Monday, February 27, 2012

Daily

Herald

the Brown

vol. cxxii, no. 22

Monday, February 27, 2012

Corp. approves Man shot activities fee hike outside

By Margaret Nickens Senior Staff Writer

Emily Gilbert / Herald The nascent Polo Club seeks to be a mainstay of Brown athletics and dispel stereotypes about the sport. See page 7 for full story.

Stimulus funds for U. dry up

By Alexa Pugh Staff Writer

continued on page 4

This was it — his moment of glory.

It was the sixth-grade basketball tournament, and Nathaniel Shapiro ’12 finally had the ball and the confidence to take his shot.

Unfortunately, it was on his team’s own basket.

Shapiro introduced the Brown Storytellers’ “StorySlam” Friday and Saturday night with a heart-

breakingly hilarious account of shooting not once, not twice but three times for the wrong team as a large crowd and his “foamingmouth reading enthusiast” coach yelled from the sidelines.

arts & Culture But Shapiro was never without good humor toward his humiliation, and his well-crafted tale — which garnered both empathy

popular club By adam toobin Senior Staff Writer

and plenty of laughter from the packed audience — set the tone for the event.

“Most people bring in stories that are somewhat centered around laughing at themselves,” said Sarah Weiss ’15, who will be heading the Brown Storytellers next year along with Eli Bosworth ’12.5 and Ben Schwartz ’13.5. “It makes you realize that

An 18-year-old male was shot multiple times around 2 a.m. Saturday outside of The Celtic Lounge at Finnegan’s Wake, a bar and club in downtown Providence that is popular among Brown students.

The victim was hit twice, in the hand and in the thigh. First responders brought the teenager to Rhode Island Hospital, where he was treated for non life-threatening wounds, reported Eyewitness News.

Though the shooting occurred outside of the club, multiple sources reported that the people involved had not gone to Finnegan’s prior to the incident.

Finnegan’s was not directly involved.

The club often hosts events affiliated with Brown groups, but no University-related activity was planned for Friday night.

Several students said the disturbance tarnished their opinion

continued on page 5

continued on page 9

continued on page 2

M. Basketball

Bears ride hot hand to win on Senior Night By sam rubinroit Assistant Sports Editor

The men’s basketball team ended its home schedule Saturday on a high note, earning a decisive 94-78 victory over Columbia on Senior Night. The Bears also endured a hard-fought battle against Cornell Friday night, but their comeback came too late, and the squad fell 69-63.

Cornell 69, Brown 63

The Bears (8-21, 2-10 Ivy) struggled out of the gate against the Big Red (11- Cornell 69 15, 6-6), Brown 63 going onefor-seven from three-point range to fall behind 42-31 at halftime.

“We didn’t have a good start to either half, and that really hurt us,” said Head Coach Jesse Agel.

Bruno muscled its way back in the second half, cutting Cornell’s lead by putting together a 15-5

run. But the comeback fell short.

“When we came in for halftime, Coach told us to leave it all on the floor,” said Dockery Walker ’14. “That’s what we did in the second, but unfortunately it just wasn’t enough.”

Walker’s performance was the story of the night for the Bears.

The forward posted 23 points and 17 rebounds — both career highs — and shot 10 of 11 from the field.

“His numbers were just staggering,” Agel said. “Dockery had a phenomenal game, but he’s just scratching the surface of what he can do.”

Brown 94, Columbia 78

Saturday’s matchup against Columbia (14-14, 3-9) marked S e n i o r Night for Columbia 78 the Bears’ Brown 94 lone outgocontinued on page 9

DPS dialogue Oh, mother Workshops aim to help DPS officers broach issues of race

news, 3

“Sparrow Grass” explores incest through comedy

arts & culture, 5

Sam Rubinroit / Herald Jean Harris ‘12 was the star of Senior Night in his last game at the Pizzitola Center.

Marco?

Polo hopes to become Ivy League presence features, 7

weather

The most recent budget passed by the Corporation, the University’s highest governing body, marks the end of the University’s use of federal funding provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The act, signed into law February 2009 by President Obama, designated billions of federal dollars to research at universities across the country. The University received $42.9 million in research funding, much of which was allocated to biology, medicine, engineering and physical science.

“The stimulus had a real positive impact on research spirit,” said Clyde Briant, vice president for research. “Federal funds hadn’t been growing that much in several years, and having that increase in funding really got people excited.”

The Division of Biology and Medicine received $29.3 million, largely because the National Institutes of Health received more research funds than other federal agencies, such as the National Science Foundation, Briant said. In addition to the stimulus funding, BioMed receives up to $80 million annually from federal sources, according to Ed Wing, dean of medicine and biological sciences.

inside

The University’s highest governing body approved a $36 increase in the student activities fee at its Feb. 11 meeting, raising the total fee to $214. In October, the Undergraduate Council of Students requested a $72 increase that would have raised the total fee to $250.

Mae Cadao ’13, the UCS student activities chair and former Herald business staffer, said the council appreciates the increase in the fee, the largest the Corporation has approved in the last 10 years. But she said she thinks the

fee could have been raised more.

“The proposed raise would have covered at least 90 percent of what student groups need,” Cadao said.

President Ruth Simmons also decided to reallocate the costs of media services for Category III student groups to the University, said Provost Mark Schlissel P’15.

Currently, the Undergraduate Finance Board, a subsidiary of UCS responsible for funding student groups, must use a $75,000 share of the student activities fund annually to fund media equipment use for Category III groups, said

StorySlam turns humiliation into humor

By Mark Raymond Senior Staff Writer

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UCS endowment may triple this year continued from page 1 Michael Perchonok ’12. Next year, the University will incorporate the cost of media services for student groups into the campus budget, allowing UFB to distribute more of the student activities fund directly to student groups, Schlissel said.

With the increase, Perchonok said UFB will have around $200,000 more to allocate to student groups next year, allowing the board to fund more requests.

“It will certainly be tangible,” said Sam Gilman ’15, the UCS communications chair. “Groups will realize that a little bit more of their requests will be funded to a higher level.”

Before the proposal was submitted to the Corporation, the University Resource Committee, chaired by Schlissel, reviewed the request and decided to recommend an increase of $36.

In considering the proposed raise, URC looked at how the student activities fee would be used to benefit student activities and how the University’s student activities fee compared to that of other schools, Schlissel said.

“We thought there was a very good argument made that Brown

doesn’t donate enough money so that student clubs can be more enjoyable, more vigorous in what they do,” Schlissel said.

But he said URC thought the proposed $72 fee increase was too great and told the council to return the following year if they felt another increase in the fee would be necessary, he said.

“Over time, there’s a good possibility that their full request will be fulfilled, but that’s contingent on a variety of other factors,” said Ben Noble ’13, a student representative on URC and a former Herald staff writer.

The cost to student groups of employing a member of the Department of Public Safety or of the Department of Facilities Management at an event increased this year, Cadao said.

The DPS fees rose after DPS coverage expanded to the Jewelry District. Because this was a onetime cost increase, the council will probably not request a fee increase for another few years, Cao said.

“The tuition rise is unsustainable, and we are trying to do what we can to make sure that student activities don’t cause tuition to rise,” Gilman said.

To prevent a greater increase in

the student activities fee, “we are going to put on a pretty big push to get (the student activities endowment) off the ground,” Gilman said.

“It’s only fair to student groups to give them enough resources that they can really thrive and be as productive as they can be.”

The student activities endowment currently holds $1.8 million, though the council hopes to eventually raise the endowment to $17 million, Cadao said.

She said UCS will reach out to Brown alumni centers around the country to show alums “what student activities looks like and the types of things that the funding would go towards.”

She said she hopes the council can triple the endowment by the end of the year.

The UCS Student Activities Committee will also be “more stringent with the group categorization process, so the current groups would receive more funding versus promoting so many new groups that the raise in funds would be negligible,” Cadao said.

The council will be releasing a statement about the student activities endowment in the upcoming weeks, said Daniel Pipkin ’14, UCS-UFB liaison.

