The Brown Daily Herald T uesday, S eptember 16, 2008
Volume CXLIII, No. 71
51 take new humanities courses By Christian Martell Staff Writer
Browsing this year’s course catalog, many students may have noticed the five classes marked HMAN. These Humanities seminars are being offered by the Cogut Center for the Humanities and are new this fall. Fifty-one students have already enrolled in them this semester, with one class exceeding the 20-student cap. “We’re all ver y excited about them,” said Michael Steinberg, director of the Cogut Center. The center, founded in 2003 and named for Craig Cogut ’75 and his wife, aims to support collaborative research among scholars in the humanities, according to the center’s Web site. This year the center released its usual list of graduate fellows and also named four undergraduate fellows. One of the fellows, Zohar Atkins
Since 1866, Daily Since 1891
Sands dissects influence of ‘torture team’ Prof. gives Israeli prize to Palestinians By Sarah Husk Contributing Writer
How did the United States government come to authorize the interrogation techniques used at Guantanamo Bay — the removal of clothing, threat to families and exposure to extreme temperatures — despite the fact that it violated international rules against torture? Philippe Sands, author of “Torture Team: Rumsfeld’s Memo and the Betrayal of American Values,” tried to answer the question in a Monday lecture to a full Joukowsky Forum. “We stand for justice, truth and the value of a single human being,” he said, borrowing words from the film “Judgment at Nuremberg” to introduce his lecture. Both a member of the faculty at University College London and a practicing barrister in the United Kingdom, Sands has worked for “promoting academic study of international adjudication” and has a “long record” in
Min Wu / Herald
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Philippe Sands says the United States pioneered the international standards against torture that it now violates in a Monday lecture at the Joukowsky Forum.
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By Nicole Dungca Staff Writer
Earlier this year, Professor Emeritus of Applied Mathematics David Mumford captured headlines worldwide after earning the prestigious Wolf Foundation Prize, a top academic award for scientists and artists handed out by the Israeli non-profit. But the interest lay less in his award-winning mathematical theories on algebraic surfaces and geometric invariant theory, and more in
FEATURE
chosen to assist the already existing Fellows in Residence, faculty members who are available as advisers for different sets of dormitories and hold Faculty Fellow events throughout the year. The program, a collaboration between the Office of the Dean of the College and Residential Life, has had greater support from ResLife in conducting events this year.
what he chose to do with his share of $33,333. Instead of keeping the money, the retired Mumford decided to donate the funds to the Palestinian Birzeit University, or BZU, located in the West Bank, and Gisha, an Israel-based non-profit that promotes the freedom of movement for Palestinians. The controversial donation sparked both praise and criticism for the self-proclaimed “non-political” academic, who suddenly found his name being invoked in the same breath as “racist,” “anti-Semite” and “naive fool” after the news was covered by several wire agencies and widely-read newspapers in Israel. For Mumford, the negativity was far from surprising, but he has refused to second-guess himself. “I don’t regret it,” he told The Herald from his home in Maine. “It was the best thing to do.” The May donation came not long before Israel refused Palestinian students in Gaza who were set to go to the United States on Fulbright Scholarships permission to leave the country. The country had tightened the blockade in Gaza over a year ago after the Palestinian militant group Hamas
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Faculty fellows program tweaked over summer By Patrick Corey Staf f Writer
Kim Perley / Herald University Chaplain Rev. Janet Cooper Nelson discusses teaching at a Teach for America panel.
Teach for America panel offers lesson in its program By Franklin Kanin News Editor
Prospective teachers and hopeful educators filled Wilson 101 last night for a Teach for America informational panel featuring various former teachers who currently are in different careers and stages of life. Led by Lisa Krauthamer, senior recruitment director for Teach For America, the session was devoted to giving students a sense both of the logistics of TFA and a preview of what their experience might be like. The panel included Nancy Van der Veer, Emily McElveen ’04 MD’10 and University Chaplain Janet Cooper Nelson, who did not participate in TFA but has had a similar teaching experience. The panel members described their
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experiences teaching, sharing not only the uplifting and positive aspects of the program, but also revealing some of the more discouraging and disheartening parts of their experience. “I wasn’t sent by Teach for America but I can remember a few comments about the — and I’ll leave out the invective — the liberal from the Western suburbs fancy school ... who’s tr ying to change everything. I was trying to survive,” said Cooper-Nelson. But she said that ultimately the other teachers at the schools were just frustrated with the poor resources they had. “Almost ever yone I met in the years I taught dearly wanted their kids to do well. They wanted their
man of Marshmallow The Rhode Island Food Bank displays a “s’more-gasbord” of culinary constructions
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EDITORIAL
Brown students living on campus have all been invited to at least one party this semester — the Faculty Advising Fellows party, that is. The event marks a new year for the Faculty Advising Fellows program, which is larger this year than ever before, and has reconvened with renewed spirit and vigor. Since last year, 10 new Faculty Advising Fellows have been
G uat e malan G ift
Kim Perley / Herald Prof. James Green receives a certificate from Ambassador Rodrigo Montufar, who discussed immigrant movements from Guatemala.
Use UCS The influx of interested students presents a dilemma — and opportunities — for UCS
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OPINIONS
CAFFEINE CAMPAIGN William Martin ‘10 encourages the drinking of Fair Trade coffee
195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island
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bend it like brown Women’s soccer team scored big over the weekend, tying No. 1 UCLA and beating Penn State
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T oday Page 2
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
We a t h e r
Vagina Dentata | Soojean Kim
TODAY
TOMORROW
partly cloudy 68 / 52
sunny 74 / 56
Menu Sharpe Refectory
Verney-Woolley Dining Hall
Lunch — Fried Fish Sandwich, Asparagus Spears, Asian Noodle Bar, Chocolate Oatmeal Squares
Lunch — Buffalo Wings, Shitake and Leek Quiche, Nacho Bar, Coconut Crescent Cookies
Dinner — Vegetable Frittata, Fiery Beef, Honey Batter Bread, Ice Cream Sundae Bar
Dinner — Chicken Florentine, Mashed Potatoes with Garlic, Apricot Beef with Sesame Noodles
Opus Hominis | Miguel Llorente
Sudoku Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.
Enigma Twist | Dustin Foley
Alien Weather Forecast | Stephen Lichenstein and Adam Wagner
© Puzzles5,by Pappocom RELEASE DATE– Tuesday, February 2008
Los Angeles Times Puzzle C r o sDaily s w oCrossword rd Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Sevilla “see ya” 6 Take everything off 11 Name 14 Iraqi seaport 15 Very short time 16 Mess up 17 “If three hens lay three eggs in three days ...,” e.g. 19 Progress toward maximum drinkability 20 Chuck who broke the sound barrier 21 Teacher’s favorite 22 Once more 23 Jamaican music 24 Mer land 26 Electrical impedance units 28 Ammuntion holder 33 Seriously injure 35 Go with the flow? 36 Response to a preacher 37 San Francisco’s __ Hill 38 “Kick it __ notch”: Emeril 40 __Kosh B’Gosh 41 Follow a pattern, maybe 42 Spanish eye 43 Femme fatale 45 “At Last” singer James 47 Mobile home 50 Little ones 51 DVD maker 52 Diamond authority 55 Challenge 57 Latvian chess champ of 196061 59 Key used to make change 62 Defense gp.? 63 Uncredited actors, and a hint to this puzzle’s theme 65 Little Hoover? 66 Sales pitch 67 Gives out 68 Word with popper or dropper
69 Old Russian rulers 70 “Groovy!” DOWN 1 “Dear” one? 2 Challenges 3 “Wicked Game” singer Chris 4 Paper-folding craft 5 Having a full deck? 6 Sault __ Marie 7 Circus apparatus 8 Shine’s partner 9 Bar accessory 10 For each 11 Honor roll relative 12 Egg on 13 Witch’s concoction 18 Course with sines and tans 22 Shower of old films, briefly 25 Hedy of “Algiers” 27 Chuckling sound 29 Entertained 30 Dramatically twisty 31 Notion
32 “Batman” sound effect 33 Magic charm 34 Complete reversal 37 Japanese drama 39 Refueling opportunities 44 Ago 46 “Honest!” 48 Declare 49 Daily Planet reporter
53 California’s first lady 54 Oliver of “The West Wing” 55 Jay’s rival 56 Where surfers may shop 58 Reebok competitor 60 Yoked pair 61 Exxon, once 63 Denver hrs. 64 Legal extremes?
Dunkel | Joe Larios
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Classic How To Get Down | Nate Saunders
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M etro Tuesday, September 16, 2008
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Three West Nile-positive mosquitos detected in R.I. One found close to state Capitol By Nandini Jayakrishna Metro Editor
Scott Lowenstein / Herald A reproduction of the Stay Puft marshmallow man — made of cans — graces the Providence Place Mall.
