Thursday, January 25, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD T HURSDAY, J ANUAR Y 25, 2007

Volume CXLII, No. 2

Revamped Orientation recommended

by U. committee

Record number of regular decision applications for class of 2011

BY JAMES SHAPIRO S ENIOR S TAFF WRITER

Proposed changes include required summer reading and shorter schedule

BY MICHAEL SKOCPOL S ENIOR S TAFF WRITER

First-years entering the University should have mandatory summer reading and a shorter Orientation, a University committee recommends in a report released today.

The Orientation review committee, which was created in midOctober 2006, calls for a new Orientation schedule that would begin later — during Labor Day weekend — and require that the first day of classes be pushed back a day to the Wednesday after Labor Day. But the University’s academic calendar is part of the faculty rules and regulations, so any change requires a vote of approval by the faculty. University officials intend to seek such approval at a faculty meeting Feb. 6.

In order for administrators to implement the new Orientation schedule this year, the faculty must approve the calendar change at the Feb. 6 meeting, said Interim Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services Russell Carey ’91 MA’06. If the faculty rejects the proposal on Feb. 6, the new Orientation schedule would not be in place until 2008 at the earliest.

That vote is the biggest hurdle facing implementation of the committee’s recommendations. Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron acknowledged that the faculty vote is crucial in determining whether extensive changes could be implemented this year, but she declined to speculate as to the likelihood of the proposal’s success.

In its report, the committee recommends reducing the number of days of Orientation programming prior to the beginning of classes from six days to four and extending some events to the first weekend after classes start, which the report calls “First Weekend.”

Other changes recommended by the committee, which comprised administrators, faculty and students, include reducing the number of mandatory class meetings from four to three and improving administrative coordination of the Orientation program.

In devising its recommendations, the committee focused on three areas of concern: the length and scheduling of Orientation, its academic content and the required class meetings.

The recommendation for a compressed schedule responds to concerns about the length of the current Orientation schedule, which University officials say leaves students with too much downtime. continued on page 6

INSIDE:

3 CAMPUS NEWS

Courtesy of Levi’s Public Relations

Stephanie Rezendes, a junior at Rhode Island College ’08 (left), and Josie Nash ’10 (right), were selected from a pool of 2,000 entrants to become nationwide winners of Levi’s Style Search for denim models.

Providence’s next top models?

Nash ’10 wins Levi’s model search

BY TAYLOR BARNES STAFF WRITER

FEATURE

Neither Josie Nash ’10 nor Stephanie Rezendes, a junior at Rhode Island College, walked into the Levi’s store on Thayer Street intending to become national jeans models.

Last Oct. 3 to Oct. 5, to promote the opening of their new store at the Providence Place Mall, Levi’s transformed what had been the apparel store Cargo on Thayer Street, into a temporary denim shop. When Nash and Rezendes visited, they found a recruiting spot for Levi’s college model search, the Levi’s Style Search, which was heavily advertised around campus in the weeks leading up to the

opening.

Rezendes stopped by the Style Search after finishing a shift at Paragon on Thayer Street. “I just wanted to see what skinny jeans they had.”

But instead of quietly hunting for the perfect pair of jeans, Nash and Rezendes — strangers prior to winning the contest — found themselves in a swarm of denim shoppers and model hopefuls.

“It was a little bit chaotic,” Nash said.

Rezendes agreed. “It was crazy. People were getting dressed

A record number of prospective students applied to the College this year, with 18,951 applications for the class of 2011 received so far. University officials expect that number to increase as latecomers trickle in.

“We’re not finished counting yet,” said Dean of Admission James Miller ’73, who estimated that the final number of applications would top 19,000. He said the number of students who will be admitted is not yet known, but the final number of matriculating students in the class of 2011 should be about 1,460 students.

Regular decision applications increased more than 4.3 percent over last year, from 15,937 to 16,644 received to date. Miller credited the increase — which was less than last year’s increase of 6.7 percent — to Brown “continu(ing) to be an attractive option for students,” the growing number of high school graduates in general applying to college and the existence of need-blind admission, which was introduced five years ago.

Admission officials report a notable increase in applications from international students — a 15.4 percent rise, with applications growing to 2,078 from 1,801 a year ago. “We did more recruiting internationally than we have for a number of years,” Miller said, not-

ing that admission officers visited China and, for the first time in several years, Africa.

Miller said the increase in international applications may be related to the University’s recent emphasis on internationalization.

“It’s hard to tell, but it may be a byproduct of people’s awareness that Brown is more focused on globalization,” he said.

Minorities from within the United States constitute about 30.5 percent of the total admission pool, with applications from black students increasing nine percent over last year. Applications from Asian-American and Hispanic students each increased about five percent.

But applications from American Indian students decreased slightly, from 63 to 61.

Regular decision applicants remain hopeful, but given the daunting numbers, many are pragmatic as well.

“I really want to get in, and I think there’s a chance of me getting in, but it’s not extremely high,” said Josh Darfler, a senior at Lansing High School in Ithaca, N.Y. Lansing said he was attracted to Brown by its flexible curriculum, and as a prospective biology concentrator, he was also impressed with the new Sidney Frank Hall for Life Sciences.

Naomi Jagoda, a senior at Edgemont High School in Scarsdale, continued on page 4

continued on page 4

Peace Corps sign-ups down among Brown alums

BY IRENE CHEN STAFF WRITER

Brown dropped from No. 13 to No. 17 among medium-sized universities producing volunteers for the Peace Corps last year, with four fewer alums ser ving overseas in the program than in 2005. But current and former volunteers said the lower ranking should not be seen as a sign of diminished interest in the Peace Corps at Brown.

In 2006, 27 Brown alums ser ved in the Peace Corps, a US government program that sends volunteers to live in developing countries and work on various projects, including English language instruction and agricultural development. Thirty-one alums were volunteers in 2005.

BOOKSONCAMPUS.COM Looking to avoid high textbook prices? A Web site that facilitates student-to-student textbook sales comes to Brown

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Since 1866, Daily Since 1891

5 CAMPUS NEWS

For five years, Brown has been among the top 25 middle-sized schools providing volunteers for the Peace Corps. Middlesized schools are those with undergraduate enrollments between 5,001 and 15,000.

Topping the list this year was George Washington University, which took the No. 1 spot from the University of Virginia.

The change in volunteer numbers from 2005 to last year isn’t signifigant, said Januar y Zuk, the Peace Corps recruiter for Brown and other Rhode Island schools.

Zuk’s predecessor as Brown’s Peace Corps recruiter, George Rutherford, wrote in an e-mail to The Herald that the Brown students he met “took on the challenge and chose to sail out of safe harbors so that they could ser ve others.”

CRISIS SITE LAUNCHED The University debuts a new support site for discrimination, harassment and assault

15 OPINIONS

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

Rutherford especially noted the “engaged” nature of Brown students. “At my info sessions I would always get extremely insightful questions. Questions that made me think about my wonderful but imperfect Peace Corps experience,” Rutherford wrote.

“I always told students to regard me not just as the recruiter but also as a returned volunteer who would be happy to talk about the hard times as well as the wonderful ones.”

Zuk agreed that Brown students are “ver y socially aware, progressive and dedicated to helping people.”

“I find that when I go to career fairs, Brown students are ver y aware of what the Peace Corps is about already,” Zuk said.

THE WAFFLE HOUSE LINE Opinions Edior Michal Zapendowski ‘07 ruminates on the last real divide between the Yanks and Southerners

continued on page 4

16 SPORTS

DEOSSIE ’07 AT SHRINE Football’s Zak DeOssie ‘07 took another step toward the NFL with his solid performace in the East-West Shrine Game on Saturday

News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com

TODAY THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

PAGE 2

WE A

T H E R

WBF | Matt Vascellaro

TODAY

TOMORROW

snow showers 37 / 9

cloudy / wind 15 / 10

MEN

U

SHARPE REFECTORY

VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALL

LUNCH — Hot Ham on Bulky Roll, Green Peas, Lyonnaise Potatoes, Kielbasa, Chicken Vegetable Soup, Vegetarian Corn Chowder, Couscous Croquettes, Jelly Roll, Swiss Fudge Cookies

LUNCH — Vegetarian Cream of Mushroom Soup, Chicken Soup with Tortellini, Cavatini, Falafel in Pita, Creole Mixed Vegetables, Swiss Fudge Cookies

DINNER — Spice Rubbed Pork Chops, Spinach and Rice Bake, Garlic Bread, Cajun Corn and Tomatoes, Chicken Parmesan, Ice Cream Sundae Bar

DINNER — BBQ Chicken, Vegan Vegetable and Tempeh Saute, Risotto Primavera, Corn Cobbets, Stir Fry Vegetable Medley, Garlic Bread, Jelly Roll

SU

THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2007

How to Get Down | Nate Saunders

D O K U

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

Deo | Daniel Perez

12 Pictures | Wesley Allsbrook

CR ACROSS 1 Move effortlessly 6 Soul mate?

10 Raise 14 Westminster attraction 15 Continental capital 16 Glamour competitor 17 Pursue with bloodhounds 18 Course with many angles 19 Under 20, to most 20 Nervous laugh 22 Allay 24 Sediment 25 Stuttgart address 28 Words of likelihood 32 Last word?

33 Doesn’t freeze 34 Superman’s makeup 35 It bought Kinko’s in 2004 36 Called 37 With 39-Across, this puzzle’s title 39 This puzzle’s perimeter entries are all types of them 40 Jamaica rentals 41 Great Plague of London chronicler 42 One of the archangels 43 Water collectors 44 Stats for Jeter or Tejada 47 Caterpillar rival 48 Place for an altar 49 U. of Maryland athlete 50 Sea near the Caspian 52 Spiny-flowered plant 54 Bar light 57 Silver or tin attachment 60 Opera star Tetrazzini 61 Online issue 62 Writing on the wall 63 Where Van Gogh painted “Sunflowers” 64 Finish line

O S S W O R D

45 Already arranged 36 Figurehead 46 Frolic in the pool 37 Bring to tears?

49 Bull: Pref.

38 Role for Ronny 51 Riskily off-base Howard 53 Oater actor Jack DOWN 39 Jeweler’s 54 Previously 1 Ranch head? inventory unseen 2 “Late Night” host 40 Rain 55 Its labels include 3 Eased consequence Angel and 4 Religious factions 41 Young boxer Capitol 5 Squirt, maybe 43 Part of a hero’s 56 Shell guider 6 Wager makeup?

