Friday, October 19, 2007

The Brown Daily Herald F riday, O ctober 19, 2007

Volume CXLII, No. 92

Iraq war comes to Brown in the first person this weekend

By Chaz Firestone Senior Staff Writer

Journalists, soldiers, activists, authors, bloggers, lecturers and filmmakers will descend on campus this weekend with one common theme: The war in Iraq. A two-day conference sponsored by the Watson Institute for International Studies, “Front Line, First Person: Iraq War Stories,” will feature first-hand, uncensored accounts of the war from soldiers and embedded journalists who have returned to the United States to tell their stories.

The conference will feature military blogger and author Matthew Burden, former U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee ’75 and award-winning blogger Colby Buzzell, a former soldier who blogged from the front lines and then released his stories in a book titled “My War: Killing Time in Iraq.”

Also speaking will be documentarian Deborah Scranton ’84, whose critically acclaimed 2006 film, “The War Tapes,” won the Tribeca Film Festival’s “Best Documentar y” award and was shortlisted for an Academy Award nomination. “The War Tapes” was shot by 21 active continued on page 4

U. to begin search for VP for campus life

Bergeron’s reshuffling fuels more departures, and questions arise

By Michael Bechek Senior Staff Writer

Since Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron began an overhaul of her office’s organization about a year ago, at least five of her deputies have resigned or been fired, including two experienced deans and a research analyst who were driven to seek other jobs because they did not like the changes Bergeron had made.

Steven Cornish MA’70, an associate dean who became the dean of first-year studies in 2006, left the

continued on page 4

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ARTS & CULTURE

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office over the summer to become the associate dean for curriculum at Bowdoin College. His departure followed that of colleague Robert Shaw, who left in June to become the dean of the school of education at Westminster College in Salt Lake City.

This month, Daniel Gilbert, a research and financial analyst in the dean of the College’s office, quit his post to become a financial and administrative manager at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Cornish told The Herald he believed Gilbert had

chosen to leave because of the restructuring.

Gilbert could not be reached at the telephone number listed for him on Harvard’s Web site.

“There was no recognition or respect given to the good work that was done prior to the restructuring,” Cornish said in a phone interview, adding that though the decision to restructure the office “didn’t make much sense,” deans felt powerless to do anything about it.

The high turnover has put added pressure on the dean of the College’s office, which had already lost

several deans immediately prior to Bergeron taking office in July 2006.

The restructuring has further aggravated the difficulties the office faces by putting most deans in new positions with additional responsibilities and has forced the more experienced deans to shoulder a heavier workload, current and former administrators say.

Cornish’s sudden departure followed that of Shaw and of two executive associate deans, Perry Ashley and Jonathan Waage, who continued on page 6

Baby geniuses? Speaker goes inside the secret lives of infants

By Leslie Primack Contributing Writer

Flanked by two 10-foot-tall photographs of smiling babies, guest speaker Carolyn Rovee-Collier PhD’66 delivered a lecture last night on “The Secret Life of Infants.” The Rutgers University professor of psychology described her radical work on infant memory, including her discovery that babies as young as six weeks old can learn and remember.

“She is one of the premier authorities on infant learning and development, and specifically on children’s memory,” said Lewis Lipsitt, professor emeritus of psychology and founder of what is now Brown’s Center for the Study of Human Development.

Lipsitt told The Herald that Rovee-Collier made the groundbreaking discovery that pre-verbal infants can remember things. “This may seem like a very obvious thing to people nowadays,” he said, “but at one time it was presumed that babies were just a blob, or as William James called it ... ‘a booming buzzing

By Debbie Lehmann Senior Staff Writer

As the two-year term for Interim Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services Russell Carey ’91 MA’06 nears its end, the University will begin a national search next month for a candidate to permanently fill the position.

Carey was appointed in the summer of 2006, after David Greene resigned to become vice president for strategic initiatives at the University of Chicago. President Ruth Simmons told The Herald in September 2006 that Carey, who has been at the University for almost two decades, was more “deeply committed” to Brown.

Though his appointment is temporar y, Simmons gave Carey full authority as head of campus life to ensure that campus life initiatives continue smoothly. Simmons also said last year that a two-year term would allow time for student input in the search for a permanent head of campus life.

Undergraduate Council of Students President Michael Glassman ’08 said he would meet with Simmons next week to discuss oppor-

Since 1866, Daily Since 1891

Chris Bennett / Herald

Rutgers University psychology professor Carolyn Rovee-Collier lectured Thursday on infant learning and development.

confusion.’ ” Rovee-Collier described in her lecture how she and her colleagues outfitted infants with ribbons tied to their ankles, allowing them to control an overhead mobile by kicking their foot. Infants as young as six weeks

old caught on within 15 minutes and began moving their feet more, causing the mobile to swing.

This evidence of positive reinforcement in infants flew in the face of all previous infant research. Jean Piaget, a leader in child psychology,

By Simon van Zuylen-Wood Staff Writer

Unlike conservatives, liberals have neglected to connect moral values with their political platform, Peter Beinart, editor-at-large of the New Republic magazine told a Salomon 001 audience Thursday night.

In a lecture co-sponsored by the Brown Democrats and Brown Students for Israel and called “Why Liberal Values are Moral Values,” Beinart opened by saying his inspiration for the speech was President Bush, who Beinart said won the 2004 election in part because voters could identify his beliefs.

“Liberals are great at talking about policies but bad at talking about what they believe,” Beinart said. “When I talk to conservatives in Washington, I ask them, ‘Tell me a good book that shapes what it means for you to be a conservative.’ You ask liberals by and large, and you get nothing at all.”

Beinart said his problem with

Meara Sharma / Herald Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior Rachel Herz read from her book “The Secent of Desire” on Thursday evening at the Brown Bookstore.

5

CAMPUS NEWS

JINDAL JUST MIGHT U.S. Rep. Bobby Jindal ‘91.5, R-La., could become the governor of Louisiana in Saturday’s election.

continued on page 4

Beinart: Liberals must better articulate fundamental beliefs

THE NOSE KNOWS

Devilishly good Sock and Buskin’s “City of Angels” brings film noir and mystery to Stuart Theater.

had claimed that infants could not learn until five or six months of age, Rovee-Collier said.

Rovee-Collier’s findings encountered much resistance, she said. It

9

OPINIONS

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

Opinions extra James Shapiro ‘10 likens Ratty-nomics to America’s healthcare system and Renata Sago ‘10 probes the pot.

liberals today is not their ideology, but their lack of identifiable values.

“If you look at who communists were really mad at, it was liberals, because liberals had the ability to humanize capitalism,” Beinart said, adding that liberals could be even more successful furthering social progress if they expressed as much concern about family values as conservatives.

“I think the reason America has become a coarser society is because Americans don’t spend as much time with their children as they used to,” he said.

While Beinart said he holds liberals accountable for ignoring values, he also blames conservatives for addressing morals too generally.

Beinart said that in the face of the Abu Ghraib prison torture accusations, “the more George Bush talks about his deep love of freedom, the less credibility it has all over the world.” continued on page 4

16 SPORTS

flippin’ in The men’s soccer team’s Darren Howerton ‘09 dishes about his signature flip throw-in.

News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com

T oday Page 2

Friday, October 19, 2007

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But Seriously | Charlie Custer and Stephen Barlow

We a t h e r Today

TOMORROW

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Sharpe Refectory

Verney-Woolley Dining Hall

Lunch — Chicken Jambalaya with Bacon, Gyro Sandwich on Pita, Tomato Basil Pie, New England Clam Chowder, Vegetarian Vegetable Soup, Snickerdoodle Cookies, Blondies

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Dinner — Grilled Salmon with Minted Pea Puree, Rice with Peas and Coriander, Manicotti Butternut Squash

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Dinner — Tilapia with Provensal Sauce, Grilled Chicken, Spinach Pie Casserole, Basmati Rice Pilaf, Chocolate Cinnamon Cake Roll

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Vagina Dentata | Soojean Kim

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

Octopus on Hallucinogens | Toni Liu and Stephanie Le

RELEASE DATE– Friday, October 19, 2007 © Puzzles

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Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

C

o ssw or d Lewis Edited by RichrNorris and Joyce Nichols

ACROSS 1 Sauce Maria ran out to purchase?

9 1-Across ingredient 15 “Something special in the air” sloganeer 16 Kindle 17 Invigorating, with “up” 18 Looked without seeing 19 Wharton’s “The __ of Innocence” 20 Mix up 22 Nephew of Abraham 23 Yellow 25 Sauce made with Asian beer?

29 Gable’s looks and Grable’s legs 32 Asian way 33 Beleaguer 34 “The Black Cat” author 35 Pullets are young ones 36 18-20 in a series 37 Sauce incorporating integrative skills?

40 Sitcom waitress 42 “It __ Right”: 1956 Platters hit 43 Blunder 44 Slim swimmer 45 Head, in slang 46 China item 50 Sauce from chefs with noble egos?

54 Reduce 55 Outlaw Kelly 56 Excised 59 1959 hit that was a 1948 political song 60 Like the most subtle of flirts 63 Cursoradvancing code 65 Threat words 66 Unnatural 67 What an alliumphobe fears 68 Ones for the answers to 1-, 25-, 37- and 50Across are hidden in their clues

DOWN 1 United Kingdom territory until 1957 2 Paco’s pals 3 Delights 4 Rage 5 La __: ocean phenomenon 6 Mordant 7 Jazz/gospel outgrowth, familiarly 8 Seek slyly, with “for” 9 Plate on a car 10 Nine-time NHL all-star 11 Swag 12 Way to prepare steak 13 Flies over Africa 14 Ref. set 21 Peter, pumpkinwise 24 French military topper 26 Asian royalty 27 Cosa __ 28 Bus. card datum 30 Gym activity 31 Flavor 35 Driver’s lic. figure

37 One making frequent returns 38 Not well, perhaps 39 Test answer 40 Yalta Conference mo.

41 Name of three Beethoven overtures 47 Shooter 48 Look up to 49 Checks, as a total

51 1961 Newbery Medal winner Scott __ 52 City W of Montgomery 53 González in 2000 news 57 Sicilian province or its capital 58 Mao’s successor 60 Sprocket 61 Fed. stipend 62 Shamus 64 Supportin’

Gratis | Nate Carlson

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Classic How To Get Down | Nate Saunders

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A rts & C ulture Friday, October 19, 2007

Page 3

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

‘City of Angels’ is devilish fun

By Marisa Calleja Contributing Writer

Sock and Buskin’s first production of the year, “City of Angels,” explores what it means to be true to oneself through a comparison of two worlds: detective fiction and 1940s Hollywood. The musical, which debuted Thursday night in Stuart Theater, works with the challenge of presenting two simultaneous story lines, and the result is a production that seamlessly darts between real and fictional worlds to create a show that is both visually and narratively compelling.

