Friday, March 6, 2009

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vol. cxliv, no. 31 | Friday, March 6, 2009 | Serving the community daily since 1891

Attrition, layoffs Lincoln’s birthday card makes the rounds to cut 60 positions SPOTLIGHT

By Dan Alexander Staf f Writer

Hallmark doesn’t sell birthday cards for 200-year-olds, so one intrepid artist had to come up with her own medium to wish Abraham Lincoln a happy bicentennial. A “birthday card” for Lincoln making its way on a nationwide tour is at the Warwick Mall — one of nine stops before it reaches its tenth and final destination at the rededication ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial on May 30. The card will remain in Warwick until March 7. Created by artist Wendy Allen, the birthday card is composed of four six-by-four-feet fabric panels Dan Alexander / Herald for people to sign, wishing Lin- Artist Wendy Allen, who designed Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthcoln a happy 200th. A banner run- day card, has painted 250 portraits of the 16th president. Lincoln, it’s not work.” ning across the top of the panels traits in the last 28 years. Allen’s eyes light up and she says, “Happy Birthday, President She paints almost nothing else. Lincoln” and is signed, “from the She has tried a few landscapes, gesticulates excitedly when she People,” followed by the year. animals and family portraits but talks about Lincoln. “It’s not really Portraits Allen painted of the doesn’t seem to enjoy them as any part of him or his face” that president rest on easels next to much. make her want to paint the former the panels. Though there are only “They are horrible,” she president over and over. It’s “what four on display at the mall, Allen said. “It’s just not nearly as fun. has painted over 250 Lincoln por- It seems like work. When I paint continued on page 3

Novelist reads to intimate crowd By Ben Hyman Ar ts & Culture Editor

Yesterday afternoon, the small crowd that showed up for a reading by Australian novelist Peter Carey in Salomon 101 was treated to a look inside two of the writer’s books with intersecting themes, published fourteen years apart. Carey, one of only two writers to win the Booker Prize twice, read first from 1994’s “The Un-

usual Life of Tristan Smith” and from his most recent novel, 2008’s “His Illegal Self.” Even in brief passages from the two works, some of Carey’s prevailing concerns — performance and fakery, mother-son relationships and his native Australia — proved their continuing importance to his work. Before launching into a wellpaced and strikingly rhythmic reading of the opening pages of “Tristan Smith,” Carey offered

the hope that the combination of the two novels wouldn’t be “too chaotic.” The books dovetailed well. “Tristan Smith” begins with a powerfully realized description of the title character’s birth and his mother’s confrontation with his physical deformities. Set in Efica, an imagined country dominated by the hegemonic nation of Voorstand, continued on page 4

More job cuts in future can’t be ruled out, administrators say

By Nicole Friedman Senior Staf f Writer

The University will eliminate about 60 staff positions by July, as many as half of which may require layoffs. “At least 30 to 35” of the cuts will eliminate currently vacant positions, but the rest will be made through layoffs, said Beppie Huidekoper, executive vice president for finance and administration. The positions, which will be cut by the end of June, were identified by senior administrators and then reviewed and approved by President Ruth Simmons, Provost David Kertzer ’69 P’95 P’98 and the Corporation. Though all the employees who will be laid off this year have been identified, University officials inter viewed by The Herald said they did not know when affected staffers would be told. Administrators are “taking the time” to make sure they “have enough information” about severance pay and benefits before telling employees they will be laid off, Simmons said Tuesday. But with the University needing to cut up to $90 million from projected spending over the next five years, this year’s job cuts may not be the last. The administrators inter viewed this week said they could not rule out the possibility of more layoffs in coming years. Brown is “not targeting certain areas or departments” for the current round of layoffs, Director of Labor Relations Joe Sarno ’91 said. Administrators offered few specifics on which jobs or departments will be affected. But Vice President

for Facilities Management Stephen Maiorisi said he was “pretty sure” facilities jobs would be among those cut. Facilities is looking at “what the appropriate staffing level would need to be” in its Planning, Design and Construction Office, now that the University is cutting back on capital projects, Maiorisi said. There are about 30 employees on that staff, he added. None of the layoffs are of union personnel, according to Sarno. “If and when layoffs become necessary of union staff,” he said, they would be made in accordance with the University’s collective bargaining agreements. The University has union contracts with some employees of Dining Ser vices, Facilities, the Department of Public Safety and the libraries. Simmons first said job cuts were on the way in an e-mail to the Brown community after the Corporation’s meeting last month. Since then, Sarno said, “We have received questions about particular positions that may or may not be cut.” “People are anxious, understandably so,” he said. Support after layoffs All laid-off employees will be given severance packages, Sarno said, and administrators said they hope to find other positions within the University for as many terminated employees as possible. The University has not decided what severance packages will incontinued on page 2

Future unclear for closed Roba Dolce District Court, was negligence of four months of rental payments. “What happened is not intentionally done,” DeMartino said. “It happened because of circumstances.” A representative from the property’s landlord, New York-based real estate company Stonehenge Partners, Inc., declined to comment on the eviction or the current status of the property. Starting last November, DeMartino said he saw a dramatic decline in the cafe’s profit. “The money wouldn’t come in

anymore,” he said. “The drop in revenues was about 23 percent.” Still, DeMartino said he hoped the business would recuperate. He tried to introduce new items to the menu and hoped that the limited liquor license, which he attained three weeks prior to the eviction, would help attract different crowds. But these efforts came too late, he said. DeMar tino and his par tner, Massimo Battista, had signed a

Arts, 5

Sports, 7

Opinions, 11

ch-ch-changes PW puts a contemporary twist on Ovid’s classic “Metamorphoses”

SCore! Brown athletes take home Ivy and ECAC honors across the board

tame house Anthony Staehelin ’10 defends Greek life at Brown

By Amy Chen Contributing Writer

Kim Perley / Herald File Photo

inside

The building that once housed the Italian gelateria is now “For Rent.”

News.....1-4 Arts........5-6 Spor ts...7-9 Editorial..10 Opinion...11 Today........12

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A “For Rent” sign hangs on the locked door of Thayer Street’s nowdefunct Italian cafe Roba Dolce, which closed last month after the eviction of owner Nino DeMartino. Two weeks after the closure, the cafe’s future remains uncertain. In a telephone inter view, DeMartino said the possibility of resuming business in the 900-squarefoot space is “ver y, ver y small.” The cause of the eviction, filed on Feb. 16 in Rhode Island’s Sixth

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

continued on page 2

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

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Friday, March 6, 2009

“What we made was not enough to sustain all the expenses to operate.” — Nino DeMartino, owner of Cafe Roba Dolce

Budget cuts force layoffs continued from page 1

clude, he said, but added, “I think there is an inclination to enhance the existing policy.” The University also hopes to provide transitional career counseling to employees for whom other positions cannot be found, Sarno said. Vice President for Campus Life and Student Ser vices Margaret Klawunn said “there would be arrangements to cover benefits for a period of time.” Though any number of layoffs is “too much,” Sarno said, Brown is “fortunate” to not be doing mass layof fs. Some of Brown’s peer schools have already cut jobs. Dartmouth, for example, recently cut 60 staff members and gave 28 others reduced hours. Seventy more staf f members accepted retirement offers. Brown did not offer early retirement packages or buyouts to employees, Huidekoper said. She added in an e-mail to The Herald that “only a few” employees will be asked to work reduced hours, and that such a move “is still under discussion.” Permanent vacancies There are currently empty positions that will be eliminated throughout the University, including in the Office of the President, the Office of the Dean of the College and Human Resources and Facilities. Campus life and student services, for example, under went a large-scale reorganization March 1, distributing more duties to current employees instead of re-

placing some top-level positions, Klawunn said. The of fice’s associate vice president position, which has been vacant since July, was the most senior of several eliminated. The position’s responsibilities, which included overseeing the Offices of Student Life and Residential Life, were distributed to other administrators, several of whom received promotions to reflect their expanded duties. Finding ways to “take somebody who’s in another position that isn’t needed as much and move them over” to a more urgent vacant position has “helped a lot,” Huidekoper said. Though a hiring freeze for all staff and administrators has been in place since November, a new Vacancy Review Committee of top administrators reviews requests for hires and approves those it deems absolutely necessar y. All requests from public safety, as well as positions having to do with student health, have been approved, Huidekoper said. Hiring requests for grant-supported research have also been approved, she said. Among other hires that have been approved are a second-shift custodian for Pembroke campus residence halls and a temporary administrative assistant for the Sarah Doyle Women’s Center. Future cuts Though Simmons said the University is currently focusing on the “part of it that we need to do by next academic year,” millions of dollars in savings will be needed to achieve a balanced budget by

sudoku

2014. “We don’t want to move precipitously,” she said, adding that administrators and committees “ought to take the time” to deliberate decisions about position and expenditure cuts. Many of those decisions will be made by existing committees, she said. Other committees may be newly created and some current ones will take on new student and staff representatives. Simmons told The Herald after a faculty meeting on Tuesday that she had just sent out invitations to potential members of a new committee, though she declined to give further details because she had yet to hear how the invitations had been received. “Since we’ve essentially identified the cuts for this year, we have the time to set the apparatus in place” to determine savings for future years, she said. “When you have anything this widespread, you have to augment your structure.” The University anticipates having to eliminate more positions in the future, which Huidekoper said it hopes to “do as much as possible” through reorganization and attrition. But “as it turns out,” she said, “not a lot of people are leaving right now.” “People are holding onto their jobs,” she said. The Organizational Review Committee, which was created in November to find ways to cut expenditures, will continue to search for “redundancies” and ways to run the University more efficiently, Sarno said. The committee is made up of faculty members, staff and administrators.