58 Zebra on a field 7 “__ Gang” 44 “Mission: 59 Amarillo-to-Tulsa 8 Laundromat Impossible” TV dir. lineup studio 9 Eastern discipline ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: 10 Sensory system components 11 “Strange Magic” gp.

12 “__ of Me” 13 Flushed 21 Diagoras International Airport site 23 Walks like a prima donna 26 At any point 27 King of ancient Rome?

29 Care for 30 Drivers’ aids 31 Passé 33 Yenta 35 Allowed to graze, 1/25/07 as chicken xwordeditor@aol.com 65 “Hey Mikey!” cereal 66 Sass

Jellyfish, Jellyfish | Adam Hunter Peck

Homefries | Yifan Luo

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University community since 1891. It is published Monday through Friday during the aca-

Eric Beck, President

once in July by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. POSTMASTER please send corrections to

Mary-Catherine Lader, Vice President Ally Ouh, Treasurer Mandeep Gill, Secretary

By Dan Naddor (c)2007 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

1/25/07

The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is an independent newspaper serving the Brown demic year, excluding vacations, once during Commencement, once during Orientation and P.O. Box 2538, Providence, RI 02906. Periodicals postage 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: $319 one year daily, $139 one semester daily. Copyright 2007 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.

CAMPUS NEWS THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2007

NEW

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

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Peter Pan offers $5 bus fare to Boston For those students unwilling to pay the MBTA commuter rail fare from Providence to Boston, which rose to $7.75 at the beginning of the year, Peter Pan Bus Lines now offers a less expensive travel option.

Every Saturday and Sunday, the company will now charge $5 for a one-way ticket from the corner of Brook Street and Power Street to Boston’s South Station or Logan Airport. For a limited time, Peter Pan will also sell steeply discounted packages of weekday tickets.

The bus trip from Providence to Boston takes approximately 55 minutes, compared to 63 minutes on the commuter rail. Peter Pan offers at least hourly service to Boston.

— Stephanie Bernhard

mtvU acquires RateMyProfessors.com On Jan. 17, mtvU, MTV’s network specifically for college students, purchased RateMyProfessors.com, a Web site that allows college students to write critiques of their professors for the benefit of their peers.

Brown students have used the site to rate a total of 444 University professors in 41 departments. The site contains 6.6 million ratings of over 900,000 professors.

According to MTV, mtvU’s acquisition of RateMyProfessors.com, which is expected to take place formally in early 2007, will make mtvU’s platform the second-most trafficked set of general interest college-focused Web sites on the Internet. The mtvU network is already broadcast to 750 colleges and universities nationwide, for a total enrollment of 7.2 million students.

— Stephanie Bernhard

Eunice Hong / Herald

Students waited in line on Wednesday to buy textbooks at the Brown Bookstore. BooksOnCampus.com, a new online service partnered with Facebook.com, proposes to make this task easier through a service that lets students exchange textbooks among themselves.

BooksOnCampus.com enables student-to-student textbook sales

BY RACHEL ARNDT

Bucking trend, U. expands tenure-track faculty posts

BY JESSICA ROTONDI STAFF WRITER

Brown has more permanent, tenure-track professors as a percentage of its faculty than do many other universities, while more schools across the country are hiring more part-time faculty members, reports the American Association of University Professors.

The AAUP report, released in December, tracked growth among U.S. universities in contingent faculty appointments — part-time positions limited to a single course for a single semester or non-tenure full-time fixed-term positions.

The data were collected in the fall of 2005.

Only 18.3 percent of full-time Brown faculty are not tenured or on the tenure track, compared to 45.4 percent at Harvard and 33.5 percent at Yale. Part-time faculty constitute 14.3 percent of Brown

faculty members, while Harvard’s faculty is 20.5 percent part-time, and Yale’s is 25.3 percent.

Though Brown fares better than Harvard and Yale in contingent faculty numbers, at the University of Pennsylvania only 2.4 percent of the faculty are not on a tenuretrack. Part-time faculty make up 14.1 percent of Penn professors — unusually low among the 2,600 U.S. colleges and universities listed in the report.

John Curtis, director of research and public policy for the AAUP and author of the report, said he believes hiring more parttime professors endangers academic freedom.

“They are afraid of doing anything controversial, which means that they are not going to be exposing students to the full range of ideas surrounding issues,” he continued on page 13

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Shopping period brings more than searching for the right classes — it also means finding textbooks at affordable prices.

BooksOnCampus.com, a new online service that has partnered with Facebook.com, aims to make that task easier for students this semester by allowing them to buy and sell textbooks amongst themselves.

Two Brandeis University graduates, Mark Kantor and Tim Suzman, as well as Suzman’s brother Ted, a student at Washington University in St. Louis, began the service in 2003.

The idea came to them after Tim Suzman paid $100 for a used calculus book from the Brandeis bookstore. After he discovered that the bookstore was willing to buy a used copy from another student for only $15, he returned the original copy and purchased the book from a classmate for only $50, Kantor wrote in an email to The Herald.

The trio first offered the service at Brandeis and, according

to Kantor, it “caught on really well.” Soon, they said, half the students at Brandeis — about 1,500 students — were using the site. The Brandeis bookstore was annoyed at first, Kantor wrote, but “it’s our job to inform students that their intuitions are right — the bookstore rips them off on used textbooks.”

Now students at more than 700 colleges and universities use BooksOnCampus.com, Kantor wrote.

With the BooksOnCampus. com service, a student at Brown interested in selling a textbook could post an asking price on the site and another Brown student looking for the same book could express interest. The students then negotiate a price and arrange to meet to exchange the book for cash.

A “like new” copy of “Principle of Economics,” the textbook for EC 11: “Principles of Economics,” is available for $73.50 on BooksOnCampus.com, while at the Brown Bookstore, a used copy — currently unavailable — costs $132. But availability could be a problem: no Brown

www.browndailyherald.com

students are currently selling the book on the site, though interested EC 11 students could purchase the book from someone at another college and have it shipped.

For books not available from other students, BooksOnCampus.com links to Amazon.com.

For instance, “The End of the Affair” by Graham Greene, a book used in EL 80: “Writing War,” costs $10 new from Amazon.com and $10.50 used from the Brown Bookstore.

Despite competition from Internet-based services like BooksOnCampus.com, the Brown Bookstore is “surviving pretty well,” wrote Edward Weiss, manager of the textbook department of the Brown Bookstore in an e-mail to The Herald.

As for BooksOnCampus. com, its founders have big plans for expansion to new campuses, assisted by Facebook, which allows BooksOnCampus.com to use Facebook accounts as an alternative to creating separate accounts specifically for the site. Kantor said the partnership drives visitors to both sites.

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2007

Nash ’10 named as national winner in Levi’s model search continued from page 1 in front of each other,” she said.

Inside the store, Levi’s employees were asking customers if they would pose for photos as part of the company’s nationwide search for new denim models.

Nash and Rezendes agreed to participate in the model search, which also took place at the University of Tennessee, George Washington University and the University of California, Santa Barbara. The purpose of the style search was “to get college-real people,” to model the jeans, said Melissa Ladines, women’s publicity manager for Levi’s.

At the end of the semester, Nash and Rezendes were informed they had been selected from approximately 2,000 entrants as nationwide winners, Ladines said. Levi’s flew them to New York City in January for a photo shoot at Milk Studios in

Manhattan.

Nash and Joseph Marcos, a sophomore at the University of California, Santa Barbara, were selected

“You just have to stand there and look pretty with some jeans on.”

Stephanie Rezendes Rhode Island College junior and Levi’s Style Search national winner as the grand prize winners. The advertisements featuring the winners will run in the magazine Us Weekly in April, according to Levi’s.

The girls, along with the other winners, spent over nine hours in

ASIAN EARTHQUAKE FORCES EXTENSION OF ADMISSION DEADLINE “A handful” of students affected by a Dec. 26 earthquake in Taiwan will have until Jan. 31 to apply for admission for the class of 2011, according to Dean of Admission James Miller ‘73.

The one-month extension is for applicants from Taiwan and large parts of mainland China, Miller said, including the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Hongzhou and Souzhou. Brown admission officers visited some of those cities during a twoweek recruiting trip to China

last fall.

Miller estimated that fewer than 15 applicants from the affected areas needed the extra time for their applications.

Last year, Brown and a number of other universities extended admission deadlines for students affected by Hurricane Katrina, Miller said. “Historically, during responses to natural disasters, there have been extended deadlines,” he said.

— James Shapiro

the studio for the photo shoot.

“It felt like being on ‘The Real World,’ being in the photo shoots with people I didn’t know,” Rezendes said.

“We didn’t spend a long time getting ready for it,” Nash said. The style was kept simple, with Nash modeling in jeans and a t-shirt against a white background. “It was pretty informal,” she said.

“You just have to stand there and look pretty with some jeans on,” Rezendes added.

The photo shoot was the first professional modeling experience for both women. Still, neither intends to pursue future modeling opportunities. “It was a fun experience, but I don’t have any plans for it,” Nash said, and Rezendes, a fourth-generation Cape Verdean who lives in Pawtucket and studies psychology, said her stint as a Levi’s model “was just a one-time thing.”

2011 admission up continued from page 1 N.Y., took a similarly realistic view of her prospects for admission.

“I think that I have a chance, but getting into any of the top colleges is like having your name drawn out from a lottery,” Jagoda said.

Admission officers began reviewing applications before winter break began, and are now reading seven days a week. “We’ve got an enormous number of applications to get through, and it’s gratifying to be that popular,” Miller said.

Fewer Brown alums join Peace Corps in 2006 continued from page 1 “They’ve all been ver y interested in it for years because of their background or upbringing — they’ve known about it for a while.”

“A lot of the people (at Brown) are interested in service work, adventurous (and) always full of questions of what Peace Corps does and where we go,” she added.

The significant time commitment entailed by joining the Peace Corps — two years of service plus a three-month orientation — may be a factor in the decrease in volunteer numbers.

“It’s a big decision to leave for two years,” said Hannah Lantos ’06, who recently joined the Peace Corps. “I think there may also be a little bit of cynicism … because it’s run by the United States government — there’s critique of that, always.”

Ultimately, it was a former volunteer who convinced Lantos to join. “I was speaking to someone who had volunteered with the Peace Corps, and they described it as one of the best ways to learn sincere empathy for learning to work with people, which defined what I thought the Peace Corps

was about.”