“City of Angels” revolves around the adaptation of a detective novel to the big screen, and the problems this creates for its author, a confused but well-intentioned New Yorker named Stine. As he continues writing the screenplay, the characters in the play and the people in his life become one and the same — accordingly, the majority of the show’s cast play dual roles.

Because the worlds of film noir and 1940s Hollywood both emphasize moral ambiguity and sexual motivation, Stine is left with a series of decisions to make, both in his own life and in that of his detective alterego, Stone.

The character of Stine, played by Federico Rodriguez ’09, can hardly hold his own life together, let alone that of Stone, played by Dan Sterba ’08 , or the other characters he has created. For example, though he is in love with his wife — played gracefully

by Emily Borromeo ’09 — he finds himself in bed with his director’s assistant, Oolie, played by Leighton Bryan ’08.

To add frustration to an already stressful life, Stine’s director insists on taking credit for the writing of the film and tries to compromise Stine’s integrity by removing social issues from his screenplay. The director, Buddy, played by Aubie Merrylees ’10, is endlessly pompous, sleazy and unscrupulous, but is easily the most comic character in the show.

As with nearly every character, Buddy’s wife, Carla, played by Zoë Chao ’08, has a film noir counterpart, Alaura, who represents Stine’s reallife opinion of her. Chao creates a

REVIEW vibrant, though believable, characterization of the conniving, gold-digging Alaura.

“It’s an unusual musical,” said the show’s director, Lowry Marshall, a professor of theatre, speech and dance. “It’s complicated. It’s funny. A lot of musicals, more than anything, work on sentiment. But (“City of Angels”) is really hard edged, and really funny in places.”

“The film within the play is the really fun part. It’s like a big puzzle that you have to put together,” Marshall added.

Production for “City of Angels” completely transformed the Stuart Theater into a versatile, multidimensional space, and the show’s elaborate set is made of a large central performance space and a series of smaller, more structured areas. Two sides of the performance space include audience seating, and large set pieces — such as an inverted recreation of the iconic Hollywood sign — help the show transition between shadowy film noir scenes and sunny Hollywood. “We wanted to do something really challenging and different with the space,” Marshall said.

The line between the Hollywood and film noir worlds is clearly drawn through lighting and costume choices. In the noir scenes, lighting is heavily shadowed and costumes are black and white, while in the other scenes, the costumes and lighting reflect a bright, California aesthetic.

“City of Angels,” like all Sock and Buskin productions, was selected by a board of faculty and students.

Casting began at the start of the school year, and the cast has been rehearsing since the second week in September.

“City of Angels” was written by Larry Gelbart with music and lyrics

by Cy Coleman and David Zippel, respectively. It ran on Broadway from 1989 to 1992, during which it won six Tony Awards, including one for Best Actor in a Musical for Brown alum James Naughton’s ’67 portrayal of Stone.

The show runs Oct. 18-21 and 25-28 in Stuart Theater.

Courtesy C.O.P. Films/Les Films Djoliba “Clouds Over Conakry” is among the films included in the 2007 Africana Film Festival, held at Cable Car Cinema through Sunday.

Film festival explores African Diaspora

By Andrea Savdie Contributing Writer

The Africana Film Festival — a celebration of the stories, voices and cultures that comprise the African Diaspora — kicked off Wednesday night with a screening of the film “Africa Paradise” at the Cable Car Cinema.

A collaborative project of the Africana Studies and Modern Culture and Media Departments, the annual festival features films by new and established filmmakers from Africa and the African Diaspora. Festival events will run through Sunday at the Cable Car and include panel discussions, screenings accompanied by question-and-answer sessions with the filmmakers and an event celebrating the legacy of Ousmane Sembene, commonly called the “father of African cinema.”

“It is a great opportunity for people to look at Africa differently,” said Nathalie Etoke, a visiting assistant professor of French studies who focuses on contemporary African cinema and fiction. “Particularly in the West, Africa is portrayed in a restraining frame. You have the

stereotypes created by CNN and Fox of civil war and violence. Commercials about how you can help feed the hungry. They show the slums. This is part of Africa, but not everything,” said Etoke, who is helping to organize this year’s festival. “It is important to give a window of opportunity for Africans to voice their concerns.”

The festival was started in 2004

by Meadow Dibble-Dieng AM’03 PhD’06, who worked with Professor of Modern Culture and Media Philip Rosen and Film Archivist Richard Manning to create the event as a venue for people of the African Diaspora to tell their stories.

“These people share a common history of oppression,” Etoke said.

“The Diaspora has a direct connection to the history of slavery, the middle passage and colonialism.”

In the festival’s opening film, “Africa Paradise,” the year is 2033 and the tables have turned. Africa, or rather the United States of Africa, is a prosperous economic power, where war and poverty are problems of the past. Inspired by

the real-life experiences of African immigrants in Europe, the film satirically portrays racist stereotypes as it follows the struggles of a European couple unsuccessfully trying to obtain visas to immigrate to Africa in search of better opportunities. The two Europeans end up having to resort to illegal immigration. “Africa Paradise” will show again on Saturday night, with an introduction by the filmmaker Sylvestre Amoussou.

Other films in the festival include two installments of South African filmmaker Khalo Matabane’s miniseries “When We Were Black,” the science fiction film “Les Saignantes” by Jean-Pierre Bekolo and Ousmane Sembene’s “Moolade.”

“Les Saignantes” tells the story of two young women in a future African society who are attempting to dispose of a dead body and end up challenging their country’s corrupt, sexist patriarchy. Sembene’s “Moolade,” which won the Un Certain Regarde Award at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, depicts a group of continued on page 7

Courtyard ‘Comedy’ features mistaken identity

By Robin Steele Arts & Culture Editor

Chris Bennett / Herald

Shakespeare on the Green’s “The Comedy of Errors” runs through October 21.

“The Comedy of Errors,” a fall production presented by Shakespeare on the Green, opened Thursday evening in the courtyard outside the Faunce post office. The show, directed by Arik Beatty ’10, is the culmination of five weeks of work and features a mostly freshman cast with varied theatrical experience.

The farcical play follows two sets of identical twins separated at birth, Antipholus of Syracuse and Antipholus of Ephesus and their servants, Dromio of Syracuse and Dromio of Ephesus.

When the Syracusan pair arrives in Ephesus, they are repeatedly mistaken for their twin brothers in a series of ridiculous encounters with the brothers’ friends and family, leading to flirtations, arrests and accusations.

“The Comedy of Errors” is William Shakespeare’s shortest play, and this production runs a brief hour and half, featuring minimal set beyond the ivylined brick walls and stone fountain of the courtyard. The staging makes use of the walkway running above the

space, allowing for action occurring out of the scene to be visible.

The cast wore modern clothing and Beatty resolved an issue that inevitably arises when staging “the Comedy” — how to represent identical twins — by casting actors with similar hair color and dressing them in matching outfits. The actors portraying the two Antipholuses are blond and clad in preppy button-down dress shirts and khakis, while the Dromios, sharing little physi-

REVIEW cal resemblance save for dark hair, dress more casually in matching jeans, baseball caps and maroon hoodies.

Although the show got off to a slow start while setting up the story, it livened up with the arrival of leads Antipholus and Dromio of Syracuse, played by Sammy McGowan ’11 and Phil Arevalo ’11 respectively. McGowan’s Antipholus is a cocky and flirtatious bachelor, while his married brother, played by Matt Wilde ’11, comes off as the more serious and sober of the two.

The main cast ably handles the

bawdy jokes and moments of physical humor, such as fights, chases, and an incident with a human battering ram. Arevalo and Kyle Dacuyan ’11 were particularly energetic as the twin Dromios, delivering complicated speeches while gesturing and racing around manically.

Sisters Luciana and Adriana, wife of Antiphlus of Ephesus, played by Katie Meyers ’10 and Tess Avitabile ’11 respectively, turn in entertaining performances, although their roles mostly consist of berating or reacting to their male counterparts. Finn Yarbrough ’09 is also memorable in dual roles as the merchant Egeon and Nell, the homely kitchen maid married to Dromio of Ephesus, who torments Dromio of Syracuse.

As in most of Shakespeare’s comedy, the mayhem builds up to a predictable but amusing denouement. All in all, this is a funny, fun and fast-paced production of one of the Bard’s rarelystaged comedies.

“The Comedy of Errors” runs Oct. 18-21. Tonight’s performance will take place at 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday performances will be at 3 p.m.

Page 4

Friday, October 19, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

New Republc editor on liberal values The Iraq war from the frontline continued from page 1

Beinart concluded by speaking about defeating terrorism and solving the United States’ problems in the Middle East. Beinart said that the United States is too imperialistic in its Middle Eastern occupancy. He advocated that the United States begins to deal with the people and ideas behind terrorism instead of simply occupying territory.

On Iraq, Beinart said, “we were there to turn them into a 51st state and take their oil.”

Though Beinart took no official position on the 2008 presidential election, he voiced admiration for Sen. Hilary Clinton, D-N.Y. “Clinton would be between a B- and a B+

president — incredibly hard working, disciplined and a good manager,” Beinart said. Playing to the home crowd, he added, “She’s the political version of the 2007 New England Patriots — she doesn’t make mistakes.”

Harry Reis ’11, a member of BSI, told The Herald after the lecture, “I thought he framed the conversation about the future of liberalism in a powerful way, especially in terms of his analysis of the core values of the liberal movement.”

Sarah Sherman ’09, co-president of BSI, said BSI secured Beinart as a speaker because of his book “The Good Fight: Why Liberals — and Only Liberals — Can Win the War on Terror and Make America

Great Again.”

“The reason he is a BSI speaker is because of his book,” Sherman said. “And what we like about that is that it’s framing the debate in terms of ‘terrorism is a problem, now who can solve it?,’ ” Sherman said.

Gabriel Kussin ’09, president of the Dems, said the group jumped at the opportunity to co-sponsor the lecture when they found out BSI was bringing Beinart to campus.

“Liberal idealism is usually specific and issue based. His perspective is much more general and allows for people to look for the core values of America that cross political lines.”

Kussin said. “This is an emerging topic — presenting that viewpoint at Brown is really important.”

Inside the minds of rugrats continued from page 1 was four years before she found a journal to publish her first experiment. “A lot of people are just wedded to a point of view of what babies can do and can’t do,” she told The Herald after the lecture. “And that’s not helpful.”

Using mobiles, train sets, and puppets, she continued to test babies’ abilities to imitate actions, recall longforgotten tasks, and learn through association. She discovered that babies can learn and remember much more than was previously believed.

“I am always surprised,” she said in an interview. “Always.”

At a time when most psychologists believed that infants forget after 75 seconds, her work proved that memories can lie latent in infants for as long as three months, RoveeCollier said in her lecture. By crafting experiments that took into account babies’ physical lack of coordination and limited attention span, she was able to reveal many cases of memory at ages much younger than psychologists had expected.

