Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Page 1

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2006

Volume CXLI, No. 56

www.browndailyherald.com

An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891 DON’T CRY FOR ME, BROWN U. CHORUS Brown’s student chorus is taking its act to Argentina for its first-ever performances in Latin America CAMPUS NEWS 5

NO NEED TO FEAR, UNDERDOG IS HERE Thanks to a new tax credit, several films have recently been shot in the Ocean State, including Disney’s “Underdog” METRO 3

KING OF THE LINKS Larry Haertel ’08 took the Ivy League individual crown to lead m. golf to a thirdplace finish SPORTS 12

TODAY

TOMORROW

few showers 64 / 37

sunny 58 / 41

Minding the bookstore’s books

Spring Weekend alcohol and drug calls double BY ROSS FRAZIER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Over Spring Weekend, Brown Emergency Medical Services received 29 calls related to alcohol and substance abuse — more than double last year’s figure. Still, University officials and students involved in planning the weekend said concerted efforts to more effectively manage events kept the traditionally rambunctious Spring Weekend seemingly tame. Numbers released by Health Services late Monday show a 55 percent increase in total calls to EMS from last year’s Spring Weekend. EMS received a total of 41 calls over the weekend, and 17 students were taken to area hospitals. “I would say this was not a particularly abnormal Spring Weekend,” said Anne Barylich, supervisor for EMS, who was interviewed before Health Services released its statistics late Monday afternoon. Barylich said the University’s decision to hire a second ambulance alleviated the need to send some calls to Providence emergency officials. Other EMS volunteers on duty said the week-

The current relationship between the Brown Bookstore and the University — and how it might change with outsourcing BY ALISSA CERNY STAFF WRITER

Jean Yves Chainon / Herald

Brown EMS received more than double the calls related to alcohol and substance abuse over this year’s Spring Weekend compared to last year’s. end did not seem to get out of control, though they believe they received more calls Friday night than on Saturday night. Though private security firms have staffed Brown Concert Agency shows in past years, the University hired extra security staff for Saturday night’s Rage on Wriston as well as other events. There were also more student volunteers,

a greater administrative presence on campus and an additional ambulance for Brown’s use. Those changes were recommended by the Ad Hoc Committee to Review Social Events Policy and Procedures, which was created to review the University’s social events and alcohol policies in the wake of last fall’s Sex see SPRING WKND, page 7

A picture of activism at Brown As anti-war movement lags, community members discuss causes BY CHLOE LUTTS SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Though student activists may describe the campus climate as less lively than the University’s activist-friendly reputation led them to exFEATURE pect, recent protests suggest Brown students are willing to stand in the cold for what they believe in. Back in December, six students cared enough about workers’ rights to get arrested for blocking traffic on a bridge during a protest. In February, 20 students attended a downtown rally to support aid for the homeless. On the Main Green two weeks ago, a small but loud 10-person protest against University apparel made in sweatshops drew curiosity and some mockery from onlookers enjoying the sunshine. Nearby, students sold bus tickets to a Sudan divestment rally in Washington, D.C. But while roughly 50 anti-war protesters gathered outside Meehan Auditorium before a recent speech by Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., Brown students were a minority of the individuals shouting slogans and waving signs bearing anti-war messages. As Brown students express interest in other causes, has the war in Iraq faded from the on-campus political consciousness? Shock, awe and discouragement Elizabeth Sperber ’06 has been involved in anti-war activism throughout her time at Brown. As a first-year, she belonged to the anti-war group Not Another Victim Anywhere, founded in reaction to the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. The group shrank as the “situation got more bleak” over the years, Sperber said. As debates in Congress about the war

in Iraq heated up, Sperber couldn’t find a campus group dedicated to action against the impending war. In 2002, she founded Students Against the War in Iraq, a broad coalition that soon encompassed the Brown Democrats, the International Socialist Organization and NAVA, among other groups. SAWI sponsored a well-attended rally the day after war was declared, but its momentum, too, declined as the war continued. A national “move to electoral politics” in anticipation of the presidential election crowded out grassroots activity in 2004, Sperber said. Last semester, she co-founded Operation Iraqi Freedom to fill the void left by SAWI. Even as national opposition to the war has risen, attendance at OIF meetings has dropped over the academic year to less than a dozen people. “You don’t see the anti-war majority opinion expressed directly through antiwar activism on this campus. If you did we would be out there on the (Main Green) rallying right now,” she said. Anti-war activist and Professor of English William Keach said the movement was ahead of the “shock and awe” bombing campaign in the spring of 2003. But as the war dragged on, he added, a “predictable” feeling of defeatism “knocked the wind out of the anti-war movement.” One core member of OIF, Kelly Nichols ’09, said the absence of an anti-war group when she arrived at Brown last fall surprised and disappointed her. She agrees with others that the campus is overwhelmingly liberal but not especially radical, adding that students “are tired of the same old rhetoric.” “There needs to be more done,” Nichols said. “What, I’m not sure. (Just) protesting is not doing anything.”

Editorial: 401.351.3372 Business: 401.351.3260

Casualty to apathy Although many Brown students may not focus heavily on the anti-war movement, do they care about other issues, or have students become more apathetic in general? Yesenia Barragan ’08, a veteran of several activist groups, argues that Brown students have actually become more selfish. see ACTIVISM, page 8

Whether or not University officials decide to outsource the Brown Bookstore to an external vendor, they do believe it is possible to increase the store’s profitability. Administrators will, however, also consider other goals before making a final decision, including maintaining a “favorable textbook policy” and ensuring benefits for employees, according to Walter Hunter, vice president for administration. “The University will set the pricing and the service level. We will have our own goals and ensure, regardless of the model we select, that these objectives are met as a matter of policy or contract,” Hunter said. The March report of the Bookstore Review Committee listed among its goals maintaining the current level of financial support the University currently receives from the bookstore. “We believe we can improve the financial contribution of the bookstore to the University. Our main goal is to improve the store and the service — increasing the financial gains was never the overriding factor behind our considerations,” Hunter said. The bookstore’s existing model The bookstore is currently an auxiliary department of the University, much like Dining Services and the Parking and Transportation offices, Hunter said. The bookstore’s contribution to the University comes from three main sources: adminsee BOOKSTORE, page 7

Alcohol report will recommend policy changes this semester BY AIDAN LEVY STAFF WRITER

As part of an initiative to curb alcohol and drug abuse on campus, the Campus Life Advisory Board Subcommittee on Alcohol and Other Drugs is expected to release a report by the end of the academic year making recommendations for policy changes. “A shift in culture at Brown is what we need to all be considering,” said Nancy Barnett, chair of the SAOD and professor of psychiatry and human behavior. “Let’s provide alternatives, prevention programs, ways to keep alcohol from being the center of culture at Brown.” Recommendations could include increased training and a higher minimum age for peer counselors and extending alcohol abuse prevention programs for first-years beyond orientation, Barnett said. Other measures being considered include policies to discourage pre-gaming and drinking games, encouraging local establishments to check identifi-

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

cation more thoroughly and expanding the range of alcohol-free activities on campus, she said. The SAOD will make its recommendations to the Campus Life Advisory Board and Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services David Greene, and the report will then be made public. The subcommittee is composed of 15 members, including administrators, faculty and students. It was formed in Spring 2005 to address concerns about drug use, but high levels of alcohol abuse this year heightened administrators’ concerns and brought the issue into the spotlight, Barnett said. Barnett noted the unusually large number of students referred to Emergency Medical Services at the Sex Power God party last November as well as the rising rate of drug- and alcohol-related EMS responses this academic year. So far this year, there have been 172 EMS responses to drug- and alcohol-resee ALCOHOL, page 8 News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com


THIS MORNING THE BROWN DAILY HERALD · TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2006 · PAGE 2 Jero Matt Vascellaro

TO D AY ’ S E V E N TS LATIN AMERICAN AMBASSADORS LECTURE 12 p.m., (List Art 120) — Ambassadors to Colombia, Guatemala, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic will speak about relations between the United States and Latin America.

“RAISING A NEW WORKPLACE” 4 p.m., (Alumnae Hall) — Deborah Epstein Henry, president of Flex-Time Lawyers, will speak on maintaining a balanced work schedule. “GETTING WHAT YOU WANT OUT OF SEX: DO WHAT YOU DESIRE, NOT WHAT YOU’RE JUST OK WITH” 8 p.m., (MacMillan 117) — Alexis Saccoman ’04 will present his research on assuring assent and the seven stages of sexual desire.

CAREER OPTIONS IN THE ART AND DESIGN WORLD 12 p.m., (Pembroke Hall) — Learn about job opportunities within the world of art and design.

MENU SHARPE REFECTORY

Chocolate Covered Cotton Mark Brinker

Deo Daniel Perez

VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALL

LUNCH — Fried Fish Sandwich with Tartar Sauce, Parslied Rice, Marinated Artichoke Veggie Melange, Pancakes, French Toast, Paprika Potatoes, Grilled Sausage Patties, Hard Boiled Eggs, Chocolate Cake with White Frosting, Cherry Tarts with Bavarian Cream

LUNCH — Vegetarian Spinach and Mushroom Soup, Chicken and Rice Soup, Buffalo Wings with Bleu Cheese Dressing, Zucchini Parmesan Sandwich, Stewed Tomatoes, Cherry Tarts with Bavarian Cream

DINNER — Beef Stir Fry, Sticky Rice, Ginger Sugar Snap Peas and Carrots, Whole Beets, Honey Batter Bread, Ice Cream Sundae Bar

DINNER — Vegetarian Spinach and Mushroom Soup, Chicken and Rice Soup, Baked Parmesan Chicken, Vegan BBQ Tempeh, Red Potatoes with Fresh Dill, Whole Green Beans, Sliced Beets, Honey Batter Bread, Chocolate Cake with White Frosting

Silentpenny Soundbite Brian Elig

RELEASE DATE– Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Los Angeles Times Puzzle CR O S Daily S W Crossword ORD Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