Lantos is heading to Zambia this week. A development studies concentrator at Brown, she believes her education prepared her for the work on a radio education program that awaits her in Zambia.

“I think that the freedom and flexibility is a big advantage — being ready to handle what comes your way and negotiate what you want,” Lantos said of her Brown experience. “I think (Brown) is ver y similar to the Peace Corps.

It’s easy to go with the flow or determine your project and what you want to get out of it. Having that experience at Brown on a smaller scale will definitely be an advantage.”

Lantos also appreciates the support from her family and friends. “Brown students understand spending two years in another countr y. So many other volunteers have family and friends that don’t seem to get it,” she said. “A lot of my friends got it when I told them about it.”

Though a two-year endeavor may seem daunting to graduating seniors, Zuk said the experience is worth it.

“Sometimes (students are)

juggling with different opportunities and need a shorter amount of time,” Zuk said. “Any returned volunteer you talk to (says) the time flies by. In the scheme of your whole life, two years is so short, and the impact is so profound.”

Zuk herself volunteered with the Peace Corps in Uganda after she earned her undergraduate and master’s degrees. “It’s so great to be a Peace Corps recruiter. I can talk about my experience (in Uganda) for my work,” she said.

The 27 Brown alums are currently ser ving in 20 countries and working on over 11 development projects, according to Peace Corps spokeswoman Joanna O’Brien.

In the 45 years since the Peace Corps was founded, Brown has sent 569 volunteers overseas. In an e-mail to The Herald, O’Brien reiterated the qualities that usually attract students to the Peace Corps.

“These students might see Peace Corps as one of the routes they can take both to fulfill their desire to give back and to discover more about the world and about themselves,” O’Brien wrote.

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CAMPUS N EWS THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2007

U. launches assault support Web site Students either unhappy or unaware

Midyear transfer orientation welcomes 27 new students

BY KRISTINA KELLEHER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

BY SCOTT LOWENSTEIN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

A new Web site providing resources for abuse, assault and discrimination is now available for students.

Campus Life officials launched the site after a series of student complaints that the University’s previous efforts to provide information for victims of assault and abuse were inefficient.

The site was created to consolidate information about such issues and incidents on and around campus.

“We saw what we perceived as a lack of accessibility to information surrounding these issues,” said Russell Carey ’91 MA’06, interim vice president for campus life and student services. For example, information regarding discrimination was found on the Web site of the Office of Institutional Diversity, where a student may not know to look, while information about related issues could only be found on the Web sites for Health Education or the Office of Student Life, Carey said.

“We realize that these are different issues, but what they have in common is that Brown takes them very seriously,” Carey said. “We needed a way to consolidate what information was available to make it more user-friendly, and I think that this Web site makes the information accessible and easy to find.”

The Web site’s home page provides telephone numbers for a crisis hotline, Health Services and an administrator on-call as well as links to subsections about harassment and discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual assault and dating abuse. Each of these specific subsections gives a definition of the offense, information about how to seek assistance and external links about the topic.

The creation of the new Web site follows a semester of “protests and activism” spurred by issues surrounding sexual assaults,

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

The Division of Campus Life and Student Services has created a support Web site providing information and resources about harassment.

discrimination and hate crimes, said Margaret Klawunn, associate vice president for campus life and dean of student life. Klawunn cited the formation of the student group Coalition for Police Accountability and Institutional Transparency as an impetus for creating the site.

“Students were confused about what resources should be accessed and who to contact, and it was clear that even though we were providing information, we were not doing it in such a way that was easily accessible,” Klawunn said.

Once the students’ concerns were brought to the attention of University officials, representatives from the OSL, Sarah Doyle Women’s Center, Health Education, Psychological Services and other offices assessed the availability of resources for sexual assault, abuse and discrimination. The group decided to create the Web site to provide “24-hour, consolidated information in one central location,” Klawunn said.

Campus life administrators sent a campus-wide e-mail before winter break to publicize the Web site, but administrators involved with the project stressed the need to increase awareness.

University officials stress their efforts to publicize the site and make it accessible, but Josh Teitelbaum ’08 and Gina Rodriguez ’08

told The Herald that the site only serves as a “PR tool” for the administration. Teitelbaum and Rodriguez are both student coordinators of CoPAIT but spoke to The Herald about their personal opinions and not on behalf of Co-PAIT. “The site does not make any changes, but instead takes language that (student organizers) have used and does not really address the questions posed,” Teitelbaum said.

“They need more than words on a page,” Rodriguez said. “You need actual policies, not just links to the same administrators that already haven’t done anything.”

Both students also noted their difficulty in finding the site, a lack of communication about the Web site to residential peer leaders and a lack of general knowledge about the site among students.

While several students said they were not aware of the Web site, not all had negative things to say about the information it contained.

Lucy Stark ’10 was not aware of the site until asked about it by The Herald, but she praised it as wellorganized and easy to use after accessing it.

“I appreciated the number of venues available on the site,” Stark said. Still, Stark thinks the Web site should be more publicized.

“It’s a great resource if people know about it,” she said.

Brown students play a role that is historically different from their counterparts at other universities, Professor of Biology Jonathan Waage told 27 midyear transfer and visiting students Monday. In the midyear orientation workshop, Waage pointed to the innovations of previous students and emphasized each student’s responsibility to improve the University community.

The two-and-a-half day midyear transfer and visiting student orientation is a scaleddown version of the fall transfer and visiting student orientation that takes place during Orientation week in the fall, when firstyears arrive on campus.

This year, both the midyear transfer and visiting orientation and the fall transfer and visiting orientation were coordinated by three transfer students who have been enrolled at Brown since the fall of 2004 — Samantha Harrington ’07, Andrew Lipsky ’07 and Drew Nobile ’07.

In addition to the advising workshop on Monday, the new students participated in a workshop on registration, shopping period and other academic matters with Associate Dean of the College Carolyn Denard and a diversity discussion with Associate Dean of Student Life Robert Samuels.

The only other workshop offered for midyear students was “Beyond Academics: Keeping Mind, Body and Soul Together,” presented by Associate Dean of the Graduate School and Student Life Carla Hansen.

Hansen’s workshop was the only midyear orientation event that was not well-attended, Harrington said.

Waage and Denard are the primary advisers for midyear transfer students. Most trans-

fers are unaccustomed to having deans as advisers, as deans are typically associated with disciplinary concerns at other institutions, Waage said.

The students who serve as transfer counselors organized most of the orientation schedule and were responsible for setting the tone of the events.

Nobile said they tailored the program to the needs of transfer students, who have already been to college and therefore “don’t need to learn how to share a room or handle homesickness,” Nobile said.

The nine transfer counselors, including the coordinators, organized evening events to encourage social interaction and ran Denard’s registration workshop. Evening activities ranged from ice-skating downtown to hanging out in counselors’ offcampus apartments. Transfer orientation — especially midyear — is low-key and laid-back, and the relatively low number of midyear transfers makes the group particularly tight-knit, Harrington said.

The 24 midyear transfers T now entering Brown join the 22 transfer students who matriculated in the fall of 2006, comprising the smallest full-year transfer class in recent years.

In the fall of 2005, 145 transfer students walked through the Van Wickle Gates.

The decrease in transfer population is not permanent, Waage said. He said he expects the fall transfer class size will resemble previous years. It comes down to having a “place to put them,” since the number of beds available for transfers depends on yield of the freshman class and number of students studying abroad, Waage said. The class of 2010, which entered Brown in the fall of 2006, had a higherthan-expected yield, which may have contributed to fewer slots available for transfer students.

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2007

University committee recommends required summer reading, shorter Orientation schedule continued from page 1 Administrators say past Orientations have been marked by problems with alcohol consumption and sexual misconduct, and the report expresses hope that a more condensed Orientation schedule would reduce such problems.

“We know consistently that Orientation is one of the high-risk times in terms of EMS calls,” said Director of Health Education Frances Mantak, a member of the committee.

“That’s always been a concern, and it’s one of the things we talked about in terms of whether or not to shorten Orientation.”

Concerns about alcohol consumption and student conduct were “definitely an undercurrent underneath a lot of the suggestions,” said Matt Bauman ’10, a member of the committee.

The new “First Weekend” — the first weekend after classes begin — is also intended to create more structured time during a traditionally troublesome period, Carey said.

The report also recommends that the class meeting dealing with sexual assault be placed earlier in the Orientation schedule.

According to the report, another benefit of moving the beginning of Orientation to Labor Day weekend is that it allows parents to bring their children to Brown and attend Orientation programming for parents without interrupting the work week.

The academic character of Orientation would also change with the new summer reading requirement and planned small-group discussions about the assigned book to be held during Orientation. Strengthening the academic nature of Orientation was of particular interest to Bergeron.

Although the report sets a plan to sharpen the academic focus of Orientation programming, the committee acknowledged that incoming students may not be enthusiastic about the reading requirement. “We need to carefully think about how to sell this idea to the incoming class,” the report says. “This initiative will be ineffective if a significant proportion of the class do (sic) not read the book.”

Bergeron said there was “no guarantee” that students would do the reading, but she expressed confidence that students would be engaged by a multifaceted and compelling text. “The way to try to ensure engagement has to do with good pedagogy,” she said. “It has to do with coming up with the right angle.”

The report recommends that the faculty Convocation speaker selects the required book for incoming first-years and suggests that an alumni group covers the cost of the books.

The report stops short of recommending a day-long seminar program, which had been proposed by

Bergeron. The committee also considered adding a writing requirement. Though no consensus on the writing initiative was reached, “a key part of the discussion of writing concluded that Orientation did not present good opportunities to evaluate writing,” the report states.

To reduce the number of class meetings, the report calls for eliminating the gathering currently known as Class Meeting I — traditionally held on the Main Green the Wednesday before classes start as an Orientation kick-off event — in favor of a new welcome ceremony on the Sunday afternoon of Labor Day weekend.

The class meeting dealing with the academic and non-academic codes and alcohol and drug safety would be shortened by 30 minutes and focus less on University regulations if the committee’s recommendations are adopted. The committee did not call for changing the format of the other two existing class meetings, which cover sexual assault and diversity.

Some of the strongest language in the report addressed the current management and organization of Orientation, saying that it is “inefficient, confusing and largely works on an ad hoc basis” and that Orientation has “unclear and perhaps inadequate support staff.” However, the report does not go into much detail about these concerns and does not propose solutions.