Frederic Lu / Herald

When consumed in normal quantities, Vitaminwater “will not place a student-athlete at risk for testing positive” for banned substances.

Vitaminwater A-OK, according to NCAA By Chelsea Xu Contributing Writer

Student-athletes concerned over the presence of trace amounts of NCAAbanned substances in some flavors of Vitaminwater can breathe easier now. The National Collegiate Athletic Association released a statement last month, emphasizing that normal consumption of the flavored drink is safe. “Normal daily consumption of any of the 13 Vitaminwater varieties will not place a student-athlete at risk for testing positive,” the organization said in the Feb. 11 statement. The NCAA said “inaccurate” media coverage had created a misunderstanding. Three Vitaminwater flavors contain small amounts of “impermissible” substances so schools cannot provide the drinks to students, but students are allowed to buy them on their own accord, according to the statement. The Department of Athletics sent an e-mail to student-athletes last month, making them aware of the presence of stimulants in the Vitaminwater flavors. Among the psychoactive com-

pounds found in the Vitaminwater flavors in question are taurine — also found in Red Bull — and glucosamine, which is sometimes used to rebuild cartilage or heal joints. But according to the NCAA statement, “An average-sized healthy man would have to drink ten 20 oz. bottles of Vitaminwater Energy or Rescue within several hours of competition” to be at risk of a positive urine test. The NCAA could not be reached for additional comment. “There was never a ‘ban’ of these products in the first place,” said Sarah Fraser, assistant athletic director for compliance. Max Lubin ’12, a member of the men’s water polo team, said Brown athletes have generally been “indifferent” about the situation. Still, John Zoppo ’12, a member of the football team, said student athletes are aware of the rules and are held responsible for what they consume. “Athletes are randomly tested a few times a year,” he said. Just to be safe, Zoppo said, he bought a pack of another energy drink, but added that no one he knows has significantly changed his or her habits since the warning.

Profit increase fails to save cafe, owner says continued from page 1

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contract with Roba Dolce Corporation for up to eight years and took over the retail store in November 2007. They paid a monthly rent of about $5,000 to the corporation, which then paid the landlord. “The rent was high. Expenses were high,” DeMartino said. “What we made was not enough to sustain all the expenses to operate.” But Roba Dolce is not the only business experiencing economic problems. A neighboring store’s manager, who wished to remain anonymous, said profits are declining. “Less students are coming to shop. Store owners are hurting,” the manager said. “Shoppers are hur ting, too. They (have) less

money to spend.” Since he opened the cafe, DeMar tino said one of his accomplishments was improving business from when he took over — in the first year, he said the cafe saw a 31-percent increase in profit. The idea for the cafe was to add something unique on the street, DeMartino said. Even in the face of the troubling economy and declining revenues, he said, “We had tried and tried.” “On a person level, I’d like to continue on the business,” he said. “If (it’s) not possible, (it’s) not possible.” DeMar tino, who is tr ying to come to terms with the eviction and watching the market closely, said he may consider relocating his business.

Friday, March 6, 2009

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“College gets life from alcohol.” — Alex Dobrenko ’10, creator of BTV’s show “Campus Liquors”

Peanuts make limited comeback

‘Campus Liquors’ revives BTV’s spirits By Sarah Julian Contributing Writer

By Alicia Chen Contributing Writer

Some foods containing peanut butter have been reintroduced to campus eateries after a month-long absence following a massive recall of peanut products last month. Brown Dining Services removed all peanut-containing products on Jan. 20 “immediately upon learning of the (Food and Drug Administration) recall,” wrote Ann Hoffman, director of administration and human services for BDS, in an e-mail to The Herald. The removal of products was in response to a series of nationwide recalls issued by the Peanut Corporation of America of products it had processed since the start of 2007 because of possible Salmonella contamination. From candy to pet food, thousands of peanut products are named for recall on the FDA Web site. The outbreak has sickened over 500 people and killed eight, according to the New York Times. On Feb. 23, individual serving packets of Smuckers and Jif peanut butter returned to dining halls after

Frederic Lu / Herald File Photo

Certain brands of peanut butter, including Jif, have returned to campus dining establishments after an FDA recall in January.

the J.M. Smucker Company verified that these products were not included in the recall, Hoffman wrote. But there are no plans to bring back any other peanut products to Brown’s campus in the near future. “We do not know when other products will return; we won’t do anything without verification of product safety,” Hoffman wrote, adding

that the costs of removal were partially offset by vendors. Most Brown students seem unfazed by the effects of the recall. “I don’t really eat peanut butter that much so it didn’t affect me,” said Nick Baer ’12. Mrinal Kapoor ’12 agreed, noting, “I only eat Hershey’s Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and they weren’t recalled at CVS.”

Artist helps Lincoln celebrate the big 2-0-0 continued from page 1 he’s come to represent.” “For me, he’s the first modern president,” Allen said. “He’s the soul of America. He made true the Declaration of Independence,” she added, in reference to Lincoln’s part in helping to end slavery. She has painted Lincoln with acr ylics and oils, with brushes and fingers. Some of her paintings are grey, while others have bright orange backgrounds and red tints in Lincoln’s face, like the one she is working on at the mall. As people stop by and sign the card, Allen dips her fingers into acr ylic paint and gently moves them across a 48-by-54-inch canvas. The portrait is painted from the right side of Lincoln, slightly more straight-on than the iconic profile on the penny. Some of her paintings look like Monets and others like van Goghs, Elaine Henderson, co-producer of the birthday project, said of Allen’s work. “But they’re all unmistakably hers.” Last year, Allen decided to combine her art with the birthday card tribute to Lincoln for his bicentennial birthday. Allen wrote a proposal to the National Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, and the organization endorsed her idea. But all of the funding — for travelling, hotels and supplies — came from her own pocket. “Money’s tight,” Allen said. “But we still wanted to go ahead with it.” When she first came up with

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the idea, Allen thought she would display the birthday card in New York City only. The closest she will get to New York City is Rochester, N.Y., one of the 10 stops in a tour that has grown immensely since it was first conceptualized. Warwick got on the small list of cities that spans from Portland, Ore. to Tallahassee, Fla. after Allen contacted Sue Stenthouse, Rhode Island director of community relations. Stenthouse contacted Warwick Mall Manager Linda Campbell, who encouraged Allen to display the birthday card at the mall. In the middle of the mall walkway, in between Old Navy and Kay Jewelers, Allen and Henderson sit with the birthday card panels and the paintings, listening to the soft sounds of the mall’s fountains and the light music playing all day. Some of the shoppers don’t even glance at the display and others look as they walk by. But some stop. They read the sign which says that the panels are a birthday card and that they will be in Washington at the end of May. A girl wearing a pink sweatshirt who barely comes up to her dad’s waist pauses as she walks by the panels. After asking if the girl wants to sign Lincoln’s birthday card, Henderson lets her pick out her favorite color — orange. “Put your hand there and I’ll trace it,” the father tells his daughter. “See this,” he says pointing at another traced hand on the panel. “Put your hand like that.” When he finished tracing his daughter’s hand, the father wrote, “Jada, 2” below the palm.

“I’m tr ying to bind the ages,” Allen said. “It’s not that long ago” that Lincoln was alive. She said it’s important to keep in mind that Lincoln’s and others’ sacrifices are why Americans have the freedoms they have today. “We had a man from Georgia sign it,” Allen said. “He thanked President Lincoln for being lenient to the Confederacy and he drew a little Confederate flag. It was like he was really talking to Lincoln.” Allen said almost all the signatures seem to display a personal connection between the signer and Lincoln. Some of the messages on the panels are serious and thoughtful. “Dear Mr. Lincoln,” one person signed. “Your virtues will be revered as long as there is an America.” Other messages are more playful. “For the greatest president on his 200th Remembrance Day,” one reads. “Still looking good after all these years!” When the card reaches Washington, D.C., it will be signed for the last time. During the rededication of the Lincoln Memorial, the panels will be displayed on the John F. Kennedy hockey fields, next to the reflecting pool in front of the Memorial. The panels will then be archived either at the National Archives in D.C. or at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Illinois. According to Allen, the panels will be brought back out in 2109 for the Lincoln’s 300th birthday and another rededication of his memorial.