New patent liaison to focus on engineering

By Austin Cole Staff Writer

Cr ossword

The University will be adding a new position in the Technology Ventures Office to assist engineering faculty members in identifying research suitable for patents and then guide them through the patenting process. The position was added as part of the University’s recently approved budget for fiscal year 2013.

The office will function to facilitate communication between faculty members who “create intellectual property” and the University, which owns the patents to their research, said Clyde Briant, vice president for research.

The office also helps faculty members market their discoveries to companies that may be interested in licensing them, Briant said. “That is a lot of on-theground work, and we only had two people to serve the whole university and realized that wasn’t sufficient.”

Daily

the Brown

This addition will help the University invest more time in developing patents in the School of Engineering, Briant said, adding that the school is a “hotbed of intellectual property.” The new position will allow the office to work more closely and be better acquainted with the engineering faculty members, so they do not overlook potentially patentable research, Briant said.

This office plays a crucial role because “some faculty members may not realize what they’re sitting on,” Briant said.

Lawrence Larson, dean of engineering, also stressed the importance of having an intermediary to guide faculty members through the patenting process.

“Professors are motivated by intellectual curiosity and scientific ambition,” Larson said, so thinking about the commercial appeal of their ideas is “not something they naturally do.” Because of this, Larson said he believes the new position will be greatly

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beneficial to the School of Engineering and the University as a whole. Since the engineering faculty is involved in a vast array of scientific fields, Larson said, it was important to help their ideas get as much exposure as possible.

Larson specifically highlighted the areas of biotechnology, nanotechnology, environmental technology and informational technology as the “big four” research areas the University will emphasize, as there are “lots and lots of inventions coming out of these areas.”

Though this new position will focus on engineering, the office will continue to serve as a patenting liaison with other sciences, Briant said. He added that Katherine Gordon, the office’s managing director, will focus on biotechnology, and Assistant Director Leonard Katzman will work mostly with computer science and other physical sciences.

The new position will enable Gordon and Katzman to devote more time to their specific fields, Briant said, which will in turn help the University capture influential research early on and facilitate the patenting process.

Though the office anticipates the general role and impact the new position will have, its more specific functions are still being developed, Gordon said, adding that more information will be available in a few months.

— With additional reporting

by Mark Raymond

Thanks for reading!

Campus News 3

The Brown Daily Herald Monday, February 27, 2012

With training and dialogues, DPS highlights diversity By mathias heller Senior Staff Writer

On college campuses across the country, relationships between university public safety officers and the student body can be fraught with difficulty, especially when issues of race and ethnicity are involved. But officers at the University are well-positioned to deal with the issue of diversity, said Michelle Nuey, manager of community relations and outreach bureau for the Department of Public Safety.

In the last decade, DPS has attempted to increase officer understanding of students’ different backgrounds by implementing two programs — the Diversity Awareness Development Initiative, an annual two-day officer training program started in 2004, and the Officer-Student Dialogue Program, initiated in 2007, which facilitates discussion between officers and students. Nuey said the programs expose officers to cultural issues in order to make the department more effective at protecting the student body.

Diversity awareness training

“Officers undergo training to help them become more culturally sensitized and aware of their own biases,” said Wendy McRaeOwoeye, director of staff diversity.

“We have to establish a certain level of professionalism.”

McRae-Owoeye said the training program presented a series of vignettes to officers about different situations involving individuals from diverse backgrounds, forcing them to reconsider their preconceived notions about minorities and others. DPS employees have become “the premier experts” in recognizing diversity issues as a result of the training program, she said.

“Our policy is always to build trust and to build partnerships,” Nuey said, citing the need for officers to maintain sensitivity when working with students of different races and sexual orientations, as well as those with disabilities.

“That’s something really unique to our department,” she said.

Nuey said the officer training program brings in presenters from various offices of the University, such as Psychological Services, to discuss issues of socioeconomic background, race, sexual orienta-

tion and prejudice.

“We try to engage not only with resources here on campus, but also looking to the greater Providence community,” Nuey said, adding that the University seeks perspectives from skilled community specialists, such as representatives from Crossroads Rhode Island, a homeless services agency.

Still, McRae-Owoeye said the work of bridging the gap between the student body and DPS is ongoing.

“It’s a two-way street. Students also have to provide respect,” McRae-Owoeye said.

Officer-student dialogue

“A lot of people don’t really know what DPS officers do,” said Becky Bass ’13, a minority peer counselor who participated in the officer-student dialogue program in the last year.

Started with the support of the Third World Center, which solicits students of diverse racial, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds to participate, the dialogues are aimed at creating channels of communication between officers and students. The discussion program seeks to create a safe space where students and officers can freely air their views on a range of campus safety issues, said Nuey, a lead organizer and moderator of the dialogues. The number of participants varies from meeting to meeting, though Nuey said dialogues always feature an equal ratio of students to officers so that neither group feels outnumbered.

“We encourage officers and students to be very candid but also very respectful,” Nuey said.

“As a moderator, it’s important to distinguish between conflict resolution and dialogue.” She said she aimed to encourage both sides to come to a mutual understanding of the appearances and beliefs that lead to misconceptions about officers’ roles or students’ conduct.

Nuey said the dialogues have led to a greater sense of inclusion among officers who “sometimes can feel like they’re not included in the campus community.” Students and officers have discussed a wide range of issues during the program, from DPS protocol when responding to specific campus safety situations to sensitivity over dealing with members of the LGTBQ community, Nuey said.

Paige Gilley / Herald

Together, MPCs and the TWC seek to address the anxiety some minority students feel in approaching DPS officers.

“It was really helpful to get to know individual officers and what they do for students,” Bass said.

A student’s ability to build a connection with a single officer can make a real difference in bridging the gap between the two groups, said Shane Lloyd, assistant director for first and second-year programs at the TWC. “Students feel more comfortable with policemen when they know they can go to a particular officer with whom they’ve developed a relationship,” Lloyd said.

The TWC seeks to use the dialogues to examine myths about racial profiling in the context of students’ assumptions about officer behaviors, according to Lloyd.

The TWC is also coordinating a new outreach effort with MPCs, who will discuss issues of diversity with first-year students this semester.

Many participants said the dialogues helped them overcome their own biases.

“Especially in communities of color, there’s sometimes a perception that DPS officers aren’t ap-

proachable,” said Emily Gonzalez ’13, an MPC and participant in the dialogues. “I think I can approach them more now.”

Coming from an area in Los Angeles where he said law enforcement officials are often viewed with suspicion, dialogue participant Pierre Arreola ’13, also an MPC, said he initially felt tension around DPS officers.

“My own interactions with police officers were based on fear,” Arreola said. “I was trying to break that boundary for myself and see these officers as people.”

Arreola said he was surprised by the level of honesty in the dialogues and encouraged other students to get involved as a way of better understanding the work of DPS officers. “They want to know more about how we think, and we should definitely know more about how they think,” he said.

Many students indicated they were not aware of the University’s efforts to facilitate outreach between DPS and the student body.

“I had no idea that was happening,” said Rachel Bishop ’13,

adding that those efforts serve “a useful purpose for the campus community.” Other students expressed similar views, saying they had not heard of the officerstudent dialogues.

Gonzalez said she decided to get involved in the dialogues because she felt they would help her provide better counseling to firstyears as an MPC. The discussions are also a way of honestly communicating concerns students have about campus safety, she said.

“If we don’t tell them what is going on on campus that is threatening our safe space, they won’t know how to protect us,” Gonzalez said.

The University is trying to capitalize on the progress made in the dialogues by reaching out to student groups involved with diversity issues, including the Undergraduate Council of Students, the Queer Alliance, Greek Council and MPCs, Nuey said, adding that she hopes this strategy of engagement will expand the discussion of diversity across campus.

4 Campus News

The Brown Daily Herald Monday, February 27, 2012

New budget marks end of stimulus funding continued from page 1 Of the remainder of the stimulus funding, $12.1 million went toward engineering and physical science, and $1.5 million went toward projects in other departments.