W ORLD & N ATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2007

WO R L D I N B R I E F Hezbollah, allies call off general strike in Lebanon BEIRUT, Lebanon (Los Angeles Times) — By the time morning commuters headed off to work Wednesday, the fires had been snuffed out. The roadblocks had melted away. The rampaging youth who were burning cars and choking off the nation’s roads seemed to have evaporated.

As quickly as they mobilized a vast network of demonstrators to lay siege to much of the country, Hezbollah and its anti-government allies pulled Lebanon back from a fiery day of sectarian tensions and street fights by calling off a general strike.

The sudden peace Wednesday was nearly as disconcerting as the explosion of violence the day before, which left three people dead and more than 100 injured, including nearly 50 who suffered gunshot wounds. Like the massive strike led by Hezbollah, the calm was a reminder that the country’s fate is under the control of a few political leaders — especially the Shiite Muslim movement’s leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah.

“It’s bizarre, but somehow it’s also very typically Lebanese,” said Kerim Makdisi, a political science professor at the American University of Beirut. “They can turn it on and turn it off.”

Kerry rules out 2008 presidential run WASHINGTON (Washington Post) — Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., ruled out a second presidential bid Wednesday, asserting that he could do more to change the course of Iraq policy in the Senate than by campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire.

“I’ve concluded this isn’t the time for me to mount a presidential campaign,” Kerry said on the Senate floor. “I intend to work here to change a policy in Iraq that threatens all that I have worked for and cared about since I came home from Vietnam.”

Since his 2004 loss to President Bush, Kerry had left open the possibility of a return run for national office. He had emerged as one of the most vociferous voices in opposition to the war in Iraq and spent much of the 2006 election traveling the country in support of Democratic candidates. Much of that work was forgotten when, a little more than a week before the election, he made a remark that Republicans said disparaged U.S. troops in Iraq. He insisted it was nothing more than a botched joke but quickly apologized.

U.S. preparing new push in Afghanistan WASHINGTON (Washington Post) — After the bloodiest year in Afghanistan since the U.S. invasion, the Bush administration is preparing a series of new military, economic and political initiatives aimed partly at pre-empting an expected offensive this spring by Taliban insurgents, according to senior U.S. officials.

Even as it trumpeted a change of course in Iraq this month, the White House has also completed a review of U.S. policy in Afghanistan. It will ask Congress for $7 billion to $8 billion in new funds for security, reconstruction and other projects in Afghanistan as part of the upcoming budget package, officials said.

That would represent a sizable increase in the U.S. commitment to the strife-torn country; since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban, the U.S. has provided a little more than $14 billion in assistance for Afghanistan, the State Department says.

Chinese leader intervenes in death of journalist BEIJING (Los Angeles Times) — Lan Chengzhang could have been just another crime statistic.

But in a rare move Wednesday, Chinese President Hu Jintao ordered a speedy investigation into the killing of the 34-year-old Chinese journalist who was attacked on his way to meet the owner of an illegal coal mine in northern China.

Lan’s beating death this month triggered protests from domestic and international media groups, which have demanded stronger protections for Chinese journalists, who face significant government restraints and harrowing conditions.

Hu’s intervention was “very unusual,” noted Jin Canrong, deputy dean of the international relations school at Renmin University.

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

N.C. bar charges prosecutor with ethics violations

BY RICHARD FAUSSET LOS ANGELES T IMES

ATLANTA — The North Carolina State Bar on Wednesday leveled new ethics charges against the former prosecutor in the Duke lacrosse sexual assault case, alleging he withheld potentially exculpator y DNA evidence and misled a judge and defense attorneys.

Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong recently handed the high-profile case over to the state attorney general after the bar charged him with making statements in the media that were likely to prejudice the trial.

If convicted by a disciplinar y commission, Nifong could be suspended or disbarred.

The accuser in the case — a stripper who originally said she was raped by three lacrosse team members in March during a party where she performed — has given conflicting statements.

Central to the charges filed Wednesday against Nifong are DNA samples collected by a nurse

who examined the accuser.

Tests performed by a private lab found DNA from several men.

But those samples did not match the DNA profiles of any of the 46 lacrosse team members who had submitted samples to the police.

According to the complaint, Nifong told the director of the lab that the final report should not discuss the unidentified DNA samples.

The information was left out of the report that Nifong shared with the defense. The 10-page document did make note of DNA found on the woman’s fingernails that was a partial match with two unindicted Duke players, and DNA from a vaginal swab that matched her boyfriend’s DNA profile. But Nifong did not turn over the other evidence, despite a May 17 discover y request for “any … examinations or tests conducted by the expert.”

Nifong’s attorney, David Freedman, said that the district attorney turned over the remaining DNA evidence in late October.

The complaint said Nifong “did

not make timely disclosure to the defense of all evidence or information known to him that tended to negate the guilt of the accused,” in violation of the state’s conduct rules for lawyers.

The complaint also alleges that Nifong made “misrepresentations and false statements” to the court and defense attorneys about the undisclosed DNA evidence.

Freedman said he would be filing a detailed response to the allegations in about 30 days. For now, he said, “We deny that Mike Nifong was intentionally involved in any misconduct.”

Suspects Reade Seligman and Colin Finnerty, both 20, and David Evans, 23, remain free on bail.

They originally were charged with rape, but Nifong dropped the charges in December after the accuser said she was not sure that she had been vaginally penetrated by a penis — a requirement for a rape charge under state law.

They still face charges of kidnapping and sexual assault.

Nifong is scheduled to face trial on the ethics charges in May.

Senate panel votes against Bush strategy for Iraq, deeming it against ‘national interest’

BY JONATHAN WEISMAN WASHINGTON POST

WASHINGTON — A day after President Bush pleaded with Congress to give his Iraq policy one last chance, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee rebuffed him by approving a nonbinding resolution declaring his troop increase in Iraq to be against “the national interest.”

The committee voted 12 to 9 Wednesday to send a resolution of disapproval of the president’s Iraq policy to the Senate floor next week, setting up what could be the most dramatic confrontation between Congress and the Bush administration since the war was launched four years ago. Many Republicans voiced anguish over the president’s policy, but only one, Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., a co-sponsor, voted in support of the resolution.

While some lawmakers and anti-war activists have dismissed the resolution as largely meaningless, senior Republicans and White House officials have worked furiously to minimize Republican defections, worried that a large, bipartisan vote would

have significant political and international repercussions.

“In an open democracy, we voice our agreements and disagreements in public, and we should not be reticent to do so.

But official roll call votes carry a unique message,” said Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., the Foreign Relations Committee’s senior Republican. A vote for the resolution “will confirm to our friends and allies that we are divided and in disarray,” he said.

But Hagel implored his colleagues to take a stand after four years of docile acquiescence.

“What do you believe? What are you willing to support? What do you think? Why were you elected?” he asked. “If you wanted a safe job, go sell shoes. This is a tough business.”

But the committee’s partisan divide belied the deep undercurrent of GOP misgivings, as one Republican after another spoke out against the deployment of 21,500 additional troops to bolster the faltering government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Lugar called the Bush strategy “dubious” even as he denounced the resolution as “the legislative

equivalent of a sound bite.” Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H., said additional troops should not be deployed until the Iraqi government showed more resolve. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said she opposed the president and was not afraid to tell him so. And Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, said he had delivered a tough message to the White House personally: “You are not listening.”

“Congress has allowed this war to go on without anyone having a stake,” said an exasperated Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. “We passed the debt on to future generations.

Nobody has sacrificed but the military men and women and the families.”

Republican leaders’ efforts in the House to placate their members with calls for tougher oversight also appeared to be faltering.

Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., introduced his own resolution of disapproval Wednesday, calling for the administration to adopt in full the recommendations of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, recommendations that Bush has largely rejected.

Democratic divisions were continued on page 11

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2007

W. hoops struggles to beat Bulldogs continued from page 16 game, the Bears faced off against highly touted No. 10 University of Georgia. Even though Brown was overmatched by the Bulldogs’ talent, some hot shooting in the first half kept the game close. Brown shot 57 percent in the first 20 minutes and was tied 40-40 at the half.

In the second half, the Bulldogs turned to their All-American candidate, Tasha Humphrey. She converted 11 second-half points while her teammate in the post, Cori Chambers, pitched in eight.

Despite being unable to pull away in the second half, Georgia built an insurmountable 61-53 lead with 6:33 to go in the contest. The Bulldogs continued to execute their offense down the stretch en route to an 8269 victory.

“I thought we played very well against Georgia,” Burr said. “We really shot the ball well, but just didn’t have enough at the end.”

In its first game of 2007, Brown traveled across the country to face the Temple University Owls. The Owls were too much from start to finish, and their half-court trapping defense and hot shooting blitzed the Bears. The inside outside duo of Lady Comfort and Kamesha Hairston were too much for Bruno. Comfort netted 12 points and eight rebounds while Hairston contributed 19 points en route to a 71-37 victory for the Owls.

Tough defense and poor shooting hurt Brown in a 73-50 loss to George Mason University. Lindsay Walls ’10 led the team with eight points while the Bears shot a paltry 33 percent from the field.

On Jan. 13, Brown opened its Ivy League season at Yale. The Bulldogs forced 20 Brown turnovers in the first half en route to a 31-18 halftime lead. That 13-point deficit was as close as Brown would get. The Bulldogs opened things up in the second half behind Erica Davis, who ended the game with 21 points and 11 rebounds. Yale built a 20-point lead midway through the second half and ended up winning by that margin, 69-49.

Bruno finally stopped its sixgame losing streak a week later, with a solid effort against Yale in a rematch. Yale was off to a hot start once again, building a 34-19 advantage with 6:23 in the first half. But the Bears went on a 13-4 run to cut the lead to six at the half.

Brown continued to methodically chip away at the Bulldogs’ lead in the second half. Catherine Schaper ’09 scored a career-high 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting.

“She matched up really well against Yale’s center,” Burr said.

“Courtney Lee (’10) was able to penetrate into the lane and find Catherine, and Catherine finished really well.”

Brown took its first lead of the game at 48-47 with 9:02 left in the contest. Despite surges from the Bulldogs, Brown protected its lead down the stretch.

Annesley O’Neal ’08 went 5-of-6 from the charity stripe to seal the 6760 victory for the Bears.

Bruno now has some momentum going into the heart of its Ivy season. With no dominant team in the mix, this weekend’s games against Harvard and Dartmouth are crucial if the Bears want to return to their 2006 champion form.

“Our first-years and sophomores have adjusted very nicely,” Burr said. “But we have to step it up and continue to play well defensively.”

THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

‘Grey’s Anatomy’s’ Washington begins counseling

BY MARTIN MILLER LOS ANGELES T IMES

HOLLYWOOD — “Grey’s Anatomy” star Isaiah Washington checked into a residential treatment center Wednesday morning for psychological counseling stemming from his repeated uses of homophobic slurs, most recently at the Golden Globes award ceremony.

“I regard this as a necessary step toward understanding why I did what I did and making sure it never happens again,” Washington said in a statement released by his publicist. “I appreciate the fact that I have been given this opportunity, and I remain committed to transforming my negative actions into positive results, personally and professionally.”

“Grey’s Anatomy” creator and executive producer Shonda Rhimes, who has been criticized for her silence regarding Washington’s use of an anti-gay epithet, issued a statement Wednesday as well.

“I speak for all the executive producers here at ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ when I say that Isaiah Washington’s use of such a disturbing

word was a shocking and dismaying event that insulted not only gays and lesbians everywhere but anyone who has ever struggled for respect in a world that is not always accepting of difference.”

“We’ve been working within the ‘Grey’s’ family as well as with ABC and Touchstone Television to address the issue in a way that underscores the gravity of the situation while giving us all a foundation for healing,” Rhimes said.

Neither Washington, who met with gay rights activists earlier in the week, nor ABC would comment further. It’s unclear how long Washington’s treatment will last, but the 43-year-old father of three for now will retain his starring role as Dr. Preston Burke.

His position on the ensemble cast was called into question earlier this month after he used a gay slur in reference to cast member T.R. Knight during a post-Golden Globe awards news conference.

That remark followed an October incident on set in which Washington employed the word to describe Knight. Initially, Washington denied ever using the slurs but last week issued a lengthy public apology.

Bush fuel plan faces tough hurdles

BY TOM INCANTALUPO NEWSDAY

President Bush’s plan to cut the nation’s gasoline consumption 20 percent by 2017 with more efficient cars and trucks, as well as greater use of alternate fuels such as ethanol, face tough technical and political realities, energy experts said Wednesday.

But analysts said Bush’s proposals, announced in his State of the Union address Tuesday, could

be important first steps toward change.

While there is little disagreement with the goal of reducing the nation’s dependence on oil, progress is likely to be painfully slow, analysts said. They cited technical problems and international political impediments to large development of alternative sources, as well as domestic political realities as the 2008 presidential election approaches. continued on page 13

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2007

W. swimming loses to Quakers for the second time ever continued from page 16 close the 60-point gap. Bailey Langner ’10 won the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:24.43. Later, the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Becky Kowalsky ’07, Goodman, Brush and Susannah Ford ’10 recorded a time of 3:40.66, edging out teammates Ainsley McFadgen ’09, Lindsay McKenna ’07, Anna Gleyzer ’10 and Lauren Harlow ’07.

Overall, the Bears collected mostly second-place finishes.

They totaled eight in by the meet’s end. Kowalsky completed the 200-yard freestyle in 1:54.28, less than a second behind Penn’s Sara Coenen.

Brush swam the 100-yard backstroke in 59.58 and the 200-yard backstroke in 2:05.39 to place second in both events. Wyatt earned two second-place finishes for herself, clocking in at 1:07.53 in the 100-yard breaststroke and 2:10.97 in the 200yard individual medley.

Wallace found herself in second place as well, swimming the 100-yard butterfly in 59.26.

Earlier in the day, she had taken third in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:07.30, but she was satisfied with her results.

“I’m happy,” she said. “My times were some of the best I’ve had this season.”

Goodman, who was impressive in both of the team’s early-season conference victories, had a more difficult time in her first meet of 2007. She recorded times of 24.80 in the 50yard freestyle and 54.45 in the 100-yard freestyle for two thirdplace finishes.

“I should have won,” Goodman said. “They were all really close.”

Other third-place finishers included Cocco, who swam the 100-yard butterfly in 59.36, a tenth of a second behind Wallace. McFadgen completed the 1,000-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle in 10:23.56 and 5:07.20, respectively.

In diving, Katie Olko ’10 took second place in the one-meter dive with a score of 247.65, while Latinen finished third with 243.45 points. In the threemeter dive, Jessica Williams ’09 earned 269.18 points for second place, behind only Latinen.

The Bears may have defeated the Quakers in ever y meet from 1989 to 2006, but they acknowledged the opposing squad’s strengths this time around.

“They have a really good freshman class, and they swam really well,” Wallace said.

But Goodman believes the Bears would have come out on top if they had been well rested. “Any other day would have been different,” she said. “We were really tired, but I know that’s not an excuse.”

The squad is back in action Saturday against Yale in New Haven, Conn. Until then, Goodman said the team needs “to rest a little more and let our bodies recover.” Even with Brown’s focus and determination, beating the Bulldogs will be no easy task.

“They’re looking really strong,” Wallace said. “We’re going to tr y to put up a fight.”

THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2007

DeOssie ‘07 shows stuff in all-star game continued from page 16 DeOssie lowered his shoulder and delivered a blow that sent the returner sprawling to the ground.

DeOssie ser ved as the team’s long-snapper for the rest of the game. In the fourth quarter, he got on the field on the defensive side of the ball. On a run to the far side of the field, DeOssie sprinted across the line of scrimmage before tackling the ball-carrier just before he reached the sideline.

“He was making plays all over the field,” said Brown Head Coach Phil Estes. “He had some great snaps, got down the field … (he) has great range, and he can run.”

The Monday before the game, DeOssie practiced with the East team in multiple sessions ever y day. His squad included Bowl Championship Conference stars such as wide receiver Steve Breaston of the University of Michigan and quarterback Drew Tate of the University of Iowa. He was coached by Miami Dolphins legend Don Shula.

“I really felt like I was fitting in with those guys at the end,” DeOssie said. “Coming from a small school you don’t see that level of player all the time.”

One of DeOssie’s biggest challenges was impressing the 250-plus NFL scouts who attended the practices and workouts.

“The name ‘DeOssie’ is a great icebreaker,” DeOssie wrote in a blog post about his

week written for the Andover Eagle-Tribune, his hometown newspaper. “But after that it’s down to business … my family and friends can’t get me to the NFL.” When DeOssie wasn’t practicing, his downtime was filled with inter views with NFL scouts.

While the scouts had studied game film of each of the players, they were eager to get a feel for the off-the-field personalities of DeOssie and his teammates.

“It was like a meat market out there,” Estes said. “He’d have scouts looking at him and talking to him when he was in his under wear.”

While DeOssie had hoped that the East would win the game for the second year in a row, he wasn’t overly disappointed about losing.

“It’s mostly a game for the countr y to watch,” DeOssie said. “You’re with a coaching staff who is from 1972. They’re a little outdated, so it’s mostly about being with the team and tr ying to play your best.”

DeOssie not only had to learn brand new defensive schemes in order to play the game, but he had to learn them from a different position. At Brown, DeOssie played as an inside linebacker in a 4-4 defensive front, but scouts project DeOssie as a more prototypical outside linebacker. As a result, DeOssie played the strong-side outside linebacker in Shula’s 4-3 formation.

During the fourth quarter of the game, the ESPN commen-

tators mentioned DeOssie as a possible replacement for 31year-old New England Patriots outside linebacker Mike Vrabel. Estes agreed that the Patriots could use some linebacking help in the near future, but he said DeOssie’s possible future squad depends on team needs.

“The (Patriots) linebackers are getting kind of old so maybe that’s a possibility, but some teams may need other positions and be looking at him as well,” Estes said.

Realistically, DeOssie will probably be a second-day pick, going in the last few rounds of the seven-round draft. But according to Estes, DeOssie’s invitation to NFL scouting events gives him an advantage that former Brown stars — running back Nick Hartigan ’06, who played in the Shrine game last year, and wide receiver Sean Morey ’99 — did not have.

In addition to playing in the Shrine game, DeOssie was invited to the NFL Combine, a workout for top NFL prospects from Feb. 21–Feb 27. He will spend the next three weeks preparing for the combine by working out with his trainer in Winchester, Mass., four days a week, driving back and forth from College Hill each day. Estes feels that all of DeOssie’s hard work will pay off come Draft Day in late April. “(The NFL) will love his skill set, and they’ll love his personality. He’s gonna go. He’ll be on a team in the NFL pretty soon,” he said.

M. swimming downs Penn after Florida trip continued from page 16 then recorded his third win of the afternoon in the 200-yard individual medley, swimming a time of 1:56.03.

Head Coach Peter Brown was not surprised at the performances of his swimmers at the meet.

“They are swimming at the level where they should be,” Brown said. “I told them not to tr y to do something earth-shattering or out of this world, but just doing the things that they know they can and then good things will happen.”

The Brown swimmers finished the contest strong, winning their final swimming event of the meet with a 3:08.34 time in the 400-yard

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

freestyle relay. The swimmers secured the win for Bruno before the diving portion of the event even began.

The divers dominated across T the board in their portion of the event, placing first through third in both the one-meter and three-meter events. William Kai Robinson ’09 won the three-meter, recording a score of 322.50. Kambe took first in the one-meter with a score of 306.15. The first year’s outstanding performance landed him a spot alongside teammate Robinson at the NCAA Zones, where the most prominent divers in the Northeast region will vie for four slots in the NCAA Championships.

“To qualify for that event is an accomplishment at any year, but

the fact that he (Kambe) did it as a freshman is especially impressive,” said Diving Coach Guy Pollino. “To earn that score, he had to come out and hit all six of his dives and he did.”

The men’s swimming and diving team will be back in action against Harvard at the Smith Swim Center on Jan. 26 and will face Yale in New Haven, Conn., on Jan. 27. Despite the stiff competition the Bears expect from their Ivy League foes, the swimming and diving team is prepared to take on all challengers.

“We are in a good place physically and emotionally,” O’Mara said. “We are firing on all cylinders and we’re ready to go in there and surprise a lot of people.”

Senate panel votes against Bush strategy for Iraq continued from page 7 also on display, with the most ardent anti-war voices pleading for more dramatic action. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., tried to amend the nonbinding resolution with firm legislative language capping troop levels in Iraq at January levels, around 137,500.

“This is not a time for legislative nuancing,” said Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis. “This is not a time for trying to forge a compromise that everybody can be a part of. This is a time to stop the needless deaths of American troops in Iraq.”

But the Dodd amendment was defeated, 15 to 6, with five Democrats joining all Republicans in opposition.