Brown Television hasn’t aired an original program in almost two years. But “Campus Liquors,” a show that has been in production since early Februar y, will mark the station’s comeback next week. As its name suggests, “Campus Liquors” takes place in an on-campus liquor store. In fact, the idea was born because its creators Alex Dobrenko ’10 and Quinn Fenlon ’10 work together in a liquor store on College Hill. “There’s a lot of downtime when we just have fun,” Dobrenko said of his work at the store. “We realized that you could capture the pulse of the University through this auxiliar y piece of it.” About 12 students are currently working on various aspects of the show, written by Dobrenko, Fenlon and Mitch Moranis ’10 and produced by Joe Mellano ’10. In the show, Dobrenko and Fenlon play John and Gus, two best friends working at a liquor store, which serves as the show’s main set. Other cast members include John and Gus’s friends Dan and Kathy. Nick Bakshi ’10, a Herald editorial page board member, plays Dan, who likes to think that he works at the liquor store with John and Gus. Kathy, played by Mariagrazia LaFauci ’12 provides the female presence and influence on the three male friends. The first episode of “Campus Liquors” centers on

John’s search for a myster y girl he met at a party. The writers plan on opening each episode with a short “documentar y-style” inter view with a Brown professor. “The idea is that we find professors who can briefly discuss themes that relate to their area of exper tise,” Mellano said in an e-mail to The Herald. “For instance, if the episode is in some way about business, we may have Professor (Barrett) Hazeltine talk for a bit.” According to Mellano, who is also a member of BTV’s development team, the station had originally planned to provide students with the technology to film a show, but not with production guidance or tech support. But Mellano decided to get more involved when he realized that the student directors needed more than just a camera and a clapboard. He also brought with him director Jer r y Wolf Duf f Sellers ’09 and technicians Ben Howard ’11, Adam Pliskin ’12 and Calvin Main ’12. Along with “Campus Liquors,” BTV is looking to produce other student-created shows. Mellano is working on a show called “Roundhouse,” by Joshua Marcotte ’11, which should be ready for air soon. Though producing “Campus Liquors” consumes several hours each week, its cast and crew feel it’s worth it. “College gets life from alcohol,” Dobrenko said. “It’s bad to say, but it’s a big part of our lives, so why not center a show around that?”

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Friday, March 6, 2009

“It’s everything that makes you want to lift your game and write better.” — Peter Carey, on Proust’s “In Search of Lost Time”

Carey discusses Proust, Dickens continued from page 1

the novel, Carey said, allegorizes the relationship the United States has with many other countries, including Australia. “Illegal Self,” on the other hand, is firmly grounded in recent American history. The protagonist, young Che Selkirk, is the child of ’60s hippies but is raised by his Park Avenue grandmother. In the opening passages Carey read, the boy’s prodigal mother returns for him, leading to a tension-filled scene in an Upper East Side Bloomingdale’s. “Here we go in with boys and mothers again,” Carey observed. He then read from a later passage that finds Che and mom hitchhiking in rural Australia. After the reading, Carey fielded questions about his interest in reworking Victorian novels — Dickens’ “Great Expectations” inspired his 1997 novel “Jack Magg” — and about the ethics of representing Australian Aboriginal characters in literature.

“I think if you’re Australian, you live daily, almost no matter what your politics, with the recognition that the place you’re living in is not yours, that it was taken,” said Carey, who is of European descent. “The indigenous people would prefer that I did not represent them,” he said, describing a conversation he had with an Aboriginal activist who once told him, “Enough damage has been done already by misimaginings of who we are. Why don’t you leave that alone, for now?” As an author, though, Carey added, “I really do think it’s our responsibility to imagine everybody and everything, so I’m inconsistent.” As for Dickens, Carey’s response was more jocular. “Until driven by expediency, I’d had a lot of trouble reading Dickens,” he said. But after reading Edward Said’s analysis of “Great Expectations” in “Culture and Imperialism,” Carey said, he was excited to read the novel and ended up incorporating it into his own writing in “Jack Magg.”

Faced with a dearth of questions after the sparsely attended reading, Carey then ended the talk, but the event continued at a reception at 68 ½ Brown Street — home of the Literary Arts department, which sponsored the reading. Carey’s work involves a “more complicated sense of realism,” Assistant Director of Literar y Arts Gale Nelson said at the reception. He described the prescience of “Tristan Smith,” which envisioned technologies nonexistent in the mid90s that are now prevalent. Carey named a few of his favorite authors — including Henry James, Joseph Conrad and W.G. Sebald — and talked about his current attempt to read Proust’s “In Search of Lost Time.” “Proust is wildly boring, and then he’s wildly exhilarating,” Carey said, paraphrasing James. “It’s everything that makes you want to lift your game and write better.” Carey said he recently turned in a new manuscript to his publisher, which may appear in 2010.

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Arts & Culture The Brown Daily Herald

ice , ice bab y

PW revamps Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’ By Anita Mathews Staff Writer

Frederic Lu / Herald Dramatic swings in temperature in the first week of March made for prime icicle-forming conditions in Providence.

Opera ‘one big hookup’ By Rosalind Schonwald Staf f Writer

Brown Opera Productions will present 19th-century Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti’s “L’elisir d’amore” (“The Elixir of Love”) this weekend, March 6-8, in Alumnae Hall. Despite the pressure and hard work involved in putting on BOP’s most ambitious project yet, members of the cast and crew said they approached the experience with gusto, flair and excitement. The opera’s plot involves a number of characters figuring out what most college students learn their first week on campus. Nemorino, a poor peasant (Benjamin Skerritt ’09), is in love with Adina (Alexandra Bachorik ’10). Desperate to get Adina’s attention, Nemorino buys a “love elixir” from the mountebank Dulcamara (Matthew Garza ’11). But the sole ingredient in this elixir is wine. “I think he’s madly in love with Adina, but is so timid and nervous that he can’t get anywhere,” said Skerritt, explaining his conception of Nemorino, “When he’s drunk, or under the power of the love elixir, he gets courage he didn’t have before.” “It’s one big weekend hookup,” Skerritt added. Garza has a similarly playful and punchy characterization of his Dulcamara. “He’s a fun guy,” Garza said. “My life is a show basically. My costume is ridiculous. It’s a 19th-century pimp costume, complete with a cane and a fedora.” The cast’s ideas seemed to harmonize with the directors’ overarching concept for the piece. “It’s refreshing in terms of op-

era,” Musical Director Diego Ramos Rosas ’12 explained. “In lots of Italian operas, the female lead dies at the end. This one is very light.” Director Michael Lubin ’10 agreed, characterizing the opera as “an 1830s romantic comedy about misunderstandings” that “plays like a fairy tale.” The jovial thematic tone contrasts with the level of technical difficulty the opera presents to directors, singers and instrumentalists. Many on the production team said they found the structure and acoustic qualities of Alumnae Hall to be major obstacles. The stage’s proscenium has a tendency to block sound from reaching the hall, so the performers said they feel they have to compensate by singing even louder. This acoustic difficulty, combined with the opera’s two-hour running time and the more than 30 hours of rehearsal since last Friday, seems to have taken a toll on the singers. Like much of the campus, they were battling colds — singer’s kryptonite. But they remain optimistic. “We’re the bionic cast,” Bachorik said. “We’re half-chemical, half-human, half-Z-Pak.” “You can’t really treat viral infections, so we’re all on steroids and antibiotics,” she joked. Despite technical obstacles and illnesses, all involved seem excited for the show to go on. Skerritt was convivial and self-deprecating, advising people to attend the performance because “It’s free! And it’s pretty funny, even though it’s two hours of us standing there singing.” “We’ve got at least two smacks in the butt,” Bachorik laughed, to which Skerritt responded, “And smacks in the face!”

Friday, March 6, 2009 | Page 5

When Ovid penned “Metamorphoses” in the first century A.D., it is unlikely he anticipated Beyonce’s “Diva” serving as part of its soundtrack. Yet that is exactly the flavor director Mark Brown ’09 has chosen for Production Workshop’s rendition of “Metamorphoses,” playwright Mary Zimmerman’s contemporary adaptation of the Roman classic. The work, which was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play in 2002, includes vignettes from 11 myths, all of which involve gods and demigods and their influence on human interactions. It is performed by an ensemble cast, and Brown chose to stage it as theaterin-the-round, making good use of the downstairs black box. Brown said the play portrays “love in its various forms,” whether it is directed toward a parent, a lover, a stranger or oneself. “Metamorphoses” draws on themes of greed, faith, lust and betrayal — elements that were as relevant in our day as they were in Ovid’s. While Zimmerman’s adaptation remains fairly true to the canonical myths — perhaps with the exception of a dialogue between the angst-ridden teen Phaeton (Justin Kuritzkes ’12) and his therapist (John Racioppo ’11) — the script also left Brown’s team with the liberty to blend ancient and modern. The costumes, for instance, are colorful, toga-like garments for most characters, yet King Midas

(Racioppo) sports a gold dollar-sign necklace and a gangster hoodie. Brown also chose to deviate from the original production in scrapping the shallow on-stage pool that the action revolved around when the play ran on Broadway. He said he knew from the beginning that he would not incorporate the pool into his version. “It’s a logistical nightmare,” he said. “It’s pretty, but it takes away from the story. I want you to focus on the actors. I want you to focus on the stories.” He said ever ything the pool achieved could be conveyed through lighting, and the audience members would understand the concept without having everything laid out for them. Not having to worry about the pool, he said, “freed me up to do the actual play.” When it came to drawing the line between what would be portrayed on stage and what would be left to the imagination, Brown said he relied heavily on the actors. “I can’t stress enough how much my actors help in that regard,” he said. “For that, I will always sing their praises.” The actors are certainly talented enough to pull off Brown’s vision. Particularly good performances are given by Lauren Neal ’11, who is effortlessly funny as Erysichthon’s mother, and by Liz Rothman ’11, the commanding Aphrodite and graceful Psyche. Tess Avitabile ’11 presents a convincing depiction of Hunger, appropriately reminiscent of Gollum from “The Lord of the Rings.”

