Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Daily Herald the Brown

vol. cxlv, no. 16 | Wednesday, February 17, 2010 | Serving the community daily since 1891

Rushdie urges free speech, dissent Controversial author discusses literature, politics

By Suzannah Weiss Ar ts & Culture Editor

Internationally recognized BritishIndian author and political activist Salman Rushdie spoke to a diverse audience in an overflowing Salomon 101 about freedom of speech, India’s future and literature’s relationship with politics.

Rushdie, a Booker Prize winner and controversial defender of free speech, began his lecture on “Public Events, Private Lives: Literature and Politics in the Modern World” with a reflection on his writing’s political influences.

“My private life has probably

been more affected by public events than some,” he told the crowd, referring to an assassination attempt resulting from his criticism of Islamic fundamentalism and a lawsuit for defamation by former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

“The space between public life and private life has shrunk,” he said.

Unlike many famous writers from previous eras, novelists today are obligated to acknowledge some larger social context in their stories, he added.

While authors used to create characters with the assumption that “the life you have is shaped by your obsessions and constraints and your nature,” Rushdie said, recent large-scale events have been challenging this view. Especially after the Sept. 11 attacks, “we have the sense of not having agency over our lives.”

Rushdie said international af-

fairs affect the lives of individuals now more than ever, singling out Pakistan as “probably the most important country in the world.”

“What happens in Pakistan is going to determine our fates,” he said.

He then interrupted his statement about Pakistan and India making peace with a burst of laughter.

“Sorr y, I just saw a pig fly,” he said.

The greatest controversy sparked by Rushdie developed because of 1988’s “The Satanic Verses,” which openly criticizes the ideology underlying the Islamic Revolution, leading Ayatollah Khomeini to issue a fatwa ordering Rushdie’s execution.

Of the resulting assassination attempt by Mustafa Mahmoud Mazeh, Rushdie mused, “Guess which one of us is dead,” alluding to Mazeh’s continued on page 3

Nick Sinnott-Armstrong / Herald

Salman Rushdie spoke to the capacity audience about the intersection of his private and public lives and the importance of freedom of speech.

60-year-old alum competes in grueling triathlon

By Anne Artley Contributing Writer

One fateful August almost 30 years ago, Elie Hirschfeld ’71 P’06 found the inspiration that would drive

FEATURE him to compete in over 75 triathlon races. While relaxing in his summer house in the Hamptons, he glimpsed a photograph of a runner

crossing a race’s finish line in the local paper.

Though Hirschfeld’s running experiences had been limited to casual races in Central Park, the ar ticle caught his interest.

Hirschfeld, a trustee emeritus of the Corporation, told his secretary to save the article and to give it to him in the spring.

Come spring, she returned the clippings, and one read was all it

took for Hirschfeld to start his new fitness regimen.

“The article described a triathlon, and I thought ‘Oh my God, this sounds interesting,’ ” Hirschfeld said. “The sport was only five years old at that time. I thought, ‘I’m a jogger. Ever yone can ride a bike.

Now all I have to do is learn how to swim.’ ” Hirschfeld was in his 30s when he found the article, relatively old

to train for a new type of competition.

At the age of 60, his passion for triathlons is still alive and well — he was the oldest competitor in the Israman Negev Ironman Triathlon that was held in Israel on Jan. 29.

Hirschfeld has dedicated the past 27 years to the life of a tricontinued on page 3

M. icers hang with Cornell but not Colgate, lose both

By Dan Alexander Sports Editor

Trailing 4-3 to No. 6 Cornell with 1:06 left in the game, men’s hockey Head Coach Brendan Whittet ’94 pulled his goalie in favor of an extra attacker in last-minute desperation.

Sports

Jonathan Bateman / Herald

inside

A team-leading 10th goal by forward Aaron Volpatti ’10 was not enough to propel the men’s hockey team to an Ivy League upset.

News.....1-3 Spor ts...4-5 Editorial..6 Opinion...7 Today........8

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The Bears fired shot after shot on net and got one last opportunity with 10 seconds left. But Cornell’s Patrick Kennedy blocked the puck with his body and passed it ahead to Blake Gallagher, who scored an empty-net goal with just one second left to give Cornell a 5-3 victory and Brown its first of two losses on the weekend.

“We could have easily won that game, and then maybe Saturday would have been a different story,”

said tri-captain Aaron Volpatti ’10.

But the Bears lost their second game, falling to Colgate, 6-2.

No. 6 Cornell 5, Brown 3 Despite the large discrepancy between the team’s two records, forward Tyler Roeszler of Cornell (14-7-3, 11-4-2 ECAC Hockey) said he knew the Bears (7-15-3, 5-10-3) would give his team a challenge.

“Their record may not show that, but make no mistake, we respect them and we knew they were going to work hard and battle,” Roeszler said.

Cornell jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on Friday, but the Bears hung around all night.

“Their resiliency was one of the things I was really impressed with,” said Cornell forward Colin Greening.

news in brief

Gate to stay closed until Friday The Gate is set to reopen this Friday after being closed since Feb. 5 due to a leaky steam pipe, according to Gate Unit Manager Kara Segal ’10.