Yes we can! A local food bank tests creativity ‘Canstruction Competition’ raises food, awareness for R.I. food bank By Scott Lowenstein Metro Editor
Under the specter of an enormous replica of the Stay Puft marshmallow man from “Ghostbusters,” a crowd of Providence Place Mall visitors stand transfixed. Not with fear of impending doom by marshmallow, but with wonder at the architectural and structural genius of the enormous can sculptures adorning the mall’s skywalk. It’s the Rhode Island Community Food Bank’s second annual “Canstruction Competition.” Eliciting responses of shock, “aww” and downright disbelief, the sculptures are a creative way to gather canned foods — organizers expect they have raised at least 20,000 cans weighing over ten tons — and increase awareness for the Bank at a time when rising food prices, sky-high energy costs and increased demand present new challenges for feeding the Ocean State’s needy. The current state of the economy means that demand for the Bank’s services have way outstripped its supply in the past two years. Demand for food in Rhode Island’s 20 largest distribution centers has risen about 10 percent every month compared to last year, according to Michael Cerio, a spokesman for the Food Bank. “When you are serving about eight to 10 thousand people per day, 10 percent can be a big part of the pie,” Cerio says. “Maybe the food won’t go as far this year as it would have two years ago.” In the skywalk are six sculptures made of non-perishable goods, including cans of baked beans, water bottles and Tabasco sauce containers. Each sculpture is created by pairs of
local architecture and construction firms that raised money to purchase the food. Along with the Stay Puft man stands an interpretation of the Providence skyline and a drive-in movie theater, complete with a real movie projection. Particularly striking is a fire-fighting scene with a Hunt’s tomato sauce fire-hydrant and cannedpeach flames. The exhibit will remain on display until Sept. 27. “This is a huge food drive for us,” says Cerio. “But along with that, these (sculptures) are really, really cool ... and it’s a creative way to get people thinking about the needy.” If it’s awareness that the Bank wants to achieve with the exhibit, it certainly seems to be succeeding. The sculptures elicit squawks, cheers and in several cases, arguments over their relative merits. Several onlookers take pictures with their cell phones as a guard watches over the crowd. “Oh snap!” says Lucia Ramirez upon seeing the sculptures. “The marshmallow guy is tight.” Ramirez and a friend stop to read the accompanying signs, and express support for the cause, but say they have no plans to donate to the Bank. Unfortunately, that’s not what the Bank wants to hear. The event comes at a time of increasing need. Cerio says that soaring energy costs mean drastically higher fees for transporting food from sellers and to centers. Transporting a fully-loaded truckload from beginning to end used to cost the Bank about $2,000 a few years ago. Now it costs $3,000. Cerio also says manufacturers are charging more for food, even at wholesale, and have less excess supply to donate to the Bank. Despite these challenges, the Bank has managed to serve 8.3 and 8.4 million pounds of food in the last two years respectively, consistent with previous years.
“We have been flat for the last two years, but considering everything, we think flat is pretty good,” Cerio says. Even with the increasing challenges of the weak economy, the Bank’s message still seems to be resonating, at least with some exhibit visitors. “The economy is so bad right now,” says Meredith Olson, a shopper at the mall. “It’s good people are still helping out.”
A study by the state Department of Environmental Management released Monday has shown the presence of the West Nile Virus in mosquito samples collected in Providence and Pawtucket last month. Two of the samples came from the Smith Hill neighborhood, which includes the area surrounding the State capitol, not far from the University. Al Gettman, mosquito abatement coordinator for the State Department, said finding the virus in the Ocean State this year is not surprising. “The West Nile Virus has become ver y well established in the nation, so picking it up this time of the year is expected,” he said. Since the positive samples were found, over 104 other samples statewide have come back negative for West Nile. The West Nile Virus, a potentially serious mosquito-transmitted disease found in par ts of Africa, western Asia and the Middle East, was first seen in the United States in 1999. Affecting birds and some mammals, includ-
West Nile prevention tips • Use insect repellent with 30 percent Deet • Wear long sleeves and pants if outdoors at dawn or dusk • Make sure doors and window screens are in good repair • If you find a dead bird, do not handle the body with your bare hands. Contact your local health department for instructions on reporting and disposing of the body. ing humans, the virus can cause mild flu-like symptoms such as fevers, headaches and stiff necks. In more severe cases, it may lead to encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain; meningitis, an inflammation of the membrane around the brain and the spinal cord; paralysis and even death. Gettman’s team begins surveillance for mosquito-transmitted diseases ever y year from June to early October, setting up traps across the state for adult mosquitoes and sending them to the state Department of Health for testing. Though no traps have been continued on page 4
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Sands outlines work on American torture
HMAN courses new addition to curriculum
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continued from page 1 the practice of international law, said David Kennedy ’76, interim director of the Watson Institute for International Studies, who introduced him. Sands briefed the audience on the documents that had provided the basis for his book, a set of memoranda that lead to the authorization of 15 interrogation techniques at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In writing the book, he was trying to understand how this authorization occurred, especially since the United States had once been on the forefront of establishing international standards against torture, Sands said. Sands said he was fascinated by the role of the “ideologically driven” lawyers involved in the process of authorizing these techniques and how “a legal environment in which certain individuals have no legal rights” was created. Sands said that the Bush administration’s explanation of how these interrogation techniques
came to be authorized seemed “too well-scripted, too carefully scripted.” During his research for the book, Sands tried to inter view everyone who had been involved in the decision-making process, joking that his pursuits were so thorough that he even e-mailed many of their spouses. His conclusions, he said, were concrete. “Were crimes committed? There’s no question.” To stress his point that the United States must confront the atrocities committed after it essentially legalized torture, he shared advice he had given to the United States House of Representatives Judiciar y Committee: “If you do nothing, others will do it for you. The do-nothing option is simply not available.” Since a 2006 Supreme Court decision granted immunity to many involved in the authorization of tor ture, their cases are now more pressing for international investigation, Sands said. The authorization of torture is a “breakdown of constitutional government,” Sands said. The
next American president would “be wise to find a means of saying ... ‘we made a mistake.’” The event was part of the Director’s Lecture Series on Contemporary International Affairs which, according to the Watson Web site, is aimed at bringing “leading public intellectuals” to campus for the purpose of “bridging the gap between the academy and the public on topics such as war, ethnic conflict, self-determination and the global economy.” Julia Potter ’12 said she particularly appreciated Sands’ discussion of “the popular opinion in America” about the issue of torture. She said she found the international view of the issue particularly interesting, especially Sands’ ideas as an international lawyer. Not being American, Sands said he doesn’t feel comfortable giving a governing body in the United States specific advice on the matter, though he does offer general advice. But he added: All over the world, “my view is a mainstream view.”
continued from page 1 ’10, said he first heard of the center when he began attending some of their big events and lectures, but continued his involvement by attending weekly Cogut Fellows Seminars where graduate fellows discuss the progress of their work. “I liked the idea of engaging in intellectual discussion across disciplines with people who hold not only expertise, but passion,” he said. The HMAN seminars cover a broad range of fields, are taught by professors from various departments, and are available to all juniors and seniors. Professors had to formally apply to teach these courses so the Center could ensure the classes would be unique and interdisciplinary in their approach, Steinberg said. “We asked people to be creative and experimental in what they teach,” Steinberg said. “After this semester the professors will go back to their own departments with new material, while students will have been exposed to something completely new to them.” In the case of Assistant Professor of Histor y Vazira Zamindar, her course entitled HMAN 1970F: “Visualizing History: The Politics of Material Culture in Modern South Asia” is a direct representation of her current research. “My research deals with the history of archaeology in 19th and 20th century South Asia, specifically British India,” Zamindar said. Besides getting continual feedback on her work, she said another reason she wanted to teach a humanities course was because it would allow her to interact with students outside of her own discipline. Sheela Krishnan ’10 is a Human Biology concentrator currently enrolled in Zamindar’s class, who came upon the course by chance when looking up classes.
“There’s only one other class on South Asia being offered this semester and I really wanted to take something dealing with the area because of my personal interest and history,” said Krishnan, who identifies as South Asian. Krishnan is taking the course even though it doesn’t give her credit towards her concentration. Because the Cogut Center is not its own department, however, students can talk to the department in which they are concentrating to get the new courses cross-listed. History of Art and Architecture concentrator Emily Silverman ’09 said she will take advantage of this opportunity. “I’ve already been talking to my concentration advisor about cross-listing this course to get credit for my major. All I have to do now is send him a copy of the syllabus for approval,” she said. Silverman, who usually studies European and Renaissance art, said she was initially attracted to the course because it would be something unfamiliar to her. “I have no background in South Asian art whatsoever, but that’s what makes it so interesting,” she said. The other Humanities courses offered this semester are: HMAN 1970A: “Eating Cultures: Food and Society” by Associate Professor of American Civilization Matthew Garcia, HMAN 1970G: “A History of Humanness: Scientific and Popular Cultures in the 20th Century United States” by Visiting Assistant Professor of the Humanities Megan Glick, HMAN 1970H: “Specters of Comparison” by Visiting Assistant Professor of the Humanities Nergis Erturk and HMAN 1970K: “The Origins and Contours of American Nationalism, 1780-1900” by Associate Professor of History Michael Vorenberg. Though Steinberg said there would never be a Humanities concentration, the classes will continue to be offered in future years.
West Nile found in some R.I. mosquitoes continued from page 3 set ver y close to the University, students should not assume that their neighborhood is completely risk-free, Gettman said. “Just because we pick up the virus in one spot doesn’t mean other places don’t have it,” he said. “One could contract the West Nile Virus anywhere in state, rural or urban (environments).” In a news release last week, Providence Mayor David Cicilline ’83 urged residents to take the necessary precautions to avoid mosquito bites. “As we continue to work closely with state officials to reduce risk of West Nile in our community, we know that the best line of defense is to ensure that ever y single resident takes the necessar y steps to protect themselves against viruscarr ying mosquitoes,” Cicilline
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said. According to the Center of Disease Control Web site, one in 150 people who contract the virus develops a serious illness. Last year, one human case of West Nile Virus was reported in Rhode Island. No cases have been reported this year as of Sept. 9. Director of Health Ser vices Edward Wheeler said he cannot remember a West Nile case on campus in the last five years. He said students should be aware of the virus, use insect repellents and wear long-sleeved shirts and pants, especially when visiting mosquito-infested areas. Students who have been in aquatic areas or places with thick vegetation in the past seven to 10 days and are suffering from mild fevers, headaches or weakness should visit Health Ser vices immediately, Wheeler said.