Racioppo, as Phaeton’s therapist, delivers a philosophical discourse on the relationship between myth and dream with an air of grandeur. The musician Orpheus, played by Brandon Chinn ’09, beseeches the king and queen of the Underworld to restore his newly married and newly deceased Eurydice, and he draws the audience into his desperate grief, subtly shedding real tears during his plea. The entire show is thoroughly enjoyable because of its narrative aspect, universal threads and especially its moments of comic relief. Brown, who intentionally sought to bring the dance and theater worlds closer together with this production, renders the play in an elegant and entertaining fashion. This is most evident in the vignette of Cupid (Chinn) and Psyche, which Brown said is his “love child for this entire process.” In this scene, the two lovers dance balletically while two other characters narrate the myth and give voice to the nature of love. Brown said he chose this play in an attempt to combat the harshness of modern theater, and that he hopes the audience will find it accessible rather than alienating. “This isn’t heavy-handed stuff,” Brown said, “and I’m fine with that.” “Metamorphoses” runs Fri., March 6 through Mon., March 9 at 8 p.m. every night, with a special midnight performance Sat. night. Tickets are available on PW’s Web site and at the door.

Does this sentence bohter you? Come copy edit! herald@browndailyherald.com

World & Nation The Brown Daily Herald

friday, march 6, 2009 | Page 6

Researchers report NASA to search for ‘other Earths’ stem cell advance By John Johnson Jr. Los Angeles Times

By Karen Kaplan Los Angeles Times

Borrowing a biological cut-and-paste trick from bacteria, scientists have created the first personalized stem cells for patients that are free of the cancer-causing viruses and genes needed to make them, according to a study to be published Friday in the journal Cell. The stem cells, derived from skin samples provided by five patients with Parkinson’s disease, were first transformed into the undecided state of cells in an early embryo. Then they were used to make the dopaminemanufacturing neurons that are lost to disease. The technique removes a key barrier to using a special class of stem cells called an induced pluripotent stem cell, or iPS cell, to create replacement parts for patients that could be transplanted without any risk of rejection — the ultimate goal of regenerative medicine. “This is a major advance in the field,” said Dr. Marius Wernig, an assistant professor at the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, who wasn’t involved with the study. The reprogramming of skin cells into iPS cells, which have the potential to become any type of cell in the body, is one of the hottest areas of biological research. The cells seem to offer all the benefits of embryonic stem cells without any of the ethical drawbacks. They are also ideally suited to making genetically matched tissues for patients, such as insulinsecreting islet cells for people with diabetes or brain tissue to treat stroke victims.

The reprogramming process requires that scientists turn on a handful of genes that are active during early embryonic development but dormant in normal skin cells. Most researchers rely on infecting the cells with viruses to do this job. But these viruses may also lead to cancer, as can some of the genes used for the reprogramming job. Dr. Rudolf Jaenisch, a stem cell researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Mass., and his colleagues found a way to remove the viruses and genes once their work was done. They engieered three viruses that contained the reprogramming genes — known as Klf, Sox2 and Oct4 — flanked by pieces of DNA called loxP sequences. After the skin cells were transformed into colonies of iPS cells, the scientists activated a protein that snipped out everything between the loxP sequences. The technique is commonly used to modify the DNA in cells, and Jaenisch decided to try it with iPS cells. “We borrowed it from bacteria,” said Jaenisch, the study’s senior author. “Bacteria need it for certain genetic manipulations.” Andras Nagy, a stem cell researcher at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, compared the approach to using detachable solid rocket boosters to propel the space shuttle into orbit. “The (reprogramming) genes are the rocket,” he said. “When they are no longer needed -— in fact, it’s very dangerous to have them around — they have to be removed.”

The first spacecraft dedicated to finding potentially habitable planets beyond our solar system is poised to blast off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday night on a three-year mission to probe 150,000 stars in the most sweeping hunt for Earth-like planets ever undertaken by NASA. By the end of the Kepler mission, scientists will likely know whether planets like ours — where liquid water can exist on the surface to nurture life — are common in the universe, or so rare that we are virtually alone in the cosmic sea. “This is not just another science mission,” said NASA associate administrator Ed Weiler in a media briefing at the space agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. “If you ask me, are there other Earths out there, I’d say absolutely. But I can’t prove it.” “We certainly won’t find E.T.,” added Bill Borucki, the lead mission scientist from the University of California, Berkeley, “but we might find E.T.’s home.” The $590 million Kepler mission consists of the widest field telescope ever flown by NASA. The nearly 15-foot-long instrument has a 55-inch-wide mirror that can simultaneously scrutinize thousands of stars in its search for exoplanets. It will accomplish this by looking for periodic dimming — or winking — of the star’s light caused by planets crossing in front of it, which scientists refer to as a transit. Many of the 340 or so known extrasolar planets, principally discovered by a European team and another at UC Berkeley headed by well-known planet hunter Geoff Marcy, have been found using the same method.

But most of those planets are gas giants, like Jupiter, that orbit very close to their parent stars. Those planets would be far too hot to sustain life, even if they had a rocky surface. No potentially habitable planet has yet been found outside our solar system. Finding a planet like Earth has been impossible because of atmospheric interference that hampers ground-based telescopes. Even the Hubble Space Telescope, which has a larger mirror, falls short because its field of view is too narrow. It’s designed to look deeply rather than widely. Kepler, named after 17th century Danish astronomer Johannes Kepler who discovered the laws of planetary motion, will be able to scan a region of the northern sky between the constellations Cygnus and Lyra that contains about 4.5 million stars. Of the total, according to Natalie Batalha of San Jose State University, 50,000 stars have been pre-selected for intense study. These are stars that are most like our sun, middle-aged and relatively cool so that the so-called habitable zone where life might flourish is close enough to the star that Kepler will be able to see a transit. To spot a transit, Kepler will measure the brightness of each of these stars every 30 minutes for 3.5 years. Even so, finding another Earth will be a challenge. Scientists figure that the change in brightness caused by an Earth-type planet will be less than 84 parts per million, or 0.008 percent. That’s equivalent to the change in brightness caused by a flea crawling across a car’s headlight measured from several miles away. Adding to the difficulty of the task

is that dimming can be caused by events other than a transit, such as sunspots. Also, it is estimated that less than one star system in 100 will have planets properly aligned so that they pass between the star and Kepler’s camera. Kepler scientists are trying to overcome all these problems with brute scientific force. They figure that by looking at thousands of stars, at least some will be in the right configuration with the right temperature to produce another Earth. “It’s all a numbers game,” Batalha said. Finding a planet is just the first stage of the process. After detecting a wink, Kepler will measure how often the dimming occurs. Knowing the orbital period and the star’s size will allow scientists to discover the planet’s location and size. The dimming caused by an Earthtype planet orbiting in the same region as our home planet would occur once a year, or about three times altogether during the mission. Kepler will launch on a threestage Delta II rocket and eventually drift about 45 million miles away so that it won’t have to contend with the reflected light of the moon and Earth. Most of the stars in its survey are relatively close, from tens of light years to 3,000 light years away. The first planets to be discovered in the coming months are likely to be more of the same gas giants that have been found so far. The earliest possible announcement that another Earth has been found won’t take place until at least December 2010. Whatever Kepler uncovers, it is likely to change forever our view of our place in the cosmos. “It’s possible that Earths are very, very common,” Weiler said.