ACROSS 1 Polish capital 7 Hosp. fluid conduits 10 Frog’s cousin 14 Grads 15 Forty winks 16 Quechua speaker 17 Carol Channing musical 19 Rounded hammer part 20 Binary digit 21 Bangkok tongue 22 One whose stationery has “esq.” on it 23 Ref. tomes 25 Buffalo Bob’s buddy 29 Augustus’ art 31 Lexington or Park 32 Actress MacDowell 35 Pola of “Gypsy Blood” 38 Extras on TV’s “House” 39 Song on the Beatles album “Revolver” 42 Org. that sticks to its guns? 43 Cuts calories 44 Squeezes (past) 45 Dines at home 47 Violin closing? 48 Words from Bugs 52 Seductress 56 Speed meas., in Sussex 57 Former “West Wing” actor Rob 58 Cutesy-__ 59 For whom the bell tolls 61 Forum salute 64 Marine recruit 65 Wire measure 66 Under the weather 67 Trig function 68 Barnyard home 69 Proper and then some DOWN 1 Leaping mackerel 2 Coeur d’__, Idaho

3 Having parallel lines, as paper 4 Tee sizes, initially 5 Year in Mexico 6 A, B, C and D, e.g. 7 Oft-maligned relative 8 Having legal force 9 Cold war figure 10 Proceed quietly 11 Small semi 12 Super serve 13 Actor Aykroyd 18 “Just as I thought!” 22 Counsels 24 Above-named 26 Tall tale 27 Irene of “I Remember Mama” 28 Consenting words 30 Like an Irish terrier, colorwise 32 He ran with Nixon 33 Grammy winner Jones

34 Imitate satirically 35 Comedian Louis 36 NY clock setting 37 Gloomy fellow 40 Japanese aborigine 41 RCA product 46 City on Florida’s W. coast 47 Antarctic sight 49 Braid 50 Dainty table decoration

51 Barn bird 53 Orbital point 54 Sounds of suffering 55 Bess’s man 59 The “Superstation” 60 __ polloi 61 Bounty initials 62 Football filler 63 Constitution State student

Freeze-Dried Puppies Cara FitzGibbon

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Mission Delicious Rebecca Case

xwordeditor@aol.com

4/25/06

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Editorial Phone: 401.351.3372

The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is published Monday through Friday dur-

Business Phone: 401.351.3260

ing the academic year, excluding vacations, once during Commencement, once

Robbie Corey-Boulet, President

please send corrections to P.O. Box 2538, Providence, RI 02906. Periodicals postage

during Orientation and once in July by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. POSTMASTER

Justin Elliott, Vice President Ryan Shewcraft, Treasurer David Ranken, Secretary By Joy C. Frank (c)2006 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

4/25/06

paid at Providence, R.I. Offices are located at 195 Angell St., Providence, R.I. E-mail herald@browndailyherald.com. World Wide Web: http://www.browndailyherald.com. Subscription prices: $179 one year daily, $139 one semester daily. Copyright 2006 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.


METRO

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD · TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2006 · PAGE 3

Hollywood comes to Rhode Island Tax credits, “open arms” welcome film crews to Ocean State dence, finished filming its test episode early this month. Filming took place in private homes, City Hall, the State House and on Thayer Street, according to McCormack. McCormack said most film productions only shoot small scenic clips in New England, but with the new tax incentives, more productions are being filmed in Rhode Island.

Thi Ho / Herald

“Underdog,” a film being shot in Providence, is set in the fictional “Capitol City.” BY THI HO STAFF WRITER

A host of television and film productions have come to Rhode Island recently, the result of legislation passed last year by the General Assembly that gives film companies tax credits of up to 25 percent against the business corporate tax. The law, aimed to attract filmmakers, allows Rhode Island to compete against states with similar tax incentives, like New York and Louisiana. According to Steven Feinberg, director of the state’s Film and Television Office, the tax credits also make Rhode Island competitive with foreign countries like Canada and Luxembourg. Brown is getting in on the action as well, according to Lynne McCormack, director of the Providence arts, culture and tourism department, who said the University’s appearance in recent episodes of “The OC” will bolster Providence’s appeal. “It’ll make Brown look beautiful and perhaps draw visitors to Providence,” she said. “Waterfront,” a CBS pilot set in Provi-

There’s no need to fear, Underdog is here The multimillion-dollar Disney movie “Underdog” will be filmed from start to finish in Rhode Island. “Underdog,” which began shooting this month, is a live-action version of the 1960s cartoon about a dog named Shoeshine who gains super powers. Filming locations include the Cranston Street Armory, Hope High School and downtown Providence. Todd Arnow, the movie’s executive producer, said the film company chose to

shoot in Providence because of the presence of a state capitol building, a feature integral to a movie set in “Capitol City.” “Providence was competing with Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver for an urban feel with a capitol building,” Arnow said. He added that the state offered free access to the armory and the State House, sweetening the deal and encouraging the company to choose Providence over cities in Canada and Belgium. He said the tax incentives made it even more “enticing” to film here. “There has been a problem in Hollywood of what we call ‘runaway productions’ in foreign countries because of tax incentives,” Arnow said, as more and more productions head overseas to be filmed. But because of legislation like the Rhode

Prof. weighs primary challenge to Carcieri ’65 Michaud Ph.D. ’02 cites governor’s “aggressive” dissuasion tactics BY CAROLINE SILVERMAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Dennis Michaud Ph.D. ’02, adjunct assistant professor of economics, is considering a challenge to Gov. Don Carcieri ’65 in the Republican gubernatorial primary this fall, but he said Carcieri’s “very aggressive” response may convince him “it’s not worth it.” Michaud, a moderate Republican, is currently a business consultant specializing in strategy and corporate governance. He has also worked for two in-

see FILMING, page 4

see MICHAUD, page 4

Thayer Street to be revitalized this summer BY JENNIFER PARK CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Thayer Street will get a makeover this summer as part of the Thayer Street Improvement District’s ongoing efforts. Improvements will include ornamental concrete banding on crosswalks, new streetlamps and trees and sidewalk furniture such as benches, kiosks and garbage cans, according to Abigail Rider, director of real estate and administrative services for the University. The TSID plans to work on

www.browndailyherald.com

the oasis in your desert.

the “hardscape” this summer, which will include construction on the sidewalks of the street. “Softscape” improvements, such as tree planting, will take place in the spring of next year, she added, noting the completion date is uncertain due to the variable nature of construction projects. The improvements to the street are the first actions for the TSID, which was approved by the City Council in January. The organization “suffered from inertia” because it lacked an organizational structure, Rider said. In the next few weeks, the

organization will hold a meeting to select a nine-member board, and further discussion on proposed improvements will take place, said Michael Chapman, vice president for public affairs and University relations. Another meeting involving Thayer Street merchants is also scheduled to take place sometime in the next few weeks, said Darrell Brown, director of state and community relations at Brown. The University contributed see THAYER, page 4

Jean Yves Chainon / Herald

The Thayer Street Improvement District will put ornamental banding on sidewalks as part of improvements this summer.


PAGE 4 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2006

Filming continued from page 3 Island tax credits, he said, “movies that went overseas are staying in the U.S.” Arnow said “Underdog” will bring $40 million into the Rhode Island economy. According to Feinberg, the state has already netted $100 million from film productions since the Film and Television Office was established two years ago. Feinberg said increased use of local restaurants and hotels by film production crews benefits the state economy. He also said new jobs are created. “People have moved to Rhode Island from Massachusetts, California, New York. That all translates to jobs,” Feinberg said. Arnow said about half of the crew for “Underdog” hails from New England. He added that each new film venture in Rhode Island improves the prospects for the local film industry.

“When the next film comes in, the locals will already have experience,” he said. But there’s one thing the state can’t control — the unpredictable New England weather, which Arnow said has discouraged some filming crews. “The weather is tough to deal with. The light is always changing from cloudy to sunny. When you shoot in California, the weather is really consistent,” Arnow said. But Arnow said the city has much to offer and has greeted the production crew with “open arms.” Filming in New England is sometimes physically easier for crews than in other locales, according to Scott Levine, publicist for “Underdog.” “Because Providence downtown is not very dense, filming in the streets does not create a bottleneck in traffic as in New York,” he said. Despite the weather, Arnow said his experience filming in Providence has gone well so far. “I really like it here,” Arnow said. “I see more positives than negatives.”

Michaud continued from page 3 ternational money center banks and was involved in the start-up of six medium-sized companies. Michaud said he might ultimately decide to challenge Carcieri because he “could not stomach the thought of him being in there another four years.” A challenge to Carcieri would “make traction” and could defeat him, Michaud said. But he has not yet decided whether to run and will make his choice in the next few weeks, he added. “I think Governor Carcieri is a fine and decent man, but he is completely unqualified to be governor, and he has learned absolutely nothing in the last three years,” Michaud said. “I doubt anything will be different in a second term.” Carcieri’s office and campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Michaud cited poor economic pol-

Thayer continued from page 3 $350,000 to the TSID, and the city added $400,000. A new tax to be paid by Thayer Street property owners has been authorized by the City Council. Thayer Street property owners have noticed a “decline in the street” in recent years, including the increasing number of vacancies and rapid turnover of tenants, Rider said. She added that one cause of these trends might

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.

icy and what he described as an unwillingness to deal with the Democrats who dominate the State House as some of Carcieri’s major shortcomings. Both failings are present in the ongoing battle — which he described as an “open war” — over the state budget, he said, which is facing a deficit of $300 million. “Honestly, in all my years — in the private sector for 25 years and this is my fourth year on the Brown faculty — I’ve never seen such a mess,” he said. Michaud cited his knowledge of “bargaining and negotiating” as one of his strengths. He is currently writing a book on that subject that he hopes to finish this summer. Michaud also criticized Carcieri for failing to create new well-paying jobs and for treating Rhode Island’s economy as a suburb of Boston, an approach that works to the Ocean State’s detriment. “I don’t think that any state should surrender its economic policy to another state,” he said.