W orld & n ation Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Weekend meeting recasts debate on Lehman By David Cho and Neil Irwin Washington Post
WASHINGTON — When Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. flew to New York Friday evening, he brought only one change of clothes. And he planned to send a simple message to the powerbrokers of the financial world: No government bailouts would be offered to Wall Street. Paulson ended up staying until Monday, relying on the Waldorf Astoria hotel to clean his clothes, while presiding over an unprecedented series of meetings that reshaped the financial landscape and sealed the fate of some of the biggest names in banking. On little sleep and with the underpinnings of world markets hanging in the balance, senior government leaders decided not to rescue Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch, forcing the former to file for bankruptcy protection and the latter to sell itself to Bank of America. Accounts by insiders at the gathering show how senior government officials in a single weekend recast the debate about how the credit crisis would be addressed after the mammoth taxpayer bailouts of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac this month, as well as investment bank Bear Stearns in March. These sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they either were not authorized to speak or described private conversations. The dramatic events of the weekend were set in motion after investor confidence in Lehman Brothers slipped away over the last few weeks. Paulson, who speaks daily to Wall Street chief executives over the phone, had been telling Lehman’s chief executive, Richard S. Fuld Jr., that the firm had to consider either a broad restructuring or an outright
sale ever since the firm announced a second-quarter loss of $2.8 billion in July. In recent weeks, as problems intensified at Lehman, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York stepped up its contingency planning for what might happen to the financial system if the storied investment bank were to collapse. By late last week, the firm’s reckoning had come. Many on Wall Street said they thought the bank, after being in business for nearly 160 years, would not survive when markets opened Monday. Some Wall Street executives had a hard time believing that the Fed and Treasury would let Lehman fail, assuming the government would step in at the last minute, just as it had in the case of Bear Stearns. In March, the Fed risked $29 billion to back J.P. Morgan Chase’s buyout of Bear Stearns, a deal that was strongly endorsed by Paulson. Friday morning, Paulson told his policy director Michele Davis and legislative affairs chief Kevin Fromer to send a message to Wall Street through the media that the government would not put up money in a deal for Lehman. Later that day, he flew to New York to drive home the point hard. At about 6 p.m., in a large conference room just off the lobby on the ground floor of the New York Federal Reserve, Paulson sat at a long oval table with Securities and Exchange Commissioner Christopher Cox by his side. New York Fed Chairman Timothy F. Geithner sat directly opposite. The meeting was open to chief executives only, and about 20 of these finance titans sat quietly around the table. The New York City subway, located below the room, periodically sent screeches and rumbles into the meeting.
Paulson, a former Goldman Sachs chairman, made an impassioned case: There would be no government money available for a Lehman Brothers buyout, he said. He had opened public coffers twice and was not prepared to do it again. Geithner was more restrained, but his presentation no less dramatic. He revealed that the Fed had been drawing up contingency plans for a Lehman bankruptcy and was prepared to use them if no privatesector deal could be struck. The opening statements, combined with news reports that the government was drawing the line at a bailout, meant the government couldn’t change tacks later without undermining its credibility in any future negotiations. The executives shared their views on a wide range of subjects. Several asked Paulson and Geithner whether there would be a broader government effort to address unfolding problems at Merrill Lynch, Washington Mutual and American International Group, among others, once Lehman’s situation was resolved. Paulson and Geithner stressed there would be no government money to help any firm that ran into trouble next. Before 9 p.m., Paulson and Geithner asked the executives to go back to their firms and analyze the situation with their best people. Banks that had examined Lehman’s assets were to share their findings with the rest of the group by the next morning. The officials also laid out plans for the weekend. Some firms would delineate a scenario in which Lehman’s healthy assets would be sold to a suitor and the bad assets would be spun off to a separate enterprise, continued on page 8
Ike ‘less than Katrina, bigger than others’ By Nicholas Riccardi Los Angeles T imes
The economic good news about Hurricane Ike: It was no Katrina. Unlike the 2005 storm that flooded New Orleans, Ike has had limited impact on refineries and energy exploration platforms in the gulf and isn’t approaching Katrina’s $40 billion in damages. The result is that the impact of the storm on the national economy is expected to be sharp but limited, analysts said. “It’s going to be felt by the U.S. economy — not to extent that Katrina was,” said Brad Ewing, an economist at Texas Tech University in Lubbock who studies the financial impact of hurricanes and tornadoes. Only rough estimates on the damage from Ike were available from risk management companies, but their guesses ranged from $8 billion to $18 billion. “An important phrase you’ll hear is: `Less than Katrina, bigger than others,’ “ said Ed Friedman, an analyst at Moody’s Economy.com. Ike was not powerful enough to overwhelm the main industrial infrastructure of the region, which had been toughened up after it was wracked by devastating storms in 2005. “The infrastructure is more re-
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silient now,” said Jim Burkhard of Cambridge Energy Research Associates Inc. “People, governments, companies are more prepared now than they were a couple of years ago.” The Port of Houston, the second busiest by tonnage in the country, was shut down Monday due to the storm. The port is a major entry point for products from Europe and Latin America. But officials said damage appeared minor, and the port is expected open later this week. About 20 percent of U.S. refineries were located in Ike’s path, and they closed as a precautionary measure last week, sending gas prices skyrocketing to more than $5 a gallon in some areas. However, damage to refineries and exploration platforms was limited, and oil prices are falling because of nervousness over the global economic slowdown, which reduces demand. Ike “has had a big impact, but that’s been offset by the financial storm the U.S. is facing,” said Jim Burkhard of Cambridge Energy Research Associates. Downtown Houston, home to many of the nation’s largest energy companies, never lost power because its electrical lines are underground. Windows in several corporate
high-rises were shattered by the storm, but Richard Huebner, president of the Houston Minority Business Council, said he felt cheered as he toured the area Sunday. “We were not hit as hard as we might have been,” he said. “There are relatively few towers affected in any significant way.” Huebner said many industries made extensive backups of key documents and systems so they could function even if their headquarters were destroyed. His organization backed up its data on a set of laptops and is ready to return to business, even though its offices are flooded. “We just need to find a place with electricity and a phone line,” he said. The most widespread devastation from the storm damage was in coastal resort towns such as Galveston, where analysts expected real estate prices will sag for two to three years and prices for building supplies will increase. But Bruce Kellison, associate director of the Bureau of Business Research at the University of Texas at Austin, said the impact will largely be local. “Galveston is not the heart of the state of Texas’ economy,” he said. Ike “is really not going to bring the state of Texas’ economy to its knees by any means.”
Obama renews talk of reform at Colorado rally By Michael Finnegan and Noam N. Levey Los Angeles T imes
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., accused Republicans on Monday of using “false advertisements, lies and spin” to distract voters from the major issues in the election. The Democratic presidential candidate also sought to reclaim his image as a Washington outsider, saying he had upset leaders of his own party by pushing to stop favor-trading between lobbyists and lawmakers. Obama’s renewed emphasis on reform comes as Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska are casting themselves as mavericks bent on changing Washington’s insular culture. At an outdoor rally here in western Colorado, Obama told nearly 6,000 supporters that the election was “not about Paris or Britney.” “It’s not about lipstick,” Obama said to a roar of laughter. “It’s not about pigs. It’s about you. It’s about whether you’ll be able to sell your home for what it’s worth, or put enough money away each week so that you can someday watch your child accept her diploma.” McCain has run ads that compare Obama to celebrities and that say his use of a quip about putting “lipstick on a pig” was an insult aimed at the Alaska governor. Obama also released a new TV ad that recaps some of the harsh media criticism that the GOP ticket has drawn in recent days for what even some Republicans say have been false or misleading statements by McCain and Palin. The spot slams McCain for
“the sleaziest ads ever,” “dishonest smears” and a “disgraceful, dishonorable campaign.” Aside from its caustic tone, the ad is remarkable for its blunt assault on McCain’s character. Obama has shied from such attacks and often paid tribute to the Arizona senator’s braver y in the Vietnam War. But Palin’s popularity has lifted McCain’s poll ratings, and the backlash against the Republicans’ campaign tactics gave Obama an opening to launch a new offensive. At a rally in Jacksonville, Fla., McCain responded by making light of the Obama effort. “Senator Obama has been saying some pretty nasty things about Governor Palin and me,” McCain told 3,500 suppor ters who booed heartily. “That’s OK. He can attack all he wants. All the insults in the world aren’t going to bring change to Washington, and they’re not going to change Senator Obama’s record.” McCain went on to renew attacks on Obama, assailing him for opposing a free-trade pact with Colombia, seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in “porkbarrel” projects for Illinois and resisting the U.S. troop buildup in Iraq in 2007. “Senator Obama opposed the surge,” said McCain, a leading champion of the strategy now credited with helping reduce the violence in Iraq. “He said it couldn’t work. He said it wouldn’t work. He still fails to admit that he was wrong.” In Grand Junction, Obama recalled President Bush’s 2004 attacks against his Democratic challenger, Sen. John F. Kerr y, D-Mass. “We’ve seen them turn an continued on page 8
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Controversial gift sparks praise and censure
Advising fellows to assist fellows in residence
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continued from page 1 seized power of the strip. The issue gained international attention after the Fulbrights were rescinded by the U.S. State Department because of the traveling restrictions, inciting a response from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who insisted that the scholarships be reinstated. Difficult Decision The day he received the prize, Mumford heralded the cause of granting Palestinian scholars more freedom of movement so they could easily participate in an international community of scholars. “Mathematics in Israel flourishes today on this high international plane. Its lifeblood is the free exchange of ideas with scholars visiting, teaching, learning from each other, travelling everywhere in the world,” he said in a statement released May 25. “But sadly this is not the case in occupied Palestine where education struggles to continue and travel is greatly limited.” Mumford, who grew up in England and the United States, said he had few personal connections to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict when he was growing up and paid little attention to the conflict during his youth. “Plenty of people around me grew up politically conscious, but I was a math nerd,” he said. “I wasn’t really paying attention, and when I was, I was vaguely paying attention.” But Mumford eventually became more conscious of the conflict as he aged, partly because his work as an academic gave him a chance to visit both Israeli and Palestinian universities and also put him in touch with a number of Israeli and Palestinian colleagues. In 2002, Mumford visited BZU, where he said he saw how difficult travel was for professors and students. Mumford heard stories from professors about waiting weeks for permission to enter Israel for various conferences or lectures, only to be denied at the last second. “It’s that personal experience of seeing what’s happening that’s crucial,” he said. “What you see is simply that these Palestinian universities can use all the help that they can get. They’re so isolated, and that’s a huge problem.” But even though Mumford felt strongly about helping Palestinian universities, he still knew it was a hot-button issue and was loath to make the decision rashly, he said. “To take a step like this donation, I worried about how many friends I would lose,” he said. “Would people ostracize me? Would I be seen as a nutcase?” Mumford knew there were some risks involved, said David Myers, a professor and director for the Center of Jewish Studies at the University
of California, Los Angeles. “He made it clear to me that his expectation was that he would be severely criticized,” Myers said. “He said, ‘So be it. I believe in the free exchange of ideas.’” Hoping to gauge the public’s reception to his choice, he consulted frequently with a small group of friends and acquaintances, including Myers and his son, a history professor at the University of Michigan. Myers helped Mumford choose the organizations that would receive the money and was largely supportive of the idea, saying it was a great step to take in a charged topic. “In the midst of antagonism and violence and ill will, he was putting forth a ray of humanity,” Myers said. Op-eds and praise Shortly after the donation, Mumford found himself receiving a wide spectrum of feedback, from unbridled support to vilification. Some of the criticisms were from those close to home — before announcing his donation, he approached colleagues who he thought would be less than enthusiastic about his decision. Many of their reactions, he said, were of “muted acceptance.” “I have several colleagues at Brown who, I think, are doubtful about whether this is a positive thing,” he said. Public discussion also brought many additional critics — after the story ran in Haaretz, one of Israel’s oldest daily newspapers, freelance writer Frimet Roth contributed an op-ed to the publication that called his decision “a mathematical miscalculation.” Roth began a non-profit dedicated to the memory of her daughter, who was murdered in a restaurant by a suicide bomber, she said. In her article, Roth claimed that two of the perpetrators of the incident that killed her daughter came from BZU, adding that terrorism seemed to be the university’s “cup of tea.” Donating to BZU, Roth said, showed Mumford’s ignorance on the topic. Roth noted that the stringent travel restrictions are absolutely necessary for the safety of Israelis, citing a dramatic drop in terrorist attacks since the restrictions have been in place. “We were suffering from terrorist attacks several times a week,” she told The Herald. “Everyone always forgets what’s behind (these restrictions).” Roth said she also saw the prize as disrespectful. “I was incensed,” she said. “It showed such disdain for the people who had given him this prize.” But Mumford vehemently insists that the donation was in no way a criticism of Israel or the Wolf Foundation.
