Thursday, October 25, 2007

The Brown Daily Herald T hursday, O ctober 25, 2007

Volume CXLII, No. 96

Since 1866, Daily Since 1891

California fires cloud students’ peace of mind

By Chaz Firestone Senior Staf f Writer

Courtesy of Los Angeles Times / Irfan Khan Wildfires have ravaged southern California, causing half a million people to evacuate the region, among them Brown students’ friends and family.

With midterm exams, a looming Parents Weekend and the start of Major League Baseball’s World Series packed into a couple weeks, the end of October can be one of the busiest stretches of Brown’s academic year.

But as students hastily sweep dust under their rugs and pull all-nighters until their eyes are as red as their Sox, a few students’ Octobers have been tinged with a far more urgent shade of red.

In another ocean state 3,000 miles away, wildfires have ravaged large swaths of southern California since Sunday, destroying thousands of homes and displacing about 500,000 people so far, some of whom are the friends and family of Brown students.

Red Sox rock the Hill

U. places 3rd in the nation for 2008 Fulbrights

By Simon van Zuylen-Wood Staff Writer

Twenty-five Brown students are studying abroad on Fulbright scholarships this year — including 23 who applied as undergraduates — ranking Brown first in the Ivy League for the total number of undergraduate awards and for the percentage of successful applications.

Only the University of Michigan and Yale University had more students win Fulbright scholarships for 2007-2008, with 37 and 27 winners, respectively. But Michigan submitted 119 applications and Yale submitted 109, while Brown students were awarded the 25 scholarships from just 69 applications, for a success rate of 36 percent.

Pomona College also had 25

The Boston Red Sox hosted the Colorado Rockies last night at Fenway Park in Game One of the World Series, blowing the visitors away in a 13-1 victory. Cy Young Award-favorite Josh Beckett started against lefty Jeff Francis of the Rockies.

Thanks to the National League’s highest scoring offense, best defense and best post-All Star break ERA, the Rockies exceeded expectations and won 21 of 22 on their way to the Series. But Red Sox Nation on campus was nonetheless confident in the minutes leading up to the game.

At around 8 p.m. at the Gate, continued on page 4

By Michael Bechek Senior Staff Writer

Students hit N.H. for Hillary

By Aidan Levy Contributing Writer

www.browndailyherald.com

the program sent 24 Brunonians abroad last year. As of last year, the University had far more winners over the previous five years than any other Ivy League school, Associate Dean of the College Linda Dunleavy told The Herald last September. In that five-year period, 89 Brown students were accepted into the program. Princeton University was a distant second, with 56 students accepted.

Established in 1946 by Congress and sponsored by the Department of State, the Fulbright program is an international exchange that aims to “increase mutual understanding” between the United States and other countries, according to the IIE Web site.

The U.S. Student Program, which funds a year of study, research or teaching assistantship experience, awards approximately

H e ll o , H o r o wit z

FEATURE

This fall, foliage isn’t the only draw luring visitors to New Hampshire.The 60th birthday of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., has spurred the Brown Students for Hillary group to plan a celebratory canvassing trip to Nashua, N.H., next weekend.

Though members of the group canvassed in New Hampshire on Oct. 13, and Clinton has consistently led the polls, the group organizers don’t want to miss any opportunities to rally support for the candidate in the months preceding the first presidential primary.

“Just because she’s ahead in the polls doesn’t mean there’s not a lot of work to do to help her stay there,” said Craig Auster ’08, one of the group’s co-leaders.

Brown Students for Hillary was established February 2007, soon after Clinton announced her candi-

INSIDE:

Fulbright winners, and the Claremont, Calif., school had just 51 applicants, a success rate of 49 percent.

The lists of the top Fulbrightwinning colleges and universities are featured in the Oct. 26 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education, now available, according to the Web site of the Institute of International Education, which oversees the Fulbright program.

Of Brown’s 25 recipients, 21 were members of the class of 2007, according to a University press release. One graduated in 2006, another in 2004 and two are graduate students. The Brown recipients will study in 18 different countries, including Brazil, Latvia and Cameroon, according to the press release.

Brown has had recent success in winning Fulbright grants, as

dacy, and was co-founded by Auster, Jennifer Chudy ’07, Ava Lubell ’09, Rebecca Rattner ’09 and Rachel Sobelson ’07.5.

Though three of the five cofounders — Auster, Lubell, and Rattner — are from New York, they say the rest of the group is more geographically diverse. With about 130 Brown students on the e-mail listserv and a core group of about 20, the group conducts weekly campus meetings organized on an ad hoc basis, Lubell said.

Though registered with Clinton’s national campaign office, the group acts as an independent entity, Rattner said. “We pursue what is best for Brown’s campus and student body, providing support for the national campaign but not dictation,” she said. continued on page 6

APOCALYPSE NOW Post- interviews up-andcoming star Baby Dayliner and warns of the impending apocalypse.

3

METRO

Gabriella Doob / Herald File Photo Political provocateur David Horowitz, shown here during a 2003 lecture at Brown, is one of the organizers of the Terrorism Awareness Project.

See Campus News, Page 5

GREEN RHODY Rhode Island was ranked eighth in the nation by Forbes.com on its Greenest States list.

5

CAMPUS NEWS

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

ISLAMOFASCISTS Robert Spencer will speak tonight as part of David Horowitz’s Islamofascism Awareness Week.

“My family had to evacuate and go up north,” said Doug Jacobs ’11, whose family resides in Carlsbad, a suburb just northwest of downtown San Diego. “Pretty much everyone I know who was down there had to evacuate.”

Jacobs said his home isn’t in the direct paths of any of the 16 fires devastating the state, but unusually strong Santa Ana winds have brought polluted air to his family and stress to him on College Hill.

Several of his high school friends live in Del Mar, a suburb of San Diego that was hit by the Witch Creek Fire.

“I’ve been calling all my friends,” Jacobs said. “But I can’t reach all of them — phone lines are down everywhere.” continued on page 4

Minority faculty up since 2003

By Whitney Eng Contributing Writer

The University has seen a 44 percent increase in minority faculty and a 31 percent increase in female faculty since the creation of the Office of Institutional Diversity in 2003, according to the most recent statistics from the Office of the Dean of the Faculty.

Launched as part of the Plan for Academic Enrichment, the Office of Institutional Diversity was created in 2003 to establish “leadership and responsibility for fostering diversity goals at Brown,” said Brenda Allen, associate provost and director of institutional diversity. The Diversity Action Plan was implemented in 2006, and one of its goals is to “think about all the different ways that diversity and academic excellence intersect,” Allen said.

Since the 2001-2002 academic year, the last year before the creation of the Office of Institutional Diversity, Brown has hired 16 Asian faculty members, 12 black faculty members and nine Hispanic faculty members. In that time, the University has hired 69 white faculty members, according to numbers released by Dean of the Faculty Rajiv Vohra P’07.

“We’ve come a long way, but we still have a long way to go,” Vohra said.

In the past, “the University used to look at diversity as strictly academic,” Allen said. Now, the University is taking a more “integrated approach.” Part of Allen’s role has been to “pull out the emphasis on diversity that was embedded in each aspect of the administration” and to organize these initiatives in continued on page 7

12 SPORTS

W. RUGBY IS NO. 1 The women’s rugby team has ascended to the No. 1 national ranking, a first for the squad.

News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com

T oday Page 2

Thursday, October 25, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

But Seriously | Charlie Custer and Stephen Barlow

We a t h e r Today

TOMORROW

rain 60 / 45

partly cloudy 63 / 54

Menu Sharpe Refectory

Verney-Woolley Dining Hall

Lunch — Vegan Tofu Ravioli, Savory Spinach, Sweet Potato Fries, Santa Rosa Calzone, Grilled Ham and Swiss Sandwich, Cheesecake Brownies

Lunch — Hot Roast Beef on French Bread, Baked Macaroni and Cheese, Summer Squash, Cheesecake Brownies, Nacho Bar

Dinner — Vegetarian Gnocchi a la Sorrentina, Mashed Sweet and White Potatoes, Stuffing, Sauteed Broccoli with Garlic, Roast Turkey, Carrots Vichy, Black & White Pudding Cake

Dinner — Meatloaf with Mushroom Sauce, Stuffed Peppers, Mashed Sweet and White Potatoes, Butternut Squash with Sage and Shallots, Black and White Pudding Cake

Aibohphobia | Roxanne Palmer

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

Vagina Dentata | Soojean Kim

RELEASE DATE– Thursday, October © Puzzles25, by2007 Pappocom

Los Angeles Times Crossword Puzzle C r o sDaily s wo r d Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis ACROSS 1 Diner sign 5 __ Moon, Baptist missionary to China (18731912) 11 Capital of Senegal?