Rovee-Collier “was one of the earliest students in our experimental child psychology program,” Lipsitt said. She attended Brown as a graduate student before the undergraduate men’s college began accepting women (speaking to The Herald, she recalled the Pembroke College “pearls girls”).

Coming from the Deep South, she

said she adjusted to Brown’s frigid climate with difficulty. “I got colds all the time because I was freezing,” she recalled, and was often in the infirmary. Since she was often the only woman at Brown’s male-dominated health clinic, she sometimes had to stay outside on the porch. “They didn’t know what to do with me,” she laughed.

Now teaching psychology at Rutgers, she said she loves it when her students debate her. “I always say, ‘That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,’ ” she said, laughing, to push them to do research that proves her wrong.

Rovee-Collier has written over 200 articles and edited the journal “Infant Behavior and Development” for 17 years. In 2003, she won experimental psychology’s most prestigious award, the Howard Crosby Warren Medal, from the Society of Experimental Psychologists.

The talk was part of the LipsittDuchin Lecture Series, a partnership between Brown’s Center for the Study of Human Development and Rhode Island Kids Count, a statewide organization that aims to help young children through advocacy and government policy.

“We hope to provide some ideas to participants ... and help us make the best possible decisions in terms of public policies that benefit infants and their families,” said Elizabeth Burke Bryant, the executive director of R.I. Kids Count.

continued from page 1 soldiers who were given filming equipment by Scranton and her production team to provide an account of the war unparalleled in authenticity.

Scranton, who teaches INTL 1800E: “The Good Fight: Documentary Work and Social Change” as a visiting fellow for international studies, sat down with The Herald yesterday to talk about the war, her documentary and life at Brown.

Herald: Handing cameras to soldiers without any formal training in film or journalism seems like a risky move, but it ends up providing viewers with the most real account of the war possible. How did you come up with the idea for the documentar y?

Scranton: I wanted to tell the story from the inside out versus the outside in, from the point of view of those who are going out of the bases and who are actually engaged. My background used to be doing a lot of sports work, and very often I would be on the headset with lots of cameras. So when I got a phone call with the offer to embed with the New Hampshire National Guard to tell their story, I literally woke up in the middle of the night at like 4 o’ clock in the morning with this idea — “What if I could virtually embed?” If I could put more cameras out there, maybe I could tell a multi-faceted story. What if I could have cameras rolling all the time and create a permeable relationship with the soldiers through IM and e-mails to really get inside of the story, to understand what their experiences were like? So instead of going in there and thinking, “This is the story I’m going to tell,” I wanted

to crawl inside the experience of war — what it looked like, smelled like and felt like.

The Iraq war obviously elicits strong opinions from nearly ever yone, for and against. Did you tr y to accomplish anything political with the documentar y?

Absolutely not. I gave the soldiers a promise: I said that we would tell their story — through their eyes — no matter what. The caveat for my access was that I had to get the soldiers to volunteer.

“The War Tapes” was shortlisted for an Oscar nomination.

How did it feel to almost, almost win an Oscar?

I was thrilled because I really hoped that by that acknowledgement it would have a wider audience. My motivation for this was to tr y to bridge the disconnect between those who know a solider and those who don’t. Right now, it’s less than one percent of the country who knows a soldier. In World War II it was a little more than 12 percent — we had a home front, a war front, everybody was involved. Now, in this countr y, you can go days without knowing there’s a war going on.

Has your Brown education helped you in your career as a filmmaker?

I’d say my undergraduate education helped me in two ways. One was being a semiotics major and looking at interpretive frameworks and how meaning is constructed.

I also did two and a half years of RISD in photography. I had a wonderful photography professor who only let us have a 50mm lens for our photography class. His thing was, “You want a picture? Go get it.”

VP for campus life search to begin in Nov. continued from page 1 tunities for student involvement in the search. In addition to having students on the search committee, Glassman said he would like to hold forums where students can discuss what they want to see in the head of campus life.

The search committee has not yet been appointed, but the process is slated to begin in November, according to UCS Student Activities Chair Drew Madden ’10.

Carey did not comment on whether he would apply for the position, but Herald opinions columist Zachary Townsend ’08, former UCS vice president and currently a student representative on the University Resources Committee, said administrators told him “they’d be shocked if Russell

didn’t get it,” Townsend said.

Townsend added that Carey has expressed his support for the idea of a national search.

Several other administrators, including Greene, were appointed to their positions after ser ving interim terms. Margaret Klawunn was appointed dean for student life in 2005 after holding the position temporarily during the 2004-2005 academic year.

According to Townsend, students on the search committee for the dean for student life said they received many applications for the position. Though the University ultimately chose Klawunn to fill the role, Townsend said these students told him the search process was a “serious operation” and that other candidates were seriously considered.

thanks for reading

C ampus n ews Friday, October 19, 2007

Faculty forum explores int’l opportunities

By Ross Frazier News Editor

About 40 faculty and administrators and the newly appointed vice president for international affairs, David Kennedy ’76, met for a forum on the University’s internationalization effort Thursday afternoon in Salomon 101, offering a range of opinions and concerns about what such an initiative should look like.

Following the discussion, which focused largely on student experiences and the need for more support for international programs, Kennedy spoke broadly on his vision for the University’s new global effort.

In his remarks, Kennedy drew a parallel between Brown’s current goal and its mid-century transition from a regional to a national university. “It took a generation,” he said.

“I hope we can do the same sort of thing with our international efforts, but in much less time.”

After the forum, Kennedy told The Herald he sees two goals of internationalization: the transition to a global university and a deepening of Brown’s ties to international universities. There’s a lot of energy at Brown about how we can make this transition,” he said. “I’m also struck by the real interest faculty have in student experiences. The main topic here has been, ‘What student experiences work?’ And that’s the place to start.”

With respect to creating more international opportunities for students, some professors said the University should focus its efforts in an unprecedented way. “We could get away from the model of sending students away to the periphery of the empire for a semester and

Chris Bennett / Herald

Recently appointed Vice President for International Affairs David Kennedy ’76

then bringing them back. Can we imagine a more radical change?” asked one professor.

“I’m assuming this is more than sending more students abroad for a semester,” another professor said.

“I’m assuming new relationships are envisaged.”

“I’d like to hear a discussion of something more innovative than what we’ve been talking about today, which we’re all very familiar with,” another faculty member added.

Others raised concerns specific to their departments. One faculty member from the Center for Language Studies said Brown should make foreign languages part of its internationalization strategy. A staff member from the Career Development Center said she would like internships to be a focus.

Professor of Visual Art Richard Fishman, director of the Creative Arts Council, said he had some continued on page 7

In La., Jindal ’91.5 tries for governor

By Lily Szajnberg Contributing Writer

U.S. Rep. Bobby Jindal ’91.5, R-La., may become the governor of Lousiana Saturday — but only if he can get over 50 percent of the vote, a rare occurrence in the Bayou State due to its unique electoral system.

State elections in Louisiana — except for presidential and, starting next year, congressional races — are held using a non-partisan primary, sometimes known as the “jungle primary.” All candidates running for office — including multiple candidates from the same party — are listed on one ballot, and unless one candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round, a run-off election must be held between the two top candidates.

“One weird effect is that it is unclear who you are appealing to” in the primary, said Pearson Cross, assistant professor of political science at the University of Louisiana. “You have to play to the whole crowd, figure out who the voters are and seek them out. You’re not restricted in any way, so (in the runoff,) you could get two Republicans or two Democrats running against each other.”

But Jindal, a member of the Brown Corporation, may not have much trouble avoiding the runoff.

A recent poll by Southeastern Louisiana University and WWL-TV, a local television station, showed Jindal with a commanding 50 percent of the vote.

Jindal is the only Republican candidate in the 13-strong field.

Two other candidates, Walter Boasso and John Georges, switched from being Republicans to being a Democrat and an independent, re-

Providence parents vent about public schools at forum

By Chaz Kelsh Contributing Writer

Angry parents voiced exasperation at an open forum Wednesday night about the hiring and firing of Rhode Island public school teachers based on seniority. Seven East Side officials listened and tried to address parents’ concerns at the forum, which was sponsored by the East Side Public Education Coalition and the Parent Teacher Organization of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, where the event was held.

State Rep. Edith Ajello, D-Dist. 3, Rep. David Segal, D-Dist. 2, House Majority Leader Gordon Fox, D-Dist.

4, Sen. Rhoda Perry P’91, D-Dist. 3, Ward 3 Providence City Councilman Kevin Jackson, Ward 1 City Councilman Seth Yurdin and Ward 2 City Councilman Cliff Wood all fielded questions from moderator and East Side resident Michelle McKenzie and the audience about school funding, the possible consolidation of school districts and teacher health care.

Audience members became most incensed when speaking about the process of “bumping,” when school districts fire more-junior teachers when the district budget has not been finalized. Some are later hired over the summer when funding officially becomes available. Schools are not allowed to rehire based on performance, participants at the meeting said, so younger but possibly more

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qualified teachers are let go if the budget decreases.

The officials agreed that bumping is a problem at Rhode Island schools.

“It has to stop,” Wood said. “It tears the culture of a school apart. The progress we’ve made will be over in a flash if we don’t fix this problem.”

But parents were skeptical that true change could be made.

“Why can’t someone just stand up and say, ‘I’m going to be the one to sponsor this?’ ” Kira Greene asked.

Audience members responded with cheers and applause.

METRO Fox said the rules protecting more senior teachers from firing are in place to prevent corruption, and the system cannot simply be scrapped — it must be replaced with a new, more flexible system that also safeguards against favoritism. He added that union contracts around the state are based on the principle of teacher tenure.

Sara Rapport, the lawyer for the Providence School Board, disagreed with Fox’s claim that the state legislature could not repeal certain teacher-hiring laws without further complicating the situation. She said the legislature easily could repeal state law that requires firings based on seniority when an area’s population decreases.

Repealing that rule would help “to take the straitjacket off munici-

palities,” she said, by allowing more site-based management.

Fox said he understood the need to improve schools by improving teacher quality. “Teachers matter, and we have to give them the tools to do their job,” he said.

After the forum, parents expressed frustration that the officials had not committed to pushing for specific changes.

“They’re just thinking, listening, thinking, listening,” said Kim Clark, whose 12-year-old attends Nathanael Greene Middle School in Providence.

“If we can’t fix the obvious issues that everyone agrees on ... nothing of substance has changed.”

The current state of the economy means fewer families are able to afford private school, so they are sending their children to public schools instead, said Warren Licht, who has children at both King and Greene schools.

Bill Ibelle, a member of the East Side coalition’s steering committee and a parent of two children at Greene, said he was pleased with the forum.

“I think it’s great,” he said. “It’s good to see a lot of audience participation.” The audience was “informed” and “orderly,” and there were “not a lot of people talking who didn’t know what they were talking about,” he added.