Many of the projects funded with NIH stimulus dollars went through the normal research grant process­, Wing said — only this time applicants’ chances of receiving funding were increased.

“It’s hard to tell whether a project was funded because of the stimulus or if it would’ve been funded anyway,” said David Paine, professor of engineering. “I would say any project funded in the past three years had its odds of being accepted increased because of the stimulus money.”

This means that even with stimulus dollars drying up, some projects funded by the act could continue to be funded through the competitive renewal process.

Other projects funded by the stimulus were one-time only grants, focused on the purchasing of equipment or investment in infrastructure. A $1 million cyber infrastructure expansion was funded to better connect Brown’s main campus to the Jewelry District and the Warren Alpert Medical School.

“This project was very (Recov-

ery Act)-specific,” said Ed Hawrot, professor of medical science.

“Right now, they’re forecasting that they won’t be able to support this in the future.”

Stimulus dollars also made possible the purchase of a $1.2 million nanofabrication tool, Paine said.

More than 50 individuals have been trained to use this “versatile” tool, and it has usages across multiple departments, he said.

Agnes Kane, professor of medical science, received funding as part of a collaboration with the University of Rochester to study the effect of carbon nanotubes on the lungs.

Kane credits the act for providing the funds necessary for this project and said she will “just keep writing grants” now that stimulus dollars are no longer available.

Hawrot said he expects NIH funding to remain flat and NSF funding to increase slightly in next year’s budget.

“Even Congress can recognize a deal when they see it,” Paine said, regarding the return on investment that federal research dollars provide to the economy at-large.

“I think people who have been in this game for a long time know that funding comes and goes,” Paine said. “You just have to be prepared to jump when there is an opportunity.”

Herald file photo

NSF’s Academic Research Infrastructure grant program funded mechanical upgrades to the University’s greenhouse.

The Brown Daily Herald Monday, February 27, 2012

Arts & Culture 5 ‘Concert lecture’ examines modern Middle Eastern life By nora mcdonnell Contributing Writer

Courtesy of Trinity Repertory Company

Actors in “Sparrow Grass” break the fourth wall, a director’s choice to keep the audience as passive observers.

Love triangles abound in “Sparrow Grass”

By Ben Kutner Senior Staff Writer

Love triangles are a tricky thing — and even more so when all sides are within the same family. Trinity Repertory’s latest production, “Sparrow Grass,” measures the toll incest takes on a family.

The play revolves around the return home of a colonel (Richard Donelly) after a long military tour. The members of his family are home together for the first time in years, anticipating his return.

The audience learns fairly quickly of a romance between the colonel’s wife (Phyllis Kay) and his son from another marriage (Tyler Lansing Weaks). From here, the family is jettisoned into disarray.

“What we have tried to create is a Greek play for a contemporary American audience with contemporary themes,” said Curt Columbus, the playwright.

Columbus serves as artistic director for Trinity Rep, but he gave this production’s directing

responsibilities to Brian McEleney, head of the Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Acting Program.

Columbus explained that “Sparrow Grass” does not pretend to be a realistic portrayal of life but instead acknowledges that it is a performance. Characters address the audience during the performance — a theatrical approach that has its roots in ancient Greek drama.

“There’s incest in the play,” Columbus said, adding that the audience will only feel like passive observers and therefore allow themselves to watch the play, detached from the action because they are made aware that the drama is not real. “(The U.S.) is at an interesting place in our democracy/empire,” Columbus said. “The similarities to classical Greece are really kind of remarkable and available to anyone who will look.”

The play’s dialogue contains several references to the story of Odysseus, in which a general returns home to find many men

vying for his wife’s heart.

The play is replete with lines that derive a haunting tone from the incestuous nature of the plot. “Touching your child is the most innocent, the most wonderful thing in the world,” says the colonel’s wife in an aside to the audience.

The shocking plot holds the audience’s attention, but the script sometimes detracts from the gravity of the subject. In a few cases, the dialogue seems heavy-handed, affording the cast numerous opportunities for overacting. But the all-around strong cast handled the script well, overcoming the majority of these moments and delivering a convincing and morally-wrenching performance Tuesday night.

The play has “a very unique and specific sense of humor to it,” said Alex Krieger ’12, who attended Tuesday’s performance.

Comedic moments were found in many scenes, making the incestuous overtones seem all the more surreal.

T h e G u i lt y O n e s

Tom Sullivan / Herald

“Spring Awakening,” which explores a group of German adolescents’ journey to sexual maturity, runs March 9-11.

In a concert entitled “The Last Resistance” Thursday evening, pianist Steven Spooner played pieces composed by Mohammed Fairouz that were influenced by issues involving the Middle East, including American sentiments toward the region preceding and following the 9/11 attacks.

The performance was a “concert lecture,” said Michael Steinberg, professor of history and music and director of the Cogut Center for the Humanities, in his opening remarks. To that effect, Fairouz introduced and explained each piece to the audience.

“I think that there’s certainly a message to think critically about the Middle East — to think analytically about this extremely complicated region and set of political challenges,” Steinberg said.

The concert included two of Fairouz’s sonatas, “Reflections on Exile” and “The Last Resistance,” works inspired by the literature of Palestinian-American literary theorist Edward Said and English author Jacqueline Rose, respectively. Rose has written about the Middle East for the last 15 years, Steinberg said.

Throughout the performance, the audience — which filled a little more than half the auditorium — was utterly silent and met the finale with a standing ovation.

“I enjoyed how it was contemporary, but accessible,” said Will Palmer ’15.

The concert — which took place in the Martinos Auditorium of the Perry and Marty Granoff Center for Creative Arts — was the second installment of the Cogut Center’s Critical Dialogues in Arts and Humanities. The three-part program was designed to emphasize “the meeting grounds between the humanities and the arts” and foster “dialogues between people who are doing different things,” Steinberg said.

The program also included a lecture by Rose Wednesday and a conversation between Rose and Fairouz the day after the concert, which Steinberg moderated.

The recent redesign of Pembroke Hall and construction of the Granoff Center have created a “premium space in which to develop new programs for performance and exhibition related work,” Steinberg said. “The critical dialogues are an initiative that I hope will move forwards.”

Storytellers find humor in tales of shame, regret continued from page 1 even if you’re in a situation that might seem pretty crummy at the time, there’s always a venue to make that into something good,” she said.

The storytellers brought that attitude to the stage. The performers, including Weiss, Bosworth, Schwartz, Marc Briz ’14, Abe Pressman ’12, former Herald graphics editor, Shawn Saunders ’14 and Jonathan Topaz ’12, Herald editorial page editor, all found the humorous side in their own embarrassment or regret.

Topaz, who founded the group in 2010, entertained with the saga of his insomnia — a well-delivered comedy that surprised the audience with several poignant moments.

Schwartz and Pressman, who told equally humorous stories of

potential loves found and lost, each ended his tale with an articulate and optimistic phrase about a lesson learned.

This ability to weave together humor and insight is something the group actively works toward, Weiss said. At the group’s open meetings every week, students are invited to participate in storytelling exercises, listen to professional stories and practice telling their own tales.

“It’s really an important skill to be able to share a story from start to finish in a compelling and interesting way,” she said.

In the future, Brown Storytellers plans to collaborate with other groups on campus and expand their audience and membership, Weiss said. They plan to put on another show later this semester in a venue that can hold a larger audience.

6 Arts & Culture Videos show glimpse of vanishing everyday life

By Ju Myoung Kim Staff Writer

“This is fat, too fat,” says an old man, pointing at the dead pig on a wooden table. The camera moves in on a closer shot of knives, fire and people’s hands hurrying to prepare a big, widely anticipated meal for the village. Soon, the screen fades out to another old man, staring at the camera and singing in a deep moan.

These scenes are featured in video installations at the Living Rooms of Perry and Marty Granoff Center for the Creative Arts as part of an exhibition entitled “Our Homeland, Gone Just Like That.”

