Friday, March 10, 2006

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2006

Volume CXLI, No. 31

SOCIAL SURGERY Courtney Jenkins ’07: “Grey’s Anatomy” is the great uniter, giving Brown students something to bond over besides classes OPINIONS 11

DROP IT LIKE IT’S HOT Administrators discuss whether many students choose to drop courses late in the semester instead of getting a B CAMPUS NEWS 5

Provost Zimmer to be offered top spot at UChicago

BY ANNE WOOTTON METRO EDITOR

The University of Chicago’s Board of Trustees will act in a special meeting today regarding the election of Provost Robert Zimmer as the 13th president of the university, according to a campuswide e-mail sent by President Ruth Simmons Thursday morning. If elected, Zimmer will succeed current UChicago President Don Randel on July 1, 2006.

Randel announced his departure from UChicago last fall and will become president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation this summer.

If elected, Zimmer will be the fourth consecutive president of UChicago who was former provost from another university. UChicago’s last three presidents were formerly provosts at Yale, Princeton and Cornell, according to Larry Arbeiter, director of communications for the university.

“One great advantage is that he has two really important kinds of experience, as provost at a top university, Brown … and he spent most of his academic career here (at UChicago),” Arbeiter said.

“We have an intense academic culture that we’re proud of, and he’s very familiar with that.”

Arbeiter added that Zimmer’s name came up frequently in conversations on campus while a search committee worked to replace Randel.

“People who I’ve spoken to are quite excited about it, very pleased — (Zimmer’s) name is one that has been mentioned for some time,” Arbeiter said.

“People have leading candidates; I think it’s clear he was a leadwww.brown.edu ing candidate Provost Robert Zimmer here for some time.”

In her e-mail, Simmons highlighted the integral role Zimmer has played in the development and implementation of the Plan for Academic Enrichment.

“Under his leadership and guidance, we have expanded the faculty and� strengthened our multidisciplinary programs through initiatives,” Simmons wrote, citing the Environmental Change Initiative, the Center for Computational� Molecular Biology and the Cogut Center for the Humanities.

Zimmer has also been a strong supporter of University partnerships with see ZIMMER, page 4

HEY FOR HAYES ’06 Sarah Hayes ’06 was named Ivy League Player of the Year, the first w. hoops player to win that award since 1994 SPORTS 12

Mere mention of the housing lottery is enough to instill fear in the hearts of most students this time of year. The possible disappointment, looming uncerand dreaded waitlist FEATURE tainty inspire palpable tension throughout the month of March. But the winners of Residential Life’s first pick competition — Michael Kadin ’08, Graham Browne ’08, Jonathan Thompson ’08, Jose Hernandez ’08 and four of their

friends — couldn’t be more excited.

Kadin and Hernandez are familiar with the competition. They finished in second place last year, narrowly losing out on the coveted first pick by twelve votes.

“When we found out we got second place we decided that the next time around we would do whatever it takes to win,” Kadin said. “We didn’t have a set idea in mind, but we were planning for a year in advance.”

This year the pair joined friends to submit a music video spoof of “Trapped

‘HAIR’ PIECE

Meghan Boudreau / Herald

The revival of the musical “Hair,” directed by Christopher Bayes, highlights the ARTS & CULTURE 3 contemporary themes of its 1960s subject matter.

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U.-wide plus/minus forum advances debate for the few in attendance

BY ROSS FRAZIER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The merits of adding pluses and minuses to undergraduates’ grades were debated in a sparsely attended University-wide forum that turned contentious, revealing the passions aroused by the issue. Panelists and audience members noted the disappointing turnout — 19 students and nine faculty attended Thursday’s two-hour discussion in Salomon 101.

Each of the eight panelists spoke for several minutes and then responded to questions and comments from audience members. Those who spoke against the proposal, including College Curriculum Council member Shyam Sundaram ’08, Professor of Biology and Senior Adviser to the Dean Jonathan Waage and Associate Professor of Sociology Ann Dill, all said while they are in favor of changing the grading system to better reflect students’ progress, they do not believe the addition of pluses and minuses would achieve that goal.

“I’m in favor of changing the system, but not in the way it has been proposed.

I would only favor a change if it represented actual compromise between faculty and students, and that is not what this is,” Sundaram said.

Tristan Freeman ’07, chair of the Undergraduate Council of Students’ Academic and Administrative Affairs Committe, spoke against claims by Lecturer

R. Kelly spoof wins first pick in the housing lottery

BY ALISSA CERNY STAFF WRITER

www.browndailyherald.com

An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891

in the Closet” by R. Kelly, with revised lyrics by Kadin, a member of the Higher Keys, a coed a cappella group.

Browne said he was struck with the winning idea while walking home over President’s Day weekend.

“I was listening to my iPod on random shuffle, when ‘Trapped in the Closet’ came on. I sent Mike a text (message) right then saying that we had to do a parody where our room was a closet,” Browne said.

Kadin still has the text from Browne that inspired their entry. It reads: “I have the perfect idea for the video…parody on ‘Trapped in the Closet’ called ‘My room is a closet’...start writing.” Though the submission was later titled “Trapped in a Triple,” the winning idea was born.

The video begins with Browne hearing the news of their second-place finish last spring. Browne, Thompson and Hernandez walk around campus while discussing the nervous anticipation of the housing lottery: “Hop up and go to ResLife and fill all the pages. Adding and subtracting guys for all the lottery’s phases. Pray each night hoping for a good number. Jose’s nervous, calls up his girlfriend and dumps her.”

In the video, the group ends up with the last pick for the lottery’s first phase after Browne’s cell phone rings in class, offending a teacher with connections to ResLife.

The song ends with the lyrics, “I feel like a cripple — all I got is a triple. JT faints, while Jose and I is tripping. We’re living in a triple — Might as well have lived in the closet.” see HOUSING, page 7

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

in Education Luther Spoehr and others who say the current policy allows students to “game the system” by modifying their level of effort in response to how they think they will perform in a particular course.

“Brown students aren’t doing well here because they’re in high-stakes games of chess with their professors,” Freeman said. “They’re doing well because they are extremely bright. The evidence of any gamesmanship is anecdotal at best.”

“We really don’t have any quantitative information on what percentage of students actually game the system,” Waage said. “If students are going to game a three-letter system, what make us think they’re not going to game a sixletter system as well?”

Associate Professor of Philosophy Bernard Reginster listed arguments in favor of the proposal, saying that with so few students receiving C’s, the current system is effectively the same as S/ NC. Though she argued that greater distinction is needed in grading, Dill questioned whether adding pluses and minuses effectively informs students of their progress. “Perhaps we should use numerical grading going out to three or four decimal places,” she said facetiously. “My son is in such a university and he got pi as a GPA. We’re not sure what it see FORUM, page 6

Divestment timeline still unclear

BY MARY-CATHERINE LADER FEATURES EDITOR

Though the Corporation unanimously voted to divest from Sudan two weeks ago, a list of companies with ties to the Sudanese government has yet to be determined. Until this list is approved by the Corporation’s Advisory and Executive Committee, Brown cannot divest funds or notify the University’s external managers of the policy.

The University will divest from companies that “meet the criteria for supporting and facilitating the Sudanese government in its continuing sponsorship of genocidal actions and human rights violations in Darfur,” according to a Feb. 25 e-mail sent to the Brown community from President Ruth Simmons.

A partial list could come before the committee as soon as its meeting next Friday. But no deadlines have been set, and thorough research on these companies remains the priority, according to Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration Elizabeth Huidekoper.

Still, divesting is an urgent issue, said Huidekoper, who is facilitating the divestment effort.

“We really want to do this as soon as possible,” Huidekoper, who is facilitating the divestment effort, said.

Once the Corporation approves a list of companies, the Investment Office will divest from any whose stock the Universee DIVESTMENT, page 4 News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com

THIS MORNING THE BROWN DAILY HERALD · FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2006 · PAGE 2 Jero Matt Vascellaro

WEEKEND EVENTS “HOW TO BE HUMAN: AN HISTORICAL APPROACH” 4 p.m. , (Peterutti Lounge) — The 2006 Becket Lecture, with Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, an internationally acclaimed historian and commentator and the Prince of Asturias Professor at Tufts University.

“HAIR” 8 p.m. , (Stuart Theater) — Sock and Buskin presents this 1970s rock opera filled with anthems you have heard time and again. $5 for students. Also performances on Sat. and Sun. at 8 p.m. and Sun. at 2 p.m.

“TWELFTH NIGHT” 8 p.m. , (Production Workshop) — A deeply uproarious and cruel romp through Shakespeare’s play, in which sexuality and gender finally cave in to the pressure of a plot only Shakespeare could pull off.

Free admission. Additional performances Sat. at 8 p.m. and Sun. at 2 p.m.

Chocolate Covered Cotton Mark Brinker

READING AND BOOK SIGNING WITH JON FASMAN ‘97 Sat. 2 p.m., (Brown Bookstore) — This alum’s new book details a young reporter transported from a sleepy New England town to the heart of an international smuggling ring.

M for Massive Yifan Luo

MENU SHARPE REFECTORY

VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALL

LUNCH — Tomato Basil Pie, Chicken Jambalaya with Bacon, Lamb Stir Fry, Roasted Herb Potatoes, Fresh Sliced Carrots, Home Fries, Kielbasa, Raspberry Chocolate Streusel Squares, Chocolate Chip Bars

LUNCH — Vegetarian Broccoli Cheese Soup, Roasted Corn Chowder with Bacon, Chicken Fingers, Baked Vegan Nuggets, Vegan Rice Pilaf, Whole Kernel Corn, Chocolate Chip Bars

DINNER — Cajun Baked Fish, Rice with Peas and Coriander, Mashed Butternut Squash, Italian Green Beans, Pueblo Bread, Manicotti Piedmontese, Chocolate Cinnamon Cake Roll

DINNER — Vegetarian Broccoli Cheese Soup, Roasted Corn Chowder with Bacon, Baked Stuffed Pollock, Grilled Chicken, Mexican Cornbread Casserole, Basmati Rice, Fresh Vegetable Melange Sugar Snap Peas, Pueblo Bread, Chocolate Cinnamon Cake Roll

Cappuccino Monday Christine Sunu

RELEASE DATE– Friday, March 10, 2006

C Times R O SDaily S W Crossword ORD Los Angeles Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis ACROSS 1 Foe of Caesar 5 Catcall 9 Plotting device 14 Subj. of Article 86 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice 15 Quechua speaker 16 Formal observances 17 Flimsy 18 Beginning of an idea 19 Foil 20 Start of a workplace quip 23 It’s cut and dried 24 Dense 28 Boycott 32 Jeff MacNelly comic strip 34 __-speed 35 Iron emission 36 Quip, part 2 38 Piece maker?

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37 Wear 42 “Cow Cow Boogie” singer Morse 43 Slippery 44 Virgin 47 Grand __ Island 49 Willow variety 50 Subdivision of the Sioux 52 Talk back

53 Bordeaux belief 54 Floral support 55 Beat overwhelmingly 56 Army group 57 Engine measurement device 58 Chinese tea 59 Almost out 60 Simile words

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ARTS & CULTURE THE BROWN DAILY HERALD · FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2006 · PAGE 3

A tragic rendition of the Bard’s famous comedy

BY KATE GOLDBERG CONTRIBUTING WRITER

“Twelfth Night” is heralded as one of Shakespeare’s best comedies. Yet, ironically, the play is rife with tragedy — even before the actual events of the play unfold.