“That’s a good thing,” Ibelle said.

spectively, early in the campaign.

Democratic candidate and businessman Foster Campbell is “the only real Democrat in the race,” said his press secretary, Bill Robertson. Boasso changed parties because he “saw no daylight in front of Bobby Jindal,” Robertson said.

Jindal, who could not be reached for comment for this article, ran for governor in 2003 but lost in the runoff to current Gov. Kathleen Blanco, a Democrat. He has had a string of high-profile successes since graduating from Brown: after winning a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford University, Jindal served as secretary of Louisiana’s Department of Health and Hospitals and shortly after was appointed president of the University of Louisiana system. He was later an undersecretary in the Department of Health and Human Services under President Bush.

After his defeat in 2003, Jindal ran for and was elected to the House of Representatives, where he is now in his second term. He was the second Indian-American elected to Congress.

Blanco, widely criticized for the

state government’s reaction to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in September 2005, initially said she would seek re-election but then, in March, changed her mind.

Even with 12 other gubernatorial candidates, in many ways Jindal is “running against Blanco even though she’s not on the ticket,” Cross said.

The voters are “experiencing the 2007 election as a redo of 2003. They have a case of buyer’s remorse in terms of Blanco,” he said.

Despite that, “Katrina is surprisingly absent from this election,” Cross said.

But Katrina did have another effect on the election — Cross said some estimate that Katrina forced about 50,000 committed Democratic voters out of the state.

But Rober tson, Campbell’s press secretary, said that effect has been “greatly overstated” and that demographers in New Orleans showed that Democrats who have consistently showed up at the polls to vote every year are not the same Democrats who left the state.

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Bergeron’s reshuffling leads to discontent continued from page 1 were fired in late 2006. Three more deans — associate dean Armando Bengochea, associate dean Joyce Foster MA’92 PhD’97 and assistant dean Sheilah Coleman — left in the months before Bergeron became dean of the College.

Bergeron has not said it was her intention to let go of any of the deans who have left since the beginning of her tenure in July 2006, a few months before she commissioned an external review of the office’s organization by her peer administrators at Princeton and Stanford universities.

“I think these things happen,” Bergeron said Wednesday of the departures. “I don’t think there’s much you can say.”

But sources told The Herald in February that Ashley and Waage had been fired — an allegation Bergeron has denied — and it now appears that Cornish and Shaw’s departures, at the very least, were also caused by Bergeron’s decisions, though she may not have intended for them to leave.

“To me it’s no mystery why people left,” Cornish said. “Their working lives were seriously disrupted by the restructuring.” He added that last year, when the restructuring was being discussed, there was “extremely low morale in the office.”

Kathryn Spoehr ’69, a professor of cognitive and linguistic sciences and a former provost, dean of the faculty and dean of the Graduate School, said that just because some deans were not explicitly asked to leave during the restructuring does not mean that message was not sent.

“If it’s not intended that everyone should get up and leave, common sense dictates that they should be given reassurance,” she said. “A lot of people got nervous and went out looking for other jobs.”

Spoehr said she thinks this unease persists within the office even now. “Some of them who have been there for two or three years are still a little shell-shocked over the exodus,” she said.

Questioning the restructuring In October 2006, Bergeron asked Nancy Malkiel, the dean of the college at Princeton, and John Bravman, the vice provost of undergraduate education at Stanford, to review her office and recommend ways it could be improved. At the time, she had been dean of the College at Brown for just over three months.

“It’s good to get a sense of where you stand,” Bergeron said Wednesday, adding that she thought it was important to get an outside perspective on her situation as she was beginning her new job. She added that she had already gotten feedback from people on campus, including students, on how they thought the dean of the College’s office worked.

“Whenever you’re in a new job, people will tell you things,” she said.

The general advice of the two consultants, it appears, was to move toward a more hierarchical organization and to consolidate related tasks under individuals and within small working groups, moving away from what Bergeron said was an inefficient “lateral” structure in which many deans performed various, more or less equal, tasks. Both Malkiel and Bravman declined to comment for this article.

As a result, Bergeron announced on Feb. 9 that her office would be restructured. Among the main changes were the hiring of a deputy dean of the College — to whom all

deans would report directly — and a change in title for almost all of the academic deans, most of whom were asked to take on new responsibilities and, in some cases, give up others.

She also brought in James Valles, a professor of physics, as an associate dean responsible for curriculum, and recruited Maitrayee Bhattacharyya ’91 as the assistant dean for diversity programs.

Associate dean Karen Krahulik, for example, whose responsibilities once included sophomore studies, academic honesty and study away in the U.S. programs, is now the associate dean for upperclass studies.

Associate deans Linda Dunleavy and Andrew Simmons, whose primary responsibilities include fellowships and health career advising, respectively, now also share responsibility for pre-law advising, a job once done

by Ashley.

Kathleen McSharry, an associate dean whose focus has been on substance abuse issues, now also has responsibility for overseeing the University’s writing requirement and for grief and bereavement counseling, among other things.

“In terms of my own professional development, I wanted change,” McSharry said. “I wanted a new assignment.” But she added, “Sometimes people aren’t as happy with their reassignments.”

Cornish questioned the need to restructure the office at all, saying it was not necessary because the office already worked well.

“All the evidence, I think, pointed in the opposite direction,” he said of Bergeron’s decision to make changes. “There’s a good deal of evidence that a lot of things were done well.”

Survey responses indicated that Brown students had better advising in their first year, for example, than they did at peer schools, Cornish said.

Once it became clear that Bergeron would go ahead with her plan despite the opposition of other deans, people started to think about leaving, he said.

“I think everybody gave Dean Bergeron a ‘honeymoon’ period.

So it wasn’t until January, February when we had a clear idea of what she wanted to do, and people starting making decisions,” he said.

Sheila Blumstein, professor of cognitive and linguistic sciences and a former dean of the College and interim president, said she wasn’t sure the restructuring was well-advised and that Bergeron may have benefited from knowing some of the history of the office.

“Change for the sake of change is not always better,” she said. “There’s always the risk of trying to re-invent the wheel.”

“That’s not saying you’re not open to change,” she added. “But knowing history can help you to not make the same mistakes that have been made before.”

Blumstein said the dean of the College’s office did not work the same way now that it did years before that and that she has seen that change is possible without drastic turnover.

“I’m not sure that everyone who left needed to have left,” she said.

Spoehr said the loss of so many deans could be problematic.

“All the people who knew anything left,” she said.

She added that the manner in which Ashley was dismissed last year had upset many professors and that this had put Bergeron at a “disadvantage” in convincing faculty that the restructuring of her office was necessary.

“It hurts her credibility,” she said.

Bergeron said she thought the restructuring was “going well so far,” saying that there was “a lot of communication among the deans about projects we’re doing together.”

Bergeron also argued that “many things would have had to have been re-thought anyway” around the time she became dean of the College because the implementation of Banner changed the way business was handled in the office.

McSharry said she thought some improvements were beginning to reveal themselves in the restructured office.

“It’s beginning to make sense to me,” she said.

Overworked and understaffed The dean of the College’s office is within weeks of making a hire to fill the last vacant position in the restructured office, an associate dean for first-year and sophomore studies that Bergeron said would be announced in early November.

By the spring semester, the office technically will be fully staffed, though the total number of deans will be a few less than it was before the restructuring. But even though a complete set of deans will be on hand, the office may not be running at full capacity right away.

At the moment, the office is struggling to keep up with business as usual, and many deans, especially McSharry and associate dean for science education David Targan, have had to work longer hours, deans say.

“We’re still a bit understaffed,” McSharry said. “Sometimes it feels like a bit much, but for the most part I’m happy to do it.”

Targan did not respond to an email request for an interview.

But a bigger problem than understaffing might be simply that so many people are trying to tackle so many new responsibilities all at once.

Much of the nature of the deans’ work, current and former deans say, is collaborative in nature, and requires discussion of policies and protocols.

Cornish said he thought it would take new deans or deans acting in a new capacity “at least one academic year” to fully adjust, saying it is important to have “a full cycle” of the academic year to understand the complete ins and outs of a given responsibility.

“If that knowledge is lost,” he added, “people have to begin again.”

“With a number of people leaving at the same time as you’re undergoing a restructuring,” he said, “I think it’s bound to have an effect on how the office delivers its service, especially towards students.” Longer delays should be expected this year in actions coming out of the dean’s office, he said.

All of the assistant and associate deans now report to a new deputy dean of the College, Stephen Lassonde, rather than to Bergeron herself. Lassonde, in his first semester at Brown since being recruited from Yale University, is himself wearing more than one hat, acting as the dean for first-year and sophomore studies this semester until the new associate dean is hired to fill the vacancy.

“We were all surprised,” Lassonde said when asked how he felt when he learned that he would be acting as dean for first-year and sophomore studies for his first semester, a necessity created by Cornish’s unexpected departure. He added, though, that everyone had adapted well to their new assignments.

“People are taking on responsi-

Chris Bennett / Herald File Photo

Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron started restructuring her office soon after taking the post.

bilities, and they’re doing it happily,” he said.

Many deans are working longer hours, Lassonde said, but are taking the changes in stride.

“We’re stretched, but I think people like having new roles as well,” he said.

But he emphasized that these same people are eager to get back to focusing on their own jobs.

“Let’s just say they’re looking forward to when we have everyone in place,” he said.

“I’m looking forward to thinking about taking a more distant look,” he added, saying he had spent most of his time so far handling his responsibilities for first-year and sophomore studies. “I haven’t really thought that much about what I’m doing in the future.”

He agreed that with institutional memory somewhat sparse, it is not as easy to find answers to complicated questions.

“I think we have to work harder to knit together that kind of collective knowledge,” he said.

“I’m not there yet, but we’re getting there,” he added.

Spoehr questioned the decision to ask Lassonde, the second-highest ranking dean, to handle first-year and sophomore studies.

“I think he’ll be a good dean,” she said, “if they ever let him do the job he was hired for instead of the job that he’s had to fill in for because there was nobody else there.”

“You wouldn’t want to hire a vice president for computers and then have him write the e-mail code,” she added. “That’s not how organizations work.”

Spoehr said the effects of the overworked dean of the College’s office can be felt even right now.

She said she thought sophomore advising was “taking a hit this year” because of the turnover and that prelaw advising should be monitored since Ashley, who specialized in that task, is gone. Learning disabilities, once handled by Shaw, recognized as an expert, might not see the same attention, she said.

Even more of a problem, she argued, is that the deans do not seem to have time to create anything new. She mentioned Undergraduate Teaching and Research Assistantships as an example of a program that owes its success to former deans’ collaboration.

“Things like that get started when deans have time to think creatively,” Spoehr said. She said it might be a year or two before the current deans have that luxury.

But Blumstein said it is too early to know what effects the busy office would have on student services.