Michaud said Carcieri has been “very aggressive” in trying to forestall any primary challenge. There have been “a lot of people attacking me, and I haven’t even made a decision,” he said, making his decision more difficult. Michaud said Carcieri prematurely “floated the story” that Michaud would run in order to disrupt his planning. “It’s sad,” Michaud said. “At some point, you have to weigh the benefits to the personal costs. … You become so concerned for your family’s wellbeing that it makes you think twice.” Darrell West, professor of political science and director of the Taubman Center for Public Policy, said he did not “see the rationale for (Michaud’s) candidacy.” “Michaud’s a novice candidate,” West said. “I don’t see anybody beating (Carcieri) in the primary.” Michaud, however, does not think Carcieri is a shoo-in. Carcieri “has a problem and he knows it,” he said.

have been the construction of Providence Place Mall, which diverted customers away from independent retailers on the street. Some Thayer Street business owners said they look forward to the upcoming improvements. Andy Mitrelis, the owner of Thayer Street restaurants Paragon/Viva and Andreas and coowner of the newly opened sports bar Spats, said he believes the changes will “improve the image of Thayer Street immensely.” Jagdish Sachdev, the owner of Spectrum India, a Thayer Street boutique, said the improvements

will help everybody on the street. “The more attractive it is, the more it will draw people to the street,” he said. Sachdev said the TSID has “a pretty good plan developed,” adding he believes the renovations will definitely improve the street. “People will enjoy walking on the street, it will become a destination, and people will come to just stroll and window shop,” he said. Gray Horan, co-owner of Beadworks, said the renovations are “a step in the right direction.” “Thayer Street is such an important street in Providence to a number of different institutions, and it’s nice that a lot of attention is being placed on the look of the street,” she added. “The aesthetic look and feel of a shopping environment is very important.” But Ann Dusseauot, owner of Pie in the Sky, offered a more skeptical take on the improvements, saying such changes have been discussed for years but that “nothing ever developed.” “I’ll believe it when I see it,” she added. If improvements are made, Dusseauot said more street illumination would help with safety and vandalism issues on the street. She called graffiti a “constant” problem on the street, adding she has had graffiti scratched into her store’s window. Some merchants said they fear the street is becoming less unique. Sachdev supports the renovations, but he expressed concerns that the street is “becoming more and more food, more and more restaurants,” a trend that does not represent the “best use of the street.” “There should be more boutiques and specialty stores on the street,” he said. Al Read, owner of Nice Slice Pizzeria, agreed. “I came here to be a part of a multicultural situation that seems to be dwindling,” he said. He added that he believes the street is becoming “homogenized” and that “anything with personality ends up leaving.” Rider said there are “many wonderful restaurants on Thayer Street” and stressed the importance of having a diverse pool of businesses in the area in order to preserve its “funky character.”


CAMPUS NEWS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD · TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2006 · PAGE 5

Signing up down College Hill Brown students navigate RISD’s registration process BY NATHALIE PIERREPONT CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Though registering to take courses at the Rhode Island School of Design can prove to be a complicated process for Brown students, several interviewed by The Herald said they have been able to enroll in RISD courses without much difficulty. Still, students said they have encountered several problems, including differences between the two schools’ schedules, space limitations for RISD courses and some trouble viewing RISD’s offerings online. The cooperative arrangement between the University and RISD allows students to take courses at RISD only after obtaining written permission from the RISD professor and the registrars at both schools. The longstanding cooperative arrangement is intended to pro-

vide Brown students with “access to classes we can’t offer or don’t offer,” said Lisa Mather, associate registrar for registration services at Brown. Students must pick up a cross-registration form from the Office of the Registrar, select a course from the RISD course catalogue and then select a grade option. After attending the first class meeting, students must get written permission from the RISD instructor and the registrar at RISD before returning to the registrar’s office at Brown. Students then must consult a registrar’s office employee to determine if the course requires a petition to the Committee on Academic Standing in order to ensure that credit will be granted. Because of RISD’s winter session — which began on Jan. 2 this year and lasted into February — registration calendars at

Brown and RISD do not coincide for second semester. The second semester at RISD begins one month after Brown’s second semester. The incongruent academic calendars cause crossregistration numbers to drop for the spring semester, according to Steve Bailey, a recorder in RISD’s registrar’s office. Joanna Benitez ’08, a visual art concentrator, said she knew about Brown-RISD cross-registration before coming to Brown and “assumed the schools would relate to each other more than they do.” Still, “The notion that it’s impossible to take classes at RISD as a Brown student is a myth. You just need to go figure it out,” said Benitez, who took a painting course in RISD’s Department of Illustration last spring. She said many visual art concensee RISD, page 6

New Plays Festival to showcase work of three MFA candidates over the weekend BY KATE GOLDBERG CONTRIBUTING WRITER

An exploration of social restrictions — highlighting the disparity societal rules create PREVIEW between who one is and who one wants to be — is central to three plays written by graduate students appearing in the annual New Plays Festival, which runs Wednesday through Sunday at the McCormack Family Theater. The playwrights — Andrew Bragen, Molly Rice and Samuel Marks — are second-year Master of Fine Arts candidates in playwriting in the literary arts graduate program. They developed their work under Pulitzer Prizewinning Professor of English Paula Vogel. Bragen’s “Food Porn,” directed by George Broadwater GS, is

set in Columbus, Ohio, and features an aspiring gourmet chef who prepares a small dinner party at home for five guests. One of these guests is her younger brother, who has just returned from fighting in Iraq. Bragen said all five characters’ relationships with food are unique and complex and that he used food as “a way into dealing with familial relationships.” The main character, for example, is meant to be “a divided person, act(ing) as if everything is always OK, striving to be something else,” Bragen said. “She has a complicated relationship to food, having grown up eating processed foods and is now trying to change,” he explained. Her somewhat dishonest relationship with food also shows up in her relationships with others, particularly in the denial of the

problems that exist between her and her husband, Bragen said. The play mixes references to gourmet food and high-end cuisee NEW PLAYS, page 6

Chorus to embark on first Latin American tour BY KAM SRIPADA STAFF WRITER

On May 30, the Brown University Chorus will fly to Argentina for its first-ever performances in Latin America. The chorus will spend two weeks there performing in the Argentine cities of Mendoza, Córdoba, Buenos Aires and Iguassu as well as two cities in Uruguay, performing with university and other local groups. “We had more offers for concerts than we could fit into the tour,” said Clara Schuhmacher ’06, the tour manager. Such high demand is due in part to the “huge choral tradition in Latin America,” she said. Erin Lewis ’06, president of the chorus, said she looks forward to the range of venues, which include performances at the prestigious Teatro Roma in Buenos Aires and the Compañía de Jesús cathedral in Córdoba’s historic Manzana Jesuítica district. The trip’s 40 participants include undergraduate and graduate students, alums, one professor and Frederick Jodry, director of the chorus and lecturer in the Department of Music. This “high turnout” represents around 70 percent of the full chorus, Schuhmacher said.

In determining the repertoire for the tour, the chorus made selections from many different genres: music by Argentine and Russian composers, songs with lyrics in Latin, folk songs from various countries and even the poetry of Federico García Lorca put to music. The chorus performed some of the music in concerts last fall and is learning some of the pieces now for the first time. “We’ve pulled from different countries and added in new songs,” Lewis said. “We’ll have enough so that we can vary the performances if we’re performing twice in the same city.” Though the chorus generally takes tours to foreign countries every three years, chorus members decided to take the Latin American tour after just a two-year hiatus. Most recently, in 2004, the chorus spent two weeks touring Russia and Finland. Over the past 30 years, the chorus has traveled to Italy, Spain, Greece, Israel, Egypt, Japan, China, India and other countries. “We definitely don’t go to the typical tour countries,” Schuhmacher said. “There’s somesee CHORUS, page 6


PAGE 6 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2006

New Plays continued from page 5 sine with the Iraq war and global politics, creating a bouillabaisse of questions about American culture, he said. Mixing the idea of food with war may seem to be a farfetched connection, but this perceived disconnect is something Bragen attempted to highlight in his play. “I looked at pictures in Gourmet magazine and processed food, all designed with this pornographic feel,” he said, which served as the inspiration for the play’s name. The work “comes out of an interest with this and the literal effect of disconnect” from looking at “pictures of men at war and soldiers dying,” he said. In the play, consumption is explored both on a personal level through the struggles of the play’s individual characters and on a global level in the context of the current war in Iraq. The discussion of consumption is an attempt to illuminate the link between industrial production and global affairs, he said. “Food Porn” will appear on Wednesday at 8 p.m. and again on Saturday at 8 p.m. Rice’s “Don’t Stop,” directed by Birgitta Victorson GS, will be performed Thursday evening at 8 p.m. and again on Sunday at 3 p.m. The play combines elements of Spain’s Golden Age with female sexuality to tell a story about a high school girl embodying the sexuality of Don Juan, the well-known seducer in Spanish literature, Rice said. “Don’t Stop” is about “how people love and how we find out what turns us on and how that changes the shape of our identity,” Rice explained. “I was curious about the two opposing forces of drive and destruction,” she said.

This dichotomy is epitomized by the play’s main character, who possesses tendencies of both extreme sexual desire and violence, she said. While the play occurs in a contemporary setting, it reflects upon the tensions of 17th-century Spain, including the presence of a number of genderbased laws, such as the segregation of men and women at the theatre. In addition to the allusion to Don Juan, the play utilizes aspects of Spain’s Golden Age literature and drama, for example, in the layering of narrative that extends beyond the actions on stage, she said. In contrast to 17th-century Spain’s reputation for silencing the sexual urges of women, Rice’s play is “NC-17 graphic,” she said. It includes, for example, a monologue about anal sex. “The play is a lot of different pieces,” Rice said. It is “like a collage with narrative” that explores gender, sexual desire and love. Marks’ “The Joke” is about two stand-up comedians and explores how men compete for success and how they compete over women, Marks explained. The two comedians communicate only through their jokes throughout the play, Marks said. “It works on two levels,” Marks explained, referring not only to the dialogue but the play’s format and setting. As the play progresses, so does the relationship between the characters, Marks said. The setting begins as two distinct locations — onstage and offstage — but “then becomes increasingly the same area with little differentiation,” Marks said. This convergence is intended to reflect the blurring of the line between the characters’ work lives and relationship with one another. “The Joke” will be shown Friday night at 8 p.m. and again on Saturday at 2 p.m.

RISD continued from page 5 trators at Brown look into taking RISD courses at sometime during their Brown career. But Benitez said it is more beneficial to meet with a department head or faculty member to discuss course registration plans rather than blindly navigating the administrative system. Herald Contributing Writer Lydia Gidwitz ’07 said she looked into taking courses at RISD because there were not a lot of art history seminar options at Brown this semester. Gidwitz said the cross-registration process involves “a lot of back-andforth” between RISD and Brown, though she has been happy with her overall experience. Gidwitz, a history of art and architecture concentrator who is currently taking a course on art historiography at RISD, said she faced difficulty contacting RISD professors and students for course suggestions during RISD’s winter session. Also, she found navigating RISD’s course Web site difficult and opted to instead use the paper version of course listings in RISD’s registrar’s office.