Court likely won’t reverse Prop. 8 By Maura Dolan Los Angeles Times

SAN FRANCISCO — As dueling demonstrators chanted and carried banners outside, the California Supreme Court strongly indicated Thursday it would rule that Proposition 8 validly abolished the right for gays to marry but allow same-sex couples who wed before the November election to remain legally married. The long-awaited hearing was a disappointment for gay rights lawyers, who had hoped the same court majority that overturned the state’s previous marriage ban would conclude that Prop. 8 was an impermissible constitutional revision. Two members of that majority – Chief Justice Ronald George and Justice Joyce Kennard — expressed deep skepticism of the gay rights lawyers’ arguments. Without their votes, Prop. 8 appeared almost certain to survive. continued on page 8

SportsWeekend The Brown Daily Herald

Friday, March 6, 2009 | Page 7

Athletes bring home Ivy, ECAC honors M. hoops looks for bright end to gloomy season

Sports Staff Reports

A number of Brown athletes received recognition for outstanding individual performances last weekend and throughout the season. Men’s hockey Jeff Buvinow ’12 and Assistant Captain Matt Vokes ’09 were each named to the All-Ivy Second Team. Vokes, a forward, leads the team with 11 goals and 15 assists, while Buvinow, a defenseman, has three goals and stands second on the team with 14 assists. In addition, Vokes earned a nomination for ECAC Hockey Player of the Week for his play this weekend. Vokes scored a goal for Brown in a 3-3 tie against Colgate on Friday night and assisted on a goal in a 3-2 loss to Cornell the following night. Bobby Farnham ’12 was nominated for ECAC Rookie of the Week after notching two assists against Colgate. Mike Clemente ’12 continued his stellar play in goal and was nominated for ECAC Goaltender of the Week, recording 38 saves against Colgate and another 39 against Cornell. Women’s hockey Goaltender Nicole Stock ’09 was named to the All-ECAC Third Team for her play this season. Stock, the team captain and a Herald sports staff writer, finished the season with a .921 save percentage and finished first in the Ivy League with 1,026 saves, a Brown record. The selection is Stock’s second consecutive. She made the Second Team last season. Paige Pyett ’12 was named to the ECAC All-Rookie team after finishing the season with three goals and four assists. Men’s basketball Matt Mullery ’10 had two strong

Courtesy of Stew Milne

After scooring a 9.775 on the Floor Exercise, Helen Segal ’10 was named ECAC Rookie of the Week and to the All-Ivy Classic First Team

games for the men’s basketball team over the weekend, earning a place on the Ivy Honor Roll. In a 56-48 loss to Princeton, Mullery scored 11 points on 5-of-11 shooting. He followed that up with 19 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks against Penn in a 64-54 loss. Women’s basketball Though the women’s basketball team struggled over the weekend, losing both of its games, Sadiea Williams ’11 was named to the Ivy Honor Roll. Williams had 13 points and seven rebounds in a 61-38 loss to Princeton and then notched 11 points, six rebounds and four steals in a 55-48 overtime loss to Penn. Gymnastics Several gymnasts were honored

W. tennis slams UMass, looks to Maryland By Meghan Markowski Contributing Writer

The women’s tennis team (8-2) defeated UMass on Tuesday at the Pizzitola Center to win its fourth straight match — and its third straight match with a final score 7-0. Head Coach Paul Wardlaw said the team was setting its sights even higher. “We are a much better team than the teams we are playing,” he said. “I think this is the first year we have a solid group, freshman through senior.” Bianca Aboubakare ’11 and her sister Carissa Aboubakare ’12 played first doubles and won 8-4. “Playing with Carissa is fun,” Bianca Aboubakare said. “We have been playing together our whole lives, so it’s natural.” Sara Mansur ’09 and Cassandra Herzberg ’12 also won their doubles match, 8-3.

The doubles wins gave Brown a one-point lead heading into singles play, where the Bears won all six matches in straight sets. Bianca Aboubakare (7-5, 6-4), Herzberg (6-2, 6-1), Mansur (6-2, 6-0), Tanja Vucetic ’10 (6-2, 6-2), Julie Flanzer ’12 (6-3, 6-4) and Catherine Stewart ’12 (6-2, 6-2) all won handily. “Beating teams 7-0 is a good indication that we are improving a lot,” Bianca Aboubakare said. “All the girls, despite their ranks, are determined to win their matches, even if they know we already won.” The Bears will take on West Virginia and Maryland this weekend in College Park, Md. “The away game will make a difference, (with) different paces and courts,” Wardlaw said. “Some adjustments will need to be made, but we will practice on their courts Friday night. The toughest match will be against Maryland on Sunday.”

after the team took home a secondplace finish at the Ivy Classic last weekend, Brown’s best performance continued on page 8

The men’s basketball team (7-19, ’90 with ex-teammate and Pioneers 1-11 Ivy League) will wrap up the Head Coach Jamie Munro ’89, an season by hosting Harvard (13- All-American during his stint with 13, 5-7) on Friday and Dartmouth the Bears. (9-17, 7-5) on Saturday at the PizAttackman Andrew Feinberg zitola Center. Both games at are 7 ’11 has exploded offensively, with p.m. three goals and two assists in each Last weekend, Matt Mullery ’10 of the team’s first two games. Coltotaled 30 points, 17 rebounds and lins Carey ’10 has already matched eight blocks in two games — a 56- his 2008 total with four goals. The lacrosse action won’t stop 48 loss to Princeton and a 64-54 loss to Penn. on Saturday, The Bears Weekend Preview when the womwill say gooden (1-1) host bye to two tri-captains, Chris Albany at 1 p.m. on the Berylson Skrelja ’09 and Scott Friske ’09, this Family Fields. The Bears will look weekend. Skrelja has averaged 5.7 to rebound from an 11-7 loss last points and 6.9 boards per game, Saturday to Hofstra. Jesse Nunn ’09 good for second in the Ivy League leads the team with six goals, while in rebounding. Friske, who has tal- Lauren Vitkus ’09 has chipped in lied 6.3 points and 5.1 rebounds three. per game, has missed the past four The men’s tennis team (10-4) games due to an illness and is un- will play twice over a long weekend, likely to play this weekend. hosting Fairleigh Dickinson on SatThe No. 18 men’s lacrosse team urday at 1 p.m. and Marquette on (1-1) will look to bounce back from Monday at 5 p.m. Last Saturday, the a crushing 11-10, double-overtime Bears split a doubleheader, sufferloss to Hofstra last Saturday. The ing a 4-3 loss to Binghamton before Bears will host Quinnipiac (1-2) on whitewashing UConn, 7-0. Friday at 3 p.m. and Denver (3-1) Youth won out last weekend, on Sunday at 1 p.m. on Meister- as Kendrick Au ’11 went 4-0 and Kavan Field. Jimmy Crystal ’12 won all three of The latter game will reunite his matches. — Sports Staff Reports Brown Head Coach Lars Tiffany

Page 8

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

S ports W eekend

Existing gay marriages to be upheld continued from page 6

The other two justices who ruled in favor of marriage rights last year — Justice Carlos Moreno and Kathryn Werdegar — seemed more open to the revision challenge. Moreno even helped gay rights lawyers with their arguments. But the court revealed no division on whether to uphold the marriages of an estimated 18,000 same-sex couples who wed before November. Even Justice Marvin Baxter, the court’s most conservative member, observed that the couples married after receiving the right by “the highest court of the state.” “How can we deny the validity of those marriages?” Baxter asked. The court’s ruling is due within 90 days. Gay marriage advocates all but conceded defeat. Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, which represented some of the plaintiffs, acknowledged that the court had appeared skeptical of their arguments. “I think conversations about going back to the ballot need to happen vigorously and strategically,” Kendell said. “2010 would be the next statewide ballot, and in campaign terms, that is just around the corner. I just don’t know whether we have the groundwork in place to

mount such an effort or the financial resources.” The Proposition 8 campaign followed the California Supreme Court’s landmark 4-3 ruling on May 15 to overturn a ban on same-sex marriage. Gay couples quickly lined up to marry, many of them from out of state. The wedding business was brisk until Nov. 4, when Prop. 8 passed with 52 percent of the vote. The two sides spent a total of more than $80 million,

WORLD & NATION the most ever for an initiative about a social issue. The legal challenges to the measure have been closely watched around the nation. Both opponents and supporters of gay marriage flocked to the state building here Thursday where the California Supreme Court is housed, each trying to drown out the other side with chants. Gay rights lawyers had argued that Prop. 8 removed a fundamental right from a protected minority that has suffered discrimination. As such, it revised the constitution, instead of merely amending it, they said. Revisions can be placed on the ballot only by a two-thirds vote of the Legislature or a constitutional convention. Kennard, traditionally a strong supporter of gay rights, repeatedly

noted that Prop. 8 was a mere 14 words and simply took away the “label” of marriage. She reminded lawyers that the “core” part of last year’s marriage ruling required the state to give sexual orientation the same constitutional protection as race and gender. Prop. 8 “hasn’t destroyed equal protection,” Kennard said. “I think what you are overlooking is the very broad powers of the people to amend the constitution.” She described the Prop. 8 case as “completely different” from last year’s marriage cases and stressed that previous Supreme Court decisions “don’t support” the challenges. “What I am picking up from this case is that the court should willy nilly disregard the will of the people,” Kennard said. George also indicated that the elevated constitutional status of sexual orientation was more important than the “mere designation” of marriage. He noted that the California constitution has been amended more than 500 times and asked whether the real problem was that “it’s just too easy to amend the California constitution.” “Maybe the solution has to be a political one,” George said, and until the amendment process is changed, “isn’t this the system we have to live with?”