“I don’t know that we’re going to know right now what’s falling through the cracks, if anything is falling through the cracks,” she said.

She said that these effects might be more obvious toward the end of the semester, in the decisions of the

Committee on Academic Standing, for example. Whether the deans have the time to talk to students who are in academic hot water and get the complete story can make all the difference to a student’s future at Brown, she said.

Medical school and law school letters of recommendation, Blumstein added, have not been written yet, but might be another area that shows how thin the deans are stretched.

“All of them are overworked,” Spoehr said.

Moving up or moving out?

The deans who chose to leave the dean of the College’s office in the past year expressed concern for the future of the office. But Cornish said it’s also worth considering the future of the deans who left.

“The spin that Bergeron has put on this,” he said, “is that we’ve all moved on to bigger jobs.”

But he argued this was not necessarily true and said he was not sure that the new jobs taken by the former deans were equivalent to the ones they left at Brown. This contradicts Bergeron’s depiction of the departures as purely positive events unrelated to the restructuring, he said.

Shaw, the dean of the school of education at Westminster College, declined to be interviewed for this article, but he wrote in an e-mail to The Herald that “while it’s true that several veteran deans left the (dean of the College’s office) in the past couple of years, a number of experienced deans remain.”

“I’m confident that they can handle the demands of the office,” he added.

Waage, who remains at Brown as a professor of biology, also declined to be interviewed, “largely because I want to protect what is left of my colleagues in the (dean of the College’s office),” he wrote in an e-mail.

“A lot of damage has been done and at a particularly poor time,” he wrote, adding, “What happened and why it happened are still not all that clear and I am not alone among the faculty in being both upset about things that were done and worried about the consequences.”

Ashley, now an executive associate dean in the University’s human resources department, declined to comment.

For her part, Bergeron may not plan to deal as much with staffing issues now that the restructuring is complete.

One of the reasons the deputy dean of the College position was created, Lassonde said, was “so she didn’t have to deal as much with personnel issues.”

Blumstein, for one, is trying to be optimistic about Bergeron’s office.

“My hope and expectation is that with good new hires,” she said, “the system will stabilize.”

“I have to hope for that and expect that,” she said.

Friday, October 19, 2007

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A flip-flop to be proud of Faculty discuss internationalization continued from page 12 have towels so Howerton can dry his hands and the ball.

Actually, that’s the only reason why they have towels.

“Yes,” Howerton says, “they’re specifically for me.”

But if opposing coaches complain about this home-field advantage, consider how opposing teams try to stop Howerton from his flips.

In their trip to the University of San Diego tournament earlier this fall, Howerton says he thinks the school put up a temporary fence close to the field so Howerton didn’t have enough space to flip. Brown played San Diego on Friday. On Sunday,

when San Diego was playing another team, the fence, conveniently, was gone.

Howerton says he’s somewhat uneasy being known as the flip throw-in guy, and he remembers that his coach picked up his concern last season.

“He said, ‘Darren, you don’t seem to like doing the flip throw,’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, coach, it’s kind of an awkward label. I’d rather be known for my other soccer skills.’

But then he explained to be what a valuable offensive weapon it was and it made sense.”

“If I were the other team,” Howerton adds, “then I guess I wouldn’t like (the flip throw-ins).”

Africana film festival to showcase Africa’s diversity continued from page 3 girls attempting to escape the tradition of female circumcision that is still practiced in certain African communities.

Distinguished filmmakers such as Flora Gomes from Guinea Bissau and Jean-Marie Teno from Cameroon will be introducing films and taking part in the panel discussion on Sembene’s work. The event, honoring Sembene, who recently passed away at the age of 84, will include a discussion and mini-retrospective of his films.

Etoke said the purpose of the film festival is not to shed a positive or negative light on Africa and the African Diaspora, but rather to depict the complexities of its diverse cultures.

Although many African films deal with universal issues, it is important to understand that the way these issues are handled differs depending on the cultural context, she said.

“The whole rhetoric of good versus evil is not really pertinent,” Etoke said. “To get to know a culture you have to get out of your universe of reference. People don’t know the real story behind the predicaments that contemporary Africa is facing.”

continued from page 5 concerns about conflicting values.

“The artist may comment in a way that has the potential to unseat the work going on in that area. I’m wondering how the University will respond to that,” Fishman said.

Assistant Professor of English Thalia Field said new media, like video projects, will help build international collaboration even if students never leave campus, citing a project involving students from the Rhode Island School of Design and a university in Cameroon.

Field also said she sees opportunity for faculty exchange and incentives to persuade professors to research in an international context. She said the Wayland Collegium for Liberal Learning, which subsidizes interdisciplinary research and brings faculty to the University for three to five day visits, rather than for just one lecture, provides a good model.

The idea of bringing more international students and faculty to Brown raised many comments from faculty about the need for an infrastructure that supports foreign visitors. Several professors

said it is difficult to bring scholars into residence because of a lack of hotel or housing accommodations. Right now, one professor said, the University’s support for international students is mainly limited to helping with visas and tax filings.

Another faculty member pointed out the need for a centralized place in which people can find out about Brown’s international partnerships, especially for research collaboration. “I was hoping that there would be some area at Brown where there could be someone you could talk to — a person you could talk to — who could provide you information on this,” said the professor, a member of the internationalization committee.

Professor of Classics Kur t Raaflaub voiced concern that the University might invest in new initiatives without adequately supporting those already in place, noting that the Plan for Academic Enrichment highlights Brown’s need to avoid getting ahead of its ability to grow. “Faculty have been hired at an impressive rate, but we don’t have the infrastructure for them. We hire leading faculty with

enjoy the weekend

endowed chairs, but we don’t give them graduate student support because the Grad School doesn’t have the money for fellowships, and that’s not good,” Raaflaub said.

Other professors made similar points about supporting financial aid and facilities for existing students and programs. “We could imagine having lots of institutes abroad, but these could drain resources for projects here,” one faculty member said.

Professor of Mathematics Thomas Banchoff, who moderated the forum, told The Herald that the discussion raised important questions on how to create specific international programs. “In what ways should we support new initiatives versus finding new ways to support existing initiatives?”

Banchoff asked.

Banchoff said he expected the discussion to be more focused with more disagreement. “I was a bit surprised that we didn’t focus more on the (internationalization committee’s) report,” he said. “We never got to the point of identifying priorities in the sense of, ‘Should we do this? Should we not?’ ”

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Bombings kill 120, targets Bhutto

By Griff Witte Washington Post

KARACHI, Pakistan, Oct. 19 — Two powerful bombs detonated next to a truck carrying former prime minister Benazir Bhutto late Thursday, just hours after she returned from exile to a triumphal homecoming.

More than 120 people were killed and hundreds were wounded in one of Pakistan’s worst episodes of political violence.

Bhutto, who arrived in this coastal city Thursday afternoon after eight years away, appeared shaken but unhurt following the blasts. Security officials said the explosions had been set off within several yards of her vehicle as it inched through the streets, with Bhutto being cheered by thousands of supporters. Only minutes before, she had descended from the roof of the vehicle and into an internal compartment.

The former prime minister was returning in hopes of winning back her old job and bringing stability to a political system that has been in turmoil in recent months under the militar y-led government of President Pervez Musharraf. The bombings — within 30 seconds of each other — threatened to plunge Pakistan into deeper tumult.

Bhutto has long been targeted

by Islamic extremists for her secular views, and Taliban militants had publicly threatened to greet her return with suicide bombings. Despite the threats, she insisted on coming home as scheduled. She made that point again Thursday on her flight from Dubai, saying she had not had time to be afraid during the frantic preparations for what was to be a national tour.

Her party had been pushing the

government to intensify security, and after the bombings, some supporters laid blame on security officials. Musharraf denounced the attack as “a conspiracy against democracy.”

The blasts came as Bhutto’s convoy was en route from the airport to a planned public meeting at the tomb of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Pakistan’s founder. One of the explosions was captured on videotape; Pakistani television showed images of a sudden burst of light and a tower of flame that sent projectiles flying in every direction while the crowd scattered for cover.

Body par ts were strewn for hundreds of yards around, and men walked away from the scene covered head to toe in blood. Dozens of ambulances, sirens wailing, ferried the injured and the dead to local hospitals. Survivors sat by the side of the road, weeping. The sweet smell of rose petals — revelers had tossed them into the air to welcome Bhutto mingled with the heavy scent of death.

After the explosions, Bhutto’s supporters reported hearing gunshots, and there were three indentations in the glass screen of her truck that appeared to have been caused by bullets.

Raja Mubasher, a party activist, said the attack came as members of the crowd were shouting slogans of celebration. One minute, he said, “people were jubilant. They were happy. Our leader had come back after eight years.” The next, he said, “their legs were broken. Their heads were broken. Their hands were broken.” In an instant, he said, the ground was littered with more than 100 bodies.

Firestone ’10: Aboot Canuck football continued from page 12 to an offensive backfield that can move however it likes before the snap and you’ve got yourself one thick playbook.

In the NFL, touchdown celebrations lead to yardage penalties and heavy fines, stifling player expression; the CFL allows theatrics involving the entire team. Chad Johnson’s famous Riverdance looks like your sister’s ballet recital next to Jeremaine Copeland’s five-man receiving corps simulated bobsleigh run, and both pale in comparison to the Toronto Argonauts’ “grenade” throw and ensuing 12-man “death.”

NFL coaches are hacks, and your spineless rules don’t call them out on it. When they’re not cheating, they’re delaying games with excessive timeouts and running out clocks by taking knees. Not in the CFL. With only 20 seconds before the snap and three downs instead of four, even the most cowardly CFL coach can only run off 40 seconds without gaining a first down. And with a three-minute warning at the end of each half during which the clock stops after every play, CFL endgames are infinitely more exciting.

The CFL, like the rest of Canada, is tolerant of all people, regardless of ethnicity. The NFL has 68 Redskins, 64 Chiefs and no shame. Granted,

the CFL does have the Edmonton Eskimos, but we’ve also got the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, whose name inspired Labatt Blue, the most popular Canadian beer in the world.

Somehow, “Cowboys Light” doesn’t sound as … appetizing.

And then there’s Ricky Williams.

Not only did the Toronto Argonauts sign your tired, your poor, your huddled running back yearning to puff free, they benched the Heismanwinning, NFL-rushing-yard-leading Pro Bowl MVP, who scored two touchdowns in 11 games and still praised the city of Toronto. That same season, talented Argo quarterback Damon Allen broke Warren Moon’s all-time passing yards record at the ripe age of 43, making Brett Favre look like a spring chicken.

And you were going to say the CFL had no talent, eh?

So get in your car, cross the border and head to the Rogers Centre in downtown Toronto. Exchange your Benjamins for some now-stronger Loonies, buy a six-pack of Blue — it’s legal in Canada at age 18— and watch pro football’s oldest and winningest team take the 110-by-65 yard field.

