attain over the past eight years, Miller said. Strings attached to federal funding and political censorship of scientific research are also issues Miller is concerned about. For that reason, Miller said he was pleased that Obama wrote in his Science Debate 2008 response that he would increase research grants for young scientists in order to spur innovation. Obama also wrote that he would increase funding for basic research in physical and life sciences, mathematics and engineering “at a rate that would double basic research budgets over the next decade.” Obama also stressed that he would increase the budget for technology developed under the Department of Defense and remove the ban on federal funding for stem cell research. Shawn Otto, chief executive officer of Science Debate 2008, said he was pleased by the level of detail in Obama’s responses. “They were very detailed and substantive. That’s the information candidates have a responsibility to lay out, and voters have a responsibility to see,” Otto said.
While McCain has not yet answered any of the group’s questions, Otto said he is optimistic McCain will soon weigh in on the issues, and representatives from the McCain campaign have said they are presently preparing answers. McCain has elsewhere articulated his views on certain science issues like stem-cell research, climate change and alternative energy. “I’m very pleased that Obama answered, but it’s only half of the Democratic event,” Otto said. The two major candidates’ opinions “need to come into contact” so that voters will have the necessary information to make educated decisions, he said. However, Miller expressed concern that even if voters will soon be able to see the candidates’ science and research policies side by side, many voters will still not investigate those policies before casting their ballots. “As a voter and as a U.S. citizen, I’m not optimistic,” he said. “Too many elections in our countr y have turned on trivial issues or personality.” Likewise, Professor of Education Martin West said that scientific issues are often overshadowed by more immediate concerns like national security. “Science policy is an area that continued on page 4
By Alex Roehrkasse Higher Ed Editor
The Democratic and Republican national conventions are usually marked by the biggest names in news media covering the biggest names in politics. However, the gravitation of both reporting and campaigning towards new forms like blogs and Internet fundraising has placed convention demographics in transition. At this year’s conventions, a new demographic — students — were making inroads into the biggest parties in party politics. College students from across the country made their presences felt at both conventions this year. Some came to take sound bites and snap photos for their college radio stations and newspapers. Others, mostly leaders of campus campaigns, converged upon Denver and St. Paul as party delegates, voting for the Democratic or Republican nominees from the convention floors. “It was an amazing experience to be part of history,” said Bryon Eagon, a University of WisconsinMadison student who attended the Democratic convention as a delegate. “It was really neat to be part of a handful of young delegates who were able to show everyone there and everyone around the country that
students are becoming active.” Eagon was elected by the state Democratic party to represent the 2nd congressional district of Wisconsin after he helped coordinate Barack Obama’s campaign as the state coordinator of the group Wisconsin Students for Barack Obama. He said that it was important to him to represent student interests at the Democratic convention, and that he expects his convention experience to help him in further addressing student issues that transcend party politics. “I’m really looking forward to turning all that energy surrounding the primary and surrounding the campaign into activism and engagement on campuses,” Eagon said. Of course, present at both conventions were large contingents of activists. Present also was a handful of college reporters hoping to capture the developments both on the floors of the conventions and on the streets outside. Ed Matthews and Britney McIntosh, two student photographers from the University of Kentucky, attended the Republican National Convention on unofficial business, hoping to freelance their photographs for newspapers for which they had worked that summer. When continued on page 4
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Wednesday, September 10, 2008
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Library uses technology to bring back an old art form continued from page 1 a time, with a narrator describing the action in each frame. “It would’ve been like going to see a silent movie,” said Peter Harrington, curator of the Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection. In 2005, one of Harrington’s distributors contacted him, telling him that the late James Walter Smith Jr., a plastic surgeon from Connecticut, was looking for a home for a 19thcentury panorama chronicling the life of Garibaldi. “I thought, ‘There’s no way we can take that. It’s just so big,’” he said. But Harrington couldn’t pass up the opportunity to acquire such a rare and impressive artifact and wrote to Smith Jr., who donated the painting to the University. For two years the painting sat in storage — until last year, when Professor of Italian Studies Massimo Riva organized a symposium on Garibaldi and asked Harrington if he had any artifacts on the military hero. “Funny you should ask,” Harrington said. They unrolled a portion of the panorama at the symposium, and it sparked the interest of other Italian Studies scholars, leading to the digitization project. To digitize the panorama, it was unrolled six to eight feet at a time across a wooden platform covered with plastic, where it was scanned from above, producing 91 individual shots. Digital Initiatives Librarian Benjamin Tyler worked for the remainder of the summer and fall stitching together each shot to create the seamless picture now available online. Because of its size and fragility, the painting is difficult to display. It is currently housed in the library annex in Cranston. Now that the panorama is online, anyone can view the once-unaccessible painting and learn all about the Italian revolutionary. “Garibaldi was, in a sense, the Italian George Washington,” Riva said. A brilliant strategist and a freelance military leader of sorts, Garibaldi traveled throughout the world, fought in the liberation wars in Latin America and later led a volunteer army to Sicily, making
continued from page 3
Courtesy of the Center for Digital Initiatives
This portion of the panorama shows 19th-century Rome, perhaps based on newspaper images rather than the real city.
possible the unification of northern and southern Italy. In July 1850, he was exiled to Staten Island, N.Y., where he worked in a candle factory. “Ever y educated person was talking about Garibaldi,” Harrington said. “He would have been hot news.” Panoramas were primarily a moneymaking business, and Garibaldi’s international fame would have drawn large crowds. According to Riva, the panorama was probably displayed within weeks of the battle events it showed. “It was almost instant history, instant news,” he said. “When you think about it, it’s really a newsreel,” said James W. Smith III, son of the donor. “A year or two years later ... that’s old news. A hundred years later, all of a sudden it’s an antique, and it’s something that’s highly desirable.” Although panoramas circulated throughout Europe and America — even Rhode Island — in the 19th century, few have survived. In an effort to remain current, many panoramas were quickly painted over with the news of each new battle. Others were destroyed in fires, damaged by water or cut up and sold as individual scenes. “In terms of the subject (Garibaldi), this is the only one we have,” Riva said. The painting was originally
owned by the Burford family, who ran a panorama business in England in the 19th century. “It was a commercial enterprise. They had a zillion of them,” said Nancy Smith, wife of the donor. “They were cranking these things out like cartoons.” The panorama was brought to America by Anthony Burford, eventually passing to Grace Burford, the donor’s aunt. Not knowing what to do with it, she stored it in her attic. According to Nancy Smith, Grace was afraid the panorama was getting dusty, so one day she and some neighbors carried it outside, where she washed it off with a hose. She gave the panorama to her nephew, James W. Smith, who had it filmed and restored during the 45 years he owned it, eventually donating it to Brown. Smith and his son collected penny arcade games, at one point having a museum of over 1,000 working games, in addition to musical machines and carnival memorabilia. Smith, whose specialty was hand surgery, also collected things in the shape of hands. “I think he was just intrigued (by the panorama),” Smith III said. “He was a collector of many, many things.” Harrington and Riva said the origins of the panorama remain a mystery. The only clue as to the
Ex-GOP Sen. Chafee ’75 is for Obama continued from page 1 The country needs “immense repair work ... on the economy and international relations and (the government’s) credibility,” Chafee said. He said he believes Obama is the candidate best able to get the job done. While other campaigns had “management shake-ups and cost overruns,” Chafee said, Obama ran a “frugal organization where people work well with each other,” demonstrating his strong leadership. Chafee contacted Obama’s campaign over the summer and told them that he was willing to help in any way he could. A number of other prominent Republicans — including former Rep. James
A push for science talk among pols
Leach from Iowa and Rita Hauser, a former fundraiser for President George W. Bush — also signed on to help through Republicans for Obama, an organization dedicated to encouraging Republicans and independents to support the Democratic senator. The group, created in 2006, had originally been a grassroots organization aimed at reaching out to dissatisfied Republicans. With the endorsement of politicians like Chafee, Republicans for Obama has now revamped its efforts and gained national attention by working closely with the Obama campaign. Chafee could be traveling even more this semester — he may be visiting Pennsylvania in the near
future — in order to concentrate campaign efforts in swing states. He said he does not anticipate these travels interfering with his commitments at Brown. “Unfortunately for Rhode Island, there’s not a lot of emphasis because it’s such a Democratic state,” Chafee said. Chafee’s support of Obama did not surprise some political activists on campus. “Senator Obama really does have an appeal to people across the political spectrum,” said Max Chaiken ’09, coordinator of Brown’s Students for Barack Obama and a Herald opinion columnist. “A lot of his policies are left of center, but some are right of center. He appeals to moderate Republicans like Chafee.”
