The Brown Daily Herald M onday, N ovember 17, 2008
Volume CXLIII, No. 114
Since 1866, Daily Since 1891
Student helps change law in Oregon
Nine students EMSed on night of SPG
By Leslie Primack Staf f Writer
By Emma Berry Contributing Writer
On Nov. 4 at 11 p.m., amid a sea of screaming, cr ying students celebrating the election of Barack Obama as president of the United States, Evan Pulvers ’10.5 was also thinking of a second, lesser-known electoral step toward racial equality. That night, voters in her home state of Oregon passed Measure 54, an amendment that struck a long
the crowd shouted in response to Heroux’s speech. “When they say that they don’t believe that marriage is a civil right, we will say ‘I do,’ ” she said. Heroux was met with cheers when she said MERI expects the state to achieve “marriage equality” in the next three years. Rev. Eugene Dyszlewski from the Rhode Island Religious Coalition for Same-Gender Marriage also spoke at the protest, saying “God is not in favor of discrimination.” Dyszlewski said he represented a group of over 100 ministers from about 12 denominations in the state. Mayor David Cicilline ’83, State Sen. Rhoda Perry P’91 and State Rep. Frank Ferri each addressed
Matthew Kowalski ’12 stood outside of Alumnae Hall on Saturday wearing black bike shorts and a white T-shir t with “NORI WAS HERE” written on it in black marker. Nori is Noricia Aquino ’12, Kowalski’s girlfriend. Aquino was already inside Alumnae Hall getting ready to work as a party manager for Sex Power God, Queer Alliance’s annual fundraising dance. Kowalski and his friends were the first of almost 600 students to line up for Saturday’s dance. “She’s wearing completely body paint, so if any comes off, it’s coming off here,” Kowalski said, pointing to his shirt. Event coordinators called Sex Power God a success, citing poor weather as the event’s only difficulty. “It went of f without any hitches,” coordinator Zach Marcus ’10 said. A total of nine students were transported by Emergency Medical Ser vices Saturday night because of intoxication, said Vice President for Campus Life and Student Ser vices Margaret Klawunn. Three of those — two Brown students and one non-Brown student — were transported directly from the event. Sex Power God sparked controversy in 2005, when conservative commentator Bill O’Reilly sent a producer to the dance with a camera and aired the footage on his Fox News program. That year, 24 students required EMS attention. The next year, coordi-
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FEATURE unenforced literacy test requirement for voting in school board elections from the state constitution — an amendment Pulvers herself drafted and advocated. The amendment reversed outdated language in Section 6, Article VIII of the Oregon State Constitution, which stated that in order to vote for school board members, one must be able to read and write in English. Though Oregon outlawed literacy tests as a voter qualification in the early 1970s and Section 6’s antiquated provisions have not been observed for decades, the changes to literacy requirements were not extended to school board elections due to governmental oversight. In 2006, Pulvers and her father, a lawyer, were scanning the Oregon State Constitution and noticed the provisions, which they felt were unconstitutional. At the time, Pulvers was a member of the Grant High School constitution team, and they showed the passage to her teammates. They had two options: sue the state to get the laws declared unenforceable or strike them from the constitution permanently through a ballot initiative. “We all sat down and talked about it,” Pulvers recalled. “We’ve got all this knowledge, but it doesn’t really mean anything unless we’re pursuing a more just society.” The team decided to work to get the laws permanently removed from the state constitution. They wrote to Oregon Secretar y of State Bill Bradbur y, who agreed to introduce the changes in the state legislature. Pulvers then drafted the bill and sent it to the Secretary of State’s office for revisions. She and other constitution team members testified in front of the legislature — Pulvers by phone because she was in the midst of shopping period at Brown. “I thought it made a lot of sense,” said Oregon State Senator Suzanne Bonamici, a family friend of Pulvers’ who voted for the measure on Oregon’s House floor when she was a representative. “If there’s something that’s in the state constitution that is unenforceable, that continued on page 4
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ARTS & CULTURE
Hannah Moser / Herald
Protesters gathered in front of the State House on Saturday to express their disapproval of California’s gay marriage ban.
Hundreds protest Prop. 8 in Providence By Hannah Moser Staff Writer
The State House lawn was dotted with umbrellas on Saturday afternoon, as the hundreds of people gathered there maintained a hopeful spirit despite the intermittent rain. They were part of the National Day of Protest, a event organized by Join the Impact, that brought people together in cities in all 50 states to protest the passage of California’s Proposition 8. Before the event, Marriage Equality Rhode Island board member and communications chair Tiffany Rauch-Dickson, one of the organizers, said she already had 500 invitation acceptances on Facebook. The demonstration began at 1:30 p.m. on the East Coast and 10:30 a.m. on the West Coast, so that protests nationwide began
k a l h a n o n id e n tit y
New administration brings new service opportunities By Joanna Wohlmuth Senior Staff Writer
Meara Sharma / Herald
Anil Kalhan ‘93, delivered the keynote address for South Asian Identity Week.
RISD THREAds Faculty members at RISD design T-shirts for online company Threadless
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in unison. The nationwide protest grew out people’s surprised reactions to the passage of Prop 8. RauchDickson said that people were shocked because “nobody really believed it would happen.” For the duration of the rally, supporters held a rainbow banner with the words “Love” and “Equality” across the State House steps. People held signs with a variety of messages “Straight guy for love,” “Fight the H8” and “Jesus had 2 daddies, why can’t I?” Rauch-Dickson addressed the crowd from the State House steps before Susan Heroux, chairwoman of the MERI Education Fund Board of Directors, introduced the event’s tagline, “I do,” which was featured on stickers that were distributed to demonstrators. The slogan became the affirmation that
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CAMPUS NEWS
pimp my cells Students traveled to MIT to win awards genetically modifying real cells
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OPINIONS
During their presidential campaigns, John McCain and Barack Obama both discussed the importance of increasing national community service efforts. As the country prepares for Inauguration Day, a number of policy proposals aimed at encouraging greater participation in and providing more resources for national service initiatives are on the table. In addition to broader national efforts — such as expanding AmeriCorps and encouraging individuals over the age of 55 to do volunteer work — some proposals that specifically target college students are outlined on the Obama transition team’s Web site, Change.gov. “What is particularly exciting right now is we have a president-elect and new first lady that understand (na-
Rhody should amend Zach Beauchamp ‘10 wants to see a constitutional amendment to protect gay marriage
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12 SPORTS
tional service) at a grassroots level and a policy level,” said Director of the Swearer Center and Associate Dean of the College Roger Nozaki MAT’89. “They come into this actually having direct, hands-on experience working with young people and doing community organizing.” Under the proposed American Opportunity Tax Credit, families could receive a $4,000 tax credit if a student performs 100 hours of service per year. Students would receive the credit regardless of their families’ tax burden. If a family paid less than $4,000 in taxes, they would receive a payment for the difference. Another suggested policy would increase the number of service-oriented, workstudy jobs to 25 percent of all campus jobs. Currently, seven percent of work-study positions at Brown are continued on page 4
Bruno beats big green Football wins over Dartmouth, 45-16, to keep hopes for the Ivy title alive
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