14 Ice layer 15 Wet expanses 16 LA bus gp.

17 1962 Presley film (do the math) 19 __ Paese 20 Defunct airline led by Frank Borman 21 Actress Gilbert 22 Second-century date 24 1970 war film (do the math) 27 Aligns 29 Los __: Manhattan Project site 30 “Later!”

31 “This is your big chance!”

35 1978 George C. Scott film (do the math) 39 Role player 40 Large-scale 42 Chalice 45 Slezak of soaps 46 1997 Jim Carrey film (do the math) 51 Condensation consequence 52 Friend 53 Current with the wind 55 One of a puzzling duo?

56 1960 MacLaine/Sinatra film (do the math) 60 Goof 61 How Altoids mints are packaged 62 Hirschfeld’s daughter 63 Radiator sound 64 Rate 65 Type of adapter DOWN 1 Alphabetical trio

2 Sacha Baron Cohen persona __ G 3 Lambasted 4 Ward of “Sisters” 5 Game with drawings 6 It ranges from pale to reddishyellow 7 Earth, to Caesar 8 Spoil 9 Business abbr.

10 Milan ending 11 Preserve, in a way 12 Musical arrangement 13 Green courses 18 Defunct fleet 21 Land in droplets 22 Chi. clock setting 23 Start of Popeye’s credo 25 Filet mignon orders 26 Hipbones 28 Soldiers in saddles 31 Start to irritate 32 1960s-’70s Bruin star 33 Charge

34 Photo __ 36 Chilling 37 Uncontrolled outbreak 38 Protective embankment 41 Corvine sound 42 Sugar coats 43 Crude fleet 44 Farm equipment 45 Fix on a page 47 They’re larger than radii

48 Actress Davis 49 Arrowsmith’s creator 50 Preppy collars 54 Merrill of “Butterfield 8” 56 “The World Factbook” publ.

57 Q and A part: Abbr.

58 Finish 59 Anatomical pouch

Octopus on Hallucinogens | Toni Liu and Stephanie Le

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Classic How To Get Down | Nate Saunders

xwordeditor@aol.com

10/25/07

T he B rown D aily H erald Editorial Phone: 401.351.3372 Business Phone: 401.351.3260

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

Eric Beck, President

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

Mary-Catherine Lader, Vice President Mandeep Gill, Treasurer Dan DeNorch, Secretary

By Robert H. Wolfe (c)2007 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

10/25/07

The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is an independent newspaper serving the Brown demic year, excluding vacations, once during Commencement, once during Orientation and P.O. Box 2538, Providence, RI 02906. Periodicals postage paid at Providence, R.I. Offices are located at 195 Angell St., Providence, R.I. E-mail herald@browndailyherald.com. World Wide Web: http://www.browndailyherald.com. Subscription prices: $319 one year daily, $139 one semester daily. Copyright 2007 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.

M etro Thursday, October 25, 2007

R.I. has lowest energy consumption per capita

By Christian Martell Staff Writer

Though it is the smallest state in the union, Rhode Island proved a big contender in Forbes.com’s first America’s Greenest States rankings, released last week.

The Ocean State ranked eighth overall, after being evaluated for six environmental factors: air and water quality, hazardous waste management, energy consumption, policy initiatives and carbon footprint, or the amount of carbon emissions per capita. Rhode Island also boasts the lowest energy consumption per capita and the third-lowest carbon footprint, following Idaho and Vermont, respectively. “(Rhode Island) is starting from a great place,” said Steven Hamburg, associate professor of environmental studies. “We have relatively energyefficient infrastructure, but we need to build from that and not just sit back and say ‘look at how good we are.’ ” Hamburg, a strong advocate for climate-change issues, said the best way Rhode Island could improve its standing on next year’s list is by expanding its public transportation system and by “walking the walk, not just talking the talk.”

“Rhode Island doesn’t really have substantive environmental policies,” he said, referring to the policy initiatives factor in the rankings taken from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy’s energy efficiency scoreboard, released in

Tehani Collazo ’91 wasn’t planning to become the University’s director of education outreach when she traveled to Massachusetts in August for her 20-year high school reunion. But while visiting friends in Providence, Collazo — who lives in Washington, D.C., and is finishing a dissertation in educational studies at the University of Michigan — read about the position on Brown’s Human Resources Web site and thought, “This would be the perfect job,” she said in an interview with The Herald.

An educational studies concentrator while at Brown, Collazo will return to campus on Nov. 19 to support the University’s efforts to help Providence public schools.

Collazo’s experience working with Washington public schools and institutions like the Smithsonian Institution made her the best candidate for the position, said Kenneth Wong, professor of education and chair of the department. In Washington, Collazo worked for the Smithsonian for about five years, managing educational programs such as writing workshops with published authors for students from city public schools.

As a manager at the Latin American Youth Center in Washington, Collazo ran a program in which ninthgraders at a city school worked with Smithsonian editors and curators to make museum exhibitions.

The University received around 40 applications for the position, Wong said. The selection committee, which included Assistant to the President Marisa Quinn and Roger Nozaki, associate dean of the College and director of the Swearer Center for Public Service, narrowed

City Council considers adding at-large members

By Joanna Wohlmuth Contributing Writer

Emmy Liss / Herald

Rhode Island ranked eighth in a recent survey of America’s Greenest States conducted

by Forbes.com.

June.

Forbes noted that Rhode Island is now mandating that utilities obtain 16 percent of their power from renewable fuel sources by 2020.

“There is a difference between things being done and things we are wanting to do,” Hamburg said.

Green-friendly initiatives are being proposed throughout Rhode Island.

In 2004, Gov. Donald Carcieri ’65 proposed a $70-million environmental bond for watershed protection, which voters later passed. For 2008, Carcieri has proposed an $85-million environmental bond — the largest of its kind — for cleaning up Narragansett Bay, according to the governor’s Web site.

Visiting Lecturer for Environ-

mental Studies Donald Pr yor’s work focuses on the effects of climate change on the ecology at Narragansett Bay. When asked what he thought of the Forbes rankings, Pryor said he was surprised that Rhode Island was among the top 10.

“I give (Forbes) a lot of credit for making quantitative estimates, but when I looked at some of them I was struck. There is a difference between spending money and achieving something with it,” Pryor said.

Forbes factored how much money states have allocated for policy initiatives into its rankings.

“The political machine here (in Rhode Island), they’re not having continued on page 4

Collazo ’91 new liaison to city’s public schools

By Simmi Aujla Metro Editor

Page 3

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

the pool down to 10 applicants, from which they picked four to interview.

Two of those candidates were invited to present to the committee, faculty and staff of the education department and a representative from the office of Mayor David Cicilline ’83.

“Tehani has some good ideas about how Brown can bring its resources to bear to offer services at the Providence public schools based on her own studies and her own experiences,” Quinn said. The president’s office funds half of the position of director of education outreach, while the Urban Education Policy program in the Department of Education funds the other half.

Nozaki said Collazo’s job at the Smithsonian is similar to her new position at Brown because she will be working for an institution in a larger community. Stacey Jordan, the director of education policy at Cicilline’s office who attended Collazo’s presentation, said Collazo’s “appreciation for children” and experience working with the Smithsonian would serve her well in her new position.

Collazo will replace Lamont Gordon ’93, Brown’s first director of education outreach, who left his post in August to complete an education dissertation at Harvard. When she comes to campus, Collazo said she plans “to spend a lot of time talking to people” both at Brown and in Providence schools to learn about the programs Brown already has, especially with area arts institutions.

She also said she hopes to create programs that directly benefit Providence schools, such as writing workshops for students and teachers.

“We’re in a good position to develop programs, to build on the information that has been gathered,”

Chris Bennett / Herald File Photo

Lamont Gordon ’93 stepped down as director of educational outreach in August.

she said.

Before leaving his post, Gordon collected and posted information about all the programs the University currently conducts with Providence schools on a University Web site. He also supported the Urban Education Policy program for graduate students, a job Collazo will continue to do.

Collazo said she wants to work at all levels of the Providence education system, from administrative office to classroom. “I think it’s important that young people actually see someone from Brown working with teachers,” she said.

While at Brown, Collazo was a Minority Peer Counselor, a programmer at the Third World Center and a co-chair of the Latin American Students Organization. Collazo said she is looking forward to coming back to campus. “It’s what’s motivating me to get through the last pages of my (300-page) dissertation,” about Salvadorean high-school students in Washington, she said.

The Providence City Council is entertaining proposals to include at-large members, which supporters say would diversify the council’s representation and add citywide leadership. The council’s Ordinance Committee is currently considering three proposals, and formal discussion should begin within the next month, said Ward 7 Councilman John Igliozzi.