In addition to fixing the pipe, the Gate is also installing a new pizza oven to replace a faulty one. Though the Gate was scheduled to open on Wednesday, Gate workers were alerted Tuesday evening in an e-mail that the re-opening would be postponed due to the delayed installation of the oven. The delivery was prevented by bad weather in the Midwest and Northeast, though Segal said she expects the shipment to arrive either Wednesday or Thursday.

“It would be surprising if (the Gate) did not open on Friday, but you never know,” Segal said.

— Claire Peracchio

continued on page 5

News, 3

Sports, 4

Opinions, 7

Divestment demands Students protest Brown’s investment in hotel company HEI

wrestling success The wrestling team beat Harvard for first Ivy League victory.

Budgeting Brown Will Wray ’11 takes on President Simmons and U. cost-cutting.

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

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Page 2

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

C ampus N EWS

Second ‘slump’ month aims to ease stress

By Roberto Ferdman Contributing Writer

Sophomore year can be a stressful time — but the sophomore class board is committed to helping second-year students relax a bit, said 2012 Class Board President Imani Tisdale ’12.

February is the second-annual Slump Month, during which the class board is hosting events intended to ease anxieties about the so-called sophomore slump.

In their second year, students are forced to narrow their academic interests, choose their concentration, decide whether they want to study abroad and worry about summer internships, Tisdale said.

“I think it’s different for every person, but it’s difficult because you have to decide what you’re going to major in and think about the future even though you aren’t quite there yet,” she said.

Erin Jones ’12 echoed these sentiments. “All of a sudden you feel like there’s so much life to figure out,” she said.

As part of Slump Month, the 2012 Class Board scheduled five

events for February. Its first event, “Throwback,” which was held Saturday, treated students to focaccia sandwiches and Nickelodeon cartoons.

“It went really well,” Tisdale said. “We were really impressed. I think we ended up getting at least 100 people.”

The University has also supported efforts to assuage sophomoreyear stresses. The student-initiated Match Advising Program for Sophomores highlights a growing focus on helping second-year students cope with their decisions. Coordinated by Molly Jacobson ’10, the program has paired 40 sophomores with 40 seniors of similar interests, The Herald reported Feb. 11.

The class board is hopeful that all students will warm to the events.

“I think a lot of kids feel that they have to be a sophomore to attend the events, but they’re for everyone. They’re only geared towards sophomores,” Tisdale said.

Upcoming Slump Month events include games at the arcade Dave and Buster’s on Feb. 18, a hookah night at Zenobia on Feb. 24 and a ski trip to Okemo on Feb. 27.

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Wednesday, February 17, 2010

“You feel like there’s so much life to figure out.”

— Erin Jones ’12

Course combines politics, philosophy, econ

By Anna Andreeva Contributing Writer

The Political Theory Project, which promotes the multidisciplinary study of political theory, launched a new interdisciplinary course this semester called POLS 1150: “Prosperity: The Ethics and Economics of Wealth Creation.” The course, which addresses topics such as business ethics, liberty, market society and the relationship between wealth and happiness, is taught by Associate Professor of Political Science John Tomasi, Assistant Professor of Philosophy Jason Brennan and Postdoctoral Research Associate in Political Science Mark Koyama.

Currently, 106 students are enrolled in the course. The initial cap of 50 was expanded to 100 due to the course’s popularity, Brennan said, adding that 125 to 150 students were at the first lecture.

The course is a chance for students interested in political science, philosophy and economics to “find out about the connections,” Koyama said.

“This class is inviting people to synthesize tools from different fields in a rigorous way,” Brennan said.

“Undergraduate students have very firm opinions” in these areas, Brennan said. “The point is, maybe it takes more study, maybe they shouldn’t have as firm an opinion.”

The implementation of the course comes in the wake of several un-

successful attempts by the Political Theory Project to institute politics, philosophy and economics as an official concentration. Currently, PPE is available as an independent concentration.

During the course, the three professors take turns giving lectures, but each professor tries to go to every lecture. “We all attend every lecture as far as we are able to,” Brennan said.

Brennan said that out of around 110 students present at one of the early lectures, about 90 claimed to have taken at least one economics class, at least 70 claimed to have had experience with political science courses and about 60 had taken classes in philosophy.

Students’ enthusiasm for the course is “sort of a challenge,” Brennan said. “We have to work hard to deserve that enthusiasm, at the end of the day.”

Koyama and Brennan agreed that combining these three disciplines in a single course can be difficult.

“We have enough topics to lecture on for a semester each,” Koyama said. “Putting all the pieces together in a coherent way rather than just piecemeal,” can also be a challenge, Brennan said.

Brian Judge ’11, a Herald opinions columnist, chose to enroll in the course “because of its multidisciplinary approach to the problem of wealth,” he wrote in an e-mail to

The Herald. “I think that the more ways you can look at something, the more likely you are to make sense of it.”

Judge wrote that he hopes to “explore the assumptions and limits of each of the three disciplines as they relate to prosperity.”

