Thursday, November 1, 2007

The Brown Daily Herald T hursday, N ovember 1, 2007

Volume CXLII, No. 101

Emissions measure may help U. save on winter heating

By Taryn Martinez Staf f Writer

Americans are anticipating skyrocketing heating costs this winter, but University officials say the cost of keeping campus warm probably won’t go through the roof.

Average winter spending on heating oil in the Northeast is expected to increase 21.9 percent this winter over last year, according to data released last month by the federal Energy Information Administration.

But Brown has taken steps to reduce the University’s oil consumption, with the side effect of potentially reducing costs.

On Earth Day last April, President Ruth Simmons pledged to reduce Brown’s emissions of fossil fuels burned in the University’s Central Heat Plant by 30 percent by

Since 1866, Daily Since 1891

D a y o f the D ead

fiscal year 2008. This winter natural gas, as well as heating fuel, will be used at the plant.

For the “shoulder” months of October, November, April and May — also called off-peak heating months — the University bought natural gas, “which has lower carbon emissions and in general is a much cleaner fuel,” said Energy Manager Chris Powell.

The Central Heating Plant emits approximately 27,000 of the University’s total 73,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, Powell said, and switching to natural gas during the off-peak heating months is estimated to reduce emissions by 4,000 metric tons.

In addition, Powell said, “natural gas is much more cost effective Chris Bennett / Herald

continued on page 4

This Manning Hall altar commemorated the Mexican holiday, the Day of the Dead.

R.I. sends delinquent teens back to Training School

By Simon van Zuylen-Wood Staff Writer

The Rhode Island House of Representatives voted to overturn legislation that sends 17-year-olds to prison in a special session Tuesday night at the State House. The new law mandates that 17-year-olds will once again be tried as minors and sent to Rhode Island’s juvenile detention facility, the Training School.

In June, the state legislature passed a law sending 17-year-old delinquents to the state prison in an effort to save money. The average cost of housing someone at the state prison is $40,000 a year, while housing a juvenile at the Training School costs $98,000 a year. State legislators originally didn’t realize

that housing 17-year-olds in the do an adult sentence,” said George, prison would actually cost more who attended the House Finance —$104,000 per year — because Committee hearing where legislamaximum security housing is re- tors crafted the new law. He said his quired for juveniles. experience in prison was “terrible The June law was overturned — traumatizing for a 17-year-old Tuesday by a 59-3 vote. Minors who kid.” were tried and conExecutive Direcvicted under the old tor of the Rhode IsMETRO legislation will still land ACLU Steven not be sent to the Training School. Brown said he was pleased with the Juvenile criminal records will be outcome of the vote, but said he returned to the Family Court and hopes for further modification of the sealed from the public. law to better address “gap kids,” or Dennys George, who was con- juveniles convicted under and still victed as a 17-year-old and is now subject to the old law. serving five years of probation, told “I hope legislation will make this The Herald he had mixed feelings one of the first orders of business to about his future. address the plight of these particu“I’m going to be able to have a lar juveniles,” Brown said. life and get a job, but I still have to Also on the docket was a bill con-

cerning a law that mandates nurses to work overtime shifts. The new bill prevents hospitals from requiring nurses to work mandatory overtime shifts except in emergency situations. The state legislature passed the bill in its last session, but Republican Governor Donald Carcieri ’65 vetoed it over the summer.

House Minority Leader Robert Watson, R-Dist. 30, and Rep. Nicholas Gorham, R-Dist. 40, who voted against every veto override Tuesday night, vocally opposed the bill.

Watson made a general appeal to nurses to voluntarily work overtime as a testament to the honor of their profession. He compared nurses to marathon runners who, despite continued on page 4

SuFI calendar features nudity, fresh local produce

By Melissa Shube Contributing Writer

About 120 Brown and Rhode Island School of Design students took off their clothes and posed nude with fresh local produce last month. It wasn’t Sex Power God and it wasn’t the naked donut run — it was the photo shoot for Ripe 2008, the second edition of the Sustainable Food Initiative’s fundraising calendar.

“It’s beautiful,” said Emily Benjamin ’08, one of the calendar’s three producers and a founder of SuFI three years ago. “And the message that we’re sending is really important. We’re just trying to highlight the beauty of buying local. We’re also trying to highlight the connection between our bodies and what we eat.”

