Tuesday, February 10, 2004 by The Brown Daily Herald

T U E S D A Y FEBRUARY 10, 2004

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXIX, No. 10

An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891

Brown orchestra makes move downtown for performance

Simmons delivers Presidential Address

BY SCHUYLER VON OEYEN

It’s only fitting that the Rhode Island premiere of renowned composer Peter Boyer’s “Ellis Island,” performed by the Brown University Orchestra, will take place at Veterans Memorial Auditorium, the state’s premiere concert hall. Home to the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, VMA is “the best concert venue” in the state, according to Paul Phillips, director of orchestras and chamber music at Brown. As such, it has the technical capacity to accommodate “Ellis Island,” a multimedia piece for actors and orchestra that requires a largescale projection display as well as live narration. The March 6 performance will mark only the fourth time the orchestra has played at VMA in Phillips’ 15-year career at Brown, he said. The orchestra usually performs in Sayles Hall. “The absence of a concert hall at Brown forces us to look elsewhere for high-profile events,” Phillips said. Located adjacent to the State House in Providence, the VMA “is a nicer hall and will attract a larger-thanusual audience.” Neither Orchestra Board President Adam Fouse ’04 nor Phillips knew the cost of renting VMA, although Fouse estimated the expense had been several thousand dollars. Funding came from a number of sources, including a grant from the Creative Arts Council and the Department of Music’s main budget, Phillips said. Thanks to an artist-in-residence grant, the orchestra will also be able to cover the cost of bringing Boyer to campus for about a week, he added. Boyer’s work is based on the testimonies of seven late-19th-century immigrants, which he found through the Ellis Island History Project, according to Phillips. “All of them are different stories told in different styles,” Fouse said. The orchestra had planned to perform the piece since the summer, he said, but it wasn’t until after the orchestra’s December concert that the plan to move the concert downtown was developed, he said. “As a musician, you want to be able to play in a nice hall, and the idea to do this downtown was to be able to provide a better experience,” Fouse said. Phillips acknowledged that the offcampus location is less convenient for Brown students to attend. But he said he is currently in the final stages of negotiating a plan to bus students from campus to the concert. Rebecca Fischer ’06, a violinist in the orchestra, said she thought the location of the concert might discourage some students from attending. But she said the auditorium might entice others to come because of its professional design. “I’m hoping it will sell out,” Phillips said. The concert is March 6 at 8 p.m. Tickets are available for sale at Orwig Music Hall.

BY SARAH LABRIE

Nick Neely / Herald

Boston Market’s treatment of its workers is poor, says Lindsay Ryan ’06 column, page 7

Weaving personal anecdotes with statistics and facts, President Ruth Simmons emphasized the importance of better university facilities, a bigger faculty and universally need-blind financial aid in the first Presidential Address Monday. Simmons’ speech focused on the Initiatives for Academic Enrichment, a plan designed to improve all aspects of the university for both students and faculty in the coming years. The 10 initiatives in the current plan include support for undergraduate education, the Graduate School, faculty and research, the Division of Biology and Medicine, multidisciplinary initiatives, diversity, the University community, improved revenue sources, relations between the University and the outside community, and facilities. Simmons shared plans for faculty and academic expansion, saying that 33 searches for new professors are now underway. New seminars for first-year students and an increased dedication to minority recruitment are two other major improvements made recently, she said. Simmons praised the versatility and ingenuity of several faculty members — including playwright and Professor of English Paula Vogel and Professor of Political Science Darrell West — while lamenting the state of the facilities the uni-

President Ruth Simmons talks with Jake Rosenburg ’07 following her address Monday night. Rosenburg earlier questioned Simmons about legacy admissions.

see SPEECH, page 4

New Morning Mail e-mails provide Brown community with administrative news BY MICHAEL RUDERMAN

Students can’t contribute to it or avoid it, either. Since last Thursday, members of the Brown community have received e-mail notifications of events and announcements through the new Morning Mail system. The product of an administrative organizational committee’s recommendation in spring 2002, Morning Mail seeks to “better coordinate the flow of information across the University,” according to an announcement made by Elizabeth Huidekoper, executive vice president for finance and administration. Despite its intentions, this mass e-mail production has received criticism from students. After receiving Friday’s Morning Mail with only an announcement regarding note cards sold at the library, students did complain, said Pamela Vogel, associate director of communication and documentation at Computing and Information Services. “I think students will find over time that there will be announcements that are rel-

evant to everyone,” Vogel said. Some students said they were confused Thursday when the first edition of Morning Mail arrived without any warning. An e-mail had been sent to faculty and staff members explaining the new system, but no such announcement was made to students. “I was pretty confused the first time I got it, just because I didn’t think they publicized it well enough,” said Bob Fairhead ’04. Fairhead read the first edition but now deletes Morning Mail when it appears in his inbox, he said. Faculty and staff can submit announcements to be sent out the next day. Students are currently unable to do so, but plans are in the works for establishing policies and procedures that would open Morning Mail to student use. The administration believes Morning Mail will provide event information separate from what is available to students through the Brown Daily Jolt, Vogel said. “I see the Daily Jolt as more of a student-

I N S I D E T U E S D AY, F E B RUA RY 1 0 , 2 0 0 4 Providence Place Mall bought by corporation that owns Faneuil Hall Marketplace in Boston metro, page 3

www.browndailyherald.com

Sarah Green ’04 says banning gay marriage will only promote inequity column, page 7

to-student mechanism, and I see this as an administration-to-student mechanism,” she said. Taking advantage of the University’s email system also saves time and paper, Vogel said. “Because of the cost of paper mailings, people don’t send things out that should be sent out.” Following the committee’s recommendations in the spring of 2002, CIS worked alongside the Office of Public Affairs and University Relations to develop a companion to the bulk e-mail system that sends urgent e-mails to the Brown community, said Tracie Sweeney, senior associate director of the News Service. “A lot of people around campus wanted to use that system for things that were not urgent or emergencies,” she said. Morning Mail and its policies are modeled after a similar program in place at the University of Richmond, according to Sweeney. At Richmond, e-mails are sent out daily and include about six announcements, she said.