“In a way, the point of my gift is not really political at all,” he said. “It’s a win-win for both Israel and Palestine to have an educated Palestinian population.” In an e-mail, Wolf Foundation Chief Executive Officer Ilan Pilo noted that the organization “does not get involved in how prize winners use the money they receive,” which he said was the foundation’s “formal and only response to the issue.” But while Mumford had to deal with various angry criticisms — the hate mail was a bit “hard to take,” he said — he also received numerous testimonies from Palestinians who were glad their situation had been recognized, he said. The recipients of the donation were also grateful — and not just because of the financial support. “When a world-renowned mathematician expresses so clearly the need to allow young people access to educational opportunities, it’s an important statement in Israel and abroad,” said Sari Bashi, director of Gisha. Henry Jaqaman, a professor of physics at BZU, said he constantly witnesses the frustration of professors and students who are not able to travel outside the West Bank. “Palestinian universities are very much isolated, and it’s good that we can count on professors like Professor Mumford to support our cause,” he said. There were also mixed reactions at Brown — Danya Chudacoff ’11, vice president of Brown Students for Israel, called the donation “commendable,” though she thought it was a bit “misdirected.” “It makes a gesture about education giving hope, and that’s what we need,” she said. “But I think it could have been more productive on a grassroots level.” Chudacoff said she feels many of the travel restrictions arise from legitimate reasons not always apparent to the public, but called Mumford’s donation “a beautiful gesture.” The money will most likely go to a new summer school that is being started at BZU, Jaqaman said. Mumford said he is excited for the summer school, which will give students a chance to interact with other international professors and lecturers. According to Jaqaman, the retired professor may even give a lecture during BZU’s summer session. And since donating the prize, Mumford has been active in trying to start up an exchange program between West Bank and American universities. “It’s now sort of something that I need to follow through on,” Mumford said. “After having done that one thing, I really owe it to the people that I’ve met who have tried to help in the past. I need to follow up on it.”
continued from page 1 Professor of Biology Peter Heywood, a fellow in residence at 60 Charlesfield St., par t of Var tan Gregorian Quadrangle A, said that while ResLife is giving fellows more support in getting refreshments for their events. The Fellows host students at their houses and offer a wide array of programming throughout the year. The Faculty Fellows’ events are aimed to appeal to a variety of tastes, with film screenings and discussions, talent shows, live music performances and poetr y readings just a sampling of events scheduled for the next few months. The new Faculty Fellows Web site, a part of ResLife’s Web site, includes a calendar of programming by house, pictures and biographic information of the corresponding advisers and a map with directions to each house from different parts of campus. A master calendar of all events is also on the Web site for students looking for alternatives to what is offered specifically for their dormitories. Heywood and his wife, Associate Professor of Histor y Nancy Jacobs, are both involved with the program, hosting events for residents of Vartan Gregorian Quadrangle and Graduate Centers A through C. Heywood hosted three events in
the last week, including a reception Sunday evening for first-generation college students at Brown. “Faculty Fellows have always had that role,” Heywood said. The new program, he added, is more “embedded within the advising network.” Students should utilize all available resources, including both their academic advisers and their Faculty Fellows, Heywood said. He said though the roles of different advisers often overlap, it is important to talk with lots of people to get good information. “Its important to build a lot of redundancy into the system,” he said, “and I’m using that as a good word.” Gar y Vargas ’12 has yet to attend a Faculty Fellows event, but said he planned to go. When asked what would draw him to an event, he said he’d like to see programming that pushes the envelope. “What can (the fellows) pull off?” he said. “I’d like to see, what are the limits?” Vivian Ortiz ’10 said she went to numerous Faculty Fellow events last year, and added that she was happy to hear that ResLife is reenergizing the program. “I don’t think it was ver y successful last year, but I think this year it could be a lot better with more faculty,” she said. She described the meetings last year as opportunities to grab food and go, but said that they did not ser ve as “a place to hang out.”
M. water polo to compete in ECAC championship continued from page 12 Invitational, Bruno got off to a strong start, as the team took down Johns Hopkins with a final score of 12-11. Brown took the lead early, locking in six goals and only giving up two. But in the fourth quarter the Blue Jays gave the Bears a run for their money, scoring four more goals. Ultimately Brown held on and finished out the game on top. Gartner continued his scoring streak, netting five of the team’s 12 goals, while Holland logged six saves. Max Lubin ’12 made his college water polo debut after subbing in for Holland, capturing another six saves for the Bears. With a win under their belt, the Bears headed into their second game of the day against No. 15 Santa Clara. The game got off to a tough start for the Bears, as the Broncos took the lead early with a score of 3-1. But Brown came back in the second quar-
ter, scoring three goals to tie things up 4-4. Both teams exchanged goals until the fourth quarter when, with less than four minutes left to play, Corey Schwartz ’11 put one away, giving the Bears their first lead of the game. Two minutes later, Schwartz scored again and although the Broncos tried to fire back, Holland came up with the save, securing the win for the Bears. In the end, the Bears bucked the Broncos 10-8, with goals coming from six different players. “That’s the highest ranked team we’ve beaten in my four years,” said LeBeau. On Sunday, the Bears faced off against No. 20 Princeton. The game was neck and neck during the first half, with the score tied 5-5 at the end of the second quarter. But a few turnovers in the third changed the momentum in favor of the Tigers. The Bears had trouble recovering, and finished the game behind at 14-9. But Bruno was not done yet. To finish the weekend off, Brown took on No. 3 Stanford. The Bears started off strong, taking an early two-goal lead. As the Cardinals came out firing early, Holland kept the Bears in the game by recording 12 saves in the first half. But in the second half, Stanford continued to bring the heat and beat out Bruno by a final score of 12-4. “It’s a lot of fun to play a team like Stanford,” Holland said. “It’s a great opportunity to see what the best players in the country are doing.” LeBeau echoed Holland’s thoughts. “I think we improved over the weekend,” he said. “I was definitely happy with our play overall.” The Bears are back in action next weekend for the ECAC Championships at Harvard.
W orld & n ation Tuesday, September 16, 2008
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Mobile banking still facing hurdles By Simone Baribeau Washington Post
WASHINGTON — Property manager Joshua Rosenthal was in a car headed toward Miami Beach when he realized he needed to transfer a tenant’s rent money to his company’s account. No problem. The driver didn’t even have to pull off the road. Rosenthal, owner of Bethesda, Md., propertymanagement company CAPM, just fiddled with his PDA, and the job was done. “When you’re away, problems seem to accumulate at a higher rate ... than when you’re present, so I live off of this,” he said, motioning to his PDA, which sat next to him on a couch in a D.C. coffee shop. “Connecting to my bank is a convenience.” Mobile banking — that is, checking an account balance, transferring funds or paying a bill using a cellphone, BlackBerry, PDA or iPhone — is still in its infancy, but it’s gaining momentum. About 3 million people used mobile banking in the past 90 days as of June. That was almost triple the number of people who used it six months before, according to TowerGroup, an industry research firm. But the number of mobile banking customers is tiny compared with that of customers who use online banking services from their computers. For example, Bank of America has 1.2 million mobile banking users. That’s less than 5 percent of its online banking customers. Mobile banking must overcome some hurdles before it can be widely adopted. Many consumers worry about security risks. Mobile banking software — still in its 1.0 form — has to work more seamlessly before the service can be very convenient. Ac-
counts can be tedious to set up, and bank information can load slowly (at least by today’s instantaneous standards). Sometimes, customers must log out to use some services, such as finding an ATM, and then log back in if they want to continue banking. There’s also competition from other electronic services. Account information is already easily accessible online, at ATMs and over the phone. A number of banks, including Citibank, offer mobile banking through downloads available only to customers who have specific carriers and phones. Other banks, including Bank of America, Wachovia and U.S. Bank, offer a slimmed-down version of their online banking systems for mobile customers. It can be accessed by anyone with a phone capable of going online. Clients log on and use links to check their balances, transfer funds, and in some cases, pay bills. Other banks offer a uniquely mobile solution: Chase customers who text-message “BAL” to Chase (24273) on their phone quickly receive a reply with their account balances. Customers can also check transaction histories and get due dates for credit card payments. Some banks are working on integrating all three solutions. Citi and SunTrust both plan to offer all three mobile banking options to their customers sometime next year. Banks say mobile banking offers customers an added convenience that they can’t get using online banking or an ATM. “We recognized that customers want convenience, where they want it when they want it,” said Peter Knitzer, chief executive of Citibank North America. “We wanted to make it more accessible for customers to
Kristin Lenz / Washinton Post
Mobile banking — that is, checking an account balance, transferring funds or paying a bill using a cellphone, BlackBerry, PDA or iPhone — is still in its infancy, but it’s gaining momentum.