The profits from sales of the $15 calendar will go to the Southside Community Land Trust, Farm Fresh Rhode Island and toward the development of the Brown student continued on page 8

INSIDE: www.browndailyherald.com

Chris Bennett / Herald

Student marathoners head to NYC

By Catie Straut Contributing Writer

What do almost getting hit by a car and being heckled by 5-year-olds, dancing in the streets and making friends with strangers, chaining your legs to ice packs and getting lost in the woods have in common? For a handful of Brown students, these escapades are part of the adventure of training for a marathon.

Rebecca Richardson ’09, Scott Warren ’09 and Matt Cline ’09 have been training to run Sunday in the New York City Marathon to benefit Team Continuum, a charity that donates funds to provide daily care for cancer patients.

This is the first marathon for the three, who said they thought of themselves as casual runners before they decided in May to run the marathon.

Running a marathon was a “vague goal in life,” Richardson said. Cline said it was “something that I had wanted to do for a really long time at some point in my life.”

Richardson — whom Warren described as “gung-ho” — was the first to commit last spring. She then asked Cline and Warren, with whom she had run before, if they would join her.

Warren said he was “really reluctant at first,” especially when family and friends encouraged against it, but he decided to commit even though running a marathon can be “one of those spontaneous decisions that can come back to haunt you,” he said. Indeed, all three students said they have experienced hard times throughout their training, from serious foot injuries to runins with hostile drivers.

Members of the Sustainable Food Initiative showcased the Ripe 2008 calendar, full of nude students with fresh local produce.

post’s secrets post- admits its secrets and chats it up with the Low Anthem.

3

METRO

Loud laffey Former senatorial candidate Stephen Laffey stopped by to speak on Republicans’ recovery after Bush.

5

CAMPUS NEWS

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

EDWARDS in ’08?

As campus groups for candidates spring up, Edwards supporters seek to keep up with the frontrunners.

continued on page 4

12 SPORTS

tough tennis Tennis captain Saurabh Kohli ’08 on his journey from sports stardom in India to tennis on College Hill.

News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com

T oday Page 2

Thursday, November 1, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

But Seriously | Charlie Custer and Stephen Barlow

We a t h e r Today

TOMORROW

partly cloudy 64 / 39

sunny 55 / 36

Menu Sharpe Refectory

Verney-Woolley Dining Hall

Lunch — Corn Souffle, Mashed Red Potatoes with Garlic, Vegetarian Squash Bisque, Chicken Gouda Calzone, Hot Turkey Sandwich, S’mores Bars

Lunch — Chicken Pot Pie, Broccoli Quiche, Cauliflower, S’mores Bars, Mediterranean Bar, Grilled Rotisserie Chicken

Dinner — Pumpkin Raviolis with Cream Sauce, Rice Pilaf with Zucchini, Sunny Sprouts, Braised Beef Tips, Cherry Kuchen

Dinner — Chopped Sirloin with Mushroom Sauce, Vegan Roasted Vegetable Stew, Asparagus with TriColor Peppers, Cherry Kuchen

Aibohphobia | Roxanne Palmer

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

Nightmarishly Elastic | Adam Robbins

RELEASE DATE– Thursday, November 1,Pappocom 2007 © Puzzles by

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

C

o s and sw or d Lewis Edited by RichrNorris Joyce Nichols

ACROSS 1 “__ arigato”: Japanese “thank you very much” 5 In addition 10 Shoe for a certain dance 14 Footnote abbr.

15 Unix correspondence software 16 Popular season 17 Bond 20 Census datum 21 Something to go down at the end of an engagement 22 Animal shelter 23 It’s east of Pol. 24 Gassy prefix 25 Bond 34 “I need it now!”

35 Lathe, e.g.

36 Super Bowl in which Miami completed the NFL’s only perfect season 37 Kinds 38 Mag. edition 39 Not be serious 40 Majors in acting 41 Lonely place?

44 Pitcher Hershiser 45 Bond 48 Bad place to be stuck 49 Message in a bottle, maybe 50 Barely audible 53 Because of 56 Fig. of concern to a car buyer 59 Bond 62 General’s symbol 63 Old Nick 64 Potential dilemma solver 65 Wee 66 Trudges 67 Pitch catcher DOWN 1 Makes less bright 2 Wind with a wide range 3 Flirt

51 Body opening?

32 Japanese4 Tribute in verse 5 Runs out 52 Nobelist Pavlov American 6 16-Across, 53 “Don’t touch that 33 Duke, say briefly __!”