TO D AY ’ S F O R E C A S T Deborah Mendel ’04 prepares to play for Canadian national team after graduation sports, page 8

Grinnell’s tactics have merit, have earned the team points, according to Luke Meier ’04 sports, page 8

partly cloudy high 44 low 26

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

THIS MORNING TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2004 · PAGE 2 Coup de Grace Grace Farris

W E AT H E R TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

High 44 Low 26 partly cloudy

THURSDAY

High 36 Low 22 mostly sunny

FRIDAY

High 37 Low 19 sunny

High 39 Low 24 partly cloudy GRAPHICS BY TED WU

Four Years Eddie Ahn

MENU SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH — Vegetarian Fagoli Soup, Chicken Mulligatawny Soup,Tuna Noodle Casserole, Shaved Steak Sandwich, Spinach Feta Pie, Stewed Tomatoes, Rice Krispie Treats, Lemon Pie, Chocolate Cinnamon Cake Roll.

VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALL LUNCH — Vegetarian Roasted Butternut Soup with Apples, Chicken Vegetable Soup, Meatball Grinder, Vegetarian Pot Pie, Spinach with Lemon, Rice Krispie Treats. DINNER — Vegetarian Roasted Butternut Soup with Apples Chicken, Vegetable Soup, Shepherd’s Pie, Vegan Vegetable Couscous, Baked Sweet Potato, Italian Vegetable Sautee, Fresh Sliced Carrots, Corn Bread, Chocolate Cinnamon Cake Roll.

DINNER — Vegetarian Fagoli Soup, Chicken Mulligatawny Soup, BBQ Pork Chops, Chicken Tikka, Pesto Pasta, Basmati Rice Pilaf, Indian Green Beans,Whole Kernel Corn, Corn Bread, Rice Krispie Treats, Lemon Pie, Chocolate Cinnamon Cake Roll.

My Best Effort William Newman and Barron Youngsmith

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Professor Higgins’s creator 5 Arnold’s wife 10 One and only 14 Dynamic leader? 15 As a companion 16 In the center of 17 Boeing 777, for one 20 Retirement org. 21 Dash displays 22 Moses’ brother 23 Colgate box letters 24 Goal 25 Card game at a club 34 Chopin’s “Revolutionary,” for one 35 Quayle’s successor 36 Be human, in a way 37 Lollobrigida of films 38 Demolish 39 Many an MTV viewer 40 Cocky boxer 41 Angers 42 Medical research goals 43 Gun lobby’s catchphrase 47 Pride partner 48 Auditing org. 49 Beast of Borden 52 Steinway creation 55 FDR follower 58 Life insurance clause 61 Again 62 Computer key 63 Criticism 64 Flat-topped formation 65 Jaworski and Uris 66 Old stories DOWN 1 Tests for srs. 2 Cuts down 3 Sills solo

4 Came out on top 5 Stark raving one 6 Seaweed, e.g. 7 Stir up 8 Wayside lodges 9 Touchy subject, for some 10 Deli selection 11 General Bradley 12 Start to type? 13 Perfect place 18 Cantor of Broadway 19 Poker holding 23 “M*A*S*H” Emmy winner 24 Fourth person 25 Painter of ballerinas 26 Beneficial 27 __ Wars: Rome vs. Carthage 28 Greek mall 29 Carved pole 30 Expunge 31 Tractor maker John 32 Golfer’s target 33 Accounting giant __ & Young 1

38 Shipshape 39 Heartburn-relief brand 42 PC drive insert 44 Algonquian language 45 Yuletide 46 San Fran gridders 49 Wax-coated cheese 50 Ranger modifier

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U T’s Fifteen Days Yu-Ting Liu

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02/10/04

Y E T I G R E E T E A K T R A I G S A K T E E D

xwordeditor@aol.com

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

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: O N U S

51 Takes to court 52 Knotty wood 53 Keen on 54 Middle Eastern port 55 Hawaiian port 56 One with top billing 57 Moppet 59 That’s a moray 60 Org. for Bucs and Bills

02/10/04

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METRO TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2004 · PAGE 3

LGBT Rhode Islanders still face prejudice, statewide study says BY SARAH LABRIE

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals in Rhode Island continue to face prejudice at work and in public life, according to a study published by the Rhode Island Foundation. The study comes as a part of an initiative financed by the RIF and the National Lesbian and Gay Community Funding Partnership, a group designed to fight discrimination and improve the lives of LGBT individuals. Responses to a state-wide survey indicated an overall need for improvement in almost every sector of LGBT life, especially among high-school students and older members of the community. The study surveyed 16 organizations, both mainstream and LGBT-centered, as well as 371 LGBT individuals and four focus groups. Among the key informants was Peter Hocking, director of Brown’s Swearer Center for Public Service. Hocking is also the co-chair of Equity Action, a newly-formed sector of the RIF devoted to implementing positive changes for LGBT Rhode Islanders. Other top priorities concerned the importance of community-building efforts as well as providing a safe place for LGBT youth. The study also showed that many LGBT organizations are understaffed and in dire need of funds. In order to address these needs, the Rhode Island Foundation, a charitable organization that allows Rhode Islanders to fund endowments for various causes, has formed the Equity Action Advisory Council. The council plans to grant money to organizations that serve LGBT communities. “We’re very excited to be able to build on this survey. The results speak for themselves,” said Kris Hermanns, pro-