The final proposal of the committee will go to the council for vote and, if approved, could make the city ballot next year.

The council currently has 15 members, each representing one of the city’s 15 wards. Prior to the 1980s, the city was divided into 13 wards, which were each represented by two council members, said Ward 1 Councilman Seth Yurdin, who represents part of Brown’s campus. The structure was then changed to decrease the number of council members and to maintain smaller constituencies.

Last week Ward 2 Councilman Cliff Wood, who also represents College Hill, and Yurdin, presented separate proposals at a council meeting.

Wood proposed maintaining the committee size at 15 by restructuring to only 10 wards and having five at-large representatives. He cited similar proportions currently in place in New York City, Philadelphia and Boston, which provide “a good balance” between ward and at-large representation.

He added that decreasing the number of wards would “shake up” the current composition of the council, which he sees as a good thing. Decreasing the number of wards would reduce seats available to incumbent councilmen and force them to run again for ward seats or for at-large positions.

“At this point I can only put something forwards that is a good idea based on merit,” Wood said.

“I would rather do nothing than do it wrong.”

Yurdin’s proposal maintains the 15-ward system and adds six at-large seats elected by a “singletransferable vote” system. Under this system, voters rank the candidates in order of preference. A candidate is elected once he reaches a pre-established threshold of votes.

The surplus votes are then distributed among the other candidates in order of the voters’ indicated preference. Candidates with too few votes are also eliminated, and their votes are transferred to the remaining candidates. The process continues until the necessary number of representatives is elected.

Proportional representation eliminates concerns about electing only moneyed candidates, Yurdin said. The system gives voters a chance to show preference for grassroots candidates in addition to candidates who are better funded.

Yurdin said he is more concerned about having proportional representation and maintaining the diversity of the council members, not the exact number of at-large positions.

A few months ago, Igliozzi, who represents the city’s Silver Lake neighborhood, proposed maintaining the current ward system while adding two at-large representatives.

Igliozzi submitted his proposal in order to begin discussion about adding at-large members to the committee, he said. Now that council members have begun discussing at-large members, they must consider how many seats should be added and how the members should be elected, Igliozzi said, adding that the majority of the committee seems to be leaning toward keeping the 15-ward system.

Page 4

Thursday, October 25, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Calif. students worry over fires at home continued from page 1 Robin Davis ’10, who lives 25 miles north of San Diego, said her family was evacuated from their home in Encinitas, a coastal suburb.

“My house was about six miles from the Witch Fire,” Davis said.

Though her family was warned well in advance and was able to escape without much panic, Davis said a close friend of hers had a more harrowing experience.

“Her house was about 500 feet from the burn line,” Davis said of her friend. “Cell phone towers and phone lines were down so she couldn’t contact her family. It was really scary.”

The American Red Cross has spearheaded efforts to find temporary homes for evacuees, who number in the hundreds of thousands in San Diego County alone.

One of Claudia Carranza’s ’09 uncles was evacuated from Mount Miguel, a small neighborhood in southeast San Diego County. But when the fires encroached on the evacuation site, Carranza’s uncle joined 10,000 other displaced residents at Qualcomm Stadium, the home field of the National Football League’s San Diego Chargers.

Though her relatives’ house might still be in danger, Carranza said her immediate family can breathe easier knowing their cousins are safe.

“As long as the kids are fine, we’re not worried,” said Carranza, an ethnic studies concentrator. “The material stuff can be replaced. Life can’t.”

Despite the widespread effects and imminent dangers the wildfires have caused — at least six people had died and 70 more had been injured by late Wednesday night, according

to the Los Angeles Times — most students interviewed by The Herald said their peers at Brown seem ignorant of the situation unfolding on the nation’s opposite coast.

“I’m kind of surprised at the lack of awareness here. It’s such a huge disaster, but I guess it’s so far away that nobody’s really talking about it on campus,” Davis said. “It’s really interesting when half a million people are being evacuated and nobody talks about it.”

Elise Yip ’08, who lives 10 minutes from Rancho Santa Fe in northwest San Diego County, agreed. “My mom called me Sunday and said, ‘There are fires again,’ ” said Yip, who missed a week of school in 2003 during a similar period of wildfires called the “Fire Siege.”

“Within 24 hours she was evacuated,” Yip said. “No one seems to be aware of how severe and stressful it is.”

Red Sox fans enjoy Game 1 victory continued from page 1 brand-new Rockies fan Mike Cummins ’08 was watching the pre-game show with some of his men’s lacrosse teammates. “Rockies in five,” he said.

“Born in Jersey, grew up in Denver.

I feel like I got birthright to hop on the bandwagon.”

Enjoying some refreshments in his room in Keeney Quadrangle, relaxed Red Sox fan Trevor Mundt ’11, volunteered a prediction about the game. “I’m gonna be bold — I’m gonna say, 9-2 Sox.” Fellow Massachusetts resident and Sox fan Charlie Posner ’11 said, “I’m gonna be safe — 7-1 Red Sox.” Minutes later, when Boston second baseman Dustin Pedroia led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run over the Green Mon-

ster, the celebration had begun. “Yes mother(expletive), sit the (expletive) down!” Mundt said. The Sox never looked back, blowing out Colorado behind Beckett’s seven strong innings and 13 strikeouts.

The presence of Red Sox Nation is strong over most of campus, but those eating at the Ivy Room at game time seemed a little disinterested.

Maine resident Kate Fritzsche ’10 called Kevin Youkilis’s goatee and bald head “hideous” and Charlie Wood ’10 asked, “The Rockies are from the West, right?”

At the next table Izraelle McKinnon ’11 wondered, “Is (the game) going on now?” Looking confused, her friend, who wished to remain unnamed, whispered, “Are you talking about baseball?”

Throughout campus, however,

Red Sox fever had people from all over the world talking. Rogelio Ramirez ’11, who lives in California but is Mexican, was excited after consecutive hits by Sox sluggers David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. “My friends from the Dominican Republic are doing so good right now,” she said.

The Red Sox ran away with the game. Ortiz and Ramirez led the offensive onslaught with three hits and two RBIs apiece. Tomorrow, veteran Curt Schilling pitches for the Sox against youngster Ubaldo Jimenez for the Rockies.

Self-proclaimed non-fan and Massachusetts resident Alex Arruda ’11 is starting to get excited. “I never cared before, but now that I’m here, I’ve watched a little more,” Arruda said. “I definitely have started to feel some hometown pride.”

R.I. is 8th greenest, Forbes.com says continued from page 3 the open discussion we need to have to move forward,” he said. As for Carcieri’s agenda, Pryor said “the governor resisted for a very long time.”

Some student environmentalists think Rhode Island and the University could become more environmentally friendly. “Even if Rhode Island’s per capita energy consumption is the lowest of all 50 states, American society is still undeniably consumptive in comparison to the world average. Whether your state comes in first place or last (in the Forbes rankings), we can always do better,” Kirsten Howard ’09 wrote in an e-mail. Howard is a member of

emPOWER, a student group working to end Brown’s contribution to global warming.

Last month, the Energy and Environmental Advisory Committee submitted its final recommendations to the University. The recommendations were influenced by emPOWER and will be submitted in the budget proposal in the Corporation’s next meeting, wrote Julia Beamesderfer ’09 in an e-mail to The Herald.

Beamesderfer is also a member of emPOWER. According to Howard, emPOWER members are working to incorporate sustainable design into Brown’s curriculum. Brown recently acquired $350,000 in grant money for local, student-initiated environ-

mental initiatives — $150,000 from President Ruth Simmons’ office and $200,000 from the Sidney E. Frank Foundation.

“It is our hope that students can use this money to fund local offsetting projects with the objective of making Brown a climate-neutral institution,” Beamesderfer said.

Hamburg and Pryor said the University must evaluate future expansion plans and make sure they are environmentally conscious. “(Brown) has a lower carbon output compared to our peers, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be more aggressive. We need to think about how to expand, but at the same time not create negative impacts,” Hamburg said.

thanks for reading read share recycle

C ampus n ews Thursday, October 25, 2007

Page 5

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Tomasi’s Political Theory Islamofascism Awareness Week hits Brown today Project gets $1 million gift

By Erika Jung Contributing Writer

By Andrea Savdie Contributing Writer

The Political Theor y Project received a gift of $1,021,088 from the Thomas W. Smith Foundation of Greenwich, Conn., the University announced Oct. 13. The number may seem random, but it’s precisely the funding needed to bring five postdoctoral research associates to Brown every year for three years, said John Tomasi, associate professor of political science and director of the project.

“So far we’ve been relying on individual alums, but the Thomas W. Smith Foundation grant gives us financial stability for the heart of our program,” said Tomasi, who founded the project in 2003.