The exhibition, which began Feb. 20 and will be on display through March 5, features videos, still images, sounds and text that follow Manchurian video artist Na Yingyu’s encounters with the Naxi people of Lijiang, China. The work explores the Naxi culture, land and everyday life, which are at times complicated by political issues such as cultural loss, minority representation in China and increased tourism. Though the work does not contain an explicit political message, “politics has to compete with everything else you see in (the videos and images),” said Jay Brown, who curated the exhibition.

The video portion of the work contains many glimpses into the lives of the Naxi people. The camera follows them farming, singing and dancing. People often casually turn and speak to the camera.

None of these actions were scripted or staged, Brown said. Na met the people during his residency at a studio in Lijiang, where he also read about and researched the place and its history. Recurring figures include He Xiudong, the village priest, and He Linyi, the musician, he added.

A total of 353 minutes of clips are divided into 59 chapters of varying length. Currently, the Granoff Center is showing 12 DVDs with different selections of the chapters that are randomly changed every day, Brown said. “What intrigued me (about curating this exhibition) was the building and the way people use it,” Brown said. The Living Rooms at the Granoff Center create “interesting situations for attention,” he added. People can either pass by quickly or decide to stay for a longer time, he said. In a space like this, he recommended watching the videos at different times in their cycles, and trying to spend more time watching them.

When the exhibition at the Granoff Center closes, it will move to Location One in New York City for another display, which will take a very different format — a frame of intersecting pipes, with 40 to 50 video screens at various angles and spots along the frame. Brown will also be on campus to discuss the exhibition on its closing day in the Englander Studio at the Granoff Center.

The Brown Daily Herald Monday, February 27, 2012

Recapturing Monet, with a modern twist

By Emma Wohl Arts & Culture Editor

“I want to paint the air,” said Impressionist painter Claude Monet in 1895. “And that is nothing short of impossible.” He was drawing a contrast between the artists of his day who only wanted to replicate objects they saw and those — like himself — who wanted to capture less tangible aspects of the natural world like light and air.

In the exhibit “Painting Air,” on display in the Rhode Island School of Design’s Chase Center Galleries through July 29, the Brooklyn artist Spencer Finch takes on Monet’s challenge while giving it his own thoroughly modern spin.

Half of the exhibit is filled with works Finch either created or reconfigured for the show. The rest is made up of pieces he found in the RISD Museum’s enormous collection — much of which has spent most of its life hidden from the public.

The installation that gives the exhibit its name hangs at the far end of the gallery space. On the walls of the room are blocks of paint, in 34 colors “loosely borrowed from Monet’s palette,” Finch said. In the middle, 100 panes of glass hang from scaffolding, reflecting the light from a single window, the colors on the wall and — when the room is occupied — the shapes of onlookers.

The installation is all about change. The light beaming in from a window in the corner changes depending on the time of day, and trees’ leaves filter the light in different ways during different seasons. Even the presence of people, whose reflections are a surprise in the midst of so much abstract light and color, alter the experience.

Other pieces also reflect natural changes in the world — “Sky (Over Franz Joseph Glacier, April 8, 2008, 10:40 a.m.)” most literally. Standing

Courtesy of the Rhode Island School of Design’s Museum of Art

The installation “Painting Air” contains works by Spencer Finch and pieces curated from the RISD Museum’s collection.

in the middle of a room, the sculpture consists of an ice machine, a chute and a pool filled with blue ink and water, mixed to match the exact shade of the sky over the titular glacier, which Finch observed on a trip to New Zealand.

As the ice melts, it drips into the pool. When the pool overflows, the water is sucked back into the ice machine and remade into ice. Thus, the shade of blue in the pool never changes — the result of what Finch jokingly called “an elaborate system for creating a blue monochrome painting.”

Finch’s works all show an interest in the natural world, recreating processes of change and breaking down complicated ideas into their simplest parts. The same cohesion cannot be found in the RISD Museum pieces Finch chose for the exhibit.

Some pieces do fit his theme of capturing the intangible. One por-

tion of the room displays works of “tonalism,” a style Finch describes as “the inverse of Impressionism.”

Rather than seeking to capture light, these prints, drawings, paintings and video seek to portray darkness.

Another set of works, fittingly grouped under the title “Odds and Ends,” was chosen simply because, as small and rather random pieces in an enormous collection, the works would rarely be put on display by a serious curator.

“Because I am not a curator, I am free to put things out here because I like them and not worry about fitting them into some big idea,” Finch said.

Another portion of the collection earned a spot on the wall just for amusing the artist. When Finch was going through the museum’s collection, he found a wall of sternlyexpressioned portraits — including one stony-faced Pomeranian. He sees storage as “the unconscious of

the museum,” and he said he could not resist displaying this side of the collection’s psyche just as he had found it.

The connective tissue between Finch’s works and the museum’s comes, fittingly, from Monet. The first piece one sees upon entering the gallery is Monet’s “The Basin at Argenteuil,” a dreamy depiction of sailboats on a pond. On an adjacent wall leading to Finch’s work is a copy of Monet’s original that Finch painted — on a dare from a friend — while a student at RISD in 1988.

Finch’s devil-may-care attitude towards curating may cause whiplash in the transition between his careful, cerebral works and the whimsical way the museum collection is displayed. But it also makes for a pleasant experience — both in viewing pieces that cause museumgoers to think about how they view the world and those that might not otherwise see the light of day.

Despite rain, students bust out best outfits Friday night

By Alexandra Macfarlane Senior Staff Writer

Amid fashion, photos and flavorful desserts, Sported@Brown, the website offshoot of Fashion@ Brown, made its Internet debut last Friday night. As a “documentation of Brown street style,” the website features images and profiles of students around campus, said Eve Blazo ’12, a co-creator and creative director for Sported@ Brown.

The night was about dedication to style and collaboration in fashion, Blazo said. Most attendees wore ensembles that dressed up the stark studio in the Perry and Marty Granoff Center for the Creative Arts where the event was held. But each outfit was a unique take on formal attire, displaying true commitment to the individual in fashion, one of the website’s main goals.

Visuals immediately grabbed the eye upon entering the party, a lively contrast to the modern architecture of the studio and the

dreary rain outside. A projector took up most of one wall, presenting shapes on a visualizer in sync with the music. Intermittently, scenes of avant-garde fashion shows took over the wall, and eventually the website itself became the main focus of the darkened room.

The party was not just music and flashy visuals. In one corner of the room a stark stage light provided illumination for photography. Members of the Sported@ Brown team and partygoers alike posed for photos, both serious and silly, under the artistic lighting.

The party even featured delicious desserts, made by the Sported@ Brown staff.

Sported@Brown is a work in progress, said Arlando Battle ’12, its creative director. As the mastermind behind the website, Battle said he wants the site to reflect campus culture. It is about building community, he said, adding that he would love to feature the individual style of Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron.

The website itself was shown near the end of the party, featuring photo spreads of students around campus. As the site grows, it will feature mostly images of students and their styles, Blazo said. Once a week one student will be profiled in depth, with photographs of multiple outfits, documentation of the individual in their own environment and a question and answer portion about their style.

The profile will capture “the qualities that make the person unique,” Blazo said, adding that those qualities are an important component of everyday style.

Blazo’s own style reflects a distinct and developed relationship to fashion. Her ensemble for the party was emblematic of a designer who has mastered the simple but dramatic look. Basic colors ­— black, white and gold ­— set off her eye-catching skirt, which was floor-length and accented by asymmetrically cut panels.

At Brown, people put effort into their everyday clothes, said Mia Zachary ’13, director of Fash-

ion@Brown. The site should “not be about designers but about great fashion sense,” she added. Zachary said bright colors and the fashion of her own parents are the most important aspects of her personal style. “People don’t wear enough colors,” she said.

Sported@Brown is the website component of the new student group Fashion@Brown, which was recognized by Undergraduate Council of Students in the fall.

And though the group is not officially connected to the campus fashion magazine Unhemmed, Blazo said Fashion@Brown will try to work with the publication as much as possible.

