Wednesday, April 18, 2007 by The Brown Daily Herald

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDA

Volume CXLII, No. 53

A PRIL PRI L 18, 18 , 2007

Since 1866, Daily Since 1891

Prefrosh drop anchor at ADOCH on rainy day BY ZACHARY CHAPMAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

fessor of Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences Sheila Blumstein, a member of the task force and former dean of the College and interim president of the University. “I think (the meeting) is an opportunity for all of us to meet each other and hear what Dean Bergeron has to say, as I’m sure she will elaborate on what the task force’s charge is,” she said of the committee’s ﬁrst meeting Thursday. Many other faculty appointees said that they too are waiting to hear from Bergeron at Thursday’s meeting. They have received little information on the committee’s planned course of action, they said. Bonde told The Herald she is waiting to hear what questions Bergeron hopes the task force will answer about the College, though she added they have already spoken brieﬂy about the committee’s role. Like many other members of the committee, Professor of Neu-

Despite enduring a day of wet and windy weather, there was a festive mood on College Hill Tuesday as about 950 students and 750 parents descended on campus for A Day on College Hill, Brown’s annual two-day program for admitted students and their parents. With fellow prospective students seemingly everywhere and a host of activities filling the day’s schedule, even those from the sunniest of locales seemed to be enjoying the festivities. When Sima Baalbaki rolled out of bed this morning, it was 80 degrees and sunny on the beach along the Gulf Coast, where she was vacationing with her family. Eight hours later, she stepped off a plane at T.F. Green Airport and faced a biting drizzle. Yet Baalbaki — who hails from Florence, Ala., and is deciding among Brown and three other schools — seemed mostly unperturbed by the dismal weather. “The weather’s not great, but I’ve been having a lot of fun meeting a lot of people,” she said inside a crowded Leung Gallery in Faunce House. “It was weird because I had to pack warm and cold stuff for my trip.” Paulina Pagan ’11 of San Juan, Puerto Rico, flew into Boston this morning. “I think it will be a transition — getting used to New England weather — but I think I’ll work into it,” she said. Pagan said Brown was the only school she seriously considered attending. “When I came here to visit in August, it was beautiful, and I just got a feeling and knew it was the right place for me,” she said. Pagan said she thought living in New England would be the more difficult for her moth-

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Chris Bennett / Herald

In Leung Gallery in Faunce House, prospective students line up to receive housing assignments as they arrive for ADOCH.

Thursday’s carnival rescheduled The annual SPEC Day Carnival, originally planned for Thursday, has been postponed to April 26 due to forecasts of rain. The rescheduling will probably not affect turnout at the carnival, said former Special Events Commission Co-Chair Divya Kumaraiah ’07. “I think SPEC really draws crowds, especially given its location on the Main Green,” Kumaraiah said. “Lots of people come just because they see it, not because they were actually planning to come.” In addition to free barbeque, music and giveaways, the carnival will include a moon bounce, a mechanical bull and a bungee run. SPEC set a rain date for the event when it began planning, Kumaraiah said — typical of most Spring Weekend events. The carnival will now be held from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday, April 26 on the Main Green. —Debbie Lehmann —

Faculty members greet College task force with open minds, questions BY EVAN BOGGS STAFF WRITER

Faculty members on the Task Force on Undergraduate Education will try to keep an open mind when the committee meets for the ﬁrst time Thursday, they told The Herald. The committee’s three student members were selected by the Undergraduate Council of Students in early March, and faculty appointments were announced March 20 in a campuswide e-mail from Provost David Kertzer ’69 P’95 P’98 and Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron. The task force, which will undertake a broad review of the College and its curriculum, comprises 13 members, including 10 faculty members. Bergeron and Dean of the Graduate School Sheila Bonde, who both have faculty appointments, will also represent the University administration. “I’ve done no preparation other than to come (to the meeting) with an open mind,” said Pro-

Simmons, Chafee ’75 and Miller ’73 welcome students to ADOCH BY FRANKLIN KANIN STAFF WRITER

As rainy weather greeted admitted students arriving for A Day on College Hill, University ofﬁcials showered prospective ﬁrst-years — many of whom are weighing Brown against other college options — with glowing praise for Brown’s unique culture and curriculum. Speaking in Salomon 101, President Ruth Simmons, Dean of Admission Jim Miller ’73 and former Sen. Lincoln Chafee ’75, — now a visiting fellow at the Watson Institute for International Relations — welcomed students to the University’s two-day program for accepted members of the class of 2011. Miller had earlier spoken to parents at a separate event. Miller told the parents in Sayles Hall about the “culture of kindness” Brown fosters in its community. “We take students from various backgrounds, and abilities, and experiences and families, and we bring them here and we bring them all together … and we say get along. Get along with each other,” Miller said. In her speech to the prospective students, Simmons said that sense of community makes Brown students so happy. Rather than get caught up in competition, which she said can happen at many other institutions, Brown students form closer bonds through the work and effort they do at the University. “Miraculously at Brown, students feel part of a shared experience — they feel part of a community. And they feel they should grow together. And that’s one of those deeply satisfying things at Brown,” Simmons said. continued on page 5

DPS completes phase-out of PPD ofﬁcers from patrols BY DEBBIE LEHMANN SENIOR STAFF WRITER

The Department of Public Safety has completed its phase-out of Providence Police Department officers working on paid University details and will now only hire PPD officers to patrol on campus as part of an emergency contingency plan. DPS will hire PPD details only “if the needs arise,” Chief of Police Mark Porter wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. DPS will consult Walter Hunter, vice president for administration, prior to hiring PPD patrol details, and if they are hired, the PPD officers will be deployed on the

INSIDE:

3 CAMPUS WATCH

outskirts of campus, Porter wrote. Porter noted that PPD officers may patrol “around the campus area” even if they are not hired as DPS patrol details. The phase-out of PPD officers began last year when the University decided to arm its police force. Partly because arming DPS officers would allow them to “respond to and pursue criminal interests,” Porter wrote, the department began discussing its use of PPD details. DPS has hired three to four PPD officers to help patrol campus for the past several years. Including PPD officers on these patrols was

PROFS’ PROFITS UP Faculty pay across the country rose slightly the past two years, and Brown salaries rank in the top third of the nation

www.browndailyherald.com

7 ADOCH

“necessary and extremely beneficial” to the University, particularly when DPS officers were not armed, Porter wrote. DPS continued hiring PPD patrols while it was arming campus officers and implementing an overall patrol-staffing plan. During this time, only two PPD officers were hired during the evening and night. These officers patrolled only the perimeter of campus instead of the entire interior, Porter wrote. Last October, DPS further scaled back PPD patrol details, hiring only one officer. PPD officers were continued on page 4

ADOCH BY THE NUMBERS Some facts and ﬁgures about this year’s admitted class and The Herald, along with pictures from around campus during ADOCH

Rahul Keerthi / Herald

A Providence Police Department cruiser sits outside the Brown Bookstore.

11 OPINIONS

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

BEST OF BROWN In his ﬁnal column, Joey Borson ’07 divulges his thoughts on what makes Brown the fascinating place it is

12 SPORTS

W. RUGGERS ROLL The women’s rugby team overcame a mud-covered ﬁeld and some rain on Sunday to beat Yale and claim the Ivy League tournament

News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com

TODAY THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

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WE A

Chocolate Covered Cotton | Mark Brinker

T H E R

TODAY

TOMORROW

rain 42 / 37

rain 46 / 38

MEN

SHARPE REFECTORY

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2007

U VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALL

LUNCH — V Vegetarian egetarian Tacos, Beef Tacos, Spanish Rice, Refried Beans, Spinach, Italian Sausage Soup with Tortellini, Vegetarian Corn Chowder, Eggplant Parmesan Grinder, Raspberry Squares, Chocolate Frosted Brownies

LUNCH — Vegetarian Mushroom Barley Soup, Chicken Soup with Tortellini, Polynesian Chicken Wings, Tomato Quiche, Sticky Rice, Peas with Mushrooms, Frosted Brownies

DINNER — Spinach Stuffed Squash, Vegan Vegetable Risotto, Italian Beef Noodle Casserole, Spiced Beef Ribs, Chocolate Sundae Cake

DINNER —Rotisserie Style Chicken, Spinach Pie Casserole, Spanish Rice, Broccoli Cuts, Polynesian Ratatouille, Chocolate Sundae Cake