39 High points 7 Switched 54 Golden rule 41 Letter-shaped appendage preposition fasteners 8 Merry-go-round, 42 Six ft., e.g.

55 “Oh, my!” for one 56 Longish dress 43 Engine parts 9 __ king 57 Frost, e.g.

46 Mean 10 Novel that 58 Little bugger inspired “The Six 47 Curved shape 50 It may be shaken 60 1/6 fl. oz.

Million Dollar 61 Lyricist Rice in anger Man” 11 Place to see ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: grass skirts 12 Lena of “Casanova” 13 Neuter, as a male horse 18 Chatty beasts?

19 Sharp weapon 23 Strike callers 24 Dined 25 Goes belly up 26 Hawaii feature 27 Magic, once 28 Head honcho 29 Haile Selassie worshiper 30 Derby town 31 Winner of four straight U.S. Opens, 1975-’78 xwordeditor@aol.com 11/1/07

Octopus on Hallucinogens | Toni Liu and Stephanie Le

Classic How To Get Down | Nate Saunders

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11/1/07

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.

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Page 3

Former Cranston mayor lambasts Bush

Coast Guard rejects local LNG facility, citing safety concerns

Thursday, November 1, 2007

By Joanna Wohlmuth Staf f Writer

The national Republican party needs to go in a new direction to recover from mistakes made by the Bush administration, former Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey told an audience of about 30 people in MacMillian 115 on Tuesday night.

Laffey was on campus to discuss his recent book, “Primary Mistake: How the Washington Republican Establishment Lost Everything in 2006 (and Sabotaged My Senatorial Campaign).”

Laffey, who was elected mayor in 2002 and again in 2004, was defeated in his Senate bid by incumbent Lincoln Chafee ’75, currently a visiting fellow at the Watson Institute for International Studies, in the 2006 Republican primar y election. Chafee, who was backed by the national GOP, was defeated in the general election by Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse. “After I lost I thought the book would be something that Republicans could read and think about change on the national level,” Laffey told the MacMillian audience.

Laffey grew up in Cranston and dedicated his book to the people of Cranston, who “basically raised me,” he said.

Before his formal introduction, Laffey chatted with members of the audience and gave a brief history of Rhode Island’s transformation into a primarily Democratic state. He continued this interactive, informal style throughout his hour-and-a-half lecture. Sitting on a desk throughout the talk, Laffey interspersed discussion with per-

sonal anecdotes and joked with the crowd, which included Dave Talan, chairman of the Providence Republican Party.

Laffey, a graduate of Bowdoin College and Har vard Business School, worked as president of Morgan Keegan and Company, a Memphis, Tenn., financial group.

When he returned to Cranston to find the city in “financial ruin,” he decided to run for mayor. Using his experience at Morgan Keegan, he was able to turn the city around financially. “After being mayor, I thought I could help with the problem in Washington,” Laffey said.

Laffey sharply criticized the Republican Party for poor policy decisions and lack of direction. “The national Republican party blew it when Bush became president,” he said. “No Child Left Behind was the beginning of the end for the Republican Party.”

Republican voters seem unsure of what policies to support, Laffey said, which does not bode well for the party. “It’s all about the issues.

Candidates need to take strong positions and get their facts straight before running,” he said.

Laffey said that he supports Rudy Giuliani for the 2008 presidential race, citing his leadership as mayor of New York City, his understanding of the fundamentalist Islamic threat and his support of low taxes. When asked about Giuliani’s pro-choice stance on abortion, Laffey replied that although he is personally pro-life, there are many other issues that must be considered when evaluating a candidate. “We don’t have a perfect person running for president,” he

said. “We don’t have Ronald Reagan.”

Laffey said that in elections, Republicans would be better off if they focused on simple, less radical issues that both parties could agree on. He referred specifically to public education, saying that all of the Providence public schools are failing but nothing is being done. “75 percent of minorities say that they want school choice, but it’s painted as discriminatory,” Laffey said.

Laf fey also spoke candidly about how to address “Islamofascism.” The key, he said, is independence from foreign oil. “With oil at $10 per barrel, Iran couldn’t function,” he said.

When asked if he was planning to run for governor — something that has been widely speculated since he lost the primary bid — Laffey laughed and said there would probably need to be a “a few more cameras around” before he made such an announcement.

“It will be some time before I make a decision, but I’m not going anywhere,” he said. “The state of Rhode Island will be more broke than Cranston and they will need someone with my skills.”