Director James Rutherford ’07’s “Twelfth Night” at Production Workshop attempts to question what is comedic by “looking at the nature and conREVIEW ventions of farce and melodrama,” he said.

Rutherford makes what he calls “unorthodox choices,” such as a minimal set design and liberties taken in rewriting the plot’s ending, placing an emphasis on tragedy.

Even before any events unfold on stage, a disastrous shipwreck has separated Viola (Charlotte Graham ’07) from her beloved twin brother, Sebastian (Douglas Benedicto ’08). She is left upon unfamiliar land to fend for herself. Meanwhile, the countess Olivia (Blanche Case ’06) is forced to mourn the death of her brother just after she has mourned the death of her father.

The play opens after these events, as Viola disguises herself as a man called Cesario to work for the Duke of Illyria, played by Andrew Fox ’06. The Duke, called Orsino, is consumed with love for Olivia, who is unable to accept his advances, partially because she is in mourning over the death of her brother and father. The Duke has Cesario relay messages of love and devotion to Olivia. However, Viola, disguised as Cesario, begins falling in love with him while Olivia begins to fall in love with Viola’s alias. Matters get more complicated when Sebas-

tian, whose multi-layered emotional state is captured

by Benedicto, arrives in Illyria with his shipmate Antonio (Owen McDougall ’07).

All three principal actors contribute to the somber tone of the play. The script indicates that Viola does not have Olivia’s luxury to withdraw from the world to mourn because she has to maintain her disguise. Rather than revealing the strength and perseverance necessary in such a situation, Graham consistently portrays Viola as despairingly unhappy.

However, Case’s confident sassiness in her portrayal of Olivia gives the character a multi-layered dimension, as does Fox’s combination of elegance and arrogance in his portrayal of the Duke.

The heaviness of the dramatic irony in the relationship between Olivia, the Duke and Viola is lightened by characters such as Sir Toby Belch (Dan Hernandez ’06), Olivia’s uncle who lives in her backyard, and his acquaintances Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Aaron Cutler ’08) and Fabian (Adam Mazer ’08). The hilarious dynamic between Hernandez and Cutler is so crisp that it is as if the parts were written for them.

Lizzie Vieh ’07 portrays the jester Feste, whose dark comedy is the source of much of the play’s wisdom, encompassing both the tragic and comic elements of the play with her mischievous allure.

Austin Campion ’06.5’s portrayal of Malvolio evokes the widest range of emotions from the audience. He elicits laughter when he humiliates himself, believing that he has won Olivia’s love and elicits sympathy after he receives extreme mistreatment.

Hippie struggle in ‘Hair’ strikingly pertinent today to remain a member of their vagabond tribe.

Levenson, Davis and Blackall give particularly compelling performances of the musical score originally Imagine an impassioned protester shouting that war composed by Galt MacDermott.

The graphic designer Brian Gaston and costume deis “white people sending black people to fight yellow signers Annabel Topham ’06 and people to defend the land Theodora Greece ’06 do an excelthey stole from red people.” It is a psychedelic musical that job of imaginatively capturing And then picture a protest exuberantly explores issues of lent the late-1960s social milieu of the sign that reads, REVIEW “Who would Je- race, war, love and violence play.

Even as it suggests people are sus bomb?” capable of great evil and subNo, these are not vignettes through the on-stage revelry of lime love, the play probes what from an anti-war rally on an excellent ensemble cast. drives people to reject love in campus, but they are scenes from the engaging revival of the musical “Hair,” direct- favor of war.

The answer lies in the tension between the past and ed by Christopher Bayes, clinical professor of theatre, speech and dance. The show opened before an appre- the present. In its allusion to Hamlet, “Hair” suggests humanity is haunted by the ghosts of its past. Though ciative audience last night in Stuart Theater.

Bayes wisely does not let political messages over- the characters claim it is “1968, not 1948,” an audience shadow the visceral excitement of the play, written by today can assert that “it is 2006, not 1968.” So, the isJerome Ragni and James Rado. Above all, the produc- sues of rebellion that the play raises intriguingly inhere tion is an affectionate love song for the late 1960s. It is a in the present. psychedelic musical that exuberantly explores issues of Cynics might wonder whether the now 38-year-old race, war, love and violence through the on-stage rev- play is as dated as love beads on a middle-aged lawyer.

However, just as the 1960s had the war in Vietnam, this elry of an excellent ensemble cast.

Each of the cast members plays a role that exempli- generation has the war in Iraq. And as drugs, sex and fies different character types of the period. There is the race were legitimate matters of concern then, they reüber-hippie Berger (Ethan Philbrick ’08), the student- main so today.

The relationship between present and past disclosactivist Sheila (Nora Blackall ’07), the African-American Hud (Gil Davis ’06), the hippie-chick Crissy (Zoe Chao es a delicious irony. In a figurative sense, the parents ’08) and the pregnant Jeanie (Farra Ungar ’06). Daniel against whom today’s Brown students rebel are the revSobol ’09 is particularly humorous in his portrayal of the olutionaries of the play, since “Hair” focuses on the hipambiguously gay, Mick Jagger-loving character Woof. pie generation. So, one naturally wonders who is rebelGiven the strong presence of these archetypes, it is ling against whom. surprising Bayes rejects the notion that “Hair” is a peIn its unwitting satire of rebellious youth, the proriod piece. “‘Hair’ is an amazing opportunity to remind duction demonstrates the fascinating power of Amerithe Brown community that there are important things can pop culture to transform the revolutionary into the pedestrian. What was radical in 1968 is commonplace and valuable things to be defended,” he said.

Though the original play featured provocative nudity, now.

Bayes has chosen to keep his actors clad. He did so, he Bayes wants his production of Hair to inspire hope in said, because he did not want nudity to detract from the its audience. “We feel powerless and hopeless,” he said, twin themes of peace and freedom that unify the other- but “we still have the power to make our voices heard.”

Though that hope is filled with more than its fair wise-scant plot structure.

What little dramatic structure the play does have fo- share of irony and contradiction, Bayes, no doubt, has cuses on the conflicted Claude (Steven Levenson ’06), made his creative voice heard. And this results in an enwho must choose between the military (for which he joyable production — one that captivates with the inhas been drafted) and his hippie friends who want him fectious pleasure of its musical theatricality.

BY LINDSEY MEYERS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Young ’98 takes lessons of Brown to Broadway

BY TAYLOR BARNES CONTRIBUTING W RITER

Why did John Lloyd Young ’98, whose lead in the current Broadway production “Jersey Boys” has garnered much Tony nomination buzz, choose to attend Brown rather than a conservatory to further his theater career? According to Young, Brown’s liberal philosophy allows “you (to) become the best version of yourself that you can be.”

Young plays the role of Frankie Valli, the lead singer of the Four Seasons, in the rock-musical “Jersey Boys.” The production covers Valli’s life from age 16 to 60 in the span of two hours, a challenge Young said he found “irresistible.”

For this musical, Young has received praise not only for his acting ability but also for his singing voice, which has brought him offers in the music industry. Although Young said he is “taking it as flattery that the music industry is interested” in him, he maintains that just “because I’m an actor playing a rock star doesn’t mean that I want to be one.”

For “Jersey Boys,” Young was interested in portraying the unique character of Valli, who he described as a “fighter” who is “constantly dissatisfied.” Young’s short stature and Italian-American heritage made him a good physical match for the role.

Young’s career began long before this lead role in a Broadway production. He attributes his initial attraction to the theater simply to “the chance to get out in front of people and entertain them.” At age six, still short for his age, Young played a munchkin and a shrunken version of the wicked witch in a local college’s production of “The Wizard of Oz.” Before coming to Brown, Young had already established a semi-professional theater career. Still, “Brown was the only place I wanted to go,” he said, esteeming Brown’s liberal curriculum, which allowed him to spend his entire junior year in Spain and study subjects other than theater, such as art history and poetry.

Young’s experiences abroad contributed to his growth as an actor. He explained that by studying overseas, he saw that the European perspective on Americans “is completely different from our perspectives on ourselves” and vice-versa.

An awareness of this “duality” of perceptions, he said, parallels the situation of an actor, who must represent the views that a character has of himself and also those that others have of the character.

Theater consumed most of Young’s years at Brown. “Doing theater at Brown is as intense as being on a sport’s team,” he said, citing “Falsettos” and “Sweeney Todd” as some of his most memorable productions.

www.johnlloydyoung.com

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John Lloyd Young ’98 is playing Frankie Valli in the hit Broadway show “Jersey Boys.”

PAGE 4 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2006

Divestment continued from page 1 sity owns directly. But the majority of Brown’s investments are managed externally, sometimes in hedge or mutual funds over which the University may have little control.

Though this means endowment funds could be invested in blacklisted companies without the University’s approval or knowledge, Huidekoper said

all managers will receive a letter stating the decision to divest and “saying these are the companies we feel we want to stay away from.”

“We may really be saying these companies we will not invest in, not these are the companies we will divest from,” she said. “But it’s still a very clear and important statement.”

Before the Corporation’s Feb. 25 decision, the Advisory Committee on Corporate Responsibility in Investing recommended divestment from nine companies

it determined provided revenue to the Sudanese government.

The ACCRI developed the list in cooperation with the Darfur Action Network, the Brown chapter of Students Taking Action Now: Darfur.

Largely composed of petroleum and telecommunications companies, the list included ABB Ltd., Alcatel, PetroChina, Petronas, Siemens, Sinopec, Taftnet and Total SA and Marathon Oil — the only U.S. corporation on the list.

Brown’s decision differed from that of the five other colleges and universities that have divested in that a final list was not approved or released with the decision to divest. But as many of these institutions’ lists differ slightly, Huidekoper said further research into specific companies is necessary.

“There are questions about why some companies are on some lists and others are on other lists,” she said.

Louis Putterman, professor of economics and chair of the ACCRI, said though the committee is researching five additional companies not on the ACCRI’s initial list, no deadlines have been set.

“We haven’t been told what procedure the Corporation plans to use other than that: ask the Advisory and Executive Committee for approval,” Putterman said. He added the ACCRI does not generally have information on the University’s actual investments.

“By the time we conclude the discussion we might (have new holdings), it’s just changing all the time,” he said. “The point is to declare a policy … to communicate to companies.”

Regardless of the companies on the final list, Brown is not invested in many corporations frequently described as being linked to Sudan, Huidekoper said. The University does not release its investment decisions or holdings, but Huidekoper said Brown is

“not currently invested in PetroChina,” the company from which Harvard University divested its $2.4 million holding in 2005 after significant student protest.

Given Brown’s significantly smaller endowment, the University’s ultimate divestment will be a “small dollar amount, depending on the lists, it may be zero,” Huidekoper said.

Putterman said though the ACCRI believes Brown should not be earning profits from companies tied to Sudan, external managers complicate divestment because “getting a good return on the portfolio … is the first goal.”

Scott Warren ’09 and Gabriel Corens ’06.5, leaders of DAN, said they hope external managers will re-evaluate their own investment decisions as they receive more letters from universities about the issue.

Warren, Corens and nearly 50 others protested on the steps of Faunce House during the Corporation meeting two weeks ago. “I thought there was no way they could say no,” Warren said.

The University’s decision reached 60 newspapers worldwide, according to Warren.