WBF | Matt Vascellaro

D O K U

Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9. How To Get Down | Nate Saunders

Deo | Daniel Perez ��

CR ACROSS 1 Play group 5 Carnivore’s diet 9 Off 14 Malaria symptom 15 Drive train component 16 Type of market 17 “I don’t think so” 18 Trade punches in training 19 Welcome 20 Nanny Fran Fine, for one 23 Paddle 24 Pipeline product 25 Wall St. event 26 Some coll. degrees 29 Long-tailed sea predator 33 Flannel shirt pattern 35 Momentous time 36 Italian wineproducing region 37 “Sooey!” response 38 “Witness” witnesses 40 __-Ball 41 Brand 42 Prohibition 43 Numbers of carolers 44 Sensitive spot 48 Cold War unit: Abbr. 49 Pre-receipt advice, as the homily goes 50 Former Miss America Mary __ Mobley 51 Troop gp. 54 Lewis Carroll and Jasper Fforde characters 57 Russian country house 60 Course listing 61 Draft choices 62 Elatedly, in an idiom 63 Part of 26-Across 64 Critter known for its leaping ability 65 Approximately 66 Have a snack 67 Spot DOWN 1 “You betcha!” 2 Ancient market

O S S W O R D

3 Exxon Valdez, for one 4 Camp tie-dye supply 5 Old name for a 5-iron 6 Kicks out 7 Banned orchard treatment 8 Scotty and wirehair 9 Some Caucasians 10 Bog 11 Gretzky’s stage 12 “Isn’t __ Lovely”: Stevie Wonder hit 13 Game-match connector 21 Obsolescent phone accessory 22 Queen of Talk 26 They’re shot at nets 27 Soviet cooperative 28 Overhead expanses 30 Increases 31 German poet Heinrich 32 Is wearing

33 Splendid displays 34 Polygraph flunkers, most likely 38 Treat badly 39 One level below sharpshooter 43 Diamond number 45 Desert that’s larger than the contiguous 48 states 46 Art supplies

47 Torrent 52 Hard to climb 53 Evaluate, as ore 54 Trendy 55 Sub 56 Paris sidewalk sight 57 Dwight Gooden’s moniker 58 “Wheel of Fortune” request 59 Mercury or Saturn

Deep Fried Kittens | Cara FitzGibbon

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CAMPUS WATCH ATCH WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2007

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

U N D U P

TWO CAMPUSES MOURN

Sallie Mae to be bought, taken private Student loan giant Sallie Mae agreed Monday to be bought out for $25 billion in what will be the largest buyout of a financial services company ever. Sallie Mae — which will be taken private by four buyers: large banks JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America and private equity firms J. C. Flowers and Friedman Fleischer & Lowe — is the nation’s largest student lender, handling 23 percent of the nation’s student loans with a $142 billion portfolio. The two private equity firms will pay $8.8 billion for the SLM Corporation, as Sallie Mae is officially known, and the remainder will be financed with debt, the New York Times reported Tuesday. Those firms will own just over half of the company, while JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America will own the other half. Under the terms of the agreement, the two banks must guarantee $200 million in backup financing, which would allow Sallie Mae to keep providing low-interest loans even if the company has future trouble accessing capital. Still, consumer advocacy groups, industry analysts and the government may have something to say before the deal goes through, the Times reported. Yesterday, the three major credit rating agencies — Fitch, Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s — either lowered Sallie Mae’s ratings or put the company on watch. Advocacy groups are also complaining about the creditor’s use of debt in a business with traditionally low interest rates. The deal comes as Washington threatens to cut subsidies that allow student lenders to keep interest rates low. — Ross Frazier

Texas college closes due to bomb threat A non-specific bomb threat shut down St. Edward’s University Tuesday as students nationwide remain skittish over Monday’s shooting rampage at Virginia Tech. Students at the Austin, Texas, liberal arts college were evacuated from the school’s campus, gathering on a nearby athletic field, after a note threatening to bomb St. Edward’s was found yesterday morning, the Daily Texan, the student newspaper at the University of Texas at Austin, reported Tuesday. Students were gradually allowed back on campus as college and Austin police officers inspected campus facilities. St. Edward’s dean of students sent a mass e-mail, and loudspeakers at off-campus apartments were used to warn students to stay away from the campus. Students said they were impressed with the school’s quick response. “This type of response is absolutely typical regardless of the tragic events of yesterday,” Mischelle Amador, the college’s director of communications, told the Texan. Police took the threat seriously because they felt it could reasonably be carried out, Austin Police Department Corporal Derek Israel told the Texan. “Given what’s going on nationally, it’s a very credible threat.” Austin and university police are investigating the threat and currently have no suspects. — Ross Frazier

Courtesy of hokiesports.com

‘He was, like, normal,’ student says of gunman BY ERIKA HAYASAKI AND RICHARD A. SERRANO LOS ANGELES T IMES

BLACKSBURG, Va. — It was 5:30 a.m. Monday morning, and Karan Grewal was ﬁnishing a break after a long night of cramming for his classes at Virginia Tech. As he left the bathroom at Harper Hall, his dormitory mate, Cho SeungHui, wearing boxer shorts and a T-shirt, entered for his morning ritual of applying lotion, inserting his contact lenses and taking his medication. “He was, like, normal,” Grewal, a 21-year-old accounting major, said Tuesday, describing the ordinary start to what turned out to be an extraordinary day. Grewal said he went back to sleep, but, according to authorities, Cho stayed awake. In fewer than

U. profs’ salaries in top third, as pay rises 3.8 percent nationally BY AUBRY BRACCO STAFF WRITER

Average faculty salaries nationwide climbed 3.8 percent last year, as Brown professors’ salaries remain in the top third of doctoral universities, according to a new study. But the study’s sponsor — the American Association of University Professors, a faculty advocacy group — said the data indicates financial inequality is growing among university instructors. The AAUP’s annual study found the first real increase in faculty pay in two years, as pay increases outpaced inflation. But results from its voluntary survey of more than 1,400 colleges and universities found that inequalities persist between larger and smaller schools, male and female professors and faculty in different disciplines. Saranna Thornton, a labor economist at Hampden-Sydney College in Hampden-Sydney, Va., and chair of the AAUP committee that authored the study, told The Herald it is essential to provide numerical data “as opposed to just anecdotes” in order to understand trends in academics’ salaries. “The underlying mission (of the survey) is to keep, recruit and re-

tain the best and brightest people as professors or college teachers,” she said. “If salaries and beneﬁts in higher education don’t provide adequate compensation, the smart people are going to go into other careers, and that’s not good for students.” Thornton said she was particularly shocked by the disparity in the average compensation — including salary and beneﬁts — between fulltime professors and Division I-A coaches in this year’s survey. The average coach’s compensation was on average more than nine times higher than that of full professors, according to the study. “That was something that just astounded me. ... I think sends a scary message about where priorities are in higher education,” Thornton said. The study blamed investment earnings from institutional endowments for the growing disparity in faculty pay among universities. The AAUP reported that the 62 schools with endowments larger than $1 billion own 67.4 percent of American universities’ invested assets. Schools with endowments of $100 million or less — more than half of American universities — own only 5 percent of invested assets.

Chris Bennett / Herald

President Bush (left) delivered a speech Tuesday at a convocation at Virginia Tech’s Cassell Coliseum. Meanwhile, the American ﬂag on the Main Green stood at half-staff yesterday after Bush ordered the nation’s ﬂags to half-mast in remembrance of the victims at the Blacksburg, Va., university.