“It’s really useful to have a class in which the professors help to synthesize the political, philosophical and economic ramifications of different ideas,” Aaron Jacobs ’12, another student enrolled in the class, wrote in an e-mail to The Herald.

The professors are allowing students to design their own final assignments for the course, which “allows us to pursue these ideas in a way that will prove most fruitful to our own particular goals,” Jacobs wrote.

“I feel that most of the big issues today can’t be understood without an understanding in these three disciplines,” said PPE concentrator Kurt Walters ’11, who added that pursuing an interdisciplinary independent concentration allows students “the freedom of actually deciding what it is you’re studying.”

The Political Theory Project is not a department on campus, wrote Dina Egge, program manager of the project, in an e-mail to The Herald, adding that the Political Theor y Project is not currently pursuing the formalization of a PPE concentration.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

C ampus N EWS

Page 3

“History itself is the enemy of the fundamentalist.”

— Salman Rushdie

Students protest U.’s hotel investment Ironman alum makes triathlons a family affair

By Sarah Mancone Senior Staff Writer

A crowd of students from the Student Labor Alliance gathered outside of University Hall on Tuesday to protest Brown’s investment in HEI Hotels and Resorts.

The hotel chain was started by a Cornell graduate, and has been invested in by numerous “well-known, prestigious universities” including Brown, said group member Lenora Knowles ’11. Over the past two years, the student group has been fighting for a divestment from HEI due to labor practices that the group thinks are unfair, Knowles said.

This fight has not been confined to Brown. Students are organizing at other universities, such as Harvard, Yale and the University of Pennsylvania, she said. Also, students at universities that do not invest in HEI are now “trying to make sure their school won’t invest,” according to Knowles.

The group became aware of Brown’s relationship with the hotel chain through a YouTube video that

contained a segment of “bragging”

by HEI about the many universities investing in their company, including Brown, Knowles said.

The company does not give sufficient benefits and the management treats employees very poorly, Knowles said.

It is a problem that is “impacting people dramatically,” said group member Jesse Strecker ’10.

The group met to discuss its concerns with President Ruth Simmons on Feb. 1, asking for divestment from HEI, Knowles said. On Tuesday, the group gathered in front of University Hall to deliver a letter to Simmons reiterating their concerns.

The letter was given to Hanna Rodriguez-Farrar ’87 MA’90 PhD’09, assistant to the president. RodriguezFarrar informed the students that a letter was being sent by Simmons to HEI, Knowles said.

Rodriguez-Farrar said she told the group that the University wants to learn more about HEI’s labor practices and hear other schools’ opinions.

“The University is concerned,”

Rodriguez-Farrar said, adding that she wants the group to keep the administration updated.

Overall the protest was “fairly low-key,” Knowles said.

While she was glad that Simmons decided to send the letter, Knowles said it is “definitely not enough.”

The group wants more action to be taken, said member Becca Rast ’13. “People have been fighting this for two years.”

“The letter focused on if these allegations are true,” Strecker said.

He said he is worried that the “runaround we’ve been getting for some time now” will continue.

The group wants the University to do more than ask if the allegations are true, said member Haley Kossek ’13. It wants the University to “recognize them as problems” and “dissociate themselves.”

HEI denied these accusations in the past, Knowles said. “We are still steady in our divestment from HEI,” she said, “and are definitely going to keep putting pressure on Ruth and other governing bodies” at Brown.

Rushdie: We must protect speech we dislike continued from page 1 unintentional suicide bombing.

“Don’t mess with novelists,” he said, adding that if the situation had not been decidedly “not funny, it would have been quite funny.”

To a fundamentalist like his would-be assassin, secularism is “the lowest circle of hell, and that’s where I live,” he said. “The parties are better.”

“History itself is the enemy of the fundamentalist,” he said. The “ability to constantly reshape that narrative” based on changing ideals and new information distinguishes a free society from a fundamentalist one.

Rushdie told the audience that he explored the question of “Do we shape history or does it deform us?” in his 1981 novel “Midnight’s Children.” . In 1984, Gandhi took legal action against Rushdie for referring in his novel to a rumor that she had contributed to the death of her husband, Sanjay Gandhi. According to Rushdie, this incident illustrated the power of recollecting the past to challenge authorities who try to deny it.

The controversy with Gandhi also demonstrated the ramifications one faces “when you piss off powerful people,” he said.

Rushdie said he “got quite excited” upon finding out he could be acquitted if he convinced the court that Gandhi had abused power, and began collecting letters attesting to her poor character. The situation dwindled down, though, after Gandhi’s assassination later that year, which inspired Rushdie’s novel “Shalimar the Clown.”

Rushdie said he urged freedom of speech for a filmmaker who had defamed him, telling the British Board of Film Classifications that he would not sue if the film were

released. After years in hiding because of restrictions on what he could say, he said he did not want to be “defended by an act of censorship.”

Free speech starts, not ends, with the right to express dissent, Rushdie told the crowd.

“If you don’t defend the free speech of people who say things you detest, then you don’t believe in free speech,” he said.

Professor of Political Science Ashutosh Varshney, who organized the lecture and has known Rushdie for years, said the University is “very happy” to sponsor controversial figures “so long as they are talking about issues that are of great concern. The University is not in the business of censoring.”