Also, CNN International will soon air a story on divestment that includes coverage of Brown’s decision.

Putterman said though the University’s action is more important symbolically than financially, institutions’ divestment could eventually affect the Sudanese government’s funding.

“Brown is not a big enough shareholder to have a big impact by itself, but Brown could give a boost to a movement that could become big enough to have a real impact,” he said. “We think it’s likely that a number of companies will withdraw from Sudan … and we think the government may in fact change its policies.

It’s probably already sensitive to this because it’s counting on the money that will be earned.”

Oil and other companies op-

erating in Sudan pay taxes and other fees directly to the government, likely providing its main source of military funding, Putterman said.

“Military expenditure has climbed simultaneously with oil investment” in Sudan, Putterman said.

As Brown and other universities have addressed the issue, Putterman said divestment from Sudan is gaining momentum — Columbia University representatives contacted him soon after the decision to discuss the possibility of the university’s divestment.

Momentum is a key goal of the divestment movement, Warren said. As soon as the Corporation’s decision made headlines, Warren said students at five other schools contacted him about taking similar actions.

Amherst and Dartmouth colleges and Yale University all divested in February, just prior to Brown’s decision. Stanford University divested from four companies in 2005, and the University of California system will vote on divestment March 16, according to Warren.

Still, Huidekoper said many universities have yet to address the issue. “Amazingly enough, it’s an issue that many have yet to engage,” she said.

Putterman and Warren both said state pension funds are the next step in the divestment movement. The states of Illinois, New Jersey and Oregon have already divested, and Warren said DAN is looking to Rhode Island next.

“Students who may want to do something about the genocide in Darfur shouldn’t feel satisfied that enough has been done

by Brown, because this is not enough,” Putterman said.

Still, Corens and Warren said it’s an important step. “This is one more piece in a larger movement for trying to end this genocide,” Corens said.

Zimmer

its affiliated teaching hospitals in Rhode Island.

“Undergraduate, graduate, and medical students will benefit� greatly from the improvement of facilities undertaken during his term� as provost,” Simmons wrote in the e-mail.

“His leadership and commitment to Brown faculty, students�and staff

will be missed.”

Before becoming Brown’s ninth provost in 2002, Zimmer was on faculty at UChicago for over two decades, holding the title of Max Mason Distinguished Service Professor in Mathematics. He specialized in geometry — particularly ergodic theory, Lie groups and differential geometry — and authored two books on these subjects while at UChicago, according to the university’s Web site.

Zimmer also served in numerous administrative capacities at UChicago before coming to Brown, including chairman of the mathematics department, deputy provost and vice president for research at the university and for Argonne National Laboratory, which UChicago has operated for the U.S. Department of Energy since the laboratory’s inception in 1946.

Zimmer graduated summa cum laude from Brandeis University and earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from Harvard University in 1975. He has also served on the faculty at the U.S. Naval Academy and the University of California, Berkeley. He has held visiting positions at Harvard and at institutions in France, Israel, Australia, Switzerland and Italy.

continued from page 1 the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Mass. and oversaw communication between the Medical School and

Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.

Solution, tips and computer program at www.sudoku.com.

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CAMPUS NEWS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD · FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2006 · PAGE 5

Muslim scholar targets conventional view of woman in the Qur’an

BY NAOMI SMITH CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Ayesha Chaudhry, a Ph.D. candidate in the Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies Department at New York University, critiqued mainstream perceptions of the role of women in Islam last night before an audience of roughly 100 in MacMillan 117. Her talk served as the opening to Islam Awareness Month.

Chaudhry, who is the wife of Rumee Ahmed, Brown’s new Muslim chaplain, recounted and analyzed stories of women in the Qur’an — from the Queen of Sheba to Jesus’ mother Mary — in an effort to help dispel popular myths framing Muslim women as underrepresented, “voiceless” and “oppressed by their religion,” she said.

Brown Muslim Student Association President Lamia Khan ’08, who introduced Chaudhry, told The Herald Chaudhry’s field of expertise, gender studies in Islam, was a particularly fitting and salient topic to kick off Islam Awareness Month. The role of women figures prominently in the “monolithic vision of Islam” perpetuated by ignorance and misguided media coverage, she said. Islam Awareness Month aims to bring greater depth, knowledge and understanding to this monolithic vision, Khan said.

Chaudhry began the lecture by surveying Orientalist perceptions of the Muslim woman, from early white male painters and travelers in the Middle East to later feminist interventions.

Many of these representations were not only misguided, but also suppressed the voices and agency of the women they depicted, she said.

On the contrary, Chaudhry said, “the Qur’an allows women

much greater agency and bearing on their lives” than many people imagine. She added that “the gender differences in the Qur’an, if any, are a result of the contextual complexities in society in the seventh century.”

The Qur’an is believed by Muslims to be the direct word of God, revealed through the Prophet Mohammed in seventh-century Arabian society.

Chaudhry said it was “only natural” that the patriarchal nature of that society influenced the Qur’an. “Maybe the Qur’an is a patriarchal text,” she said, “but not because God is a patriarch.”

The first story Chaudhry discussed addressed the issue of fitna, or the sexual power women possess over men.

Chaudhry said fitna is often used in Muslim societies to excuse sexual desire, but the story of Zulaykha gives both men and women responsibility and agency in their sexuality. “In a society where women’s sexuality is at best secondary and at worst nonexistent, the Qur’an here is giving women more of a central role,” she said.

Another story included that of the Queen of Sheba, or Balquis, who is one of few secular powers depicted favorably in the Qur’an, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, referred to as Maryam. God’s recognition of Mary’s labor pains in the Qur’an humanizes and centralizes the female experience, according to Chaudhry.

The last story in Chaudhry’s analysis displayed God’s intervention against injustice in women’s lives. In this story, God saw the husband of Khawlah bin Tha’lab, companion of the Prophet, had exploited a barbaric pre-Islamic law in order to divorce her. God subsequently banned the law. see QUR’AN, page 6

Some students drop courses late to avoid a B, administrators say

BY OLIVER BOWERS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

At last week’s forum debating the possible addition of pluses and minuses to the University’s grading system, Dean of the College Paul Armstrong argued such a change might address students’ attempt to “game the system” to avoid earning B’s. In particular, some students take advantage of the provision allowing them to drop classes late in the semester — a provision he said was designed to encourage risk-taking — by dropping classes when it becomes apparent they might not earn an A. University Registrar Michael Pesta said he has witnessed this behavior.

“I’ve heard students say that friends have done it, and professors think students are doing it,” Pesta said.

He added, though, that there is no way to determine statistically how widespread the practice is: though the registrar’s office does collect data on the number of classes dropped toward the end of the semester, it does not make note of students’ grades when they decide to drop the course.

In an e-mail to The Herald, Armstrong wrote that this behavior has been brought up several times before the Committee on Academic Standing.

The CAS has considered moving the last day to drop a class to earlier in the semester as well as having the registrar include dropped classes on external transcripts. However, Armstrong opposes these changes because they “would deter the experimentation and risk-taking that the New Curriculum encourages,” he wrote.

Robert Shaw, executive associate dean of the college, said he has also seen students drop courses to avoid receiving a B. “It’s not uncommon that students drop courses to protect their GPAs,” Shaw said. This

behavior is typically common among pre-medical students, but it can be seen among students applying to law school and elsewhere, he said.

Shaw gave a number of examples of students who have dropped courses to avoid a B. One involved a pre-med student who debated dropping a math course because a B would mar her straight-A average.

Adding pluses and minuses might reduce the pressure students feel to avoid B’s, since good to excellent grades would be distributed over a spectrum, Armstrong said.

Others, however, are not convinced that changing the grading system would deter students from dropping courses late in the semester. Shaw said students who drop courses now to avoid a B might also do so to avoid a B-plus.

Pesta also speculated that some teachers who now round up grades to differentiate low B’s from high B’s might give students B-pluses instead of A’s. To some students, a B and a B-plus would be the same, he said.

Shyam Sundaram ’08, a member of the College Curriculum Council, also pointed out that an entirely new group of students might drop courses if they were poised to get a B-minus. “I think it might actually make it worse,” he said.

In some cases, students who drop courses late in the semester fall behind in their course count and end up in poor academic standing, Shaw said. He cited

an example of one student who dropped a course twice to avoid getting a B and ended up on academic warning. A student needs to complete seven courses by the end of two semesters and 15 by the end of sophomore year to remain in good standing.

Some students said they understand why a student might drop a class to avoid receiving a B, even if they have not done this themselves. Julia Vazquez ’09 said she has considered it.

“My first semester I got all As. Now I’m taking five classes and it’s a little harder,” she said, adding she might drop “to avoid marring my GPA.” Erica Reisman ’09 said although she thinks dropping a course to avoid a B would be a waste of work, she believes “some people are hell-bent on getting all As in their courses.”

Armstrong said he understands this sentiment, which stems from what he called “the stigma attached to a B.” However, he referred to the practice as “misguided.”

William Louis ’06 said although “it’s certainly possible” that students would drop a course to avoid a B, “It never really occurred to me. I was never really afraid of getting a B.” “If it’s a good course and I liked what I was learning I wouldn’t mind getting a B,” said Gi On Gideon Ng ’09.

Shaw emphasized that, though some students do follow through on dropping a course, the practice is “not terribly widespread.”

PAGE 6 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2006

Forum continued from page 1 means, but we think it’s pretty funny.”

Dill said Course Performance Reports, discussions with students and WebCT postings of “assignments that are exemplars of extraordinary work” are some of the ways in which faculty can better inform students of progress and expectations without lowering motivation.

“I was rather upset that we’re having this forum because it is an opportunity for a broader discussion,” she said. “There’s been a larger focus on plus/minus at this university over the last few years and little discussion about the other aspects of teaching.”

Spoehr, vice chair of the CCC and one of the proposal’s most vocal supporters, said that because the majority of grades given are A’s, students do not have enough information about their performance. “(The current system) renders A’s meaningless and, paradoxically, B’s poisonous,” he said.

According to the Office of Institutional Research, 46.6 percent of grades were A’s in the 2004-2005 academic year, with B’s making up 24 percent and C’s only 4.6 percent.

Despite their disparate opinions, panelists agreed that pluses and minuses are not intended as a replacement for conversational feedback and CPRs, though Spoehr contended some students are not as interested in this feedback as they are in their letter grades, and that more specific grades could motivate students.

Spoehr said under the current system he is more likely to inflate a student’s B-plus work to an A. Because of this, Professor of Chemistry Matthew Zimmt exclaimed from the audience, “Then give them a B!” Dean of the Graduate School Sheila Bonde did not bring a particular opinion to the discussion, but sought to inform the audience of the perspective of graduate students. The proposal enjoys a high level of support in the Grad School, where a committee voted last night to support the proposal, Bonde said.

She said that with the “rise of a terminal masters population,” students need more distinctive grades so they stay competitive

in cutthroat job markets and admission pools.

Bonde also said she discovered that no specific grading policy exists in the Grad School, and depending on the decision in the undergraduate College, “we may decide to go to a unified system, and we might decide to use a separate system.”

Audience questions proposal Approximately nine students and two professors commented or asked questions of the panel.

Of those commenting, Professor of History Timothy Harris, who heads the British program for the Office of International Programs, spoke in favor of the proposal, saying that not having pluses and minuses distorts GPAs to the detriment of students applying to study abroad.

