Campus News 3
The Brown Daily Herald Friday, November 11, 2011
Cicilline ’83 advocates bipartisan cooperation continued from page 1
Madeline Schlissel / Herald
Glenn Greenwald’s pro-legalization arguments gained the support of a large crowd Thursday.
Pro-legalization speaker dominates debate By Aparaajit Sriram Contributing Writer
At times lawyer-like, at others sharp-tongued and defensive, Glenn Greenwald, a politics and law columnist for Salon.com, and John Walters, former director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy during the Bush administration, debated national drug policy before a crowd unafraid to voice its opinions. In a Janus Forum debate titled “What if the U.S. Legalized All Drugs?”, the approximately 300 students, faculty and community members in attendance swelled in loud applause for Greenwald’s pro-legalization arguments while meeting Walters’ claims with a palpable lack of responsiveness. The speakers presented 25-minute oral arguments before answering audience questions. Greenwald’s presentation could not help but reveal his training as a lawyer. Never looking at his notes, he centered his argument on the premise that drug addiction and abuse should be “treated for what it is — a health problem” rather than be criminalized. The criminal justice system “destroys the lives of individuals that proponents of the drug war are trying to help,” Greenwald said. “What is it that we do to those we are trying to help? We take them and we charge them with crimes. We turn them into felons which in this climate renders them unemployable. We put them into cages for many
years, and keep them away from their children and their families.” Constantly echoing his refrain that prohibition and the war on drugs are the problems, rather than drugs themselves, Greenwald also made economic and race-based points, citing the disproportionate number of drug-related arrests wracking urban black communities and the massive, growing costs of drug policies that are compounded in this “age of austerity.” Walters, faced with the onus of rebutting what was clearly the more popular side, began his argument by launching straight into empirical evidence, countering Greenwald’s claim that opponents of legalization often engage in “oralizing, fear-mongering and speculation.” Constructing his argument using a series of charts based on statistics compiled by federal government and international agencies, Walters argued that drug use is inherently dangerous and will become “self-destructive.” Even if users initially consume drugs “for purposes of pleasure … it changes the way they perceive their own situation.” He went on to claim that it is the obligation of the socially responsible to help abusers get treatment, even if they do not want it, and said there is no method that better achieves this end than law enforcement. Referencing a study conducted by the National Drug Court Institute, Walters said the “criminal justice system is the
Car masturbator detained on Hope continued from page 1 the students could identify him. The senior identified the suspect as the man she saw in the car, but not the man she has seen masturbating twice outside her house, she said. Last night’s incident occurred two blocks from her John Street house. She described the man as me-
dium height, bald and stocky. He is between 30- and 40-years old and wore a white T-shirt and jeans, she said. The suspect of previous masturbation incidents this semester is described as a white male in his 20s. “I guess I feel disturbed that there are so many people targeting the John Street area for their sexual desires,” she said. “But I’m excited that (DPS) caught him.”
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biggest referral for people to seek treatment,” with about 80 percent of treatment recipients originating in courts. “I have met so many people who have graduated from drug court treatment who have said, ‘The day I was arrested was the luckiest day of my life. It saved my life. I got through it, I got sober and I got my life back,’” Walters said. Audience questions sparked the most heated exchanges of the night. Walters addressed students directly, telling them to “have the guts to tell the truth” and realize that drugs are nothing more than a “disease.” When the topic of debate turned tangentially to Bush-era policies, Greenwald’s rhetoric veered toward vitriol as he criticized Walters’ comment that the Arab Spring was fueled by Bush administration efforts in the Middle East. Following the event, many students agreed that Greenwald had won the debate. “Greenwald showed that the costs of the drug war massively outweigh any conceivable benefits,” said Alex Gourevitch, a postdoctoral fellow working with the Political Theory Project. “Walters offered no rebuttal, empirical or theoretical.” But Angela Straccia ’14 said both sides had been convincing. “There is no way you can ‘win’ this type of debate,” she said, “but presentation-wise, Greenwald was definitely better. Walters didn’t shape the context of the debate.”