Forget all aboot the Not-Football League.

Chaz Firestone ’10 is the great, white north

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Ratty-nomics: What the meal plan can teach us about healthcare finance JAMES SHAPIRO Opinions Columnist

Universal health care will, in all likelihood, be the defining domestic issue in the 2008 presidential election. We can understand most of the major problems with healthcare finance by examining a slightly different type of universal coverage, the Brown meal plan.

A quick glance at the stacks of used trays in the Sharpe Refectory reveals a serious defect in the meal plan — it encourages waste. From half-eaten bowls of cereal to the discarded remnants of disappointing dishes, leftover food covers a lot of trays.

Buffet distribution makes the meal plan cost much more than it should. The 20-mealper-week and Flex 460 plans both cost about $18 per day. Alternate plans offer fewer meals but charge several dollars more per meal.

Total costs are high because marginal costs are nonexistent. Everything in the Ratty is “free” in the sense that people do not pay more money for more food. A single cup of coffee costs the same amount as three bowls of cereal, four glasses of orange juice, a melon, an omelet, sausage, toast, hot chocolate, pasta and ice cream (with sprinkles) for the road.

Only appetite limits consumption.

For similar reasons, Americans spend too much money on health care and buy services that do not improve health outcomes. In the late 1930s, doctors and hospitals devised a brilliant way to boost profits by getting patients to spend as much money on health care as possible. Many hospitals formed a de facto monopoly and only accepted payment from commercial insurers that insulated consumers from treatment costs. The resulting system looks like a buffet of medical services — pa-

tients can often get unlimited extra treatment at very low cost. The financial and temporal disconnect between receiving services and actually paying for them ensures that people spend too much on health care. Cost insulation eliminates almost every incentive to shop around for the best prices and consider alternative treatments. Patients pay the price eventually through expensive insurance.

The conventional wisdom says that we can’t possibly spend too much on health care, since health is our most important asset. But the evidence indicates that, on balance, spending past a certain point fails to improve patient

healthcare spending can harm patients as much as it helps them.

The meal plan and the current healthcare system also transfer wealth between groups in some unfair and arbitrary ways. The meal plan forces light consumers to cross-subsidize those with bigger appetites. People who eat relatively little food pay the same price for a meal credit but derive less value from it. Light consumers frequently recognize that this is an awful deal and opt out of the meal plan.

Consequently, average costs and meal plan prices rise dramatically.

Government regulations have the same

Giving people choices, whether between the Ratty and restaurants or between public and private insurance, is the best way to deal with health care and meal plans alike. health. The RAND Health Insurance Experiment provides a compelling example. From 1974 to 1982 RAND monitored health outcomes for over 2,700 families in six different cities. Families were randomly assigned to five groups. One group received free health care.

Other groups paid 25 percent to 95 percent of all expenses out-of-pocket. While families with free coverage spent about 30 percent more on health care than families in other groups, health outcomes between groups were basically identical. Extra spending did not improve health in any measurable way.

Other aggregate studies confirm that marginal

effect on insurance pricing. In many cases insurance companies are legally barred from charging people different rates based on relevant healthcare predictors, so everyone who has a particular policy pays a roughly similar rate. As a result, young workers have to subsidize old workers, even though old workers tend to be much wealthier. Young and healthy workers often prefer to go uninsured, which drives up average costs and makes insurance unaffordable for a larger number of prospective buyers.

There are public and private solutions to these problems. The public solution would

push down average costs by forcing everyone to buy health insurance. But individual mandates do not reduce the waste from buffet style finance. In order to manage costs, the public solution would have to include governmentimposed limits on which services people can utilize. Most European countries do this in some form by rationing treatment or limiting spending on new technologies. The Dining Services equivalent of this policy would be a “meal plan mandate” that would cut menu selections in half and force students to stay on the meal plan for all four years. This seems like an unsavory option.

The private solution would cut costs by reducing cost insulation. If individuals only bought catastrophic insurance that covered expensive and unpredictable events, they could protect themselves from financial ruin and have leftover funds to buy cheaper services out-of-pocket. Outside of catastrophic events, people would limit spending to crucial services and pay for unnecessary treatment on their own. Patients can do this in large part by comparing prices, considering alternative treatments and forgoing needless diagnostic tests.

The private solution has one major fault.

Not everyone can afford health care. The government could address this problem by giving low-income people vouchers and tax breaks to pay for catastrophic insurance and other medical expenses. Vouchers would avoid cost insulation and reduce waste because leftover money would go into a personal savings account for future medical expenses. Giving people choices — whether between the Ratty and restaurants or between public and private insurance — is the best way to deal with health care and meal plans alike.

James Shapiro ’10 knows that doctors and hospitals are the bane of the American healthcare system.

Great American melting pots, the media and distorted social consciousness RENATA SAGO Opinions Columnist I have often questioned how national identity could accurately depict the holistic diversity America. When I was younger I enjoyed watching the “School House Rock” musical cartoon series. It fascinated me to learn about the egalitarian ideals that constructed American society. I recall having been especially proud to know that I was a part of the “Great American Melting Pot.” I sang the catchy tune from the cartoon until the age of fourteen or so. What I then thought was a representation of America as a utopia faded into my later realization that it was the unpromising symbol of ethnic, gendered and classist marginalization.

The melting pot that I learned about as a child — one in which ingredients are mixed to make some sort of wholesomely delicious soup — is the American reality. The soup is not a perfectly flavorful melange, though. It is, rather, a generic blend diluted by some overpoweringly tasteless ingredient. American identity thrives on the blurring of the distinct traits that define diversity — be it religious, sexual, political, ethnic or socioeconomic. It is this blurring that reflects the concealing of American systemic violence, the nation’s failure to maintain an egalitarian society.

The media use this blurring of diversity to repress social reality, protecting social consciousness and reasserting an artificial American identity. Unyielding efforts to assert an artificial American identity premised on individualism, opportunism and diligence implicitly uphold a white patriarchical system.

Such efforts have led to the permanency of

racialized, gendered and classist barriers within the American social construct. The media exist within the framework of national ideals, ignoring societal ills that would disprove the stability of the framework. This is why the media ignore the reality of poverty, racism, sexism and classism. These are the pitfalls of democracy. The media exists as a monopoly, defining American thought to assert that we live in an egalitarian society void of problems.

There are many ways in which the media

Yet how can the upper class be inexistent when one-third of news broadcasts are devoted to in-depth analyses of daily stock exchange activity? Can every “middle American” family host a “Super Sweet Sixteen” for its teenager? The common American does not invest in stocks nor has the funds to purchase the latest Range Rover for his or her child to park in the high school parking lot.

Many Americans are struggling to meet ends.

There is an impulse to conceal the upper class, a sense of guilt in the admission that

America is premised on freedom, equality and individuality but has compromised these basic principles in fostering a capitalist system that has become a key cohort for perverse politics. shapes national identity. Take its portrayal of the gaps between the rich and poor. The wealthy as a class does not exist; neither do the poor, for they have little jurisdiction in society. In ignoring the social realities of wealth and poverty, the media has created a universal middle class (also known as “Middle America”). Supposedly, we all belong to the middle class. Some people are “upper middle class,” while others are “lower middle class” — whatever that means.

a group exists and that it is hard to balance an egalitarian and capitalist society. The only time we do hear about wealthy individuals is when they “chase” the media for attention (Paris Hilton and Donald Trump, for example) — or when they are benefactors for private charities. Yet, this is our reality. It is not a form of entertainment. It is a reflection of American values.

The media present a dialogue between the “universal” middle class and the poor, who

have been marginalized to nearly the point of “inexistence.” Poverty is a serious issue in America. The media present the poor as a blameworthy group responsible for crime.

They are the ugly eyesores that dirty urban environments, who have sold and abused drugs, stolen and robbed and assaulted and killed. I have often been in the company of individuals who have questioned why poor people cannot get jobs like everyone else.

The problem is that the media misinforms us that poverty is not systemic, that it is an aberration of the American way of life. Such illusions attempt reinforce that we live in an ideal society.

The course that the United States has taken — and through which it continues to meander — is one of intriguing inconsistency.

The meaning of the United States, and all that it encompasses, is constantly challenged, redefining its existence as a “model nation.”

At the core of this dilemma lies the alteration of basic American ideals — the commingling of humanism and materialism and the pitfall that has resulted. America is premised on freedom, equality and individuality but has compromised these basic principles in fostering a capitalist system that has become a key cohort for perverse politics. Political and economic agencies regulate power dynamics, essentially defining America. This has dichotomized social relations and understanding, fostering an oppressor versus oppressed relationship between monopolies and workers, men and women, heterosexuals and homosexuals, whites and non-whites and people who exist between these contrasting realms. That is the real America.

Renata Sago ’10 is eating a big bowl of soup while watching the news.

E ditorial & L etters Page 10

Friday, October 19, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

S t a ff E d i t o r i a l

Diamonds and coal A diamond to glam shots, such as the ubiquitous one featured on our front page of newly appointed Vice President for International Affairs David Kennedy ’76. Not quite as dashing as the one on the dean of the College’s Web site, but we appreciate the effort.

Coal to the Red Bull Soapbox Race. Not only did it tie up traffic on College Hill for hours on Saturday, but not one Herald editorial board member was asked to sit on the judges panel. We singlehandedly keep you in business in this town. For shame.

A diamond to the Annual Fall Shuckoff. Anytime we can husk corn on Wriston Quad is a good day, especially if it includes being chased by a cute, albeit psychotic man in a corn suit. Awww, shucks! Yeah, we went there.

Coal to the proposed Nelson Fitness Center. Not only will it not have an indoor track, a climbing wall or a roller coaster, but we won’t even get to use it.

A diamond to Jack Nicholson and his daughter, who recently visted Brown. Hopefully you were nicer to the Providence locals this time around than in that Boston movie.

A mammoth coal to the massive comet that may or may not have killed the lovable megafauna that roamed the Earth at the end of the Pleistocene.

But a nanodiamond to said comet for potentially helping to kill off the Neanderthals. Thanks for the help.

R oxanne P almer

A diamond to Rachel Herz, visiting assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior, for enlightening us. Though we always knew looks were the most important things for guys, it’s news to us that smell is the most important thing for women.

Letter

A flippin’ diamond to the men’s soccer team. The eighth-ranked team in the country avenged last year’s home loss to the Crimson and took the early lead in the Ivy League Championship race. Go Bears!

U. officials outline sexual assault resources

Coal to the painted-on crosswalks with crazy designs on Thayer Street, put in as part of a massive, expensive renovation project of dubious benefit.

If the Walk features similar patterns, we imagine Brown Street will become the preferred path to Pembroke.