“All fashion is developed together,” she said, adding that it is an important component of the organization to work toward “creating a culture that celebrates fashion at Brown.” As a senior, she said she hopes to get younger people involved in the fashion culture and has faith that endeavors like Sported@Brown will survive in the future.

Features 7

The Brown Daily Herald Monday, February 27, 2012

Young polo club challenges sport’s elite stereotypes

By Adam Asher Contributing Writer

The Brown Polo team prepares for practice more elaborately than most sports teams. Before players can begin practice, they must ready horses by wrapping their shins, cleaning out their horseshoes and braiding their tails so that mallets won’t accidentally get caught in them. Then, as the wind blows in from the bay and their shadows lengthen in the late afternoon sun, they head out to the Newport Polo Club practice fields to get to work.

The Brown Polo Club is at once a rigorous team and a group looking to push the boundaries of how its sport is perceived. Originally a club with only three members, its membership has now grown to a dozen people between the men’s and women’s teams, with a core varsity group of seven people. The club is seeking more students to join, both to ensure it does not die out and to prove that polo is not just a sport for the “very wealthy,” said Margot Penney ’14, an alternate to the women’s team and its newest member.

The club also hopes more students will discover the magic of the sport. Simply put, “polo’s an addiction,” said Coach Dan Keating.

Establishing a presence

The club was founded in 2011, when Brown Polo became a member of the United States Polo Association and became recognized as a Category III organization by the Undergraduate Council of Students, allowing it to submit a budget to the Undergraduate Finance Board each semester for approval, said President of Brown Polo Caroline Hughes ’12.

Each member of the team has his or her own reasons for joining. For Reyad Williams ’11.5, who grew up on a horse farm in North Carolina, polo was a way for him to ride horses at Brown, as the equestrian team does not accept male members. When Williams dismounted after his first polo lesson, “you could see him shaking with excitement,” Keating said. Williams has been hooked ever since.

Sam Tianlin Yang ’14, who is currently training to eventually compete as a member of the men’s team, and Diego Ramos Rosas ’12 share Williams’ love for the sport. Both rode horses as children growing up in Peru and China, respectively, and encountered representatives from Brown Polo at the Student Activities Fair. Han Sheng Chia ’14 said he started riding last year largely out of curiosity but has since become comfortable enough to compete in intercollegiate matches.

What more could you want?

As the team did warm-up drills, such as penalty shots and dribbling exercises, Keating’s wife Agnes explained the origins of the sport and the basic rules. Polo in its modern form was first invented

by Maharajas in India as a way of training cavalry soldiers and

was adopted by British troops stationed there in the 19th century.

After they brought the sport back to England, its popularity spread, and it is now played in more than 80 countries, she said.

There are two main varieties of polo — field polo and arena polo. Field polo is the variety most people think of when the sport is mentioned, played on wide grass fields in warm weather. Arena polo, the variety which Brown Polo participates in, is played in large corrals on a mixture of dirt and sand, and can be played in less favorable conditions or indoors.

Penney said the horses’ personalities are a large part of what makes polo so appealing. Within the group of horses at Newport Polo Club, she explained, there are friendships and rivalries. One horse — aptly named Romeo — even has a “harem” of female horses.

The first time Yang played a polo match, he was not completely clear on all of the game’s rules, he said. He added that he was pleasantly surprised that his horse apparently knew what was going on during the match most of the time. “I trusted him to take me to where I needed to be,” he said.

“You’re on a horse, hitting balls with a stick — what more could you want?” Williams said.

Looking ahead

Penney said the team’s highest priorities are currently fundraising and recruiting. Because the club is relatively new, it does not have the same fundraising base as teams at Yale and Harvard, which recently received a large donation from actor Tommy Lee Jones, Hughes said.

The team’s ultimate goal is to join the Brown athletics department, as the polo teams at Yale and Harvard have become members of their respective athletic departments, and become a “strong competitor” in the Ivy League, Hughes said. The club has not yet been able to arrange a meeting with representatives from the department, she said, but in the meantime, it has continued to compete with other university polo teams.

For the first time, Brown’s men’s polo team will be competing in the Northeastern Intercollegiate Preliminary Tournament in Portsmouth next month.

Penney offered some prospective projects for the future, including a club trip to Texas or Florida “to ride every day for a week” in the warm weather during the winter and volunteering at a nearby therapeutic riding center to show the club’s charitable side.

The afterglow

On the drive back to Providence, Ramos Rosas, Chia and Williams talk excitedly about that day’s practice, which included a scrimmage with the nationally ranked Newport Interscholastic Girls Polo Team.

They mostly talk about the horses and their riding experiences — “Romeo was great today!” they exclaim. Though it is grow-

Emily Gilbert / Herald

Polo team members say interacting with the horses, who have distinct personalities, is one of the best parts of the sport.

ing colder and darker outside, and there is barely room enough for five people and three mallets,

the atmosphere in the car is one of warmth and camaraderie. As Williams drives, he sums up the

experience — ­ “I’ve done a lot of awesome stuff in my life, but polo is by far the most awesome.”

8 Feature

The Brown Daily Herald Monday, February 27, 2012

Student-founded nonprofit tackles HIV problems

By Caroline Flanagan Senior Staff Writer

When Gavin Myers ’06 MPH ’11 entered the masters in public health program in 2007, he was simply interested in HIV as a research topic. But as he worked with faculty members on research, he realized that he wanted to do hands-on community service that would have an immediate impact.

In 2009, Myers joined forces with Krissy Diamond Rovner ’07 MPH ’11 to create PL-AIDS, a nonprofit that spreads awareness about HIV and AIDS. The pair combined Myers’ passion and Rovner’s business acumen to start the organization, which was originally called the Brown Global HELP Initiative.

The group’s mission is to raise HIV awareness, specifically about prevention methods, by reaching out to at-risk communities in Providence and southern New England, Myers said. The group also consults with doctors around the world on issues of biomedical prevention.

“Research has an impact as well, but on a longer term,” Myers said.

One of the group’s recent achievements is a post-exposure hotline that will be introduced March 1. The hotline will connect callers with an HIV specialist, Philip Chan, who will listen to the caller’s situation and determine whether or not they are at risk of HIV and if they should receive prophylaxis, a “morning-after pill for HIV.” The hotline will provide a more intimate and comfortable avenue for people who might be reluctant to talk to a doctor in an

emergency room, Myers said.

Members of the group have also visited hospitals to see whether they offer the prophylaxis pill and have spoken with doctors and professionals with conflicting opinions on its use. The group aims to“show that (the pill) is an option but not an escape for reckless behavior,” said Andy Chang ’13, a member of the organization.

The group recently received 501(c)3 charity status, allowing people who donate to the group to receive a tax deduction. It also allows the group to be tax-exempt and apply for a wide variety of grants.

PL-AIDS focuses largely on raising awareness through media. Members distribute pamphlets about the prophylaxis pill in clubs, bars and schools, and the group has recently developed an interest in more interactive media, such as film and documentaries.

Myers founded the production company, Grauman Films, a forprofit corporate entity that helps raise funds for his documentary projects, as some filmmakers can be reluctant to work with nonprofit organizations, he said.

The company is currently in the process of producing two documentaries. One documentary about post-exposure, which examines issues across the United States and includes interviews with HIV experts, has been in production for about a year. Myers expects a 2013 release date.

The second documentary follows the male sex industry in Providence and will be released later this year. “We’ve been receiving a lot of positive press in the community for the film,” Myers

Courtesy of Gavin Myers

In 2010, leaders of PL-AIDS and community partners organized an AIDS Walk fundraiser at Brooklyn Coffee House.

said.

Both Rovner and Myers said their main difficulty has been a lack of a receptive audience for their message. “The biggest challenge has been getting our organization known within the Brown community and the public at large,” Myers said. “I feel like part of the challenge is that there isn’t a lot of momentum for HIV prevention, since a lot of people think that it isn’t an issue in the U.S. anymore and focus on HIV

in developing countries. A lot of people aren’t motivated to (focus on) HIV prevention, since there are a lot of really good drugs to treat it.”