gram officer for the Rhode Island Foundation. Survey respondents detailed experiences involving the effects of homophobia at the workplace and in schools. The study results also reported that many LGBT community members feel that they are discriminated against by healthcare providers. Many of those surveyed indicated that they chose not to share their sexual identity with doctors and insurance companies. Although some were openly gay in almost every arena of life, overall results indicated that members of the Rhode Island LGBT community were less likely to be “out” than their counterparts in other parts of the country. Of the 371 people who responded to the survey, all reported experiencing bias because of their sexual orientation at least once a year. However, what was particularly shocking to survey analysts was the prevalence of elderly members of the LGBT community who felt ignored by gay rights activists, said RIF Vice President for Communications Rick Schwarz. Schwarz recounted the story of one senior citizen who was advised by her caseworker to hide her sexual identity after her partner died. “You would think that by the time you reached your senior years, you would be free,” Schwarz said. However, Schwarz said he felt the very fact that the survey was conducted and completed indicated hope for the future. Although Rhode Island is the 31st state to receive a grant of this kind from the philanthropic organization, it is the first to invest significant resources in an extensive survey, Hermanns said. “So far the response has been pretty extraordinary,” Hermanns said.

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He added that he received 50 phone calls from across the country requesting a copy of the study on the morning of its release. The study also worked as a community-building bridge among LGBT individuals in Rhode Island. The release event gave LGBT members from a variety of backgrounds the opportunity to come together. “That doesn’t happen very often,” Schwarz said. The survey originated from a challenge grant by the National Lesbian and Gay Community Funding Partnership. The organization agreed to grant the RIF up to $100,000 to form a permanent base for LGBT community outreach. One of the conditions of the grant is that RIF must raise twice that amount on its own. The grant also required the RIF to conduct a “community scan” to pinpoint ways of improving the situation of LGBT individuals in the state. The purpose of the resulting report is to reach out to policy-makers who control important institutions, such as public education and elderly housing. “Policy-making is what makes us most able to combat discrimination on a major level,” said Schwarz. “We’re focusing on the people who can make a difference,” he said. In addition to political leaders, these groups include grass-roots organizations, LGBT community leaders and programs dedicated to finding a cure for AIDS. “This is a step for future,” Schwarz said. “We have identified the state of the community. We’re going to use that study to move forward.” Herald staff writer Sarah LaBrie ’07 can be reached at slabrie@browndailyherald.com.

IN BRIEF

Providence Place Mall sold to developer Shoppers meandering the four floors of the Providence Place Mall will probably not notice much of a difference in the next few months, but by March the mammoth downtown structure will probably belong to Maryland-based real estate developer The Rouse Company. The $522 million transfer from the Providence Place Group, which ushered the mall through a long legislative and regulatory process to its 1999 opening, will leave in place $208 million in state sales tax and city property tax breaks that the mall and shoppers now benefit from, according to the Providence Journal. Rouse operates multiple urban retail centers, including Faneuil Hall Marketplace in Boston and South Street Seaport in New York City. Providence Place will be the company’s first property in Rhode Island. “The Rouse Company has a long history of operating large scale urban projects,” Anthony W. Deering, Chairman and CEO of Rouse, said in a release. “We are excited by the prospect of owning and managing a high quality property like Providence Place, and are particularly enthusiastic about the opportunity to participate in the future growth of such a vibrant community.” “The mall to [Rouse Co.] is just a centerpiece,” Morningstar financial analyst Arthur Oduma told the Journal. “They like to use the mall as the center of their community development.” The 26,000 square foot Lord & Taylor, one of Providence Place’s anchor stores, is expected to leave the mall as part of a restructuring plan by its corporate parent, May Department Stores, David L. Tripp, director of investor relations for Rouse, told the Journal. — Sara Perkins

PAGE 4 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2004

Speech continued from page 1 versity has to offer its professors. “It pained me to see the conditions in which faculty have to work,” Simmons said. She recounted some of the improvements that have been made during her tenure, including a complete renovation of the Modern Culture and Media facilities as well as the removal of some University books from storage facilities at Harvard University. Simmons also described improvements that will be made to student life facilities. The parents of a current sophomore recently made a $1 million donation to improve fitness facilities, and administrators will announce in coming weeks a plan to improve common spaces, she said. Simmons said an essential component to the improvement of academic facilities is technological investment. Soon, admissions and financial aid information will be online, and an online registration program will be in place by the fall of 2005, she said. The University is also working to build more laboratories and upgrade performance space. Brown has invested $200 million in construction projects so far and expects to invest an additional $300 million over the next decade, Simmons said. Simmons, who has spent much of the past year traveling to promote fundraising efforts, said she especially admires the commitment of Brown parents to the improvement effort. With these improvements, Simmons stated that she hopes to “maintain and improve Brown’s preeminence in the world.” Yet, she added, “to focus exclusively on competition with our peers diminishes the importance of our societal mission.” According to Simmons, the top goal of the initiative is to create an environment that assures students numerous opportunities to fulfill their potential. The president also stressed the importance of students’ individual efforts to use the resource of their Brown education to improve the world.

Simmons said a university lacking in diversity would provide “an inadequate, impoverished education unfit for these modern times.” “Confronting the challenge of diversity in a rational, educational context is a new phenomenon,” she said. Yet the difficulty can be overcome through approaches such as community building and universal respect for others. Simmons pointed to the newly created Office of Institutional Diversity as a step in the right direction. She said, “If we don’t build bridges here, where on earth can we do it?” Simmons emphasized the importance of empowerment through self-sufficiency rather than charity, encouraging students to make sure their Brown experience is rich, full and challenging. Students were able to ask Simmons questions after the address. One question dealt with the Third World Transition Program. Simmons indicated that she supports making TWTP open to all students in a way that does not diminish its ability to help students of color adjust to Brown. “Without the TWC, we would lose a lot of students,” she said. “The experience of integrating into this environment is a difficult one.” Simmons was introduced by Undergraduate Council of Students President Rahim Kurji ’05. The Presidential Address is a UCS initiative, part of UCS’s goal to increase community cohesiveness. Herald staff writer Sarah Labrie ’07 can be reached at slabrie@browndailyherald.com.