Friday, March 6, 2009

Gymnasts receive all-Ivy recognition continued from page 7 since 2002. Helen Segal ’10 was awarded ECAC Rookie of the Week honors after an outstanding performance. Segal scored a 9.775 to win the floor exercise, for which she was named to the All-Ivy Classic First Team, and she also scored a 9.300 on vault. Vida Rivera ’11 received the ECAC Coaches Choice Award after she scored a 9.750 for a first-place finish on bars, which also earned her a spot on the All-Ivy Classic First Team. Four other gymnasts earned AllIvy Classic recognition. Katie Goddard ’12 and Chelsey Binkley ’11 secured First Team All-Ivy Classic honors after each placed second on the floor with a score of 9.750. Victoria Zanelli made three Second Teams, for a fourth-place finish on the bars with a 9.675, a fifth-place finish on the beam with a 9.550 and a fourth-place finish in the all-around with a 37.625. Lauren Tucker ’12 scored a 9.575 on the beam to take fourth place and make the All-Ivy Classic Second Team. Track and field At the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships last weekend, 12 individuals from the track and field team secured All-Ivy Honors. Marc Howland ’11 ran a time of 6.95 seconds in the 60m dash to earn a spot on the All-Ivy second team, while Matt Jasmin ’09 earned the same honor in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.07 seconds. Duriel Hardy ’10 was also named to the

second team with a time of 14:27.12 in the 5000m, and Reginald Cole ’10 rounded out the All-Ivy selections with a jump of 49 feet, 6.5 inches in the triple jump, earning second team honors. For the women, Nicole Burns ’09 earned first-team accolades by running a 55.38 to win the 400m. Danielle Grunloh ’10 also earned a spot on the first team by winning the shot put with a personal-best throw of 50 feet, 10.75 inches, while teammate Brynn Smith ’11 threw 47 feet, 10.5 inches to secure second-team honors. Anja Hergrueter ’10 also received a second-team selection in the high jump, clearing 5 feet, 7 inches. Also earning second-team honors was the 4x800m relay team, consisting of Roseanne Fleming ’12, Michaeline Nelson ’11, Emily Mepham ’12 and Kesley Ramsey ’11, which ran a time of 8:59.55. Men’s lacrosse Andrew Feinberg ’11 was named to the men’s lacrosse Ivy Honor Roll after scoring three goals and adding two assists in an 11-10 doubleovertime loss to Hofstra. Feinberg leads Brown with six goals and four assists over the first two games of the season. Baseball Will Weidig ’10 was named to the Ivy Honor Roll for his performance in a 3-2 loss to Florida International on Friday. In his first start of the season Weidig pitched eight innings, giving up just three runs while striking out five batters.

Editorial & Letters The Brown Daily Herald

Page 10 | Friday, March 6, 2009

l e t t e r to t h e e d i to r s

No GPAs at Brown To the Editor: I read with interest Jared Lafer’s ’11 column (“Fearing the NC,” Feb. 24) in which Lafer argues that getting a C in a course is somehow less desirable than an NC because an NC does not appear on one’s external transcript while a C does. Lafer goes on the argue that a C “is a GPA killer as its grade-point value of 2 is sometimes enough to ruin one’s post-college dreams.” Frankly, I’m astounded that Lafer could go through almost two years of Brown and still have such a fundamental misunderstanding of the Brown curriculum. His statement about GPAs is intellectually nonsensical, as Brown does not calculate GPAs. Brown does this for one very simple and intellectually honest reason: GPAs are a fiction that cannot be calculated. Every student reading this letter knows full well that A’s are much harder to obtain in some courses than in others. And even if all A’s were created equal, it would also be nonsensical to numerically compare (with the precision that GPAs portend) one student’s transcript to another’s, unless they have taken an identical set of courses at the same time with the same professors, and the same educational background prior to college. In short, using GPAs to rank or compare stu-

dents is not like comparing apples to oranges. It’s more like comparing carbon dioxide to dining chairs or sadness to salt. As far as a C dashing your “postcollege dreams” is concerned: Employers and graduate schools have no business asking for Brown students’ GPAs. And Brown should ensure they know better. If for some reason a rogue employer or graduate program asks what your GPA is at Brown, you can give them one of two answers, both of which worked just fine for me. I applied — and was successfully admitted — post-Brown to both Wharton for my MBA and Penn for a master’s program in engineering, even though as a Poli Sci concentrator I took nary an undergraduate engineering course and not a single Brown math course. On the application forms for both programs in the little space where they ask applicants for their GPAs, I simply wrote: “Brown University does not calculate GPAs.” Separately, I was interviewed for a job by an older Brown graduate. He asked me for my GPA at Brown and I simply said, “Come on, Jim, you know Brown doesn’t have GPAs.” He sent me on to the next round of the interview. Dave Morris ’88 March 4

t h e b r o w n d a i ly h e r a l d Editor-in-Chief Steve DeLucia

Managing Editors Michael Bechek Chaz Firestone

editorial Arts & Culture Editor Ben Hyman Hannah Levintova Arts & Culture Editor Features Editor Sophia Li Features Editor Emmy Liss Higher Ed Editor Gaurie Tilak Higher Ed Editor Matthew Varley Metro Editor George Miller Metro Editor Joanna Wohlmuth News Editor Chaz Kelsh News Editor Jenna Stark Sports Editor Benjy Asher Sports Editor Andrew Braca Asst. Sports Editor Alex Mazerov Asst. Sports Editor Katie Wood Graphics & Photos Graphics Editor Chris Jesu Lee Graphics Editor Stephen Lichenstein Eunice Hong Photo Editor Kim Perley Photo Editor Justin Coleman Sports Photo Editor production Kathryn Delaney Copy Desk Chief Seth Motel Copy Desk Chief Marlee Bruning Design Editor Jessica Calihan Design Editor Anna Migliaccio Asst. Design Editor Julien Ouellet Asst. Design Editor Neal Poole Web Editor

Associate Editors Nandini Jayakrishna Franklin Kanin Michael Skocpol

Senior Editors Rachel Arndt Catherine Cullen Scott Lowenstein

Business General Managers Office Manager Shawn Reilly Alexander Hughes Jonathan Spector Directors Ellen DaSilva Sales Director Claire Kiely Sales Director Phil Maynard Sales Director Katie Koh Finance Director Jilyn Chao Asst. Finance Director Managers Local Sales Kelly Wess National Sales Kathy Bui University Sales Alex Carrere Recruiter Sales Christiana Stephenson Credit and Collections Matt Burrows Opinions Opinions Editor Sarah Rosenthal Editorial Page Board James Shapiro Editorial Page Editor Nick Bakshi Board member Zack Beauchamp Board member Sara Molinaro Board member William Martin Board member Post- magazine Arthur Matuszewski Editor-in-Chief Kelly McKowen Editor-in-Chief

pete fallon

l e t t e r s to t h e e d i to r s

Brown’s values worth more than money To the Editor: In my view, Boris Ryvkin’s ’09 column (“Don’t feed the environmental troll,” March 4) articulates a harmful line of reasoning. Ryvkin identifies the economic crisis as a potent dilemma, but environmental or social programs are not good scapegoats. Environmental reform is a long-term endeavor that is both an investment and a means for improving the standard of living. Preserving backward systems for the purposes of not incurring cost will lead to greater inefficiency and unpleasantness later. Facilities Management’s $5 million loan is not meant to cut into the endowment. Rather, it seeks to promote change that will enhance the campus and save money. Ryvkin is flatly wrong to deny Brown’s environmental impact — consider all of the labs and buildings that have lighting and operation almost 24/7.

