Friday, September 5, 2003 by The Brown Daily Herald

F R I D A Y SEPTEMBER 5, 2003

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXVIII, No. 65

An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891

www.browndailyherald.com

New shuttle, escort service debuts on the Brown campus BY CARLA BLUMENKRANZ

Tuesday marked the debut of SafeRIDE, a transportation system that combines and extends Brown and RISD shuttle services and employs professional drivers in place of students. Drivers from the outside vendor Road Island Red now circle three routes around the Brown campus. The first two, variations of the former shuttle route, run in opposite directions, while the third runs between two stops on Thayer Street and the Brown stadium for the duration of this academic year. All three shuttle routes will run from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. in September, and from 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. October through May. The BrownMed Express, has also been expanded, making eight stops en route from Faunce Arch to Rhode Island Hospital weekdays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. And the Escort Service, renamed onCall, has expanded its service area for students, faculty and staff who require dropoff or pick-up off-campus between 5 p.m. and 3 a.m. New wheelchair-equipped vans allow community members with disabilities to use all three Brown shuttles, BrownMed Express and two shuttles running on RISD’s campus. The escort service for students, faculty and staff with disabilities also continues to run, under the name DSS onCall, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. The new service is “clearly more expensive” than the previous, studentrun shuttle, according to Abigail Rider, director of real estate and administrative services. But it became a necessity after the University determined in May that student drivers create too many liabilities to employ. State law requires professional drivers

Sara Perkins / Herald

All three SafeRIDE routes will run from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. in September, and from 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. October through May.

see SAFERIDE, page 5

Empty NLRB seat will not delay Brown graduate student unionization decision BY JULIETTE WALLACK

An empty seat on the National Labor Relations Board will not delay a longawaited decision as to whether Brown graduate students can unionize, according to a board spokeswoman. Graduate students and University administrators across the country are waiting to see whether the board will overturn a 1999 decision that allowed New York University graduate students to unionize. Brown appealed to the NLRB in December 2001 that the board outlaw graduate student unionization after University graduate students voted on the possibility. The results of that election were impounded and will be released if the NLRB rules grad students can unionize.

One of the NLRB’s five seats became vacant when member R. Alex Acosta’s term ended in August. Although the four remaining board members are split evenly between political affiliations, the timeline for the decision will likely remain the same, according to Patricia Gilbert, associate director of information for the NLRB. “The (new) appointees to the board are generally in the majority of the party of the president,” Gilbert said, because the president nominates candidates. “It follows that if we have a president who is a Republican … generally the majority would be the appointment of three Republicans.” It’s difficult to tell whether graduate students’ right to unionize would be hurt if the

Parking shortage results in fewer permits for students BY JULIETTE WALLACK

Sara Perkins / Herald

Faced with drastic parking space shortages, the parking office issued 700 student permits for the beginning of the academic year, 150 fewer than last year. The news that they hadn’t received parking just days before returning to school — in their cars — surprised many students. Walter Hunter, vice president for administration, said it is likely the number of student permits will increase as the parking office completes a reassignment lottery. Brown’s parking crunch reached an alltime high this year when construction projects forced the temporary closure of two parking lots, Hunter said. “We wound up losing quite a few spaces,” he said.

Brown’s parking crunch reached an all-time high this year when construction projects forced the temporary closure of two parking lots.

see PARKING, page 4

I N S I D E F R I D AY, S E P T E M B E R 5 , 2 0 0 3 Students use summer to pump up Dean’s presidential campaign in Rhode Island page 3

With seven diamonds and six coal, see who gets this week’s coveted cubic zirconium diamonds & coal,page 6