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painter is the name J.J. Story, printed on the narrative manuscript that accompanied the panorama. Harrington said he believes this references John James Story, a local artist from Nottingham, England, at around this time period. However, he speculated that more than one artist was probably involved in the painting. “Some of the painting is quite amateurish. Some of the painting is quite good,” he explained. According to Harrington, the artist had probably never been to Italy but rather got his inspiration from pictures and newspapers. Riva explained that many of the images in the panorama exactly mirror pictures found in newspapers at the time. He and several undergraduates are working on tracing all the scenes of the panorama to their sources, which they will add to the Web site. Riva also said he hopes to add an interactive map so scholars can trace Garibaldi’s travels throughout the world and click to learn more about each event in the panorama. Eventually, the site will also include a voice-over narration in English and Italian, which will play as the panorama scrolls by. Riva hopes “to use the digital medium, the Web site, to reproduce as closely as possible (the) spectacle itself.”
doesn’t affect people’s lives immediately in the short run, even though over the long run, it’s very important,” he said. Science Debate 2008 has recently conducted national polls to investigate exactly how many voters consider science to be an important aspect of public discourse. The polls conducted by the organization indicate that 85 percent want candidates to publicly discuss science issues, and 72 percent of Americans are more likely to vote for candidates who will clarify their policies on those issues, Otto said. “Those are pretty substantive numbers,” he said. Hannah Lennett ’11, an undeclared concentrator, said that although she is not considering science as a career, she thought science issues could be an important factor in differentiating between the two presidential candidates. “Science isn’t usually on my radar screen compared to issues like immigration or the war in Iraq,” Lennett said. “But I’m looking for ways to make distinctions between candidates, and science would be an interesting way to do that, especially since science hasn’t been touched ver y much by the press.” Sarah Hersman ’10, who is concentrating in neuroscience, expressed concern about the challenge of getting Americans and lawmakers to value scientific research. “Where do you get the funding for scientific research when ever yone only wants short-term solutions with maximum payoff?” she asked. Chapman said it was imperative that students recognize the role science plays in nearly every political issue. “I know that science sounds boring to young people sometimes, but it underlies the future of every young person in the United States,” he said.
College students descend on major party conventions continued from page 3 the two got wrapped up in a breakaway demonstration in St. Paul, they were arrested and held in jail for 36 hours on probable cause for felony rioting. Both students had registered for media credentials and claimed that they were clearly marked as members of the news media when they were arrested. Matthews, who earlier in the day had been sprayed in the face with pepper spray while trailing the same group of protesters, expressed frustration about how badly his reporting experience ended up. “It’s just really unfortunate that we were held (in jail) that long even though we identified ourselves as journalists and weren’t there to participate in the protests,” Matthews said. McIntosh described the experience as “character building.” Above all, though, she said she hopes that her American Civil Liberties Union
lawyer will be able to retrieve her confiscated photographs. Another student reporter covering the convention from the floor described a much different experience. George Mesthos ’09, who reported at the Republican National Convention for WBRU, was encouraged by the access he had to delegates and other representatives at the convention. “They expect a mic in their face,” Mesthos said. “Most of the time they didn’t even realize we were a college radio station.” After overcoming the nightmarish process of obtaining media credentials for the convention, it proved to be an exciting place to mingle with other national news media as much as to collect stories about the campaign, Mesthos said. Though Mesthos described his own reporting as run-of-the-mill radio coverage, he said he met other students engaged in “new-media types of reporting,” frequently posting their experiences and observations on blogs and uploading videos to YouTube.
C ampus n ews Wednesday, September 10, 2008
News
Primary Election Results U.S. Congress Senator (Democrat) Jack Reed - 5,891 (88.6%) Christopher Young - 756 (11.4%)
General Assembly State Senator (Democrat) David Segal - 512 (72.9%) Richard Rodi - 190 (27.1%)
Uncontested Races Dist. 3 State House Edith Ajello (D) - 372 (100%) Dist. 3 State Senate Rhoda Perry (D) - 1138 (100%)
With 99% of precincts reporting
Following complaint, fellow starts anew By Juliana Friend Contributing Writer
Megan Pinkston-Camp, a postdoctoral research fellow in infectious diseases, says she felt little satisfaction from the $1.1 million settlement she received from the University of Missouri-Kansas City last year, the outcome of a sexual harassment complaint she filed against two professors there in 2005. But as she begins anew at Brown, there are other signs of change. In August, the two professors, Keith Haddock and Carlos Poston, agreed to resign from their tenured positions, effective later this month. Even if the money didn’t afford her much satisfaction, the resignations helped. “I felt a little bit of relief when I knew they were resigning. I don’t want them to prey on anyone else like they did to me,” PinkstonCamp said. A few weeks ago, Pinkston-Camp arrived at Brown to start a two-year postdoctoral fellowship researching HIV at the Miriam Hospital. She said she hopes her time at Brown will give her a fresh start and a chance to make something positive out of her ordeal at UMKC. Looking back, Pinkston-Camp remembers the courage it took to speak out against Haddock and Poston. She left the lab where she had worked under Haddock and Poston since 2003 but stayed at UMKC to earn her graduate degree in psychology, she said. In 2005, at the obesity and tobacco research lab they supervised, Haddock and Poston touched students inappropriately and made daily references to women’s bodies, Pinkston-Camp said. They also exhibited violent behavior, placing students in chokeholds and making threats to their lives, she said. In an interview with The Herald, Haddock strongly denied claims that he and Poston created a hostile environment in the lab. Poston was unavailable for comment. While at UMKC, though Pinkston-Camp immediately knew something was not right, she did not think to question the professors’ authority, she said. “I started thinking it was just me, that I wasn’t giving in like I was supposed to,” Pinkston-Camp said. But as she felt the two professors’ harassment and intimidation escalating and noticed other students being harassed, ridiculed and threatened, Pinkston-Camp began to “have an awakening,” she said. “At first I was scared enough about the death threats and my career not to say anything. But when I realized other women were being affected by this, I just stood up and said ‘No more!’” she said. In an interview with The Herald, Haddock emphasized a letter of support written earlier this year by a group of graduate students to UKMC’s general counsel. In the letter, the students asked that UMKC exonerate both Haddock and Poston, arguing that the resignations invite speculation not only on the
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professors’ reputations, but also on their own reputations as the professors’ colleagues. “Our histories with the professors span more than a decade. They remain solid colleagues and have become people we consider friends. We know Drs. Haddock and Poston are good people who do not deserve the treatment they are receiving,” the students wrote in the letter. Making a formal complaint to UMKC was “a nightmare,” Pinkston-Camp said. Before 2006, the university had no policies addressing sexual harassment. PinkstonCamp was referred to an affirmative action counselor, who told her that it was acceptable for professors to sleep with students, she said. UMKC declined to comment for this article beyond an official statement regarding Haddock and Poston’s resignation. In the statement, the university said two internal investigations found inconclusive evidence of sexual harassment in Haddock and Poston’s lab. PinkstonCamp questions the procedures used in those investigations, saying the witnesses interviewed did not provide sworn testimony. Without support from the university, Pinkston-Camp’s confidence wavered, she said. She said she knew that many other students were too afraid to come forward. However, Pinkston-Camp received support from Linda Garavalia, an associate professor of psychology who said she was also harassed and intimidated by the two men. Garavalia wrote a letter to the school’s provost verifying the bulk of Pinkston-Camp’s testimony and helped her file the official complaint. Given Haddock’s and Poston’s ability to brainwash students into cooperation, Garavalia said, PinkstonCamp was brave to speak out. “Megan has a lot of courage. It was a very scary process for both of us, but I felt like a peer to those men, whereas she was only a student. I’m very proud of her,” Garavalia said. Though she never received the apology she wanted from UMKC, Pinkston-Camp said her upbringing taught her to always stand up for what is right. Pinkston-Camp learned the value of speaking out against injustice while growing up in Peachtree City, Ga., and carried this value to her case work for HIV/AIDS patients at a hospital in Charleston, S.C. After receiving her Masters in Health Psychology, Megan worked as an HIV/AIDS case worker, witnessing great cruelty and prejudice towards those patients. She could not permit people to be treated that way, so she decided to earn her doctorate so she could further study and improve conditions for HIV patients, she said. Pinkston-Camp drew a parallel between the lessons she learned as a case worker in Charleston and as a graduate student at UMKC. “I’ve become so much more aware of differences in power. But I know that power doesn’t give people
the right to disrespect others,” she said. Likewise, Pinkston-Camp’s decision to speak out against Haddock and Poston serves as a model for individuals to assert their voices and make real change, Garavalia said. Garavalia’s and Pinkston-Camp’s actions sparked significant change at UMKC, both women said. Faculty and staff must now participate in training sessions on preventing sexual harassment and misconduct in the workplace, according to the university’s statement. Today, Pinkston-Camp is happy to start fresh at a new university in a new part of the country. “It’s been a very nice cultural adjustment,” Pinkston-Camp said of her move from the Midwest to New England. “I like that it’s more liberal here.” Pinkston-Camp said that even if she stays in academia, she will never lose touch with HIV therapy patients. They keep her grounded and remind her of the struggles people may face at the hands of the powerful, she said. “People shouldn’t feel afraid to speak out. It’s not worth your backbone, giving up who you are, just because someone is harassing you,” she said. “Life is too short.”