This year, Rockefeller, Harvard and Stanford universities took the top three spots for highest paid full professors at private institutions, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, which was given additional access to the data. Professors at Rockefeller are earning an average of $186,400 per year. Brown’s full professors ranked just within the top 10 percent of doctoral universities, with an average salary of $134,510, said Douglas Kinsella, an AAUP research associate. Associate professors were paid $83,876 — putting them within the top 20 to 30 percent — and assistant professors averaged a $72,587 annual salary, placing them in the top 10 to 20 percent, Kinsella said. Kinsella said the ratings for beneﬁts in each professor group were correlated to salary percentiles. Brown professors received about 29 percent of their salaries in beneﬁts — “a reasonable amount,” Kinsella said. “That’s not the very top, but it’s certainly not near the bottom,” he said. Schools use surveys “to rank (themselves) against a set of peers,” Kinsella said. “In my experience, quite a number of institutions … use reports with negotiations with faculty.”

five hours, Cho was dead, having killed himself after shooting 32 others to death at two locations on the Blue Ridge Mountain campus. “He did not seem like a guy that’s capable of anything like this,” Grewal said. A day after the deadliest gun massacre in modern U.S. history, students, friends and officials were trying to understand how Cho, a 23-year-old senior who was majoring in English, came to kill. It was a hazy picture of a man whose last note was a rant against rich kids and debauchery, but who also appeared organized enough to secure weapons and stage his rampage. According to school officials, Cho even had time to post a deadly warning on a school online forum. “im going to kill people at vtech today,” they said he wrote. The Chicago Tribune reported

on its Web site that Cho left a note in his dorm that included a rambling list of grievances. The note included rants against “rich kids,” “debauchery” and “deceitful charlatans” on campus. Cho arrived in the United States as an 8-year-old from South Korea in 1992, Korean Embassy officials said. His parents, who are in seclusion refusing to talk to the media, run a dry cleaning business in Centreville, Va., according to federal investigation sources. Cho’s sister is a graduate of Princeton. His only previous contact with the law was a recent speeding ticket for doing 74 mph in a 55-mph zone, federal sources said. But the officials said he once set fire to his dorm room and was taking medicacontinued on page 5

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2007

PPD officers phased out of DPS patrols continued from page 1 phased out completely in February, and DPS hired two additional officers to make up for lost staffing. Though Porter wrote that the phase-out has not had a significant effect on the department and has “no wider implications,” several students involved in the Coalition for Police Accountability and Institutional Transparency said the move will lead toward increased police accountability. PPD officers on a paid University detail were involved in an incident

of alleged police brutality in September, an incident Co-PAIT member C.J. Hunt ’07 called “a wake-up call for the University.” A University investigation found no misconduct on the part of DPS officers involved, but University officials said the PPD was responsible for investigating the conduct of its officers. “The University is seeing what a liability it is to have officers who are not accountable to Brown,” Hunt said. Josh Teitelbaum ’08, another CoPAIT member, said the involvement of PPD officers on paid University

details resulted in a “disjointed investigation” and made it “much harder to figure out who was accountable” during last fall’s incident. The phase-out of PPD officers will create a safer campus, Hunt said, because all officers will be trained by and accountable to the University. “Campus safety is not just about making sure students aren’t victimized by criminals,” Hunt said. “It’s also about making sure they aren’t victimized by the very police officers that are supposed to protect them.”

Faculty greets College task force with open minds, questions continued from page 1 roscience Michael Paradiso said he knows little about why he was asked to join. “I suppose just being heavily involved in undergraduate education at Brown for a number of years, and being interested in the program,” Paradiso said of the reasons for his selection on the committee. Both Blumstein and Bonde said their long careers at the University are likely reasons they were chosen. Blumstein, while dean of the College, authored a report in 1990 that was similar in scope to the task force’s goals, and Bonde’s position as a liaison to the Graduate School brings diversity to the group. Blumstein’s report included a detailed look at the New Curriculum and proposed ways in which the administration could improve upon the system. Bonde was awarded a Royce Family Professorship in Teaching Excellence, an honor bestowed upon faculty “who have demonstrat-

ed innovation in teaching and strong dedication to students’ intellectual development,” The Herald reported in November 2004. Task force member Barrymore Bogues, professor of Africana studies and chair of the department, also received the award that year. Bonde said the award gave her and Bogues the chance to reexamine the University’s curriculum and that “we bring some knowledge of the fruits of those conversations” to the task force. With their backgrounds in undergraduate education — or in the links between graduate and undergraduate programs, in Bonde’s case — the committee’s new members said they are interested in the task force’s charge. Blumstein said the “broad-based approach” the committee will take in evaluating the New Curriculum will consider concentrations and the advising system. “How’s the faculty doing with respect to it’s goals of teaching the curriculum and making sure the

curriculum stays vibrant and exciting?” Blumstein said. “Brown has always been proud of being a leader, not a follower,” Paradiso said. He also said adaptations were necessary elements of the New Curriculum and that he would look to students ﬁrst for input on how to change the College for the better. For Bonde, the task force’s members will draw ideas from the campus community by “brainstorming and listening.” “I think we’ll be consulting broadly. All of us have constituencies, we are all representative of a pretty broad swathe (of the campus),” Bonde said. The faculty members of the Task Force are Bergeron, Bonde, Bogues, Paradiso, Associate Professor of Chemistry Amit Basu, Associate Professor of History Deborah Cohen, Professor of Political Science James Morone, Professor of Mathematics Jill Pipher and Professor of Comparative Literature Arnold Weinstein.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

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Rainy weather greets prospective students

VA Tech gunman seemed ‘normal’

continued from page 1 er. “I think it is going to be a hard time for my mom to be an emptynester,” she said. But Nathan Dadap of Red Bank, N.J., was a little more realistic about the dreary conditions. Dadap, who hopes to major in engineering or physics, is deciding among Brown, Columbia University and Rutgers University. “It’s too bad it’s raining,” he said. “I know this is going to end up inﬂuencing my decision.” The stormy weather up and down the East Coast created a unique condition for one future Brown student. When Camille Misas ’11 departed from her home in Hershey, Pa., this morning, she left behind the rich aroma of chocolate. “When it rains in Hershey, it smells like chocolate. You can always tell when it’s going to rain because of the smell,” she said. Not so in Providence. Misas, the youngest of four children, plans to play ﬁeld hockey at Brown and said she “really liked the feel here and the fact that you can take classes pass/fail and choose what you want to take.” For most prospective students, the rain didn’t put a damper on the day’s goal of immersing themselves in life at Brown for a day and meeting potential new classmates. Antar Tichavakunda of Washington, D.C. — who is deciding between Brown and Morehouse College — was one of many prospective students who boarded

the “ADOCH express” train from Washington to Providence yesterday. “I met a bunch of people on the train. I thought I was just going to sleep the whole time, but it ended up being a lot of fun,” he said. As they waited for the talent show to begin in Sayles Hall, Erin Alpert ’11 of Westchester, N.Y., and Charlotte Crowe ’11 of Canton, Conn., also said they found the train ride to Brown exciting. “I was walking up and down the cars talking with people,” Alpert said. “It did feel a little like Hogwarts.” Alpert — no relation, she said, to the late Warren Alpert of the Alpert Medical School — said Brown has long been her dream school. “The weather could be better, but I’m loving it so far,” she said. Alpert, whose sister Caroline is a member of the class of 2009, said she was drawn to Brown by its reputation for combining rigorous academics, freedom and a relaxed atmosphere. Alpert said she liked the welcoming speech for prospective students by President Ruth Simmons in Salomon 101. “I know it sounds cheesy, but I really liked what President Simmons had to say about there not being one typical Brown student,” she said. “That was really something that drew me to Brown.” Crowe said she applied early decision to Brown because “it’s known for being a place where people are hard-working but also really laid-back and unpretentious.”

Perhaps one of the day’s most improbable stories came from Christina Velez and Linh Nguyen — childhood friends from San Diego who were reunited at ADOCH. “We were best friends in elementary school,” Velez said. “But we both moved away, and we hadn’t seen each other in seven years until today — at the airport in Providence,” she said. “It was really cool.” As students mingled and exchanged greetings, Velez and Ngyuen reﬂected on the separate paths that led them both to Brown. Velez, who hopes to major in international relations or Africana studies, must pick among Brown, Boston College and Harvard and Tufts universities. Nguyen said she is leaning toward choosing Brown over Columbia. “ADOCH has been really interesting so far,” Nguyen said. “I’ve never really been outside San Diego except to other warm places for vacation, but it was exciting to ﬂy over Providence and to see how different it is,” she said, noting the abundance of trees and the unique architectural styles in Providence. Velez said it will be a hard decision for her to make but she has “really liked” Brown so far. The two friends had only one complaint. “We went to (Josiah’s) to have a quesadilla, but there was no guacamole, only hummus,” Nguyen said, as Velez nodded in agreement.