get to their money and move their money.” Mobile banking is more than an extension of online banking, said Mark Schwanhausser, a research analyst at Javelin Strategy and Research. “If you view mobile banking as just simply another version of online banking, you’re missing the opportunity to see what it is,” he said. “There are times when you want to check your money, whether you’re in a taxi, on a mountaintop, or in line at the cash register. It’s not yet mainstream, (but) it’s one of those things that’s going to be the Holy Grail.”
In Philippines, an abandoned deal reignites rebel war, mass displacement By Blaine Harden Washington Post
Blaine Harden / Washington Post
Latifah Carain, who is Muslim and has three children, was tipped off before Muslim rebels attacked Christian homes in her village.
LAPAYAN, Philippines — After years of calm, the oldest insurgency in Asia has flared into a brutish war, with burned villages, slain families, artillery bombardments, vigilante death squads and hundreds of thousands of displaced people. The match was lit last month when the Philippine government abruptly backed out of an all-but-done peace deal it had been quietly negotiating for years. That enraged Muslim rebels here on Mindanao, a lush and resource-rich island where Muslims and Christians have been elbowing each other for power and land for more than four centuries. At 4:30 a.m. Aug. 18, aggrieved rebels attacked this mostly Christian village of 4,000 residents. The rebels looted rice and canned sardines. They doused 22 houses with gasoline and set them on fire, while killing 13 Christian villagers, according to a government tally. The youngest victim was 10; the oldest, 95. Tipped off about the raid, Muslims in the village fled before the rebels arrived. But if the Muslims come home, they face the vengeance of a Christian vigilante group called the Ilaga, which last operated in the 1970s. “The Ilaga have risen from the dead,” said Roger Vacalares, a council member in this village that still smells of burned houses. “They have auto-
matic weapons. We need that kind of group.” With attacks like this one, a savage cycle of fear, fighting and intimidation has begun again in Mindanao. Relief officials predict the mess will churn on for months. The International Committee of the Red Cross is appealing for increased aid from abroad to feed, house and care for 500,000 civilians it estimates have been affected by fighting. The Philippine government insists that its dispute with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) over the expansion here of a semiautonomous political entity for Muslims can be resolved only by talking, not by fighting. But President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has renounced the autonomy agreement negotiated by her appointees — after its legality was questioned by the country’s highest court and after its once-secret provisions for Muslim autonomy proved unpopular among the country’s Christian majority. The president has dissolved the panel she created to negotiate with the rebels and has dispatched 3,000 additional soldiers and 1,000 more police officers to Mindanao. Her government is demanding that three rebel commanders, who it says are responsible for “criminal” attacks on Christian civilians, be turned over before peace talks can resume. It has offered rewards equivalent to $218,000
for arrest of the commanders and says it will pay a $540,000 bounty to the MILF if it turns them over. The Philippine military has attacked rebel encampments with artillery and air bombardment and, in the process, destroyed many villages. The hunt for the commanders is a major military operation. They control about 5,000 soldiers, nearly half of the MILF’s army, said Gen. Alexander B. Yano, chief of staff of the Philippine armed forces. “We expect an extended period of terrorist and guerrilla actions,” Yano said in an interview at his headquarters in Manila. “After a week of semi-conventional fighting, the rebels have splintered into guerrilla formations.” Because the MILF cannot control its renegade commanders, Yano said, “We will do it for them. They committed crimes, and they will have to pay for that.” In early August, after years of negotiations, the rebels were on the brink of securing an autonomous zone in Mindanao. Now they are furious that the agreement was abandoned and are refusing to hand over anyone to the government. “It was out of frustration that the commanders did what they did, and it is unfortunate,” Mohagher Iqbal, the MILF’s chief peace negotiator, said in a telephone interview. He said his group continued on page 8
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Paulson stays firm against Lehman bailout Teach for America panelists field questions continued from page 5
continued from page 1 classrooms to be successful. They themselves had a dream.” But all the panel members, despite the struggles they had to face in their schools, remembered fondly the impact of teaching in a school. “The privilege of being somebody’s teacher is one that if I could give ever ybody here, I would,” said Cooper Nelson. For Van der Veer, who is now a lawyer, TFA allowed her to explore a field she enjoyed before going to law school. “I felt like I wanted some real world experience doing something I felt good about,” she told the crowd. Krauthamer told The Herald that TFA has given her the opportunity to work for something she believes in. “It feels good to be part of a movement that is actually working to change things and for being a part of something that has a goal in mind and we’re going all out in it,” she said. “It makes me hopeful that we could live in a society that lives up the ideal of equal opportunity. It makes me hopeful that things could change.” Krauthamer described the condition of education in the United States today, evoking as an example high school graduates who were only at an eighth grade level of learning. Krauthamer also spoke of a recent Gallup poll which revealed that many Americans feel problems with education stem from students not wanting to learn and their parents not caring. She disagreed that parents’ indifference was the heart of the problem: “What parents don’t want their kids to do well? What parents don’t want their kids to excel in life?” she asked those gathered. “I have not met those parents.” After explaining how TFA could help these schools, panelists opened the floor to questions. The questions ranged from logistics — such as the application
process, housing and training in the TFA program — to the more personal, including what problems and struggles they had to face. One question concerned the training process. The panel members described that TFA starts with a five week training institute that goes over lesson plans and methods for motivating kids. “It’s like teacher boot camp,” said Van der Veer. “You sleep very little and work very, very hard. Because I think once you start the learning you realize how much there is to learn and then you spend pretty much every waking hour trying to soak in as much as possible.” Marta daSilva ’09 said she appreciated the honesty from the panel members. “I thought it was really even handed because they are not just spitting out how awesome Teach for America is like you would imagine from other information sessions,” she said. “They were pretty realistic and down to earth about all their responses, which is really helpful because they are not just telling you all the glamorous things — they are getting down to it, but at the same time not making it so unappealing I wouldn’t want to work for them.” Gabe Kussin ’09, a campus campaign coordinator for TFA, who visits classes and student groups to recruit, said spreading the word has been successful at Brown. “People really know about TFA here,” he said. Morgan Whitworth ’09, who was attending the information session, said there was a good chance he would participate in TFA. He liked “the opportunity to immediately go into a classroom” and have the autonomy to run it “without having to go through super rigorous training, but at the same time to be able to immediately engage at the ground level with the students,” he said. “I do think it’s a very valuable and meaningful way to spend two years,” he added.
which would receive new funding from a consortium of Wall Street banks. Most of the participants hoped for this outcome because it would prevent Lehman’s assets from becoming devalued, which could trigger losses at other firms that hold similar assets. A separate group would work on predicting what would happen if no one bought Lehman and the firm was forced to file for bankruptcy. While conversations between the executives continued, Paulson and Geithner left the meeting and took the elevators to Geithner’s office on the 13th floor. An office suite was set up for Treasury officials, including Chief of Staff Jim Wilkinson, as well as Dan Jester and Steve Shafran, both senior advisers who have worked at the investment bank Goldman Sachs. Separate rooms were given to the SEC staff. Though many of the government officials concluded a deal was unlikely, Paulson was optimistic that a private solution would emerge for Lehman and possibly even Merrill or AIG. On Saturday, the scene turned chaotic as hundreds of bankers flowed in and out of the vault-like New York Fed building, which is nestled between the narrow streets of lower Manhattan. Right outside the conference room on the first floor, a spread of coffee, bagels and doughnuts was set up. The media tried to get photos and names of everyone who entered the building. The morning also brought dark clouds. Some of the banking analysts revealed that Lehman’s assets were of far worse quality than had previously been thought. It might be hard to find a firm to buy them. Two possible suitors included Bank of America and Barclays, which had told Treasury of their interest in phone conversations before the weekend. But both companies said they wanted federal guarantees.
continued from page 5 entire campaign into debates about swiftboats and windsurfing,” Obama said. “And what do you get when it’s over? Iraq and Katrina. And a meltdown on Wall Street. And millions without jobs, or homes or health care.” “We must change the Karl Rove brand of politics that we’ve been seeing over the last few weeks, the politics that would divide this countr y just to win an election, where phony debates and false advertisements, lies and spin consume a campaign that should be about — and must be about — the great challenges of our time,” Obama said. Recalling his tenure in the Illinois Senate, Obama said he fought to repeal a law that let law-
makers put campaign donations to personal use. “I called it legalized briber y,” he said. “And while it didn’t make me the most popular guy in Springfield, I put an end to it.” Obama also took credit for lobbying reform in the U.S. Senate. “I led the fight for reform in my party, and let me tell you, not ever yone in my par ty was too happy about it. “When I proposed forcing lobbyists to disclose who they were raising money from, and who in Congress they were giving it to,” he said, “I had a few choice words directed my way on the floor of the Senate. But we got it done, and we banned gifts from lobbyists, and free rides on their fancy jets.”