Bush-bashing by profs doesn’t belong in the classroom, says Alex Carnevale ’05 column, page 7

decision is made with a new member, said Sheyda Jahanbani GS, spokeswoman for Brown Graduate Employee Organization/United Auto Workers. Jahabani said UAW representatives have not warned Brown graduate students there will be a delay because of the vacancy and eventual appointment. But, she said, when Brown appealed to the board, part of the basis for the appeal was that the NLRB made the NYU decision when there were empty seats on the board. For that reason, she said, it’s feasible the NLRB might wait until the vacancy is filled and there is a full board to release a decision. “That sends up a flag in my head,” she said. “It’s one of the elements that they were appealing on.” But Gilbert said the board usually makes decisions with only three members, so a single vacancy might not affect the timeline. “I’m not sure what the board has decided as to who will participate,” she said. “I think the way the process is is that most of the decisions are by a three-member panel, but all of the members can participate if they so choose.” Even if the new NLRB member is a Republican, it’s possible he or she won’t necessarily rule against graduate students just because of political affiliation. “Nobody really knows what some of these … board members will do on a case like our case here at Brown,” Jahabani said. But, she said, “they try to make decisions based on law as they understand it,” no matter what their political party. “This is really in new territory. The graduate student decision will be a precedent-setting decision.” Herald staff writer Juliette Wallack ’05 edits the metro section. She can be reached at jwallack@browndailyherald.com.

TO D AY ’ S F O R E C A S T Cut the NFL preseason some slack even if it ends in injuries, says Jon Meachin ’04 sports column, page 8

Liz Daniels ’04 heads for the Olympics Trials after stellar performances at Nationals sports, page 8

partly cloudy high 75 low 54

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

THIS MORNING FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2003 · PAGE 2 Coup de Grace Grace Farris

W E AT H E R FRIDAY

SATURDAY

High 75 Low 54 partly cloudy

SUNDAY

High 77 Low 56 sunny

MONDAY

High 79 Low 57 mostly sunny

High 71 Low 53 partly cloudy

GRAPHICS BY TED WU

Three Words Eddie Ahn

MENU THE RATTY LUNCH — Vegetarian Vegetable Soup, Manhattan Clam Chowder, Shepherd’s Pie, Pisto con Garbanzo, French Green Beans with Tomatoes Pound Cake with Blueberry Topping, Chocolate Dream Pie

V-DUB LUNCH — Vegetarian Minestrone Soup, German Sausage Chowder, Chicken Fingers, Cheese Tomato Strata, Fresh Sliced Carrots, Lemon Coconut Tarts

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Excited 5 Bashar alAssad’s land 10 Forest cry 14 Super star 15 Sully 16 Sweden-based furniture chain 17 Ripened 18 Sound start? 19 Pace at a track 20 Poet’s ideal? 23 In knots 24 Large amount 25 Ill will 27 Lower Manhattan area 30 “The 5,000 Fingers of __”: 1953 film 31 Poet’s motto? 35 Earnest request 36 Reef in a ring 37 Start of a German series 41 Poets with attitude? 44 Discouraging word 47 Encouraging words 48 “Don’t mind __” 49 Sternward 51 An arm and a leg 53 How prolific poets would like to be paid? 58 Drop out 59 Home of the Maine Lobster Institute 60 Open hearing, in law 62 Passé preposition 63 Birthday business? 64 Garb for Gaius 65 Tree of life site 66 Bonding agent 67 Quiet DOWN 1 Santa __

Greg and Todd’s Awesome Comic Greg Shilling and Todd Goldstein

39 Writer Buntline 51 Tanglewood 2 Energetic 40 __-Cat Music Festival 3 In due course 42 Univ. recruiter town 4 Miscellany 43 Thin specie 52 Key material carrier 44 Language that 54 Flaw, as in a 5 Blows away gives us “jai theory 6 Clinton was alai” 55 Plumbing pipe one 45 Teem feature 7 Cracker maker 46 Certain Genesis 56 Bum 8 As to descendant 57 Lines of thought? 9 Slightly 61 Backer’s call 10 Opera highlight, 50 Sleep on it perhaps ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: 11 Gave the goahead P O S H S W U N G S U B S 12 Central German H O N E R U T A H O C T O city O L I V E M U L E P A R D 13 Not yet C O F F E E T A B L E E L I actualized N I C E S T S A N M A T E O 21 One more time G A B R O B T 22 Space A S T I J A M M E R P O I 25 Nurse T R I M M E D E L E G I A C 26 Buddy E L U A N T I N K Y M O E 27 Organ settings N L E R O N T 28 More than glib S H I P S O U T 29 Circle overhead F R E E L Y P T A F U L L O F B E A N S 32 Heist loot I O N I C J O T S L I E D 33 “Don’t look __ S N A F U O N E S A N N E like that!” H A L A S G Y R E T S A R 34 Some bouillon 38 Lover’s sign-off xwordeditor@aol.com 09/05/03 1