i n
Brief
New dispenser stymies serial cereal snatchers For years, students familiar with the large dispensers in the Sharpe Refectory have been amazed to find cereal boxes on the shelves of the Verney-Woolley dining hall. The images of Tony the Tiger, Count Chocula and Captain Crunch brought memories of home and earlier years. But rising food prices worldwide and rampant theft have caused Dining Services to switch out the individual boxes for bulk cereal containers starting this semester. Bulk cereal is less expensive per ounce than the retail packages, which will help offset the increased cost of cereal, Director of Dining Services Ann Hoffman wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. The new dispensers also have “reduced portability” — an important change given the “real theft problem with the smaller packages of cereal,” Hoffman added. The change is part of a larger focus on keeping the price of the meal plan low amid rising global food prices. “We are looking at (every way) possible to keep meal plan price in line and avoid passing food cost increases off onto our customers,” Hoffman wrote. Several students said they knew of cereal theft and other related crimes perpetrated at the V-Dub. “When there was only a quarter left, people would just take the box,” said Colin Aldridge ’10, a member of the Brown basketball team. “A lot of the bigger guys and a lot of the athletes would take it.” Aldridge said cups, trays and fruit are other items commonly taken from the dining hall. “A lot of people take a lot of fruit,” he said. “If you figure out the cost per meal for your meal plan, you figure you need an extra piece of fruit — it’s no big deal.” Although Aldridge considered fruit theft and the removal of partially empty boxes of cereal somewhat acceptable, he drew the line at taking larger items. “I’m not going to take a full box,” he said. Michelle Snyder ’09.5 said she appreciates the convenience of the new containers, which use pull-down handles to rapidly dispense cereal, but misses the intimate touch of the cereal boxes. “The other way, it was more personal,” Snyder said. “You feel more at home; it’s sort of comforting to have a box. This way it reminds you you’re at a cafeteria.” Brynn Smith ’11 said the cereal boxes helped distinguish the V-Dub from the more industrial-feeling Ratty. “They were very V-Dub, very original,” Smith said. “The Ratty is so big and it’s designed to serve so many people. Since less people come here, it’s more comfortable.” But if the change will prevent Dining Services from having to increase the price of meal plans, it should be made, Smith said. “Obviously, if they’re going to lose profits and make our room and board go up, then they need to do what they need to do.” Dining Services has been looking into making the change to bulk cereal at the V-Dub for some time, but until recently had been unable to find the right bin, Hoffman wrote. The change will also reduce waste from packaging and improve service, she added. — Colin Chazen
W orld & n ation Wednesday, September 10, 2008
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Reduced U.S. dominance predicted in intel report By Joby Warrick and Walter Pincus Washington Post
WASHINGTON — An intelligence forecast being prepared for the next president on future global risks envisions a steady decline in U.S. dominance in the coming decades, as the world is reshaped by globalization, battered by climate change, and destabilized by regional upheavals over shortages of food, water and energy. The gloomy report, previewed in a speech by Thomas Fingar, the U.S. intelligence community’s top analyst, also concludes that the one key area of continued U.S. superiority — military power — will “be the least significant” asset in the increasingly competitive world of the future, because “nobody is going to attack us with massive conventional force.” Fingar’s remarks last week were based on a partially completed “Global Trends 2025” report that assesses how international events could affect the United States in the next 15 to 17 years. Speaking at a conference of intelligence professionals in Orlando, Fingar gave an overview of key findings that he said will be presented to the next occupant of the White House early in the new year. “The U.S. will remain the preeminent power, but that American dominance will be much diminished,” Fingar said, according to a transcript of the Sept. 4 speech. He saw U.S. leadership eroding “at an accelerating pace” in “political, economic and arguably, cultural arenas.” The 2025 report will lay out what Fingar called the “dynamics, the di-
mensions, the drivers” that will shape the world for the next administration and beyond. In advance of its completion, intelligence officials have begun briefing the major presidential candidates on the security threats that they would likely face in office. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., received an initial briefing last Tuesday, with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., expected to receive one in the coming days, intelligence officials said. As described by Fingar, the intelligence community’s long-term outlook has darkened somewhat since the last report in 2004, which also focused on the impact of the globalization but was more upbeat about its consequences for the United States. The new view is in line with that of prominent economists and other global thinkers who have argued that America’s influence is shrinking as economic powerhouses such as China assert themselves on the global stage. The trend is described in the new book, “The Post-American World,” in which author Fareed Zakaria writes that the shift is not about the “decline of America, but rather about the rise of everyone else.” In the new intelligence forecast, it is not just the United States that loses clout. Fingar predicts plummeting influence for the United Nations, the World Bank and a host of other international organizations that have helped maintain political and economic stability since World War II. It is unclear what new institutions can fill the void, he said. In the years ahead, Washington will no longer be in a position to dictate what new global structures continued on page 9
N. Korean leader, absent from parade, may have suffered stroke By Glenn Kessler and Ariana Eunjung Cha Washington Post
WASHINGTON — North Korean leader Kim Jong Il failed to appear at North Korea’s 60th anniversary parade Tuesday, lending credence to intelligence reports that he might be gravely ill. Kim, known in the communist north as “Dear Leader,” typically presides over mass gatherings on such occasions, waving to crowds as they shout praises to him in unison. U.S. sources, citing South Korean and Japanese intelligence reports, said they believe Kim, 66, suffered a stroke in mid-August. Kim was last seen in public Aug. 14, and shortly after that, North Korea announced that it would be reassembling its Yongbyon nuclear reactor that it had agreed to dismantle under a landmark accord to end its nuclear weapons programs. Chosun Ilbo, a South Korean newspaper, Tuesday also quoted an official with the South Korean Embassy in Beijing who said the reclusive Kim, who suffers from diabetes and heart problems, collapsed on Aug. 22. The newspaper noted, however, that actions by the North Korean Embassy and business officials in China did not suggest major panic. Kim’s poor health has been a subject of speculation for decades, with experts analyzing his every public
appearance. The North Korean government treats his health like a state secret, so it has been impossible to differentiate between true reports and rumors. In recent months, a variety of media outlets have reported that he was so weak he could not walk 30 meters (he later appeared in public and seemed to be able to walk fine), that a group of German doctors went to North Korea to perform heart surgery on him (the doctors denied it) and that he passed away (most likely untrue since he’s since appeared in public, but at least one veteran expert has suggested the government could be using body doubles). “The problem with North Korearelated stories is that none of us can confirm them unless we go and ask them, and so much of these remain to be speculation,” said Koh Yu-whan, a professor of North Korean Studies at Dongguk University in Seoul. Charles “Jack” Pritchard, president of the Korea Economic Institute in Washington, said there have been many false reports of the health of Kim and his late father, Kim Il Sung, over the years. But he did find it significant that Kim appears to have missed the 60th anniversary parade, considering the milestone’s special significance in Asian cultures. “The 60th anniversary is not something to be missed,” he said. “It is the fifth cycle of 12, which for Asians is a special deal.”
Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times
A Los Angeles development agency rented 100 goats to nibble away thick weeds on a steep slope in the city’s downtown.
Weed-clearing goats going to town in L.A. By Bob Pool Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES — The hills were alive with the sound of munching. In fact, the only things that seemed missing Monday when a herd of goats climbed up a weedchoked lot in the high-rise district of downtown Los Angeles were Julie Andrews and the Von Trapp family singers. Leaders of the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency hired 100 goats to nibble away thick weeds on a steep slope next to the Angels Flight funicular.