Simmons, Chafee ’75 and Miller ’73 welcome students to ADOCH continued from page 1 “You come not simply to take from what is here, but you also come to give, you come to share with other people who you are, and where you come from. You come to explain something about who you are to the rest of the world. That’s what makes a community,” Simmons continued. “It isn’t just that you paid your way in. It isn’t just that you earned your way here. It’s that every day that you’re here, you earn the right to continue to be here by being the human being that is part of a community.” Cynthia Reed P’11, a parent of a prospective student who has decided to enroll at Brown next year, said she felt reassured by Brown’s focus on community and its student body. “When I heard about the philosophy of Brown, and how personal the school is, and how much attention they pay to each kid, and to each kid as they go through, I really thought my daughter had

made a good choice,” Reed said. After discussing the importance of community at Brown, Simmons, becoming more somber in tone, said that the tragic events of the previous day — a mass shooting at Virginia Tech that left 32 students, faculty and staff murdered — has made her think about the importance of caring. “Your future is assured. You are bright enough, you are capable enough that you are sure to do great things in your lives. But, what I want to say to you, is that wherever you go to college, your life really should be about caring,” she said. “If you are one of those people who does everything right, in the sense of achievement — wonderful, wonderful writers, and some competitive accomplishments — and you fail to do the things that I’ve described, you will have fallen short of being what you can be.” Miller said in the admission process it is important to choose students who care. The Admission Ofﬁce, he said, considered not

only academic achievements and extra-curriculars but also “character and personality.” Chafee told the prospective students that Brown — and Providence in general — provides students with many opportunities and much excitement. Miller ended his speech by assuring students that the admission ofﬁcers care about them all and that he personally “voted for every one of you.” Prospective students said they enjoyed the welcome. “I really liked Ruth Simmons’ speech,” said Julia Larmore ’11. “What she said about it not just being about what you achieve on tests and what you prove on your academic record, but how if you come to Brown but you don’t live up to the standards of being a good human being, then you have somehow fallen short of what is expected — it really sunk in. And it really made me — I’d already decided to come to Brown — but it made me really happy that I had.”

continued from page 3 tion for depression. By around 7:15 a.m. Monday, Cho had left his Harper Hall dorm for West Ambler Johnston dormitory. There he went to see Emily Hilscher, described as a friend by officials. Hilscher and the resident adviser, who came to investigate, were shot to death. As police investigated, Cho was on the move. He had a backpack containing knives and ammo magazines, sources said. He was armed with two handguns. One, a .22-caliber handgun, was bought in February at JND Pawn in Blacksburg, federal sources said. The other gun, a 9-mm Glock, was bought from a Roanoke, Va., firearms store. After leaving the scene of the first shooting, Cho telephoned authorities with a threat, saying there was a bomb at Norris Hall, about half a mile away from Johnston. At Norris, officials said Cho barricaded the doors with chains, then began shooting people. Thirty were killed before Cho turned the gun on himself, officials said. At Harper, Cho shared a second-floor apartment-style suite with six other students. The suite has three bedrooms of two students each. The suite is connected with one living room and a shared bathroom. Its living room has a burgundy couch and tan coffee table, and Tuesday it was littered with empty water bottles and Dr Pepper cans. Cho shared a bedroom with Joseph Aust, a sophomore majoring in electrical engineering. Aust said he knew barely anything about him, and the two hardly spoke. Aust said when they moved in together, Cho told him he was a business major. Aust said Cho always was on his computer listening to rock, pop and classical. “He would spend a lot of time downloading music,” he said. But Aust said Cho was away from the room more often than he was there. Aust didn’t know where he went. Sometimes, Aust said, he walked into their room and Cho would be sitting in his chair. “I would come into the room

and he’d just kind of be staring at his desk, just staring at nothing,” he said. “I would pass it off like he was just weird.” Aust said that Cho worked out every day and went to bed at 9 p.m. every night. The last couple of weeks he started getting up at 7 a.m., Aust said. But recently he had been waking up at 5:30 or 6 a.m. He said Cho didn’t appear to have any friends or a girlfriend. He also didn’t have any decorations, posters or photos in his room, just his laptop, books and clothes. Aust said he tried talking to him a couple of times. “He would just give one-word answers, not try to carry on a conversation.” Cho was an English major and the English department is in Shanks Hall, one of the smaller buildings on campus. It’s a two-story brick building and, like much of the campus, was ghostly quiet. Inside, the chair of the English department, Carolyn Rude, sat in her ofﬁce. Rude said she couldn’t comment in detail because attorneys for the college advised the faculty not to speak. But, she said, she thought that there was a business major who switched his major to creative writing. She thought he may have taken a class with the esteemed poet Nikki Giovanni, who spoke at Tuesday’s on-campus convocation. Stephanie Derry, a senior English major, was in a playwriting class with Cho taught by acclaimed professor Ed Falco this semester. “His writing, the plays, were really morbid and grotesque,” Derry said. “I remember one of them very well. It was about a son who hated his stepfather. In the play the boy threw a chainsaw around, and hammers at him. But the play ended with the boy violently suffocating the father with a Rice Krispy treat,” she said. “When I got the call it was Cho who had done this, I started crying, bawling,” Derry said. “I kept having to tell myself there is no way we could have known this was coming. I was just so frustrated that we saw all the signs, but never thought this could happen.”

come to brown

and then join the herald

WE LCO M E

ADOCH, C L A S S

2011!

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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2007

PAGE 7

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

ABOUT THE CLASS OF

2011

Of 19,044 applicants, only 2,577 received acceptance letters, including 523 early decision candidates — an overall rate of 13.5 percent. 1,485 are expected to make up the ﬁnal class of 2011.

Min Wu / Herald

ADOCH staff direct prospective students during registration in Leung Gallery.

ABOUT

Public high schoolers make up 59 percent of the admitted students. 28 percent come from private schools.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD The Herald is the ﬁfth-oldest college daily. It was founded in 1866 and has been published daily since 1891.

Austin Freeman / Herald

Jenna Zeigen from Richboro, Pa., and Matt Balatbat of Paramus, N.J., chat on the Main Green Tuesday.

Admitted students represent 68 countries — 11 percent of them are from outside the United States. The most represented countries are China and Hong Kong, followed by Korea, Canada, the U.K. and Singapore. Students of color make up 41 percent of the admitted students.

Chris Bennett / Herald A banner outside Faunce welcomes potential members of the class of 2011.

The Herald is completely independent from the University. It is operated by a volunteer staff of more than 100 editors, reporters, business managers, designers, photographers and artists. Wallace T Terry ’59 (1938-2003) was the ﬁrst black editorin-chief of an Ivy League newspaper. Beverly Hodgson ’70 was the ﬁrst female editor of an Ivy daily.

Min Wu / Herald

University administrators addressed parents of the prospective members of the class of 2011 in Sayles Hall Tuesday evening.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

PAGE 8

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2007

W. ruggers slog past competition to claim Ivy Tournament continued from page 12 over their heads. Aided by the elements, Radcliffe’s defense held Brown to a 7-0 lead after one half of play. In the second half, the wind blew at the Bears’ backs and they used the advantage to score 35 points in the second frame behind the strong running of Emilie Bydwell ’08. “Bydwell scored pretty much at will,” Heffernan said. “We were able to hold it together and not crack until we got into our ﬂow,” Hustwitt said.

“When you have all 15 players on the field in sync, that’s when rugby feels the best, and we achieved that in the Radcliffe game. And (Radcliffe) just crumbled.” After the victory, the Bears were guaranteed a spot in Sunday morning’s 10 a.m. final and still had time to watch Yale’s comefrom-behind, semi-final victory over Dartmouth. “We definitely knew what to expect from them,” Hustwitt said. Saturday’s bright weather turned sour on Sunday as a Nor’easter closed in. The whole championship game was played

in freezing rain and on a churned, muddy pitch. “It was pretty miserable,” Heffernan said. “It is New England.” Brown drew ﬁrst blood when Male faked out Yale’s defense with a dummy-pass and ran the ball 10 yards for a score, touching it down right between the posts. Glerum’s kick put Brown up 7-0. The game was well within reach for Yale before an unlikely hero carried the day for Brown. Thompson — playing hooker — broke through a gap in Yale’s front line and sprinted past the opposing backs. An approximate-

ly 60-yard chase ensued with every Bulldog chasing Thompson. Yale’s defense caught up with Thompson at the try line, but she was able to stretch the ball across the line and put Brown up 140. The tally was the game’s ﬁnal score. “I used to run track, so I am pretty fast,” she said. “I wasn’t really looking at where the defenders were. I was just trying to see the open space in front of me and look for the try line, and all I saw ahead of me was the try line. I wasn’t looking for anything else.” Lock Kira Manser ’07 started crying at the sight of the team president’s long run, according to Heffernan. “(Thompson) works very hard, and it’s really rare for her to score a try,” she said. “After that, we pushed Yale around.” In addition to the Ivy League Championship — Brown’s second in four years — ﬁve Bears were named to the All-Ivy team: Hustwitt, Bydwell, Thompson, scrumhalf Yadi Ibarra ’09 and eight-man