Tomasi met Thomas Smith through a Brown alum, Tom McWilliams ’65. McWilliams attended a Janus Forum lecture sponsored by the project last year and became interested in the project.

“He invited me for dinner at his house in Westerly, R.I., to meet some friends of his who are interested in higher education, and one of them was Thomas W. Smith,” Tomasi said. “The foundation was established just last year. It’s quite new. We were lucky enough to get involved early.”

The postdoctoral research as-

Courtesy of Brown.edu

Assoc. Prof. of Political Science John Tomasi

sociates will teach undergraduate courses and participate in projectsponsored events while simultaneously pursuing their own independent research.

According to Tomasi, one of the main activities postdoctoral research fellows take part in is the Political Philosophy Workshop, a research group of professors, graduate students and postdocs that meets every other week throughout the academic year to help one another with their work.

Project-sponsored events that incorporate undergraduates are continued on page 6

$54 increase in student activites fee proposed at UCS

By Franklin Kanin Senior Staff Writer

Amid rising costs for student groups and complaints about budget cuts, Drew Madden ’10, student activities chair for the Undergraduate Council of Students, proposed to petition the University Resources Committee for a $54 increase in the student activities fee that would bring the total fee to $200 per student.

The increase in the fee is necessary to account for rising costs to student groups, Madden said at the UCS general body meeting last night. “Costs have gone up over the past five years ... because all these costs are going up, if their baseline funding is staying the same, then they’re unable to do what they need to do,” he said.

On Monday, Madden told The Herald he planned to propose an increase between $20 and $30. The proposed number rose because the Student Activities Committee felt that amount would be an insufficient increase due to rising costs, Madden said. “My committee decided that they felt a greater increase was necessary and there were more items that needed to be funded by (the Undergraduate Finance Board), so they felt it wasn’t an exorbitant amount of money to ask for,” he said Wednesday night.

A more expensive Media Services contract, a greater number of categorized groups vying for the same funding pool and the effects of inflation have all led to rising costs, Madden said. “The 20 to 30 (dollar increase) would only cover an increase in the (Media) Services contract and would not even keep pace with the increase in groups,” he said. “We really do need a $54 increase, and (the com-

mittee decided) that we do want to push as hard as we can for the 54.”

The committee chose $54 because it will make the fee $100 per semester and $200 for the full year.

“It’s an easier number than $192 or something,” said Madden. “We figured once we got up to the $50 range we would just try to make it more even.”

Though the proposal has not yet been finalized, Madden said his committee has discussed using the additional funds to increase baseline funding given to Category II groups from $90 per semester to a target of $120. The committee is also considering giving an initial, one-time $100 stipend to Category I groups to help them start up.

The student activities fee debate has become an annual UCS event.

Last fall, a proposed increase of $13 failed by one vote to reach the twothirds majority necessary for it to pass. Madden said the fee increase failed to pass last year largely due to the rushed nature of the process. The increase was proposed right before Thanksgiving, giving the council very little time to debate and vote on whether they approved the increase or not, Madden said.

In 2005, UCS approved a $54 increase in the fee, but the Corporation instead increased it by $10 after the University decided to make the Department of Athletics responsible for funding club sports.

This year, Madden said, he plans to provide UCS and the student body with an opportunity to consider, discuss and debate the proposed increase. Rather than consider the proposal at next week’s meeting, which falls on Halloween, UCS will vote on the increase at its Nov. 7 general body meeting.

Robert Spencer, founder and director of “Jihad Watch” and author of “The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam,” will speak tonight as part of the first Islamofacism Awareness Week, the brainchild of controversial conservative activist David Horowitz.

Spencer’s lecture, which will take place at 7 p.m. in Salomon 001, is part of a national campaign bringing conservative pundits to college campuses to discuss the threat posed by Islamic radicals.

Horowitz, the author and editor of the conser vative FrontPage Magazine and creator of the Terrorism Awareness Project, got the idea for Islamofascism Awareness Week this spring, when Pace University refused to allow a student to show “Obsession,” a documentary on radical Islam. In response, he declared April 19 Islamofascism Awareness Day. “The first goal was to show a film, and when I saw that I was able to get 96 campuses to do it, I said I’m going to do a week,” Horowitz told The Herald.

Speakers at other universities this week include right-wing provocateur Ann Coulter, former Republican Sen. Rick Santorum and Horowitz himself.

The Terrorism Awareness Project Web site describes Islamofascism Awareness Week as “a wakeup

call for Americans on 200 university and college campuses” and “the biggest conservative campus protest ever.”

According to the Web site, the purpose of the campaign is “as simple as it is crucial: to confront the two Big Lies of the political left, that George Bush created the war on terror and that Global Warming is a greater danger to Americans than the terrorist threat … Islamofascism Awareness Week is a national effort to oppose these lies and to rally American students to defend their country.”

Horowitz said his statements are intended to be somewhat “tonguein-cheeky.”

“This is not a conser vative campaign to make people conservatives. Islamofascism is a threat to all Americans, no matter what their politics,” he said. “The idea, of course, is to focus on who the enemy is. We have this censorship that we can’t talk about the enemy.

Campuses are the worst censored places.”

Horowitz said he is hopeful that Spencer will be well-received at Brown. “Civility is a cornerstone of a democratic society and tolerance for people who have a different opinion,” he said. “The vast majority of students at Brown are hardworking, intelligent and civil and will come and listen politely.”

The Muslim Students Association is encouraging its members to act civilly. “Should you choose

to attend the event, any type of questioning should be done in a manner consistent with our values of academic freedom and respectful dialogue, even if the speaker being questioned does not adhere to these values,” the MSA executive board wrote in an Oct. 23 e-mail to its members. “Responding to this campaign in a reactionary manner merely reinforces the very stereotypes that the campaign seeks to promote and creates controversy, which will draw unnecessary attention to the campaign.”

The Brown Republicans decided to bring Islamofascism Awareness Week to the University after Herald Opinions Columnist Sean Quigley ’10 saw information about the campaign at the College Republican National Convention.

The Brown Republicans are advertising Spencer’s upcoming lecture through tableslips and posters, some of which Quigley said have been ripped down since last night.

Regarding the negative reaction to the event, Quigley said he is disappointed but not surprised.

The Brown Republicans did have some reservations about inviting Robert Spencer to speak. “We thought he might be a bit too much to the right,” Quigley said. “He not only criticizes radical Islam, but he also criticizes Islam in general. That was something that came up.”

Some students object to the continued on page 6

Page 6

Thursday, October 25, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Some students question Islamofascism continued from page 5 term “Islamofascism” itself. “The very term ‘Islamofascism’ inherently connects the entire religion of Islam with the totalitarian ideology of fascism,” the MSA executive board wrote in its Oct. 23 e-mail.

“When you label an entire group of people with such a hostile name, you are not advocating for the equality and the freedom that you mean to uphold. You are closing the door to any kind of dialogue,” said MSA President Noor Najeeb ’09. “Extrem-

ism on both ends is not going to breed any type of tolerance.”

Horowitz has responded to this frequent objection by citing examples like Italian fascism and clerical fascism — terms which he says are widely accepted.

“First of all, they assume that it’s aimed at an entire group, which is a false premise. This is a civil society,” Quigley said. “I don’t ally myself with the IRA even though I’m Irish.”

The origins of the term “Islamofascism” are unclear. In an article entitled “Defending Islamofascism” on the Terrorism Awareness Project

Web site, author and pundit Christopher Hitchens says the term was coined by a Scottish journalist.

But in an article titled “Vocabulary of War” on the same Web site, Horowitz says it was coined by moderate Muslims in Algeria to describe their radical oppressors. “How does using a term invented by Muslims to describe their oppressors equate all Muslims with the fascists?” Horowitz wrote in the article.

When asked about the discrepancy, Horowitz told The Herald the origin of the term was unimportant.

Gift to support Political Theory Project continued from page 5 offered through the Initiative in Philosophy, Politics and Economics and the Janus Forum.

As part of the initiative, the project supports students who choose to pursue an interdisciplinar y independent concentration in philosophy, politics and economics, inspired by a program offered at Oxford University. Efforts to establish a formal PPE concentration have stalled, The Herald reported Wednesday.

The initiative also includes a biweekly luncheon in the Faculty Club known as the Open Seminar, where undergraduates and postdocs can participate in informal discussions on a particular topic.

Driven by the motto “We think uncomfor table thoughts” and named after a Roman god with two faces, the Janus Forum was established in 2005 by undergraduates seeking to provide various perspectives on political issues. The Political Theor y Project works closely with the Janus Forum to host lecture series on campus. Each lecture includes a debate between two speakers who have opposing perspectives on a particular issue followed by a question-and-answer session that involves the audience and stimulates further discussion.