Agency officials said the goats were cheaper and more environmentally friendly than two-legged brush-clearers armed with gasolinepowered weed-whackers. And they are much more fun to watch, downtown office workers and other passersby quickly decided, as the animals fanned out over the 45-degree slope and chowed down. Commuters emerging from the Red Line subway who came face to face with the goats reached for their cell phones and snapped pictures. “My friends won’t believe this unless they see it,” said Vicky Bravo,
a student who lives south of downtown. Sam Vera, an auto repairman, pulled a digital camera from his backpack to photograph the grazing goats with a glass-walled high-rise gleaming above them. “This is absolutely beautiful. It’s a wonderful contrast to the big buildings around here,” he said. Some wondered whether the goats were part of a movie scene or some kind of performance art, while others made jokes about the approaching lunch hour and goat continued on page 9
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Some student members concerned with report continued from page 1 tions to of fer culminating “capstone” experiences to their concentrators. These concentration reviews — starting with Africana Studies, Cognitive Neuroscience, Comparative Literature, Education, Hispanic Studies, Histor y, International Relations, Psychology, and Theater, Speech and Dance — are projected to be completed by 2011. The CCC will be looking for concentrations to state more clearly what students should achieve and the kinds of learning the field requires, Bergeron said. Each concentration will be asked to identify its goals, give details on how they relate to those of liberal learning, and review its advising and opportunities for “capstone” experiences, Professor of Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences and task force member Sheila Blumstein said. Blumstein, a former dean of the College and interim president, wrote the first comprehensive review of the New Curriculum for its 20th anniversar y, in 1990. Fixing advising The report also focuses on advising as an area in particular need of attention. Its advising recommendations include the Faculty Advising Fellows program, designed to encourage informal interaction between students and faculty, a program already started after the draft report was released in Januar y. Also, a resource center in the Sciences Librar y for better mentoring and advising for students in mathematics, engineering, sciences and technology should have its grand opening by September 2010, according to the report. The idea for the center came from the Undergraduate Science Education Committee, Bergeron said. Naming concentration, transfer and international student advising as areas of particular concern, the report also calls for research stipends as an incentive for faculty who advise for two years. The tripartite duties of faculty in advising, teaching and research were a frequent sticking point in deliberations, both within the committee and in the several feedback forums that followed the release of the draft report in January. Faculty
pointed out the important role that research plays in their profession, and some participants saw a need for more balance between the three roles. The problem “illustrates the struggle between the University and the College,” task force member Rakim Brooks ’09 said. With students, faculty and administrators on the task force all coming to the process with their own agendas, there just wasn’t enough time for a truly comprehensive review of undergraduate education at Brown, he said, adding that he would have liked to have seen teaching incentivized as well. In addition, Undergraduate Teaching and Research Awards will receive a boost from the report, increasing 20 percent per year for four years, with a goal of 450 awards in 2012. The funding for increased awards would have to go through the University Resources Committee, which recommends an annual budget, Bergeron said. The report also addresses the writing requirement, an issue the task force did not have time to discuss before the Januar y draft, primarily by calling for an outside review of the writing requirement. That review will take place later this month, according to the report. The report also calls for a special designation in the course catalog for writing courses. Whose report? Members of the task force seemed largely pleased with the final product, with Blumstein calling it an “ambitious but exciting agenda for the future” and Bergeron remarking on the success of the conversations at open forums in the spring. Brooks, though he cautioned that his words were “not an indictment of the whole process,” said he thought some products of the report were conceived before the task force was ever convened. There was good deliberation, particularly in his General Education subcommittee, Brooks said, but “there was an agenda for the task force,” he said. Only two people — Bergeron and Kathleen McSharry, associate dean of the college for writing and issues of chemical dependency — authored the final report, though the whole committee had a chance to comment on intermediate drafts,
Meara Sharma / Herald File Photo
After a year and a half of meeting and soliciting student opinion, the Task Force on Undergraduate Education released its report.
Brooks said. Bergeron said that some portions of the January draft report, which made it into the final version, were in fact written by the whole task force jointly. Still, Brooks said, some parts of the process makes him wonder “whose report this is.” In interviews before the release of the task force’s Januar y draft repor t, both Brooks and fellow task force member Jason Becker ’09 expressed some concern about the authoring of the report reflecting different emphases than what they felt the task force had placed on certain points. The draft report was also written by McSharry and Bergeron, with “lots of input,” Becker said last spring, from the rest of the task force. Becker said he felt that his misgivings at the time were largely the result of a misunderstanding concerning the purpose of the draft report, which he said was less about lots of detail and more about putting ideas into the open. He called the final report “much more balanced.” Earlier this week, Brooks said he was troubled by the inclusion of one recommendation establishing a pilot sophomore PIN program, requiring sophomores to use a special code to preregister for courses in the same way first-years do. Brooks said he made his opposition to the idea clear ever y time it came up in discussion, and opposed it again in a July e-mail to Bergeron
responding to a draft summar y of recommendations. According to the procedures of the task force, “any issue that wasn’t agreed upon by ever yone was not to be in the report,” Brooks said. He called the idea a “coercive” way to get students to participate in the advising relationship and said it “doesn’t even put a Band-Aid” on the root of the advising problem. “It’s a fine report for what we had time to accomplish,” he said. “Am I thrilled with the repor t? No.” Bergeron said the sophomore PIN issue was discussed at a meeting in April that Brooks could not attend, where task force members agreed to a pilot program. She said the pilot program might start as early as next year, when the class of 2012 becomes sophomores, and will be tried out for a year or so. She said there were mixed feelings among the community about the idea but that the report tried to reflect differences in opinion and was a “consensus document.” The task force had no formal veto rule, Bergeron said. She stated she remembered Brooks raising a question about how the PIN program made it into the final report in his July e-mail but not voicing his disapproval. Getting feedback Following the release of the task force’s draft report in January, forums sought feedback from
interested students and faculty. Members of the task force said that feedback, both in the forums and through the Internet, changed the face of the final report. Task force members “certainly were influenced by the forums,” Blumstein said, adding that the final report has a fleshed-out rationale and clearer recommendations. The Corporation, Brown’s highest governing body, has also met twice since Januar y. Its members had as many questions and concerns as the rest of the campus but also lots of enthusiasm, Bergeron said. They “saw the potential” of the report’s goals, she said. Several task force members cited that the final report had dropped an earlier recommendation that Meiklejohn advising be extended to sophomores, saying respondents felt it didn’t make sense. There was “tweaking based on feedback,” task force member Fiona Heckscher ’09 said. “It is still, as always, a work in progress,” she said, and should serve to stimulate further conversation. “Just because the task force report is out doesn’t mean the conversation should end,” Becker said. A for um to discuss the report will be held Oct. 6 at 7 p.m., Bergeron said, at a place to be determined. The date in an earlier announcement was changed due to a conflict with the beginning of Rosh Hashanah.
Condoms: In a vending machine near you continued from page 3 run out. Some students said they expected the vending machine to be successful, but others were less confident. Christian Aguiar ’10 said he thought the pilot project would be “pretty successful.” Although students can get condoms at Health Services, he said, for students on Pembroke campus, Faunce is “a bit less of a walk.” Emily Geldwert ’09 expressed surprise at the decision to put the vending machine in Faunce, and said she wasn’t sure if students would use it. “It’s something that I personally wouldn’t use,” said Geldwert. “I find it to be a private matter.” Gina Sato ’10 said she believes students will make use of the machine, and is not concerned about a
lack of privacy. “It’s just in the bathroom. It’s not out in public next to the soda machines,” she said. “Judging by the culture of our campus, it will be pretty successful.” Brown is not the only university to make condoms available in vending machines. Boston University recently added condoms to 12 residence hall vending machines around campus — right next to snacks and candies. According to David Zamojski, assistant dean of students and director of residence life at BU, the condoms come in packs of two and cost $2.50. Some BU students are displeased with the high price of the condoms, according to BU’s campus newspaper, the Daily Free Press. Junior Emily Pallotta said buying condoms in the same place you purchase snacks “kind of degrades the whole con-
cept” of sex. The “safer sex” machine is currently in transit and will arrive on the Brown campus sometime in the next few weeks. Health Education plans to advertise its presence on campus with table slips and Morning Mail announcements. Depending on the pilot program’s success, more “safer sex” machines may pop up around campus as the semester goes on. Ninneman said she has high hopes. “Our question isn’t: Is it going to be something students use? We’re expecting students to use it.” Still, Ninneman said the new machine is intended to promote safer sex, not to promote sexual activity. “Most studies around condom distribution suggest that it doesn’t ... lead to increased sexual activity,” she said.