Meier continued from page 8 team, they would have garnered more attention for holding almost every scoring-related team and individual record in college basketball. As it is, they are a regional circus act, doubling attendance at every gym they visit, but still failing to gain national visibility for their remarkable brand of basketball. It might have taken a smallschool team faced with overwhelming failure to test something as desperate and radical as the system Grinnell instituted 14 years ago. But judging by the sustained success of their experiment, perhaps more teams should give it a shot. If it’s a three. Luke Meier ’04 has instituted the Grinnell system while playing season mode on his Xbox.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2004 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 5

Lacrosse continued from page 8 Ontario, both in July. The International Federation of Women’s Lacrosse Association’s World Cup in Annapolis, Md., would cap off her team’s schedule in July 2005. On Jan. 16, two weeks after her tryouts, Mendel finally sent an email of her own to inform her Brown teammates that she had been named a member of the 2004 Canadian National Lacrosse team. “The encouragement from our coaches and from all of you helped me to have confidence, but even more importantly, it got

Hockey continued from page 8 Brown leads the ECAC standings and is riding a five-game winning streak. Still, there remains room for the Brown team to improve its game further, according to Coach Grillo. “If we were totally on top of our game, I’d be a little nervous,” he said. The win over Yale was a step forward for the Brown team, which got stronger as the night went on and never let up. “Last night (in Princeton) we learned a little lesson,” Grillo said. “We were up 2-0, and we sat back, and they got back in

me so excited for our season,” she wrote. Mendel continues to echo this sentiment with the season underway. “I’m looking to make this my best and our team’s best season so far,” she said. “I really want Brown to break into the top 20 by the end of March, and I know that my team and I are willing to do whatever that takes.” Mendel said she finds inspiration in her three coaches, her teammates and her fellow classmates. “There are seven of us seniors remaining on the team, and it’s awesome knowing they’ve been through it all with me and we will finish it out together,” she said.

the game. (Tonight) I was proud of the way our guys didn’t let up.” Yale Head Coach Tim Taylor commented on his team’s loss and the effectiveness of Brown’s star goalie Danis. “(Danis)’s so solid. He’s very good. He does leave rebounds. His statistics are outstanding, but he’s the benefactor of a very solid defense in front of him, a very solid team. We had our first line out against their fourth line a couple of times, and they still played pretty darn well.” The Brown skaters have games against Union College and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Meehan Auditorium on Saturday and Sunday.

Brown Daily Herald Open House Wednesday, Feb. 11 195 Angell Street 7-8 p.m.

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EDITORIAL/LETTERS TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2004 · PAGE 6 S T A F F

E D I T O R I A L

An honest vision The Initiatives for Academic Enrichment, as articulated by President Ruth Simmons in her address Monday night, have grown considerably since first conceived. The initiatives now number 10 and include facilities improvements, better community relations and revenue generation. These are all crucial goals for the University, but they are only tangentially related to academics, and we wonder why they have become academic enrichment initiatives. Perhaps it is merely the name that needs changing. But we worry that there are also other reasons why the Initiatives for Academic Enrichment have expanded to include so much non-academic content. Simmons indicated donors are responding well to the initiatives, which encompass her entire vision for Brown. That vision naturally forms the base for the upcoming capital campaign. As Simmons presents the initiatives to donors, it is practical to portray them as part of a single overarching effort to improve the University’s academics. But she cannot take the same approach when presenting the plan to current students — it is simply too broad. Each of these initiatives is good for Brown, but gathering them all under one title does not erase the fact that they are separate goals. Money directed toward one initiative is money directed away from others. Some will be accomplished sooner than others, and some might never be realized. As the campaign progresses, the administration will make difficult decisions about the timing and distribution of funds. Simmons opened her speech by emphasizing the need for transparent leadership and participation in governance. But the University has not applied these principles when reevaluating the initiatives. By expanding the initiatives’ scope to encompass every aspect of the University, the administration makes it possible to gloss over the tradeoffs and tough decisions shaping Brown. But as students, we navigate the University system every day — we know where improvements are needed, and we know how each initiative will affect us. Students glancing over the growing list of initiatives know instinctively that implementation requires compromises. We can make valuable contributions to the planning process, but only if the administration is willing to be frank in discussing the initiatives with us.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD EDITORIAL Juliette Wallack, Editor-in-Chief Carla Blumenkranz, Executive Editor Philissa Cramer, Executive Editor Julia Zuckerman, Senior Editor Danielle Cerny, Arts & Culture Editor Meryl Rothstein, Arts & Culture Editor Zachary Barter, Campus Watch Editor Monique Meneses, Features Editor Sara Perkins, Metro Editor Dana Goldstein, RISD News Editor Alex Carnevale, Opinions Editor Ben Yaster, Opinions Editor Christopher Hatfield, Sports Editor

BUSINESS Jack Carrere, General Manager Lawrence Hester, General Manager Anastasia Ali, Executive Manager Zoe Ripple, Executive Manager Elias Roman, Senior Project Manager In Young Park, Project Manager Peter Schermerhorn, Project Manager Laird Bennion, Project Manager Eugene Cho, Project Manager William Louis, Senior Financial Officer Laurie-Ann Paliotti, Sr. Advertising Rep. Elyse Major, Advertising Rep. Kate Sparaco, Office Manager

PRODUCTION Lisa Mandle, Design Editor George Haws, Copy Desk Chief Eddie Ahn, Graphics Editor Judy He, Photo Editor Nick Neely, Photo Editor