Many students at the event appreciated Rushdie’s speech and were receptive to his opinions.

Yashua Bhatti ’10 said the lecture was “ver y heartwarming. It was what I expected from an author of his caliber.”

In response to Rushdie’s statement that the world faces a “battle of the humorous against the humorless,” Hannah Schafer ’09.5 said Rushdie proved himself Tuesday night to be part of the former category.

The event was sponsored by the Year of India — Brown’s project to spread awareness of Indian culture and politics — along with the Cogut Center for the Humanities and the Watson Institute for International Studies.

continued from page 1 athlon runner, a lifestyle that requires grueling daily training sessions and the need to maintain a base level of fitness even when there is no upcoming competition. Though Hirschfeld competes in both triathlon and Ironman events, Israman Negev was only his second Ironman since 1990.

An Ironman triathlon requires its participants to swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles and run 26.2 miles — the distance of a marathon.

To prepare for the triathlon, Hirschfeld said he dedicated at least 20 hours a week to his training.

“You have to make up your mind (that) it’s something you really want to do,” Hirschfeld said.

In those six months, Hirschfeld swam 2.4 miles and ran six to 18 miles twice a week, and biked on both stationar y and outdoor bikes for four to five hours each day. Hirschfeld said his legs felt like bricks after the bike training, but that it was important to run right after biking so his body could get used to the transition during the race.

Despite the constant physical demands, Hirschfeld said triathlon races have changed his life for the better, and he is proud to be among the first devotees of the activity.

Triathlons “have grown into something of a following,” he

said. “I feel like I’m one of the originals. Some people do two or three and then they’re done, but for me, it’s a wonderful lifestyle.”

The real estate mogul has turned triathlons into a family affair. He influenced his 29-yearold daughter Daniella to star t competing, and she even ran with him in the first portion of Israman Negev.

Before the day of the race, the pair drove up to the course, and were stunned at what lay ahead of them. Hirschfeld said the course was the most difficult he had ever encountered, and described the 10-mile mountain climb as “hell.”

Even more daunting, the swimming por tion of the race took place in the Red Sea. Though the two are not able to train together because Daniella lives in Boston, they plan to tackle the Mooseman this summer — a half-Ironman in Bristol, N.H. Though Daniella did not continue the Brown legacy — choosing to attend Dartmouth, instead — Hirschfeld’s younger son, David, graduated from Brown in 2006.

Hirschfeld might have conquered the Red Sea and desert mountains in his most challenging triathlon to date, but a rest is not in his agenda. He’s currently training for the Mooseman, and after ward plans to take on a triathlon in Paris on July 18, which includes yet another challenge — a swim in the Seine.

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SportsWednesday The Brown Daily Herald

Wednesday, February 17, 2010 | Page 4

Gymnastics

Wrestling

Gymnasts finish in 2nd, Squad secures first league win vs. Harvard post season-high scores

By Han Cui Assistant Sports Editor

By Tory Elmore Contributing Writer

Do a backflip. Do it gracefully and with a smile on your face.

Do it on a four-inch-wide, leatherbound steel beam, four feet off the ground. And you’d better stick the dismount.

That was beam standout Julia Meyer’s ’13 task on Sunday. And that’s exactly what she did.

Though neither Meyer nor the team as a whole could secure a first-place finish in Sunday’s meet, both posted season-high scores and kept the defending national champion Bridgeport within two points at all stages of competition. The Bears finished second, behind Bridgeport and ahead of Penn and URI. Though thrilled with their teams’ per formances, Bridgeport Head Coach Byron Knox and Brown Head Coach Sara CarverMilne, said they were less than satisfied with the officiating.

“The issues with scoring took my attention from the athletes to the officials,” Knox said.

“You just can’t control the scores,” Carver-Milne added.

All four teams brought strong

competition, including a URI club team that held its own in an arena of dominant varsity programs. URI Head Coach Chelle Kassabian commended her team on “a huge improvement from last week.”

“We had a lot of falls on floor and beam at our last meet,” she said. “I think we showed a lot of progress on all four events.”

Sunday was Senior Day for the Bears, but only one of two seniors could compete. Izzy Kirkham-Lewitt ’10 earned 18.45 combined points for the team on the beam and uneven bars. But Helen Segal ’10 was sidelined with a knee injur y she suffered during last Friday’s meet.

The two seniors thanked their teammates for a great day of competition.

“We really came together, cleaned up our moves and hit hard,” said Kirkham-Lewitt.

“We’re doing all that can be expected of us.”

Expectations rise as the team heads to Alaska this week and to the Ivy Classic next week. The Bears are counting on performances like Meyer’s to pull the team through a tough two weeks of competition.

The wrestlers secured their first Ivy League victory this weekend by defeating Harvard, 33-12, but lost to Lehigh, 33-6.

Brown 33, Harvard 12 “Harvard and us both wrestled with depleted lineups,” said Head Coach Dave Amato. “I was proud of our guys of their bounce back from the loss to Princeton.”