Alex Hartley ’10. The Bears had earned a berth in the national tournament prior to this weekend’s tournament because they placed second in the New England Rugby Football Union this fall. There will be 16 teams at the tournament, meaning Brown is only two wins away from qualifying for the ﬁnal four at Stanford University. But ﬁrst, Brown will board a bus at 7 a.m. Friday morning and head to Penn State, where it will face Navy. “It’s a tough draw for us, but it’s a tough match-up for them,” Heffernan said. This will be Brown’s second trip to the national tournament and likewise the second trip for seniors like Hustwitt, who made it to nationals as freshmen. “It feels really rewarding,” Hustwitt said. “We’ve been working to build this team up again for the last three years, and the fact that we might even surpass how that team (three years ago) did at nationals next weekend is pretty exciting.”

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2007

W. water polo waxes opposition to end regular season on winning streak continued from page 12 exandra Ferguson ’09 each contributed two goals and three assists. “It’s nice to have games like that, to help people get into a scoring rhythm and get more people involved in the rotation,” said Head Coach Jason Gall. “My feeling is that the more people that can play in a game, the better, and the ideal situation is to have our starters as rested as possible for each game.” Against Queens, Brown struggled early, falling behind 2-0 in the first six minutes of the game. But the Bears quickly hit their stride and scored four goals in the final 1:56 of the first period to take a 4-2 lead. In the second quarter, Bruno shut out the Knights while adding five more goals to the lead to build a 9-2 halftime advantage. Brown continued to control the game in the second half, and the team rolled to a 13-3 rout of Queens to finish the regular season on a high note, while giving the team abundant opportunities to refine its offensive strategy. “We worked on our counterattack and making the extra cross pass to another player even if you are the one that is open,” Blaxberg said. “It fakes the goalie out and almost guarantees a goal if it’s a good pass.” Sarah Glick ’10 led the Bears’ attack with four goals, three assists and two ejections drawn, and Laing had another solid performance in the cage, again finishing with eight saves.

PAGE 9

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

“Our coaches make sure we know what we’re up against going into every game, and we adjust our defense accordingly,” Laing said. “A part of any good defense is good communication, and that’s something we’re always looking to improve.” This weekend, the team will travel to New London, Conn., for the Northern Division Championship tournament, where Brown will have the No. 2 seed, with Hartwick at No. 1. “We’re really confident,” Gall said. “We’re not looking past any games, but we know that our goal is to beat Hartwick in the finals. We haven’t been able to put together four good quarters against Hartwick, but our team likes challenges, and we’ve done a good job of rising to the occasion against strong teams.” The Bears have beaten several nationally ranked teams this season, and a Northern Division championship is very much within reach, according to the team members. This all comes during a season almost entirely devoid of any home matches due to the closing of the Smith Swim Center in mid-February. “Not having a home pool has been difficult on all of us,” Blaxberg said. “But the situation has made us stronger and closer as a team. We are confident and excited for Northerns. Hartwick is the team to beat, and now that we have played them twice, we know what we need to do in order to beat them.”

Tru Story: Why making the NBA playoffs is bad for a franchise’s health continued from page 12 ing champions, had added Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler and had lost nearly 60 games from starters Hakeem Olajuwon, Drexler, Robert Horry and Vernon Maxwell due to injury during the regular season. I guess you could say that all sixth-seed Washington needs to do to win the championship this year is to get Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler back from injury, sign Charles Barkley circa 1994 and quickly gain some championship experience, and they would be primed for a run at the finals. But the key to building a championship team in the NBA is still through the draft — more specifically, through the top of the draft. It is extremely difficult to do this, however, when a team reaches the playoffs and takes itself out of the draft lottery. Looking at all the teams that won the finals in the last decade, each team’s top players were lottery picks. The Bulls had Michael Jordan (3rd overall) and Scottie Pippin (5th), the Spurs had David Robinson (1st) and Tim Duncan (1st), the Lakers had Shaquille O’Neal (1st) and Kobe Bryant (13th, back when teams were afraid of drafting prep players too soon), the Pistons had Chauncey Billups (3rd), Richard Hamilton (7th) and Rasheed Wallace (4th) and the Heat had Shaq and Dwyane Wade (5th). The only possible top player that I have really

failed to mention who was also a late-draft pick is Manu Ginobili from the Spurs’ 2005 championship team. So congratulations to Orlando, Golden State, New Jersey, etc. You’ve all missed out on the lottery in the draft considered to sport the best prospects in years. Congratulations to the New York Knicks for swapping Tyrus Thomas and their own lottery pick this year for Eddy Curry. And now a non-sarcastic congratulations to Boston and Memphis for winning this year’s best-jobof-tanking-games-to-get-a-higherseed award. Just how deep is this year’s class? For starters, in Greg Oden and Kevin Durant it features the best pro prospects since LeBron James. Joakim Noah, thought by many to have a chance at going first overall last year, should go no sooner than fi fth, and even that seems like a stretch now. There is such depth that North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough, one of five candidates for the Wooden Award given to the nation’s top player, opted to return to school because he was projected to go late in the first round. The NBA lottery doesn’t guarantee success — just ask the Atlanta Hawks. But it’s nearly impossible to find a stud outside of the top picks the way it is in other sports. Albert Pujols went in the 13th round of the 1999 MLB draft, while Tom freakin’ Brady went in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL.

So why don’t more teams embrace the NBA Draft as the way to build championship teams? General managers, perhaps understandably, often put their careers in front of the team’s long-term stability and value a few wins today more than a high draft pick tomorrow. It’s also possible that ownership erroneously believes that fans would embrace a slightly above-average team more than a loser with a high lottery pick. Perhaps some teams fear drafting another Kwame Brown. Still, it’s time ownership realized that making the playoffs if you aren’t actually a title contender sucks. It sucks for the franchise because it strips them of a lottery pick, and it sucks for the fans. Just ask any Celtic fan how memorable their four-year run of making the playoffs starting from the 2001-02 season until the 200405 season was when compared to the excitement of possibly landing Oden or Durant. Or ask any Knicks fan what was better — the 1994 team that barely lost in the NBA ﬁnals or all the “fun” from 1995-2007 combined. Ask a Spurs fan if they wish David Robinson hadn’t gotten hurt in 1996, which cost them the season but yielded Tim Duncan and three championships.

Tom Trudeau ’09 will never forgive Scott Layden and Isaiah Thomas for ruining basketball for him.

E DITORIAL & L ETTERS THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

PAGE 10

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2007

STAF F EDITORIAL

To the class of 2011, We’d like to tell you that College Hill is never rainy and that the dismal weather you’ve experienced these two days is an anomaly. Of course, the rain and occasional snow of Providence pale in comparison to the snowfall of, oh, let’s say, Hanover, Chicago or Ithaca, and the temperatures are on par with Cambridge, Philadelphia and New Haven. But we know that if you’re smart enough to get into Brown in yet another record year for admission, you’re clearly intelligent enough to make a college decision determined by more than a two-day snapshot of precipitation. University ofﬁcials eager to lure you to College Hill have already inundated you with glowing praise for Brown’s New Curriculum, diverse and accepting community, sparkling science labs, renowned professors and knee-buckling expansion under President Ruth Simmons’ leadership. As a student voice — fully independent from the administration — we at The Herald often try to inject a realistic student perspective into administrators’ glowing words. But, honestly, everything they say about Brown is true. Well, maybe except for the part about the food. No requirements, optional grades and attractive students (well, by Ivy League standards) — what’s not to like? The prospect of choosing your own college curriculum and directing your own path through four years of higher education may seem a little daunting to you and probably frightens your parents. But this novel experiment has worked for over 40 years, and, as scores of Brown students past and present can attest, being trusted with educational choice leads to a meaningful four years of intellectual and personal discovery. Whether heading to medical school, Mozambique, Morgan Stanley, the Marine Corps or middle schools in America’s inner cities after graduation, Brown students approach the world differently. Whether you’ve already decided to come to Brown or are still seriously considering spending four years at a campus elsewhere, we hope A Day on College Hill gives you a glimpse of why Brown students love it here. Stop by an a cappella arch sing and swing by the Activities Fair to check out the tables of enthusiastic students eager for you to join their whistling choir, activist group, history journal or student newspaper. Stop by the Brown Bookstore to pick up a sweatshirt that you’ll wear every day for the last few weeks of high school. Go to the academic fair to pick up leaﬂets and interrogate students about various departments and concentrations, some of which you may never have heard of (“Modern Culture and Media”). Visit classes, and indulge your parents by telling them how strict your hosts were about not letting you drink. But most importantly, make awkward small talk with fellow ADOCHers who may, in three months’ time, be your new classmates. And imagine how you’d feel walking through the Main Green on a warm, sunny spring day. If you love Brown now, just imagine how much you’ll like it when the sun comes out.