POST- MAGAZINE Ellen Wernecke, Editor-in-Chief Jason Ng, Executive Editor Micah Salkind, Executive Editor Abigail Newman, Theater Editor Josh Cohen, Design Editor Allison Lombardo, Features Editor Jeremy Beck, Film Editor Jessica Weisberg, Film Editor Ray Sylvester, Music Editor

A.M. Maile, Night Editor George Haws, Copy Editor Staff Writers Kathy Babcock, Zaneta Balantac, Elise Baran, Alexandra Barsk, Zachary Barter, Hannah Bascom, Danielle Cerney, Robbie Corey-Boulet, Ian Cropp, Sam Culver, Gabriella Doob, Jonathan Ellis, Justin Elliott, Amy Hall Goins, Dana Goldstein, Bernard Gordon, Krista Hachey, Chris Hatfield, Jonathan Herman, Miles Hovis, Robby Klaber, Alexis Kunsak, Sarah LaBrie, Hanyen Lee, Julian Leichty, Kira Lesley, Allison Lombardo, Chris Mahr, Lisa Mandle, Jonathan Meachin, Monique Meneses, Kavita Mishra, Sara Perkins, Melissa Perlman, Eric Perlmutter, Sheela Raman, Cassie Ramirez, Meryl Rothstein, Michael Ruderman, Emir Senturk, Jen Sopchockchai, Lela Spielberg, Adam Stern, Stefan Talman, Joshua Troy, Schuyler von Oeyen, Jessica Weisberg, Brett Zarda Accounts Managers Laird Bennion, Eugene Clifton Cha, In Young Park, Jane C. Urban, Sophie Waskow, Justin Wong, Christopher Yu Pagination Staff Peter Henderson, Lisa Mandle, Alex Palmer Photo Staff Gabriella Doob, Benjamin Goddard, Marissa Hauptman, Judy He, Miyako Igari, Allison Lombardo, Elizabeth MacLennan, Nicholas Neely, Michael Neff, Alex Palmer, Yun Shou Tee, Sorleen Trevino Copy Editors Emily Brill, George Haws, Leslie Kaufmann, Katie Lamm, Anne Rabbino, Melanie Wolfgang

ANDREW SHEETS

LETTERS Not colorblind yet To the Editor:

As Laura Martin implied in “Affirmative discrimination” (Feb. 5) the famous words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech still have striking relevance in our time. I agree that America is a divided nation: for instance, working African Americans and white Americans are divided by 40 percent in income. We are divided by the prison bars that separate the vast African American majority of prison inmates from the white population. Americans have been divided for more than 25 years by the number two (which when multiplied by white unemployment gives African American unemployment). To deny that the color of our skin had a very profound impact on our lives

and our identities is to deny that we live under the shadow of our history for good and ill alike. If Martin did indeed wonder why she never received an invitation to TWTP, then I would strongly suggest enrolling in one of the many courses offered at Brown that address race, which are (as far as I know) open to students of all types. Furthermore, it has not been my experience that participants in TWTP are encouraged to segregate themselves. In fact it’s been quite the opposite. If this is indeed a valid concern, the early orientation of freshman athletes seems to result in far greater and longer-lasting exclusion of other students. Larsen Plano ’05

Feb. 8

Rainey, Gould off base To the Editor: “The Democrats are evil.” “The Democratic Party exists to lower the political consciousness and subdue the revolutionary demands of the masses in the U.S.” These are direct quotations from, respectively, Brian Rainey’s “The Other Nomination” (Feb. 9) and Alex Gould’s letter to the editor (Feb. 6). While I am tempted to ignore inane comments like these, a heartfelt desire to reach out to my misled friends on the Far Left compels me to respond. Rainey suggests that the Democratic nominees for president will not stand up for abortion rights, gay rights, labor standards, protection of the poor and environmental stewardship. Has he so much as glanced at the records of any of the current and past candidates? What about John Kerry’s impeccable voting record to protect a woman’s right to choose? What about Howard Dean’s historic signing of civil union legislation in Vermont? What about John Edwards’ sweeping health care plan?

As for Gould, his rejection of a party that represents a range of left-wing opinion and whose leaders are fierce advocates of many of the positions that Gould claims to hold is also very shortsighted. Universal health care, high quality education, death penalty reform and peaceful foreign policy are all planks in the Democratic Party platform, that would be realized if Democrats held the White House and Congress. I can sympathize with Rainey and Gould’s frustrations at the American two-party political system. But their error-ridden denunciations of Democrats in a time of national crisis reminds me very much of mid-1917 Russian Bolshevism, which violently rejected mainstream liberalism and, as we know, did not turn out to be such a swell thing. Ethan Ris ’05 Feb. 9

C O R R E C T I O N S Friday’s editorial cartoonist was misidentified. The cartoon was drawn by Andrew Sheets.

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OPINIONS TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2004 · PAGE 7

PETER IAN ASEN

SARAH GREEN

One moment of truth

Suppaht gay mahrridge

Last Monday, Colin Powell effectively ensured that this year would be his last as Secretary of State. Asked by the Washington Post if he would have recommended the invasion of Iraq a year ago had he been told that the country possessed no weapons stockpiles, Powell answered, “I don't know, because it was the stockpile that presented the final little piece that made it more of a real and present danger and threat to the region and to the world.” Coming on the heels of former top U.S. weapons inspector David Kay’s recent admission to the Senate Armed Services Committee that “we were almost all wrong” about Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction, Powell’s statement was a major blow to the Bush administration’s neverending quest for what supporters call “moral clarity.” On Thursday, Bush made his latest defense of such clarity. Standing on a dock in Charleston, S.C., (in front of a Coast Guard cutter that, according to the Post, had drifted out of place from behind the President and was moved back in order to provide the “perfect backdrop”) Bush said, “Knowing what I knew then, and knowing what I know today, America did the right thing in Iraq.” The crucial phrase in terms of Bush’s self-defense is “knowing what I know today.” It is only crucial because of the suggestions, by Powell and others, that the failure of the 1,400-member Iraq Survey Group to find any banned weapons in the last nine months makes the case for war more difficult to make. But how is it that “knowing what I knew then” could have been any more convincing? Does this simply mean that the less we knew, the more reason we had to think Iraq was a threat? As our last President might say, it depends on your definition of the word “know.” Despite the fact that the often-declared weapons stockpiles have not turned up in Iraq, it is inconceivable that Bush would have said something in South Carolina like, “Knowing what I thought I knew then…” That is just too much of an admission of error for this POTUS.