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As particles collide, some plan for worst continued from page 1 ’09, said the idea came to him over dinner a few days ago. He had read media reports of fringe theories that predicted a catastrophic implosion upon the activation of the LHC, which will launch tiny particles at each other at near the speed of light and then examine the microscopic debris for traces of the Higgs boson, a hypothetical elementary particle that has never been observed in a laborator y. Today’s demonstration was a test run for the LHC — which will be officially unveiled in October — and marked the first particle beam ever circulated through the multi-billion-dollar complex. “My first thought after, ‘Wow, we actually could all die,’ was, ‘We should actually do something,’” Dean said. Dean arrived late to his party Tuesday night — “I just called my parents to say what was hopefully not goodbye” — to the beat of Herbie Hancock’s classic funk tune “Chameleon” playing from some speakers in the corner of a room in his Williams Street home. But the mood shifted when Dean’s housemate, Annie Blazejack ’09, began working on an epitaph-themed guestbook, with spaces allotted for each doomed
partygoer. “She left Hawaii for the cold of Providence — the gods will rock out to her ukulele,” was written for Kailua, Hawaii-native Chloe LeMarchand ’09, who walked around the room with her tiny blue guitar playing new arrivals the last songs they might ever hear. After some time spent enjoying their last few hours on Earth playing that-game-where-you-tr yto-swing-a-tethered-ball-into-a-cupon-a-stick and composing a list of “things we will wish we had done as we lay dying,” the group of about 15 moved to the bathroom for the “just-in-case” ritual baptism. Dean presided over the ceremony, pouring water over Hoy Loper ’09 “in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.” Cheers of “Amen!” sounded from the crowd as Loper writhed in the bathtub. All the while, Dean’s “doomsday” playlist ran in the background, a constant reminder of the events to come. Guests cheerily danced to The Beatles’ “It Won’t Be Long,” Paul McCartney’s “No More Lonely Nights” and the industrial-funk-inspired “Supermassive Black Hole” by Muse. Unbeknownst to the partygoers, Brown likely deserves some of the credit for the night’s festivities. Physics professors David Cutts,
Greg Landsberg and Meenakshi Narain are part of the international team conducting experiments with the European Organization for Nuclear Research, the international institution that built the LHC. They will be some of the first scientists to analyze data from the particle accelerator once it is activated. “If you really understand what is going on, (a black hole) is such a remote possibility it will have zero impact,” Narain told The Herald last April. A theatre ar ts concentrator, Dean said most of his knowledge of particle accelerators has come from news articles and the “Large Hadron Rap,” a popular YouTube video that features LHC technicians singing about the science behind the project. “My understanding is that if the mini-black hole opens in the lab, the lab is going bye-bye, but apparently that’s going to spark other black holes,” Dean said playfully. “My lack of knowledge of theoretical physics shows.” But for Dean, the end of the world is less about science and more about acceptance. “Some people think aliens are going to envelop the world, not black holes,” he said. “What this party is about, really about, is welcoming different views. And in a way, I think that’s very beautiful.”
Men’s hoops jumps across the pond
U.S. intel chief predicts decreased military power continued from page 7
continued from page 12 my favorite part of the trip. I saw the most breathtaking views I’ve ever seen in my life,” Williams said. “Most of the food was good ... but in Nice I had a hot dog that was the worst hot dog I’ve ever had. We all had to learn that the food over there was prepared differently than in America.” The Bears returned home to the U.S. on Aug. 28, but the competition they played against should benefit them throughout the season, and the Bears agree that the memories they made on the trip will last for the rest of their lifetimes. “We were a really close team before we took the trip. ... I think we took some big steps on the court this summer.” Williams said. “And the trip overall, the whole experience and all the places we saw, is definitely something I’ll never forget.”
Courtesy Men’s Basketball
The men’s basketball team’s 10-day tour included Paris, Brussels, and Nice. The team also played Damon Huffman’s ‘08 new Belgian team.
In a metropolis, goats compete with mowers continued from page 7 barbecue. On the hillside above, goat-keeper George Gonzales dismissed such talk. “They have poison oak all over them. You don’t want to touch them,” he said of the goats. He said his crew would work long hours over the next week to 10 days and “won’t collect a pension or charge for working overtime and won’t call in sick.” If any of them lose their appetite, his wife, veterinarian Liz Gonzales, will tend to them, he said. An electrified fence helps corral the goats and keeps them from falling
Courtesy of CERN
The Large Hadron Collider, built underground on the Franco-Swiss border, may lend evidence to physicists desperately seeking SUSY, or supersymmetry.
over a retaining wall at the base of the slope. Security guards will be on duty when he is not there to watch over the herd, said Gonzales, 71. Redevelopment agency head Cecilia Estolano said the goats were being rented for $3,000. The cost of hiring workmen to clear the 2 1/2-acre hillside would have totaled as much as $7,500. The brush-covered hillside lot, called Angels Knoll, is topped by a grassy park that is maintained by the city. Eventually, the lot is slated to become the site of a third mixeduse tower. At lunchtime, a steady stream of office workers came to the small park
to get a close-up peek at the goats, some of which were leaping into the air to snag a taste of tree leaves hanging over the lot. On the corner below the hill, a street musician belted out a bluesy jazz tune on his saxophone. “Instead of jazz, they should be playing Rodgers & Hammerstein,” said one of the office workers, Michael Alexander. “You know which one I’m talking about: the ‘Lonely Goatherd’ song from ‘Sound of Music.’” Alexander whistled a few notes from the tune, which most remember as the yodeling song. Busily lunching on their weed buffet, the goats didn’t even look up.
will look like. Nor will any other single country, Fingar said. “There is no nobody in a position ... to take the lead and institute the changes that almost certainly must be made in the international system,” he said. The predicted shift toward a less U.S.-centric world will come at a time when the planet is facing a growing environmental crisis, caused largely by climate change, Fingar said. By 2025, droughts, food shortages and scarcity of fresh water will plague large swaths of the globe, from North China to the Horn of Africa. For poorer countries, climate change “could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back,” Fingar said, while the United States will face “Dust Bowl” conditions in the parched Southwest. He said U.S. intelligence agencies accepted the consensus scientific view of global warming, including the conclusion that it is already too late to avert significant disruption over the next two decades. The conclusions are in line with an intelligence assessment produced this summer that characterized global warming as a serious security threat for the coming decades. Floods and droughts will trigger mass migrations and political upheaval in many parts of the developing world. But among industrialized states, declining birthrates will create new economic stresses as populations become grayer. In China, Japan and Europe, the ratio of working adults to seniors “begins to approach one to three,” he said. The United States will fare better than many other industrial powers, in part because it is relatively more open to immigration. Newcomers will inject into the U.S.
economy a vitality that will be absent in much of Europe and Japan — countries that are “on a good day, highly chauvinistic,” he said. “We are just about alone in terms of the highly developed countries that will continue to have demographic growth sufficient to ensure continued economic growth,” Fingar said. Energy security will also become a major issue as India, China and other countries join the United States in seeking oil, gas and other sources for electricity. The Chinese get a good portion of their oil from Iran, as do many U.S. European allies, limiting U.S. options on Iran. “So the turn-the-spigot-off kind of thing — even if we could do it — would be counterproductive.” Nearly absent from the Fingar’s survey was the topic of terrorism. Since the last such report in 2004, the intelligence community has projected a declining role for alQaida, which was deemed likely to become “increasingly decentralized, evolving into an eclectic array of groups, cells, and individuals.” Inspired by al-Qaida, “regionally based groups, and individuals labeled simply as jihadists — united by a common hatred of moderate regimes and the West — are likely to conduct terrorist attacks,” the earlier document said. The new assessment saw a continued threat from Iran, however. Fingar predicted steady progress in the Islamic republic’s attempts to create enriched uranium, the essential fuel used in both nuclear weapons and commercial power reactors. For now, however, there is no evidence that Iran has resumed work on building an actual weapon, Fingar said, echoing last year’s landmark National Intelligence Estimate on Iran, which concluded that warhead-design work had halted in 2003.