Nicholas Everage ’01 GS, an audience member and epidemiology student, questioned the methodology of the oft-cited 2003 survey by the Sheridan Center for Teaching, which indicated more than 80 percent of faculty and graduate teaching assistants favored pluses and minuses. Everage asked who responded to the electronic survey: whether it was required of faculty and whether the respondent pool could have been self-selecting.

Reginster replied that a “significant” number of faculty replied to the survey, prompting Zimmt to launch from his chair in the audience, exclaiming, “Does ‘significant’ mean 10 percent or 90 percent?”

“Nearly 50 percent,” Reginster replied, prompting Zimmt to retort, “‘Nearly’ is a pretty broad number.”

Waage finally clarified that 181 faculty members responded to the survey, adding that “181 is not 50 percent. The survey is interesting and informative, but it was not a direct set of questions about plus/minus grading.”

UCS Vice President Zachary Townsend ’08 asked Dean of the College Paul Armstrong, the forum’s moderator, to post the panelists’ remarks on the CCC Web site, and Armstrong agreed to do so. He also asked about the source of the plus/ minus proposal.

“Why this proposal instead of a more holistic discussion of grading policy?” Townsend asked Armstrong.

In response, Waage quoted a 2003 CCC report that recommended discussion of a broad

www.browndailyherald.com

range of options for grading reform. Townsend noted the apparent contradiction in the report and the subject of the forum, asking Armstrong, “What Professor Waage just read — I… I don’t understand… why hasn’t that happened?”

No one from the panel answered Townsend’s question, and Armstrong moved on to the next audience member, prompting Townsend to ask, “Do you really not have an answer to that question?”

Spoehr spoke up next, saying, “Look around you — this is the conversation you wanted.”

Armstrong, the CCC’s chair, sourced the plus/minus proposal to the parliamentary nature of the CCC, which originally raised this proposal instead of others. “If the CCC feels more conversation is needed, it should delay until the issue has been fully aired,” he said. “We will see what the wishes of the CCC are — I’m not sure what will come of their discussion.

Anything could happen.”

The CCC has its next meeting Tuesday, when Sundaram said it will vote on whether to recommend plus/minus grading to the Faculty Executive Committee. If the FEC approves the proposal, it will be voted on for approval by the full faculty, he added.

Low turnout Numerous people both in the audience and on the panel told The Herald they were disappointed by the low turnout at the discussion. “A lot of people had this time free. This is an issue that will affect every person on campus. It’s a little disappointing that more people did not take advantage of this,” Sundaram said.

“I thought we’d have just as many people as at the last discussion. Either way, UCS is not going to stop. … This is incredibly important,” Freeman said, adding that UCS will contact faculty and CCC members to ensure they understand the level of student opposition to the proposal.

“I do wish there had been more people here,” Spoehr said.

“I’m sure I haven’t persuaded you, and you haven’t persuaded me. But the conversation we’ve had will make me feel a lot better about this campus, even if the proposal doesn’t go through,” Spoehr said as a concluding statement to the audience.

League continued from page 12 to: the playoffs to get to the big dance. This is the time when some teams put on one last show of their skills. For others, it is just another step in their journey to a Final Four berth. With either situation, every team gets one more chance, at least one more game. Everyone … except those teams in the Ivy League.

Unfortunately for Ivy basketball, baseball, field hockey, lacrosse, soccer, softball, tennis and volleyball fans, the Ivy League is the only conference in the country that does not support any end-of-the-season tournaments to determine who goes to their respective NCAA tournaments. The lone bid goes to the team with the best regular season record. In a league such as women’s basketball, in which every team is competitive, the regular season conference champion could lose the right to this spot with a couple of early January losses when league play begins. For the conference bottom feeder, Columbia, thoughts of a postseason this year were over before classes had even started up again. How is that supposed to inspire hope for the rest of the semester and season?

This system gives substantial weight to regular season games, but it produces uncomfortable results. Co-champs and tri-champs can be declared because, oddly enough, there are usually at least two teams that are close enough in that eightgame stretch to hand each other a loss. A tie means we have to share, and everyone knows that no athlete wants to share anything with an opponent.

We will forever share the 20052006 Ivy League championship with Dartmouth and Princeton.

The 2005 men’s soccer team will forever be remembered as trichamps, tying Dartmouth and Yale at the top. Fortunately in that sport, the NCAA awarded more than one bid to the tournament, so all three teams had a chance to play for a national championship.

Being a tri-champ is like eating sugar-free ice cream (or sugar-free anything, for that matter). You eat it because you think it will be just as filling and rewarding as the real stuff — and for some reason you wanted to follow the in-crowd of obsessive dieters — but it definitely is not

as sweet as the real thing. All any team wants is that chance to win a championship they can call their own.

Ivy League men’s and women’s basketball teams are not so lucky in their bid system, so championship ties lead to a playoff game — or two, if needed. Having any postseason game is always beneficial for the league given the extra media coverage and attention it generates, particularly considering the rest of the country probably ignores that we get bids at all. But if you are going to play two games, why not add on two more per team and call it a tournament?

Ivy League baseball almost has the correct formula. With its two divisions of four teams, the division winners play for the NCAA spot. The flaw comes when two teams in one division have a better record than the other division winner, as Brown experienced last year.

Bruno was second to Harvard in the Rolfe division, but it had a decisive three-game lead on Gehrig division champ Cornell.

As a result, it could only watch from the sidelines during the Ivy League championship series between the Crimson and Big Red. The Ivy League is the most academically respected, critically acclaimed conference in the country, and rightfully so.

The conference schedule contains mostly weekend games, so its student-athletes truly are student-athletes. I have only missed three days of class for regular season Ivy games this year, and though it made for a couple more late nights, the added stress has not been overwhelming. Arguments that another game, another road trip and another day of missed classes would create an undue burden for students are not very valid. Unlike our non-Ivy opponents, the Ivy mandate of weekend games gives us more leeway to miss a couple days of class at the end of the season.

The most appalling part of this ridiculous system has to be the championship rings awarded to outright champs, co-champs or tri-champs. It wouldn’t seem like a big deal, but when your league has only eight teams, it’s a little too generous. I can’t wait for the thrilling feeling the men’s soccer team has every time they look at their right hand ring finger: that almost half of the Ivy League has what you have. Not as fulfilling. Not as competitive.

Not a true Ivy championship.

Qu’ran continued from page 6 Chaudhry said that these stories, while diverse, exemplified the agency and responsibility the Qur’an grants women over their lives and their ultimate salvation.

“Although women may be defined by the men in their lives, the men have no bearing on their salvation,” she said, again emphasizing the difference between society and the word of God. “The biggest struggle for me as a Muslim woman is how to examine the Qur’an while maintaining its integrity, but while also maintaining my integrity as a woman of the 21st century,” she told The Herald after the lecture.

FRIDAY, MARCH 10 , 2006 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 7

Briefs continued from page 12 percentage (50 percent).

Hayes has now received every individual honor the Ivy League has to offer. She was the Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 2003 and has been named to an All-Ivy team each year of her career, becoming only the fourth Brown women’s basketball player to do so.

Hayes was surprised to hear that she was only the fourth Brown player to ever achieve this honor, after Jerant and Donna Yaffe ’85 (1983, 1985) and Michelle Smith ’86 (1984). She said it added meaning to the award.

“There have been so many great players in the Ivy League and in the history of Brown basketball,” Hayes said. “To be con-

W. icers continued from page 12 a big difference. We have to play good defensive zone coverage because their players offensively are very good. We have to make sure any rebounds out in the slot are cleared so they don’t have a second shot.”

Offensively, the key to the game will be whether Brown can generate any production from the second and third lines. The top line of Hayley Moore ’08, Keaton Zucker ’06 and Rylee Olewinski ’08 has been on fire of late. The line contributed the first three goals in Brown’s game one win over Dartmouth last Friday and all three in Saturday’s game two clincher.

Moore is fourth in the ECACHL in goals and, along with Zucker, is tied for ninth in assists.

Opposing the Bears’ formidable forwards will be Tigers’ goaltender Roxanne Gaudiel.

The Bears put five shots past her on the year, three of which

W. hoops continued from page 12 having won a game on its home floor. In the first meeting, Dartmouth used deadly three-point shooting to give Brown its worst loss of the season, 73-51.

Brown rebounded in the second match-up, beating the Big Green 59-54 in overtime.

“We know their personnel very well and we know their strengths very well,” said Colleen Kelly ’06, who was named second team All-Ivy Thursday.

One of the keys for Brown will be shutting down guard Jeanie Cullen, who leads the league in three-pointers made and threepoint percentage. Brown’s defense contained her in the second Dartmouth game, limiting her number of open looks. In that game, she was visibly frustrated, making only three of her 12 shots. To knock off the Big Green again, the Bears will need their trademark pressing-and-

Two days after being named the Ivy League’s Player of the

Week for the first time in his career, Keenan Jeppesen ’08 was named to the All-Ivy second team Thursday after a breakout season for the men’s basketballl team. He became the team’s goto player near the beginning of the conference schedule and averaged 16.1 points per game against Ivy League opponents, good for second in the league.

He also led the Bears with 6.1 rebounds and 2.4 steals per game in league play.

Jeppesen was at his best against the league’s toughest teams. Last weekend, he poured in 16 points in the Bears 61-46 downing of Princeton. The following night, Jeppesen almost helped Brown upend the Ivy champion University of Pennsylvania. Agaistn UPenn, he led all scorers with 21 points and recorded four assists and five boards.

—Herald Staff Reports

came in a 4-3 victory over Princeton on Jan. 7. However, Gaudiel surrendered only 44 goals on the year in posting 1.57 goals against average.

“Get in her head early,” Moore said. “She hasn’t been tested enough this season with their defense so if we can generate shots we should be successful.”

With two playoff games under their belt this season, and a heartbreaking game-three loss to St. Lawrence University in last year’s postseason fresh in their minds, the Bears are well accustomed to the playoff atmosphere. They also are aware that, in the postseason, winners can be decided by heart as much as by skill.

“At this point in the season the more energy we have, the better we play,” Deeb said. “And we have energy — a lot.”

On the attack, Princeton starts with its defensemen. The Tigers’ defenders are all talented with the puck, which makes their transition to offense very quick and difficult to defend. The Tigers are

equally strong once the puck is in the hands of their forwards. Princeton is deep with playmakers, headed by Kim Pearce, who is second in the league in assists, and sniper Annie Greenwood, second in the league in scoring.

“That girl is a freight train,” said Kim McManus ’09, referring to the 5’10” Pearce. “But we can shut her down.”

With excellent goaltending and a strong defense, Brown is a team that is coming together at precisely the right time.

If the Bears can beat Princeton they will advance to the finals on Sunday. Awaiting the Bears there will be either No.8 Harvard or top seed No. 2 St. Lawrence, which is riding a 12-game winning streak. First, however, they must take care of business and get past the Tigers.

“We have a great shot at winning and I think our team recognizes that,” said Kathryn Moos ’07. “We are pumped to be in a big game like this. We have come a long way — we deserve it.”

trapping defense to fill passing lanes, force turnovers and rattle Dartmouth.

“We know that they have a lot of good shooters and it is imperative that we get out on (Cullen) and (Angie Soriaga),” said Head Coach Jean Marie Burr.

Brown has been focused on guarding the three-ball all week in practice, having its scout team mimic the Big Green’s offensive sets.