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planning to prevent a market rout on Monday if Lehman were to collapse. Starting about 7 p.m. Saturday, the officials turned all their attention to dealing with the fallout of Lehman’s failure, not preventing it. Early Sunday morning, British regulators told Paulson that they had serious problems with the deal, all but killing the possibility of a Barclays buyout. At 10 a.m., Geithner and Paulson passed that information to the investment bankers who had spent the previous 24 hours trying to organize a consortium to finance an enterprise that would hold Lehman’s bad assets. The executives were stunned. The consortium wouldn’t be necessary. Rather, they needed to prepare for the liquidation of Lehman and its impact on their companies. Lehman’s board made a last-ditch effort to save the firm, arguing for funding from the Fed that would give it time to find another solution. But Fed officials were firmly convinced that no one would do business with the firm come Monday morning. Sunday evening, the firm decided to file for bankruptcy protection. That freed Paulson to begin informing members of Congress, including Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, senators on both sides of the aisle and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Other Treasury officials shifted gears to work on another unfolding problem at AIG, which appeared to them to be on the verge of a collapse. Some involved in this effort said discussions about AIG’s troubles intensified as the weekend progressed. As the bankruptcy of Lehman became official, someone remarked about the historic nature of the weekend. Jim Wilkinson, Paulson’s chief of staff, was within earshot of the comment and responded to the group discussing the events: “This would be extremely interesting from an analytical perspective if wasn’t happening to us.”
Rebel war in Phillipines starts up again continued from page 7
In Colorado, Obama brings back talk of reform
Through the day, Paulson, Geithner and their Fed and Treasury colleagues darted upstairs to the 13th-floor executive suites, huddling in a small conference room off of Geithner’s office or in an unused office provided to Paulson for the weekend. There, they discussed their options, often with Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Vice Chairman Donald Kohn joining by phone. Besides keeping the White House informed, Paulson began to speak privately with chief executives to evaluate their firms’ exposure to a Lehman liquidation, advising what action they should take. One of these conversations occurred Saturday afternoon between John Thain, chief executive of Merrill Lynch, and Paulson. The two talked at length alone. The conversation remained private and was not shared with other participants at the meetings. And Paulson, when later asked, would not reveal what they talked about. Shortly after the conversation, Thain began work on the deal that would see his firm sold to Bank of America for about $50 billion. At that point, it became clear to Paulson that Bank of America was no longer a potential savior for Lehman. The British bank Barclays remained the last hope to buy Lehman. But a flurry of conversations with Barclays’ British regulator, which was concerned about whether the bank was overreaching for Lehman, suggested that the possibility was remote. By Saturday night, it appeared all but certain to senior officials at the Treasury and the Fed that Lehman would end up in bankruptcy protection. But they waited until they heard definitively from Barclays’ regulator before sharing that conclusion with the bankers who had set up shop on the first floor of the building. Until then, the senior government officials had divided their time equally between efforts to arrange a sale of Lehman and contingency
will investigate the commanders’ actions and use “due process” before it considers disciplinary action. In the meantime, Iqbal said, the military should halt the shelling and displacement of Muslims civilians. “We are heading toward a situation where the peace process has no future,” he said. “With the use of arms, everyone is a loser. The MILF cannot be defeated by force of arms; we have proven that.” Muslims had established themselves on Mindanao long before Spaniards arrived in the 16th century to colonize the Philippines and convert its people to Catholicism. But the Spanish never really controlled Mindanao, which is the southernmost major island in the Philippine chain. Americans, who booted out the Spanish at the turn of the 20th century, won control of the island after a lengthy military campaign, but resentment and some conflict continued. The bad blood got much worse in the 1960s, when the Manila government encouraged hundreds of thousands of Christians to settle in Mindanao. As the Christian population mushroomed — it is now about 80 percent of the population of 18 million — historical Muslim claims to the land were stepped on by settlers and by outside logging and mining interests. As they became second-class
citizens in what they regarded as their homeland, Muslims organized armies and began to fight back. The conflict approached full-scale war in the 1970s. Still, most parties to the conflict have acknowledged for decades that fighting can never resolve Mindanao’s problem. In 1996, a peace deal creating a small autonomous zone for a Muslim rebel group was signed. But elsewhere on the island, conflicts continued. In 2000, the government again tried all-out war to stamp out the MILF. It failed. Since 2003, negotiations to create a larger, more autonomous zone for the Muslims had been the priority of insurgents and the government — until last month. “There was supposed to be no more discussion, and we were supposed to have settled every issue,” said Iqbal, the MILF negotiator. Indeed, the government had invited dignitaries, including U.S. Ambassador Kristie A. Kenney, to a signing ceremony Aug. 5 in Malaysia, which had helped broker the agreement. The United States supports a negotiated settlement with the MILF, Kenney said in an interview. U.S. military operations in the Philippines since 2002 have focused almost exclusively on a much smaller and more violent Muslim group called Abu Sayyaf, which has links to al-Qaida. It specializes in kidnapping, extortion and bombings, and has little popular
support. In 2005, the MILF helped American-backed Philippine forces expel Abu Sayyaf leaders from Mindanao. Although some MILF commanders have sheltered Abu Sayyaf fighters and foreign jihad fighters in recent years, Kenney said the U.S. government does not regard the MILF as a terrorist group and acknowledges that it has substantial popular support. But on the eve of the signing ceremony in Malaysia, the Supreme Court of the Philippines questioned the constitutionality of granting a large measure of autonomy to the MILF. The court stopped the government from signing the deal, pending legal review. Since then, as fury has grown among Christians, the government has gone out of its way to denounce the deal it had been crafting for years. On a recent Sunday in Lapayan, Rita Lapi wandered on the charred ground where her house used to be. She had lived here with her son, daughter-inlaw and two grandchildren — until Muslim rebels doused the house with gasoline and set it ablaze. She and her family, along with hundreds of other terrified Christians, fled the village for the nearby seashore amid gunfire in the early hours of Aug. 18. Lapi, 64, has lived with Muslims in this village all her life. They made up about 10 percent of the population. But they have all fled now and are living in displaced people’s centers or with relatives.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Volleyball team solid in tournament wins W. soccer players receive player of the week awards continued from page 12
ping the third game before sealing the victory in the fourth, 25-18. The Bears continued to ride on their winning streak in the next two matches, sweeping Morgan State University on Friday night and St. Francis College the following afternoon. Meyers posted two more standout performances, with 13 and 15 assists in these two matches respectively. But Meyers believes that it was her teammates who made it possible for her to set so well. “It was a huge team effort,” Meyers said. “Ever yone took care of her own job and made it very easy for me.” Besides the veterans, the other highlight of the weekend was the stellar performance put on by two freshmen. Laurielle Hofer ’12 debuted in the first match against JMU with four kills and a team-high two service aces. Annika Gliottone ’12 also impressed as she led the team with 12 digs, two ser vice aces and three assists in the game against Morgan State. In the final two games of the tournament, Gliottone posted two more team-high digs, 11 and 17 respectively. Meyers said the new players’ contributions were very important to the team’s success. “You always get nervous at your first game,” Meyers said. “But they didn’t play like freshmen at all. They did what they’ve been doing all along and that was crucial.” Although the new players didn’t look nervous playing at their first collegiate tournament, they said they were nervous going into it. “I knew Division I volleyball is
intense,” Gliottone said. “I was nervous going into it, but I was excited as well. We are a great team, we work well together and it’s fun to play.” Having built some confidence in the season opener, the new players are even more excited for the rest of the season. At the same time, they know they still have a lot to learn, and they say they have the perfect examples on the team to look up to. “Our two senior captains provide us the confidence and reassurance with their performance,” Gliottone said. “They talk to us on the court and tell us it’s going to be a lot of fun.” The Bears’ 3-0 loss to Georgetown was the only blemish this weekend. But the loss didn’t dampen the team’s spirit; in fact, it made the team more confident about its abilities. “The loss against Georgetown wasn’t disappointing,” Meyers said. “We proved that we could hang on to a team like that in a game. It’s just unfortunate that we played them now.” Due to the Ivy League scheduling, all Ivy League teams start competing two weeks later than other schools. Georgetown had already played six matches before they hosted the invitational. “If we had played five or six games before meeting (Georgetown), we might (have been) able to beat them,” Meyers said. The team doesn’t wait long before it gets back into action again as it takes on its cross-town rival Providence College tonight at 7 p.m. The Friars have a 6-5 record going into
continued from page 12
Ashley Hess / Herald File Photo
The Bears’ volleyball team came out strong with great performances by new and returning players.
the match. The Bears believe they can take them on despite the fact that the Friars have had a longer season so far as well. “We think we are the better team,” Meyers said. “But we won’t underestimate them.” The Bears will host their first home contest this weekend as they play Stony Brook on Friday night at 7 p.m. in the opening match of the Brown Invitational, which also includes Quinnipiac and Bryant.