To the Editor:

Sexual assault is an important issue on all college campuses, including at Brown. Services and resources must include support for those who have suffered unwanted sexual contact and intervention with those who have perpetrated this offense. We take these services seriously and work steadily to have available to students a range of resources that are of high quality and available in a timely fashion. Given recent discussions on campus, we want to share with the community our thoughts and approaches. While we are always looking to improve our sexual assault resources, we have a lot in place that is good, and we are continually evaluating and assessing our current level of services.

We work closely with students on these issues, and last year we formalized this work by establishing the Student Sexual Assault Advisory Board. We welcome student initiatives, and at the same time, we believe it is important with an issue as complicated as sexual assault to have professional support also. We have a good network of support resources, and our staff in Psychological Services, Student Life and Health Services is well-trained and experienced.

Sexual Assault resources in place currently: • A sexual assault crisis counselor from Psychological Services on call nights and weekends: a psychotherapist trained in responding to the trauma of sexual assault; • Ongoing sexual assault training for Health Services, Psychological Services and other campus life staff to insure that we are responding sensitively and knowledgably to victims of sexual assault; • Advocates: non-crisis support by staff trained in and experienced with sexual assault issues; • The Sexual Assault Advisory Board: administrators and students working together on services; • A new website (http://brown.edu/Student_Services/Support/), a central site to connect students to all resources for sexual assault, sexual harassment and relationship issues; • Orientation program with nationally renowned and highly rated speaker Katie Koestner;

A diamond to the folks who lived in the mall, on and off, for years. Now, thanks to the diamond, you can actually afford rent in this city.

A victorious kickball diamond to our staff, who sent the Indy crawling back to its cubby in Faunce with a 5-4 victory last weekend. To the Indy: Please return our kickball. What, did UFB deny you a raise?

T he B rown D aily H erald Editors-in-Chief Eric Beck Mary-Catherine Lader

Executive Editors Stephen Colelli Allison Kwong Ben Leubsdorf

Senior Editors Jonathan Sidhu Anne Wootton

editorial Lydia Gidwitz Robin Steele Oliver Bowers Stephanie Bernhard Simmi Aujla Sara Molinaro Ross Frazier Karla Bertrand Jacob Schuman Peter Cipparone Erin Frauenhofer Stu Woo Benjy Asher Amy Ehrhart Jason Harris

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

photo Christopher Bennett Rahul Keerthi Ashley Hess

Photo Editor Photo Editor Sports Photo Editor

Business General Manager Mandeep Gill Darren Ball Executive Manager Dan DeNorch Executive Manager Laurie-Ann Paliotti Sr. Advertising Manager Susan Dansereau Office Manager production Steve DeLucia Catherine Cullen Roxanne Palmer

Design Editor Copy Desk Chief Graphics Editor

post- magazine Hillary Dixler Melanie Duch Taryn Martinez Rajiv Jayadevan Sonia Kim Matt Hill

Managing Editor Managing Editor Managing Editor Features Editor Features Editor Associate Editor

Chaz Kelsh, Steve DeLucia, Designers Jake Frank, Jennifer Grayson, Seth Motel, Elena Weissman, Copy Editors Senior Staff Writers Rachel Arndt, Michael Bechek, Irene Chen, Chaz Firestone, Isabel Gottlieb, Nandini Jayakrishna, Franklin Kanin, Kristina Kelleher, Debbie Lehmann, Scott Lowenstein, Michael Skocpol, Nick Werle Staff Writers Amanda Bauer, Brianna Barzola, Evan Boggs, Aubry Bracco, Caitlin Browne, Joy Chua, Patrick Corey, Catherine Goldberg, Olivia Hoffman, Jessica Kerry, Cameron Lee, Hannah Levintova, Abe Lubetkin, Christian Martell, Taryn Martinez, Anna Millman, Marielle Segarra, Matt Varley, Meha Verghese Sports Staff Writers Andrew Braca, Han Cui, Kaitlyn Laabs, Kathleen Loughlin, Alex Mazerov, Megan McCahill Business Staff Diogo Alves, Emilie Aries, Beth Berger, Steven Butschi, Timothy Carey, Jilyn Chao, Ellen DaSilva, Pete Drinan, Dana Feuchtbaum, Patrick Free, Sarah Glick, Alexander Hughes, Claire Kiely, Soobin Kim, Katelyn Koh, Darren Kong, Christie Liu, Philip Maynard, Ingrid Pangandoyon, Mariya Perelyubskaya, Viseth San, Paolo Servado, Kaustubh Shah, Saira Shervani, Yelena Shteynberg, Jon Spector, Robert Stefani, Lily Tran, Hari Tyagi, Lindsay Walls, Benjamin Xiong Design Staff Brianna Barzola, Chaz Kelsh,Ting Lawrence, Philip Maynard, Alex Unger, Aditya Voleti, Wudan Yan Photo Staff Stuart Duncan-Smith, Austin Freeman, Tai Ho Shin Copy Editors Ayelet Brinn, Rafael Chaiken, Erin Cummings, Katie Delaney, Jake Frank, Jennifer Grayson, Ted Lamm, Max Mankin, Alex Mazerov, Ben Mercer, Ezra Miller, Seth Motel, Alexander Rosenberg, Emily Sanford, Sara Slama, Jenna Stark, Laura Straub, Meha Verghese, Elena Weissman

• More time during residence hall staff training dedicated to sexual assault; • WPC training on abuse in dating relationships; • Ongoing support of the student group Coalition Against Relationship Abuse, which operates out of the Sarah Doyle Women’s Center; • Support of the student-run Sexual Assault Resource Center by providing space and computer access out of the Sarah Doyle Women’s Center; • Participation in Ivy Sexual Assault group so we are up-to-date on resources and practices at peer institutions.

We regularly review the resources and programs we have in place to help survivors of sexual assault. Just as important as the existence of specific programs is the culture we promote on campus, through the quality of numerous interactions in the classroom, residence halls and social event spaces. We seek to promote a culture in which individuals treat one another with respect, are well-supported when bad things happen and are held responsible for their actions in a just manner. Our prevention and education efforts are as important as our crisis response. We will continue to work hard to ensure that the University addresses sexual assault through a range of high quality resources.

Russell Carey ’91 MA’06, Interim Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services Gail Cohee, Director, Sarah Doyle Women’s Center Belinda Johnson, Director, Psychological Services Margaret Klawunn, Associate Vice President for Campus Life and Dean of Student Life Francie Mantak, Director, Health Education Allen Ward, Senior Associate Dean, Office of Student Life Oct. 17

C O R R E C T I O N S P olicy The Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible. Corrections may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication.

C ommentary P O L I C Y The staff editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial board of The Brown Daily Herald. The editorial viewpoint does not necessarily reflect the views of The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Columns, letters and comics reflect the opinions of their authors only.

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O pinions Friday, October 19, 2007

Page 11

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Overheard on College Hill

By Laszlo Syrop and Jacob Izenberg

What has been your experience with the Career Development Center?

Olivia Olsen ’08 Douglas Hsu GS

I think the career services are unbelievable and the people are really amazing. They do everything that they can to make sure that it’s easy for students. And just for me personally, talking to Barbara (Peoples) and Laura (Joshi) and Nancy, the people who are here, has definitely helped me out with the process and they’ve been very supportive.

I was so frustrated with career services I hired my own external career counselor, who did basically the same thing career services would have done but on a more individual basis and I got one-on-one attention with that.

I’ve found more job information by doing Google searches than by navigating the career services Web site. I frequently just look at other school’s career services Web sites — including my state school’s, which is actually featured on Brown’s Web site as, like, the number one career networking Web site, which is hilarious It’s really disheartening that I left state schools for this.”

I don’t know, I haven’t had much experience with career services. I feel like their focus has been mainly on people who are going into finance or consulting, which I’m not at all interested. And that’s all the e-mails I ever get from them, so I don’t really go to their events that much. I went to the Senior Meeting at the beginning of the year but I haven’t done anything about it since.

I went once to review my resume and cover letter but that’s about it. That was helpful; I got some good feedback. Maybe if I went there and really asked around, did my own work trying to find what I want to find that would be helpful in some way, but from what I’ve seen so far it’s all about finance and consulting.

Annie Koo ’08

Dennis Kozee ’10 “I think it’s a really capable and helpful organization on campus. I think that a lot of people don’t realize the kinds of questions that are appropriate there sometimes. It seems like a lot of people are in the dark about that kind of thing. But it really is solid, it’s just kind of a shame that people don’t use it.

To the extent that (people say Career Services focuses on finance and consulting), is just to the extent that you can say there are a lot of students at Brown who are interested in finance and consulting. There are a lot of firms that come to campus because there are a lot of students here that want to do that but that doesn’t mean if you go in there with career woes, I guess, outside of finance or consulting that they can’t or won’t help you...

They still have helpful things to say in terms of pursuit of careers by students individually, on a case by case basis, with respect to whatever career that they want to do.”

Veneration of the wealthy

BY MATT PREWITT Opinions Columnist A lot of articles in the New York Times (or Wall Street Journal or Financial Times) are about what rich people spend their money on. These articles couch themselves in other topics like real estate, art, travel, philanthropy or culture. They discuss how the “new Gilded Age” is impacting this or that aspect of society.

They answer crucial questions like: How are people with enormous amounts of money bolstering the market for private jets? (Sept.

25 Financial Times) How are the ultra-rich using the downturn in logging to snap up humongous tracts of idyllic forest in Montana?

(Oct. 13 New York Times) What sort of hardships do buyers endure when searching for a $20 million Park Avenue apartment? (Oct. 6 New York Times) The Financial Times has a monthly insert called “How to Spend it.” The New York Times could probably fill a daily section with the same title just by cross-applying articles from their other sections.

Admittedly, articles are written for readers.

So what does this say about these publications’ readerships? Some readers are super-rich, but most are just slightly-rich. The bulk of this material, then, is glassy-eyed voyeurism disguised as cultural commentary. It is “MTV Cribs” for college-educated people who find Shaq’s furniture tasteless. It is a classier manifestation of the same fawning, sycophantic culture that gives us gossip magazines.

America has never been particularly antiwealth. This is a great feature of our culture,

and it has spared us from some of the tension that still plagues European societies. But I wonder whether we are taking a prudent attitude towards the contemporary “Gilded Age”. In the last Gilded Age, the super-rich were often reviled as corrupt and decadent.

There was a lively debate about whether they ought to be called Captains of Industry or Robber Barons. Today, things are different.

Our hedge fund managers never get called Robber Barons — because by and large, they

veneration, I start smelling cultural rot. Why? Because when the rich are widely venerated, it is harder to be satisfied without a lot of money.

This makes millions of people less happy, and encourages them to adopt bourgeois-striver lifestyles.