The lecture was arranged only last week, leaving the College Republicans little time to publicize the event. “We knew it wasn’t going to be big,” said College Republicans President Marc Frank ’09.

“We wanted it to be an informal discussion.”

“I think he is an articulate, very smart man with great vision,” Frank said. “I’m really happy with how the lecture went.”

By Gaurie Tilak Staff Writer

Last Wednesday, the Coast Guard halted three years of conflict between Rhode Island legislators and a natural gas company that wanted to build a liquefied natural gas terminal on Rhode Island waterways.

In 2003, Weaver’s Cove Energy proposed building an LNG terminal in Fall River, Mass., on the Taunton River about 20 miles from Providence.

Rhode Island legislators, including U.S. Sens. Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., have opposed building the LNG terminal because, they said, transporting volatile natural gas could put Rhode Island residents at risk. In order for the company to build the terminal, both the building site and the waterway used for transport must be approved.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission evaluates the building site of the terminal, and the Coast Guard assesses water navigability, said Capt. Roy Nash, Coast Guard captain of the Port of Southeastern New England. The FERC had approved the Fall River site for the terminal in 2005, but the Coast Guard deemed last week that the waterway was not navigable by the large ships required for LNG transport.

The river is not designed to be maneuvered by the large ships Weaver’s Cove needs to use, Nash said. The river varies in width and depth, and existing infrastructure near the river makes transport difficult.

The Old Brightman Street Bridge and the New Brightman Street Bridge,

parallel drawbridges 1,100 feet apart, would also inhibit transport up the river, Nash said. The initial plan in constructing the new bridge was to replace the old bridge, but legislation passed in 2005 prevents the destruction of the old bridge using federal money, a key step taken by legislators to halt the LNG plan.

Transporting ships carrying LNG past the USS Massachusetts — a retired battleship that draws over 90,000 visitors each year near the waterway near Fall River — would also prove a safety concern, Nash said.

In addition to maneuvering safely by the infrastructure near the channel, factors such as wind, tide and current make the transport of LNG a delicate operation that could likely not be undertaken safely at the rate the company proposes — 120 to 130 ships annually. “If you have complex maneuvers that require a lot of human judgment, you have to consider the possibility of human error,” Nash said.

“The captain’s decision lacks the necessary factual basis” said Jim Grasso, public affairs and political relations representative for Weaver’s Cover Energy. For example, he explained that harbor pilots, who physically navigate the ships up the river, have been working with simulations to review whether they can make the necessary maneuvers in this case.

Grasso said, based on what he read in the report, that the Coast Guard did not consult harbor pilots in making the decision. “It’s a skewed report,” he said, adding that the comcontinued on page 6

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Thursday, November 1, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Students run NYC marathon for charity continued from page 1 But, for the most part, they said they found encouragement in each other and supported one another, even though they’ve mostly been training independently because of their different paces. Warren said that fitting marathon training into a busy college lifestyle was hard, but that “you get addicted to it” and it can be “a big stress reliever.”

The three said they were inspired by their relationship with Team Continuum, for which they’ve pledged to raise $3,000 each. In order to be guaranteed entry into the New York Marathon, runners must pledge to raise money for a charity.

Others must enter a lottery to have the opportunity to run.

Team Continuum, which focuses on providing mostly non-medical care for cancer patients and their families, was founded by Paul Nicholls, a cancer patient whose goal to run a marathon was so inspiring to his doctor that the two of them raised funds, trained and ran it together.

Richardson, Cline and Warren said they decided to run for Team Continuum primarily because it allowed them to run the marathon without entering the lottery. Personal ties were also a factor in the decision. “I’ve lost a lot of people to cancer recently,” Richardson said, a sentiment echoed by Warren, who said he lost his grandmother to cancer.

It “helps to know there’s another reason why you’re doing it,” Warren

said. Hearing survival and success stories from cancer patients, sent to them by the organization, “really pumps me up to run,” Cline said.

Richardson, Warren and Cline have, for the most part, sought support from contacts and organizations outside of Brown to raise their $3,000 each. But Alpha Epsilon Pi — which Cline is a member — donated the funds from its an ofnual fall furniture sale to the Team Continuum efforts.

The three chose to train independently, but many student runners are members of the newly revived Running Club. Restarted

by Haynes Heaton ’07 MD’11, the club is informal, offering a group run on the weekend as well as two workouts during the week, in addition to facilitating communication between members who want to run together.