The committee’s partisan vote strengthened the hand of Sen. John Warner, R-Va., and a bipartisan group of senators backing a less forceful resolution of opposition.

Warner and his co-sponsors, Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, went to the Senate floor last night to introduce their resolution of opposition, brandishing a raft of new co-sponsors, including Democrats Ken Salazar, Colo., Mary Landrieu, La., Claire McCaskill, Mo., and Bill Nelson, D.Fla., as well as Republicans Gordon Smith, Ore., and Norm Coleman, Minn.

Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Joseph Biden and Hagel said negotiations with Warner would begin immediately to try to find common ground on a resolution that would attract far more Republican support.

But they said that whatever language is sent to the floor will have to include the policy prescriptions that are in both resolutions: a statement against further deployments, a call for U.S. troops to be re-deployed to guard Iraq’s borders, focus on counterterrorism and speeding up the training of Iraqi troops, and a call for diplomatic efforts to engage Iraq’s neighbors in the pursuit of a political settlement to the war.

Wednesday’s debate foreshadowed what could be wrenching deliberations next week, haunted by the ghosts of Vietnam and the more-than-

3,000 U.S. dead in Iraq. The Foreign Relations Committee featured three decorated combat veterans of Vietnam — Hagel, Sen. John Kerr y, D-Mass., and Sen. James Webb, D-Va.--all of whom voted for the resolution of opposition.

Webb warned Wednesday against drawing what he called superficial parallels between the Iraq and Vietnam conflicts, but Kerry evoked the same language he had used in the early 1970s as an anti-war activist: “How do you ask a man to be the last to die for a mistake?”

While Republicans called for lawmakers to support the troops in Iraq, Kerry and Dodd recalled a meeting they had before Christmas with Capt. Brian Freeman, a 31-year-old Californian who had sought them out on an Iraqi helicopter landing pad to express his frustrations with the war. Freeman was on his way home on a short leave to visit his 14-month-old daughter and four-year-old son.

He was killed this weekend in an insurgent attack in Karbala.

“How many times are we going to repeat that before we accept our responsibility to get it right?” Kerry asked.

Opponents did not so much defend the president’s policies as castigate the Democrats’ chosen method of confrontation.

“We do not need a resolution to confirm that there is broad discomfort with the president’s plan within Congress,” Lugar said. “In fact, a vote on this resolution is likely to reveal far less discomfort than actually exists, since some members will vote against it because of its format.”

But several Republicans indicated they would vote for a resolution of opposition if the language is toned down. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, a presidential candidate, said he was in talks with Warner on a resolution he could embrace. Others were still awaiting some sign of compromise from the president.

“I have been waiting for the administration to extend an olive branch in an attempt to forge a compromise — a compromise that clearly expresses our concerns while leaving no doubt in the minds of our troops as well as our enemies that we stand united as a nation,” Voinovich said.

tenants

THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2007

National rise in part-time faculty positions sparks debate continued from page 3 said.

Dean of the Faculty Rajiv Vohra P’07 said the vast majority of professors hired through the Plan for Academic Enrichment are tenure-track faculty expected to have a long-term impact on the University.

Such tenured appointments are subject to approval by the University’s tenure, promotions and appointments committee, Vohra said.

Non-tenure faculty such as visiting professors and lecturers are nominated by their departments and approved by the dean of the faculty.

Brown, like other universities, primarily hires part-time faculty as writing or foreign language instructors. Curtis said this tendency has generated a growing group of people teaching on term contracts that are continually renewed — but without tenure.

The AAUP report argued that since many non-tenure faculty members are hired at the discretion of a single administrator, they become beholden to that individual for continued employment.

“Often the only way they evaluate teachers are based upon student evaluations,” Curtis said, adding that these are only partial indicators of a teacher’s abilities.

“Really the judgment as to whether or not someone should be hired in the first place is a professional judgment that needs to be made by peers.”

Vohra said part-time faculty can apply for permanent positions at the University. But part-time faculty must compete with applicants across the country and, increasingly, on an international level.

“This puts part–time faculty in an unfortunate position; they often hold several teaching jobs to make ends meet. This leaves no time for scholarship,” he said, noting they must compete with applicants straight out of graduate school.

“People in regular tenure positions have time and resources to devote regular time to scholarship.”

Carol DeBoer-Langworthy, a visiting lecturer in English who teaches expository writing classes, told The Herald that completing independent scholarship without tenure is difficult, though Brown has allowed her access to research facilities and exposure to a vibrant intellectual community.

“My research time comes out of my own time,” she wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. “I am fulltime; when starting out and parttime, there was more time, which allowed me to turn my dissertation into a published volume. Ad-

juncts work just as hard as ‘real’ professors.”

Vohra said that despite the drawbacks of contingent faculty positions, tenured teaching positions are not the best fit for all departments. “There are a small number of areas where it is more reasonable to look for people with a professional background, such as accounting, visual art and expository writing. These people do not necessarily see an academic career as involving full-time research and teaching and lead other, professional lives,” he said.

Part-time faculty can also be hired to fill “special needs” — existing gaps in departmental offerings, often due to faculty on leave, Vohra said. “This type of hiring is inevitable,” he said.

The AAUP report criticized such hiring, citing a lack of time to prepare course materials due to short notice that often means these faculty cannot select the textbooks or syllabus used in the class.

The report also argued that large numbers of contingent faculty, who are less likely to remain at one institution, leave many students without faculty relationships that could yield recommendations for scholarship funding or study abroad applications.

Brown has increased its number of lecturers by roughly six or seven people over the past five years, Vohra said. “It is a small number and not indicative of a change in policy. A change in our policy has not happened and is not going to happen.”

Curtis said part-time positions now have a stigma attached to them. “If you are already there in a particular department in a parttime capacity in a non-tenure track position, it is almost a situation of familiarity breeds contempt — somehow you are not taken as seriously,” he said.

“What we are arguing is not that the contingent faculty members themselves are somehow less able, that they are not good teachers or that they are not good scholars,” he said. “It is the position that they are put into, the structure of their employment itself, that makes it difficult for them to do their job.”

Curtis said the AAUP report, which he co-authored, is not intended as a specific policy recommendation for universities. Instead, he said he hopes the report and its accompanying data show the trend toward more contingent faculty and will attract attention.

“We want to stimulate discussion about what the trends have been and whether there is a need for change,” he said.

Bush fuel plan faces tough hurdles continued from page 9 Any significant effects aren’t likely to be felt until long after Bush has moved out of the White House, experts said. “Whatever change is going to come is not going to happen in the short term,” said analyst Mark Routt of Energy Security Analysis Inc., a consultancy in Wakefield, Mass.

Peter Beutel, an energy consultant and president of Cameron Hanover Inc. in New Canaan, Conn., said it’s significant that Bush, a Republican, and the Democrats who

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

now control Congress agree auto mileage standards should be increased. “For the president to embrace it, it has a good shot at happening,” he said. A company’s lineup of cars now must attain an average of 27.5 miles per gallon, while most light trucks such as vans, pickups and SUVs need an average of 22.2 mpg.

The U.S. Department of Transportation can raise light truck standards, but the law gives Congress exclusive authority over passenger cars. Bush wants that authority transferred to the transportation department as well.

2007 Hot Stove Report: Yankees up, Dodgers down continued from page 16 payroll Detroit Tigers (the Yankees payroll totaled $194.6 million), the Yankees have made all the right moves. Thanks in part to owner George Steinbrenner’s poor health and subsequent apathy towards the team, general manager Brian Cashman has had the freedom to do exactly what the Yankees needed: build team chemistry, strengthen the farm system and bolster the pitching staff with high-quality (not just big-name) players.

In their first major move, the Yanks traded ’roid-raging 38year-old Gary Sheffield to the Tigers for three pitching prospects, including highly-touted Humberto Sanchez. Instead of continuing the failed experiment of employing Sheffield at first base, the Yankees wisely cut their losses and moved on. They saved money, got rid of Sheffield’s “mefirst” attitude and restocked their young arms.

The Bronx Bombers second shrewd move was retaining Mike Mussina, their most reliable pitcher. Mussina has been a key component in the Yankees rotation since 2001, and resigning him was a top priority this winter. Cashman signed Moose to a 2-year, $23 million contract.

He is a proven winner in the playoffs (3.40 ERA in 22 games) and in the regular season (2006: 157, 3.51 ERA), and will continue to help the Yanks in 2007.

Next, New York signed fanfavorite Andy Pettitte to solidify the rotation. Pettitte was a staple of the Yanks’ rotation during their late-90’s dominance, and his mere presence helps the team’s chemistry and competitive fire.

In the second half of 2006 — a

player’s late-season performance is often an accurate predictor of what his success will be the following season — Pettitte went 74 with a 2.80 ERA. While his numbers will probably worsen with a switch to the American League since pitchers are replaced by designated hitters in opposing lineups, Pettitte’s cut fastball, pickoff move and steadiness under pressure are exactly what the doctor ordered.

Finally, the Yankees landed a terrific final blow, dealing 43year-old Randy Johnson to his former team, the Arizona Diamondbacks. By getting rid of his ornery attitude and 5.00 ERA, the Yankees have drastically improved the clubhouse atmosphere and opened the door for uber-prospect Philip Hughes.

Hughes has yet to play above double-A, but his minor league stats (over three seasons: 2.13 ERA, 10.21 strikeouts per nine innings) and 96 mph fastball have Yankees officials drooling over the 20-year-old’s potential.

Hughes will most likely begin the 2007 season at triple-A, but his chances of a mid-season callup have greatly increased with the Big Unit’s departure.

Big Loser: Los Angeles Dodgers Since the Dodgers play in the perennially weak NL West, they still stand a chance of winning the division despite an awful offseason.

They signed aging, injuryprone and inconsistent Jason Schmidt to a 3-year, $47 million contract. Schmidt somehow convinced the Dodgers that he still has something to offer even though his career is clearly on the decline. His strikeouts have been in a freefall since 2003 and

home runs allowed have steadily climbed despite pitching his home games in pitcher friendly AT&T Park. The most revealing statistic is during Schmidt’s most “dominant” seasons, 2003 and 2004, he allowed 6.60 hits per nine innings, which was significantly lower than his career mark of 8.28. This means that during his “good” seasons, Schmidt was probably just very lucky; balls put in play off Schmidt happened to go straight to fielders, a variable out of the pitcher’s control.

Schmidt, at age 34, will not be the ace L.A. is paying him to be.