“The goal of the project is best described by Ruth Simmons,” Tomasi said.

“While other types of communities devise covenants so as to avoid

conflict, our covenant is rooted in quarrel, in opposition. We encourage ideas and opinions to collide in the service of learning,” he quoted Simmons.

In addition to funding the Political Theory Project at Brown, the Thomas W. Smith Foundation also gave grants to programs at Harvard and Princeton universities, Tomasi said.

“We tr y to provide a place for students with diverse viewpoints to come together and discuss freely and passionately. We want to make Brown the place where the best political conversations happen in the countr y,” he said. “If people at Princeton and Harvard feel the same way, we welcome the competition.”

Students organize for Hillary’s run continued from page 1 Last April, the group organized a lecture on the 2000 election by Terry McAuliffe, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and current chairman of Clinton’s presidential campaign, Auster said. Though members of Students for Hillary organized the event, the Brown Democrats sponsored it because University policy prohibits the use of funds for campaign purposes.

On Monday, Oct. 15, the group organized a lecture followed by a question-and-answer session with former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke ’62, which took place off campus at the Hope Club. Holbrooke, one of Clinton’s foreign policy advisers, a professor-at-large based in the Watson Institute for International Studies and a former Herald editor in chief, addressed a crowd of about 30 on the importance of the coming election, Rattner said.

Future events include a debatewatching party on Oct. 30, a mock debate featuring student representatives for each Democratic candidate on Nov. 8, and more canvassing trips to New Hampshire, Lubell said.

Lubell said her passion for the campaign was sparked last winter, when she worked as an intern in Clinton’s Washington, D.C., office.

The day after Lubell left the capital, Clinton announced her candidacy for president. “She’s a very, very capable public official, and every-

one loved her on a personal level,” Lubell said. “There are a lot of misconceptions about her — many of the public’s critiques you hear from people that don’t support her — she seems cold, overly prepared, overly ambitious. But I would walk by her office and hear people cracking up with her all the time.”

Rattner said the public often misconstrues Clinton’s work ethic. “I think she’s motivated by a desire to help, and that becomes very clear when you meet her,” she said. “It comes from a genuine love of her country, and that’s why she works so hard.”

Auster appeals to Clinton’s political history to justify his support.

“The country needs change, and the only candidate that’s really going to bring about change is Senator Clinton,” he said. “She’s had so much experience. For example, no one knows more about health care.

If you look at the whole package, I don’t think any other candidate can match her.”

Gender should not be an issue, Auster said. “I definitely think Senator Clinton’s campaign is going to be a huge step forward for women in America and women in office,” he said. “She is really prepared to be president, and her gender shouldn’t matter. She really is the strongest candidate we have.”

Lubell said she approved of Clinton’s economic policies, her program to make college more affordable, her plan to deal with the volatile subprime housing market

read this herald share this herald recycle this herald

and her willingness to hear expert advice on the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I think a lot of people realize that we’re heading in the wrong direction in Iraq. Bush’s policy is clearly not working,” Auster said. “Senator Clinton knows that we need to redeploy troops. She realizes that the safety of our troops comes first, and that is really, out of all the candidates, the smartest position to be taking on the war.”

Despite the heated competition for the party nomination, Lubell insists that Students for Hillary harbors no animosity towards Students for Barack Obama. “It couldn’t be farther from the truth. We share a lot of values, and we’re working for similar goals. I just think Hillary’s an amazing presidential candidate.”

In response to claims that activism on the Brown campus has waned during the past few decades, Auster and Lubell contend that the nature of student activism has changed, but not the sense of political commitment. “America is so dominated by nonprofits — it’s not always saying ‘stick it to the man’ anymore,” Lubell said.

Auster remains optimistic that activism at Brown will surge as the 2008 presidential election approaches. “Things come in waves. After the 2004 election, the campus was a little quieter,” Auster said. “Activism today is not the same as it was in the 60s or 70s. It’s not as visible or protest-oriented, but it’s really vibrant.”

Thursday, October 25, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Faculty diversity up 44 percent in 4 years continued from page 1 a cohesive manner. By taking an active role in “creating numerical strength and a depth to the diversity of faculty members, Brown has been successful in reaching many of its diversity goals,” Vohra said.

Increases in the number of women and minority faculty have often been a result of targeted recruitment, Allen said. Recruitment can come in many forms, she said, whether it is inviting speakers to come to Brown or “calling up people who have been identified as particularly strong candidates to let them know of a job opportunity. We try to pass along the idea that Brown is very interested in creating diversity among its faculty,” Allen said.

“The economics department has been able to take advantage of the Diversity Action Plan because of changes in the supply of candidates and the active way in which we hire them,” said Professor of Economics Andrew Foster, the department chair. “In the end, what matters is what you produce in terms of teaching and research, and if we are able to increase diversity among the faculty during the process, then that’s great as well,” Foster said.

Programs such as the Target of Oppor tunity Program allow Brown to hire new faculty when vacancies in particular departments may not exist. Part of the Plan for Academic Enrichment, the Target of Opportunity Program aims to attract “stellar people in the world who will bring to Brown distinction in many fields,” Allen said. The Plan for Academic Enrichment allocates 25 of 100 new faculty hires specifically for the Target of Opportunity program.

“Departments now have the flexibility to pursue excellent scholars and teachers with the goal of diversity in mind,” Vohra said.

“We are able to hire a lot of new faculty through the Target of Opportunity Program,” Vohra said.

“Though it seems like we are close to our limit, we’re really not.” Vohra likened the program to a flexible trading card system. Each time a new faculty member is hired as “a target of opportunity,” they take one of the 25 cards available under this program. However, when a regular job opportunity opens up in a particular department, it is filled through the traditional process, and the department returns its card back to the pile, Vohra said.

In this way, targeted hiring under this process may be able to continue “indefinitely.”

The program is open to all departments on campus, and several have taken advantage of the program.

“We’ve been successful in recruiting new women and minority faculty members to the department,” said Professor of Chemistr y Peter Weber, the department chair. “The process is often ver y competitive because other institutions want the same candidates, and it has been a combination of targeted effort and good fortune that has helped us increase diversity within our department. The Target of Opportunity program gives us flexibility, and ultimately that’s what attracts people to come here.”

Another way that the University has been able to encourage recruitment of new faculty, particularly women and minorities in the sciences, has been through the ADVANCE Grant, which was awarded to Brown in 2006 by the National Science Foundation. Under this grant, the University will receive $3.3 million over a five-year period.

Money from this grant has been used to develop child care programs to aid new faculty members who often have to travel for conferences as part of their new positions, and Allen said it has been a factor in helping to attract and retain faculty.

“From a diversity point of view, it’s important to be really open about the idea that all faculty face struggles, but women and minorities face particular struggles, and it is necessar y to have specific programs and policies to support them,” Allen said.

In terms of faculty retention, less information is known about the numbers of recruited faculty who remain at Brown. If they choose not to stay, their reasons for leaving are not recorded. Allen estimates that there is a 65 to 70 percent faculty retention rate year-to-year. The numbers seem to be the same across gender, she said, but recent data does suggest that minority faculty members are leaving Brown at a slightly higher rate than the rate of non-minorities.

In addition, Weber and Foster noted that few women are hired or are appointed to senior level positions in their departments.

“It’s important to provide women and minorities opportunities to become successful in their careers,” Weber said. “Often, those opportunities can be helped by providing role models. The lack of women and minorities in the department can really hurt our department.”

Allen is working on creating a “diversity cabinet” that will allow staff representatives from the Sarah Doyle Women’s Center, the Office of Student Life and the Third World Center to meet and discuss the idea of diversity in each of these different realms. “We really do have a

good cohort of people working on this in ever y corner and now we are trying to create a mechanism to coordinate that and work together,” Allen said.

Allen said she hopes the creation of the cabinet will allow continued cooperation among different groups. “At Brown, we are quite for tunate with the degree with which faculty are willing to think about things differently and to have conversations about diversity,” she said.

“The (chemistr y) department cannot create success but it can enable it, and as long as we do that for all of our faculty, we are doing well,” Weber said.

Often, ensuring that the effort toward reaching diversity is successful is to create a “pipeline” of faculty, graduate students and undergraduate students who can all mentor one another to ensure that diversity goals continue to be met, Weber said.

“The world is becoming a smaller place, and it wouldn’t be appropriate if Brown didn’t reflect that diversity and if students couldn’t find role models in the fields they are interested in,” Vohra said.

For the most part, however, students are not directly involved in the hiring process.

“Students typically don’t usually play a role in the selection process of faculty,” Vohra said. “When it actually comes to making a selection of a new faculty member, I think that only the faculty members working in the particular discipline are capable of making that assessment.”