27 32

36 41

Hopeless Edwin Chang

23 25

My Best Effort Andy Hull and William Newman

34 37

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57 61

Cry Happy Fun Eric Rachlin

09/05/03

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CAMPUS NEWS FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2003 · PAGE 3 SUMMER STORIES: A CONTINUING SERIES

Brown students give Dean a head start on campus BY ALLISON LOMBARDO

Democratic Presidential candidate Howard Dean plans on winning the youth vote one campus at a time. At Brown, he already has a head start on his eight competitors, thanks to several student supporters. Although Brown Students for Dean doesn’t receive funding from Dean’s campaign or the University, its two organizers are already spreading the word about their candidate around campus, after interning for the campaign this summer. Co-founder Ari Savitzky ’06 said the ultimate goal of the group “is getting Dean to win the state of Rhode Island,” mainly by directing volunteering students to projects. Like many of Dean’s young supporters, Savitzky and co-founder Rachel Lauter ’06 were inspired to actively campaign for Dean after attending several meetups. The social events, organized across the country through Internet message boards and Web sites, helped transform Dean from a relatively unknown former Vermont governor to one of the frontrunners for the Democratic nomination. Savitzky and Lauter both set out this summer to campaign for Dean. Working with a core of Dean’s college-aged supporters as unpaid interns, Savitzky and

Lauter collected signatures, wrote reports and campaigned for Dean around Rhode Island. Working with Rhode Island for Dean, the two sophomores attended WaterFire events for the campaign and held a candidacy announcement party in June on the Brown campus. They also planned for the return of students this fall. “It’s a campaign but it feels like a movement,” Savitzky said. Also swept up in the movement was Sally Walkerman ’05, who met the two organizers over the summer. A Vermont native, Walkerman said she was surprised the University didn’t have a Dean chapter and registered one herself with the national Students for Dean organization. Hoping to serve as a resource but not a leader of the efforts here, Walkerman said she believes Brown is the perfect place for Dean to be strong. Sensing the need for an organizing force between the different student groups on Rhode Island campuses, Savitzky and Lauter created the noninstitutionalized group Rhode Island Students for Dean consisting of Rhode Island School of Design, Johnson and see PROFILE, page 5

Photo courtesy of Ari Savitzky

Ari Savitzky ’06 and Rachel Lauter ’06 interned for Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean this summer, collecting signatures, writing reports and campaigning around Rhode Island.

PAGE 4 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2003

Parking continued from page 1 The lot at Olive and Brown streets is temporarily closed for construction of the Life Sciences building. The other closed lot is next to the Horace Mann building on George Street, where renovations are being done. The Life Sciences building will occupy two former Olive Street parking lots that will not reopen when construction is complete. In all, more than 200 spaces were lost or reassigned, Hunter wrote in an e-mail. Justine Goodman ’05 applied for parking but didn’t get a space. A transfer from Bard College, Goodman expected to receive a parking spot when she arrived on campus last week. “I was told over the phone that I would be getting parking,” Goodman said. “(My mom) was told there would be parking at the stadium, at least.” For now, Goodman is illegally parking in the lot outside the

“They ended up giving me a spot in the stadium because I’m a senior. I’m going to enter the reassignment lottery. If I get stuck with stadium, I’m going to look for private.” Lindsay Malloch ’04 Senior applying for parking New Pembroke dorms, she said, where she got a ticket Wednesday. She said she plans to look for a spot at a private house or apartment, but she doesn’t want to pay $100 a month. That seems like the going rate, she said. “I’m going to have to ask somebody who appears to have one car in two spaces,” she said. Hunter said the University is working to remedy the parking situation, but the problem will only get worse. The master plan, which maps Brown’s physical growth, dictates that stadium parking will not be allowed beginning in the fall of 2004. “We’re going to need to take a look at a whole host of transportation management issues,” Hunter said, and the University will soon form a committee to look at the problem. Representatives from the Undergraduate Council of Students and the Graduate Student Council are aware of the situation, he said. UCS President Rahim Kurji ’05 said representatives from UCS will be appointed to the committee but the number of representatives and how they will be appointed has yet to be determined.