Also, after several moves, their outfield is a mess. In left field: Luis Gonzalez? The Dodgers signed the 39-year-old to a oneyear contract to be their everyday left-fielder. All of Gonzalez’s significant offensive statistics are on the decline, and his range in the outfield has eroded to a below-average level. In center field, they signed weak-armed, weakhitting Juan Pierre to a five-year deal. Pierre is a good, speedy player (2006: .292, 58 SB), but he adds little to a team with no power. The Dodgers are paying him to be their leadoff hitter even though Pierre had a pathetic .330 on-base percentage in 2006, which ranked 25th among MLB leadoff hitters. In right field, they have second-year player Andre Ethier who will try to fill the void left by power-hitting J.D. Drew’s departure to the Red Sox. With their retooled and largely depleted outfield, the 2007 Dodgers don’t project to score — or prevent — too many runs.

Ellis Rochelson ’09 prefers women with a WHIP below 1.00.

E DITORIAL & L ETTERS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

PAGE 14

THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2007

STAF F EDITORIAL

Reorienting orientation After at least three months of anticipation, listening to a recitation of student rights and responsibilities in Salomon is a dull start to college. Hours of free time might not seem to prepare students for the weeks ahead, but as Orientation appears set to change, we hope those deciding its future keep in mind what makes the experience so memorable.

Mercifully shortening the awkwardness — Where are you from? What classes are you taking? What unit are you in? — from one week to four days, as a University report released today suggests, is a good idea. Long discussions of the advising process in an auditorium may be important, but they don’t rank among the noteworthy moments of one’s first days at Brown. Exploring Providence, stumbling upon WaterFire, realizing that Store 24 isn’t actually open 24 hours and chatting the night away in a Keeney hallway are all essential elements of the Orientation experience. But they’re impossible to structure.

We understand that a formal introduction to the University is necessary, but it shouldn’t be overarching. During that week of forced pleasantries, students interact with a broader range of people than they do in the rest of their time at Brown. Once classes start and first-years begin to plot their path through Brown, they slip into their own routines and are less exposed to the huge diversity of our campus.

Appropriately, the committee made recommendations that it hopes will “preserve the notion of choice as part of the Brown academic experience.” But how does the recommendation that all students read a required text reflect the Brown experience that awaits freshmen after Orientation? Beginning a four-year endeavor of self-directed learning with mandatory reading — even through a well-intentioned multidisciplinary approach — seems counterintuitive.

We all know that we’re here to study, but some might underestimate the importance of getting accustomed to living, and not just taking classes, at Brown, whether that means learning to do your own laundry or figuring out how to make a home in what seems like a campus of strangers.

Whatever measures University officials choose to implement, we hope the plans they ultimately adopt leave ample time for enjoying the first days of college. Let first-years lounge on the Main Green and venture beyond College Hill before ice and snow force them into the Rock the night before real required reading is due.

Editors-in-Chief Eric Beck Mary-Catherine Lader

Arts & Culture Editor Arts & Culture Editor Features Editor Features Editor Metro Editor Metro Editor News Editor Opinions Editor Opinions Editor Sports Editor Sports Editor Asst. Sports Editor Asst. Sports Editor Asst. Sports Editor

PHOTO Eunice Hong Christopher Bennett Jacob Melrose

Photo Editor Photo Editor Sports Photo Editor

An elegy for the creator of ramen To the Editor: On Jan. 5, while Brown students were away on winter break, a man of great importance but of little recognition passed away. Momofuku Ando, generally regarded as the inventor of instant noodles, died in Japan at the venerable age of 96. Quite simply, Mr. Ando created the genre of food aimed to satisfy those without time or ability to cook and gave the incompetent college student the ability to sate his or her hunger within five minutes.

Mr. Ando was the founder and chairman of Nissin Food Products, a company with net sales last year of $2.6 billion dollars, or 321,700,000,000 yen. Ask any college student around the nation, and he or she will tell you that instant noodles are serious business.

Senior Editors Stephen Colelli Sonia Saraiya BUSINESS

EDITORIAL Lydia Gidwitz Lindsey Meyers Stephanie Bernhard Stu Woo Simmi Aujla Sara Molinaro Ross Frazier Jacob Schuman Michal Zapendowski Peter Cipparone Justin Goldman Sarah Demers Erin Frauenhofer Madeleine Marecki

LETTERS

As college students, as citizens of America and the world, we all owe Mr. Ando a great deal of thanks for his work on our behalf, for he has sincerely made our lives better. Truly, one must look no further than to Mr. Ando’s age when he passed away to learn something about eating healthily to ensure vigor in later life. Perhaps instead of diet pills, insane meal plans or exercise, we all just need to eat more noodles. I raise my cup of noodles to you, Mr. Ando. Thank you for everything.

Ben Friedman ‘09 Jan. 25

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O PINIONS THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

PAGE 15

South of the Waffle House line MICHAL ZAPENDOWSKI

OPINIONS EDITOR

Before the War of Northern Aggression, the South had its peculiar institution. And while those days may be gone with the wind, the days of peculiar Southern institutions shall not be gone so long as the South perseveres in its final, institutionalized bastion of separation. The North today has plenty of “Southern” Baptists, NASCAR fans and supporters of the Party of Bush — the number of institutions that can honestly be called Southern is dwindling. However, champions of sectional pride need not unsheathe their sabres. For so long as there is a Waffle House, there will be a dividing line in America between warm, hospitable, common-sense Dixie and the cold, industrialized Godless North.

And by God, so long as America’s most regionally-exclusive dining chain remains in operation — and resists the temptation to expand its market — that line will hold.

Of 1,536 Waffle Houses in the world today, over 90 percent are in the 14 states that had Confederate stars, while only 6 percent are in states where slavery was outlawed before a certain previous War Republican set foot in the White House, according to the Waffle House Web site.

Neither is Waffle House an insignificant institution. If you took all the plates full of hash browns and grits ever served by burnt-out waitresses in America’s most Jacksonian diner, why, you could serve ev-

ery man, woman and child in China and still have enough left over for every man, woman and child in India.

Seven states, the “Waffle House Seven,” together account for more than 70 percent of the restaurants in the chain. These states send 13 conservative Republicans to the Senate, and one conservative Democrat — Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, who was arguably elected only because he was an astronaut.

Those same seven states also account for virtually all of America’s major rightwing leaders over the past decade: former

fact, when he set foot in Wendy’s as part of his 2004 campaign, this was but an elaborate ruse to deceive the American people.

The senator simultaneously preordered a “real meal” from the Newburgh Yacht Club to be served to him and his associates. His opponent, the former Texas governor, had not only probably been to a Waffle House, I wouldn’t be surprised if he had spent a night in his wild, youthful days — before age 55 — sleeping underneath one of its benches.

Over Thanksgiving Break, yours tru-

The moment I had a plateful of gray slop in front of me, I knew no one was going to ask me to “deconstruct” anything, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush and Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida. Clearly, just as the institutionalized debasement of an entire class of human beings became a dividing line in 19th-century America, the massive debasement of people’s arteries at Waffle House is becoming a 21st-century dividing line.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the reincarnation of Ichabod Crane who once tried to seize the presidency of our country, has likely never set foot in a Waffle House. In

ly stopped at a Waffle House, as part of a very enjoyable drive along secondary roads of the Deep South, on my way to Texas after a hog-hunting trip in Georgia. For lunch we had stopped at Ma’s Catfish Shack on some highway in Mississippi and by dinnertime we were in Shreveport, La., where we quickly decided that food in the casinos was too expensive. At Waffle House, we knew one could eat a decent meal for under three bucks — though only if you got your grits without cheese.

We were greeted by a sign on the door that featured a gentleman armed to the teeth and said, “hunters welcome.” We

stepped inside and sat down in a booth in the corner. The moment I had a plateful of gray slop in front of me, ser ved by a waitress who didn’t make eye contact, I knew that no one was going to ask me to “deconstruct” anything or question the application of Nietzsche to the situation, and I breathed a deep sigh of relief. That immediately earned me a suspicious glare of one of the other tenants. It felt good to be back home at last, even though I knew that, if cornered by a professor, I would say that Nietzsche did apply.

Waffle House, like much of the South today, straddles the new and the old. Its signature roof is just as comfortable next to an overpass in downtown Atlanta, Houston or Shreveport as on a backwoods road in Rural ‘Bama, across from the front poche’ of an old lady on a rocking chair who will grace the front pages of newspapers when she finally dies. Just like any other restaurant in America, race is seemingly not an issue at Waffle House, yet individual restaurants in the chain have faced discrimination lawsuits as recently as 2005. In its poignant attempt to embrace modernity while keeping a foot in the deep-fried life of yester year, Waffle House embodies many of the great points — and deep flaws — of the American South.

For those of you who are becoming sickened by the amateur philosophy in this column, all I can say is that’s the only way I could evoke the way I felt after having eaten an entire burger at Waffle House without squeezing the grease out first.

Slightly sick to my stomach, and yet somehow strangely satisfied that I had let it inside me. Another useful metaphor for the South? Perhaps.

The tranquility of Continental MICHAEL RAMOS-LYNCH

OPINIONS COLUMNIST

I consider myself to be a relatively easygoing person. I certainly become tense on occasion, like when I have a research paper due or when I make the mistake of watching Fox News. However, one thing that I learned over break is that many people allow opportunities for relaxation to transform into hideous episodes of anxiety. A case in point: airports.

Airports are paradoxical worlds in which infinitely diverse people are simultaneously separated and united by seemingly arbitrary situations. I started my break with a fourhour delay at the Providence airport, amidst the company of some very angry New Englanders who felt the need to cuss out the floor in order to convey their frustration. Following the Brown University student cliché, I had thrown on my iPod, called some friends back home to organize a hookah gathering and fantasized about all the non-Ratty food I would be able to eat during my vacation.

I was not, however, a lonely island of tranquility in a sea of anger and frustration. While most of the inconvenienced travelers exhaled waves of profanity with every breath, there was also a grandmotherly looking woman who looked like she wanted to bake an apple pie for everyone present and an elderly sage-like man who, through an extremely calm and wise expression, encouraged onlookers to assume that through intense clairvoyance he had

already planned on arriving four hours late to his destination.