Allen said one possible way to help increase diversity across the faculty may be to include students in the process. Though “policies var y from department to department, we should be doing more to make students a part of this process,” she said.

While the numbers of minority and women faculty have increased over the past few years, an important distinction has to be made between creating the face of diversity and achieving a true diversity of opinions, Allen said.

“We can keep bringing new people in until the cows come home, but we have to ask ourselves, are we really reaping the benefits of having people from diverse backgrounds come together and share their perspectives?” Allen said. “We’re at a point where we’re no longer just touching the surface of things. I think that this work is important because the deepest, most complex form of learning often comes when there is competition between ideas, and one way to create that is through diversity.”

E-mail herald@browndailyherald.com by Monday, Oct. 29.

Page 7

thursday, october 25, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Reil ’09: Questionable QBs abound continued from page 12 Bulger fared poorly nearly every time he has played this season, but he has also missed a lot of time. His replacement, Gus Frerotte, once missed the second half of a game against the Giants after head-butting a wall in celebration of a touchdown.

In Arizona, Head Coach Ken Whisenhunt began this season rotating between starting quarterback Matt Leinart and backup Kurt Warner. The scheme was confusing to everyone, especially opposing defenses. My head hurts just writing about it. Unfortunately for Whisenhunt, Leinart broke his collarbone in Week Five. Warner, being mad old, has already missed some time. That leaves Tim Rattay as the

Cardinals’ quarterback. So much for Arizona’s season.

In Carolina, starting quarterback Jake Delhomme has opted for season-ending elbow surgery. Then, on top of that spaghetti, replacement David Carr got hurt his second week on the job. Desperate, the Panthers signed the legendary Vinny Testaverde, who returned to the field a la Gandalf the White and led his team to victory. Truly an amazing story.

Byron Leftwich just got the job in Atlanta, replacing an ineffective Joey Harrington, and now he’s out with an injury. Jacksonville’s David Garrard, Leftwich’s former teammate and maybe even his good buddy (I really have no idea if they’re good buddies), is out for a month with a high-ankle sprain. Buffalo’s J.P. Losman got hurt

early on in the season, and it was probably the best thing to happen to Buffalo since spicy boneless buffalo wings with extra hot sauce and some blue cheese dressing on the side (because sometimes the wings are so hot, but still so tasty). Oh, and of course I have to give a shout-out to Tarvaris Jackson, Vince Young and Trent Green for getting hurt, too.

So, to those of you enjoying a nice season from Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Carson Palmer and the like, count yourselves lucky and keep your fingers crossed. Your team could be next.

Shane Reil’s ’09 fantasy team got sacked this year.

Still no luck for field hockey continued from page 12 Sacco’s goal came less than six minutes later, off assists from Nora Malgieri ’10 and Sara Eaton ’09.

Though Brown was unable to muster another goal in regulation, three saves from goalie Lauren Kessler ’11 kept the Crusaders out of the cage, forcing overtime.

The Bears looked to have their best chance this season of winning a game when they were awarded a penalty corner in overtime. Unfortunately, they could not find the net. Eventually, a foul gave Holy Cross a penalty stroke, and Powell fired a shot to the right post past

Kessler to give the Crusaders the 3-2 win.

After two straight losses that came down to the wire, the Bears will continue to look for their first win on Saturday in a league matchup with a tough University of Pennsylvania team. The Quakers are currently 7-8 overall, with a 3-2 mark in league play.

Despite its dismal record, Brown is optimistic heading into the remainder of its schedule.

“I feel like it’s just a couple bad bounces each game, like we’re snake-bit,” Zysk said. “We step on the field every game with more confidence and more pride ... because

thanks for reading

Page 9

E ditorial & L etters Page 10

Thursday, October 25, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

S t a f f E d i to r i a l

Facebook: It’s complicated You may not want to admit it, but we know you’re still somewhat attached to Facebook. Whether you are a profile minimalist or a gushing exhibitionist, chances are you belong to the site. You may appreciate the convenient, instant publicity of a Facebook invite or event announcement, and you might enjoy sharing photos of yourself surrounded by kegs and Solo cups with those in your ‘social network.’

So when The Herald reported yesterday that University administrators use Facebook to keep an eye on student parties, you may have felt your privacy was slightly violated.

Of course, this isn’t the first time that non-students and officials have peeked at profiles to catch a glimpse of content that most students would hardly consider public information. It’s almost common knowledge that recruiters and employers gather information about prospective employees on Facebook. And this past September, The Herald reported that Brown admission officers poke around on prospective students’ profiles. (Admission officers noted that juicy details picked up on Facebook only once affected an admission decision.)

Each Facebook innovation ­— first photos, then a newsfeed and now making profiles searchable on Google — at first struck users as an invasion of privacy. But in no time at all, these things became widely accepted and appreciated elements for the site’s users. Students remain willing to release party pictures, personal preferences and even their ‘status’ on the Internet for hundreds, if not thousands, to see.

Still, for some Brunonians, the University’s use of the site for campus policing and, potentially, disciplinary action may seem slightly Orwellian.

The way Facebook took root — initially it was offered only to college students — projected an air of false exclusivity that lured us to its blue and white pages in the first place. Events posted on the site often seemed like they are only available or of interest to Brown students. And for many, Facebook felt like the online extension of our campus community.

As Facebook has expanded around the globe and opened its doors to users of all ages and occupations, some students have re-considered their willingness to broadcast their college lives. More and more, students are closing off their profiles to “friends only” or blocking Facebook photos altogether. As our reporters increasingly tell us, students’ phone numbers are now rarely listed on Facebook. even though our personal e-mail addresses remain available on the publicly listed Brown directory — where, apparently, we feel our contact information is more secure.

We should be mindful that we’re growing up in a different world.

Protecting our privacy presents serious challenges. Our high school sports games, debate tournament results and, now, college social lives and accomplishments have all been documented online for digital posterity. Thanks to Facebook, you don’t have to attend an MTV Spring Break special to have the occasional debauchery of your college life made public for potential embarrassment. Once that photo of you trashed and with a red Solo cup in hand is released into the tubes of the Internets, it’s there for good. Welcome to life in a networked society.

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 Mandeep Gill General Manager 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

Aditya Voleti, Steve DeLucia, Designers Erin Cummings, Katie Delaney, Max Mankin, Alex Mazerov, 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 Stefanie Angstadt, Amanda Bauer, Brianna Barzola, Evan Boggs, Aubry Bracco, Caitlin Browne, Zachary Chapman, Joy Chua, Patrick Corey, Catherine Goldberg, Olivia Hoffman, Jessica Kerry, Cameron Lee, Hannah Levintova, Abe Lubetkin, Christian Martell, Taryn Martinez, Anna Millman, Sonia Saraiya, Marielle Segarra, Matt Varley, Meha Verghese Sports Staff Writers Andrew Braca, Han Cui, Evan Kantor, 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 Oona Curley, Alex DePaoli, Austin Freeman, Meara Sharma, Tai Ho Shin, Min Wu 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

frances choi

L e tt e r s Alum exhorts students to support football team To the Editor: The few points by which the Brown Bears are losing out in nearly each game this football season is cause for increasing dismay. Today’s teams, as a whole, appear to be much better prepared, better trained and possibly even smarter than the ones playing 50 years ago. Quarterback Zack DeOssie ’07 made it to the New York Giants. So what’s wrong?

Perhaps last year’s experience at the Brown-Yale game gives a clue: The stands were embarrassingly empty and many, if not most of those cheering their lungs out were fellow alumni. Here was a team that won the 2005 Ivy League trophy, and only a smattering of their classmates showed up to support their efforts.

Is it surprising the title was lost?

Where was everyone? If a 70-year-old lady and friend

could easily make it up to the stadium on foot from the railroad station, how is it that a vast majority of the student body appears to be unable to reach it from the top of College Hill?

It’s not too late to make a respectable showing this season. Old ladies are unable to make it to Providence every week as much as they might like to, so I’m begging all of you take my seat.

We plan to be in New Haven in a couple of weeks, and hope we will be treated to the sight of a bear soundly thrashing a yapping bulldog. That’s what nature intended!

Elizabeth (Reiss) Baecher ‘57 Mount Kisco, N.Y. Oct. 22

Douglas Brown responds to Cambier’s ’09 take on Bergeron To the Editor: For a number of reasons, I found Adam Cambier’s ’09 recent column (“We’re not on College Hill anymore,” Oct. 23) troubling. He begins by griping about how, as someone from Kansas, he’s always being asked Wizard-of-Oz questions. And then, as though to reinforce this very association that he finds so annoying, he proceeds to graft the Wizardof-Oz template onto the Office of the Dean of the College.