“Our scout team has been very important for us all season,” said guard/forward Ashley King-Bischof ’07. “They do a great job in being able to run the other team’s sets and they are also much more athletic than any team we play. They have an immense impact on how we prepare. We have had some really good practices this week. We have employed some new strategies defensively that we are really excited about.”

On offense, Brown also needs to find a way to get Kelly open for some unimpeded threes. She

was only 12-of-35 from the floor in the last four games and only 5of-16 from behind the arc.

“It’s not a question of me getting open looks as much as it is everyone getting open looks,” Kelly said. “We have to make sure we run our offense precisely and get open shots for everyone.”

Despite the importance of this contest, the Bears are more focused and excited than they are nervous.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Hayes said. “If we play the way we know we are capable of playing, then we will be fine.”

The game might also have a sense of déjà vu for longtime Bears fans — in 1994, the Bears defeated the Big Green in a onegame playoff to win the league’s first NCAA bid.

The game will tip off tonight at 7 p.m. at Yale’s John Lee Amphitheater. The University will provide a bus to the game leaving from the Pizzitola Center at 4 p.m. However, only the first 55 people get seats.

sidered as one of them is an honor.”

Hayes’ backcourt mate, Colleen Kelly ’06, earned second team All-Ivy honors.

Kelly, the Bears’ all-time threepoint leader, earned her first AllIvy selection of her career. She finished second on the team in scoring, averaging 13.0 points per game and led the team in threepoint shooting (41.5 percent), free-throw shooting (82.8 percent) and assists (2.6 per game).

Although picking up some hardware is always nice, Hayes stressed that the honors change nothing about the team’s focus.

“We’re trying to go dancing,” Hayes said. “It doesn’t change our focus from (an NCAA bid).”

Jeppesen ’08 gets second team honors

www.browndailyherald.com

Housing continued from page 1 Kadin said the lyrics did not take long to write.

“I sat down and wrote the script in about fifteen minutes, half-jokingly, but the guys really liked it,” he said.

After Kadin finished the writing, Browne, a member of the Jabberwocks, another a cappella group, began recording. He said he spent five hours one afternoon recording each line on a different track in order to splice them together for the video. Browne is also helping Hernandez produce a hiphop album.

Kadin recorded a majority of the video. A scene in the Salomon Center was taped at the end of an actual class so they would have enough extras to look realistic, Kadin and Browne said.

“In the very beginning we had to keep starting over because we couldn’t stop laughing through the lip-synching,” Kadin said.

Once the video was finished and the creators were happy with their final product, the next challenge was getting people to vote.

“We worked really hard on publicity, because we learned how important that was last year,” Kadin said.

E-mails, Facebook.com, instant messaging and word of mouth were all employed as the group of eight rallied their diverse network of friends to vote, Browne said.

But Kadin said his group was uncertain of its chances after learning another competitor had used extreme measures.

Justin Glavis-Bloom’07, chair of Residential Council’s lottery committee, said that one group bribed and coerced students.

“One of the groups was in the Ratty with a laptop wearing bras and panties,” said Glavis-Bloom ’07. “I’m not on the meal plan, but I received emails from almost everyone on the council and a number of other students.”

Many students told GlavisBloom they felt pressured to vote for this group even though they did not like the submission, he said.

“The group had asked me if it was okay to give cookies, and I said there was no rule against it, but I had no idea it would become such a production,” he said.

Using their IP addresses, Glavis-Bloom tracked down all the students who voted from the laptop in the Ratty. He sent them an e-mail giving them the option to have their initial vote cancelled and vote again for a different group instead.

Approximately 20 students had their initial votes cancelled after he sent this e-mail, he said.

“The group involved was very far behind anyway, but even so, we are going to definitely clarify the rules for next year to specifically state that there can be no bribes or buying votes,” Glavis-Bloom said.

This year’s competition included 11 video submissions, three songs and seven text entries. Glavis-Bloom said 1,471 students voted in this year’s first pick competition, up from 921 last year. “Trapped in a Triple” won by a margin of 188 votes, and due to the large margin of victory, the second place winner was not announced, Glavis-Bloom said.

Kadin and Browne said that they believe a few parts of their video made it stand out from the other submissions.

“Because it was a music video it kept the listener engaged, and there was no useless dialogue,” Kadin said.

Lower resolution quality allowed students to download the winners’ video faster than some of the other submissions.

“People complained that some of the others took too long to download,” Kadin said.

Regardless of the speed, many students said they liked “Trapped in a Triple” because of its originality.

“I thought it was really impressive that they wrote the lyrics and recorded the music for an entire song,” said Nikki Wilson ’09. “But I actually ended up voting for New Pembroke Five because the dance scene in Grad Center really cracked me up.”

It may not have contained a dance scene, but “Trapped in a Triple” conveyed the struggles of Kadin’s own sophomore year in a Marcy triple.

“We’re slobs — our stuff is constantly everywhere. Three guys in one room is a bad situation,” he said.

As a Minority Peer Councilor in Littlefield Hall, Browne said he also looks forward to choosing better housing for next year.

“I love the MPC program, but it’s hard when you don’t live with other people in your own grade and always have to leave to socialize,” Browne said.

Browne said he was on an a cappella trip when he received word from another group member that they had won the competition.

“I was screaming in the car,” Browne said.

As the excitement wears off, the victors must now decide where to live. Four members of the group have already chosen a Vartan Gregorian Quadrangle suite, but Kadin and Browne remain undecided. Kadin said they have narrowed their choices down to New Dorm, Barbour Hall and the Young Orchard Apartments, but that it remains to be seen whether or not they can handle life with a kitchen.

PAGE 8 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, MARCH 10 , 2006

Sugar continued from page 12 benefited from playing a tired team.

It’s high time that the first Ivy League team to appear in the women’s NCAA Tournament way back in 1994 returns to the Big Dance. That year, Brown also received the Ancient Eight’s automatic bid in a playoff win against Dartmouth. That year, the Bears had to face the Rebecca Loboled University of Connecticut Huskies, and actually held a second half lead before Geno Auriemma’s team got its act together and won 79-60.

The competition this weekend will be fierce, as the three Ivy Champions predictably dominated the All-Ivy teams, hogging all five first-team slots (Princeton center Becky Brown and forward Meagan Cowher, and Dartmouth guards Angie Soriaga and Jeannie Cullen join Hayes) in addition to two second-team bids (Princeton guard Katy O’Brien and Colleen Kelly ’06) and one honorable mention (guard Ashley Taylor of Dartmouth). Princeton even got guard Jessica Kelly on the All-Rookie team. Noticeably snubbed was the two-headed center of Christine Schaper ’09 and Herald Sports Staff Writer Amy Ehrhart ’09, but it seems filling in for first-team AllIvy grad Holly Robertson ’05 doesn’t matter for much these days.

On the ice, the women’s hockey team, currently holed up in Canton, N.Y., for the ECACHL Final Four, has its own set of do-or-die games this weekend. Unfortunately, the Bears will have an uphill battle to win their conference for the first time since 2001-02. If they beat Princeton Saturday, they will likely have to face top-seed St. Lawrence Sunday on the Saints’ home ice.

How does that happen, you

ask? Why isn’t the final four being played at a predetermined neutral site like it was before? Well, the ECACHL had the brilliant idea this offseason of having the women’s final four at the home rink of the top remaining seed after the first round — meaning, had the top two seeds, St. Lawrence and Princeton, lost, these games would’ve been played at the Meehan Auditorium. According to the conference’s media guide, this was intended to attract more fans to the event.

Never mind that there is a logistical nightmare for a second or third seed that will have to schedule these games within a few days if there’s an upset. Not included in the media guide is that the home team at this event now has an absurd home-ice advantage — an unacceptable bonus in this stage of the season.

The format change is curious, considering the other two major women’s hockey conferences have more equitable formats. Hockey East holds its final rounds at a different arena each season, like the ECACHL used to. The Western Collegiate Hockey Association is holding its third straight tournament at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, but that’s because the Golden Gophers’ Ridder Arena opened just three seasons ago and the Twin Cities location is easier to get to than alternatives like Duluth.

While the Ivy League can be ham-handed at times — the football league’s champion being ineligible for the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs is a prime example — at least it would never be inept enough to set up a format like this.

Anyway, back to the Bears.

Much like the women’s basketball team, the third-seeded Bears have relied on their defense all year. One of the keys to victory this weekend, though, will be receiving some

offense from skaters other than Hayley Moore ’08 and Keaton Zucker ’06 to go along with that stingy defense. While O’Hara Shipe ’08, Nicole Stock ’09 and Stacy Silverman ’08 combined for a usually superb .934 save percentage and 1.82 goals against average during league play, the worst totals in those statistics among the four teams left are .925 and 1.91, so that defensive advantage is negated.

Still, don’t doubt the team formerly known as the Pandas’ ability to beat the nation’s top teams. Earlier in the season, they handed then-No. 5 University of New Hampshire one of its two losses all season, and its only one in regulation. The Bears have gone 1-3-2 against the remaining three teams, splitting with third-seed No. 5 Princeton, tying fourth-seed No. 8 Harvard twice and getting swept by top-seed No. 2 St. Lawrence. The team also has playoff experience in St. Lawrence’s Appleton Arena, upsetting the Saints in game one of their three-game firstround series last season.

Neither Brown team has an easy match-up, but with their seasons on the line, don’t expect the Bears to go down without a fight. But for now, let the tacky synth hook play while we enjoy the drama.

One final note for those who are unable to attend the playoff games this weekend: All four possible games will be carried on the radio via the Internet. Brown Student Radio will broadcast the basketball games on 88.1 WELH and www. bsrlive.com, while the Brown Sports Radio Network will have all four games streaming on the Web, links to which will be on Brownbears.com.

Sports Editor Chris Hatfield ’06 will call the action at this weekend’s women’s basketball games on Brown Student Radio with Herald Campus Watch Editor Stu Woo ’08.

www.browndailyherald. com

Savino continued from page 12 (second seed Derek Zinck) several times, and he was one of those guys that just had my number. There was some controversy in the seeding meeting. … I was disappointed that night about (being seeded seventh and) not getting the seed I wanted, but I wound up (wrestling) him in the quarterfinals.

He was an All-American as a freshman, and I knew I would have to keep it close, and I was able to score a take-down. … I think it was one of my biggest college wins.

What’s your favorite move?

I have a sweep-single, an outside single. It’s my go-to move. … It’s about sweeping their leg for the take-down.

What’s your role on the team off of the mats?

As co-captain, I try and be a leader for the younger guys.

I’m 23 years old, and you have 18-year-old kids coming in as freshmen. I guess it’s about being a role model in everything you do. For me, I have the added responsibility of a little brother (Mark Savino ’08) on the team.

Do you two ever practice wrestling together?

We don’t really go live. I’m a little too heavy for him. If we did though, I think I’d give him a little big-brother beating. We wrestle more off the mats than we do on.

What are your weight classes?

I wrestle at 157 (pounds), Mark is 141.

Do you have other family nearby?

My mom is originally from Rhode Island and my grandma lives right up by Federal Hill.

My aunt and grandma always come to matches and my parents make the five-hour trip from New Jersey.

Do you get to enjoy homecooked Italian food?

I was actually up at my grand-

ma’s yesterday. She came from Italy. … I’ve always wanted to go there but never gotten the chance. … I should speak more Italian than I do. I took four years in high school, so I can understand it conversationally, but that’s about it.