“It is our hope that the committee will be able to make balanced, explicit recommendations regarding parking policies and fees, shuttle operations, mass transit programs, car pooling incentives and other measures designed to remedy congestion in the vicinity of campus,” he said. The parking office referred all questions to Hunter. Hunter said he does not know why the parking office was unable to notify students sooner that they had not received parking. Lindsay Malloch ’04 said she almost didn’t get parking. When she was abroad last spring, the parking office told her she could apply for a spot when she got back because there were usually leftovers. But when she called over the summer, she said, there were no spots left. “They ended up giving me a spot in the stadium because I’m a senior,” she said. “I’m going to enter the reassignment lottery. If I get stuck with stadium, I’m going to look for private.” According to Jessica Kingsborough ’04, captain of the equestrian team, the University informed some of her sophomore teammates late in the summer that they had not gotten parking. The team practices off campus, in Warren, R.I., and team members are responsible for transporting themselves. Kingsborough said the Athletic Department managed to find extra spots at the stadium when team members arrived on campus for those who needed to get to practice and hadn’t gotten spots in the lottery. Seniors on the team who park off campus are driving them to the stadium, she said, or the team members are taking the new shuttle service. “We’re never given preferential treatment,” she said. “They’re usually just able to get a spot.” Herald staff writer Juliette Wallack ’05 edits the metro section. She can be reached at jwallack@browndailyherald.com.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2003 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 5

BCS continued from page 8 elected officials at any level will be counterproductive,” Brand said, pledging to help forge a compromise among college presidents from both sides of the debate. That process gets underway in Chicago on Monday, when a group of 11 presidents representing both BCS and non-BCS schools meet on the matter. There is no timetable for their talks. But schools like Tulane hope to persuade the BCS to

change its thinking, and ensure greater access to the game’s most lucrative bowls, before the next round of TV contracts is signed. The current contract runs through 2005, and negotiations will start in earnest later this year. Lawmakers made clear Thursday they would monitor the debate and not hesitate to step in again if need be. Said Rep. John Conyers Jr. DMich.: “This friendly hearing is just to let you know we’ll be watching how the BCS handles this idea of fairness — whether it’s an antitrust violation or not.”

SafeRIDE

Former student shut-

continued from page 1

tle driver Daniel

to obtain chauffeurs’ licenses and prohibits compensating drivers younger than 21, Vice President for Administration Walter Hunter told The Herald in May. “This is not meant in any way to be a slight” to student shuttle drivers, Hunter said. Although former student shuttle driver Daniel Neghassi ’05 said he does not consider the loss of his job a slight. He questioned whether administrators responsible for changing the service were as “up-front and honest” as they could have been. “I understand it was because of the law regarding chauffeur’s licenses, but they could have told us in advance,” Neghassi said. “I was interested in having a job in the fall.” Last year, Brown’s Shuttle and Escort Service employed between 85 and 110 students, according to a Web site launched by students in May to save the service. This year, only dispatching jobs are available to students. Cisco Dilg ’04, the former coordinator of student security operations, said he was concerned that commenting about the changeover to professional drivers would jeopardize his job. Dilg is currently the coordinator

Neghassi ’05 said he does not consider the loss of his job a slight. He questioned whether administrators responsible for changing the service were as “up-front and honest” as they could have been. of dispatch operations, one of the few positions still open to students in shuttle services. “The people who will tell you what actually happened are the people who made the decision, and that’s basically Walter Hunter,” he said. He noted, though, that “the service is improved, although there are some details that still need to be worked out.” Herald staff writer Carla Blumenkranz ’05 edits the campus watch section. She can be reached at cblumenkranz@browndaily-

Profile continued from page 3 Wales University, Roger Williams University and a handful of other schools. By mobilizing students in the state, Lauter said the group hopes to bring people to events and reach out to the senior citizen community. Through the program Seniors for Dean, highschool students and collegeaged people will storm senior living homes to spread Dean’s message to the elderly. Lauter said a kick-off festival is planned for later this semester with bands and speakers including former Rhode Island gubernatorial candidate Myrth York. Based on what she’d heard from fellow students, Lauter said she believes most Brown students are “pretty sick of the fear they’re being fed” by the current government.