T HE B ROWN D AILY H ERALD Editors-in-Chief Eric Beck Mary-Catherine Lader

Executive Editors Allison Kwong Ben Leubsdorf

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

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

General Manager Mandeep Gill Executive Manager Darren Ball Executive Manager Dan DeNorch Laurie-Ann Paliotti Sr. Advertising Manager Ofﬁce Manager Susan Dansereau PRODUCTION Design Editor Steve DeLucia Copy Desk Chief Chris Gang Graphics Editor Mark Brinker Graphics Editor Roxanne Palmer Web Editor Luke Harris POST- MAGAZINE Hillary Dixler Melanie Duch Taryn Martinez Rajiv Jayadevan Mindy Smith

Managing Editor Managing Editor Managing Editor Features Editor Features Editor

Steve DeLucia, Sophie Elsner, Designers Ayelet Brinn, Chris Gang, Cici Matheny, Copy Editors Senior Staff Writers Rachel Arndt, Michael Bechek, Oliver Bowers, Zachary Chapman, Chaz Firestone, Kristina Kelleher, Debbie Lehmann, Scott Lowenstein, James Shapiro, Michael Skocpol Staff Writers Susana Aho, Taylor Barnes, Brianna Barzola, Evan Boggs, Aubry Bracco, Caitlin Browne, Irene Chen, Joy Chua, Nicole Dungca, Catherine Goldberg, Isabel Gottlieb, Thi Ho, Olivia Hoffman, Nandini Jayakrishna, Tsvetina Kamenova, Franklin Kanin, Hannah Levintova, Abe Lubetkin, Christian Martell, Taryn Martinez, Nathalie Pierrepont, Alexander Roehrkasse, Jessica Rotondi, Marielle Segarra, Robin Steele, Nick Werle, Allissa Wickham, Meha Verghese Sports Staff Writers Benjy Asher, Andrew Braca, Han Cui, Amy Ehrhart, Jason Harris, Kaitlyn Laabs, Eliza Lane, Kathleen Loughlin, Alex Mazerov, Megan McCahill, Marco Santini, Tom Trudeau, Steele West Business Staff Dana Feuchtbaum, Kent Holland, Alexander Hughes, Mariya Perelyubskaya, Viseth San, Kaustubh Shah, Jon Spector, Robert Stefani, Lily Tran, Lindsay Walls Design Staff Brianna Barzola, Jihan Chao, Aurora Durfee, Sophie Elsner, Christian Martell, Matthew McCabe, Ezra Miller Photo Staff Stuart Duncan-Smith, Austin Freeman, Tai Ho Shin Copy Editors Ayelet Brinn, Catherine Cullen, Erin Cummings, Karen Evans, Jacob Frank, Ted Lamm, Lauren Levitz, Cici Matheny, Alex Mazerov, Ezra Miller, Joy Neumeyer, Madeleine Rosenberg, Lucy Stark, Meha Verghese

LETTERS

A L E X A N D E R G A R D - M U R R AY

Davis ’07 wrong on Israel and Palestine To the Editor: Mirele Davis’ ’07 letter to the editor (“Calling Israel apartheid is ignorant,” April 15) displays the “hate-filled rhetoric” that she purportedly opposes. Her letter encapsulates the level of acceptable discourse in America about Israeli policy. It is symptomatic of the deliberately induced ignorance that allows the most strenuous advocates of unquestioning American support for the Israeli state to be the deciders of American policy. Her letter is historically ignorant: To assert that South Africans did not “seek to destroy their state” first ignores the fact that Nelson Mandela was tried for “treason” against the state and second implies that Israel is the state of Palestinians — an assumption shared neither by Palestinians nor Israelis. In addition, “Palestinians generally dispute Israel’s very right to exist” is a set of verbal acrobatics designed to get Palestinians to affirm their subhuman status. Palestinians are “allowed to work in Israel” only under strict permits, many of which are issued on a daily basis that provides Israel with a pool of minimum-wage laborers. Officially, 14 students from the West Bank

“study at Israeli universities.” The “freedom to run most of their own affairs” is a lie. The “vision” of Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert amounts to a string of Palestinian islands in an Israeli sea. The planned enclaves are reminiscent of the “Bantustans” set up by the white regime in South Africa — the so-called “homelands” where the blacks were supposed to enjoy “self-rule” but really amounted to racist concentration camps. Additionally, Palestinian “freedom” is non-existent given restrictions on movement, the economy and political organizing. Hiding behind a ﬁctitious, banal account of “Palestinians generally” only serves the current policy of unconditional American support for state-sponsored violence. Ali Abunimah’s appearance at Brown is designed to upset just that. Alex Ortiz ‘09 and Sarah Hamid ‘07 Co-Presidents, Common Ground: Justice and Equality in Palestine/Israel April 15

Disqualifying Mukherjee ’09 was unfair To the Editor: I was dismayed to find today that the Undergraduate Council of Students had decided to disqualify Eric Mukherjee ’09 from the UCS presidential elections. The stated reason given by UCS was that Eric had violated several rules, including “failing to attend mandatory elections information sessions” and failing to submit a campaign platform to the UCS Elections Board. On the first point — failing to attend meetings — my mind immediately turned to the recently released UCS documentary, in which you’ll see a candidate who failed to attend this same meeting last year but was still permitted to run. In Article III, Section 5.4 of the UCS code, there is no mention that candidates are actually required to attend the candidate’s meeting. On the second point — failing to submit a campaign platform to UCS officials — it would seem that the reasonable criterion should be whether a candidate’s platform has been made generally available to the student body. In Eric’s case, his campaign platform is publicly

available through his Facebook group and at DownWithUCS.blogspot.com. That Eric chose not to submit his platform to UCS is, it would seem, in accordance with his desire to disassociate himself from the organization — and to deconstitute it upon his election. I think it’s perfectly understandable that the current members of UCS would be opposed to a candidate who aims to dissolve it. However, I ﬁnd it reprehensible that they would allow this sentiment to affect their judgment. By unfairly removing a legitimate candidate, UCS has made this election a sham and placed its own interests ahead of those of students. I sincerely hope that UCS will reconsider its decision and allow students to vote for Eric. If not, I hope Brown students will write-in his name, in hope that one day we’ll have a student governance system that runs effectively and with integrity. Justin Glavis-Bloom ‘07 April 17

CORRECTION A headline in Tuesday’s print edition (UCS Candidate Proﬁles, April 17) incorrectly identiﬁed UCS presidential candidate Stefan Smith ’09 as a member of the class of 2010.

CLARIFICATION An article in Tuesday’s Herald (“Two alums win Pulitzer Prizes,” April 17) did not include a third Brown alum, James Bandler ’89, who won a Pulitizer Prize this year. Wall Street Journal reporter Bandler, like Mark Maremont ’80, won the Pulitzer Prize in Journalism for Public Service as part of the Journal team that investigated the options backdating story. CORRECTIONS POLICY The Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible. Corrections may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication. COMMENTAR Y POLICY The staff editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial board of The Brown Daily Herald. The editorial viewpoint does not necessarily reﬂect the views of The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Columns, letters and comics reﬂect the opinions of their authors only. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY Send letters to letters@browndailyherald.com. Include a telephone number with all letters. The Herald reserves the right to edit all letters for length and cannot assure the publication of any letter. Please limit letters to 250 words. Under special circumstances writers may request anonymity, but no letter will be printed if the author’s identity is unknown to the editors. Announcements of events will not be printed. ADVER TISING POLICY The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. reserves the right to accept or decline any advertisement at its discretion.