Heaton described the Running Club as a support group that is “probably half-and-half (between) people getting out and getting exercise and those training for events.”

Though the club comprises runners of all experience levels, some student members have been training for marathons and triathlons.

Heaton himself just completed the Cape Cod Marathon, and another member, Lauren Pankowski ’11, ran the Breakers Marathon in Newport on Oct. 20.

The Cape Cod Marathon was the second marathon for Heaton, an avid runner who said that as part of his training he likes to seek

out stationary speed detectors and sprint towards them so that they will detect and read off his speed.

He said he often receives reactions from drivers, ranging from sarcastic shouts to having “soft drinks and a handful of pennies thrown at (him).” In spite of the more humorous aspects of preparing for a marathon, Heaton said marathon training “is mainly difficult and sometimes fulfilling.”

Pankowski said she decided to run the Breakers marathon a month before the race. Despite having only one month to train, Pankowski said “(it was) a lot easier than I thought it would be.” Of her running style, Pankowski said, “I basically almost get hit by cars ... every single run ...

(I get) lost in my own world when I’m running.” She admitted to being worried about injury and her lack of formal training. However, in addition to completing the Breakers Marathon, she succeeded in qualifying for the Boston Marathon.

With less than a week until the New York Marathon — which Richardson says is supposed to be one of the more fun races to run “because it’s so big and there are so many fans cheering” — Richardson said, “I’m really excited (because) I’ve been working towards this for six months.”

Warren added, “(It’s) surreal. ... (We’ve been) training for a long time.” They said they look forward to the encouragement from their many friends who are planning to come. “That’s what’s going to get me through it,” Richardson said.

Mandatory overtime for nurses nixed continued from page 1 their fatigue, persisted and eventually prevailed.

Rita Brennan, a nurse at Rhode Island Memorial Hospital in Pawtucket, told The Herald that there are two main problems with mandating nurses to work overtime.

“You would much rather have me taking care of you during an eighthour shift than a 15 hour shift,” said Brennan, a member of the United Nurses and Allied Professionals Local 5082. “Many of us have to go home, drive home,” she said. “Then we’re expected to be back to work in less than eight hours.”

Brennan said that the mandatory overtime law compounds the shortage of nurses in Rhode Island.

“Because of the mandatory overtime law, Rhode Island would not be a state young nurses would want to come to,” she said. “We can almost single-handedly thank Governor Carcieri for the nurse-staffing problem in Rhode Island.”

When the veto override was passed by a 60-6 vote, many nurses in the gallery, some holding signs, stood and cheered.

Gorham, who stood up to argue against every proposed veto override bill, including the nurse-staffing legislation, said he was frustrated that

House Democrats seemed to cater only to unions and not to the state’s economy and residents. “We’re not going to have to go trick-or-treating on our constituents on Halloween because we’re pulling all the tricks on them today!” Gorham said to the legislature.

Gorham said Tuesday’s meeting was counterproductive, as it introduced bills that could add to the state’s $450 million debt, and make Rhode Island even less businessfriendly than it is today. Democrats, who have a House majority of 60-13, seemed largely unconcerned with Gorham’s comments, talking among themselves while he spoke.

Natural gas may reduce heating costs continued from page 1 than fuel oil, because natural gas prices aren’t as much connected to the global issues that affect crude oil.”

Average natural gas costs in the Northeast this winter are expected to rise only 10 percent, according to federal projections.

Additionally, “we have prebought fuel oils for the winter ... well in advance of this heating season,” Powell said. Heating oil prices tend to rise in winter months, when there is more demand.

In the colder peak-heating months of December through March, the Central Heating Plant will continue to run on fuel oil, Powell said.

Last year, about $6 million was

spent on fuel for heating requirements for various buildings, Powell said. This year’s energy expenditures have not yet been calculated, he said, though he said “we’re certainly on track for this year” and increased energy efficiency measures may reduce costs.

“Our pricing is actually ver y good,” Powell said. “The good news is we really just haven’t had any impacts because of those pricings.”

The cost of heating campus will ultimately depend on the severity of the winter, Powell said.

But despite the new heating plant project, some campus activists say the University could be doing more to curb its carbon footprint.

“In the long run, I think it’d be really beneficial for the University to invest in running the heating plant

entirely on natural gas,” said Julia Beamesderfer ’09, a member of the Energy and Environmental Advisory Committee and representative of emPOWER, a campus environmental group.