Are you on meal plan?

I’m off-campus, but yes, I’m on meal plan. I’ll go out and put in the running miles, have hours of practice, I don’t want to come home and cook and do dishes. … I probably get an omelet from Dawn or Paula every day.

Why did you choose to attend Brown?

I think the combination of athletics and academics was unbeatable. I could have gone to Lehigh, the national champs, where wrestling is your life, but I think I will be happy graduating with an Ivy League degree (in Business Economics), especially since I have reached my athletic goal of making nationals. I’ll miss the atmosphere of Brown. I’m a people person and it’s the perfect environment for it.

Do you know what you will be doing next year?

It’s hard to do the interviewing process during season. I have some contacts in New York City, but ideally I’d like to take a little bit of time off first.

More short-term then, how about for spring break?

Ten of my friends from the team are going to Jamaica. It’s not Disney World for this guy after Nationals, it’s Jamaica.

I’ve never gotten to go on a real spring break trip, so I’m really excited.

After nationals, you’ll just be a normal senior. Any immediate plans?

All season you’re used to running, training, watching your weight. The first thing I want to do is relax and celebrate. I don’t go out during the season; I almost become a hermit. I’m excited to get my face out there.

What will you miss the most about being an athlete?

During a hard workout when you’re really going at it on the mats — we call it “battle” because it’s like a controlled fight without the punching — you get into an intense rhythm. After showering and you’re walking to the Ratty, you get a great feeling about how hard you pushed yourself. I know I won’t work out to that level after college.

What will you miss the least?

Cutting and making weight. It would be like any other sport if you didn’t have to do that. It’s in the back of your mind constantly. When we get our food money to spend on away trips and we go to supermarkets before weigh-ins it’s depressing.

Afterwards though, you get rehydrated and refueled before the match. I think you wrestle a bit better when you’re hungrier though anyway. Get a little edgier.

www.browndailyherald. com

WORLD & NATION THE BROWN DAILY HERALD · FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2006 · PAGE 9

Iraqi forces to lead in event of civil war, Rumsfeld says

BY ANN SCOTT TYSON WASHINGTON POST

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military will rely primarily on Iraq’s security forces to put down a civil war in that country if one breaks out, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told lawmakers Thursday.

Sectarian violence in Iraq has reached a level unprecedented since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 and is now eclipsing the insurgency as the chief security threat there, said Army Gen. John Abizaid, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, who appeared with Rumsfeld.

“The plan is to prevent a civil war, and to the extent one were to occur, to have the ... Iraqi security forces deal with it to the extent they’re able to,” Rumsfeld told the Senate Appropriations Committee when pressed to explain how the United States intended to respond should Iraq descend wholesale into internecine strife.

If civil war becomes reality, “it’s very clear that the Iraqi forces will handle it, but they’ll handle it with our help,” Abizaid said later when asked to elaborate on Rumsfeld’s remark.

The sobering assessment of sectarian tensions in Iraq shows the extent to which the Feb. 22 bombing of a holy Shiite shrine, and the ensuing revenge attacks that left hundreds of Sunni and Shiite Muslims dead, has shifted military calculations on a range of fronts, including what constitutes the top security challenge and prospects for further reductions in U.S. troop levels this year.

Thursday’s statements suggested that the imperative to curb sectarian violence, and the risk that it will evolve into civil war — a risk commanders have long warned was real, if remote — has now emerged as a central consideration for U.S. strategy in Iraq.

“There’s no doubt that the sectarian tensions are higher than we’ve seen and it’s a great concern to all of us,” Abizaid told the Senate committee, adding that the situation in Iraq was “changing (in) nature from insurgency toward sectarian violence.”

Asked about that comment after the briefing, Abizaid said that “sectarian violence is a greater concern for us security-wise right now than the insurgency.”

Abizaid and Rumsfeld voiced the belief that Iraq is not currently engulfed in a civil war and expressed confidence in Iraqi security forces, saying they had performed generally well after the recent wave of sectarian unrest. The country “is not in civil war at the present time, by most experts’ calculations,” Rumsfeld said.

The key to averting a civil war, they told lawmakers, is the quick formation of a unified Iraqi government that is broadly representative of the main Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish religious and ethnic groups.

“The situation, to the extent that it’s fragile and tense, is as

much a governance issue as it is a security issue,” Rumsfeld said.

“The need is for the principal players in the country to recognize the seriousness of the situation and come together to form a government of national unity that will govern from the center and do it in a reasonably prompt manner,” he said. “That will be what it will take, in my view, to further calm the situation.”

Rumsfeld’s testimony included some tense exchanges with Democratic senators, who pressed to know what the latest violence in Iraq would mean for the presence in the country of U.S. troops, who currently number about 132,000, down from 138,000 earlier this year.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., repeatedly asked Rumsfeld whether 2006 will be a year of transition to Iraqi security forces, allowing the withdrawal of significant numbers of U.S. troops by the end of the year. Rumsfeld declined to discuss troop levels, saying it would be “ill-advised for me to make a prediction,” but he said that Iraqi security forces are “doing a good job” and that Iraqi leaders were taking responsibility for conflict in the country.

“Proof positive the Iraqi security forces are as good as you say is when American troops can come home,” Durbin responded.

“That’s proof positive. Every year we hear about growing numbers and growing capabilities, and yet ... our best and bravest are still there in danger today.”

Other Democrats called “unrealistic” Rumsfeld’s decision to rely primarily on Iraqi security forces in an outbreak of civil war.

“The real issue here is where will those security forces place their loyalties, and will we be caught in the middle of a situation in which it’s unclear to us who the enemy is,” Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said after a closed Senate briefing on Iraq operations by Abizaid and Rumsfeld after the public session.

In election year, GOP wary of following Bush

BY PETER BAKER WASHINGTON POST

WASHINGTON — When President George W. Bush and senior adviser Karl Rove mapped out plans for a political comeback in 2006, this was nowhere on the script. Suddenly, the collapse of a port management deal neither even knew about a month ago has devastated the White House and raised questions about its ability to lead even fellow Republicans.

The bipartisan uprising in Congress in the face of a veto threat represented a singular defeat for Bush, who when it came to national security grew accustomed during his first five years in office to leading as he chose and having loyal lawmakers fall in line. Now with his poll numbers in a political ditch, the port debacle has contributed to a perception of weakness that has liberated Republicans who once would never have dared cross Bush.

“He has no political capital,” said Tony Fabrizio, a Republican pollster. “Slowly but surely it’s been unraveling. There’s been a direct correlation between the trajectory of his approval numbers and the — I don’t want to call it disloyalty — the independence on the part of the Republicans in Congress.”

The port deal has troubled Republicans not just on the substance of the issue but on the president’s handling of it. The White House failed to anticipate the frenzy that would be touched off by the prospect of an Arab company managing U.S. ports, and many Republicans believe Bush exacerbated the situation with a rash veto threat.

The missteps seem all the more striking for a White House once known for its discipline and political acuity. With Bush’s approval rating ranging from 34 percent in a CBS News poll to 41 percent in the latest Washington Post-ABC News survey, some Republican candidates facing the voters in just eight months privately worry that, unlike in 2002 and 2004, he

will be more albatross than advantage for GOP candidates in the fall campaign.

White House strategists reject such talk as exaggerated, pointing to other examples of Republican solidarity and predicting that the uproar over the ports will have faded long before anyone enters a voting booth in November. Bush made a point of surrounding himself with congressional Republicans Thursday in the East Room as he signed legislation reauthorizing the USA Patriot Act. Among those on hand was Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., who led the port revolt.

“We are a party that is united and moving forward on a record of accomplishment, a record of results,” White House press secretary Scott McClellan said. Dismissing questions about Bush’s effectiveness, he added: “There’s a tendency in this town to try to selectively pick snapshots, when the broader reality is that we have a record of results and that we’re getting things done for the American people.”

And many Republicans are still rallying around the president. After signing the Patriot Act, Bush flew to Atlanta Thursday night to headline the Georgia Republican Party’s Presidents’ Day dinner. A senior White House official, speaking not for attribution in order to discuss political strategy, expressed relief that on the biggest policy issues — Iraq above all — most congressional Republicans still back Bush.

But many Republicans are less willing to give Bush the benefit of the doubt as they once did. That became evident last year on domestic issues, when they abandoned his Social Security plan, criticized his handling of Hurricane Katrina and forced the withdrawal of Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers. Just Thursday, the Senate Budget Committee passed a budget resolution that dropped Bush’s proposals for tax relief, Medicare cuts and expanded health savings accounts. A frustrated Bush pushed back earlier in the week, accusing Con-

gress of shortchanging Katrina relief efforts.

Now the estrangement increasingly appears even on national security issues, where Republicans long deferred to the president. Recent rebukes run from the ports deal to a ban on torture to Patriot Act revisions forced on Bush in exchange for congressional approval. Partly in the name of national security, Republican leaders also seem poised to dismiss Bush’s proposal for a guest worker program for illegal immigrants.

“He cannot afford another breach related to national security, I can tell you that,” said Patrick Griffin, who was the chief congressional liaison for the Clinton White House. “That would be devastating.”

Stanley Greenberg, a Democratic pollster who produced a survey this week suggesting Bush’s public standing has been hurt by the port issue, said it may be too late to repair the schism between Bush and congressional Republicans. “I don’t know how you put the genie back in the bottle,” he said. “After five years of unwavering loyalty to the president, they’ve demonstrated they’ll break with the president to save their own skins.”

The port deal has provided ammunition to Democrats who have begun making the case more broadly that Bush is in over his head. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., Thursday called the port situation a “case study in the administration’s incompetence,” and Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said the administration “was clearly asleep at the switch” and “bungled the oversight of this deal.”

But it’s not clear whether Democrats will be able to turn that issue to their benefit in the fall. Republicans on Capitol Hill were every bit as vocal as their opponents in standing against the port deal, making it harder to draw a clear distinction come campaign time.

By turning against Bush, some GOP strategists believe Republican leaders may have saved themselves a worse fate.

EDITORIAL/LETTERS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD · FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2006 · PAGE 10

STAFF EDITORIAL

Diamonds and coal A cubic zirconium to Provost Robert Zimmer. We regret you’re leaving Brown, but at least you made your intentions known.

And to the provost search committee: we hear Larry Summers is looking for a job.

Coal to fictional professors in the fictional department of military science at Brown. What, did ROTC recruiters think the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy would stop us from seeing through their deception?

A diamond to Andrea Frank ’82 and Steven Frank ’83, who met at a frat party over two decades ago. You remind us of a bygone era when pre-gaming didn’t involve being EMS-ed before making it through the door.

A diamond to the wit of Associate Professor of Sociology Ann Dill. As cool as getting π for a GPA may be, we’re all hoping to stay above e. And a cubic zirconium to Dean of the Faculty Rajiv Vohra P’07. Thanks for gracing the University-wide plus/minus forum with your presence yesterday, but perhaps you should’ve stopped by Starbucks on your way over to avoid falling asleep in the back row.

JASON

LETTERS

A De Beers diamond to corporate sponsorship of intramural sports.

Who wants a free t-shirt when $100 razors are up for grabs?

Speaking of free handouts, a diamond to Happy Dumpling for providing a late-night excuse to deviate from the spring break diet. Keep ‘em coming. We’ll run that article soon… we promise.