Historically, people have nurtured dislike for the very wealthy in order to maintain their own pride. It has been popular to accuse the rich of, among other things, corruption, decadence, selfishness, oppressiveness, lack

Warren Buffett and people like him have silenced everyone who thought they could do more good if they didn’t focus on accruing a personal fortune. aren’t. Our CEOs sometimes get criticized for big pay packages, but as long as they aren’t defrauding investors, nobody really resents them. And then they’re praised for their patronage of the arts and their philanthropic largesse. There has never been a better time to be extremely rich.

But when respect for the rich turns into

of sophistication and whatever else was appropriate.

The rich, however, don’t like these epithets — though using them makes everyone else feel better. And in recent years, they have gotten better at vaunting their public image.

Two particular behaviors, which have lately surged in popularity among the very rich, are

obnoxious to everyone who enjoys trashing the upper classes, because these activities are infuriatingly respectable.

The first is art collecting. This ruins the old opposition between money and aesthetics.

There is so much money in the art market these days that art seems inconceivable without industry’s approval. How did rich people pull that one off?

The other is philanthropy. Everybody likes philanthropists, because philanthropy is great.

But the current philanthropy boom is a little disturbing, because it feels like the wealthy have purchased exclusive rights to help people on a large scale. How does this make the rest of us feel? Not only are we poor, we are morally inferior, incapable of epic rectitude. This is a cruel dagger-in-the-heart to the anti-rich line of thought. Warren Buffett and people like him have silenced everyone who thought they could do more good if they didn’t focus on accruing a personal fortune. The bourgeois mindset looks more defensible by the day.

In reality, hysteria about a new Gilded Age has created a temporary lack of perspective. If you have enough money to cure preventable diseases with your personal fortune, you are obliged to do so. Nobody should need to say thank you. Furthermore, artists deserve infinitely more credit than their patrons. Jackson Pollock is a genius — Peggy Guggenheim deserves a polite nod. Rich people may not be the villains we sometimes wish they were, but they don’t deserve moral adulation for everything they can afford to do.

Matt Prewitt ‘08 will purchase your respect.

S ports W eekend Page 12

Friday, October 19, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Football, eh?

M. tennis fights at Regionals to continue doubles reign

By Chaz Firestone Crazy Canuck

By Erin Frauenhofer Spor ts Editor

Ah, football season is well underway, and I can’t help but be pleased with how things have gone so far.

I didn’t think the Lions could do it again this year, but they’ve surprised me. With November just around the corner, they lead the league with a highly respectable 11-3 record, and the relatively inexperienced Jarious Jackson has Chaz Firestone valiantly filled the Crazy Canuck shoes of superstar quarterback and former league MOP Dave Dickenson.

Of course, the arrival of commissioner Mark Cohon and his crackdown on player misconduct have ruffled some feathers, but most would agree the season has gone smoothly so far. With some tight divisional races and only four weeks left, it looks like we can expect some exciting matchups and a gem of a championship game on Nov. 25.

Wait.

If this portrait of your beloved football league sounds a bit off, it’s probably because your league is not my league.

Your league thinks small. Mine thinks big.

Your league shuns creativity and expressive behavior. My league embraces 12-player touchdown celebrations and unlimited pot-smoking.

Your league’s team names are highly offensive to Native Americans. My league’s team names are only moderately offensive to Native Americans, and we have brands of beer named after ours to make up for it.

Your league is slow, dull and infantile. My league is fast, exciting and rich with history.

My league is the Canadian Football League.

Now before you pass judgment on the brand of football that predates and out-rates the petty excuse for sport you call the NFL, let me explain to you why your northerly neighbors have the right stuff.

The CFL field is longer, wider and populated by more players — that means more complicated plays for longer yardage. The defense lines up one full yard from the line of scrimmage, making thrilling last-and-one conversions more common. Add that

For the past two years, the men’s tennis team has ruled the northeast region in doubles, and the Bears will fight to continue their reign this weekend at the ITA Northeast Regional Championships. The tournament is hosted

by Princeton, and if the Bears take the crown again this year, it will be their fifth title in seven years.

“Doubles has always been a big part of our success,” said Head Coach Jay Harris.

Brown has an impressive histor y at Regionals, beginning with

continued on page 8

W. TENNIS: at ITA Regionals (Norfolk, Va.) M. TENNIS: at ITA Regionals (Princeton, N.J.) VOLLEYBALL: vs. Columbia, Pitzzitola Center, 7 p.m.

SATURDAY, OCT. 13 M. CREW: at Head of the Charles (Boston) EQUESTRIAN at Connecticut Host (Storrs, Conn.)

FOOTBALL: at Cornell W. GOLF: at Lehigh Invitational (Bethlehem, Pa.) M. SOCCER r at Cornell W.Tennis at ITA Regionals (Norfolk, Va.) M.Tennis at ITA Regionals (Princeton, NJ) Volleyball vs. Cornell, Pitzzitola Center, 7:00, p.m.

M. Water Polo at Johns Hopkins University (Annapolis, Md.)

together,” Ratnam said. “But I think we have a good chance to win. (Lee) is definitely a great person to play with. He’s such a great kid.”

In addition to Ratnam and Lee, two more pairs will also represent Brown at the tournament. Harris said co-captain Saurabh Kohli ’08 and Skate Gorham ’10 have a great chance to win, and co-captain Noah Gardner ’09 and Sam Garland ’09 are on the top of their game as well.

Harris emphasized that any pair can win the title. “Last year, Basu and Eric came in as our No. 3 team and won the whole thing,”

2

3

6

5

he said.

The Bears are also expected to go far in the singles draw. Kohli is Brown’s highest seed, at No. 16, while Gorham is seeded No. 23. Gardner and Jon Pearlman ’11 will also compete, making their Regionals singles debuts.

“Our goal is always to have someone in the last match in both the singles and doubles draws,” Ratnam said, adding that the Bears tr y not to think about the pressure they face as defending champions.

“Last year, we were just having fun,” he said. “I think that’s why we won.”

1

4

Ashley Hess / Herald

Darren Howerton ’09 demonstrates his signature flip throw-in. He told The Herald he was initially uncomfortable with the “awkward label” but now understands its offensive importance. Howerton says he’s somewhat uneasy being known as the flip throw-in guy, and he remembers that his coach picked up his concern last season.

On the flip side, Howerton ’09 throws men’s soccer to top of the Ivy League

By Stu Woo Spor ts Editor

Darren Howerton ’09 was 14 years old when he first saw it. At a local high school’s soccer game, he watched as a player prepared to take a throw-in about 30 yards from the opposing goal. Suddenly, the player did a front flip — with the ball in hand — and slung the ball, on a line, toward the goal’s near post.

Howerton’s reaction: Cool.

S chedule FRIDAY, OCT. 12

a victor y in 2001 by Adil Shamasdin ’05 and Nick Goldberg ’05.

Shamasdin repeated the feat in 2003, this time with Jamie Cerretani ’04 as his partner, and the Bears’ domination continued in 2005 when Phil Charm ’06 and Dan Hanegby ’07 won the championship.

Last year the crown went to Basu Ratnam ’09 and Eric Thomas ’07, who later advanced to the quarterfinals at the National Indoors. Ratnam is poised to make another strong showing this year, coming in seeded fifth with Chris Lee ’09.

“We haven’t played too much

M. Water Polo at No.20 Princeton (Annapolis, Md.) M. Water Polo at George Washington (Annapolis, Md.)

SUNDAY, OCT. 14 M.Crew at Head of the Charles (Boston, Mass.)

W.Crew at Head of the Charles (Boston, Mass.)

Field Hockey at Cornell W. Golf at Lehigh Invitational (Bethlehem, Pa.) W.Tennis at ITA Regionals (Norfolk, Va.) W.Tennis, Brown Invitational M.Tennis at ITA Regionals (Princeton, NJ) Volleyball vs. Cornell, Pitzzitola Center, 7:00, p.m.

M. Water Polo at Johns Hopkins University (Annapolis, Md.) M. Water Polo at No.20 Princeton (Annapolis, Md.) M. Water Polo at George Washington (Annapolis, Md.)

“When you’re 14, you don’t see that pretty often,” he says.

Howerton then started messing around with flip throw-ins during his own soccer practices. As a competitive gymnast until high school, it came somewhat naturally to him, though he says he “probably fell a bunch of times.” When Howerton could do the throw-ins consistently, he began using it in games.

Now, the No. 8 men’s soccer team is glad he did. Last Saturday, two of Howerton’s flip throw-ins led to goals as the then-No. 20 Bears beat No. 7 Harvard to take control of the Ivy League.

The flip throw-in “allows you to get the ball in the box more often,” says Dylan Sheehan ’09, who scored off one against Har vard last week, “and we have enough big bodies so that if we get a good bounce, we can generate quite a few goals off it.”

The flip throw-in, Howerton says, is a useful offensive weapon because a player can throw the ball much harder than he normally can.

The Herald asked Howerton to demonstrate the technique before practice earlier this week.

First, standing on the sideline about 25 yards from the goal line, Howerton throws the ball as hard as he can toward Sheehan. The ball lazily lofts towards the near post, where Sheenan collects it.

After Howerton gets the ball

back, he tries again, this time with the flip. He lines up toward Sheehan, takes a quick, big step forward and suddenly plants the ball on the ground with both hands.

Flipping over the ball, he plants both his feet on the ground and, like a cannon, launches the ball on a straight line towards the far goalpost.

The Herald asked Professor of Physics James Valles Jr., who is also the team’s faculty liaison, about the science behind the flip throw-in.

It’s relatively simple, Valles says. When a player is throwing in the ball without a flip, he can only use the leverage of his arms.

But with a flip throw-in, he can use his whole body as leverage. It’s the same concept of being able to throw a lacrosse ball faster with a long stick.

Howerton says the advantage of the flip throw-in is not so much that the ball can travel farther but that it travels on a line and is much harder for a goalkeeper to react to it.

Howerton has 16 assists in his Brown career, and he estimates that a quarter of them have come off flip-throws, even though he never practices them or really knows where they’re going.

“To be honest,” he says, “I don’t have total control over them.”

Still, Head Coach Mike Noonan

has enough confidence in Howerton to use his throw-ins several times a game — Howerton estimates he used about seven of them against Harvard.

“When you have a special talent — and that is a special talent — you use it,” Noonan says. “It’s a little bit different, but it shows what a good athlete he is.”

Though opposing coaches often complain about the flip throw-ins (“This is a circus act!” one coach complained to the referee once.

“Where do you draw the line?!?”), they are perfectly legal, as long as a player’s feet are both on the ground during the throw and if the ball comes from directly behind the head. Howerton says his biggest problem is keeping his feet behind the sideline. But he has never been called for a throwing foul, at least not at the college level.

Once, though, he got called for a throwing foul on his high school or club team, though he didn’t know why. So he asked the referee why the foul was called.

“Trickery,” the referee said.

The flip throw-in doesn’t work every time, though. Howerton has fallen several times while trying them in games. It is especially tough when the field and ball are wet. So it is a good thing that at home games, the Brown ball boys continued on page 7