Chorus continued from page 5 thing about going to places off the beaten path, which has characterized past tours.” To begin the process of selecting a location for the trip, Jodry sent an e-mail to the singers over the summer seeking suggestions. Eventually, the chorus decided between Turkey and Argentina; the latter seemed “easier to pull off,” according to Schuhmacher. “A good number of people (in the chorus) speak Spanish to some degree,” said Schuhmach-

Unlike Gidwitz, Ji-Hee Shin ’09, who took a RISD course last semester, found the registration process straightforward. She searched RISD schedules and courses on the school’s registration Web site, contacted the professors of the courses she was considering taking and then visited several classes before settling on a course examining the history of dress. RISD courses often have space limitations, so it may be difficult for students looking to get into a particular class to register without help from a faculty member, said Gracie Devito ’07, who has taken a RISD painting course. Offerings at Brown and RISD The RISD course offerings are “more or less standard,” Benitez said, but there are “unsurprisingly more options than at Brown.” She explained that RISD courses are divided into ones that are “traditional and structured and general, such as stock drawing or any standard painting class” and ones that are “very specific and sometimes eccentric electives” — what Gidwitz referred to as “niche classes.” Benitez did offer some criticism of this organization, saying, “I wonder if they could carve out

er, “as opposed to when we went to Russia,” where signs written in Cyrillic befuddled nearly all of the trip participants. This year, many group members are taking mini Spanish classes with attention given to learning how to avoid “cultural faux pas,” Lewis said. Due to the foreign locations chosen for the tours, singers “often can’t communicate with the people with whom they’re singing or for whom they’re singing, but there is this other kind of connection,” Schuhmacher said. At a cost of almost $90,000, the trip to Argentina required many hours of fundraising to ensure that “everyone who wants to go can afford to go,” Schuhm-

a more open middle ground.” Benitez thought a RISD painting course would be more instructive than one of Brown’s, providing her with more practice and “painting from life.” In RISD’s painting courses, students are asked to paint a model or a still life, whereas at Brown, students are usually given a prompt — typically a vague idea — and are expected to use it as a starting point, Devito said. Devito echoed Benitez’s view that RISD courses are more involved and structured. In RISD’s painting courses, students are required to “work all day but then are also assigned homework and critiques,” Devito said. Once enrolled, Shin said she faced some difficulty using RISD’s facilities, particularly when she had to apply for temporary identification to access RISD’s library. Shin had to ask for an extension on her first paper because she did not have access to the necessary resources in library. “It would not have been a problem had I known about it prior to registration,” she said, adding that she was able to use the library for the five subsequent research papers assigned in the class.

acher said. Contributions from trip participants accounted for 70 percent of the total figure, which includes lodging, most meals and some group excursions, she added. “Some (singers) even take on commencement jobs to contribute as much as they can,” Lewis said. An alum phone-a-thon generated another $6,000 for the trip, donated mostly by former members of the chorus, including some who sang during the 1930s when the group was called the Glee Club. The chorus also used proceeds from previous concerts, each of which raises approximately $2,000, depending on the size and timing, according to Schuhmacher. In most cities, the participants will stay in hotels, though they will carry on their tradition of home stays during their time in Córdoba. Schuhmacher said the singers learn much about the place they are touring through their interactions with locals. “We try to set up as many home stays as possible, depending where we are and whom we sing with,” she said. For all trips, the chorus makes sure all its music is memorized and unaccompanied to facilitate impromptu performances, such as breaking into song while waiting in a train station. During such moments, passers-by often approach them to ask “‘Why are you here? Where do you come from?’ They’re really interested in who you are and where you will be having performances,” Lewis said. Some participants are reluctant to give up more than two weeks of their summer for the trip, though many say the tour seems to end as soon as it begins. “At the end of the Russia tour, we couldn’t believe it was over,” especially since the seniors concluded their time with the chorus soon after arriving back in Providence, Lewis said. Going on tour allows the chorus to “become this unit both socially and musically. You start to learn that those things are connected in a way,” she said.


TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2006 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 7

Spring Wknd continued from page 1 Power God party. “Preliminarily, things went very well, especially given the weather,” said Director of Student Activities Ricky Gresh. “From our perspective, using the private security firm went very well,” he added. “I had a great time. I thought this was on the calmer end of the Spring Weekends,” said Greek Council Chair Meghan Gill ’06. “I wonder how much increased staffing and people watching us (factored into it), and how much weather factored into it. Next year, we’ll have a better idea of how to run things even more smoothly. We took a lot of precautions that maybe aren’t necessary.” Nevertheless, several students reported that Zeta Delta Xi, which hosts SpagFest, a large party featuring spaghetti, garlic bread and alcohol, had difficulty with crowd management. Gresh and members of the co-ed fraternity said DPS officers had to help clear out crowds at one point but that the extra staffing helped keep the party under control. “I have a lot of issues with the way SpagFest went off. We made an appeal to the administration to start earlier to avoid some pre-gaming,” said Gill, who is also Zete’s vice president. Gresh said members of Zete had also asked about a different pricing structure to help avoid pre-gaming but the Student Activities Office never received a specific proposal to act on. “We’ll want to revisit some of the policies around SpagFest,” Gill said. Gresh said extra staffing

came in handy at a concert by student groups Friday night in List Art Center because an unexpectedly large crowd came out for the event. “Last year at Rage on Wriston, everybody was holding a red cup and party management wasn’t as strong as it could have been. This year, things were very well-organized and student groups did a good job of keeping their alcohol off of Wriston (Quadrangle) and in their houses,” Gresh said. The Department of Public Safety was unable to release a specific crime log, which it said was not yet prepared, but DPS Manager of Special Services Michelle Nuey wrote in an e-mail to The Herald that crimes over Spring Weekend consisted mainly of ID theft and larcenies from unsecured areas. Gresh said Thursday’s concert, headlined by alt-country band Wilco, sold out, while Saturday’s show with rapper Common, which was moved to Meehan Auditorium due to weather forecasts, sold about 2,500 tickets. Meehan can accommodate well over 3,000 attendees, though capacity varies depending on how an event is set up. He also said BCA tweaked its sound systems to achieve much better acoustics than in previous years. Greek Council, the Office of Student Life, the Student Activities Office and an interdepartmental Spring Weekend committee will meet in the coming days to discuss how to improve logistics and safety for next year, Gresh said. In addition, BCA, which organizes concerts on Spring Weekend, will be holding a public forum to discuss how to better allocate its funds.

Bookstore continued from page 1 istrative fees for the overall University infrastructure, including technology, e-mail systems, other University-wide systems and the bookstore manager’s compensation; building maintenance and utilities, including heat, water and air-conditioning; and rent and real estate taxes, according to Brendan McNally, special assistant to the executive vice president for planning. Each year, after the bookstore has made this contribution and paid for its inventory of books and supplies, there is either a surplus or a deficit. A surplus can be deposited in the bookstore’s reserve account, or bookstore officials can direct the money toward capital improvements. A surplus could also go toward a contribution to the University, McNally said. The bookstore has generated a small surplus during the past few years, he said. Though McNally said many community members believe the bookstore does not generate tax revenue for the city because of the University’s status as a non-profit institution, the University pays real estate, payroll and sales taxes for the bookstore. The only area in which the bookstore’s activities are tax-exempt is the sale of textbooks, McNally said. Contracting with a vendor If administrators decide to outsource the bookstore, the University would still receive a percentage of its total sales. That number would be set during contract negotiations with an external vendor, McNally said. For stores operated by Barnes and Noble College Booksellers, the percentage a school receives is usually based on a sliding scale, so

an increase in profits for the store leads to an increased return for the school, said Stan Frank, marketing manager of Barnes and Noble College Booksellers. “If the University decided to outsource, we would have to decide what is in and what is out, as far as utilities, custodial services and if we wanted them to pay for the real estate taxes,” McNally said. “All of these things would affect what percentage of sales the University received.” The percentage of sales the University received would also depend on the wage and benefit packages for employees and the textbook pricing policy, Hunter said. “For instance, we are looking to maintain our favorable textbook policy and that would affect the percentage the University might receive from a vendor,” Hunter said. A vendor would also evaluate the bookstore’s inventory of textbooks, tradebooks and merchandise and negotiate a price with the University for the goods it deemed marketable. That money would return to the University, Hunter said. A typical contract for outsourcing a bookstore lasts between five and 10 years, though Hunter said University administrators will not sign a contract without provisions for the University to exit the contract before the expiration of its term. Frank added that the length of the contract typically depends on the size of the investment made by Barnes and Noble. “At a very large university like Harvard or Yale where we made a large investment and spent money on renovation, the contract might be 10 years,” he said. Frank said Barnes and Noble College Booksellers has never lost a contract mid-term in 39 years of operation.

Honey Fishman, director of business services at Columbia University, which outsourced its bookstore to Barnes and Noble College Booksellers in the mid-1990s, said she has seen the university benefit financially from its relationship with Barnes and Noble. “They fund a very large part of our student center through the revenue from the store,” said Fishman, who has been with the university for four years. “Sales have increased and the bookstore has become more successful each year I’ve been here.” Fishman continued: “Each time the contract comes up for renewal we re-negotiate the lease, marketing and the décor. But the contract is much more than a revenue stream. Barnes and Noble are truly partners in the university.” Barnes and Noble College Booksellers “always increases the sales in its stores — you can virtually guarantee it,” Frank said, adding that he believes the company successfully caters to student demand. “One thing we do very well is promotion for merchandise,” Frank said. “We have people working to create offers for students that will increase sales based on what students want and what they are buying.” Hunter said University administrators are in no rush to make a final choice regarding outsourcing the bookstore. “We are hoping to make a decision by the end of the semester, but if not, we will wait until the students and faculty return in the fall,” he said. “We are committed to making the decision when students and faculty are present on campus.” Frank said he believes his company “would do a terrific job” if allowed to manage the bookstore. “If the University should ask us for a contract we would be very happy to provide one,” he said.