Dean is often credited with leading the public charge against Bush, being fiercely antiwar and, while governor of Vermont, pro-civil unions — issues Savitzky predicted will likely appeal to Brown students. But he said he did not think Dean’s fiscally conservative side will affect Brown students’ candidate preference. Herald staff writer Allison Lombardo ’05 can be reached at alombardo@browndailyherald.com.

drop it like it’s hott...or like there’s a bun in the oven

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

EDITORIAL/LETTERS FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2003 · PAGE 6 S T A F F

E D I T O R I A L

Diamonds and coal Coal to canceling one of Brown’s coolest traditions — the procession through the Van Wickle Gates — in favor of aimless wandering and cardboard cut-outs. A little rain never hurt anybody. A diamond to the cheerful and friendly SafeRIDE drivers. Sure, you stole our jobs, but we don’t blame you. A diamond to the hardworking Dorm Stormers. You saved us all from the wrath of a 300-pound teenage computer hacker from Minnesota with too much time on his hands. Coal to myConnection, which is just a little too myBigBrother for our taste. Coal to professors who ignore the golden-ticket status of a “pre-registered senior” and admit non-pre-registered juniors instead. You call it “randomization.” We say, “please please please please.” A diamond to the Class of 2007. You’re an attractive bunch, if we do say so ourselves. Coal to the ProPo, for breaking up parties before midnight and driving helpless Brown students into the mean streets of Providence, with nothing to do but turn tricks and smoke dope. Don’t you have, like, real crimes to stop?

ANDREW SHEETS

LETTERS

A cubic zirconium to the new seating arrangement at Antonio’s. Tables are a nice addition, but the bottle-necking ordering traffic is not. A diamond to off-campus living. Pseudo-independence never felt so good. Coal to 80-person units. It’s hard to feel a special bond with your unitmates when you have to walk up four flights of stairs to see them. A diamond to the “please do not use while still sweating” sign on the OMAC e-mail kiosk. Bodily fluids and high-tech equipment just don’t mix. A diamond to under-appreciated student callers at the Brown Annual Fund, a job that falls somewhere in the outer circles of hell. A diamond to our new favorite shows: “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” “The O.C.” and “Newlyweds.” But coal to Jessica “Manatee of the Sea” Simpson. Coal to Minden Hall. A private bathroom is not worth the price of a broken elevator, a week without Internet access, the mysterious odors of vomit and no hot water.

Cheap ways to provide life-saving drugs do exist To the Editor: In “Cheaper Medicine Means Less Medicine,” (Sept. 3) the columnist raises a valid point about the challenges that pharmaceutical companies face in funding drug research, especially given the onslaught of generic drug manufacturers worldwide. However, in considering this issue, one must balance the commercial interests of the American pharmaceutical industry with the ever-

burgeoning public health needs of the developing world. Using the AIDS pandemic as an example: Approximately 45 million people are currently infected with HIV, and 15,000 individuals are newly infected each day. Over 20 million have already died; three million die each year. Shockingly, less than 5 percent of those infected receive life-saving anti-retrovirals because of their high cost. Brazil has reduced the number of its citizens dying of AIDS by 50 percent through the production of cheap, generic drugs for its own population. If practiced on a larger scale, such initiatives would save millions of lives. Would the author not approve of this? Basim Khan ‘02 Sept. 4