Hebert-Seropian ’12 knocked in the game-winner with 58 seconds left in the first overtime. Against UCLA, Hogue weathered the storm against the Bruins as she fended off attempt after attempt from an offense that had out-scored its opponents 16-1 this season. “She had an amazing two days,” said Charlotte Rizzi ’11. “She helped us out a lot in the back by calling out everything. She didn’t freak out, and she was on everything” Rizzi played a crucial role as well through her sparkling play as one of the team’s starting defenders. On Friday, pouring rain slowed down the Nittany Lions’ offense just enough for the Brown defense to hold down Penn State in the first half. At half-time, the team looked around at each other and, according to Rizzi, “was like hey, it’s 0-0, we can get this done.” After another half of scoreless play, Brown entered the overtime exhausted from playing through driving rain and chasing down Penn State’s forwards. Finally, the Bears struck. Brown played the ball out of the middle of the field and to the flank. Forward Lindsay Cunningham ’09, the team’s most seasoned scorer, passed to Herbert-Seropian, who collected the ball and struck a shot from just outside the top corner of the 18-yard-box. Her blast beat the Penn State goalkeeper cleanly and ricocheted off the crossbar, and
into the top corner of goal. The Bears celebrated their victory by rushing onto the field to congratulate their teammates, but Brown had little time to savor the victory before it had to prepare for the title game against UCLA. The Bears once again faced no pressure going into the game, as the top team in the countr y was expected to steam-roll its Ivy League foe. In fact, according to Rizzi, UCLA agreed to come to the tournament in part because of the inclusion of Brown, a supposed easy victory. As a California native, Hogue was “thrilled” to play her home-state team, commenting that “it doesn’t get much better than that”. When the Bears stepped on the field, they immediately had their work cut out for them. Brown marked many of UCLA’s top players one-on-one, which helped the defense stay solid and keep its shape, according to Rizzi. And while Brown launched few shots during the game, it refused to pack the whole team into its half of the field. Instead, Bruno attacked when it saw fit, but remained wary of the speedy UCLA offense. When the final whistle blew, signaling a scoreless tie after regulation and two over-times, the team knew its memory of the triumphant weekend would have lasting implications. “It gives us a huge boost,” said Rizzi. “The pride we showed in each other gives us confidence for our season going forward.”
E ditorial & L etters Page 10
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Staf f Editorial
Energy efficiency Last week, 89 students turned up for the Undergraduate Council of Students’ first meeting of the year. A few factors motivated them: a policy change that makes it easier to become a member of the council, the national political environment and an inspiring speech delivered by a UCS leader at Orientation. We applaud the enthusiasm of these students, many of them first-years. But their interest presents a dilemma for the leaders of UCS. How will the council’s four committees absorb these students, and in such a way that UCS can use the additional manpower to get more done? It’s not likely that all 89 students who showed up at Wednesday’s meeting will become UCS members. Only some of them will collect the 150 signatures and attend the meetings necessar y for them to become voting members. And only some of those members will be able to devote the time in committee to talk to students, talk to administrators and advocate for change, however small. Numbers and enthusiasm are a great starting point, but they won’t translate one-for-one into accomplishment. UCS leaders’ best bet is to come up with a specific plan for these new members — and then let attrition do its work. Having more members means the council will get ideas from a wider range of students, but the council’s small committees seem to be where the ideas turn into results — as evidenced by UCS President Brian Becker’s ’09 goal of making the full council meetings shorter. Making committees too large could hamper what has been in the past the most efficient part of UCS. Leaders should consider creating subcommittees within the committees that address more specific concerns or allowing committee members to set up task forces smaller than 10 people that would work out the nitty gritty and then report back to someone in the committee. Or they could ask the eager new members how many have the time to join committees, and allow those who are simply interested in voting once a week to do exactly that. UCS has also long advocated for better tapping into students’ needs. Having new staffers go door-to-door in dormitories to talk to their peers — a time-intensive but important duty — would be a good way to put new UCS members to work. These inexperienced members would do well to get a sense of what students really care about before tr ying to address their concerns. UCS leaders should take advantage of the wealth of ideas a larger membership will afford while maintaining small working groups — the meat of the council. While getting “a lot more chairs” to seat new UCS members is a good first step, leaders should swiftly get newbies out of their seats — and on their feet.
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 Alex Roehrkasse Matthew Varley 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
F ranny C hoi
L e tt e r s Honors eligibility To the Editor: The idea that students will not be considered for Magna Cum Laude because they have received either a C or an NC is an affront to the spirit of the New Curriculum. The role of risk-taking in pursuit of a more profound educational experience is so central to Brown’s spirit that we do not penalize students by placing NCs on their transcript. The move to disqualify students from competing for one the University’s highest honors because of any single grade is reprehensible and should not pass through the College Curriculum Council. I would ask the Dean of the College or the primary instigator of this debate
to step forward and offer the University a compelling defense of their alternative to the status quo. Otherwise, I fear that the CCC will end up making an undemocratic decision regarding the future of magna cum laude. In all honesty, a more appropriate conversation to have would be whether, given our curriculum and lack of GPA, we should have Magna Cum Laude or Phi Beta Kappa in the first place.
Rakim Brooks ’09 Sept. 15
Business Darren Ball General Manager Mandeep Gill General Manager Susan Dansereau 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 photo Photo Editor Photo Editor
Meara Sharma Min Wu 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
Steve DeLucia, Designer Kathryn Delaney, Jennifer Kim, Kelly Mallahan, Madeleine Rosenberg, Copy Editors Franklin Kanin, Chaz Kelsh, Emmy Liss, Jenna Stark, Night Editors Senior Staff Writers Mitra Anoushiravani, Colin Chazen, Chaz Kelsh, Sophia Li, Emmy Liss, Max Mankin, Brian Mastroianni, George Miller, Caroline Sedano, Melissa Shube, Anne Simons, Jenna Stark, Sara Sunshine, Gaurie Tilak, Joanna Wohlmuth, Simon van Zuylen-Wood Staff Writers Stefanie Angstadt, Sam Byker, Noura Choudhury, Joy Chua, Anne Deggelman, Nicole Dungca, Cameron Lee, Debbie Lehmann, Christian Martell, Anna Millman, Seth Motel, Evan Pelz, Eli Piette, Leslie Primack, Marielle Segarra, Catherine Straut, Meha Verghese, Allison Wentz Sports Staff Writers Peter Cipparone, 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, Anne Fuller, Josh Garcia, Jennifer Grayson, Rachel Isaacs, Joyce Ji, Jenn Kim, Tarah Knaresboro, Alex Mazerov, Seth Motel, Lisa Qing, Alex Rosenberg, Madeleine Rosenberg, Elena Weissman, Jason Yum
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 Tuesday, September 16, 2008
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Page 11
Free trade, fair trade, foul trade BY WILLIAM MARTIN Opinions Columnist Put that coffee down. We need to talk. It’s about fair trade. Many food products — including much of the coffee available to Brown students — bear a label assuring consumers that their purchase has helped disadvantaged farmers in distant lands earn a higher wage, attain better working conditions and learn more effective production methods. As usual, the truth is more complex. Fair trade isn’t as good as it sounds. But it’s not as pernicious as its most strident detractors would have you believe. To obtain fair trade certification, large growers have to meet specific standards for worker pay, laboring conditions and freedom to organize in unions. Worker-owned cooperatives can also qualify. Once certified, growers are guaranteed an above-market price for their produce, which retailers then sell for an even higher price to consumers in the developed world who crave moral validation along with the items on their shopping list. This all sounds good, and it has its merits. A small but significant number of the world’s less privileged agricultural workers get paid and treated better, just as the Fair Trade label guarantees. But neoliberal think tanks and publications, joined recently by Herald opinions columnist Boris Ryvkin ‘09 (“Fair trade coffee: a raw deal,” Sept. 4), have identified numerous downsides to this rosy picture. By Ryvkin’s reckoning, fair trade is “just another misguided market distortion” that will have ruinous con-
sequences for agriculture-based economies. But to commit themselves to such a stark denunciation, these fervid free-marketers have had to make some distortions of their own, employing flimsy economics to make an ambiguously effective tactic seem like the Third World’s worst nightmare. Their exhibit A is the effect of fair trade on global markets. Fair trade certification is most active in relatively prosperous countries such as Mexico, while the poorer states of sub-Saharan Africa and other regions are
price floor,” in Ryvkin’s words. This severe type of economic disruption sets a minimum price for a product, discouraging buyers and taking a bite out of producers’ overall earnings. This is a useless way to understand fair trade, which covers a tiny fraction of agricultural markets rather than their entirety. Even among coffee sales in developed countries, fair trade accounts for less than five percent of the total. In reality, the arrangement is something much more market-friendly: a simple payment
Fair trade isn’t as good as it sounds. But it’s not as pernicious as its most strident detractors would have you believe. neglected. The former receive an incentive for agricultural expansion, while the latter can expect to earn lower prices thanks to the resultant higher global supply. Even the fortunate nations may suffer in the long run since they’ll see less to gain from diversification and development, which could shield them from price fluctuations and boost their income levels. But the fierce detractors of “unfair trade” have gone astray by branding it as a “classic
for services. The price difference between certified and uncertified food lets consumers feel good about themselves, whether they’re supplementing what they consider a responsible lifestyle or merely springing for an occasional ethical massage. This brings us to fair trade’s other major flaw. Fair trade goods are marketed like alms to the poor, but they’re actually more of a subsidy to big business than to small
farmers. Massive retailers have considerably more market power than certified growers, and they’re able to pocket an estimated 90 percent of the markup consumers pay for free trade goods. This is an inescapable feature of the entire enterprise. If the labeling agency were to raise the price they mandate growers receive, it would be a less attractive proposition for corporate buyers, and some fair-traders would have difficulty selling their produce. This may seem unsavory, but it misses the point. Ryvkin calls fair trade “a successfully marketed scheme meant to exploit popular ignorance and goodwill.” But, hell, what’s so wrong about that? Like any good business stratagem, fair trade is based on happiness. The consumers feel beneficent, so they’re happy. The retailers pocket most of the proceeds, so they’re happy. And the growers get better working conditions and a small pittance, so they’re happy — at least, relative to their unsubsidized peers. Ultimately, fair trade is not a moral good. But it’s a way for the harried, striving cubicle monkeys of the developed world to boost their self-esteem and believe they’re making a difference. It’s simply more comfortable than doing something truly beneficial, such as summoning the will to challenge the bloated FirstWorld agricultural subsidies responsible for so much of the world’s poverty. Fair trade will likely go down in history as a market failure, but a minor one. Just as long as people don’t start financing their pseudoethical lifestyles by taking out a few extra mortgages.
William Martin ’10 hopes you choke on this.