After the Crimson took the first match in the 125-pound weight class by a 10-5 decision, the Bears (4-11, 1-2 Ivy) bounced back by winning the next three matches, all by fall.

The pins by T.J. Popolizio ’12, Zach Kulczycki ’12 and Phil Marano ’13 gave the Bears a healthy 18-3 lead early on in the dual.

“That’s being aggressive,” Amato said of the pins. “They didn’t settle for wins by one or two points. I told the guys beforehand that the team that wins the most falls and majors wins the dual, and they took that to heart.”

The Bears continued to control the pace of the dual, taking four out of the remaining six matches on the day.

Lehigh 33, Brown 6 The Bears opened the dual on a strong note with a win in the

Nick Sinnott-Armstrong / Herald

Bran Crudden ’10 won his match this weekend but injured his knee.

125-pound weight class, but they couldn’t sustain their success for the rest of the meet. The Mountain Hawks won the next six matches until 184-pound Bran Crudden ’10 finally broke the Bears’ losing streak by narrowly winning his match, 3-2.

But it was a costly win for the Bears, as Crudden injured his knee during the match. The injury will likely keep him off the mat this coming weekend, according to Amato.

Crudden’s victory was the last win for the Bears of the day, as Lehigh won the final two matches and

handed the Bears a 33-6 defeat.

“Lehigh is a better team than us,” Amato said of the No. 7 team in the country. “You have to adapt to their pace and wrestle until the last second.

Most of the guys wrestled hard the entire seven minutes, not giving up for a major when they were down.”

The Bears will leave Thursday night for a pair of Ivy duals in New York. They will travel to Ithaca to challenge No. 5 Cornell on Friday night at 7 p.m. The next day they will face off against Columbia to wrap up Brown’s conference season.

news in brief

Page 5

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

S ports W ednesday

M. soccer begins search for new head coach

By Sahar Shahamatdar Contributing Writer

The Department of Athletics is accepting applications for the men’s soccer head coach position after posting the job opening on Feb. 5. The search started after former Head Coach Mike Noonan officially resigned to take an offer from Clemson on Dec. 24. The department intends to select a new coach by mid-March, according to Bob Kenneally ’90, associate athletic director for student services.

The department is expecting 60 to 70 applications by the end of this week, according to Kenneally.

A committee, headed by Kenneally, will evaluate the applicants and begin the interview process. The committee,

which includes faculty, students and members of the Department of Athletics, will convene at the end of the week to start the process of narrowing the field of applicants.

“We will do a thorough search, a lot of background checks and a lot of reference calls,” Kenneally said.

“We’ll look for the right fit for Brown University, and in this particular case, for the men’s soccer program.”

The majority of the applicant pool consists of college coaches, but there are some applicants from professional leagues as well, according to Kenneally. Interim Head Coach and former assistant Patrick Laughlin is also being considered for the position.

The pool will be narrowed down to three to 10 finalists, who will then

be interviewed before the final selection.

According to Kenneally, the department is looking for a candidate with prior coaching experience — not necessarily as a head coach — who encourages academic excellence.

“Our goal is to win a national championship in men’s soccer, so we want somebody that has a successful track record but also takes academics as a top priority,” Kenneally said.

Defenseman Dylan Remick ’13 said he is looking for a coach to bring energy to the program.

“I think the coach should be someone who loves the game and has a passion for it, an intense coach who will make us work,” he said. “We are going to go forward no matter what.”

M. hockey falls to Cornell, Colgate over weekend continued from page 1 “When you get down two goals, it’s hard to keep playing as tenacious as they were.”

Two power-play goals for Brown — one toward the end of the second period by Volpatti and another in the middle of the third by Chris Zaires ’13 — brought Brown within one for all but the last second of the final 9:14.

Volpatti said the game was well within reach.

“Obviously, they’re a really good team,” he said. But “to be honest, I don’t think they’re the No. 6 team.

We could have won that game easily.”

Colgate 6, Brown 2 After losing, 6-3, to Yale on Friday night, Colgate Head Coach Don Vaughan challenged his team to show how hard it could work and compete, according to Raiders’ forward Brian Day. Vaughan’s team responded. Just 2:53 after the puck dropped, the Raiders (12-12-5, 9-7-1) got out to a 1-0 lead on Nick Prockow’s goal.

“We just weren’t ready to go that game,” Volpatti said. “Obviously that’s why (the early goal) happened. It’s a momentum killer.”

Two more Raider goals and a score

by Sean McMonagle ’10 for Brown made it a 3-1 game with Colgate ahead going into the final frame, but Day

said his team wasn’t satisfied.

“A 3-1 lead really isn’t something that you can sit back on and be content about,” he said. “We really didn’t want to leave them hanging around in the third.”

With 1:57 remaining on a Brown power play, it didn’t look as though Colgate would be able to put the game away quickly. But despite the Bears’ man advantage, Brown got lit up in the next 1:37, giving up two shorthanded goals just 45 seconds apart to give Colgate a 5-1 lead.

Both teams scored power-play goals in the middle of the third, and the game ended 6-2.