Looking at my fellow passengers reminded me of all the different associations I have with airports. Thoughts of famous cinematic airport scenes began to consume me. After all, airports are always the place where people find the loves of their lives, like Nicholas Cage in “The Family Man,” or experience an incredible personal growth and new outlook on the world, like Tom Hanks in “The Terminal,” or simply run around with an intense look, metaphorical of overcoming life’s ob-

es, I couldn’t help but realize that in that moment, we were all in the same situation. And when we attained our immediate common goal, the vast array of our reactions shifted to one of common relief. And the most gruesome yet enlightening realization I had was that if the plane crashed, we would all die together in roughly the same moment, despite our incredibly different attitudes and behaviors. It might sound cliché and morbid, but I wondered how many of my fellow passengers would have regretted the way they spent the last few hours of their

An airport might not be the ideal place to spend your last moments, but if that is the circumstance, wouldn’t it be better to philosophize about lights on cell phones rather than stress over something that is out of your control? stacles, like Tom Cruise in “Jerry Maguire.”

As the hours passed, I was increasingly amused by looking at the people and how they responded to the situation at hand, at the disgusting half-eaten chicken pesto sandwich that occupied the seat next to me and at the flickering lights of everyone’s cell phones. Despite the varied reactions, the diversity of our backgrounds and appearanc-

lives, cussing at the floor. An airport might not be the ideal place to spend your last moments amongst the living, but if that is the circumstance, would it not be better to philosophize about lights on cell phones rather than stress over something that is out of your control?

In taking the circumstances into consideration, I couldn’t help but wonder if all the

horrible atrocities that occur in our world, occur in part as a result of our intense stress and worries over matters of a trite nature. The aggregate stress that accumulated at our gate while waiting on the plane did not improve anyone’s situation — it did not shorten our delay or make the wait any more pleasant. I wondered if any of the obviously stressed people on my flight would eventually come to an altercation with another obviously stressed person, and unexpectedly find themselves in a conflict that ends in murder — such scenarios have certainly happened many times before.

In the midst of the varied reactions to the delay, I began to think about my previous experiences at airports. I always loved visiting them as a child. I remember being fascinated by the airplanes (of course) but also with the concept of the airport itself. While flying in a plane was a new adventure, the airport, given its transient environment, seemed to me an epitome of the present. Airports foster a feeling of unity with the fleeting moment.

After all, the only reason to go to an airport is to leave it.

A moment is a powerful concept; a single moment can only be truly associated with great victory or failure. What is amazing about airports is that such a fleeting moment is created, among other things, in a hum of artificial lights, strangers sitting awkwardly close and humungous vacuum cleaners.

Waiting at an airport reminds us how precious our time on Earth is and how, even while being bombarded by seeming monotony, we are consistently in a position to rise to victory or submit to failure. We are always free to choose whether we want to cuss the floor or find amusement in half-eaten chicken pesto sandwiches.

S PORTS T HURSDAY THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2007

2007 Hot Stove report: winners and losers, round 1

BY ELLIS ROCHELSON CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Every winter, baseball’s free agents heartlessly abandon their teams and clubs, casually trade away their stars.

It’s come to be known as the Hot Stove.

This offseaEllisʼ MLB Exclusive son has been chock full of big-name signings and trades. Some teams reaped the benefits while others got screwed. This week, we’ll review one big winner and one big loser.

Big Winner: New York Yankees The Yankees haven’t won a World Series since 2000, yet they have maintained the same offseason strategy for six straight years: buy the most expensive free agent available, trade away all their prospects and pay no attention to team chemistry. Largely as a result of their expensive and imperialistic offseasons, the Yankees have continued to fall short of their lofty expectations — a group of all-stars does not always equate team success. This offseason, after a shocking and frustrating American League Division Series defeat to the $82.6 millioncontinued on page 13

M. swimming pounds Penn KAITLYN LAABS SPORTS STAFF WRITER

Most people who head to Florida in January are looking for some rest and relaxation. Based upon the men’s swimming and diving team’s performance in its first meet since its Florida training trip, however, it’s clear the Bears got a lot of training done in the sun.

Brown showed off the hard work it put in during winter training camp in its first meet of the 2007 season by defeating the University of Pennsylvania 175.5-125.5 on Saturday, Jan. 13.

Swimmers Michael O’Mara ’07, captain Peter Volosin ’08, Kevin Hug ’08 and Daniel Ricketts ’09 each turned in strong performances to produce the win. Diver C.J. Kambe ’10 also scored for Brown in the one-meter dive, a performance that qualified him for the NCAA Zones meet next month.

Despite many solid individual efforts, O’Mara attributed the Bears’ success to the “notable team sprit” they displayed in the meet. The athletes and coaches felt the team benefited immensely from its time in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. during the winter recess.

“Along with the intense morning and afternoon practices, our training camp really helped us bond as a team,” Volosin said. “At the Penn meet the team felt behind one another on the deck.”

Brown began the meet with a second place finish in the 200yard medley relay. The Bears’ team of Richard Alexander ’09, Brian Kelly ’08, Hug and O’Mara

W. swimming loses to Quakers for only second time in history

BY ERIN FRAUENHOFER ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

The women’s swimming and diving team has put together a solid season to date, with impressive wins over Ivy League rivals Cornell and Dartmouth early in the season. However, the Bears will likely tr y to put their latest meet behind them as quickly as possible. In its first meet since December, Brown fell to the University of Pennsylvania 180-120 on Jan. 13 — only the second time Brown has lost to the Quakers in the series’ histor y. Brown’s only other loss to Penn happened in 1988.

According to swimmer Sarah Goodman ’09, the Bears and the Quakers entered the meet with different mindsets. Brown’s training regimen is geared so the team is peaking at the right time — the Ivy League Championships in mid-Februar y — which Goodman felt contributed to the loss.

“They came in gunning for us and we’re focusing on the end of the season,” she said.

However, the meet did not spell disappointment for ever yone. Amy Latinen ’07 took first place in the three-meter dive,

PAGE 16

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

nearly edged the Quakers, finishing with a time of 1:35.85.

Entering the first individual event on the day, Volosin said he was determined to shift the team’s momentum. He nabbed first place in the 1,000-yard freestyle, clocking in at 9:36.60.

“Since we had narrowly lost the first event, I was focused on helping to steer the meet in the right direction,” he said. “I wanted to improve the team’s confidence and get everyone going.”

Ricketts kept the team’s energy elevated in the next event, placing first in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:42.48. Hug followed up with a win in the 100-yard backstroke, swimming a time of 52.59. O’Mara brought home another victory for the Bears in the next event, finishing the 100-yard breaststroke in 58.13.

Brown finished second in the next two events, with Alexander recording a time of 1:53.14 in the 200-yard fly and Kelly finishing the 50-yard freestyle in 21.73.

The Bears bounced back with two first-place finishes — Kelly won the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 46.92 and Hug earned his second win of the day, swimming 1:56.21 in the 200-yard backstroke.

O’Mara also won his second event, with a time of 2:07.29 in the 200-yard breaststroke, and Volosin followed suit, picking up his second victory of the day with a time of 4:38.74 in the 500-yard freestyle. Ricketts also earned his second win of the day, finishing the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 51.25. O’Mara continued on page 11

W. hoops struggles to beat Bulldogs before heart of Ivy season starts

BY JUSTIN GOLDMAN SPORTS EDITOR

The women’s basketball team compiled a 1-5 record over winter break, but the disappointing results had more to do with the quality opponents it played than the team’s performance. Despite the losses, the stretch of play before the Ivy League schedule started served as valuable experience for the team’s upcoming conference slate.

The Bears’ first games of the holiday season were in San Diego as part of the Surf ‘n Slam classic. Despite a valiant effort, Brown dropped the first game of the tournament 63-52 to the host team, the San Diego State University Aztecs. Forward Ashley King-Bischof ’07 shined in that contest, scoring 20 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in a losing effort.

“The quality of teams we played is not something you see in the Ivy League,” King-Bischof said. “But all of our games (over the holidays) were a good learning experience.

We definitely came together as a team.”

Despite 16 first-half turnovers, Brown kept the game close for the first three-quarters of the game, but it struggled to stop the Aztecs’ Jennifer Lawton. She scored 15 secondhalf points en route to the victory.

“We were able to score the ball really well against SD State,” said Head Coach Jean Marie Burr. “But we had too many turnovers. The turnovers are really what killed us.”

In the tournament’s consolation continued on page 8

DeOssie ’07 shines in Shrine game

BY PETER CIPPARONE SPORTS EDITOR

qualifying for the NCAA Zone Diving Championships.

Right from the opening of the meet, however, the Penn squad proved it would be tough to top, taking control of the meet in the opening event. In the 200-yard medley relay, Emily Brush ’07, Aly Wyatt ’08, Meredith Cocco ’07 and Goodman finished two seconds behind the Quakers, clocking in at 1:50.72.

“We need to work on staying behind each other,” Goodman said, also citing fatigue as a contributor to the loss.

Co-captain Ashley Wallace ’07 agreed that the squad as a whole had less energy than usual. “We just got back from our training trip,” she said. “It took a lot out of us.”

Nevertheless, the Bears pulled off a few impressive performances. Latinen’s win in three-meter diving was the highlight of the day — her score of 283.88 qualified her for the NCAA Zones in March.

Latinen joins teammate Dana Meadow ’07, who qualified for Zones earlier in the season.

The Bears outpaced the Quakers in two more events, although it was not enough to continued on page 10

Ashley Hess / Herald File Photo

Catherine Schaper ’09 led women’s basketball to a come-from-behind victory versus Yale on Saturday. She scored 21 points, including 18 in the second half, and was named Ivy League Player of the Week.

Before Saturday’s Dell EastWest Shrine Game in Houston, Texas, National Football League scouts may have known Zak DeOssie ’07 mostly for his last name. But after his performance in the game, DeOssie is car ving out his own niche in the eyes of the NFL. DeOssie, the son of Super Bowl champion and long-time NFL linebacker Steve DeOssie, recorded several tackles on defense and special teams in the college all-star game for NFL prospects.

“With the reps I got on the field, I felt like I did really well,” said DeOssie. “I was learning a brand-new defense so it was difficult, but I thought I played well and learned a lot.”

DeOssie’s first appearance on the field came at the 7:50 mark of the first quarter, when he lined up as the long snapper on a punt. Wearing the red jersey of the East team and his Brown football helmet, DeOssie spiraled the ball into the hands of the punter and then charged down the field. After the West team’s punt returner side-stepped the first tackler, Clayton Kim / Herald File Photo Zak DeOssie ’07 played in the Dell East-West Shrine Game on Saturday. He recorded tackles on both special teams and defense.

continued on page 11