O PINIONS WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2007

A Southerner at Brown BY CURTIS HARRIS JR. GUEST COLUMNIST

What is Southern pride? Is it founded upon a legacy of racial inequality and ignorance, or one of triumph amidst adversity? There are a variety of answers to this question, but none of them should involve the mixing-up of the words “pride” and “fried.” After reading an article on southern pride in The Herald (“Southern-fried pride in the prickly Northeast,” Sept. 28), I was compelled to give my own views on what it means to be a student from the South at the University. In giving my opinion, I don’t intend to speak for all Southerners at Brown but to give a substantive and personal account of my own experiences and thoughts. When many of my classmates find out that I am from Georgia, they develop a look of intrigue and almost immediately begin making references to racism. Have you heard about any lynchings lately? Why do they still have segregated proms? How do you feel about the Confederate flag? Did you learn about evolution in school? These are all questions I have been asked. Instead of telling “horror stories,” as I call them, I opt to bring clarity to certain misconceptions. Often, I find that my region is unduly the victim of antiquated generalizations or used as a scapegoat for national problems. By no means do I mean to insinuate that hate crimes or discrimination do not still occur in the American South. Instead, I am suggesting that linking modern-day Georgia to post-Reconstruction, Jim Crow-era Georgia is not entirely accurate. Here at Brown, I have personally encountered a culture of “blame the South” whenever the topics of race, education and women’s rights surface in a conversation. I feel insulted when I am made the object of misguided views on Southern culture, or the Southern experience. Additionally, I find it insulting to be sympathized by those who feel as if I come from a region so inferior to their own that my experience should be exotified and recounted as another Southern horror tale. Out of frustration, I always ask myself: “Do racism and inequality not exist anywhere else in the United States?” Perhaps, out of fairness, the next time someone tells me that they are from New York, I should ask them if there has been another Crown Heights incident lately. I should also ask Bostonians if it’s safe for a non-white, non-Irish individual to casually stroll down the streets of South Boston. I might pose another question: Should prospective students of color assume that they will be harassed and beaten by Department of Public Safety officers upon matriculating at the University? When I think of Southern pride, the idea of acknowledging past wrongs while building a more egalitarian future comes to mind. I often tell people that the only real difference between Georgia and many other parts of the United States is high humidity and a slower speech pattern. In my opinion, there are very few problems exclusive to one particular region of the country. As Brown students, we must be careful to see societal blights as national problems and not simply project them onto a particular region. By associating racism and ignorance with the Southeast, I feel as if many of my classmates are removing their own regions from responsibility in correcting issues that are simply rendered “a Southern problem.” By doing this, they are helping perpetuate the very problems they claim to oppose. My own Southern pride, as I define it, would not let me rest until I defended my region against this “blame it on the South” mentality that I have encountered at Brown. To solve our many national problems, we must acknowledge that they are, indeed, national problems — rather than simply blaming them on the South.

Curtis Harris ’09 is madder than a spotted toad in a lightning storm.

PAGE 11

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

The complexity of the Brown experience JOEY BORSON OPINIONS COLUMNIST

I’m writing this, my last column, while sitting in the basement of the SciLi, in plain sight of the alpha and omega of the Brown experience. In front of me rests a copy of my senior thesis, nearly done — a body of work that, in a sense, is the capstone of all the skills, courses and research techniques I’ve learned over the last four years. Yet, as I walked over here from the Sharpe Refectory, I passed a tour group, full of high school aged pre-frosh still try-

it’s too hard to hear when you’re outside, the ground is either cold or wet and you risk the chance of an errant Frisbee interrupting a discussion of the Swedish welfare state. Much of Brown’s public image is like that — attractive, vaguely stereotypical, but without any real relationship to reality. The New Curriculum is one of those things — an enduring view, at least among those who have never stepped through the Van Wickle gates, is that it allows us to take underwater basket weaving courses without ever having any requirements or grades. And to a point, that’s technically true. But everyone here has some form of concentration requirements and almost

This is a school genuinely committed to creating a positive learning environment and fostering the intellectual discovery that defines what a university should be. ing to decide what this whole “Brown” thing really is. Five years separate me from them, and in the half-decade since I first set foot upon the cold, damp streets of Providence, my perspective on this school has shifted irrevocably from the airbrushed picture in the admission office guide to one far more complex — and far more rewarding. First, forget the image of a circle of students sitting with their professor on the Main Green. A pretty visual, yes, but

everyone takes most of their courses for a grade — though freedom extends around the margins of our transcript, the heart would probably be similar at another peer institution. This isn’t a bad thing. A degree of structure is useful in academia, and taking related courses — sometimes even concentration “requirements” — can provide a depth that truly proves that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. But the view that Brown is a citadel without rules, a view propagated by many here, is simply wrong.

More entrenched is the perception that we are a “bastion of liberalism,” with views somehow fundamentally different from the rest of the world. There is some truth here. Our school is more politically liberal than most, and there is a very visible, although I would argue, relatively small, left-wing movement on its grounds. But most students are not consumed by politics and are motivated by only a vague, mostly apathetic tendency to support Democratic candidates and ideas. We’re far more complicated than that simple stereotype. There is no prevailing political force here, and this simply is not a school where anything resembling the University of California-Berkeley movements of the 1960s could happen today. Nor should it. We are a community of genuinely diverse, complex views, bound together through an identity rooted in Brown, not Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., or even widely held concepts such as social justice. Independent thought remains important on this campus. I love this complexity. Brown defies black-and-white characterization. It can’t be summarized in a 30-minute tour or by a few paragraphs on a Web site. We’re not a place with a “typical” student, nor are we a school defined by a common set of religious, social or political beliefs. There are universities that try to prepare their students for a specific life path, career or ideology. Brown isn’t one of them. Perhaps that’s where Brown’s value truly lies. It, and more importantly, the people who breathe life into its walls, don’t line up to any pre-existing mold. Is this a perfect institution? Of course not — the school doesn’t deal well with change and can be so consumed with its public image that it fails to take into account the needs of the students and faculty. But this is a school genuinely committed to creating a positive learning environment and fostering the intellectual discovery that defines what a University should be. And for that, I am enormously thankful.

Joey Borson ’07 is signing off.

Brown and the ROTC BY ADAM SWARTZBAUGH, RITA CIDRE, GORDON MACGILL, PRATIK CHOUGULE, ANNE KOENIG AND MICHAEL BHATIA GUEST COLUMNISTS

In 1971, the Brown faculty decided to remove the Reserve Ofﬁcer Training Corps from campus, citing the program’s failure to convert from departmental to extracurricular status. Now, in the midst of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there has been renewed mobilization for and against the return of ROTC and the presence of defense contractors at career fairs. The policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the “war on terror,” accusations of privileged distance and fears of the campus militarization are some of the central pivots around which ROTC is discussed. The Brown student body should not be isolated from the ROTC debate. As the slavery and justice committee demonstrated, the University is the ideal setting for the discussion of controversial social issues. So to facilitate this discussion, the international relations seminar IR 180.6: “The American Military” is hosting a discussion panel and debate on ROTC at

Brown tonight at the Watson Institute. ROTC is run at universities throughout the country, providing its students with training in leadership, military history, military tactics and professional ethics. It produces more than 60 percent of the ofﬁcers in the armed forces, and 75 percent of those in the Army. ROTC was continuously present at Brown from 1916 until 1971. The student movement to abolish ROTC began in 1967 at the height of the Vietnam War. Attempts by the faculty to negotiate a transition from department to extracurricular status failed, and the faculty voted to remove ROTC from campus. Since 1971, a few Brown undergraduates have traveled to Providence College to participate in its ROTC program. There are structural barriers to increased participation there, as Brown students receive no course credit or transportation assistance. Successful programs currently exist at Cornell, Harvard/Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Princeton universities. Meanwhile, Brown continues to receive defense contracts. These do not come with the same conditions as the ROTC program, yet they reveal the other ways in which the University contributes to and receives support from the Pentagon. The return of ROTC encompasses is-

sues of burdens and opportunity, privilege and duty, exclusion and citizenship and militarization and patriotism. It incorporates issues of who serves in the armed forces, as well as those concerning the rights and contested obligations of citizens and students in a time of conflict. America’s political and economic elite are seen to be absent from military service. The socioeconomically disadvantaged constitute the vast majority of new recruits, while the government has expanded its reliance on private military companies for core military tasks. An engagement with the tensions between these issues is required of any informed university community. Brown has no obligation to discuss ROTC. But it does have a special opportunity to open a campus dialogue on issues of citizenship, socio-economic privilege, militarization and the university’s function in a time of conflict. Please join us at 8 p.m. in the McKinney Conference Room, on the third floor of the Watson Institute. Adam Swartzbaugh ’09, Rita Cidre ’07, Gordon MacGill ’07, Pratik Chougule ’08, Anne Koenig ’08 and Visiting Fellow in International Studies Michael Bhatia ’99 will be there, and according to anonymous sources, they’re smoking hot.