PAGE 8 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2006

Activism continued from page 1 Barragan said she was surprised by the lack of student alarm in response to the January arming

of Brown’s Department of Public Safety officers, especially in light of the significant resistance to the proposed addition of pluses and minuses to the University’s grading system. “(I was) really shocked about how many people went up in

arms about something that was really selfishly motivated” rather than mobilizing for issues such as immigrants’ rights, she said. Keach agreed that issues beyond the Brown community might not benefit from the high degree of activism regarding issues that hit closer to home. “I wish the Brown anti-war movement were as broad and energized as the Save the Bookstore Coalition,” he said. Senior Lecturer in American Civilization and former Students for a Democratic Society activist Paul Buhle said the prolonged nature of the conflict in Iraq has created “despair, apathy and a deep sense of cynicism,” even after a peak in on-campus activism leading up to the war. It’s not that students don’t care, Buhle said. Instead, they just can’t figure out what actions will make a difference. But Eric Larson GS disagrees that students are more concerned with issues directly affecting them. A member of the Student Labor Alliance engaged in activism at Brown, he sees “considerable support for causes that don’t necessarily relate to campus in any direct way.” He cited the Justice for Janitors campaign and the downtown hotel workers’ strike as examples. Too many movements to choose from On a 28-degree Saturday morning in February, 50 students stood on the steps of Faunce House demanding the University divest from Sudan. Later that afternoon, University Chancellor Stephen Robert ’62 P’91 emerged from University Hall and announced the University’s plans to divest. But despite the protest’s success, Scott Warren ’09 said student turnout at the protest could have been stronger. More students

Alcohol continued from page 1 lated incidents, compared to 143 during the equivalent period of the 2004-2005 academic year — a 20 percent increase, said Richard Lapierre, director of EMS. But Lapierre said he is uncertain whether the increase in calls reflects more binge drinking or simply more students seeking help. “People used to let nature take its course, but now they’re requesting an intervention. I think we’re getting called more for excessive drinking, whereas people were just putting friends to bed before,” Lapierre said. EMS has responded to more drug- and alcohol-related calls this year than in prior years, but the overall number of calls to EMS has risen by a similar rate, Lapierre said, suggesting the increase in calls reflects an increased trust and reliance on EMS, rather than a jump in binge drinking. Barnett intends to at least partially curtail the current laissezfaire policy that places students in unsafe situations by recommending Brown work to limit binge drinking and peer pressure, she said. “The issue of alcohol problems is well known, established and consistent across the country. Brown is no different in that regard,” Barnett said. “But students who choose not to drink are affected negatively by those who do. The sheer volume of

might have cared about the issue if they had realized its importance, he said. The large number of causes worthy of students’ attention — from divestment, to homelessness to marriage equality — may explain the lack of massive protests, Warren said. Without largescale movements, there is “no rallying point with the whole community,” he said. Zachary Townsend ’08, who will compile a history of activism at Brown as part of a summer Royce Fellowship, agreed that the variety of causes demanding attention makes it more difficult to devote a significant amount of energy to any one in particular. “It’s a small group of people spread over more issues,” he added, explaining that he himself is a member of many activist groups and sees “the same 50 people” in all of them. But Warren said some students not involved in student groups might be waiting until after graduation to make a difference. “People feel that college can be a time to cultivate skills, and after college people can use those skills to make a difference in the real world,” he said. Still, he added the world doesn’t go on hold for four years, and neither should students’ engagement with larger issues. “We shouldn’t wait around to learn the politics of homelessness in the classroom” before tackling the problem, he added. Activism then and now Is activism’s diminishing profile at Brown just a reflection of a national trend pervading a younger generation? Robert Self, assistant professor of history, who specializes in American political movements, said much of the activism associ-

ated with the 1960s was studentdriven. Students “pioneered activism” at the forefront of the nationwide anti-war protests and the civil rights movement in the South, he said. Self said large-scale events and ideological differences among generations contributed to the campus foment and student protest of the era. “I don’t think that there is anything comparable to that now,” Self said. “(There) isn’t this sense that there is really a movement.” Regarding the relatively quiet political atmosphere on campuses today, Self said, “I don’t think you can attribute everything to — oh, students don’t care.” “Today’s generation … is more cynical about politics,” Self said. Students in the 1960s “believed they could force the nation to live up to their values.” But some students still do care. “A lot of people feel (activism) is this liberal thing that doesn’t really make a difference — but I think it does, and it can,” Warren said. He added that there is a widely accepted but mistaken perception that “activism is not the best way” to effect change. He said his experience in the divestment movement demonstrates that students standing up for issues that matter to them can potentially influence local and state legislatures. Townsend, who coordinates the anti-human trafficking Polaris Project in Rhode Island, is equally optimistic. Brown students really can effect change, he said, their sense of powerlessness notwithstanding. “Anyone can do it,” he said, adding he believes “you should work to change whatever community you are in.” Townsend said, “Activism isn’t dead, it’s just changed.”

those events has been eyeopening.” Barnett said she would like to put a damper on alcohol usage but is not advocating a policy of prohibition, she said. “My perspective is to focus on harm reduction. It’s not a focus on the drinking per se, but how to avoid bad things happening when you drink,” she said. “We need to have a culture that’s supportive of students who choose not to drink and people who have already identified themselves as having an alcohol problem.” Greene told The Herald he has not yet communicated with the SAOD, but he supports Barnett’s goals. “We need to take a multipronged approach and deal with the environment as a whole, including life in the residential halls and life in the Providence area with easy access to alcohol on College Hill,” Greene said. “There’s no single approach that would make the difference we would want to see on campus. You have to target your efforts in a variety of areas.” Greene said the issue of fake IDs must be addressed, noting local police have cited minors’ access to alcohol as a long-term problem. “In the city of Providence this has been an issue,” he said. William Touret, treasurer of the College Hill Neighborhood Association, said the University’s consistent neutrality on the issue of granting liquor licenses to local establishments represents a hypocritical stance on alcohol use.

“If the Brown administration really cared about controlling or reducing drinking by its students, what it should first do is to try to reduce the increase of bars and restaurants,” he said. The CHNA has asked Brown representatives to oppose additional liquor licenses in the Thayer Street area, but Brown has largely refused to take a position, Touret said. Jesse Maddox ’08, an Undergraduate Council of Students representative and a member of the SAOD, has voiced his concerns at committee meetings that a more stringent policy could force drinking underground and negatively alter the Brown culture, he said. Maddox hopes to prevent “drastic” measures such as a revised peer counselor policy, he said, adding that other members of the SAOD have been receptive to his concerns. “My biggest concern is preserving the culture of ‘nobody tells you what to do or makes you do anything. We’re going to let you make your own decisions, but you have to live with them,’” Maddox said. “Many members of the committee are adults, and their jobs center on improving safety.” On the whole, Maddox said he supports the committee’s recommendations but realizes some students may have to make concessions. “It’s very difficult when you’ve got a social norm where drinking under 21 is allowed, and the law that says it’s not allowed,” Maddox said.


TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2006 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 9

Baseball continued from page 12 bats showed up in the second game, but the Bears struggled in the field, committing six errors. McNamara, who started the game, worked into the eighth inning while striking out five and walking two. He gave up eight runs, six of them unearned. “At least mathematically we are still alive,” said Head Coach Marek Drabinski. “We just didn’t hit all weekend. Bryan Tews was pitching a gem on Saturday. … Mac pitched a gem too but with the game tied 4-4 we made three errors in the eighth inning.” The team that hung 19 runs on the University of Pennsylvania and put up 29 over the course of four games with Princeton and Cornell earlier this year was shackled by Harvard’s staff until Monday afternoon. In that contest, Brown chased starter Mike Duckovich after just two-thirds of an inning and tagged reliever Jason Brown for nine runs in the ninth. However, Drabinski was at a loss to explain where the production had gone during the past two weekends. After taking the opener against Dartmouth last weekend, Brown dropped the next three games by two runs each, scoring only eight runs total. “It is surprising. I’m in a little bit of shock right now to be honest,” Drabinski said. “I thought we’d be able to hit pretty well, especially after hitting well against (Florida State University to open the season). We just haven’t got that big hit or enough hits and that puts a lot of pressure on the pitching staff.” On Monday, Silverstein picked up where Tews and McNamara had left off. He allowed five runs (four earned) in 5 1/3 innings of work but took the loss to fall to 1-3 on the year. Brown jumped out to an early lead in the first game thanks to some varied production. After

Track continued from page 12 by Smita Gupta ’08 and Becky Crossin ’08. “The (Ivy) League is extremely strong right now,” said Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Craig Lake in an e-mail to The Herald, “and we need to be at our best in the upcoming weeks if we want to place amongst the top two or three teams at Heps. The UConn meet was a good experience for the squad … the team came out and performed well.” Grovey agreed and is hoping to make a contribution despite her injured leg. Grovey said she is going to try to “get a few jumps in” at the Penn Relays this weekend. “Of course I want to win the triple jump (at Heps),” she said. “I want to be peaking at the right time. Second, I want to compete in the long jump and pick up some points for the team at Heps. I haven’t competed in that event all season so I really will be going into that cold but hopefully I can jump well for my teammates.” On the men’s side, the highlight of the day came from the return of Golenor, the squad’s co-captain, in the throws events.

Paul Christian ’06 singled and took second on Tews’ ground out to first base, Dan Shapiro ’09 hit a single to left center to score Christian. In the second, after J.J. Eno ’08, who only had 16 atbats entering the game, led off the inning with a walk, Jeff Dietz ’08 hit to right and scored him from second. But that would be all Bruno could muster. The Bears had only one hit over the final four innings. First baseman Danny Hughes ’06 credited the Harvard staff for its efficiency but placed the Bears’ struggles more on the shoulders of the lineup than on anything the Crimson staff did. “They were not overpowering or anything, but they did go right at you and throw strikes,” he said. “The first pitcher (Shawn Haviland in Sunday’s first game) was throwing a couple of different pitches for strikes but we chased the second kid today in the first inning. We just should have scored more.” Despite the recent power outage, Brown remains optimistic that this weekend’s four-game set with Yale will still have playoff implications come Friday. If Yale can sweep its two games with Dartmouth on Wednesday and Brown does likewise to Yale over the weekend, Brown would have an outside shot at the title. It would then need the Big Green to take all four from Harvard this weekend to make the Ivy championship series. Drabinski said the team would take that slim chance and try to close out the year on an upswing no matter what. “I hope we’ll use it as motivation heading into the weekend,” he said. “At least if we sweep Yale, we can go 6-6 in the (Red Rolfe) division and we always want to win our division games. … We definitely have a shot at the playoffs but I hope the guys come out and play hard no matter what (happens with Yale and Dartmouth).” First, though, Brown heads to Poughkeepsie, N.Y., for a twogame set with Marist University tomorrow afternoon. Golenor was diagnosed with ulcers in his intestines last month and has been out of competition since. In his first meet back, he placed fifth in the discus. “It was great to see Jake Golenor make a comeback in the discus,” Lake wrote. “Jake was extremely sick and lost close to 35 lbs and just got a needle out of his arm on Friday, but was ready to compete on Saturday. His loyalty to this team … is impressive.” On the field, Kent Walls ’06 won the hammer throw with a distance of 174-6 all while fighting off a sore hip flexor. Paul Rosiak ’07 won the javelin throw with a 198-4 toss. His teammate, Sports Staff Writer Hugh Murphy ’06, who made a mammoth comeback last weekend, did not compete so he could rest up and focus on Heps. Dallas Dissmore ’06 stood out from the crowd winning both of his events blazing to top finishes in both the 200-meter and 400-meter dash with times of 22.47 and 48.24, respectively. The Bears’ hurdling squad also took no prisoners. Jamil McClintock ’08 blazed to a first place time of 14.70, beating the competition by 0.40. Christian Tabib ’07, meanwhile, won the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 55.42. One of the biggest races of