The black and white administration begins to talk in gray. But perhaps more directly admitting he made a mistake could do the president good. The possibility that Bush thought he knew things about Iraq’s weapons programs that turned out to be false, though disturbing, is far better than the alternative — that Bush and his foreign policy nexus knew the intelligence was only so convincing but inflated its significance. Did the president decide on the war on the basis of evidence or decide how to present evidence on the basis of a decision to go to war? Inflation appears to have driven the Pentagon’s decision in early 2002 to create the Office of Special Plans, with the specific purpose of collecting intelligence that would support the war effort. The hawks in the DOD weren’t happy with the intelligence coming out of the CIA, given as it was more to gray than black or white. Gray was not helpful for a group of hawks that had a higher set of goals: scaring the rest of the world into submission. On Meet the Press yesterday, Bush nearly admitted this agenda. “When the United States says there will be serious consequences,” he told Tim Russert, “and if there isn't serious consequences, it creates adverse consequences. People look at us and say, ‘they don’t mean what they say, they are not willing to follow through.’” For Bush, following through did not mean giving the U.N. inspectors adequate time to complete their task — it meant the U.S. had to make good on its threat to oust Saddam, whether it turned out he had active weapons programs or not. Following through with inspections would not have been enough to reassert American global dominance, especially if it were done under U.N. auspices. Secretary Powell has not shown himself in public life to advocate such power plays. Thus, his admission that he might not have recommended war if he knew there were no weapons stockpiles. This statement is important not only for what it says about the past, but for its implications for the future. When should we decide to go to war if there is not an imminent threat, or even not a “grave and gathering” threat? How do we know that our government has good reason to believe such a threat exists? President Bush is unwilling to admit either that he inflated the evidence of Iraq’s danger, or that, if he overestimated this evidence, such an overestimation is relevant. He continues to defend the war as an unquestionable Manichean struggle, partly in an attempt to brush under the table the serious questions Powell’s admission raises. I worry that in a second term, Bush will likely bang the drums of war yet again, and these questions may disappear from the public sphere almost completely. And Colin Powell, rare in this administration for being guided by something other than ideological bloodlust, will watch from the sidelines. Peter Ian Asen ’04 takes medication to fight the grave and gathering threat to his esophagus.

At the risk of exposing my insatiable thirst for cranberry juice and explaining my illogical love of res redsoxia, I will confess that my family has resided in Massachusetts since the Puritans arrived on the Arbella in 1630. On that ship, John Winthrop told the small group of outcasts, “We must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us.” Were the eyes of the world following the band of isolated idealists? As anyone who has taken PS22 “City Politics” can tell you, no. But Winthrop's words have been fulfilled — America has become a city on a hill, for better or for worse, toward which other nations aspire, or at which they glare. Massachusetts (preen, preen) had a hand in that. To paraphrase the words of that well-spoken artist, Anonymous, we followed not where the path led, we went instead where there was no path and left a trail. My fine state now has another opportunity to add to its storied credentials of rag-tag revolution-mongering, baked beans, cod and the regional deletion of the letter “R” from the alphabet. Our Supreme Judicial Court has realized that homosexual citizens must be allowed to marry. The court’s rational epiphany seems to have caused a bit of a ruckus. I know not why — conservatives are always harping on us lackadaisical liberals to get married. Marriage, as they are so fond of saying, is good for society — marriage is stabilizing, marriage encourages people to buy houses, which encourages them to get involved in their communities, which encourages things like drugs and crime to please go away. Two parents, they’re fond of saying, are better than one. I couldn’t agree more (unless, in Sarah’s Corollary to Bush’s Law, one of those parents is a real jerk). At my boarding high school, there was a rule that dorm parents had to be either single or married (thus no cohabiting partners and no overnight guests). Not allowed to marry, those gay teachers who wanted to be house parents were forced to choose between a

personal life and a professional career. And yet the rule itself is not a bad one — parents don’t want to pay ridiculous amounts of money to send their children to an institution where they see a different person emerging every morning from the boudoir of their dorm disciplinarian. That’s what college is for. My headmaster, after failing to convince other boarding schools to make a statement for gay rights by changing that rule en masse, finally decided that we would have to change the rule alone. How many of these thoughtlessly prejudicial rules exist? Wouldn’t it just be simpler to let same-sex couples get married? Aren’t laws against same-sex marriage just as hateful and irrational as anti-miscegenation laws, the last of which wasn’t struck down until November 2000? Language is important — it is the means through which we express and make sense of the world. In Aldous Huxley's “Brave New World,” it is not until John Savage reads Shakespeare (who is, of course, a banned author) that he learns to think and feel. How can the word “marriage” support Britney Spears's 55-hour Las Vegas union and not the lifelong unions of same-sex couples? Keeping “marriage” for straights and inventing “civil unions” for gays is legalizing discrimination. As the Massachusetts court found, “The dissimilitude between the terms ‘civil marriage’ and ‘civil union’ is not innocuous.” A constitution is too venerable — and vulnerable — a document to tinker with for cheap political gain. The state legislature will vote on a so-called defense of marriage bill tomorrow. My fellow Massholes, lethal warriors of the Masspike and drinkers of frappes, fearless negotiators of rotaries, lovahs of Nomah, and those to whom “wicked” is not a moral appellation but an adverbial modifier — call your representatives today. Tell them we don’t support writing inequity into our constitution. Tell them we want our city on a hill to be an example to all those who are watching.