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD EDITORIAL Elena Lesley, Editor-in-Chief Brian Baskin, Executive Editor Zachary Frechette, Executive Editor Kerry Miller, Executive Editor Kavita Mishra, Senior Editor Rachel Aviv, Arts & Culture Editor Jen Sopchockchai, Asst. Arts & Culture Editor Carla Blumenkranz, Campus Watch Editor Juliette Wallack, Metro Editor Philissa Cramer, RISD News Editor Jonathan Skolnick, Opinions Editor Jonathan Meachin, Sports Editor Maggie Haskins, Sports Editor PRODUCTION Zachary Frechette, Chief Technology Officer Ilena Frangista, Listings Editor Marc Debush, Copy Desk Chief Grace Farris, Graphics Editor Andrew Sheets, Graphics Editor Sara Perkins, Photo Editor

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OPINIONS FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2003 · PAGE 7

Squashing intellectual diversity With a new semester comes another round of Bush-bashing AS MOST KNOW BY NOW, DUE TO MANY was wrong to paint the conflict as “you’re letters to The Herald on behalf of unions, either with us, or you’re with the terrorminorities and free speech — not to men- ists” — and we would do better to undertion the copies of the Socialist Worker that stand the reasons why the 19 hijackers did grace the door of his office — Brown’s what they did, instead of solving the probProfessor of English William Keach is a lem with violence. Dressed like a State Department socialist. On my first day of class with him bureaucrat and guffawing all last year he mentioned his over the stage, Hopmann went views and told the class that ALEX CARNEVALE on to bring deep insight into of course he wouldn’t some of the topics the class enforce them on others and GUEST COLUMNIST would be exploring in the they were free to disagree semester. He explained the difwith him. I’ve shopped ference between the rational enough of his classes to and irrational actor in foreign relations, know that this is his regular spiel. Though Keach’s left-wing perspective is using Hitler as an instructive example. more than common in academia, his Some of the things Hitler did were peropen attitude about classroom expression fectly rational, he said, if you look at the is not the norm. This became abundantly goal Hitler had in mind. I cannot imagine clear to me when I stepped into PS 147: what my grandfather would say if I told “International Negotiation and Conflict him I paid some $30,000 to $40,000 to lisResolution” a few days ago. The professor ten to this sort of discussion of rational for this course, P. Terance Hopmann, did- actors. During shopping period, this kind of n’t bother to say whether or not he was a socialist or consider how the class would awkward politicking is a routine feature of feel about such a thing. He simply began the Brown University experience. But let to tear into the current Republican domi- me make this clear: It is not Hopmann’s nance of the political scene like a dog into political perspective that bothers me. He is perfectly within his rights to stick a a shoe. In his initial description of the course, Kuchinich bumper sticker on his car and required for the political science depart- curl up with a copy of “Chomsky for ment’s global security track, he almost Beginners.” Whether or not I believe he is immediately digressed into tirades about deeply misguided about Sept. 11, Bush the evils of President George W. Bush. Of and Hitler is irrelevant. The true damage the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, he said Bush is done to the idea of an open university — and an oppressively left-wing classroom environment doesn’t allow room for that kind of discourse. Alex Carnevale ‘05 is the editor-in-chief of Hopmann is wrong to assume from the Post-. He also writes about politics and the start that Brown students are automatiarts at www.neoliberal.blogspot.com.

Many on-campus professors are oppressing intellectual diversity wherever it might exist by squelching other perspectives. And what’s worse, the faculty contains almost no counterpoints to this lack of diversity. cally sympathetic to his perspective and are excited to be indoctrinated in much the same manner he was. The reports I have heard from other students bear out a pattern: Many on-campus professors are oppressing intellectual diversity wherever it might exist by squelching other perspectives. And what’s worse, the faculty contains almost no counterpoints to this lack of diversity, which leaves students feeling they are hearing only one side of the story. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, about 17.7 percent of students entering college last year described themselves as conservative. You might say, not at Brown, where a member of the campus branch of the International Socialist Organization once told me he thought 99 percent of the student body at Brown was against the Iraq War. David Horowitz’s Center for the study of Popular Culture estimates that Democrats outnumber Republicans among the Brown faculty 301. But the reaction to the Bush-bashing I’ve been hearing all week, from many professors in all kinds of disciplines, has not been sly chuckles or friendly nudges to classmates. It has been dead silence.