The Palin-ization of Brown BY SARAH ROSENTHAL Opinions Columnist The press has treated Sarah Palin unfairly, as any voter knows. When Hillary Clinton complained, it was whining, but now the newest, toughest model of female politician needs to be shielded from pernicious slurs like “lipstick on a pig.” And it’s clearly doing her credit since Palin and that old dude who I think might have been to Vietnam have surged in the polls. Since the infallible wisdom of the American electorate now seems to be vindicating the poor pit bull, I’ve been thinking about what life might be like if we were all treated so unfairly. And so I propose that from here on in, your professors, administrators and fellow students at Brown should treat you the way voters are treating Sarah Palin. Behold the glorious future: Admission to Brown will be based solely on the interview. Grades, SAT scores, extracurricular activities and recommendations will be set aside because a likeable student body is a lot more important than an intelligent or accomplished one. And by likable I obviously mean hot. The roommate questionnaire will be whittled down to one question: What is your gender? Since we now know that all women are exactly alike, this will make things a lot easier. If you are failing a graduate seminar and your professor asks about your other commitments this semester, you can throw a hysteri-
cal fit about what a cruel troglodyte he is for underestimating you. Call him sexist, racist, ageist, classist, anthropocentrist, atheist — you know, whatever works for you. You may hand in a paper for an International Relations course on early Cold War geopolitics without mentioning containment. Knowing a defining tenet of a whole era’s foreign policy is for elitist eggheads who do things like take courses in International Relations. If you are struggling with a drug problem, the dean of chemical dependency will recog-
Only those who have never lived in or visited a foreign country will be allowed to live in Buxton. Just because you’ve been out of the United States doesn’t mean you know more about what’s outside the United States. After all, it’s not fair that the same people get to hog all the international cred. Although you are a first-semester sophomore who knows nothing about anything, you will be considered the best person around to, say, work out the problems with the Massachusetts healthcare initiative, because you can
I propose that from here on in, your professors, administrators and fellow students at Brown should treat you the way voters are treating Sarah Palin nize that it’s not about what the oil — I mean drug — addiction is doing to you, but what it’s doing to your wallet. She will recommend that you at least make oil — I mean meth — in your own bathtub, rather than spending valuable money that can later be used to fix your teeth.
totally see parts of Massachusetts from Rhode Island. You’ll also be an automatic expert on infrastructure, but only in Connecticut. You will claim that you said, “Thanks, but no thanks,” to your roommate’s offer of shots the other night. You will neglect to mention that you drank straight from the bottle in-
stead. Any question on a biology exam, particularly those pertaining to reproduction or evolution, may be answered with, “God hates you and I do too.” Environmental Studies and French will be merged together, so all the brie-eating, Prius-driving, America-hating snobs will be in one place when the Attorney General begins his investigation. Professors who have taught for a year and a half will be eligible for promotion to department chair, or perhaps University president. Promotions will be decided on the basis of their “Prof Avg” on the Critical Review Web site. Instead of being considered kind of a tool for making fun of kids who volunteer in their communities, you will be praised for showing those lazy opportunists who’s boss. You will scale new heights of hypocrisy, talking grandly about overthrowing the oppressive bourgeois system while sipping a Starbucks latte. (Wait, we don’t need Sarah Palin for that one.) When applying to medical school, you won’t have to study for the MCATs or anything like that. People want their doctors to be ordinary folks like them, not some sort of cold, overeducated medical-knowledgebots. You won’t be going to Brown, anyway, because formal education is overrated. And if you know how to field dress a moose, you’re fit for anything, including — no, wait, especially — high office.
Sarah Rosenthal ’11 is a first-semester sophomore who knows nothing about anything.
S ports T uesday Page 12
Sports in Brief
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
W. soccer ties No. 1 UCLA, tops No. 11 Penn State By Peter Cipparone Sports Staff Writer
W. soccer sweeps weekly awards After the women’s soccer team’s impressive weekend of shutting out two top-20 teams, two Bears were awarded individual awards. Goalkeeper Brenna Hogue ’10, who appears to be back at full strength after sitting out all of last season with a knee injury, was named the Ivy League player of the Week for her stellar play in net. Hogue stopped all 30 shots she faced in Bruno’s 1-0 overtime upset of No. 11 Penn State and 0-0 tie with No. 1 UCLA. Against the Nittany Lions on Friday, Hogue posted a careerhigh 18 saves, and she showed no signs of fatigue the following day, as she shut down the Bruins with 12 saves. The two shutouts were the fifth and sixth shutouts of Hogue’s career, and her stellar play against the two powerhouses earned her the MVP award of the UConn Classic tournament, as well as a spot on the UConn Classic All-Tournament team. Joining Hogue on the All-Tournament team was Sarah HebertSeropian ’12, who was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week after playing every minute of both games over the weekend. Hebert-Seropian played a huge role in the Bears’ successful control of midfield in both games, but her most impressive play of the weekend occurred at the most crucial of times, as she picked the perfect moment to score her first career goal. With only 58 seconds left in the first overtime, Hebert-Seropian blasted a shot past Penn State’s goalkeeper to secure the Bears’ upset.
M. bball schedule announced First-year Brown Head Coach Jesse Agel announced the men’s 2008-2009 basketball schedule. The Bear’s will kick off their season on the road against in-state rival University of Rhode Island at the Ryan Center on Nov. 14, and the team’s first home game will be against Northwestern, the Big Ten team where former Head Coach Craig Robinson launched his coaching career as an assistant. Other notable non-league match-ups include road games against Holy Cross on Nov. 19, New Hampshire on Dec. 6, and at Virginia on Jan. 6. Bruno will also take on some difficult non-league teams at the Pizzitola Center, including contests with Army on Nov. 26 and against Eastern Michigan on Nov. 29. Ocean State natives also have plenty of reasons to be excited about Bruno’s schedule this season, as the Bears will be taking on neighboring Rhode Island teams (in addition to their season opener against URI) Providence College at the Dunkin Donuts Center on Dec. 3 and will host Bryant University on Jan. 10. The team’s game against Bryant will be their last chance to warm up before jumping into the heated Ivy League schedule, which will kick off on Jan. 16 when the Bears host Yale. Former Brown coach Glen Miller will bring his Penn team to the Pitz on Feb. 13, and defending Ivy League Champion Cornell comes to College Hill on Feb. 21. — Megan McCahill
Ashley Hess / Herald File Photo
The women’s soccer team held its elite competitors at bay this weekend, with a win against Penn State and a tie with UCLA, the top-ranked team in the nation.
As the women’s soccer team walked off the field after its game against UCLA on Sunday, its players shared high-fives, hugs and a sense of accomplishment after a banner weekend. Brown pulled off a monumental feat by beating No. 11 Penn State 1-0 by way of an overtime goal, then trumped its win on Friday by playing the top team in the country, No. 1 UCLA, to a 0-0 stalemate. Friday and Sunday’s games at the UConn Classic in Storrs, CT marked the most exciting weekend for the team in recent memory. In the biggest weekend of Head Coach Phil Pincince’s career, according to the seasoned coach, the Bears showed that they could match women’s soccer powerhouses such as the Nittany Lions and the Bruins. While Brown was out-shot badly in both games by tallies of 28-13 and 34-7, the entire team rose to the challenge of holding such elite competitions at bay. As a result, Brown emerged from the weekend with two stellar performances against marquee nonconference opponents. “Afterwards everyone was so happy, we were thrilled,” said goalkeeper Brenna Hogue ’10. “We were so proud of each other because everyone played such great games.” Hogue, who was named MVP of the tournament and Ivy League Player of the Week, was the key agent in both upsets. On Friday, she set a career-high 18 saves, preserving the scoreless tie until Sarah continued on page 9
Volleyball opens season with a bang, winning record By Han Cui Assistant Spor ts Editor
The volleyball team knows it’s stronger this year — it just has to prove that to ever yone else. The team did just that in its opening weekend at the Georgetown Classic by taking the first three matches before falling to the host
Georgetown in the final game of the tournament. But the team couldn’t be happier with its performance and the way the season started for 2008. “It felt so great to finish the weekend with a winning record,” said setter and captain Natalie Meyers ’09. “To have a dominant start of the season like this gives
us high expectations for the rest of the season.” The team’s victories were the results of everyone playing at the top of their game. Both veterans and new players became heroes this weekend. The two seniors, Meyers and Lyndse Yess ’09, led the team with strong performances and were named to the All-Tourna-
ment Team. In the opening matche against James Madison University, Yess, starting at outside, posted a double-double with 11 kills and 10 digs while Meyers set up 31 assists in addition to three kills. The Bears beat JMU 3-1, taking the first two games 25-18 and 25-21, and droppcontinued on page 9
M. water polo wins some, loses some in first weekend By Anne Deggelman Sports Staff Writer
The men’s water polo team started off its season this weekend with five games in three days. After a doubleovertime loss against No. 17 Cal Baptist on Friday, the Bears headed to the Princeton Invitational, where they took down Johns Hopkins and No. 15 Santa Clara. In their final day of play, the Bears fell to No. 20 Princeton and No. 3 Stanford. “It was kind of a weekend for us to learn what teams were going to do to us and what we needed to work on,” said goalkeeper Kent Holland ’10. “We ended up playing some really good games.” For their first game, the Bears took on No. 17 Cal Baptist at MIT, and fell in double overtime. With 3:45 left in the fourth quarter, Bruno was down 12-8. But the game was far from done. The Bears ended the
quarter by scoring four unanswered goals, three of which came from Mike Gartner ’09, to tie things up. The teams traded goals during the first period of overtime, but the Lancers ultimately came out on top, scoring the winning goal in the second overtime period. While Gartner led the Bears in goals, scoring four total, Captain Grant LeBeau ’09 and Gordon Hood ’11 were right behind scoring three goals each. On the defensive end, Holland kept the Bears alive, tallying a total of 17 saves. “Mike Gartner played unbelievable all weekend,” Holland said. “He commanded the offense from set, forcing teams to drop and giving our guys a chance to score. When they weren’t dropping, he was scoring left and right.” The first day of the Princeton continued on page 6
Ashley Hess / Herald File Photo
Men’s water polo had a mixed weekend at the Princeton Invitational.