S PORTS W EDNESDAY WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2007

PAGE 12

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Tews named Ivy League Player of the Week

Why making the NBA playoffs is bad for a franchise’s health As the NBA regular season winds down, 16 teams will make the playoffs while another 14 get a head start on vacation. It might seem as though those 16 teams succeeded having made the playoffs, but the truth is that most playoff teams are the real losers Tom Trudeau each season, and Tru Story that is especially true this season. In the Eastern Conference, Detroit, Chicago and perhaps Cleveland and Miami — pending Dwyane Wade’s health — are the only teams with a chance to reach the ﬁnals. In the Western Conference, Dallas, Phoenix, San Antonio and maybe Houston can make a run at winning it all. Everyone else … well, they might steal a few games or even a series or two if they’re very lucky, but all they’ve really done is taken themselves out of the lottery and weakened their franchise’s future. The NBA isn’t the NFL or MLB, where wild card teams have a legitimate chance at winning the championship. Wild card teams in the NFL, such as the ’05 Steelers, only need to win four games to win the Super Bowl. Wild card teams in baseball, such as the 2006 AL representative, Detroit, are often just as good as or even better than the division winners. In the NBA, the lowest seed to win a championship was the sixth-seeded 1994-95 Houston Rockets, who also happened to be the defendcontinued on page 9

Jacob Melrose / Herald File Photo Caitlin Fahey ’07, one of the team’s four seniors, helped close water polo’s regular season with wins over Utica College and Queens College.

W. water polo waxes opposition to close out regular season BY BENJY ASHER SPORTS STAFF WRITER

The No. 18 women’s water polo team finished its regular season in dominant fashion by defeating three Northern Division opponents in recent competitions. The Bears downed Harvard 113 last Thursday, then on Saturday easily defeated Utica College, 20-2, and Queens College, 13-3. The three wins improved the team’s record to 18-8 — 52 in the Northern Division with both division losses coming against No. 12 Hartwick College. On Thursday, Brown jumped out to an early lead, scoring the game’s first five goals. Claire

Angyal ’07 scored on a counterattack just 43 seconds into the game to give the Bears the lead, and Lauren Presant ’10 added two quick goals to widen the lead to 3-0. Paige Lansing ’07 struck with 5:06 remaining in the period, and Elizabeth Balassone ’07 found the net with 3:56 remaining to give Bruno a 5-0 advantage. The Crimson got on the board before the end of the ﬁrst quarter, but Brown never lost control of the game. Only 38 seconds into the second quarter, Caitlin Fahey ’07 scored to give the Bears a 6-1 lead, and just under a minute later Lansing’s second goal made the score 7-1. After a Harvard goal cut the lead to 7-2, Fa-

hey scored her second goal, and Presant added a third to give Brown a 9-2 halftime lead. The Bears were held scoreless in the third, but in the ﬁnal period Alexis Blaxberg ’08 scored two goals to go along with her two steals, and Bruno cruised to an 11-3 victory. In Saturday’s ﬁrst game, 12 players scored en route to a 20-2 rout of Utica. Goaltender Stephanie Laing ’10 recorded eight saves and two steals to shut down the Pioneers’ attack. On offense, Blaxberg had a teamhigh four goals. Herald Graphics Editor Roxanne Palmer ’08, Kristin Cuthbertson ’09 and Al-

Ashley Hess / Herald File Photo

The women’s rugby team won the Ivy Championship for the second time in four years on Sunday.

First the women’s rugby football club played host at the Ivy League Championships. Then the team played spoiler. Ranked fi fth heading into the Ancient Eight tournament, the women ruggers defeated three teams in two days to take the championship, dispatching Yale in the final, 14-0. Next weekend, the Bears head to Pennsylvania State University for the national tournament and a first round match against the United States Naval Academy. “It gives us a lot of confidence,” said Head Coach Kerrisa Heffernan. “We handled the other teams so well, and we feel there’s a lot of momentum going into this game.” The tournament, sponsored by Brown and played in Portsmouth, was a milestone for Ivy League women’s rugby. In the Brown program’s 30th Anniversary season of competition, this year’s tournament marked the first time that all eight teams participated. Usually the University of Pennsylvania does not participate, but the Quakers were in town this weekend. “I’m not sure what changed,”

— Peter Cipparone

M. tennis collapses against Cornell, Columbia

said Team President Ariel Thompson ’07. “But we’re glad they came.” Bruno faced Princeton first on Saturday in what turned out to be its closest match of the tournament, with a final score of 14-7. Inside-center Frances Male ’09 scored Brown’s first try, and fly-half Whitney Brown ’08 scored the second. Fullback Katie Glerum ’10 made both twopoint kicks. Yale scored its only try on what Heffernan termed a “freak” 60-yard play. “We were in their end for the vast majority of the game and came within scoring about six or eight times about two to six feet from the try-line,” said forward and captain Jen Hustwitt ’07. “We should have scored at least six more tries in that game because of how we were positioned.” In the semifinal against Radcliffe on Saturday, the wind proved to be both the Bears’ worst enemy and best friend. The Bears struggled against the stiff breeze in the first half. According to Heffernan, they sometimes had to watch their opponents’ kicks soar 50 yards

The men’s tennis team’s Ivy League struggles continued over the weekend. The Bears dropped matches to Cornell and Columbia, bringing their Ivy season record to 0-4. On Friday, the Bears absorbed a 5-2 loss to the Big Red, and on Saturday they fell 5-2 to the Lions. Against Cornell, the Bears gave up the doubles point despite an 8-4 win by co-captain Dan Hanegby ’07 and Saurabh Kohli ’08 at second doubles. Hanegby and Kohli also won their respective singles matches, but the wins were not enough to put Brown in front. At first singles, Hanegby defeated Nick Brunner 7-6, 61, while at fourth singles, Kohli overpowered Rory Heggie 6-3, 6-2. Basu Ratnam ’09 and Noah Gardner ’09 took their matches into third sets, but Ratnam narrowly lost 6-7, 6-1, 7-6 at second singles, and Gardner fell 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 at sixth singles. Hanegby and Kohli took charge again the next day against Columbia. At first doubles, the team crushed Marty Moore and Paul Ratchford by a score of 81, but losses at second and third doubles gave the Lions the doubles point. Hanegby defeated Mark Clemente 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 at first singles, and Kohli took a 64, 6-4 win over Moore at third singles. Meanwhile, Zack Pasanen ’07 fought a close battle at sixth singles, trading tiebreakers with Justin Chow before dropping the third set super-breaker 10-6. Co-captain Eric Thomas ’07 had a three-set contest of his own at fourth singles, but he eventually fell 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. The Bears will host Dartmouth on Friday in their last home match — and, they hope, first win — of the Ivy League season.

continued on page 8

— Erin Frauenhofer

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W. ruggers slog past competition to claim Ivy Tournament BY GEORGE MESTHOS SPORTS STAFF WRITER

Baseball inﬁelder Bryan Tews ’07 was named Ivy League Player of the Week Tuesday. In two games against Dartmouth, Tews went 4for-7 with two home runs, three RBIs, a double and a walk. He did most of his damage in the second game of the doubleheader as he went 3-for-3 and homered in the fourth and sixth innings in a 10-3 Brown victory. Tews, last year’s Ivy League batting champion, raised his average to .304 on the year and .400 in Ivy League play, good for seventh in the league. Tews has been a consistent offensive threat for the Bears this season, as he is second on the team in home runs and third in RBIs, runs scored and hits. He is the second straight Bear to take the Player of the Week honor, following catcher Devon Thomas ’07 last week.