Briefs continued from page 12 best score, shooting a 16-over 232 (77-80-75) to take a share of 17th place. Wallis finished two strokes back in 19th place (78-79-77). Mowlds, who followed a secondround 82 with a 72, shot 240 for the tournament. Lanny Benson ’07 shot a 35-over 251 (88-81-82). Princeton won the team title with a score of 895, one shot better than Columbia. — Charlie Vallely Rain dampens Ivy Championships as w. golf team takes sixth The women’s team did not enjoy the success the men did, though they were also unable to play as much. In their Ivy League Championship — which was cut in half due to bad weather — the Bears finished sixth out of seven teams, despite a third-place individual finish by Blythe Crane ’08. The final 27 holes of the tournament, held at the Great Gorge Country Club in McAfee, N.J., were cancelled due to rain. The team’s

W. polo continued from page 12 astically (against Harvard), but thankfully it doesn’t affect our standings (for this weekend),” Lansing said. After creaming Connecticut College 16-1 Sunday, Brown’s third place finish ensures them a seventh seed in this weekend’s Eastern Championships hosted by Brown, according to Balassone. Another standout for Brown was Anne Deggelman ’08, who

Softball continued from page 12 and walked the second to put two runners on base with no outs. the day was the 3,000-meter steeplechase, where the trio of Ozzie Myers ’08, Nick Sarro ’08 and Neil Hamel ’07 ran to a 12-3 finish. “This could be a really strong event for us at Heps,” Lake wrote. “These three guys need to focus on race plan and pace a little better in order to qualify for the IC4A meet and the NCAA Regional meet and to score at Heps.” A few big names were missing from this weekend’s competition, as Lake decided to rest many of the men’s distance runners for Heps. The men’s team could place anywhere from first to fifth at championships, so Lake is stressing the need for her athletes to not take anything for granted. “Aches and pains are a little par for the course at this time of year, so it is important to do what (the athletes) can to remain healthy, so we can compete at our best,” Lake wrote. “Overall, our men will need to get healthy, get a little more focused, and step it up.” The Bears will return to competition this weekend, dividing their squad between the prestigious Penn Relays in Philadelphia and the Brown Invitational at home. With additional reporting from Sports Editor Stephen Colelli

scores after only a round-and-ahalf of play thus became the final scores. The Bears finished with a team score of 522, 34 shots behind Yale’s winning total. Crane shot a 79 in the first round and 42 over the next nine holes for a combined score of 121. The performance earned her firstteam All-Ivy honors. Karin Freed ’09 had the Bears’ second-best score, shooting a 130 (86-44) to finish 17th. Tiffany Wade ’08 turned in a 132 (85-47), and Emily Washington ’06, in her final collegiate tournament, shot a 139 (89-50). — Charlie Vallely Equestrian takes Ivy title The equestrian team sent a small squad of riders to the Ivy League Championships, which were held at Cornell over the weekend. Significant contributions from nearly every rider allowed the Bears to emerge victorious over five other Ivy teams, to the slight chagrin of the Big Red. “Usually there would be a trophy ceremony for the winning team after the event, but Cornell kind of started cleaning up and we

just took the trophy and left,” said Grace Peloquin ’07, the champion of the intermediate fences division. “Cornell is our big (Ivy League) rival so it was nice beating them at their home barn.” Brown captured its second straight Ivy crown after receiving winning performances from Joyce Kwok ’08 in the walk-trot division and Leona Rosenblum ’09 in the walk-trot cantor division. Whitney Keefe ’08 took the open flat championship. Her teammates Alexis Gilbard ’06 and Jamie Peddy ’06 also qualified for the championship flight in the open flat event but struggled with recalcitrant horses. Peddy also claimed the reserve championship spot, or second-place position, in the open fences event. Peloquin said she believes the event showed the depth the team has across its roster. “It felt good (winning the intermediate fences event) because I haven’t shown a lot of what I can do this year so far,” she said. “With a small team competing, everyone needed to perform well for us to be successful and everyone did.” — Stephen Colelli

earned the first shutout of her career in the first Connecticut College game and was three minutes away from another in the third-place game, blocking 13 balls in the last game and 31 on the weekend. “Our passion will be there (after losing to Harvard) this weekend and we are going to come out really intense,” said Cuthbertson, who had five goals, four assists and four steals in their last game. Brown has a rematch against the University of Michigan this Saturday in the first round of the championships. The Wolver-

ines beat Brown in overtime two weeks ago in Providence. If Brown had beaten Harvard, it probably would have earned a higher seed and a match-up against less familiar opponents such as Indiana University or Princeton this weekend. Brown has played Michigan twice and come away with two losses. “We’re not intimidated by that (lower) seeding at all,” Lansing said. “We could do really well against (Michigan).” The Bears tip-off with the Wolverines at noon on Saturday at the Smith Swim Center.

Cornell’s leftfielder then singled to score one run and Brown’s leftfielder Rachel Fleitell ’06 made an error on the play that allowed each Big Red runner to advance a base. The next Cornell hitter grounded out to Mary Seid ’06 at shortstop allowing another run to score. The Big Red took the lead for good in the seventh. Cornell’s rightfielder led off the inning with a double. Moses fought back and retired the next two Big Red hitters, but Cornell’s shortstop doubled to right center to score the eventual game-winning run. “Cornell just got the big hit when they needed it,” Wilson said. “We both had our opportunities but they capitalized on theirs.” Brown made one last attempt to score in the seventh when it put two of its first three runners on base. However, Bruno could not capitalize on the opportunity. Liz Anderson ’07 struck out and tri-captain Jaimie Wirkowski ’06 lined out to end the game. The second game was a classic pitchers’ duel that stayed scoreless until the sixth inning. Cornell seemed to have figured out pitcher Kelsey Wilson ’09, scoring quickly when its first hitter singled and the next doubled to drive her in. Following another single, a sacrifice bunt moved both runners up

a base. The next hitter grounded the ball to third, but Ota reacted quickly and fired the ball home to nail the runner. After two passed balls, Wilson got the last hitter of the inning to ground out, only allowing one run. “Kelsey has pitched great for us all season,” Sarah Wilson said. “Even though she doesn’t strike that many people out, she doesn’t walk anyone and throws a lot of strikes.” After escaping from the top half of the inning, Bruno made its defensive stand count in the bottom half by plating three runs. Kari Best ’09 got things going with a single to center field. After a sacrifice bunt moved Best to second, Fleitell reached on an error. With the table set, Seid locked in, found a pitch to hit and drove it to center field for a two-run double, which made the difference in the game. “Mary has been clutch for us all season,” Fleitell said. “After a couple of years in which she has had nagging injuries, it is nice that she has had a full, healthy, productive season.” Weather permitting, Brown returns to the field tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. to host Fairfield University.


EDITORIAL/LETTERS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD · TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2006 · PAGE 10

STAFF EDITORIAL

Delay the decision Believe it or not, Reading Period begins this Friday, and students will soon be expending the same amount of energy on final exams and papers as they devoted to Common and Dave Binder only a week earlier. Just as students’ social calendars will likely take a hit, all those hours in the library will also detract from the time they are willing to spend organizing around on-campus issues. For many students, the thought of failing a class or handing a paper in late diminishes the importance of showing up for the next rally on the Main Green. But the work of University administrators and officials doesn’t stop simply because students’ attention is elsewhere. Construction projects, administrative searches and committee work all continue and often carry over into the summer months. In many cases, this doesn’t pose a problem for the resolution of University affairs. Sometimes, however, it is in the best interest of the administration to sit back and contemplate how various decisionmaking processes might suffer without a significant level of student input. When the Bookstore Review Committee issued its report in March recommending the Brown Bookstore be outsourced to an external vendor, Elizabeth Huidekoper, the chair of the committee, stressed that the report did not represent a final decision on the bookstore’s future. Rather, members of the committee were to gather feedback from campus constituencies like the Undergraduate Council of Students and the Faculty Executive Committee. Additionally, students and faculty members would be provided opportunities to voice their reactions to the committee’s findings during campus-wide forums. Though some meetings have taken place, no such forums have occurred. Back in March, members of the committee hoped to address adequately the concerns raised during the vetting process before submitting a recommendation to President Ruth Simmons and her cabinet, which would make a final decision by April or May. Vice President for Administration Walter Hunter recently told The Herald administrators would like to make a final decision regarding the bookstore by the end of the semester, though they are ultimately in no rush to do so and are willing to wait until the fall. At this point, with exams fast approaching, we encourage administrators to wait. Even if they could organize a campus-wide forum, there would be scant time to discuss various issues that might arise, and the process would be perceived as hasty. Turnout would probably be lackluster. Not only would the decision be rushed, it would do much to alienate members of the Brown community who have a vested interest in the bookstore’s future. This concern is especially pressing given that most — if not all — student mobilization on the issue has been in opposition to the committee’s recommendation.