It is no doubt great fun to parade what evidently passes for cleverness — flying-monkeys analogy and all.

And to do that and get in a few pot shots at perceived authority, well, all the better. But beyond flattering the writer’s own vanity, this kind of “journalism” does a great disservice to our community. Cambier needs to check his facts and support his allegations.

As for the claim that Bergeron

“began to restructure the administration into a more hierarchical form,” well, I’ve been at Brown for seven years, and as far as I can tell, the Office of the Dean of the College is no more hierarchical now than it was before Bergeron. But maybe Cambier knows something I don’t. Which I always understood to be the point of journalism — to inform people.

More troubling, however, Cambier writes that, “Worst of all, in what some see as an effort to quell resistance to the changes, she’s sacked several prominent members of the administration.” I don’t think it’s enough to say that “some” see it this way; Cambier, having brought it up, has a responsibility to support this allegation. Otherwise, it’s just cheap libel. And worse, it’s bad writing.

That’s some fairly juicy conspiracytype stuff; you gotta run with it. Inquiring minds want to know.

Similarly, Cambier claims that

“there is little doubt that Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron’s ultimate goal is the reinstatement of the regime ended upon the undue flattening of her pre-1969 curricular counterpart.” Well, once you actually decipher what’s being said here, it would seem to warrant at least a modicum of support.

My concern is not to defend the dean of the College — Katherine Bergeron can easily see to that herself. My concern is the glibness of Cambier’s lambaste. These are significant accusations. To make them and fail to see why they might require some factual support suggests not only sorrowful ignorance when it comes to journalism but a lack of decency — an unfortunate irony, given the central conceit of the piece.

Douglas Brown Director, Writing Support Programs Oct. 24

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.

L etters to the E ditor P olicy Send letters to letters@browndailyherald.com. Include a telephone number with all letters. The Herald reserves the right to edit all letters for length and cannot assure the publication of any letter. Please limit letters to 250 words. Under special circumstances writers may request anonymity, but no letter will be printed if the author’s identity is unknown to the editors. Announcements of events will not be printed. advertising P olicy The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. reserves the right to accept or decline any advertisement at its discretion.

O pinions Thursday, October 25, 2007

Page 11

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

New study indicates need to reframe abortion debate

BY LILY SHIELD Guest Columnist It’s time to reframe the abortion debate.

This subject has long been dictated by tedious questions of morality and theories of rights used both to support and oppose the practice. Certainly, morality and rights are pertinent to the controversial matter, and I’m happy to explain why I believe abortion is a perfectly moral right for women that doesn’t require justifications or apologies. But abstract theories fail to consider consequences of empirical data showing the important reality of worldwide abortion trends.

Recently the World Health Organization and the Guttmacher Institute — a premier research organization focusing on sexual and reproductive health matters worldwide — released a report on global abortion trends titled “Induced Abortion: Rates and Trends Worldwide,” published in the peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet. This report did not say anything new or ground-breaking. It corroborated previous findings researched numerous times and concluded three key points: First, in countries where abortion is criminalized, abortion rates do not decline and are often even higher than in countries where it is legal. Second, what does change due to legality is the number of women injured and killed by clandestine abortions. And third, widespread availability of contraception is the only factor that has ever been proven to reduce the rate of unplanned pregnancy and, thus, the abortion rate.

This report is being released at a critical time for the abortion debate in America. Last April, the Supreme Court deemed constitutional the first federal ban on an abortion procedure since Roe v. Wade. One more Bush appointee could change legal statuses even more drastically. (Please hang on, Ruth Bader Ginsburg!)

So what are the implications of the report?

If you accept the data, it is difficult to understand why abortion opponents seek to criminalize abortion. If, as they purport, the objective is to save lives, making abortion illegal fails to accomplish the goal and actually ends more lives. It seems logical to first support safe, legal abortion so that at least women aren’t also killed and, second, promote access to contraceptives and comprehensive — rather than abstinence-only — sexual health education, which is necessary to ensure proper use of contraceptives. Why is there such a fundamental divide on this issue when the research appears to point pretty clearly to the answers?

One theory is that abortion opponents

lates with dangerous circumstances. Certainly criminalization doesn’t stop millions of people from doing other things, and an unplanned pregnancy can be a situation of extreme vulnerability and desperation.

So if you accept that abortion rates don’t decline when it’s illegal, that hundreds of thousands of women globally are injured or killed every year from clandestine abortions and that the same number of fetuses dies regardless, what justification is there for promoting abortion bans?

There’s another recurring argument that “women need to take responsibility for the consequences of their actions.” I agree that

Once we focus on reality over theory, abortion ultimately becomes an issue of public health, not politics. don’t believe the research. The researchers are biased, they say, and are able to manipulate wording in their surveys — or even blatantly lie — to support their political values. It’s true that the Guttmacher Institute provides the research used by Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in America. However, their methodologies are widely considered — not only by pro-choice interests — to have impeccable standards not informed by bias.

But even if abortion opponents distrust both the Guttmacher Institute and the World Health Organization, I wonder why it’s hard to believe that women seeking abortions aren’t deterred by illegality, or that illegality corre-

all sexually active people — not just women — should recognize potential outcomes of their decisions and have a plan to deal with them. However, my belief in abortion as a perfectly acceptable way to “take responsibility” notwithstanding, the implication that a child should ever just be a “consequence” (like punishment) for sex is objectionable — not only on behalf of children. Throughout history, the vast majority of people worldwide have engaged in non-marital sexual practices (though married women get abortions too), and nothing but highly unrealistic expectations for human behavior can justify punishing a normal, usually happy and healthy part of literally almost

everyone’s lives.

Another reason given for outlawing abortion is that, regardless of outcomes, it is simply wrong to legally condone immorality. Perhaps this belief is rooted in the optimism that legislating ideals will eventually influence the creation of a more ideal world — certainly a hopeful outlook and maybe one that’s valid for some issues. But when we have access to sound data like in this study, should we really ignore current reality in favor of wishing for a fantasy world?

A less romanticized version of this rationale is that our laws should not protect those that abortion opponents consider murderers.

Perhaps they support capital punishment for conventionally defined murderers and don’t view abortion any differently; if the woman wants to seek an underground abortion, whatever dangerous outcome befalls her isn’t their problem.

Besides the fact that this reasoning continues to neglect fetal life, it’s also pertinent to mention the estimated number of just how many women abort: one third of American women and over forty million women annually worldwide (roughly half of whom abort illegally.) That’s a lot of people who apparently just deserve to die. So if abortion opponents want to pursue this line of argument, I say go right ahead, but I hope they don’t veil it in dishonest rhetoric about saving babies, and I truly hope they don’t call themselves pro-life.

Once we focus on reality over theory, abortion ultimately becomes an issue of public health, not politics. I call on abortion rights advocates and opponents to work together on the only possible common ground between fundamentally differing perspectives — reducing the need for abortion through comprehensive sexual education and access to contraception, the only methods that have ever proven effective.

Lily Shield ’09 occasionally participates in legal activities despite their legality.

Why I’m wearing green today

BY KATE GOODIN Guest Columnist I’ve heard a lot of non-Muslim Americans in the post-9/11 world complain that moderate Muslims have failed to stand up and condemn extremism in the Muslim world, or as David Horowitz would label it, “Islamofascism.”

Basically, if you are an American Muslim and you don’t approve of terrorism — which is basically every Muslim in America — then it is your patriotic duty to stand up every day and remind the rest of the country that its fears are unfounded. Never mind the fact that many Muslim leaders have stood up and condemned extremism, I wonder why there aren’t more of us asking non-Muslim America to stand up and support our Muslim community members.

I don’t mean to be insensitive to the suffering caused by the 9/11 attacks or any other such attacks. Especially for those who were personally affected, in my unprofessional opinion, I think anger and fear toward the perpetrators is entirely healthy and appropriate. But Islam was not the perpetrator, and allowing the actions of 19 men to define our understanding of the world’s second largest religion is a prejudiced idea that non-Muslim Americans owe to America and the world to get out of our collective head. This kind of discrimination often follows in the wake of wars and violence in many cultures, not just ours, but this does not make it acceptable. I think we all remember the Japanese internment camps of World War II. Some may wonder what discrimination I’m

talking about. Certainly there is no current equivalent of internment camps for American Muslims, thank God (or whatever you thank). But the stabbing of a Sikh man in Santa Clara, Calif., directly following 9/11, mosques vandalized all over the country, a friend being told by another student on this campus to “go back to her fucking country,” a friend at Brown physically threatened and called “fucking Muslims, fucking Egyptians” by other Brown students — these things are happening and they are happening here.