a schedule that sends representatives to their home districts for one week each month, a policy that Cicilline said he suspects was devised to increase time available for campaigning. Constantly being in campaignmode furthers the negativity in Congress, Cicilline said, adding that the time spent working toward reelection prevents representatives from making progress in Washington. “I think we should be with our sleeping bags in the capital,” he said. In a move to combat partisanship, Cicilline has teamed up with Rep. Nan Hayworth, R-N.Y., to form the Common Ground Caucus, a group devoted to bridging party lines. Representatives are not permitted to join the caucus individually — they must do so in conjunction with a representative from the other party. The group does not have a political agenda — it focuses instead on bringing representatives together to build relationships through group activities like bowling and attending baseball games. Bonding activities aside, Cicilline noted that Congress has a bundle of serious issues on its plate, the foremost of which he identified as battling the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. He has advocated the promotion of American manufacturing through the elimination of disadvantageous trade policies. As a member of the House Committee on Small Business, Cicilline has worked to make capital more available to small businesses. He told The Herald it is important to strengthen the middle class by providing small businesses with what they need most — customers. “What you need to have a strong economy is a really strong and robust middle class,” he said. In the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Cicilline has advocated for the swift return of troops from Afghanistan. “I don’t think it’s the responsibility of the American people to build up other countries halfway around
the world,” he told The Herald. “The time has come to redirect those resources back to the United States.” He added that America does not have an “honest partner” in Afghani President Hamid Karzai, noting that over 40 percent of U.S. aid to the country is stolen by the corrupt Afghani government. Cicilline has also worked to protect retirees, opposing Republican attempts to privatize Social Security and Medicare. “These programs reflect our values,” he told The Herald, explaining that citizens who have paid into benefits programs for their entire lives did not deserve to see these programs cut while Congress offers subsidies to oil companies and tax breaks to millionaires. Rhode Island is currently facing the prospect of cutting pensions for state employees, and Cicilline recognized that the system currently in place is unsustainable. He had attempted pension reform when he was mayor of Providence, though he was ultimately unsuccessful. But in the eight years he served as mayor, he was successful in attracting $3 billion in investments to the city, bringing crime rates down to their lowest levels in 30 years, instituting a formal ethics code to a city with a history of corruption and creating an awardwinning after-school program that is now being emulated in cities across the country, he said. Despite these successes, 77 percent of residents polled in a University study blamed Cicilline for the city’s current budget woes. Though GoLocalProv indicates that Cicilline is now leading Republican candidates John Loughlin and Brendan Doherty in polls, he could still be facing a tough reelection campaign over the next year. His prospects are not helped by Congress’ 9 percent approval rating, though Cicilline noted, “Based on what hasn’t been happening over the past 10 months, I’d say that’s a fair assessment.” With this in mind, his reelection strategy is simple — “I’m going to keep doing the work that I was elected to do,” he told The Herald.
Talks begin on new research building By Neelkiran Yalamarthy Contributing Writer
The University is in the early stages of planning what may become a new building to enhance research facilities. A committee began discussing the possible building in September, but the project’s details — including what and where it will be — remain up in the air, according to Provost Mark Schlissel P’15. A committee co-chaired by Vice President for Research Clyde Briant and Dean of the Faculty Kevin McLaughlin P’12 will determine how a new building would enrich University teaching and if that
building should be designated for a specific department or be interdisciplinary, Schlissel wrote in an email to The Herald. Its creation came after the University’s purchase of property at 198 Dyer St. in the Jewelry District last spring, Schlissel wrote. The committee has about 15 members, including faculty members and a representative from the Department of Facilities Management. No students sit on the committee. Bi-weekly meetings cover topics such as innovative lab designs and ways to “blend teaching space and learning space,” for future research buildings, Briant said.
Kenneth Breuer, professor of engineering and a member of the committee, said the group’s discussions have been very general, focusing on identifying issues for future discussion. Students will be consulted before final decisions are made, Briant said. UCS Communications Chair Samuel Gilman ’15 said since the committee is exploratory and is not charged with making decisions, there are no direct consequences of not having student representation. The committee hopes to release their findings to the provost by the end of this semester or early next spring.