I do not think this reaction is merely a result of our young students’ increasing conservatism in reaction to the strict leftwing dogmatism and perpetuation of bourgeois multiculturalism. I believe it is because students encountering the farleft politics of the vast majority of the Brown faculty are becoming desensitized to the sameness of the perspective they are being offered, and no longer wish to laugh off the waste of an expensive Ivy League education. When I first met professors whom I admired and respected, I was an idealistic high school student. My teachers often refused to reveal their political biases, and at the time I wondered why they would do such a thing. Certainly they were liberals like me, and I sought the comfort of appealing to an intellectually homogenous environment. Here at Brown, where the political positions of the faculty are homogenous in a way that prevents growth, I see the wisdom of my teachers’ choice. By patronizing and eliminating other perspectives from the classroom, the faculty at Brown has absconded its most important duty and left us all worse off.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

SPORTS FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 5, 2003 · PAGE 8

BCS problems bring issue to the Congress

Understanding the preseason THE NFL PRESEASON HAS UNFAIRLY become the most hated object in sports, second only to Dave Bliss. True, this year has been particularly painful, with the loss of two stud quarterbacks in Michael Vick and Chad Pennington, but cries for halving the preseason or having fewer games should fall on deaf ears. For many people, there will never be too few preseason games, but they’re a vital — if disliked commodity — for every team. The fact is Vick and Pennington JON MEACHIN could both have SUICIDE SQUEEZE gotten injured on the first play of the first in-season game and the enormous uproar at the length of the preseason would never have been an issue. Both could have sustained the same injury missing the same number of games and all people would do is shrug it off as a part of the game. There is never a good time for a player to be injured, but in high-impact sports — and football especially — injuries are part of the game. Of all the quarterbacks in the NFL, Pennington and Vick needed the four games the most as each has a new number one receiver in Curtis Conway and Peerless Price. If I were Vick or Pennington, I’d be really pissed off right now, but they should take solace in the fact that they can return to the team and make a run at the playoffs if backup plays decently. They have some time on the mend before season starts and will miss as little in-season time as possible. Hell, they’re not getting cheery at this point by any means, but the timing could have been worse. For coaches, the preseason determines who makes the team and is vital to getting the offense’s timing down and having the defense function as a cohesive unit. Coaches need to evaluate their squads with the most precision possible. Following the Korey Stringer incident and concerns of overworking players in the heat, practices have been shortened and many players have said this year has been lighter than past preseasons. Practices are great, but actual preseason games in the stadiums are still the best substitute for the real thing. Rookies need to learn the speed of the pro game because at some point in the season, they’re going to be called upon to play. Tom Brady put the preseason’s length in perspective as he talked about his concerns about the offense’s timing heading into the team’s final preseason game. “I think it’s important to get the kinks out now, and this is only our fourth game in six months,” he said. Some proponents of shortening the preseason have suggested cutting it down to two games and increasing the regular season to 18 games. The first few games of the season are not the time for teams to be ironing things out — that’s the explicit purpose of the preseason. Whether a superstar gets injured on the first day of the season or the last game of preseason should be immaterial. The current system has teams ready for the season and, while I’d love to see Pennington and Vick destroying opposing defensive backs, blaming their plight solely on the number of preseason games seems ridiculous. Sports editor Jon Meachin ’04 hails from New York City. He likes his ladies young … very young.

Photo courtesy of Liz Daniels

Liz Daniels ’04, with Brown Swim Coach Peter Brown, placed third in the 50-meter freestyle and 18th in the 100-meter freestyle at the U.S. swimming nationals.