A diamond to intellectual curiosity, which is still alive and well in classes like “Honey Pots and Popsicles: Oral Sex Tricks of the Trade.” But a cubic zirconium to those who made the BDSM class the third-most popular Miko’s class among Brown students. We’re guessing they really wanted those “punishment” minuses.

Coal to the possible cancellation of Tubestock, the longstanding tradition in which Dartmouth students float drunkenly down the Connecticut River. There goes the only reason to spend four years in Hanover, N.H.

LI

Social Events Committee soft on Sex Power God To the Editor: The report of the Ad Hoc Committee to Review Social Events Policy focuses on ways to monitor excessive drinking and increase the safety of student events. Yet in the report, the committee deliberately avoids the real issue at the heart of the Sex Power God controvery. They completely ignored the sexual debauchery and lack of any moral restraint in the event. This was not an innocent error of omission. There is a culture at Brown, ac-

tively fostered by the left, which advocates radical moral relativism. The left at Brown refuses to make any moral judgments on student behavior and in doing so, allows debauchery such as SPG to undermine the integrity of the school. No wonder so many Brown alums refuse to contribute to their alma mater.

Pratik Chougule ’08 March 8

CO R R E C T I O N S

We would give coal to “gaming the system,” if only someone would explain what it means.

An article in yesterday’s Herald (“Not your mother’s convent,” Mar. 9) incorrectly described Metcalf Hall as an all-female residence hall. Only the fourth floor of the hall is all-female.

And, finally, good luck diamonds to the women’s basketball and ice hockey teams. We’re rooting for you this weekend.

A column in yesterday’s Herald incorrectly identified Flavio Casoy ’03 MD ’08, Soyun Kin MD ’08, Michelle Glasgow MD ’08 and Kirsten Spalding ’04 MD ’09 as Master of Science degree candidates (“Reject budget rhetoric that aims to divide us,” March 9). All are Medical Doctor degree candidates.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD EDITORIAL Robbie Corey-Boulet, Editor-in-Chief Justin Elliott, Executive Editor Ben Miller, Executive Editor Stephanie Clark, Senior Editor Katie Lamm, Senior Editor Jonathan Sidhu, Arts & Culture Editor Jane Tanimura, Arts & Culture Editor Stu Woo, Campus Watch Editor Mary-Catherine Lader, Features Editor Ben Leubsdorf, Metro Editor Anne Wootton, Metro Editor Eric Beck, News Editor Patrick Harrison, Opinions Editor Nicholas Swisher, Opinions Editor Stephen Colelli, Sports Editor Christopher Hatfield, Sports Editor Justin Goldman, Asst. Sports Editor Jilane Rodgers, Asst. Sports Editor Charlie Vallely, Asst. Sports Editor PRODUCTION Allison Kwong, Design Editor Taryn Martinez, Copy Desk Chief Lela Spielberg, Copy Desk Chief Mark Brinker, Graphics Editor Joe Nagle, Graphics Editor

PHOTO Jean Yves Chainon, Photo Editor Jacob Melrose, Photo Editor Ashley Hess, Sports Photo Editor Kori Schulman, Sports Photo Editor BUSINESS Ryan Shewcraft, General Manager Lisa Poon, Executive Manager David Ranken, Executive Manager Mitch Schwartz, Executive Manager Laurie-Ann Paliotti, Sr. Advertising Manager Susan Dansereau, Office Manager POST- MAGAZINE Sonia Saraiya, Editor-in-Chief Taryn Martinez, Associate Editor Ben Bernstein, Features Editor Matt Prewitt, Features Editor Elissa Barba, Design Editor Lindsay Harrison, Graphics Editor Constantine Haghighi, Film Editor Paul Levande, Film Editor Jesse Adams, Music Editor Katherine Chan, Music Editor Hillary Dixler, Off-the-Hill Editor Abigail Newman, Theater Editor

Andrew Kuo, Night Editor Jacob Frank, Sara Molinaro, Copy Editors Senior Staff Writers Simmi Aujla, Stephanie Bernhard, Melanie Duch, Ross Frazier, Jonathan Herman, Rebecca Jacobson, Chloe Lutts, Caroline Silverman Staff Writers Anna Abramson, Justin Amoah, Zach Barter, Allison Erich Bernstein, Brenna Carmody, Alissa Cerny, Ashley Chung, Stewart Dearing, Gabriella Doob, Phillip Gara, Hannah Levintova, Hannah Miller, Aidan Levy, Jill Luxenberg, Taryn Martinez, Ari Rockland-Miller, Jane Porter, Chelsea Rudman, Sonia Saraiya, Kam Sripada, Robin Steele, Kim Stickels, Nicole Summers, Laura Supkoff, Spencer Trice, Ila Tyagi, Sara Walter Sports Staff Writers Erin Frauenhofer, Kate Klonick, Madeleine Marecki, George Mesthos, Eric Perlmutter, Marco Santini, Tom Trudeau Account Administrators Alexandra Annuziato, Emilie Aries, Steven Butschi, Dee Gill, Rahul Keerthi, Kate Love, Ally Ouh, Nilay Patel, Ashfia Rahman, Rukesh Samarasekera, Jen Solin, Bonnie Wong Design Staff Ross Frazier, Adam Kroll, Andrew Kuo, Jason Lee, Gabriela Scarritt Photo Staff CJ Adams, Chris Bennett, Meg Boudreau, Tobias Cohen, Lindsay Harrison, Matthew Lent, Dan Petrie, Christopher Schmitt, Oliver Schulze, Juliana Wu, Min Wu, Copy Editors Chessy Brady, Amy Ehrhart, Natalia Fisher, Jacob Frank, Christopher Gang, Taryn Martinez, Katie McComas, Sara Molinaro, Heather Peterson, Sonia Saraiya, Lela Spielberg

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OPINIONS

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD · FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2006 · PAGE 11

“Anatomy” rules the boob tube “Grey’s Anatomy” has emerged as the dominant television program and social catalyst of our time

BY COURTNEY JENKINS OPINIONS COLUMNIST It’s official: our generation has a new “Friends,” and there isn’t a Central Perk in sight. Goodbye Ross and Rachel, hello Meredith and McDreamy. Call it what you will — a “Dawson’s Creek” with blood or a George Clooney-era “ER” with a jolt of humor and compassion — but people are talking. “Grey’s Anatomy” is on tap at Brown, settling into its place as the kind of “core curriculum” class folks only dream of. And at a time when “The OC” get-togethers are as commonplace as econ study parties, there is undeniably a rising viewing culture at Brown.

What Monday bridge games are to my grandmother, weekly television shows are to us.

Just as we can all fondly recall the Donna and David years on “90210,” the Soup Nazi on “Seinfeld” or Carrie getting dumped via a post-it note on “Sex and the City,” talking about McDreamy and Meredith has become the language of 2006. Certainly, it’s a language we can all understand.

Indeed, it seems that the entire campus has checked into Seattle’s Grace Hospital on Sunday nights, falling head over heels into hospital beds (or lounge couches) to follow the exploits of its favorite new ensemble drama. Face it, if Facebook.com lists it as the second most popular television show for college stu-

dents nationwide, right behind the College Hill stalwart “Family Guy,” there has got to be something really special about it, right? Let’s backtrack to a sunny day in San Diego, when I first set eyes on the newest fad.

Believe me, already an entertainment junkie myself at the time, used to pick-

causes such serious discussion and yet such lighthearted excitement. Rather, it says something about the show’s ability to help us see ourselves in it. Indeed, “Grey’s” employs the wacky and dramatic — tell me you were not blown away by the two-part “Grey’s” extravaganza after the Super Bowl. Seriously, the episodes

Popular culture is a way for Brown students to let go and connect to each other and the outside world. ing up Us Weekly and In Touch at an unhealthy rate, I was as willing to get addicted to a new series as I would be for a weekend colonoscopy. But then it happened. Peer pressured into gathering around the living room television during the now hot 10 p.m. slot, I watched the mid-season recap. Ever since, “Grey’s” has found a way into my heart…and, from the looks of it, half of the Monday morning Starbucks crowd’s too. Even without a double espresso shot, everyone seems to have something to say regarding George sleeping with Meredith, Addison’s poison oak episode or the fiancé who abandoned her husband before brain surgery the night before.

It’s no coincidence that the show

had it all — an unexploded World War II bazooka inside a patient’s chest, a neurosurgical miracle, the most triumphant birth since Sean Preston Federline and sex in a janitor’s closet. What more could you want? But in all seriousness, it’s really no wonder we find it so easy to identify with and care about its characters, as five competitive interns trying to succeed at school and stay human on little sleep hits pretty close to home.

But “Grey’s,” like “24” and “Lost,” is more than just a great show in a nice time slot or a distraction from problem sets and essays. Especially at a university where it can seem like no one marches to the beat of the same drum, popular culture can bring us together on a

level beyond discussing the wildly inflated Chinese food truck prices or how much we miss the donkey on the Sciences Library. And while we might think we’re talking about Dr. Burke’s relationship with Cristina, there is something so refreshing about applying what we’ve learned in class without having to write a research paper on it.

Popular culture is a way for us as Brown students to let go of the bazillion things we’re doing all at once — my congrats go out to the organic chemistry students who tuned in even with the threat of an exam the next day — to connect to the outside world, to our friends at other schools and to society at large. Sure, it’s not Darfur or the Danish cartoon controversy, but we’ve got 23 hours every day to think about that stuff, and I have little doubt that you’ll see your share of opinions columns which deal with more pertinent, worldly matters than whether George finds love with the cute doctor who set his shoulder back in place.

But for now, I’d urge you to take 60 minutes out of your week and sit your in-shape butt down on the couch. Bring some friends over, pick up some hummus and pita chips and get ready to become versed in the language of “Grey’s,” Brown’s newest, only and most enjoyable graduation requirement.

Courtney Jenkins ’07 wants to show you her anatomy.

Restoring New Orleans A sophomore finds hope amid ruin and class disparity in New Orleans

BY MICHAEL MORGENSTERN GUEST COLUMNIST Never in the months before my trip did I really believe that I was going to New Orleans. I had pondered doing something to help our national emergency, but it was always just a thought. When five other Brown students and I booked our flights, it was just a plan. Then, as I walked through the silted streets of the Lower Ninth Ward, with water from open pipes streaming over rag dolls and overturned SUV’s before pouring into once-clogged pumps, New Orleans, all of a sudden, was my reality.

Hurricane Katrina’s impact was clearly visible in every neighborhood once you learned to spot the water line. A slight discoloration in the paint marks the level where the water settled for three weeks.

Any building with such a line is uninhabitable until it is stripped to its structure, a process that will take years to complete.

Communities further uphill are springing to life. Downhill, the water line rises, and the throngs thin to a few scavengers.

The only signs of life in these areas are the brightly colored signs proclaiming, “I am coming home! I will rebuild! I am New Orleans!”

On every building was a spray-painted X that marks the number of bodies found inside. Most are zeroes until you reach the Lower Ninth Ward. Zero, zero, 13, zero. I walked out of a bar in the bustling French

Quarter for some air and was stunned to see a four on the wall — a family.

Yet, New Orleans rises above morbidity.

The city is a shrine to life. Hordes of people fill the streets, eating in cafés, selling books and doing laundry. Where civilization can

They introduced us to the nuanced political and racial dynamic of the city and explained why every political issue is a class issue and, therefore, a race issue. The areas below the water line were less desirable and settled by poorer people, which in New Orleans is almost a synonym for black. In an unfortunate twist of events, the people most affected had the least ability to return and speak for themselves. The city was in the hands of a much richer and whiter group; Ashé was working hard to counter that force. The more I learned, the more visible New Orleans became as a complex, battered and broken political entity fighting to heal herself.