“It wasn’t a successful weekend by any means,” Volpatti said.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

“We could have won that game easily.”

— Hockey tri-captain Aaron Volpatti ’10

s p o rt s i n b r i e f

Cross country and track coach resigns Cross country and track and field Head Coach Craig Lake resigned Feb. 15, in the middle of the indoor track and field season, according to Bob Kenneally ’90, associate athletic director for student services.

In a statement released Monday, the Department of Athletics said Michelle Eisenreich, the assistant coach for throwing, will fill in as the interim head coach.

“We will finish this indoor and outdoor season with the staff we have in place,” Kenneally said. He said he and Director of Athletics Michael Goldberger “will get together throughout the season and decide what to do after that.”

— Dan Alexander, with additional reporting by Sahar Shahamatdar

Editorial & Letters The Brown Daily Herald

Page 6 | Wednesday, February 17, 2010

A le x Y uly

e d i to r i a l

RoadMAPS

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

Managing Editor Chaz Kelsh

editorial Arts & Culture Anne Speyer Suzannah Weiss Arts & Culture Features Brian Mastroianni Features Hannah Moser Metro Brigitta Greene Metro Ben Schreckinger News Sydney Ember News Nicole Friedman Sports Dan Alexander Asst. Sports Andrew Braca Asst. Sports Han Cui

Deputy Managing Editors Sophia Li Emmy Liss

Editor Editor Editor Editor Editor Editor Editor Editor Editor Editor Editor

Graphics & Photos Graphics Editor Stephen Lichenstein Alex Yuly Graphics Editor Nick Sinnott-Armstrong Photo Editor Max Monn Asst. Photo Editor Jonathan Bateman Sports Photo Editor production Copy Desk Chief Kelly Mallahan Jordan Mainzer Asst. Copy Desk Chief Marlee Bruning Design Editor Anna Migliaccio Asst. Design Editor Julien Ouellet Asst. Design Editor Neal Poole Web Editor Post- magazine Editor-in-Chief Marshall Katheder

Senior Editors Ellen Cushing Seth Motel Joanna Wohlmuth

Business General Managers Office Manager Shawn Reilly Claire Kiely Katie Koh Directors Sales Kelly Wess Finance Matthew Burrows Client Relations Margaret Watson Alumni Relations Christiana Stephenson Managers Arjun Vaidya Marco deLeon Aditi Bhatia Jared Davis Trenten Nelson-Rivers Alexander Carrere Kathy Bui

Local Sales National Sales University Sales University Sales Recruiter Sales Special Projects Staff

Opinions Opinions Editor Michael Fitzpatrick Opinions Editor Alyssa Ratledge Editorial Page Board Matt Aks Editorial Page Editor Debbie Lehmann Board member William Martin Board member Melissa Shube Board member Gaurie Tilak Board member Jonathan Topaz Board member

If freshman year is spent in transition and exploration, sophomore year is when many students begin to settle down and find their place at Brown — a process that involves making lots of decisions. Students must choose and declare their concentrations, pick which groups and activities they want to pursue, and consider options like internships, research, study abroad and semesters off.

During this crucial time, informed advice can be hard to find. Sophomores are no longer part of the Meiklejohn peer advising program and they do not yet have concentration advisors. Depending on their relationships with faculty advisors from freshman year, they may not be receiving any formal advice at all.

Fortunately, the University has just launched a new advising program for second-year students.

The Matched Advising Program for Sophomores, which is currently in its pilot semester, pairs sophomores with seniors who share similar interests and goals. This initiative aims to allow sophomores to benefit from the wisdom of seniors who have already traveled similar paths at Brown. It also fills a major void in Brown’s advising regimen — peer advising during sophomore year.

The University knows that sophomores are often under-advised and has shown a commitment to improvement by establishing the Randall Advisors, a group of faculty members who work exclusively with sophomores. The Dean of the College also sends an electronic handbook entitled “Planning Your Sophomore Year” to all members of the sophomore class. These are a good start, but they are no substitute for the opportunity to interact one-onone with a specially selected, like-minded senior.

This is why we hope and believe MAPS will soon become as much a staple of advising at Brown as the Meiklejohn program or CAP courses.

Over winter break, the program solicited applications from potential advisers and advisees, and the response was impressive for a brand-new program.

The Herald reported last week that 230 sophomores and 130 seniors applied to participate. But only 40 sophomore-senior pairs were ultimately matched.

Molly Jacobson ’10, who initially proposed the program and now coordinates it, told the editorial page board that she wanted the program to stay small and intimate in its first semester and noted that it was intended for sophomores who need it and not the whole class.

While we recognize the value of a small group to test the program out, we want to encourage administrators to expand MAPS and to allow more sophomores to benefit. Since the majority of advising takes place on a one-on-one basis and not in a large group, the program should be able to grow fairly smoothly.

We also want to urge the Dean of the College and the Curricular Resource Center to continue to support MAPS. Applications will likely increase next semester as the program becomes better-known on campus, and we hope that it will have the funding to continue. Since the program is student-run and depends on the volunteer work of seniors, the costs will be low and the benefit to students will be quite high.