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Staf f Editorial
Neighbors together The Herald reported yesterday that since school started, three off-campus student residences have been fined for excessive noise or disorderly conduct. Neighbors (many of them professors) have, as always, complained to neighborhood associations and the University about the hubbub. But local residents said they believe the University has been taking a firmer stance on students who are noisy neighbors, and University officials recently sent a letter to local residents and leaders acknowledging rowdy students’ effect on town-gown relations. In addition, Providence Police have teamed up with DPS officers to patrol local neighborhoods on party nights, helping to keep any incidents in-house. These are positive efforts. While we are sympathetic to students trying to enjoy their time in college — we can’t say you won’t occasionally find us at those loud, rowdy parties — we also understand that local residents have the right to enjoy a little peace and quiet at night. Local residents and University officials are clearly interested in finding reasonable solutions, but we’d like to see more student involvement as well. Whether it’s a ResCouncil or UCS liasion to the community or a required meeting among off-campus residents and the College Hill Neighborhood Association, we continue to believe greater student involvement in and interaction with neighborhood residents will help foster a spirit of mutual respect.
Trat-travesty One of our favorite places at Brown is the Sharpe Refectory. The Ratty’s large selection, open atmosphere, friendly staff and pretty good food make it the perfect place to hang with friends and enjoy a meal. But the recent demise of the Trattoria line has us concerned. Deeply, deeply concerned. We are very much in favor of exposing students to Tastes of the World. The idea of rotating cultures every week is especially clever, and it’s good to know Ratty officials are constantly looking to improve the menu and innovate new dishes. But everything has its place, and for the Trattoria line, which for years has served up pizza and pasta, that place is as a diner’s dependable backup. Let’s face it: While the Ratty is a great eatery, the main items can sometimes be a bit more, er, innovative, than we’d prefer. When this happens, it’s important that diners have reliable dishes, such as pizza and pasta, that they can always rely on for a meal. By replacing the dependable backup with exciting new dishes from around the world, the Ratty undercuts one of its big advantages: diners’ ability to walk in not knowing the day’s menu but still at ease that there is something they will definitely enjoy. We hope Brown Dining Services will resurrect the Trattoria line. Perhaps the Tastes of the World can occupy the Bistro a few days a week, instead.
T he B rown D aily H erald Editors-in-Chief Simmi Aujla Ross Frazier
Executive Editors Taylor Barnes Chris Gang
Senior Editors Irene Chen Lindsey Meyers
editorial Ben Hyman Hannah Levintova Matthew Varley Alex Roehrkasse Chaz Firestone Nandini Jayakrishna Scott Lowenstein Michael Bechek Isabel Gottlieb Franklin Kanin Michael Skocpol Ben Bernstein James Shapiro Benjy Asher Amy Ehrhart Megan McCahill Andrew Braca Han Cui Katie Wood
Arts & Culture Editor Arts & Culture Editor Higher Ed Editor Higher Ed Editor Features Editor Metro Editor Metro Editor News Editor News Editor News Editor News Editor Opinions Editor Opinions Editor Sports Editor Sports Editor Sports Editor Asst. Sports Editor Asst. Sports Editor Asst. Sports Editor
production Production & Design Editor Steve DeLucia Asst. Design Editor Chaz Kelsh Copy Desk Chief Kathryn Delaney Copy Desk Chief Seth Motel Graphics Editor Adam Robbins
Business Darren Ball General Manager Mandeep Gill General Manager Shawn Reilly Office Manager Alex Hughes Sales Manager Lily Tran Sales Manager Emilie Aries Public Relations Director Jon Spector Accounting Director Claire Kiely National Account Manager Ellen DaSilva University Account Manager Philip Maynard Recruiter Account Manager Katelyn Koh Credit Manager Ingrid Pangandoyon Technology Director
P ete fallon
Letters When buying books, yet another way to save To the Editor: We read yesterday’s article (“Textbook links new to independent Mocha,” Sept. 9) and felt obligated to inform you of another exciting and related venture spawned at Brown. The article brought up the high costs of buying books from the bookstore and the difficulties that students encounter when trying to buy their books online. Another Brown-spawned startup, BrunoBooks, was created precisely to address this. We graduated last May, and last semester started BrunoBooks.com with alums Jonathan Rhone ’08, Jason French ’08, and Ari Goodstein ’07. What yesterday’s article failed to recognize is that simply comparing Amazon’s textbook offerings to the bookstore’s ignores a world of savings available to students. As former students who have spent countless hours researching this topic, we would know. In our research prior to redesigning our new Web site, we were (pleasantly) surprised to find that searching Half.com and Abebooks.com offers a full 50% greater savings than using Amazon alone.
Students have saved nearly $20,000 so far this semester through BrunoBooks, outpacing the impressive amounts sold last semester. As many students will tell you, BrunoBooks allows students to easily search for their books, with listings by class that instantly search Amazon, Abebooks, and Half and compare these prices with those at the bookstore. Another thing that differentiates BrunoBooks is that listings include shipping price so that users aren’t surprised at checkout. We hope that in your future coverage of textbookbuying at Brown that you will include information on this worthy and timely service. In regards to shopping period stress, these alums can only dream from our rockingchairs of the joys of Brown that go along with it. Jesse Maddox ‘08 Matthew Prewitt ‘08 BrunoBooks.com September 9, 2008
photo Meara Sharma Min Wu
Photo Editor Photo Editor
post- magazine Matt Hill Rajiv Jayadevan Sonia Kim Allison Zimmer Colleen Brogan Arthur Matuszewski Kimberly Stickels
Managing Editor Managing Editor Features Editor Features Editor Associate Editor Associate Editor Associate Editor
Chaz Kelsh, Steve DeLucia, Designer Kathryn Delaney, Tarah Knaresboro, Seth Motel, Jordan Mainzer Copy Editors Gaurie Tilak, Melissa Shube, Night Editors Senior Staff Writers Colin Chazen, Sara Sunshine, Melissa Shube, Anne Simons, Gaurie Tilak, Mitra Anoushiravani, Chaz Kelsh, Emmy Liss, Max Mankin, Brian Mastroianni, George Miller, Caroline Sedano, Jenna Stark, Joanna Wohlmuth, Simon van Zuylen-Wood Staff Writers Sam Byker, Debbie Lehmann, Sophia Li, Noura Choudhury, Joy Chua, Cameron Lee, Christian Martell, Anna Millman, Evan Pelz, Eli Piette, Leslie Primack, Marielle Segarra, Catherine Straut, Allison Wentz Sports Staff Writers Peter Cipparone, Han Cui, Lara Southern, Nicole Stock, Katie Wood Business Staff Stephanie Cheung, Veronica Yu, Jay Guan, Jennifer Chang, Jamie Phinney, Anna Reisetter, Kartika Chourdhury, Serena Ho, Akshay Rathod, Galen Cho, Maryrose Mesa, Van Le, Maura Lynch, Grant LeBeau, Jacqueline Goldman, Dana Feuchtbaum, Geraldo Guanaes, Lauren Presant, Lindsay Walls, Lucy Wang, Ruyi Jiang, Saul Lustgarten, Diego Gomez, Laura Sammartino, Ava Amini, Charley Chen, Lee Chau, Rory Stanton, Oliver Bowers, Katherine Richards, Alison Greenberg, Lilia Royanova Design Staff Jessica Calihan, Serena Ho, Rachel Isaacs, Andrea Krukowski, Joe Larios, Joanna Lee, Alex Unger, Aditya Voleti Photo Staff Oona Curley, Alex DePaoli, Erik Maser, Kim Perley, Quinn Savit Copy Editors Ria Ali, Paula Armstrong, Kim Arredondo, Ayelet Brinn, Aubrey Cann, Rafael Chaiken, Stephanie Craton, Erin Cummings, Julianne Fenn, Jake Frank, Anne Fuller, Josh Garcia, Jennifer Grayson, Rachel Isaacs, Joyce Ji, Jenn Kim, Tarah Knaresboro, Ted Lamm, Alex Mazerov, Lisa Qing, Alex Rosenberg, Madeleine Rosenberg, Elena Weissman, Jason Yum
Correction A photo caption in yesterday’s Herald (“Field hockey takes down Maine,” Sept. 9) identified a field hockey athlete as Cassie Puhalla ‘11. The athlete is Stacy Gugliotta ‘07. C O R R E C T I O N S P olicy The Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible. Corrections may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication. C ommentary P O L I C Y The staff editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial board of The Brown Daily Herald. The editorial viewpoint does not necessarily reflect the views of The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Columns, letters and comics reflect the opinions of their authors only. L etters to the E ditor P olicy Send letters to letters@browndailyherald.com. Include a telephone number with all letters. The Herald reserves the right to edit all letters for length and cannot assure the publication of any letter. Please limit letters to 250 words. Under special circumstances writers may request anonymity, but no letter will be printed if the author’s identity is unknown to the editors. Announcements of events will not be printed. advertising P olicy The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. reserves the right to accept or decline any advertisement at its discretion.