Go down and see for yourself! We were able to become a part of the tapestry of emotions and events because we planned our own experience. We wres-

Communities further uphill are springing to life. Downhill, the water line rises, and the throngs thin to a few scavengers. exist, it thrives, though the composition of the city is radically changed. We marched in the first ‘Second Line’ since the hurricane, a parade evolved from old-time jazz funerals. Men danced on top of cars and on ledges, flags waved through the street, confetti poured into the corridor. Among thousands of cheering bodies, you felt the thrill of return.

Our group stayed in a church we found through Tulane University and worked with three organizations in our two weeks there. With the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, we stripped entire homes, from couches to drywall, into neat piles on lawns. Around 90,000 houses were left to be gutted, and we did only two. With Tulane, we cleaned and prepared public schools to open in early February. We helped the Ashé Cultural Arts Center, a central organization in the black community, with business administration and construction of a fence.

unteers was almost meaningless. Everyone was there to help, and everyone was a child of the city.

One local who helped us chop down a fallen tree gave us a personal account of his time in the Superdome. The members of the church where we stayed offered us support and connections, others gave rides and food; we even got an offer for housing and work before we stepped into baggage claim.

Perhaps most special were the lifelong bonds I made with my five companions and the volunteers who lived with us. Every one of my traveling companions has a different story to tell because the experience touched each of us differently.

I am committed to organizing groups to go down for spring break and summer, in whatever capacity you would like. If you didn’t get in to the Swearer Center program and don’t have tickets to somewhere else, there is no excuse. Contact me and I will help you go down there. Say you will help, and make it more than an idea.

I wrote this article primarily to answer the questions I know you have been asking yourself. Yes, you can find good work to do and a place to stay (even a profit if you want). Yes, you are wanted down there. Yes, you will make a difference. New Orleans is waiting for you, and she needs you now.

Yet, New Orleans rises above morbidity. The city is a shrine to life. tled with each other and our consciences in deciding how to make an impact and where to fit into a foreign world.

As participants in this struggle, we were welcomed as family; our presence alone seemed to comfort residents. The usual distinction between residents and vol-

Michael Morgenstern ’08 wants you to email him at mikern@brown.edu if you’re interested in helping out the Big Easy.

SPORTS FRIDAY THE BROWN DAILY HERALD · MARCH 10, 2006 · PAGE 12

League titles on the line for w. icers, w. hoops over championship weekend

BY TOM TRUDEAU SPORTS STAFF WRITER

The women’s ice hockey team will be in Canton, N.Y., this weekend for the Final Four of the ECACHL tournament. The Bears are riding high after their sweep of Dartmouth in last weekend’s quarterfinals but will be tested by the league’s second seed, No. 5 Princeton, in Saturday’s semifinal.

The Bears will need to rely on their defense, headed by Myria Heinhuis ’06 and Ashlee Drover ’06. The return of defenseman Lauren Deeb ’07 from injury will mean fewer

shifts and more time to breathe for the team’s top defensemen.

Goaltending has also been a big component of Brown’s strong defensive play this season. With O’Hara Shipe ’08 in net, the Bears should be able to contain the relentless Princeton offense. If Shipe struggles early on, the Bears could turn to Nicole Stock ’09 — who boasts the best save percentage on the team at .934 — to replace her between the pipes.

“We have great goaltending,” said Head Coach Digit Murphy.

“In playoff hockey goalies make see W. ICERS, page 7

Ashley Hess / Herald

Ashlee Drover ’06 and the Bears defense will be relied upon heavily this weekend at the ECACHL Final Four. Brown’s defense will need to shut down the league’s No. 2 offense in Princeton to advance.

BY JUSTIN GOLDMAN ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

The women’s basketball team may have just won its first Ivy League title since 1994 and the sixth in team history, but the tri-champion Bears need two victories this weekend to advance to this year’s NCAA tournament.

This season was the first time in Ivy women’s hoops history that three teams all finished tied atop the standings at the end of conference play. Although Brown, Dartmouth and Princeton were all named tri-champions, only one is promised the Ancient Eight’s automatic ticket to the big dance.

Since the trio of champs all had identical 10-2 records in league play and went 2-2 against one another, Jeffrey Orleans, executive director of the Council of Ivy Group Presidents, placed three coins with the schools’ logos in a hat and drew one. Orleans picked Princeton, granting the Tigers a bye into the final game Sunday. The Tigers await the winner of the Brown-Dartmouth game tonight at Yale.

“As much as we would have wanted to have the bye, we are very excited and focused for our opportunity this weekend,” said guard Jackie Vocell ’06.

Leading the charge for Brown is co-captain Sarah Hayes ’06, who on Thursday

Ashley Hess / Herald

Sarah Hayes ’06, the 2006 Ivy League Player of the Year, will lead Brown in its quest for its first Ivy title in 12 years this weekend. was named Ivy League Player of the Year — the first Bear to win the award since 1994.

Hayes has been on a tear coming into tonight’s game. She is averaging 17.3 points per game while shooting a blistering 63 percent from the floor over her last four games.

This will be the third time that Brown and Dartmouth have played this year, each see W. HOOPS, page 7

Know that song, “The Final Countdown,” by Europe? The one with the cheesy synthesizers that, believe it or not, came out 20 years ago?

Well right now that song must be blasting in the heads of 37 Brown CHRIS HATFIELD female stuBROWN SUGAR dent-athletes scattered across the Northeast.

The women’s basketball and ice hockey teams picked up this winter where the Ivy champion football and men’s soccer teams left off last semester. While the men’s soccer team got an NCAA Tournament bid despite missing out on the conference’s automatic bid, neither winter team will be so lucky. The Ivy League is too weak in basketball, so an at-large bid is out of the question. The ECACHL is too strong — with three teams in the national top 10 — for the Bears to count on getting a ticket to

BROWN SPORTS SCOREBOARD THURSDAY, MARCH 9 SKIING: 3rd at USCSA National Championships (Sugarloaf Mt., Maine) FRIDAY, MARCH 10 BASEBALL: at Vanderbilt W. BASKETBALL: vs. Dartmouth (Ivy playoff) SOFTBALL: vs. Norfolk State; vs. Delaware (Virginia Beach Tournament) M. & W. SWIMMING: NCAA Zone A Diving Championship (at Annapolis, Md.) M. TENNIS: vs. Hofstra, 2 p.m.; vs. Fairfield, 6:30 p.m., Pizzitola Center W. TRACK: at NCAA Championships (Fayetteville, Ark.) W. WATER POLO: at Hartwick SATURDAY, MARCH 11 BASEBALL: at Vanderbilt GYMNASTICS: at Penn W. HOCKEY: vs. Princeton (ECACHL Final Four) M. LACROSSE: vs. Bellarmine, 3 p.m., Turf

Field W. LACROSSE: vs. Maryland, 12 p.m., Turf Field SOFTBALL: vs. George Mason; vs. Niagara (Virginia Beach Tournament) M. SQUASH: at ISA Individuals (Amherst, Mass.)

W. SQUASH: at WISA Individuals (Amherst, Mass.)

M. & W. SWIMMING: NCAA Zone A Diving Championship (at Annapolis, Md.) W. TRACK: at NCAA Championships (Fayetteville, Ark.) W. WATER POLO: vs. Utica; vs. Queens, (at Hartwick) SUNDAY, MARCH 12 BASEBALL: at Vanderbilt W. BASKETBALL: vs. Princeton (Ivy Championship — if necessary) EQUESTRIAN: at Windswept Farms GYMNASTICS: at West Chester W. HOCKEY: vs. Harvard/St. Lawrence, (ECACHL Championship — if necessary) SOFTBALL: vs. Delaware; vs. James Madison (Virginia Beach Tournament)

the eight-team national tournament without winning the conference champion’s bid.

The basketball team, currently in Connecticut preparing for tonight’s playoff game with Dartmouth, already has a share of the Ivy League title.

Some may consider them unlucky for losing the Tuesdaynight coin flip that gave Princeton a bye in the three-team playoff. But it’s also a blessing: if the Bears can beat both teams, nobody can say they see SUGAR, page 8

Hayes ’06 named Ivy League Player of the Year As it competes for an NCAA Tournament bid this weekend, the women’s basketball team will possess one title that neither Dartmouth nor Princeton can claim: that of Ivy League Player of the Year.

Sarah Hayes ’06 won the award Thursday, becoming the fourth women’s basketball player in Brown history to be so honored by the league. She is the first Bears player to earn the award since Martina Jerant ’95 in 1993. Hayes was also one of three unanimous selections to the All-Ivy first team; this year is her second consecutive year to garner that distinction.

“It is definitely an honor,” Hayes said. “It’s something you don’t expect to get (before the season), you are just focused on getting that Ivy championship. It is nice to get recognized, though.”

Hayes ranked at or near the top of most statistical categories in the Ivy League this season. She led the Bears with 15.8 points per game, second in the Ivies. She also led the league in steals (2.63 per game), finished fifth in rebounding (7.1 per game) and third in field-goal see BRIEFS, page 7

Brown Athlete of the Week: grappler Michael Savino ’06

BY JILANE RODGERS ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

Women’s winter teams continue success set by men’s soccer, football in fall

Hayes ’06 Ivy POY, first team All-Ivy

Wrestling co-captain Michael Savino ’06 earned a wild-card bid to Nationals after his fourthplace performance this weekend at the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association Championships, hosted by Lehigh University. His effort led the Bears to a ninth-place finish. The grappler will finish out his Brown career next weekend in Oklahoma City at the NCAA Division I Championships.

Herald: Was making Nationals a goal for you throughout the season or more of a dream come true?

Savino: This year, it was my goal definitely to make it to Nationals as a senior. Coming from such a hard conference, it has always been hard to

make it out … It’s been something I’ve wanted to do since I’ve come to Brown.

What is your goal at the tournament?

I want to go out, win some matches and place. Of course, the overall goal is All American, which is top eight. There are 30 guys in my weight class.

I’ll be around 25th once the seeding comes out, but I’ve wrestled five or six guys who are in the top 20 right now, so we’re all right there. It’s about who comes out, shows up and has a great day.

Apparently you had one of those great days at the EIWA Championships.

For me that’s what it was about against Lehigh. I’ve wrestled see SAVINO, page 8

No conference tournament in Ivy League is not fair to student-athletes After our victory against the University of Pennsylvania women’s basketball team last Saturday, I thought I would feel pure elation and joy that we had clinched an Ivy League championAMY EHRHART ship in my AIRIN’ IT OUT first year on the team. Undoubtedly, I experienced both feelings the next three hours as we made our way

back to Providence. But for the last two hours of the bus ride, there was an unsettling feeling of something left unfinished.

I owe part of this feeling to the fact we didn’t put Princeton away the night before to secure our spot as outright Ivy champs.

However, that game is over and done with and we get another chance to punish them properly this weekend. Most of the

feeling, I concluded, came from my confusion about our league’s isolation.

Every college in the nation is wrapping up a great week of basketball because of the traditional end-of-the-season conference tournament. It is the time of year every team, coach, fan, mascot and announcer looks forward see LEAGUE, page 6