The MAPS program shows that while advising may not yet be Brown’s greatest strength, the student body certainly is. The University should continue to support student initiatives like this one, which have great potential to improve academic life at Brown.

Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board.

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Opinions The Brown Daily Herald

Wednesday, February 17, 2010 | Page 7

Off with our heads manas gautam Opinions Columnist Since the people of Massachusetts doomed the health care bill, the Obama administration has been trying to bridge the differences between the Senate and House health care reform bills, and will continue to do so within the next several days before the televised bipartisan health care summit on Feb. 25.

I am disconcerted that my pre-med colleagues haven’t spoken against this bill that is not only going to bankrupt the nation, but also leave them and their families in debt for a longer period of time. I cannot tell whether it is an idealistic zeal for saving lives or plain ignorance in compliance with a “we’ll-dealwith-it-when-we-get-there” attitude.

According to the American Medical Association, an average medical student’s debt was about $160,000 in 2008, money that they have to repay by working day and night, pushing their physical and mental limits and starting at junior positions. A Brown student incurs more than half a million dollars in debt when he attends college under the Program in Liberal Medical Education without financial aid. Our medical colleagues not only have to repay their debts but also earn for themselves and their family’s future; a life they start in their early thirties.

As a person from a non-medical background, I hope that I will be making a fair bit of money fresh out of college. But it will be

tougher to go to bed at night knowing that a friend of mine adds a few wrinkles to his head when he deserves a better life. What further sprinkles salt on the wound is the obscene amount of taxes that we all will be paying — the Joint Committee on Taxation estimates $560 billion in new taxes over the next 10 years for a country still battling with recession.

Doctors are proud beings (and with good reason). They not only save lives but spend all their years in college studying terrifying

such devices would certainly find themselves in a bind. What will happen to the research organizations that now face a tax hike on medical devices from $2 billion to $3 billion (by 2018)?

A decline in incentive to work would stall growth and dampen the creativity of the aweinspiring research and development projects undertaken across the nation. As Michelle Malkin aptly put it, “Stents don’t grow on trees. They were not created, developed, marketed, or sold by government bureaucrats

Health care is an issue where every state can provide a proper representation of what its citizens want and need.

things such as organic chemistry and physiology while having to maintain near-perfect GPAs to get into medical school followed by a good residency program. Challenging qualification exams constantly loom over their heads. Is this how our society repays those who take care of our sick and injured?

But it’s not just doctors who will be adversely affected by the impending health care “reforms.” Have you ever heard of the inverted microscope, artificial heart, glucose meter, MRI, or the countless innovations in American medical equipment? My colleagues pursuing jobs in biomedical engineering who pride themselves on inventing

and lawmakers.” Boston Scientific (one of America’s top stent manufacturers) warned that a proposed tax in the U.S. health care reform bill that cleared the Senate Finance Committee last week could have serious consequences for the company, including job losses, the last thing we need in a recession.

Health care is an issue where every state can provide a proper representation of what its citizens want and need. For example, Lyme disease is more prevalent in the upper East Coast and upper Midwest than in other regions. The affected states can properly allocate resources to treat such diseases ef-

fectively. Letting the federal government decide who gets what via hijacking one-seventh of the economy is surely not the way to go, especially since many of us would not like to pay for some Rhode Islander’s Viagra. In finance, I have been taught not to round off numbers, as every cent is to be accounted for. A rounded off health care system that has to satisfy everybody’s needs will not only lead to more spending per person, but also broader, non-specialized treatment.

A stripped down version of basic treatment at any hospital that allows people to choose what services they need would work best for the American people. Words such as “required” and “necessary” force people to make decisions they don’t want to make.

Critics will argue that one does not need to opt for the public health care option, but the government can levy taxes on the private insurers. They, in turn, will charge one’s employer more and hence lead to a reduction in one’s salary, forcing one to opt out of the private plan and join the national one.

As a child, I was constantly reminded that “prevention is better than cure.” I can only hope that a medical catastrophe can be prevented before an even larger one requires a cure. With that said, I’ll advise my capable pre-med friends to woo that rich uncle, buy those lottery tickets and start coding.

Manas Gautam ’12 gives lessons in fishing and stays clear of closed doors. He can be reached at mg@brown.edu.

Shame on Ruth Will Wray Opinions Columnist Since the 2008 economic crisis, there has been no shortage of “belt-tightening” rhetoric in our periodic e-mails from President Ruth Simmons. The administration’s promise to reduce the budget deficit became incarnate in the Feb. 2 report of the Organizational Review Committee. The report is littered with recommendations for “streamlining” (read: cutting student services) and “reorganizing” (read: layoffs of) various University departments in order to reduce the budget deficit.

The ORC recommended charging Brown students for access to fitness facilities, reducing the amount of fresh fruit and salad offered at the dining halls and possibly cutting varsity sports.

I have a simple recommendation for the administration: Keep the student services, and stop spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on frivolous lawsuits.

A judicial decision filed last Thursday brought an end to a protracted legal battle between Brown and one of its professors, Beverly Haviland. Judge Allen Rubine’s 31page decision recounts the ignoble story of two Brown administrations — one sneaky, one profligate.