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

ROX A N N E PA L M E R

LETTERS Leftist students won’t profit by looking to past To the Editor: I was interested in the juxtaposition of the frontpage feature “A less activist Brown?” and its page three counterpart “Throwback from 60s, SDS Holds Regional Conference” in yesterday’s Herald. Could it be that these two phenomena are related? Certainly there are no fewer or less challenging issues to confront than there were in our parents’ day, with the silent genocide in Darfur and an emerging foreignpolicy disaster in Iraq that severely dents America’s ability to stabilize Afghanistan or exert some real influence in Pyongyang or Tehran. The real question is how politically involved students should go about mobilizing students to feel that they can have a real influence on these events. Certainly the forces that most Brown students oppose have no trouble raising money or training activists. Perhaps part of the problem is the whoring of 1960s slogans from a student movement in large part dedicated to the Marxism of the Frankfurt School that considered murderers like Che, Mao and Trotsky to be heroes. The reconvening of Students for a Democratic Society might lead to another mini-“Days of Rage,” but will it better the lives of anyone other than the self-important “activists” who seek to lead it? Take the example of Ambre Ivol, the Parisian organizer based at the Sorbonne quoted in the SDS article: the restrictions placed on French businesses that make it incredibly hard to fire young workers also make it very hard indeed for businesses to consider hiring any student workers in the first place. Ivol thinks she’s opposing a gov-

ernment that “wants to drive conditions for workers back to the 19th century,” but he is really opposing reasonable measures for reform. The smugness displayed by students at the Sorbonne having their radical day in the sun is unlikely to be shared by the poor and dispossessed in the banlieues and housing estates who suffer from 50 percent unemployment. Readers may remember some French riots only a few months ago, not by rich students but by poor immigrants, who wanted jobs and opportunity in what they saw as an exclusivist French society. Today’s French student movement is happy to campaign for a better yesterday than a more truly promising tomorrow. This lesson could also be learned from its American counterparts. In a post-Cold War world, most of the Left has rightfully lost its meaning. Rather than remembering utopian schemes of the past, American students might be better off thinking practically of a liberalism that seeks to really empower the very poorest amongst us by extending opportunity rather than pulling up opportunity’s drawbridge. Perhaps some of the students in SDS might be better off looking for an electable Democrat in 2008 rather than trying to re-write the history of 1968.

Simon Radford GS April 24

The Herald is still accepting letters at: letters@browndailyherald.com

Adam Kroll, Allison Kwong, Night Editors Yi-Fen Li, Katie McComas, Copy Editors

Bonus points for timeliness, responses to Herald articles and insufferable sophistication.

Senior Staff Writers Simmi Aujla, Stephanie Bernhard, Melanie Duch, Ross Frazier, Jonathan Herman, Rebecca Jacobson, Chloe Lutts, Caroline Silverman Staff Writers Justin Amoah, Zach Barter, Allison Erich Bernstein, Brenna Carmody, Alissa Cerny, Ashley Chung, Stewart Dearing, Kristina Kelleher, Hannah Levintova, Hannah Miller, Aidan Levy, Taryn Martinez, Kyle McGourty, Ari Rockland-Miller, Chelsea Rudman, Kam Sripada, Robin Steele, Spencer Trice, Ila Tyagi, Sara Walter Sports Staff Writers Sarah Demers, Amy Ehrhart, Erin Frauenhofer, Kate Klonick, Madeleine Marecki, George Mesthos, Hugh Murphy, Eric Perlmutter, Marco Santini, Bart Stein, Tom Trudeau, Steele West 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 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, Yi-Fen Li, Taryn Martinez, Katie McComas, Sara Molinaro, Heather Peterson, Lela Spielberg

CORRECTIONS POLICY The Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible. Corrections may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication. C O M M E N TA R Y P O L I C Y The staff editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial board of The Brown Daily Herald. The editorial viewpoint does not necessarily reflect the views of The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Columns, letters and comics reflect the opinions of their authors only. LET TERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY Send letters to letters@browndailyherald.com. Include a telephone number with all letters. The Herald reserves the right to edit all letters for length and cannot assure the publication of any letter. Please limit letters to 250 words. Under special circumstances writers may request anonymity, but no letter will be printed if the author’s identity is unknown to the editors. Announcements of events will not be printed. A DV E RT I S I N G P O L I C Y The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. reserves the right to accept or decline any advertisement at its discretion.


OPINIONS

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD · TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2006 · PAGE 11

Rallying to end genocide An April 30 rally in Washington, D.C., will challenge America’s leaders to finally take action in Darfur BY GABRIEL CORENS, LIS MEYERS AND SCOTT WARREN GUEST COLUMNISTS

In early March of 2003, militias backed by the Sudanese government began systematic attacks on villages in the Darfur region, burning homes to the ground, killing and raping civilians and forcing thousands of others to flee for their lives. A little more than a year later, the U.S. Department of State officially labeled these crimes as genocide, the first time this status was invoked while an actual genocide was still occurring, rather than after the fact. Over 500 days have passed since this historic gesture, yet our president and Congress have taken insufficient steps to stop the killing and protect civilian lives in Darfur. On April 30, thousands of concerned citizens will assemble in Washington, D.C., for the National Rally to Stop Genocide in Darfur to send a potent message to our government: this inaction will not be tolerated any longer. Some at Brown may question the necessity of this rally. At a vigil held by the Darfur Action Network at the beginning of the fall semester, students walked by asking, “Darfur… is that still happening?” At a die-in for Darfur on the Main Green held this semester, students walked by asking, “Darfur … that can’t still be happening?” Now at the end of the school year, it’s clear that not only is Darfur still “happening,” the situation is rapidly deteriorating. Over

400,000 civilians are estimated to have died over the past three years, and the brutal and deliberate government policies of destruction continue with no end in sight. As the rainy season begins in Darfur, Jan Egeland, the U.N. under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs, fears that “it’s a matter of weeks or months

national response is needed. There are many available courses of action, including the introduction of a U.N. or NATO peacekeeping force with a robust mandate to protect civilians. More serious political negotiations are needed between rebels and the Sudanese government, with strong mediation provided in a setting conducive to peace. Funding and lo-

Not only is genocide in Darfur still happening, the situation is rapidly deteriorating. (before) we will have a collapse in many of our operations.” Adding new complexities to the crisis, rebels from the ChadSudan border region, supported by the Sudanese government, recently launched a full-scale invasion of neighboring Chad in an attempt to overthrow Chadian President Idriss Deby. This move prompted the Chadian government to threaten to expel all 200,000 of the Darfurians who have taken refuge within the country. Humanitarian operations in the Darfur region are still minimal, and women still remain at risk of being raped every time they search for firewood. As Egeland stated last week, “I don’t think the world has understood how bad it has become of late.” As the crisis intensifies, greater inter-

gistical support must continue to be provided to the African Union force currently in Darfur to help quell further increases in violence. The United States must take a lead in these actions to prevent the needless death and displacement of more Darfurians, and it must do so now. To demonstrate the urgency of these actions to our government, organizations from across the country have joined together to sponsor the National Rally to Stop Genocide in Darfur. Nobel Peace Prize-winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, hip-hip mogul Russel Simmons, activist and Olympic gold medalist Joey Cheek and Paul Rusesabagina, the heroic hotel manager portrayed in “Hotel Rwanda,” are among the many speakers who will address the crowd on the Nation-

al Mall Sunday. The gathering may be the largest anti-genocide rally in history and will take place with a simultaneous vigil for Darfur across the country on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. Brown’s Darfur Action Network is organizing buses to D.C. to take students and community members to this important gathering, and we encourage everyone who wants this genocide to stop to participate. The rally can only be successful if President George W. Bush and Congress see that a large number of constituents care about this abhorrent conflict. The more people present at the National Mall on April 30, the more powerful statement we send to our government. During the Rwandan genocide of 1994, the U.S. government failed to acknowledge the situation as genocide until after the killing had subsided. Genocide has finally been acknowledged in Darfur, and yet little has been done. The atrocities in Rwanda occurred over a mere 100 days. The genocide in Darfur has been ongoing for over three years, which is ample time for mobilization to stop the conflict. It’s not too late to join the movement and tell the president and Congress we will no longer stand by and accept genocide. Please join us this weekend as we take our message to Washington.

Gabriel Corens ’06.5, Lis Meyers ’06 and Scott Warren ’09 are members of the Darfur Action Network, which will be selling tickets to the D.C. march in the P.O. this week.

Red and blue makes green The Brown Democrats’ narrow-minded, partisan stance against Chafee ’75 ignores his progressive voting record BY ADAM PERRY GUEST COLUMNIST

This past Wednesday, as I was walking through the tent out on Lincoln Field for Earth Day celebrations, I was surprised to hear, “Save the environment! Vote Democrat!” Interesting, I thought, since Sen. Lincoln Chafee ’75, R-R.I., has a proven track record of fighting for the environment. I asked the Brown Democrats on hand if they could clear up my confusion on the issue. Chafee, I was told, is a Republican contributing to a Republican majority in the Senate. With this majority, the Republican Party can choose committee chairs, set the Senate’s agenda and support the president. The Dems have a convincing argument, I must admit. There is something appealing about voting for a Democrat, any Democrat, instead of another Bush crony. However, upon further inspection, the Dems’ argument is ultimately misleading. Yes, Chafee is a Republican, but he is certainly no neocon. In fact, Chafee publicly refused to vote for the president in the 2004 elections. And, while the Dems correctly note that Chafee votes with the president on many issues, what about the votes that really matter? Instead of focusing on party labels, voters need to ask themselves this question: What issues are important to me, and who can do something about it? Were we wrong to invade Iraq? Chafee voted against the war. Should we invade Iran, or focus on solving the problem diplomatically? Chafee supports diplomacy, not U.S. military domination and hegemony. Are we too reliant on foreign oil? Chafee has repeatedly called on the president and Congress to mandate oil conservation and improve efficiency standards. Have domestic tax cuts gone too far?