“Hopefully it’s successful and can even be expanded upon,” Beamesderfer said.

“Only the absolute emissions matter to the atmosphere,” said Libby Delucia ’09 , a member of the EEAC. “They’re substituting some of it, not all of it.”

“Substituting it in October when (the heat) is only on for four days doesn’t count,” she added.

She suggested that Brown consider investing in projects that are “more obvious to the student body,” such as a community carbon-offset projects.

www.browndailyherald.com

C ampus n ews Thursday, November 1, 2007

Students help bring debate to area public schools

By Allison Wentz Contributing Writer

The Rhode Island Debate League, a program founded by Brown students in 1999 through the Swearer Center for Public Service, has expanded significantly over the last year. The program — which leads debate teams throughout Rhode Island public schools — now has twice as many schools and, for the first time, includes middle school students.

In addition, last summer marked the inauguration of the RIDL Summer Debate Institute, a camp that provides debate practice through workshops, discussion and research.

Brown student volunteers travel once or twice a week to Providence and Woonsocket public schools and the Olneyville Community Schools to work as coaching assistants for debate. The number of volunteers has grown from a handful to 33 this year, said RIDL coaching coordinator James Brandt ’08.

The RIDL program teaches policy debate, for which students work on one topic for the entire year. Students research the topic to prepare for monthly tournaments held at Brown or at the public schools. The topics deal with current world issues — last year, for example, students studied U.S. aid for public health in Africa. The program also sponsors a trip each semester to tournaments in other states and hosts public debates at which students debate local issues for their community.

Over half of the coaching volunteers were debaters themselves in high school, said Brandt, who participated in debate all four years of high school. “It completely changed my academic outlook,” he said of his high school debate experience. “It gives you an interest in the world.”

Volunteer coach Tiffany Wade ’08, who also debated in high school, said, “I learned more in debate than in anything else. There are a lot of things you just don’t really deal with in classes.”

Despite the recent expansion, the RIDL still has trouble attracting

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

public school students to participate in the program. Volunteers put up fliers at the schools and try to recruit students during lunch time or in public speaking classes, if a school offers them.

“It’s hard because you’re asking students to stay after school to do something academic,” Brandt said.

The program requires cooperation from the students’ teachers and the approval of the school board, both of which can be barriers on the way to establishing the RIDL at a school.

Although recruiting is difficult, Wade said, “Once kids get into the activity and go to a tournament or two, they get really into it.” Wade and other students are currently working on a promotion campaign in conjunction with the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues and the Weinstein Company, for which they will use the upcoming release of the movie “Great Debaters” — directed by and starring Denzel Washington — to get students excited about and involved in debate.

Volunteer coach Matthew Grimes ’10 said he enjoys coaching because “it’s a great way to get off the Hill, get out of the Brown bubble.”

“You can see a really profound change in kids from the beginning of the year to the end of the year,” Brandt said, noting that “doing public service has been probably one of the most meaningful things I have done at Brown. I’d encourage everyone to go to the Swearer Center and see if there’s a program that interests them.”

The RIDL is a collaboration of the Swearer Center, the Institute for Elementary and Secondary Education at Brown, the Providence School District, the Rhode Island Foundation and the Open Society Institute in New York.

The program is part of a larger network of urban debate league programs across the country run by the NAUDL, which works to bring debate to urban schools that would normally not have access to it because of the specialized coaching and funds required to launch and sustain such a program.

In ’08 campaign rush, Edwards attracts students

By Sophia Li Staff Writer

On Tuesday night, supporters of various Democratic candidates spilled into List 120 to watch the Democratic presidential debate on the big screen. Students cheered when their candidates appeared on TV, and a member of each of the campus campaign groups representing four presidential hopefuls gave a short speech. Three groups sponsored the event: Students for Barack Obama, Students for Hillary — and Students for Edwards, the newest of the three.

“Senator Edwards has established himself and continues to establish himself as the only progressive candidate,” said Steve Moilanen ’08, founder and leader of Students for Edwards.

Though Students for Edwards is not recognized as an official student organization, the group’s leaders expect it to be formally established soon.

Students for Edwards currently consists of a “core group of about 10 or 12 students” that meets weekly to discuss relevant issues of outreach and event planning, Moilanen said.

Moilanen said the group aims to identify current supporters and mobilize new ones.