In response, PL-AIDS emphasizes that HIV still seriously affects socially disadvantaged communities whose members often don’t have access to medications, Myers said.

“It’s not just a disease but a social problem,” he added.

Though Rovner and Myers

have both graduated, PL-AIDS still has an active presence at Brown, with both graduate and undergraduate students involved with the organization.

Chang, a commerce, organizations and entrepreneurship and computer science concentrator, said it is challenging to balance his work for the organization with other obligations. But he added, “Since I’m doing what really interests me, I’m willing to put in the time.”

Morning-after shuttle aims to curb shame at U. of Michigan

By Melanie Johnson BlogDailyHerald Staff Writer

Floating around the Internet recently is the story of a young entrepreneur, Kellyann Wargo, who has made a legitimate business out of shuttling University of

News from Blog Daily Herald blogdailyherald.com Michigan at Ann Arbor students home after “successful” nights out.

A ride costs $5 and comes with a free bottle of water, $5 off a Plan B coupon and “a complimentary high five.” Wargo had previously often been sought out in the

wee hours of the morning by her friends, as she was one of the only girls with a car.

Her tagline: “Why stride of pride when you can get a ride?”

When she discovered the enormous demand for early morning post-hookup rides home, she decided to turn her de facto cab service into a business venture.

Wargo said there are interesting and specific challenges facing her entrepreneurial venture.

She sometimes receives mean and crass comments and tries to make sure her admirers get the same personal treatment as her clients, all while maintaining her demanding press schedule.

Wargo’s website for her unique startup is launching in March, but curious readers can check out her Tumblr where she chats about boys in all forms, includ-

ing exes, bros and boyfriends.

Her new business is going viral, and Wargo has been interviewed on many social media sites about her morning-after services. Her blog also features her own personal advertisements, in case her startup skills and witty charm are not alluring enough. Her aspiration, beyond the success of her business, is to become a cat lady, she has said.

Anyone with a car want to take up the torch here? One might argue that Brown’s campus is too small to have a market for a crosscampus cab service, to which I would respond, “Perkins.” Maybe this can simply turn into a SafeWalk-like WalkOfShameWalk — complete with flip-flops and an oversized sweatshirt.

— With additional reporting by Alexandra Macfarlane

Courtesy of Kellyann Wargo

A University of Michigan at Ann Arbor student started a shuttle service to save peers from walks of shame.

The Brown Daily Herald Monday, February 27, 2012

Sports Monday 9 Partygoers not told about shooting continued from page 1 of the club. Both Lucy Fernandez ’14 and Zal Shroff ’14 said they were less likely to go to the club knowing it had been the site of a shooting.

Jesse Gumbiner ’15 said he would not worry about returning to the club for Brown-related events. But he added, “It might affect my desire to go if it wasn’t a Brown event.”

Sigma Chi held an after-party

for a rush event at Finnegan’s Saturday. Though president of the fraternity David Rattner ’13 said he did not believe the bar contacted the fraternity to tell them about the shooting, the organizers of the event had learned about the incident Saturday prior to the scheduled event.

“It wasn’t ideal for us, but people were expecting us to do something that we couldn’t back out of,” Rattner said. “It was an unfortunate coincidence that we

had to deal with.” The fraternity did not inform the attendees that the bar had been the location of a shooting the previous night.

The party featured additional security from the Providence Police Department. At least two police officers were stationed outside the club all night, and the officers kept their cars’ lights on for the duration of the party. Brown students who attended the party said the additional security made them feel safer under the circumstances.

comics Cabernet Voltaire! | Abe Pressman

Fraternity of Evil| Eshan Mitra, Brendan Hainline and Hector Ramirez

Sam Rubinroit / Herald Dockery Walker ’14 set personal records Saturday with 23 points and 17 rebounds.

Bruno sends off seniors in style continued from page 1 ing player, Jean Harris ’12. Harris was a member of the basketball program as a first-year and for part of his sophomore year but then went on a year and a half hiatus before returning this year.

“Even when he wasn’t around the program, he was around the program,” Agel said. “He did everything to put himself back into a position to rejoin the team, and he persevered and stuck with it.”

It was a special night for Harris, who started the matchup and connected on a three pointer for the Bears’ first basket of the game.

“We were playing this game for Jean Harris,” said point guard Sean McGonagill ’14. “We ran the first play for him, and he knocked down the first three of the game, and that’s just awesome to see.”

Harris finished with 17 points on the night, one shy of his career high. He was six-of-nine shooting from the field and three-ofsix from beyond the arc.

“This is a big night for me, so I came out with a lot of en-

ergy,” Harris said. “I was hoping it would translate to the other players, and it did. The team was really pumped up, and this is the most energized that we’ve played in a while.”

The Bears had little difficulty finding the bottom of the net, shooting 58 percent from the field, including 64 percent from three-point range. Six different players finished in double figures in scoring. McGonagill led the team with 28 points to go along with eight rebounds and eight assists.

“Credit to them — they shot the ball incredibly well,” said Columbia Head Coach Kyle Smith.

“It would be hard to shoot that well just open.”

“We got in the flow of the game,” Matt Sullivan ’13 said.

“The ball started moving around really well, and guys were knocking down shots.”

The Bears will look to carry the momentum from Saturday’s win to next weekend, as they go on the road for their final two games of the season against Penn (17-11, 9-2) Friday and Princeton (16-11, 7-4) the following night.

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10 Editorial Editorial An inadequate civil unions law

Gov. Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14 signed a bill July 2 allowing gay couples in Rhode Island to enter into civil unions. According to a recent report by the Rhode Island American Civil Liberties Union, only 46 couples have taken advantage of this legislation since its enactment six months ago. We believe the reason for this low number is the Corvese amendment. Added to the bill at the last minute, this amendment allows any religious organization to not “treat as valid any civil union.” Chafee himself admitted that this religious exemption “eviscerates the important rights that enacting a civil union law was meant to guarantee for same-sex couples in the first place.” We agree with this statement and believe that the current civil union law classifies gay couples as second-class citizens. This is not an acceptable compromise.

Rhode Island’s numbers in terms of civil unions are low even in comparison to states with similar populations. In Delaware, 85 civil union licenses were issued in the first month after the legislation passed, and in Hawaii, 106 civil union licenses were issued in the first month alone. Rhode Island, on the other hand, saw only seven couples obtain civil union licenses in November and December combined.

We see no other reason for this discrepancy other than the Corvese amendment. The implications of this amendment are numerous — Chafee noted that a person in a civil union in Rhode Island “could be denied the right to make medical decisions for his or her partner, denied access to health insurance benefits, denied property rights in adjoining burial plots or denied family memberships at religiouslyaffiliated community centers.” These are crucial rights that heterosexual couples automatically receive, and to allow those rights to be denied to gay couples for any reason is unjust. By shunning this law, the Rhode Island gay community has shown it will not legitimize a discriminatory concession to true first-class citizenship.

Though we recognize that Rhode Island at least attempted to take a step in the right direction — most other states still do not recognize same-sex marriage in any way — the Corvese amendment ensures that gay relationships in the state are constantly vulnerable to being rendered null and void. In some cases, as with the right to make medical decisions for one’s partner, this can literally be an issue of life and death. Furthermore, this amendment protects individual employees, meaning that even if the administration of a hospital decides to treat a gay man or woman, an individual nurse or doctor cannot be fired for refusing to perform their duties. We believe that religious beliefs should not exempt anyone from legal obligations.

Particularly now that Washington recently enacted a gay marriage law — and Maryland’s governor is slated to sign such a bill into law this week — and four of the five other New England states recognize gay marriage, we strongly believe that Rhode Island is behind the times and should catch up to its peers. The state’s current civil union legislation is inadequate, offensive and, for good reason, undesired by the very citizens it was intended to benefit. The gay couples in Rhode Island and elsewhere throughout the nation deserve full access to marriage and the benefits and rights that come with it.

Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.