Chafee voted against President George W. Bush’s tax cuts and advocates fiscal responsibility. Does the United States need to do more to protect the environment? Chafee stepped up to the plate and blocked drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, defeating his own party’s initiative. Do we need to help the working poor? Should abortion remain legal? Chafee voted to increase the federal minimum wage and increase spending on job-training programs

votes must be compared to those of his peers. According to the League of Conservation Voters, Chafee scores 90 percent on the voting scorecard, tying or exceeding two-thirds of Democratic senators while scoring higher than any other Republican. Key environmental activist groups have endorsed Chafee, including the very same League of Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club. What does that mean for the Dems’ environmental argument? Their

If a Democrat unseats Chafee in 2006, another, less moderate Republican would replace him on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. for the unemployed. He also supports a woman’s right to choose. The list of key “Democratic” initiatives that Chafee supports continues. Sure, he is still a Republican, but is political affiliation really an issue worth voting on? The issue at hand, however, was the environment, and the Dems were trying to convince me that a Democrat in the Senate would help save the planet. The Dems representative mentioned that Chafee does not score 100 percent on the League of Conservation Voters’ voting record scorecard. So Chafee isn’t really very pro-environment, right? Not so fast. The Dems failed to take into account two key factors when judging Chafee’s environmental voting record. First, Chafee’s

reasoning is nothing more than partisan nonsense. Second, the Dems ignored Chafee’s ability to have a positive impact on the Senate’s environmental stance. As a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, Chafee has the ability to prevent anti-environmental legislation from reaching the Senate floor. The Republicans have a 10-8 advantage in the committee due to their majority in the Senate. As a result, if Chafee votes with proenvironment Democrats on the committee, the Senate cannot pass the legislation. In fact, Chafee has cast the deciding vote against a Bush administration proposal to weaken the Clean Air Act as well as against Republican efforts to drill for oil in the

Arctic National Wildlife Reserve. If a Democrat unseats Chafee in 2006, another, less moderate Republican would replace him on the committee, eliminating his ability to check the pro-business, anti-environment Republican juggernaut. Democrats should consider not which political party they are electing, but which issues, beliefs and principles they are voting for. Chafee stands for protecting the environment, diplomacy and fiscal responsibility. More importantly, he stands up for what he believes in and does not back down to political pressure. What does the Democratic Party stand for? Well, that’s hard to say. Particularly on difficult issues such as the war in Iraq, most Democrats have shown an amazing lack of guts. It is a party adrift, looking for ideas and mostly just trying to do what is necessary to get elected. Chafee, on the other hand, does what he believes is right, even if he loses popularity with Democrats and Republicans alike. There are certainly valid reasons why voters might choose former state Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse, Secretary of State Matt Brown or even Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey over Lincoln Chafee. Political affiliation, however, is not one of them. Issues should be far more important than political affiliation to the idealistic voter. For the pragmatic voter, the fact that Chafee, as a Republican sitting on key committees, can actually make changes based on his convictions should be of primary importance. If Democrats want to sacrifice key issues in order to win one more seat in the Senate, so be it. I hope Rhode Island can overcome the partisanship that is tearing our nation apart and vote based on issues, not political parties. Adam Perry ’08 wants to own an alpaca farm one day.


SPORTS TUESDAY THE BROWN DAILY HERALD · APRIL 25, 2006 · PAGE 12

M. and w. track teams prepare for Heps with second-place finishes at UConn meet BY SARAH DEMERS SPORTS STAFF WRITER

With the Heptagonal Championships looming in the first weekend of May, the men’s and women’s track and field teams are in crunch time. It’s a chance to finetune their mechanics before they face the best the Ivy League has to offer. Based on the performances over the weekend, and the return of both squads’ injured captains — Brittany Grovey ’06 and Jake Golenor ’06 — the Bears are rounding into form at the right time. At Saturday’s meet at the University of Connecticut, the men and women nearly avenged losses to UConn two weeks ago, but both settled for second again. The men registered 211 points to the Huskies’ 224, and the women closed the gap on UConn, finishing with 153 points to the victor’s 230. The women’s side was highlighted by the return of Grovey, the team’s star triple jumper. After suffering a stress fracture in her leg in the winter season, Grovey was told by doctors that she should not compete. However, after taking most of the outdoor season off in order to rest, she returned this weekend to break something other than her leg — her own school record. With a jump of 43 feet, 1 inch in the triple jump, Grovey soared to a new school record, breaking her previous mark by over a foot to win Saturday’s event. Grovey, however, was not entirely satisfied. “I’m not healthy at all. I’m actually still walking around in a boot,” Grovey said. “I guess I was pleased with the performance but you would always like to jump better.” Grovey stated that she did not even re-

While much of the Brown campus was listening to Common and Yerba Buena perform at the Spring Weekend concert Saturday afternoon, the softball team was playing two hard-fought games against Cornell. Brown dropped the first game of its doubleheader, 5-3, but battled back to take the second game 3-1 with a late-inning rally. With the split, Brown moved to 4-6 in the Ivy League and 16-24 overall. The Bears had another doubleheader scheduled for Sunday against Columbia, but it was cancelled due to inclement weather. Since the Lions are entering finals next week, the games are postponed indefinitely.

“Our coach puts us in a mindset to not get swept on our home field,” said tri-captain Sarah Wilson ’06. “Everyone on the team is very competitive, and we never feel like we are out of any game.” In the first game of the afternoon, Brown jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning when Ava Amini ’09 singled up the middle to bring home Kelsey Wilson ’09 and Melissa Ota ’07. Brown tacked on one more run in the fourth inning, but Cornell figured out Brown pitcher Michelle Moses ’09 in the bottom half of the inning. The Big Red used a combination of timely hitting and a Bruno error to climb within one run at 3-2. Moses hit the first batter of the inning see SOFTBALL, page 9

Crimson cripple baseball’s playoff hopes BY STEPHEN COLELLI SPORTS EDITOR

After finishing second to Harvard in the Red Rolfe Division last year, the baseball team had high hopes of surpassing the Crimson this season. But after losing three of four to Harvard — falling in both games of a doubleheader on Saturday and splitting one yesterday — those aspirations are all but dashed. The Bears trailed the division-leading Crimson by only one game heading into the series in Cambridge, Mass., but lost the BROWN SPORTS SCOREBOARD MONDAY, APRIL 24 BASEBALL: Harvard 5, Brown 2; Brown 16, Harvard 2 TUESDAY, APRIL 25 BASEBALL: at Marist College SOFTBALL: vs. Fairfield, 3 p.m., Softball Field

see TRACK, page 9

see BRIEFS, page 9

Dan Grossman ’71

Pitching propels softball to split BY JUSTIN GOLDMAN ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

chase with a 10:45.37 effort. The time was not only a personal best, it also qualified her for the NCAA Regionals and landed her in second place on the Brown outdoor list. Kahn did all this without close competition, as the second place finisher came in a full 25 seconds behind her. Anna Willard ’06 led a 1-2-3 sweep in the 1,500-meter run, winning the event with a time of 4:26.53. She was followed

Haertel ’08 wins individual Ivy crown, leads m. golf to third-place finish Larry Haertel ’08 saved his best for last — even though he didn’t need it. In the first two rounds of the Ivy League Championship, held at the Ballyowen Golf Club in Hamburg, N.J., over the weekend, Haertel shot SPORTS a 74 and 70 to take a twoBRIEFS stroke lead. In the final round, Haertel ran away from the field, shooting a four-under 68 to finish with a total score of 212 — five strokes better than anybody else. Haertel’s performance, which helped the men’s golf team to a third-place finish, makes him the first Brown golfer to win the individual Ivy title. Haertel was also named to the All-Ivy first team, becoming the first Brown golfer to do so in a decade. Haertel was not the only Bear who finished strong. Four of the five competing Bears — including Haertel, Conor Malloy ’09, Danny Wallis ’06 and Donny Mowlds ’06 — recorded their best scores in the final round. The Bears shot a combined 292 in that round to give them a three-round total of 917, edging out the University of Pennsylvania by a stroke. The third-place finish is the best in team history. Malloy turned in the Bears’ second-

Kent Walls ’06 won the hammer throw at the UConn meet with a heave of 174 feet, 6 inches. alize she had broken her own school record until someone congratulated her for the effort. “To be perfectly honest, I hadn’t really thought about the record,” she said. Following their co-captain’s lead, a fleet of Bears stepped up in their own events. Tiffany Chang ’08 won the pole vault by clearing a height of 12-4, and Laura Dudek ’07 won the javelin with a throw of 138.7 meters. On the track, Nicole Burns ’09 torched the competition in the 400-meter dash, taking first with a time of 55.31. Naja Ferjan ’07 also grabbed a top spot, winning the 800-meter run with a time of 2:10.16. Lindsay Kahn ’09 had a triumphant day as well. She won the 3,000-meter steeple-

first three games to move perilously close to mathematical elimination from title contention. The Bears wasted strong starting pitching performances by Bryan Tews ’07, Shaun McNamara ’06 and Ethan Silverstein ’07, committing a number of errors as their bats fell silent. They lost 1-0, 8-4 and 5-2 before destroying the Crimson, 16-2, in the final contest to remain three games back in the division. Now 9-7 in the Ivy League (11-20 overall), the Bears hold on to the slimmest of chances of winning the division. Part of the reason Brown has plummeted from first to last place has been the Bears’ lineup, which was supposed to be the team’s strength heading into conference play. Bruno’s bats cost it the first game on Saturday, as Brown’s first seven hitters combined to go 2-for-19 in the 1-0 loss. The see BASEBALL, page 9

Haertel ’08 bags Ivy golf title; Equestrian tops Cornell at Ivies

W. water polo rides wave of goals to 3rd place at Northerns BY AMY EHRHART SPORTS STAFF WRITER

The women’s water polo team is in prime position to succeed at the upcoming Eastern Championships after dominating in three of its four Northern Championship tournament games this weekend. The Bears dismantled Connecticut College 16-1 on Sunday to capture third place. The weekend started extremely well for Brown, with 15-3 and 16-0 wins over Queens and Connecticut colleges, respectively, on Saturday. Leading the offensive surge was co-captain Elizabeth Balassone ’07, who tallied three goals against Queens and four against the Camels. Kristin Cuthbertson ’09, Alex Ferguson ’09 and Paige Lansing ’07 chipped in two each against the Royals, and co-captain Karly Kopra ’07 put three in the net against the Camels. Despite being removed from each game fairly early due to the lopsided affairs, starters Bassalone, Kopra and Lansing were still able to perform impressively in limited action. After the starters left the game, there was little drop-off in play, as evidenced by Cuthbertson’s and Ferguson’s goal totals. “It was great to see the second string get in and support them,” Lansing said. However, it was the first stringers who helped Bruno take the early lead Saturday against Queens. Brown had

one of its best starts of the year, outscoring the Royals 7-1 in the first quarter. “It was a good time for us to work on doing everything technically correct,” Balassone said. “We were focused on making sure that we would score off of really good passes — (Head) Coach (Jason Gall) wanted dry passes to make their goalie move in the least amount of time.” The two impressive wins set up a showdown with rival Harvard in the semi-final game — the fourth matchup of the two squads this season. Despite defeating the Crimson in the first three matches, Brown dropped a close 6-5 decision after its momentum from the previous day ran out. Bruno traded goals with the Crimson throughout the game and started the second half tied at three. A six-on-five goal by Lansing put Brown up by one with 1:13 left in the third, but Harvard took advantage of two fourth-quarter Brown penalties to take some uncontested shots. The Crimson scored its final two goals while Brown was down a player due to penalties. Despite the disadvantages, Brown was still able to keep the game close until the end. It was not until a six-meter attempt by Lansing hit the crossbar as time expired that Brown succumbed. “We weren’t playing very enthusisee W. POLO, page 9

Ashley Hess / Herald

Co-captain Karly Kopra ’07 had three goals in the women’s water polo team’s 16-0 romp over Connecticut College on Saturday.


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.