A Masshole’s call to arms.

Sarah Green ’04 knows that it’s absolutely impossible to park anything, much less a car, in Harvard Yard.

Boycott Boston Market GUEST COLUMN BY LINDSAY RYAN

Have you ever wanted to join Sen. Joe Lieberman in a mashed potato fight? Your time has come. Bitter labor struggles at the company Chef Solutions have forced a New England-wide boycott of Boston Market, which buys potato products from Chef Solutions. Backed by Lieberman and other high-ranking Connecticut politicians, the boycott is an attempt to make Boston Market pressure Chef Solutions to offer its workers a fair union election or face the loss of a major corporate consumer. Chef Solutions is a national food supplier owned by the German airline Lufthansa. (Yes, the days have passed when airlines focused on flight schedules instead of potato salad.) Its products are contained in your IHOP breakfast special, Boston Market lunch, Subway sandwich or Olive Garden dinner. And although its Web site has the snappy slogan “The Great American Melting Pot,” Chef Solutions’ attitude towards the immigrant laborers who make up its Great American Melting Pot is far less convivial: its 150-employee bread-dough manufacturing plant in North Haven, Conn., is the site of some of most horrendous labor abuses in the Northeast. Workers at the plant, who are largely Mexican immigrants, have fought to form a union since 2001. Chef Solutions has fought equally hard to prevent them from attaining their basic right to collective bargaining as guaranteed under the National Labor Relations Act. Union supporters have been fired. The company has threatened to close the New Haven plant. Managers have stated they won’t process the immigration or employment papers of workers who report supervisor misconduct. Female union activists have been sexually harassed and, in at least one incident, assaulted. When a harassed female employee warned Chef Solutions that she was going to report the maltreatment she suffered, she was threatened with loss of her job. This December, at the conclusion of hearings the National Labor Relations Board held about abuses com-

mitted by Chef Solutions, the NLRB found the company guilty of 29 violations, including assault, coercive interrogation and illegal firings. According to one worker’s testimony, during the hearings a Chef Solutions manager pulled a gun on one of the employees and asked him to reconsider testifying if he loved his wife and daughter. The NLRB determined upon investigation that the worker’s account was, in all likelihood, valid. Given these atrocious violations of workers’ rights, any proposed rescheduled union election will not be fair if Chef Solutions does not undertake major changes. Even after the NLRB hearings, Chef Solutions has continued to intimidate workers and employs an anti-union lawyer who works directly out of the plant. It has not apologized and has not admitted that it broke a single law. What workers want is a fair and democratic election in an environment with free debate, full access by the union, and company neutrality. They want the chance to have their own organization that will prevent the sorts of abuses that have occurred in the past by instituting guidelines about how workers can be treated on the job. U.S. labor laws, the weakest in the industrialized world, may not be strong enough to ensure this. The NLRB is infamous for its slow-as-molasses bureaucracy and its increasingly corporate-friendly slant, both of which have only worsened during the current Bush administration. But if corporations like Chef Solutions don’t pay attention to the law, they do pay attention to their bottom line, and Boston Market’s business makes up a huge part of that bottom line. And until this fight is over or Boston Market has given in, 150 workers are asking you: Don’t shop at Boston Market. Buy your meals elsewhere and tell others to do the same. Lindsay Ryan ’06 is currently in arbitration with the Student Labor Alliance for royalty payments.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

SPORTS TUESDAY FEBRUARY 10, 2004 · PAGE 8

D-III Grinnell starting a college hoops revolution

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Debbie Mendel ’04 made the Canadian national lacrosse team after trying out over winter break. Still, she is not looking past Brown’s upcoming season, despite several commitments she must keep with both teams.

Hard work and dedication led to national team berth for w. lacrosse’s Mendel ’04 BY ASHLEY BRANCA

At 10 a.m. on Jan. 1, as most of North America rose to hangovers, hot wings and football cheer, Deborah Mendel ’04 finished her daily spring workout as she prepared to try out for the Canadian national lacrosse team. A starter and standout defenseman on the women’s lacrosse team since her freshman year, Mendel decided to put her skills and Canadian citizenship to use, at the advice of her coach, she said. “She had encouraged me to try out since my sophomore year, but this year seemed like the perfect opportunity because it is a World Cup year and my last year competing competitively at the Division I level,” Mendel said. So she headed north for a three-day open tryout at Guelph University, outside Toronto, Ontario. A series of assessments began with a Friday evening session open only to newcomers. But when the team’s 18 returning players showed up Saturday, the real show began. The day consisted of three grueling sessions during which the team’s coaches evaluated players in various drills, scrimmages and situational play. The weekend concluded in a Sunday morning session that allowed the players one last opportunity to exhibit their skill in game play. Mendel said she felt she performed well but also knew that there were few spots available compared to the number of athletes trying out for the team. Prospective players left the tryouts not knowing the results of the tryouts, told only that they would hear by e-mail within a few weeks. While she waited for the e-mail, Mendel had some time to think about what it would mean if she made the team. If selected, Mendel would have two Canadian team

commitments during her final college season: a tournament at Notre Dame University in February and a United States Lacrosse Association tournament at Lehigh University in May. The summer would bring matches against the U.S. National Team in Baldwinsville, N.Y., and team camp in see LACROSSE, page 5