To the Editor: In these challenging economic times, Brown needs to be both innovative and smart when planning its financial future. The best way to do this is to make secure investments that are sure to bring high returns. I’d like to provide Mr. Ryvkin with a simple answer to the question he raised in Wednesday’s opinion column (“Don’t feed the environmental troll,” March 4). He asked, “Why is Facilities Management, after exacerbating our shortfall with a $5 million loan for an energy efficiency program, pushing ahead with this scheme?” After a quick search on the Facilities Web site for the 2008 Sustainability Report, you will see that Facilities spent $1 million of the $5 million University loan in 2008. That $1 million was spent on energy efficiency projects that save the University $300,000 annually in energy bills. I don’t know about Mr. Ryvkin, but it seems to me that a 30 percent

A significant portion of the Brown community believes that the University’s values outweigh its capacity to produce money and research. Brown’s mission (from its Web site) begins with the responsibility “to serve the community, the nation, and the world.” The University therefore unites the exploration of progressive and novel causes with its academic output. While environmental efforts may not return immediately apparent results, it would be irresponsible not to try. I applaud Brown’s commitment to carbon neutrality, and we need not see this goal as a prohibitive tax on our livelihood. Certainly, priorities must shift to address pressing problems, but to ignore — or worse, deny — the community and the environment we live in is wrong. Let us not confuse saving money with foolishness. Allan Stewart ’10 March 4

guaranteed annual return is a pretty tidy investment. Certainly better than the nearly 30 percent loss the money would have seen as a portion of the endowment. I won’t bother speaking to the benefits of a decreased carbon footprint, the increased student awareness that will result from dorm energy monitoring systems or the important example that Brown is setting for the rest of the world, because frankly, I don’t need to. You can complain all you want about University hiring freezes and tuition increases as a result of the recession, but by committing to energy efficiency improvements, the University is investing its precious assets in the lowest-risk, highest-return option available. I only wish more Americans were engaging in such economically rational behavior. Kirsten Howard ’09 March 5

Ben Hyman, Marlee Bruning, Joanna Lee Designers Lauren Fedor, Geoffrey Kyi, Seth Motel Copy Editors Sydney Ember, Brigitta Greene, Sophia Li, Hannah Moser Night Editors Senior Staff Writers Mitra Anoushiravani, Colin Chazen, Ellen Cushing, Sydney Ember, Lauren Fedor, Nicole Friedman, Britta Greene, Sarah Husk, Brian Mastroianni, Hannah Moser, Ben Schreckinger, Caroline Sedano, Melissa Shube, Anne Simons, Sara Sunshine Staff Writers Zunaira Choudhary, Chris Duffy, Nicole Dungca, Juliana Friend, Cameron Lee, Kelly Mallahan, Christian Martell, Heeyoung Min, Seth Motel, Jyotsna Mullur, Lauren Pischel, Leslie Primack, Anne Speyer, Alexandra Ulmer, Kyla Wilkes Sports Staff Writers Nicole Stock Senior Business Associates Max Barrows, Jackie Goldman, Margaret Watson, Ben Xiong Business Associates Stassia Chyzhykova, Misha Desai, Bonnie Kim, Maura Lynch, Cathy Li, Allen McGonagill, Thanases Plestis, Corey Schwartz, William Schweitzer, Kenneth So, Evan Sumortin, Haydar Taygun, Webber Xu, Lyndse Yess Design Staff Sara Chimene-Weiss, Katerina Dalavurak, Gili Kliger, Jessica Kirschner, Joanna Lee, Maxwell Rosero, John Walsh, Kate Wilson, Qian Yin Photo Staff Qidong Chen, Janine Cheng, Alex DePaoli, Frederic Lu, Quinn Savit, Min Wu Copy Editors Sara Chimene-Weiss, Sydney Ember, Lauren Fedor, Casey Gaham, Anna Jouravleva, Geoffrey Kyi, Frederic Lu, Jordan Mainzer, Kelly Mallahan, Allison Peck, Madeleine Rosenberg Web Developers Jihan Chao

correction A comic in Thursday’s Herald, (“Socrates,” March 5) was incorrectly attributed. It was drawn by Luke Jeffrey ’12. 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 editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial page 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 clarity 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.

Opinions The Brown Daily Herald

Friday, March 6, 2009 | Page 11

A modest proposal

Alyssa Ratledge Opinions Columnist Poor Anish Mitra ’10. He came to an Ivy League university expecting to sit among today’s most prosperous and tomorrow’s most powerful, but instead he’s forced to spend his dinners with Ratty riff-raff (“A little elitism goes a long way,” Feb. 27). Clearly Brown needs to attract more wealthy and powerful applicants, restoring it to its rightful stature. Here is my modest proposal to do so: It is a melancholy prospect for those who walk through this great University expecting the beauties of a traditional Ivy League institution and seeing instead a wide variety of people taking advantage of the liberal, progressive mess that’s taken over our campus. How tragic it is to see people who clearly don’t belong in a place of such prominence and historical elitism claiming spots that might be given to the nation’s wealthiest and most powerful! I think it is agreed by all parties that the prodigious number of undesirables at an institution as fine as Brown demeans the history of the place as an educational establishment for elite white Protestant males. Indeed, the move toward enfranchising those traditionally ignored by the Ivy League has placed an unfair burden on powerful men, dampening the potential success of their progeny. Just installing a few clubs for these men would hardly build up their senses of self-worth to 1916 levels — we must instead purge the undesirables from the institution! Many advantages might be enumerated: for instance, we might finally settle the con-

troversy over Trattoria vs. Tastes of the World in the Ratty by eliminating the need for diversity in our meals. We could drop concentration programs like Slavic Studies and Theater Arts and stop teaching needless foreign languages — really, just Latin and Greek would suffice. Empty bottles of fine scotch would replace crumpled cans of Natural Light in Keeney bathrooms on Sunday mornings. Eliminating the undesirables also makes economic sense. The endowment is shrinking, and what better way to build it back up than to admit only students whose families can afford full tuition? Students on finan-

changes have negatively impacted the prospects of those who once held the monopoly on the Ivy League. How cruel of people like me — people on financial aid, people lacking Y chromosomes — to obstruct the natural progression of dynasties retaining their wealth and influence. The existing self-segregation of clubs at Brown, dividing students into casual groups based on interests or shared experiences rather than sheer affluence, is clearly unsatisfactory. How nice it must have been when groups like the Brown Republicans had massive participation, and groups like the Asian American Students Association didn’t exist. The Brown of 1916 might not have let in people like Anish Mitra or me, but it did have the undeniable sensation of being elite. No number of secret societies will bring back that feeling. I do therefore humbly offer it to public consideration that we less-deserving make room for the wealthy and powerful — the elites — to reclaim Brown as their own. Just as Jonathan Swift sacrificed by eating surplus Irish children, this woman is fully prepared to step back into her place, baking pies and birthing babies. If that is the sacrifice I must make for men to feel better about their elite status and have more elite clubs, then I am by all means prepared to do so. In what other way can we avoid such a perpetual scene of misfortune in this dirty sea of progressivism?

Opinions Columnist We’ve all heard the remarks from friends or family members, even those who previously scoffed at us for being overeducated and out of touch: “You’re lucky to be in school right now in this job market.” Yes, graduate school is seen by some as a way to extend those postcollege years and put off joining the ranks of working stiffs. The rigors of graduate school often result in a rather cloistered environment, a safe little cocoon, where for five years, your biggest worries are oral exams, peer review and finally finishing a dissertation that three people, at most, will ever read. But are graduate students really safe from the current economic meltdown? In recent months, President Ruth Simmons has been trying to allay the Brown community’s fears. There is even a new Web site designed to address students’ economic concerns by listing available support services, providing reading lists and urging everyone to do their part by being active and involved citizens. And Dean of the Graduate School Sheila Bonde has reassured students that even in this time of financial insecurity, the priorities of the University will include academic programs and continued positive educational experiences for both undergraduate and graduate students. What will this translate to in terms of your

graduate experience? First, relax: your measly stipend is safe. Brown is proud to provide five years of promised support — including stipend, tuition remission and a health insurance subsidy — for all doctoral students. Maintaining that support for Ph.D. and terminal master’s candidates is one of the goals set by the Corporation for the next fiscal year. Amidst all the economic doom and gloom, there are other bright spots for grad students. Increases in spending will expand the funds for graduate student conference travel by $65,000 to nearly $200,000 and preserve faculty searches already underway as part of the Plan for Academic Enrichment. Now for the bad news. Grad student tuition will increase by 3 percent to $38,048. Tuition remission means that this burden will not fall on us, but the increased cost of educating each grad student will negatively impact the planned growth of the graduate school Although it was a stated goal of the Plan, Brown will not be able to vastly increase the number of Ph.D. students admitted to its graduate programs in the near future. Other changes may not concern grad students as directly but will be felt throughout the affected academic departments. One of the recommended actions listed by President Simmons in her recent letter to the Brown community is a cutback in the budget for administration. Additionally, planned increases in faculty that are not already in progress may be scrapped.

Opinions Columnist

Some departments may feel the effects of the cutbacks more than others. For example, the Plan envisions the establishment of a department of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Science by 2010. This department would consist of the current faculty of cognitive and linguistic sciences and psychology, plus 10 new hires. While four of these job searches are still underway this year, plans for a new building have been postponed. The new Mind, Brain and Behavior Building was conceived as a cutting edge structure where the cognitive and linguistic sciences and psychology departments would merge together, sharing ideas, space, and resources. The departments may yet combine into one. But instead of constructing a new building to house the department, the University plans to renovate an existing building for that purpose. So, is graduate school a safe place to weather out the current economic storm? For now, yes. We might not be receiving all the growth we were promised, but I know that I can expect a steady paycheck — at least until my dissertation defense. As for the forecast beyond that, I’m crossing my fingers — and looking into extended postdoctoral positions. Mary Bates GS is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Psychology. She can be reached at Mary_Bates@brown.edu.

Anthony Staehelin ’10 is political science concentrator from Geneva, Switzerland. He can be reached at anthony_staehelin@brown.edu.