In the spring of 2000, the University wanted to hire Paul Armstrong as Dean of the College. Armstrong was interested in the position but was loathe to leave SUNY – Stony Brook, where he and Haviland, his wife, held tenured positions. Armstrong stipulated that

any employment deal at Brown must include a tenured position for his wife.

After learning that there were no tenured positions available in Haviland’s department, the administration decided to, in then-President Sheila Blumstein’s words, “think outside the box.” This apparently entailed sidestepping the limit on the number of tenured faculty appointments, a non-trivial restriction designed to limit expenses and increase competitiveness among professors.

Interim President Blumstein, Provost Kathryn Spoehr (now professor) and Pro-

with a valuable legacy of first-year seminars and a renewed emphasis on career counseling. While I have never attended Haviland’s classes, she fares well on the Critical Review.

President Simmons was aware of the arrangement the administration had reached with Haviland, yet in 2004 and again in 2009, she attempted to wriggle out of the deal. Her refusal to honor Brown’s written commitment forced Haviland to appeal to the state Superior Court for a decision. (Nota bene: She did not sue Brown; a “decision” amounts to a legal

Simmons’ obstinacy resulted in expenditures totaling in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, the alienation of Brown’s own faculty and a black mark on the integrity of the University. fessor of Sociology Mary Fennell devised an employment deal that hired Haviland with the title of visiting associate professor and senior lecturer, but with the job security of a tenured professor. They did so in a manner that University counsel approved of, in language that Judge Rubine deemed “clear and unambiguous.”

At the time, then-Assistant Provost Brian Casey wrote a letter to Spoehr, stating that “...the real risk to you is whether (if this all goes sour) you look like you were a Provost trying to give someone tenure through the backdoor.” Aptly put, Mr. Casey.

As shameful as this hiring practice was, the stor y could have ended happily. Dean emeritus, now-professor Armstrong left us

clarification.)

Trials are acrimonious and costly. Simmons’ obstinacy resulted in expenditures that, according to Haviland’s attorney, total in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. It also lead to the alienation of Brown’s own faculty and a black mark on the integrity of the University.

Throughout the course of the trial, Brown had no fewer than six lawyers in the courtroom at all times: three were University counsel, and three were litigators hired from the pricey firm Ropes and Gray LLP. One of the litigators was Joan Lukey, the first female president of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

At first, I thought it was nifty that Brown

University was associated with Lukey, but then I pondered how dearly this association cost us. I decided I would prefer to have fresh fruit and free gyms.

I exchanged e-mails with Haviland’s attorney, Kathleen Hagerty. She described Brown’s big-ticket defense as employing a “...scorched earth litigation strategy,” which included “...enormous blow ups (exhibits used in trial) ... which cost many thousands of dollars.” She “offered to settle the case on two occasions prior to trial, both of which I was told were rejected by President Simmons.”

Despite the fact that hiring University professors is an essential function of the administration, Brown hired an expert from Harvard to testify to academic hiring practices. She was paid $700 per hour, according to Hagerty.

How did the judge react? He found her testimony “...of limited assistance (in) material issues.” Hagerty noted that “$700.00 per hour doesn’t buy what it used to.”

I understand that budget cuts must be made, but let’s start out with some obvious lessons before we cut student services and varsity sports. Don’t play fast and loose with tenure positions, and don’t spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in litigation fees to learn that you should stick to your “clear and unambiguous” promises.

I contacted the President’s office to get their take on this issue. They informed me that Simmons’ schedule is so full that she won’t have time to meet me for several months.

Will Wray ‘10 is really busy for the next several months.

Today The Brown Daily Herald

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Students protest Brown investments

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3 comics

c a l e n da r tomorrow, February 18

6:30 P.M. — Black Heritage Series 2010 Opening Convocation: Sonia Sanchez, Salomon 101

4:00 P.M. — NSGP Seminar: Dr. Angelique Bordey, Yale University, Sidney Frank Hall 220

7:00 P.M. — Spring Concentration Fair, Sayles Hall

4:00 P.M. — Climate Change: Health Problems and Healthy Solutions, 121 South Main 245

Cabernet Voltaire | Abe Pressman

menu Sharpe Refectory

Verney-Woolley Dining Hall

Lunch — Cornish Pasty, Black Bean and Sweet Potato Ragout, Barley Pilaf, Raspberry Turnovers

Lunch — Beef Pot Pie, Vegan Burrito, Italian Marinated Chicken, Rice Krispie Cookies

Dinner — Garden Style Baked Scrod, Vegan Tempeh with Ginger, Chili, and Leeks, Strawberry Jello

Dinner — Baked Scrod in Puff Pastry, Sizzling Cuban Stir Fry, Hearth Bread, Chocolate Carrot Cake

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41 / 25

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

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Today, February 17

to m o r r o w

Search on for new men’s soccer coach

t h e n e w s i n i m ag e s

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to day

Dot Comic | Eshan Mitra and Brendan Hainline

crossword Fruitopia | Andy Kim

Hippomaniac | Mat Becker

Island Republic | Kevin Grubb

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