One revolution that will not be televised — at least nationally — is the one taking place in college basketball at Grinnell College. The Grinnell Pioneers play college basketball as though it were an entirely different sport, forcing the fastest possiLUKE MEIER ble pace, shooting BOLTS AND NUTS almost entirely three-pointers and pressing full court at all times with two or three men on the ball. The style is so exhausting that the team substitutes five new players at every dead ball. The constant hockey-style substitutions mean that the average stint on court for a Grinnell player is about a minute and a half. Although the Pioneers are regarded as something of a freak show, they also have been very successful with their rabid and quirky style of play. In their last three home games, they defeated Beloit 155-138, slipped by Carroll 138-133 in overtime and trounced Monmouth 152-76. The team is currently 16-4 and, unsurprisingly, leads the nation in scoring. Much has been made of the increasingly popular sabermetrics approach to baseball, but no sports philosophy has ever marched to the drumbeat of statistical logic quite so boldly as Grinnell Head Coach David Arseneault’s system of basketball, currently terrorizing the Midwest Conference. Arseneault inherited a program in 1989 that had won four games in three seasons. Morale was so dangerously low that he decided to institute a radical system that would spark interest and make the game fun. Having decided it was statistically advantageous to shoot three-pointers (by assuming that making 33 percent of threepointers is more likely than 50 percent of two-pointers), Arseneault built a system around taking more threes than the opponent. In Arseneault’s now-perfected system, his team does not go back on defense after scoring or missing a basket, instead swarming the ball and pressing over every

inch of the floor, even in the half court. The goal is turnovers, and failure usually only results in two-point lay-ups. Grinnell players sometimes even deliberately allow two-pointers if they believe it will help them keep the pace of the game moving. When playing offense, Grinnell shoots as quickly as possible and almost always takes a three-point shot. In the Monmouth game, for example, Grinnell took 84 threepointers, making 30 of them. Monmouth took 11 and made three. It is this differential that Grinnell counts on for its success. In recruiting, Arseneault needs only to find players that will hustle and shoot threes accurately. Because the accuracy of their three-point shooting is so important, it is the only thing his team works on at practice. While teams around the country are running conditioning drills and scrimmaging, the Pioneers stand shooting threes. Arseneault is not worried by the leisurely practice that results from working on nothing but shooting — he views it as essential for resting his players’ legs before their next frantic 40 minutes of basketball. Is this system a player’s dream? Sort of. As leading scorer Steve Wood, last year’s conference player of the year, told the New York Times, “There are some negatives. I’m frustrated when I feel I’m going good and then have to come out of a game after 45 seconds. But then, I’ll be back in in about another minute and a half.” Despite spending half of the game on the bench, Wood was averaging 28.1 points a game in late January. Indeed, the system, though oriented very much towards a team concept, is hardly a deterrent to individual achievement. For example, in 1998, Grinnell player Jeff Clement set NCAA records for points in a game (77), games of 50+ scoring in a season (3), field goal attempts in a game (68) and three-point shots made and attempted both in a game (19 of 52) and in a season (186 of 511). If the Pioneers were not a Division III see MEIER, page 4

No. 11 men’s ice hockey stops streaking Yale after completing season sweep of Princeton on Friday BY MATT LIEBER

A soft glow hovered over New Haven, Conn. on Saturday, and all was quiet. Then the Bears lumbered in. Not content with its 5-2 win at Princeton University the night before, the men’s hockey team dealt the Elis a 41 loss. Brown (14-5-4) completed season sweeps of Yale University (11-13-0) and Princeton (5-17-1) and added four points to its ECAC-leading position. After the weekend’s action, the Bears moved up to number 11 in the nation. To start the Yale game, Brent Robinson ’04 scored a power play goal at 5:41 to give Brown a 1-0 lead, firing a one-timer off of a feed from Brian Ihnacak ’07 to beat Yale goalie Josh Gartner. “I just got the puck and shot it right away,” said Robinson, who played with a controlled urgency and led the offense with two assists in addition to his 10th goal of the season. “We knew that Yale was on a winning streak,” Robinson said. “It was like a playoff game for us.”

The early lead catalyzed a Brown surge, the team’s forwards savaging Yale’s beleaguered defense in waves. The line of Pascal Denis ’04, Cory Caouette ’06 and Chris Swon ’05 led the charge. “I’m very pleased with the way that Denis, Caouette and Swon are playing,” said Head Coach Roger Grillo. “They’re our energy line, but they’re also scoring and keeping other teams in their zone a long time.” Unfortunately for Brown, the referee penalized three times during the night, interrupting Brown’s attacks. At 18:41, Yale tied the game as Jeff Hristovski buried a second rebound by sprawling goalie Yann Danis ’04 as time expired on Brown defenseman Adam Tichauer ’06’s penalty. With the score tied, the intensity and the physical play picked up in the second period, as Brown and Yale traded big hits. “It’s good for us to play that style,” said Brown defenseman Vince Macri ’04. “We have a lot of speed, and it’s good for us to test ourselves. When it gets physi-

cal, we just need to start believing that we can step up too, and we’ve been doing that lately.” At 11:19 into the second period, Brown’s power play connected and regained the lead, 2-1. Ihnacak controlled the puck on the boards and passed to Robinson, who found Macri streaking in from the point. It was Macri’s fifth goal of the year. In the third period, Yale put forth a strong comeback effort, but Danis and the Brown defense shut down two Yale power plays. Then, at 7:52, Brown center Nick Ringstad ’04 applied a devastating counterpunch, scoring a short-handed goal on a superb play to give Brown a 31 lead. Ringstad’s seventh goal of the year gave the Brown team new energy, and the Bears began to dominate. Mike Meech ’05 added to the Brown lead with his fourth goal of the year at 13:17, an unassisted score that followed a furious assault by the Brown offense. see HOCKEY, page 5