The full page ad in The Herald suggests

will help lead to the rest of the Muslim world being freed of their control. Not an ignoble aim in itself — though in terms of “raising awareness” it’s hard to imagine that anyone in America would be unfamiliar with the idea that terrorism is a threat or that some Muslims are terrorists, unless they happen to have lived in the wilderness without access to any form of media for the last ten years.

As admirable as it is to support Muslims against oppression, to claim that violent religious fundamentalism practiced by a tiny minority of Muslims needs to be labeled

It’s important to show support when Muslims on our own campus are facing prejudice and discrimination.

that David Horowitz’s “IslamoFascism Awareness Week,” is actually a way to support moderate Muslims as well as a way to raise awareness about the supposed greatest threat to America’s security. The notion is, I think, that raising awareness of the deplorable actions of some Muslim leaders and/or extremists

“Islamofascism” as if it were of an entirely separate nature from the kinds of violent religious fundamentalism that have been practiced by individuals of many different faiths in many different regions and eras but never labeled “Christianofascism” or “Hindufascism” is not much of a way to support people,

and it certainly hasn’t been taken as such. If Horowitz wants to promote awareness about oppression in Muslim countries, why not organize a weeklong gathering of respected intellectuals to talk about the differing and complex political and social conditions in a variety of majority Muslim nations? Or if Horowitz wants to show support for “moderate Muslims” (i.e., the majority of the Muslim community) why not try to raise awareness about Islam itself and the actual practices of your fellow Muslim students, faculty and citizens? If we make this about the civilized, enlightened West saving the backwards, evil Muslims from themselves, I can’t think of many better ways to convince the Muslim world that Americans hate them.

Green has been a color associated with Islam for many centuries, probably since the beginning of Islam itself. Students across the nation called for Americans to wear green on October 24 to show support for our Muslim community members and opposition to the discrimination Horowitz’s week promotes. I think probably the majority of Brown students do not buy the notion that Muslims are the enemy and I’m skeptical of the value of clothes choices to make a difference in big issues, but though it may be only a small thing, I think it’s important to show support when Muslims on our own campus are facing prejudice and discrimination. So today at the speech, let’s show the IslamoFascist Awareness Week campaign what Brown is really about and bring out some green!

Kate Goodin ’08 thinks everyone should go see the Parent’s Weekend Dance Concert (wearing green?).

S ports T hursday Page 12

Thursday, October 25, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Questionable QBs abound Everyone knows that when life hands you lemons, you make lemonade. But what about when life gives you Cleo Lemon? Then what do you make? Do you plead with Dan Marino to come out of retirement?

Perhaps just make Shane Reil a sad, sad face?

Are You For Reil?

What if life gives you Sage Rosenfels? What can you make with Sage? Sage would not make a tasty drink.

All talk of beverages aside, it’s almost ridiculous how many teams are running their offenses with backup quarterbacks. This season in particular, it has become a luxury to have a healthy, productive starting quarterback.

Let’s start with San Francisco.

This is a team that many were picking to win its division this season.

Starting QB Alex Smith seemed to be improving, but he went down with a separated shoulder, and now Trent Dilfer is taking the snaps. The last

time Dilfer was relevant in the NFL must have been in the last century.

I mean, I was still in diapers. Even then he was pretty much just Baltimore’s version of Rex Grossman.

Which brings us to Grossman, who actually started for the Bears in the Super Bowl last season but who, as we all knew at the time, is awful.

Now he’s riding the pine in favor of Brian “I throw like my hands are really” Griese, and Chicago actually has some semblance of an offense.

Yay, Chicago.

In fact, The Bears’ offense now seems to be even better than the St. Louis Rams’ (but still nothing to call your mom and brag about). Once called “The Greatest Show on Turf,” the Rams’ offense is now about as exciting as five hours at Providence Place with my girlfriend. I drafted Rams QB Marc Bulger in the fourth or fifth round (I neither can, nor want, to remember) and almost immediately regretted my decision.

Not only has the now semi-healthy continued on page 9

Courtesy of Kyle Coburn

The women’s rugby squad has risen to No. 1 overall on the backs of players such as Thalia Beaty ’08.

Still no luck for field hockey

By Benjy Asher Assistant Spor ts Editor

Things were finally looking up for the field hockey team yesterday.

The Bears got a game-tying goal from Victoria Sacco ’09 that brought the Bears back from a 2-0 deficit.

But the outcome was a familiar one for the team, when the College of the Holy Cross converted a penalty shot in overtime to dash Brown’s hopes of ending its losing streak.

The loss drops the team to 0-14 overall, with a 0-5 record in Ivy League play.

Brown was hopeful coming off a hard-fought, 2-1 loss to Cornell in which the deciding goal came in the last minute of the game. But in yesterday’s game, Holy Cross

Sp

o r t s

B

jumped out to a first half lead at 22:24 when Katie Talbert got her stick on an errant shot by teammate Kim Powell and tipped the ball into the net. Talbert added an unassisted goal to the left post at 31:13 to put the Crusaders ahead 2-0 heading into the second half.

In the second half, the Bears came out strong and finally began to convert their opportunities. At 41:41, Sandhya Dhir ’08 sent a shot towards the right post at which Tacy Zysk ’11 dove and tipped past the goalie for her first career goal.

“It felt awesome,” Zysk said.

“But at the time, it was just about getting more goals than Holy Cross and coming back from a deficit.” continued on page 9

W. ruggers rise to top of rankings

By Erin Frauenhofer Spor ts Editor

After defeating Providence College, 36-15 on Sunday, the women’s rugby team has risen to No. 1 in the national rankings. The weekend victor y improved Brown’s record to 7-1, and this marks the first time in history that the Bears have claimed the No. 1 slot.

“We’re obviously ecstatic about this ranking,” said Becca Constantine ’09. “It’s the best in our team’s 30-year histor y, and we’re really proud to represent Brown rugby and the University in such a great light.”

Brown sat at No. 3 last week, behind the United States Naval Academy and Pennsylvania State

����

i n

r i e f

Soccer’s Stone ’11 named Ivy League Rookie of the Week Sylvia Stone ’11 of the women’s soccer team has redefined what it means to recover from an injury.

After suffering a sprained ankle earlier this season, Stone shone in Sunday’s 4-0 win over Cornell.

Her performance earned her the honor of Ivy League Rookie of the Week, a title which she shared with Harvard’s Katherine Sheeleigh.

Stone’s first career goal, which she scored 31 minutes into the game, gave the Bears a 1-0 advantage and the momentum they needed to defeat the Big Red. After two more goals, from Jamie Mize ’09 and Susie Keller ’08, Stone found the net a second time late in the contest to clinch the 4-0 victory.

Stone’s pair of goals marked the first time a Bears player recorded multiple goals in a single game this season.

— Erin Frauenhofer

University. But when Navy lost to the University of Virginia 30-20 on Sunday, the Midshipmen dropped to No. 4 in the rankings, behind the Cavaliers, who moved to No. 3 with the win.

Though Penn State demolished the University of Maryland 104-0 on Saturday, Brown’s victory over PC was considered more significant because the Friars are a stronger team than the Terrapins.

As a result, Penn State remained at No. 2 this week.

The Bears were proud of reaching the No. 1 position, but they are taking careful precautions not to let the ranking go to their heads.

“No ranking, even No. 1, will win us a single game, much less a

�����

championship,” said Alicia Hartley ’10. “There is still a lot of improving we can do, no matter what the rankings say.”

Brown will be back in action this weekend at the New England Rugby Football Union Championships. The tournament is hosted by the University of Massachusetts–Amherst, whom the Bears will face in the first round.

Afterwards, the Bears will travel to Bowdoin College Nov. 10-11 for the Northeast Rugby Union Championships, their final competition of the fall season.

“At this point, we will focus on maintaining our intensity through the post-season and playing solid games in the upcoming championships,” Constantine said.

����� �����

�

Wake Forest �����������

�

������

�

UConn �����

�

������

�

Santa Clara ������� ���

�

�����

�

Tech � Virginia �! � ������

"

#����

"

Southern Methodist��� ' ��$������%����&

�����

'

Brown (��)�

#

������

*

Notre Dame +�����,�-�

�

�����

#

Creighton ��� !����

���

#����

�

Northwestern +����)�������

�

�����

��

UVA ��.

*

#����

Men’s soccer ranks sixth nationally

Courtesy of dspics

Sylvia Stone ’11 was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week.

After beating Cornell 3-0 last Saturday, the men’s soccer team moved up to No. 6 in the Adidas-National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll. Last week Brown moved up 20 places, from No. 20 to No. 8, after beating then-No. 5 Boston College and then-No. 7 Harvard. On Saturday, Brown plays host to the University of Pennsylvania at 7 p.m. and will look for a victory that would continue its ascent up the national rankings.

— Peter Cipparone