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The Brown Daily Herald Monday, February 27, 2012

Editorial cartoon

by pao l a e i s n e r

Sun rises, sun sets Herald inbox waits for you Your letters, your love. letters@browndailyherald.com CorrectionS Due to an editing error, an article in Friday’s Herald (“Researchers study tin whiskers in electronics,” Feb. 24) incorrectly attributed a quotation about the Swatch Company and an anecdote about the Galaxy IV failure to Nitin Jadhav. In fact, Henning Leidecker was the source for those quotations. The Herald regrets the error.

A photo in Friday’s Herald was incorrectly attributed to Marshall Katheder ’12. In fact, the photo was a still from the film “Mammuth,” provided courtesy of Shoggy Waryn. The Herald regrets the error.

quote of the day

“You’re on a horse, hitting balls with a stick —­­­ what more could you want?”

— Reyad Williams ‘11.5, member of the Brown Polo Team See POLO on page 7.

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Opinions 11

The Brown Daily Herald Monday, February 27, 2012

Ron Paul is not a libertarian By bradley silverman Opinions Columnist

Over the course of his political career, Texas congressman and presidential hopeful Ron Paul has taken a number of positions that could lead a savvy observer to conclude that he is a libertarian. He has consistently voted to eliminate the social safety net for the poorest and supports eliminating the Federal Reserve, Environmental Protection Agency and five cabinet departments.

But Paul is not a libertarian — or at least not in a meaningful sense that connotes a set of consistent ideologies and values. Libertarians advocate individual liberty and freedom, which they believe is best achieved by limited government. The power to tyrannize and oppress, libertarians argue, is one that should not exist in the hands of the state.

Paul advocates for a small federal government, but it would be wrong to conflate his position with that of the libertarian. The truth is that he would accept a government of broad and expansive powers, so long as it is a state government. While Paul would not vote for environmental regulations or an individual health mandate on a federal level, he believes that states have every right to enact such measures themselves.

Nowhere is Paul’s hypocrisy more evident than in his sponsorship of the We the People Act, which would prevent the Supreme

Court and all federal courts from adjudicating claims based on to the right to privacy with regard to issues of “sexual practices, orientation or reproduction,” or on equal protection of the law with regard to the right of homosexuals to marry.

A cursory analysis of this bill could lead one to initially conclude that it has libertarian intentions. The bill’s stated purpose is “to limit the jurisdiction of the federal courts” — and aren’t libertarians interested in smaller government? But this is an extremely shallow line of reasoning. Here’s why.

Libertarians do not dislike government in and of itself. They oppose tyranny and dislike the state to the extent that the former

Paul may not care about the liberties of homosexuals, but he is obsessed with ensuring that their persecution or enfranchisement be the exclusive prerogative of the states. Of course, from the vantage point of a homosexual experiencing state-sanctioned persecution, the knowledge that such oppression is the doing of one arbitrary unit of government rather than a different arbitrary unit of government is of cold comfort.

So if Paul is not a libertarian, is there a name for what he is?

Federalism is the division of powers between a central government and its constituent governing authorities. With regard to gay rights, Paul is concerned with the distribu-

Ron Paul’s libertarianism is cheap marketing — it’s not an ideology, it’s a brand. His would-be supporters, particularly those on college campuses, deserve better. perpetuates the latter. But there is no sensible reason why a libertarian would oppose an exercise of state power that restrains the ability of another branch of the state to oppress the people.

So why is Paul actively pushing legislation that would allow states to oppress their gay citizens without restriction? Paul believes that the 50 states should collectively possess a monopoly on the power to tyrannize gays and lesbians. A true libertarian would believe that the level of government at which this power is housed is irrelevant — such a power should not exist at all.

tion of oppressive power across different levels of government, not actually with eliminating such power altogether. He is a federalist, not a libertarian. Or, if you prefer, he is an anti-federalist, a term from the early days of the republic for those who opposed the centralization of power in a strong national government. Either way, these are more apt descriptions of Paul. He’s not a libertarian for the simple reason that libertarians unconditionally advocate, well, liberty.

A libertarian cannot support the infringement of individual liberty and must support the enforcement of constitutional provisions

that restrict such tyranny. Paul believes that majorities of voters in individual states may legitimately deny homosexuals certain civil rights, but he would never argue that democratic majorities may legitimately deny property rights in a similar fashion. Paul is a libertarian on economic issues, but not on matters concerning basic human equality.

But here’s the snare for Paul — you cannot coherently separate the two. Libertarianism is not a buffet from which one selfishly selects only those portions that serve one’s own ends. A vegetarian who eats hamburgers is not a vegetarian, and a libertarian who is indifferent to or supportive of the oppression of a unique class is not a libertarian. A self-serving desire to pay lower taxes, unaccompanied by a commitment to the basic rights of others, doesn’t make for a particularly compelling ideology.

So why does this matter? Paul has received enormous support from college students who identify with tenets of libertarianism while espousing decidedly un-libertarian views on an issue of enormous moral significance. He misrepresents both himself and libertarianism. Paul’s libertarianism is cheap marketing — it’s not an ideology, it’s a brand.

His would-be supporters, particularly those on college campuses, deserve better.

Bradley Silverman ’13 hosts Taking Liberties, a weekly podcast focusing on news, politics, law, civil liberties and more, available on iTunes or at news.wbru.com, along with fellow Herald columnist Ian Eppler ’13.

The advising fallacies

By Nikhil Kalyanpur Opinions Columnist

If you were anything like me, you were not the biggest fan of treading the beaten path. Most of us here at Brown have some kind of indie — or maybe hipster is more appropriate — flair and have never been fans of being told what to do. This independent streak translates to why our open curriculum is so valued.

I have written about its emancipating appeal on numerous occasions, but it is still a system that takes time and effort. As freshmen come in, we vouch that they have little to fear with the numerous advising stabilizers at their disposal. We laud faculty advising and even assure that deans are willing to drop what they are doing for a student in need. Both these can be true, but they tend to be in subjective situations.

Informal or peer advising ends up being the most influential to Brown students, and it is time we build upon those foundations.

Most incoming students are excited as they learn the name of their faculty advisor prior to their arrival. Building close relationships with professors can be one of the most rewarding experiences at college, and it is a feature Brown loves to publicize.

That said, your advisor more often than not has interests very different from yours.

Most advise voluntarily, and while some can help cultivate some sense of purpose in you, most leave you grasping for more. Yet

it is hard to blame the professors, considering how consuming teaching and absurd research requirements may be.

Concentration advisors end up facing the same problems. Though they may have more time dedicated specifically to oneon-one time with students, there are few departments that are not facing a resource

from those around me. I came in as a sophomore transfer, and if it were not for my friends, I would never have realized the importance of starting off with five classes with the option of dropping one later. I am also sure I could have avoided some of the initial, abysmal professors had I grown closer to my friends earlier.

Informal or peer advising ends up being the most influential to Brown students and it’s time we build upon those foundations.

crunch, which leads to less interaction.

International Relations is a perfect example. This department is easily one of our most popular concentrations — what explanation can there be for having only one advisor for more than 100 students every year?

I had no problems with my initial faculty advisor, but something just did not quite click. I was fortunate to have a great concentration advisor, but I recognize this is not common. I have learned most

And with that I find hope. I am grateful to be at a school that has such a developed peer advising program. Furthermore, in recent years we have seen the emergence of the Matched Advising Program for Sophomores to fill the void not having an official student advisor may give you in your second year. We also have the larger Curricular Resource Center, which tragically not enough people know of, let alone visit. That said, there is still more we can do. We have plenty

of Departmental Undergraduate Groups, but other than the Philosophy or International Relations ones, I can hardly think of any whose work I see frequently publicized or discussed. DUGs can act as an outlet for more guidance, but this is under the assumption that the students running these organizations are really in it for reasons other than resume building.