O pinions Wednesday, September 10, 2008
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Page 11
Why Palin is perfect BY ANISH MITRA Opinions Columnist On Aug. 29, McCain shocked the world by announcing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. Overlooking other highly qualified and popular candidates, like Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty and Tom Ridge, McCain took a brilliant gamble by choosing a young, vivacious personality to add some much-needed flare to his otherwise unexciting campaign. Palin is a perfect pick for a number of reasons: She solidifies McCain’s conservative base, increases the Maverick’s chances of winning over independents, potentially attracts former Hillary Clinton supporters and ultimately gives McCain control of the media. For disgruntled conservatives who are unsatisfied with McCain’s stances on various social issues, Palin’s positions will ensure that they come out and vote for McCain this November. She opposes abortion (unless the mother’s life is in danger), opposes same-sex marriage, supports capital punishment and defends gun-rights (as a card-carrying member of the NRA). On the fiscal side, she has opposed excessive government spending and corruption and is also a staunch supporter of drilling to achieve American energy independence. Evidence already suggests that Republicans nationwide may already have adopted a more favorable view of McCain due to Palin’s selection. Recent Rasmussen polling indicates that only 42 percent of Republicans had a “very
favorable” view of John McCain before the announcement. Approximately one week afterward, McCain’s “very favorable” rating jumped to 54 percent. While most Americans may not take the same positions as Palin, conservatives will certainly be satisfied with her. McCain will not have to worry about losing the conservative vote to other third-party candidates. Never before has a vice presidential candidate had such a tremendous, positive effect on a presidential race. Over 37 million viewers
mate, while only 45 percent said the same about Obama’s selection of Biden. Despite the fact that, little more than a week ago, Palin was virtually unknown, her favorable ratings are now higher than both McCain’s and Obama’s. Palin boasts a 58 percent approval rating amongst American voters, while McCain and Obama tie at 57 percent. Additionally, up to 44 percent of American voters claim that Palin is more experienced than Obama. Among unaffiliated voters, the figure is 42 percent.
Palin solidifies McCain’s conservative base, increases the Maverick’s chances of winning over independents, potentially attracts former Hillary Clinton supporters and ultimately gives McCain control of the media. tuned in to watch Palin’s acceptance speech, far more than the viewership for Biden and Hillary Clinton’s Convention speeches. While Obama received approximately one million more viewers, his speech was carried on almost twice as many networks. Palin’s popularity is skyrocketing, and her selection will also help McCain court unaffiliated and independent voters. In one recent poll, 52 percent of independents claimed McCain made the right choice for his running
While Palin has yet to convince voters of her credentials, this is a humiliating blow for Obama. Democrats need to remember that Obama is running against McCain, not Palin. The fact that Palin is seven points away from being perceived as “more experienced” than Obama is not merely surprising, it’s embarrassing. But the attitude is understandable. After all, Obama lacks administrative experience, has yet to complete a single term in the Senate
and has failed to author any notable, popular and relevant pieces of legislation. With shortcomings like those, Democrats shouldn’t hurl stones from glass houses by criticizing Palin for lack of experience. They would be wise to remember that Palin has been a mayor, the chair of the Alaskan Oil and Gas conservation commissions and the governor of Alaska. If you still don’t believe that McCain’s selection will catapult him into the Oval Office come November, you don’t have to take my word for it. According to Gallup Daily, the period after Palin’s selection has been more than favorable to Republicans. Consider recent trends. On Sept. 4, Obama maintained a solid seven point lead over McCain. By Sept. 5, his lead almost halved to only four points. As Palin and McCain’s convention speeches settled in, Obama’s lead halved once more to two points. As of yesterday McCain leads Obama, 49 percent to 44. This is McCain’s best showing since May, and it is clear that ‘Palin Power’ has helped. While the first half of the election season seemed rocky for McCain and rosy for Obama, the tides are starting to turn. Palin’s enormous popularity, administrative record and respectable conservatism will solidify the McCain ticket and allow the GOP to keep the White House out of Democratic hands. If I haven’t yet persuaded you that Palin is perfect, consider this line of impeccable reasoning: She’s hot.
Anish Mitra ’10 is a former Hillary Clinton supporter.
Coming home is bittersweet SEAN QUIGLEY Opinions Columnist Brown University’s history is of the rich and glorious type. That is among the many reasons why, throughout the long summer months, I yearned to return to Providence and the Brown campus. I felt the same pull last summer, but my spiritual connection with this University has been so strengthened that the wait this summer was almost unbearable. That, I wager, was the same feeling that many fellow Brunonians had as they were diffused throughout the world from mid-May to late-August. Even the stereotypically curmudgeon conservative could not be totally without sentiment, primarily because at the heart of conservatism is a strong and affectionate attachment to one’s home and community. I claim that this element is often the first one forgotten when conservatives enter elite modern universities, particularly Ivy-League schools such as Brown. Conservatives not only feel excluded, but that they must exclude themselves — falsely believing that engaging fully in campus life would signal hypocrisy. It is also in many cases the first element to be overlooked by liberals when they label conservatives selfish, anti-community contrarians. For instance, at the Activities Fair the other night, the two most frequent questions that I received, as the President of the Republican Club, were variants of “Brown is a really liberal place, isn’t it?” and “Wow, there are Republi-
cans at Brown?” Trying to offer the best answer in the shortest time possible, I responded with two affirmatives, but with a little nuance to demonstrate my slight irritation that those questions were even posed. For even though most Brown students have political views anathema to conservatism, the conservative still takes three to five classes every semester with his liberal peers, still studies next to them in the library late at night, still celebrates with them, drink in hand, the conclusion of another week of class
A comparison can perhaps be made with the oft-cited contention that a dissident in a country is not necessarily a traitor to that country. For at Brown, conservatives are definitely intellectual dissidents from the priorities and agenda of Brown leaders, yet we are not traitors to the University. Often what appears to be conservative anger is really our anguish, our deep and searing pain at the sight of a grand university that has disparaged its own traditions and gone unapologetically down a disastrous path.
Often what appears to be conservative anger is really our anguish. and most importantly, still attempts to maintain the best in Brown for future classes. We all share this campus and its elegant history, though we may have deep and profound differences concerning how the University should be administered. Brown conservatives love their alma mater, though we often take serious issue with its current administrators, overabundance of deans and entrenched leftist bureaucracies such as the Third World Center.
So to the conservative freshmen who have just arrived on College Hill, I encourage you to take a side and to dare to align. But I also urge you to be a Brown student, gentle with all and intimate with some. A conservative dissident need be neither an exile from campus life nor a weakling eventually subsumed by the majority opinion. As the Christian at least knows, it is possible to live “in” the world, quite actively at that, without being “of” the world. Cherish your four years here, conserva-
tives. Be humble enough to acknowledge that, in the long run, you are merely one generation of many, called to steward the Brown legacy. But also be arrogant enough to know that, in looking back at our University’s darkest hours, you will be able to say that you were at the vanguard, preventing it from complete destruction. Your experience here, should you not shirk your duties, will in many ways be your own “finest hour.” To the Brown liberals, be resigned to the fact that conservatives are here to stay, notwithstanding your stigmatization of our disposition and activity. We share a campus with you, even if you desire not to share one with us. As conservatives, we think locally, and gradually extend ourselves out from our most intimate connections; and even though you are more universalistic, might we all profess our love for Brown itself? In a letter to poet Nora Perry, our beloved John Hay, a graduate of the Class of 1858, wrote, “If you loved Providence as I do, you would congratulate yourself hourly upon your lot. I turn my eyes Eastward, like an Islamite, when I feel prayerful”. Hay, in many ways a conservative and always a Republican, loved his University as though it were a part of his family. I pray that conservatives grow to love Brown, too, and that liberals grow to love the same Brown without asserting that the only acceptable version is their own. And may we all acknowledge that it is good to be back.
Sean Quigley ’10 still says, “Huck Farvard” in the presence of conservative Crimsons.