Alyssa Ratledge ’11 is from Mesa, Arizona — where this sadly might not be considered satire — and can be reached at alyssa_ratledge@brown.edu.

Graduate school in a time of economic uncertainty MARY BATES

Anthony Staehelin This past Tuesday night, some underclassmen went to Wayland Arch and turned in their bid cards, thereby taking the first step towards becoming a Greek brother or sister. Although Greek life at Brown is noticeably less prominent than at many other schools, Brown does have somewhat of a Greek presence with fraternities, sororities and co-ed houses, also known as frarorities. Yet most non-Greeks have preconceived notions about fraternity life that are far from accurate. At all levels of the University, people tend to dismiss or mock it, thinking of fraternities as testosterone-laden party centers and sororities as image-driven social clubs. Initially, I, too, was disdainful of fraternities and would never have imagined joining one, despite the fact that my own brother (in the familial, non-Greek sense of the word) was in Sigma Chi. Coming from Switzerland, all I knew about fraternities was what I had seen in American movies: beer, push-ups, beer, paddling, beer, parties, beer, etc. Today, I have a much fuller and more accurate understanding of Greek life. (I should specify here that obviously I am an expert only on my own fraternity, Sigma Chi, but I believe that most of what I have to say is applicable to other houses as well.) Greek houses at Brown are extremely valuable to students. They are character-building institutions that encourage commitment and dedication, spur creativity, hone leadership skills and promote growth. At a time in life when men and women are going through a determining phase of development, when they choose who and what they will become, Greek houses provide the perfect base for excelling at Brown and in life. If you take a look at the different members of the Greek houses on campus, you will see some of the most accomplished and dedicated students at Brown. These Greek brothers and sisters would tell you that their fraternity or sorority has helped them and continues to help them achieve their goals by providing them with a strong foundation and a structure of reciprocal friendship. Though entertainment is an important element of Greek life, it is only the celebration of our brotherhood, not the cause of it. The rest of campus solely witnesses a minor part of Greek life — the partying and drinking side — because most other social events and gatherings are private. In reality, Greeks spend their time like every other Brown student: work, activities, sports, etc. The rest of the time is divided between some ritual activities, running the house and managing the day-to-day tasks of an organization of 80-plus people. Additionally, much time is spent trying to give back to the community. Some houses host events and give the proceeds to charity; others participate in activities such as Relay for Life that raise awareness or funds, and still others work directly in the community. Last Halloween, for example, all of Wriston opened its doors to young children from a local school who spent the afternoon going house to house and listening to ‘horror stories’ or walking through haunted rooms. This is the Greek life I know, and the Greek life I wish more people on campus acknowledged.

How cruel of people like me — people on financial aid, people lacking Y chromosomes — to obstruct the natural progression of dynasties retaining their wealth and influence.

cial aid are only draining opportunities from those whose families have taken advantage of capitalism’s glory. Being studious of brevity, I omit many other benefits, but I remind you all that ignoring Brown’s historically elite status would be a grave mistake. One immediately hearkens back to the good olde days, when women knew they were too dainty to vote and minorities knew to stay a few steps back. I have been assured by a very knowing acquaintance that this has been the rightful order of things in all successful Western societies and that it is a model not to be broken. Alas, that is exactly what we have done. Ninety-three years have seen the admission of women and minorities, the creation of the New Curriculum and financial support for students from all income levels. Sadly, these

Frat life no ‘Animal House’

Today The Brown Daily Herald

5

Love and song at the opera.

7

to day

to m o r r o w

45 / 34

56 / 39

M. hoops hopes to end season strong.

Friday, March 6, 2009

the news in images

Page 12

d i a m o n d s a n d c oa l Coal to the Brown Concert Agency for booking rapper Nas for Spring Weekend. We know budgets have been tight recently, but surely you could have done better than a paltr y three letters for the headliner two years in a row? (At least next year we’re sure to get T.I.) Honestly, though, a diamond to the BCA for introducing online ticketing this year. There’s no need to make students stand in line for more than an hour unless something truly critical is at stake (like a rush-hour foccacia sandwich). Coal to the hypocritical hippies from emPOWER who drove — yes, drove — to Washington, D.C. from Providence. Maybe it was worthwhile, but next time you should emPEDAL your freaking bikes instead.

3

A diamond to President Ruth Simmons, who told UCS that some “very senior” administrative positions will be eliminated to save money on salaries. But what will we do without you?

c a l e n da r

A cubic zirconium to new Dartmouth president Jim Yong Kim ’82. Our tentative congratulations, but the idea of putting a sensitive Brown alum in charge of Brown’s hard-drinking cultural opposite is so strange we’re not sure it isn’t an elaborate fraternity prank.

today, march 6

Saturday, march 7

8 p.m. — Donizetti’s “L’elisir d’amore” presented by Brown Opera Productions, Alumnae Hall

7 P.M. — Boston Byzantine Choir performance, Manning Chapel

8:30 P.M. — GAIA Concer t, The Underground

9 p.m. — Girl in a Coma Concert: A Women’s History Month kickoff event, Sayles Hall

menu Sharpe Refectory

Verney-Woolley Dining Hall

Lunch — Shrimp Stir Fry, Chicken Fingers with Dipping Sauces, Swiss Corn Bake

Lunch — Chicken Fingers with Dipping Sauces, Sticky Rice, Sugar Snap Peas

Dinner — Crispy Thai Tofu, Vegan Fried Rice, Filet of Sole with Spinach Stuffing

Dinner — Seafood Jambalaya, Macaroni and Cheese, Carrots Vichy

RELEASE DATE– Friday, March 6, 2009

Coal to the University for enrolling a record 1,100 freshmen in first-year seminars. We knew the numbers were artificially inflated when one of our staffers headed off to UNIV0640K: “Introduction to Katherine Bergeron’s Dr y Cleaning.” A diamond to John Edwards, who will speak at Brown next week despite not having informed the Brown Lecture Board of “an official speech topic.” It doesn’t matter — with that gorgeous hair of yours, we’re not even paying attention to the words coming out of your mouth. (Neither was New Hampshire.) A diamond to the endowment, which only sank to $2.01 billion at the end of 2008. The Corporation figured we’d be at $2 billion in June — at worst — so we’ve still got a long way to fall before things look really bad. Seriously though, coal, coal and COAL to the inconceivable fact that Brown just lost $800 million. That’s 139,130,435 meal credits, or enough Kozy Shack tapioca pudding to fill University Hall! (Don’t get any ideas, activists.)

c r o sDaily s w oCrossword rd Los Angeles Times Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

ACROSS 1 Second-story man 5 Pianist Templeton 9 Lead 14 Purim’s month 15 Marching band burden 16 Muhammad’s daughter 17 Biker’s sentiment? 20 Mideast bigwig 21 System developed at Bell Labs 22 Out of the park 23 Atlanta Braves’ div. 25 Top server 27 Mechanic? 33 Heavy weight 35 Antiquated oath 36 Microscopic menace 37 Charity 39 Spam, sometimes 42 Comfort 43 Con 45 Two-stripers, e.g.: Abbr. 47 Part of a support group 48 Pawn shop visitors from some plantations? 52 Blunt-tipped blade 53 Mer land 54 Recipe direction 57 Trading center 60 Stars at the Colosseum? 64 Disaster at a flooded smokehouse? 67 Childish comeback 68 Lebanese designer Saab 69 City north of Oakland 70 Snap 71 Sheltered spot 72 Rhyme runaway, and how this puzzle’s theme answers are formed? DOWN 1 Where Bill and Hillary met

2 Land south of Moab 3 Compromised 4 What some keepers keep 5 Bolted down 6 Doozy 7 Blake’s black 8 Fancy spread 9 Danube city 10 Something to do before dinner 11 Sunshine cracker 12 Christian East Coast university 13 Blood pressure raiser, usually 18 The Bobbettes’ only Top-40 hit 19 NYSE part: Abbr. 24 Sidle 26 Big foot? 27 Yet to be satisfied 28 Engine part 29 Hersey’s bell town 30 Doesn’t work 31 Supermodel Benitez 32 It means nothing to René 33 It’s 1 on the Mohs scale 34 Mixed bag

38 16th century Span. Carmelite reformer 40 Former RR regulator 41 Mischievous deity 44 Rider of Dinny the dinosaur 46 Psalms interjection 49 Nautilus captain 50 Bliss 51 Respond to “I didn’t get it”

54 Booty 55 Poi, basically 56 News __ 58 Move, in Realtor lingo 59 Chamber music piece 61 Bangkok native 62 Seance sounds 63 Eastern nurse 65 Optical sensor 66 Shatner’s “__War”

comics Cabernet Voltaire | Abe Pressman

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Socrates | Luke Jeffrey

xwordeditor@aol.com

03/06/09

The One About Zombies | Kevin Grubb

By Jack McInturff (c)2009 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

03/06/09

Don’t forget – spring your clocks forward, Sunday at 2 a.m.!