Liz Daniels ’04 earns a shot at Olympic Trials BY MAGGIE HASKINS

If you want to know where Liz Daniels ’04 might be next summer you might find her in Athens, Greece. Following a strong showing at the 2003 U.S. Senior Swimming Nationals in August, Daniels took one step closer to the Olympics. A psychology major and co-captain of the women’s swimming and diving team this season, Daniels swam both the 50-meter freestyle along with the 100-meter freestyle. “Coming in my goal was to make the Olympic trials,” Daniels said. Though the 50 free is Daniels’ stronger event, she was surprised to have such a strong time in the 100. Daniels bested the trials 100-meter qualifying time with a 57.05 performance for 18th place. Daniels’ bettered her 100 feat with a fantastic effort in the 50-meter freestyle beating the Olympic qualifying time of 26.39 by placing third in 25.99 — .81 seconds behind the winner. She was also the second fastest American at the meet — the winner was French. Looking back on her experience at Nationals, Daniels said, “It was amazing being around Olympians and actually competing with them. I look forward to having an awesome Olympic Trials meet.” Of course Daniels is not unaccustomed to the medal podium. Last year

she was an individual finalist in the 100- and 200-meter freestyles at the Ivy Championship and a member of the 200- and 400-meter freestyle relay team. In the 200-meter relay Brown set an Ivy League record. Daniels followed her Ivy success last spring with a strong performance at the NCAA Championships in March, where she placed 17th in the 50-meter freestyle and 14th in the 100-meter. Her lifetime best performance in the 100-meter earned her Honorable Mention All-American status and a 40th place finish for Brown. Daniels was not the only Brown swimmer competing in the four-day meet. Max Allen ’04 participated in the 200-meter fly placing 38th. His 2:04.41 time was a lifetime best and only a second off the trials qualifying time. “I would have liked to make trials at the meet,” Allen said, “but it was another second and I am still really happy with the way I swam.” Eric Brumberg ’06 and Bridgette Cahill ’06 both participated in the 400meter individual medley. Brumberg finished 54th in a time of 4:40.10 and Cahill finished in 69th with a time of 5:09:31. Herald staff writer Maggie Haskins ’04 edits the sports section. She can be reached at mhaskins@browndailyherald.com.

WASHINGTON (Washington Post) — Concerned that college football is being divided into disparate camps of haves and have-nots, the House Judiciary Committee Thursday waded into the debate over the Bowl Championship Series and its convoluted — and some say, exclusionary — method of crowning a national champion and dividing the lucrative spoils. No resolution was reached, and none was expected as flashbulbs popped and autograph pens came out when former NFL quarterback Steve Young entered the hearing room to offer his testimony, joined by NCAA President Myles Brand, Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany and Tulane President Scott Cowen. But the three-hour hearing accomplished its purpose in focusing attention on the issue some fear could drive schools such as Tulane, which plays in “mid-major” conferences, out of college football or lead to the dissolution of the NCAA altogether. In short: How can Division I-A football schools give the public an undisputed national champion, generate enough revenue to bankroll multimillion-dollar athletic department budgets and maintain at least the appearance of being an amateur enterprise in a manner that’s fair to everyone? Cowen called the BCS “an anathema to everything we stand for in higher education” and argued that it excludes potentially worthy teams from the major bowls, and in turn, a chance to compete for the national title. And he raised the specter of a lawsuit on antitrust grounds, though he made clear that legal action was not his preference. In the five years the BCS has been in existence, no school outside the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pacific-10 and SEC has qualified for a major bowl. Delany argued that the BCS works well, pitting the nation’s first- and second-ranked teams against each other and setting aside two of the eight slots in the four major bowls (Fiesta, Orange, Rose and Sugar) to at-large teams that finish high enough in the rankings. Cowen said the at-large slots were illusory — not achievable by mid-major schools under the BCS computer-based ranking system. Young echoed the sentiment, likening Brigham Young’s 1984 national championship to “a Cinderella story” that simply couldn’t be re-written under the BCS today. He called for more access to the major bowls to give schools such as BYU, Colorado State and Boise State at least some semblance of hope that an undefeated season might end in a national title. “Teams from non-BCS conferences simply want a level playing field when it comes to competing to win a national title,” said Young, who played for BYU in 1981-83. “In soccer, basketball, baseball, tennis, golf, et cetera, equal access is granted. Not so in football.” Brand, who assumed the NCAA presidency in January, portrayed himself as neutral in the debate. Like all the participants, he said he hoped Congress would play no role in shaping the future of postseason football. “Intervention by external parties or advocacy for one group over another by see BCS, page 5