S ports W ednesday Page 12
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
M. bball bonds in Europe, plays former teammate By Megan McCahill Sports Editor
Over the summer, the men’s basketball team traveled to Europe for a ten-day tour that included four games, two countries, and lots of team bonding. The Bears began their trip by landing in Paris on Aug. 18, and then traveled to Belgium to play their first game of the trip against former teammate Damon Huffman ’08 and his new team, Okapi Aalstar, on Aug. 20. “It was really cool that we got the chance to hang out with and play against Damon,” said Steve Gruber ’10, who was on his first trip to Europe. “Obviously we all know what type of player he is, and it was definitely weird seeing him in a different uniform, but it was also fun that we got to see him in such a different environment.” The Bears lost to Okapi Aalstar, a team that both Adrian Williams ’11 and Matt Mullery ’10 called “by far the best competition we played on the trip.” After leaving Belgium, the team returned to Paris before playing Vanves on Aug. 22. “We beat Vanves, but all the teams we played on the trip were good competition,” Williams said. “One of the things we noticed was that the Europeans set a lot of ball screens. Obviously we set ball screens here too, but it seemed like the Europeans set a lot more of them.” While in Paris, the Bears got the chance to check out the sites and soak up the city’s unique culture. “Paris was great. It stood out to me as a much more environmentally concerned city than most places in the U.S.,” Mullery said. “And the people were all really good to us.
Courtesy of Men’s Basketball
The men’s basketball team bonded in Europe with a game against former teammate Damon Huffman ‘08. We found that if we tried to speak a little bit of French to people before we spoke in English, people tended to like that we made an effort and were more friendly to us.” The teammate the Bears relied on the most to help translate their French was Williams, who took French from kindergarten through his junior year in high school. “I wouldn’t say I’m fluent, but I could translate most of what the guys wanted to say, so I tried to help them out the best I could.” The Bears defeated Vanves and then traveled to Lyon, France, where they took on Ouest Lyonnais on Aug. 24. “Ever y team we played was great competition. It was interesting to see the different styles of
Sports
play. Even the lines on the court over there are a little different,” Mullery said. “The teams shot a lot of threes and did a lot of driving and kicking the ball out. But I was probably most surprised by how solid they all played defense.” From Lyon the Bears traveled to Nice, France, to play against AS Monaco, a junior national team, on Aug. 26. “The French Riviera was definitely my favorite part of the trip,” Gruber said. “We went to Monaco and Cannes and it was just so cool to be in the Mediterranean. The weather was great and the water was incredibly clear. It was really beautiful.” Gruber was one of many Bears who identified the trip to the South-
i n
east region of France as their favorite part of the trip. Mullery, who was also on his first trip to Europe, also thought of it as the highlight of his overseas experience. “Nice and Monaco were my favorite places on the trip,” Mullery said. “I’ve never been to a place that beautiful and had such a rich culture. It was really a privilege to get to go on a trip to such amazing places with a group of guys that you’re so close with.” The sightseeing on the trip was certainly a highlight for everyone on the team, although the foreign food was slightly more hit-andmiss. “The sightseeing was definitely continued on page 9
Brief
Cerretani ’01 rises to no. 54 in world
The defending Ivy League Champion men’s soccer team has opened registration for its first-ever KickAids 3 vs. 3 World Cup, which will benefit Grassroots Soccer, a group that teaches African children how to prevent HIV. The World Cup style tournament, which is expected to draw around 300 boys and girls aged 7-13, will begin on Saturday, Sept. 20, at the Berylson Family Fields. The Finals of the 3 vs. 3 tournament will be played at halftime of the Bears’ rivalry game against the University of Rhode Island that is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. that same night. Registration is open to individuals at www.ecmiracles.org and the tournament will feature boys and girls on teams of varying ages. The $35 registration fee guarantees each participant will play in at least four games, free admission to the Brown vs. URI game, and a tournament t-shirt. Furthermore, both Brown and URI will wear special Adidas jerseys, red for Bruno and yellow for the Rams, that will be auctioned off after the game in an effort to further benefit Grassroots Soccer.
James Cerretani ’01 has been climbing up the world doubles tennis rankings after a series of impressive wins this summer, including a victory at Wimbledon and his first career main draw ATP Tour Title. After beginning the summer ranked No. 65, he rose as high as No. 45 before dropping to his current spot at No. 54. Cerretani began his summer playing with Romania’s Victor Hanescu as his partner, and the duo jump-started Cerretani’s summer of success with a firstround victory (6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6) at Wimbledon over Bruno Soares of Brazil and Dusan Vemic of Serbia. The pair ended their brief run in the tournament by bowing out to 14th-seeded Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Jamie Murray of Great Britain in the next round (4-6, 6-4, 7-6, 7-0). After Wimbledon, Cerretani returned to the Ocean State to compete at the Campbell’s Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport. This time, Cerretani’s partner was Kevin Anderson of Russia, and the pair won, 6-7(4), 6-2, 10-4, to advance to the quarterfinals, where they fell to the tournament’s fourth-seeded pairing, Rohan Bopanna of India and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan, 7-6(4), 3-6, 10-7. From Newport, Cerretani traveled to Kitzbuhel, Austria, where he paired up again with Hanescu. The two found a way to replicate the chemistry they had back at Wimbledon, rolling over Luis Horna and Potito Starace (7-6(6), 2-6, 10-8), Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo and Sergio Roitman (6-4, 6-4), and Daniel Koellerer and Frank Moser (6-3, 6-3) en route to the finals. The duo won the title, the first of Cerretani’s career, by overcoming Lucas Arnold Ker and Olivier Rochus, 6-3, 7-5. Unfortunately for Cerretani and Hanescu, the two were unable to add to their championship hardware at the U.S. Open, which took place in New York City over the past two weeks. The pair fell in their first round match, 6-3, 6-2, to Ker and Guillermo Canas of Argentina. Cerretani also competed in the mixed doubles draw with Anastasia Rodionova of Austria as his partner, but the pair also lost in the first round, 6-3, 6-2, to Katarina Srebotnik of Slovakia and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia. Cerretani has won $83,927 in 2008, and if he continues to improve as he has this summer, look for his career earnings of $116,132 to steadily increase.
—Megan McCahill
—Megan McCahill
Ashley Hess / Herald File Photo
The team, fresh off winning an Ivy title, is sponsoring a benefit for African children.
Men’s soccer prepares for inaugural
The Cubs and a century of dreams For all the Red Sox and Yankees fans out there who make up the most conspicuous fan base at Brown, this article is to remind you that you guys are not the focus in baseball this year. This year in the Majors, one team has dominated (and rightfully Han Cui so) the naAsst. Sports Editor tion’s attention more than any other, and that team is called the Chicago Cubs. Most people know the long history of the Cubs — the 100 years of waiting for the Next Year. But if you are not a Cubs fan, you don’t understand what it means to be one. Since 1908, the perennial hope of reclaiming World Series glory has only resulted in a century of broken hearts. An entire generation of loyal Cubbie fans have never had the chance to see the Cubbie Blue win the World Series. Yet the Cubbie spirit lives on, both in this life and the next. Bohemian National Cemetery of Chicago is replicating Wrigley Field’s center field wall to serve as a resting place for truly die-hard fans. And for all the enduring Cubbie fans, the hope has been reignited brighter in 2008 than ever before. To dispel the disbeliefs among the doubters, let this year’s numbers and records speak for themselves. The Cubs are the No. 1 team in the National League with a record of 86-58. The team sent eight players to the All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium, setting a Cubs record. The team is among the league leaders in nearly every statistical category. The Cubs lead the National League in team batting average, hitting an impressive .280, just five-thousandths of a point behind the MLB-leading Red Sox. As for pitching, the team has the fifthlowest ERA in baseball at 3.86, led by Cy Young Award candidate Ryan Dempster (15-6). The depth of the team wears down any opponent. Just when a team thinks it has clinched a game, the Cubs, who rank near the top of the Majors in comeback victories, will find a way to come back if a mistake is made. While the team has experienced some struggles in the last few games, it is not atypical for a good team to slip into a short period of funk in September. The Cubs got things working again after a similar funk following the All-Star Game, and they will heat things up again as they get closer to October. Some people might disregard my words as too optimistic, and I won’t say they are wrong, but that’s what I’ve learned to be as a Cubs fan. When my father first taught me the game, he made it explicit to me that being a Cubs fan ain’t gonna be easy. But when the time is right and victory appears to be within reach, you gotta just go with the ride and enjoy it. The fans have given their all to the Cubbies, and we are confident this year that the Cubbies are going to do the same back. Next Year is finally here.
Han Cui ‘10 sleeps in a Cubbie shirt.