Another aspect of Brown that we frequently overlook is that there are accessible means for freshmen to interact with upperclassmen. Our plethora of clubs is a great outlet, while the fact that the majority of our classes are open to all years is an added advantage. Though the stigma against freshmen here is not as bad as at most schools, it still exists. I have been trying to trace how to reduce that, and I personally believe we need to revamp our housing system in order to improve interaction and avoid segregating firstyears in Perkins Hall or Keeney Quadrangle.

We have a complex but wonderful system here at Brown. Professors and faculty do not always have the time to guide us.

Even if they should, the economics involved frequently lead to their role being diminished. We have great student initiatives in place, but there is even more we can be doing to help students fulfill their potential.

Nikhil Kalyanpur ’13 likes little talks. He can be reached at nikhil_kalyanpur@brown.edu.

Daily Herald Sports Monday the Brown

Monday, February 27, 2012

W. Basketball

Bruno keeps winning record alive in Ivy play By madeleine wenstrup Sports Staff Writer

The women’s basketball team had an uneven weekend, dropping a late-game heartbreaker to Cornell Friday night but bouncing back the next night to defeat Columbia 75-63.

Cornell 51, Brown 50

After Cornell (11-14, 5-6 Ivy) forward Clare Fitzpatrick missed a jumper with five seconds remaining in the game, it appeared the Bears (16-10, 7-5) had narrowly escap e d a Cornell 51 defeat to Brown 50 the Big Red. But Fitzpatrick was able to corral her own miss and call a timeout.

The 30-second break to draw up a final play proved to be precisely what the Big Red needed.

The squad set up Fitzpatrick for another shot, and this time, there was no need for a rebound. Her shot sailed up and in with four seconds remaining, giving Cornell the final advantage 51-50.

Before Fitzpatrick’s last second heroics, co-captain Aileen Daniels ’12 hit a jumper with 18 seconds remaining to give the Bears a onepoint edge.

The teams were evenly matched all night. Bruno held a five-point advantage — its biggest lead of the night — early on, but in the final 10 minutes of the first half, the teams traded baskets and stayed within two points of each other. The squads filed into the locker rooms tied 25-25.

“We weren’t aggressive enough in the first half,” said Head Coach Jean Marie Burr. “They forced us

to take outside shots, and with that defense, you just need to have a killer instinct.”

Guard Lindsay Nickel ’13 led the Bears, putting up 11 of her 16 points in the first 20 minutes and contributing six rebounds throughout the game. Point guard Lauren Clarke ’14 added nine points and four rebounds for the Bears.

Brown 75, Columbia 63

After the heartbreaker in Ithaca, Bruno headed to New York City to play a struggling Lions squad (3-22, 1-10). Daniels played a crucial part in the win, exploding for 25 points to lead the Bears’ offensive onslaught in the 12-point win.

“We always know that Aileen is capable of that every night,” Burr said. “She was very Columbia 63 clear on Brown 75 the fact that she was going to challenge them on the inside.”

But Columbia gave the Bears a scare at the start of the game.

Bruno struggled to get ahead in the first half, falling behind by one, its only deficit of the night, before Nickel hit a three-pointer midway through the first half that set the tone for the rest of the game. Nickel had a near perfect shooting game, scoring 16 points on six-for-seven shooting from the field, including four-of-five from beyond the arc.

“A lot of Aileen’s points were from ‘Baker Boards,’ a term named for alum Maia Baker ’90, who would get points from her own rebounds and put them right back up,” Burr said. “It was a tribute to an alum, and second

Herald file photo

Aileen Daniels ‘12 hit a jump shot in the last 18 seconds of the Cornell game, but the Bears’ one-point lead vanished.

efforts are important — they really boosted the team.”

Bruno got the victory without major contributions from its leading scorer, Sheila Dixon ’13. Dixon, who played just 17 minutes due to early foul trouble, struggled from the field and only netted six points. But without Dixon’s usual production, oth-

ers Bears stepped up and the team snapped out of its spell of cold shooting. The squad shot 44 percent from the field and 52 percent from the three-point line over the two games, a substantial improvement from last weekend’s 30 and 26 percent respective efforts.

Bruno closes out its regular season this weekend at home,

hosting Penn (11-14, 4-7) and Princeton (21-4, 11-0), who have wrapped up the Ivy League crown with an unblemished conference record to this point. When the squads matched up in New Jersey earlier this season, the Bears gave the Tigers their toughest in-conference matchup of the season, falling 57-45.

W. Ice Hockey

Squad makes playoffs for first time since 2006

By Ethan mccoy Sports Editor

The women’s hockey team’s season came to a close this weekend after the Bears were twice downed

by No. 3 Cornell in Ithaca in the first round of the ECAC playoffs.

Ivy champion the Big Red (28-3, 20-2) will now move on to the next round while Bruno (8-16-7, 5-13-4) heads home. But a pair of losses to one of the top teams in the nation fails to put an accurate meter on the strides the squad made this year — in Head Coach Amy Bourbeau’s first season at the helm, the Bears made the conference playoffs for the first time since 2006.

Bourbeau was named head coach in August 2011, taking over for Digit Murphy, who retired after 22 seasons as the team’s head coach. Under Murphy, the team won 306 games, six ECAC titles and reached three national championship games. But as of late, the team’s fortunes had taken a turn

for the worse. In the 2010-2011 season, the team won only three games. Last year, the team only won twice.

“They had … kind of lost their passion to play,” Bourbeau said.

But Bourbeau, who had 12 years of coaching experience as an assistant coach at Princeton, wasted little time settling in. In a short time, Bourbeau and the two new assistant coaches, Andy McPhee and Lucy Schoedel, were able to implement a number of changes to help turn the program back in the right direction. One of those changes was ensuring ice time for every player.

“Last year, not everyone played,” Bourbeau said. “We tried to find more roles for players who didn’t play last year. This year, everyone played, and everyone had a role.”

Bourbeau also said the team has changed its philosophy in practice to one that benefits the team on and off the ice.

“We try to have short, intense

practices and give the players a balance between being a student and an athlete,” Bourbeau said.

“They kind of had that taken away from them last year and had too much on their plate.”

Bourbeau said the team embraced the changes brought by her and her staff, and this was visible on the ice and in the locker room.

“They have more confidence and really show their passion for the game,” Bourbeau said. “They’re excited when they come to the rink. They really want to be here and they believe in what we’re trying to do. When they play in games, they have confidence in their ability to win.”

This new attitude has been evident throughout the season. The team started off the year with a 10-0 blowout of Sacred Heart — a scoreline it repeated against the same team Dec. 7 — and from there continued on to register a season sweep of Ivy rival Yale and wins over ECAC opponents Union, Rensselaer and Colgate.

They also took home the silverware after a Mayor’s Cup victory over Bourbeau’s alma mater, Providence College. Even in losing efforts, the team hung tight with some of the nation’s top teams, including a 3-1 defeat to then-No. 4 Boston College, a 3-1 loss to thenNo. 10 Dartmouth and a 4-2 loss to Cornell this weekend in the first of the three-game playoff series.

Perhaps most impressive is that the improved results have come with a team whose roster did not drastically change from last year’s two-win squad. Captain Katelyn Landry ’12 led the team in points with 19, and goalie Aubree Moore ’14 played a huge role in the team’s success. Moore, who was named to the All-Ivy First Team this week, ranked third in the country in save percentage and is a candidate for the ECAC Hockey Goalie of the Year Award.

“I’m incredibly happy with our team,” Bourbeau said. “We won a lot more games than in the past, so our record itself shows a lot of

improvement with pretty much the same team.”

Though much of the team has spent some previous time on College Hill, there were a number of first-years who made a marked difference on the team, especially up front. Forward Sarah Robson ’15 led the team with 10 goals, and Janice Yang ’15 and Brittany Moorehead ’15 both logged double-digit points.

The season could very well prove to be a turning point in Brown women’s hockey. Including Landry, the team will see only five seniors graduate in May. Moore will return in net for two more years, while the team’s six firstyears will come back with a season of experience under their belts.

It may be the beginning of a new era of success for the program. This season sent a message to the rest of the ECAC that the Bears have poked their heads out from their two-year hibernation — and next year, they may get the honey.