M O N D A Y APRIL 8, 2002
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXVII, No. 45
An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891
U. likely to face lawsuit seeking reparations, reports indicate
Stranded in Ramallah, U.’s Chopra awaits end of Israeli army offensive
BY ANDY GOLODNY
Reports from the national Reparations Coordinating Committee indicate the group will likely sue Brown for monetary compensation relating to the University’s alleged historical role in the slave trade. In an editorial written in the New York Times last week, Harvard Professor of Law Charles Ogletree named Brown, Yale and Harvard Law School as “probable targets” in a reparations lawsuit to be filed later this year. The schools “made headlines recently as the beneficiaries of grants and endowments traced back to slavery,” Ogletree wrote. Mark Nickel, director of the Brown News Service, said Brown has no response because no lawsuit has been filed yet. The RCC is made up of a number of prominent black leaders including attorneys Randall Robinson and Johnnie Cochran and Harvard Professor of AfroAmerican Studies Cornel West. The reparations movement gained steam last year with the publication of Robinson’s “The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks.” Ogletree told the Harvard Crimson that the RCC’s goal in filing the suits is to “create opportunity for discussion of slavery and its impact on culture and society as well as how we can move forward as a nation to remove barriers and work for equality to stop racial disparity.” Sources disagree about the strength of the link between Brown’s endowment and slavery. According to a Brown News Service report, John Brown was the member of the prominent Rhode Island Brown family most involved in the slave trade. The University itself was not named after John Brown, but after his nephew, Nicholas Brown Jr., who donated $5,000 in 1804, forty years after the University was founded. “The Browns were not uniform in their attitudes or their actions regarding slavery,” the report says. Nicholas Brown Jr. and his brother Moses Brown had both joined the abolitionist movement, and Moses became a Quaker and started a Providence abolitionist society, the report says. The clearest connection linking the University to slavery is that four slaves were likely used to build University Hall during its 1770 construction. It is unclear how all of this historical evidence will stack up in a courtroom, but Ogletree made clear in his editorial that the RCC will go forward with the suit. “Reparations litigation will show what slavery meant, how it was profitable and how it has continued to affect the opportunities of millions of black Americans.” Anti-reparations critics say the suits should not be brought about at all. “This is a shakedown operation, a frivolous scam,” said David Horowitz, author of
www.browndailyherald.com
BY WILL HURWITZ
Allie Silverman / Herald
MSNBC’s Chris Matthews spoke Saturday about U.S. foreign policy after Sept. 11.
Matthews: US must adopt ‘coiled snake’ defense BY VINAY GANTI
Nationally recognized television news analyst Chris Matthews played hardball with his audience Saturday in a lecture about U.S. foreign policy and military action after Sept. 11. The United States should take on a foreign policy stance of a “coiled rattlesnake,” he said. Matthews said the United States should be reactive and judicious when provoked, just like a rattlesnake, which does not attack without provocation. When attacked, the country should not surrender until it vanquishes its opponents. Matthews said the United States would benefit from the “high moral advantage” this “rattlesnake” foreign policy brings with it. Matthews said he approves of the actions of the U.S. government to find the people responsible for the terrorist attacks and bring them to justice, but said he is afraid of what actions may take place after Osama bin Laden and other members of Al Qaeda are found. He said former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill spoke about two types of success — initial and ultimate. Though the United States may be succeeding initially, Matthews said he is unsure if the country’s actions will ultimately be successful. When asked about his position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Matthews said he disagreed with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s actions as they will simply increase the hatred Arab nations have toward Israel. He
added that the United States does not need to be Israel’s big brother, and that the U.S. government should focus on helping other Middle Eastern nations as well. Matthews said he fears the neoconservative “pencil necks” in Washington, D.C., who want to enter into long-term wars fighting one country after another. He said phrases and labels, such as “axis of evil,” simply tell the world the United States is “looking for trouble.” “I didn’t like the fights in high school,” he said, and added that he does not understand why some bureaucrats and politicians are so belligerent. With such pro-war policies, “why do we need embassies in the world? Just shut them down,” Matthews said, as the embassies will become targets for further terrorist strikes. “You do have to take that one risk,” Matthews said, of allowing the United States’ enemies the chance to attack first. The United States should remain involved in foreign affairs on a diplomatic level but should avoid long-term alliances and entanglements as they eventually lead to war, he said. “We are a country of reluctant warriors,” he said. Americans fight when they absolutely have to, but when the fighting is over, they gladly return home to resume their previous lives, Matthews said. “We want a war to come home from,”
Jarat Chopra, a research associate for the Watson Institute for International Studies, remains stranded in war-torn Ramallah this morning, ten days after the Israeli army’s invasion interrupted his peacekeeping mission. Some reports say Chopra is one of hundreds of internationals trapped by the Israeli invasion of the West Bank. Chopra traveled to the Middle East as a consultant to the British government and part of an international team to study peace between Israel and Palestine, said Tanja Hohe, visiting fellow for the Watson Institute for International Studies, who is in daily phone contact with Chopra. Chopra intended to return to Brown after spring break, but instead finds himself sleeping on the floor without clean drinking water and little to eat. Hohe last spoke to Chopra Sunday night. “Things are getting worse,” she said. “He is down to one meal a day. They are running out of water.” Chopra is staying in a two-story house with two Americans. “They said the water is spoiled. It smells,” Hohe said. “They are confined to the house.” Hohe added that Chopra is lucky to have electricity and a working phone. Chopra did not answer his phone at 9:30 a.m. in Ramallah this morning. Chopra tried to leave Ramallah see CHOPRA, page 6
Delta Tau can move back on campus, ResLife announces BY BRIAN BASKIN
Delta Tau will return to campus next year following a decision by Director of Residential Life Donald Desrochers to end the fraternity’s five-year housing ban. The fraternity will most likely occupy part of Sears House, though the University has not made an official decision, said Michael Blitstein ’03, program house chair for Residential Council. ResCouncil voted 8-0-2 to recommend housing for Delta Tau in late February. Blitstein said Delta Tau’s commitment to community service, sponsoring of campuswide events and fulfillment of program house requirements contributed to the Council’s decision. ResCouncil voted to remove Delta Tau from campus in 1997 after ResLife accused the fraternity of damaging University prop-
see MATTHEWS, page 4
see LAWSUIT, page 6
see DELTA TAU, page 6
I N S I D E M O N D AY, A P R I L 8 , 2 0 0 2 Kevin Kramp ’02 unveils his fashion designs in Saturday show in List center page 3
NAVA uses benefit concert to get out the word on opposing the U.S. war on terror page 5
TO D AY ’ S F O R E C A S T Author Tariq Ramadan addresses the changing role of Islamic values in American society page 5
Abraham Young ’04 says Brown students must make efforts in Providence community guest column,page 11
Men’s tennis rolls over Penn and Princeton, gets off to best Ivy start in team history page 12
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