“As we expand our membership, we hope to hold more general body meetings,” Moilanen said, describing future plans that include local canvassing and service projects and events to raise awareness about Edwards’ policies.

“My biggest hope for the group is that as we draw near to the primaries — to the early primary in New Hampshire — that we’re going to be able to send volunteers up there, do door-knocking,” Moilanen said.

Though Moilanen expects to hold more functions in the future, watch-

ing the debate was the group’s first major event of the year. The group did not have a booth at the Student Activities Fair in September and only began to mobilize a few weeks into the semester.

Moilanen spent last fall studying abroad in Paris, and in the spring he took time off to work at the Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C. After working at Edwards’ campaign headquarters in Chapel Hill, N.C., over the summer, Moilanen returned to Brown hoping to generate student support for Edwards.

Moilanen said his time off pro-

FEATURE vided him with the opportunity to work on Edwards’ campaign, but it also prevented him from forming a group in the spring.

“I guess we’re playing a little bit of catch-up,” he said. But he doesn’t think the lost time will negatively impact the group’s usefulness on campus.

Moilanen said college students comprise only one of the many demographic groups that form Edwards’ support, but he described Obama’s electoral strategy as largely dependent on the political involvement of college students.

“Every additional support we can find here, every additional student we can bring into the campaign is great,” Moilanen said. Moilanen is also reaching out to groups on other college campuses in the Northeast and assisting other student leaders with the process of organizing their groups.

Moilanen said OneCorps, an online network of local Edwards groups, was a useful tool for communication among campuses. Providence College and the University of Rhode Island have also formed

groups supporting Edwards, he said.

Starting a political activist group on campus can be tricky because of the limitations the Student Activities Office sets. Current University guidelines forbid political campaigning on campus without University permission, Moilanen said.

“We can say something like, ‘Hey, come find out more about Students for John Edwards.’ But we can’t really say, ‘Come find out about John Edwards himself,’ ” Moilanen explained.

“I totally understand where they’re coming from and the motivations for the policy, but ... it’s a little bit challenging to undertake that process of mobilizing new supporters and trying to convince people that Edwards is the better candidate when you’ve got all these hoops to jump through, when you’re very limited in what you can say and do.”

Nevertheless, Moilanen said they will do what they can to educate students about Edwards and “hopefully convert some people.”

“At the end of the day for me, supporting Senator Edwards means buying into a set of ideas, a cause and the cause of progressivism,” Moilanen said.

“The choice was ... a matter of who’s the one carrying the mantle of progressivism in this race, (and) it became very clear to me after a couple of months that it was really Edwards rather than Obama or anyone else that was really doing it.”

Moilanen listed a number of Edwards’ positions — including universal health care, ending the war in Iraq, calling for the eradication of poverty domestically and abroad and reducing America’s carbon footprint — as reasons for his support.

“He’s just been so much more upfront on those issues than any other candidate,” Moilanen said.

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Coast Guard blocks LNG terminal continued from page 3 pany had not yet finished reviewing the report.

Weaver’s Cove Energy intends to appeal the decision. “I think the legislators feel that they have won the battle, but they have not,” Grasso said. Weaver’s Cove plans to cooperate with all agencies involved to keep the project alive, he said.

State legislators have expressed concerns with the danger an LNG terminal in a densely populated area would pose. “I think it is unfair to an industry that has a 60-year exemplary safety record,” Grasso said.

Reed and Whitehouse have lobbied against the construction of LNG terminals in densely populated areas. “The Coast Guard made the right decision. From a public safety and environmental standpoint, the Weaver’s Cove LNG project posed

too many risks and would have placed a tremendous burden on local law enforcement and taxpayers,” Reed said in a statement.

Attorney General Patrick Lynch ’87 has also fought against LNG terminals in urban areas for the past three years. “We cannot allow our bays and rivers to serve as superhighways for the transportation of a volatile gas in densely populated areas unless serious public safety and environmental concerns are addressed and remedied,” Lynch said in a statement in 2004, when the Weaver’s Cove proposal first surfaced. Lynch appealed the FERC’s approval of the Fall River building site, but the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit last week rejected the appeal.

“I think it’s a very good decision,” said Donald Pryor, visiting lecturer at the Center for Environmental Stud-

ies. “The need for natural gas is likely to be met without this terminal,” he said.

Pryor said other LNG terminals have been built offshore near Massachusetts and will likely be sufficient to meet the growing energy demand.

In 2005, a similar proposal by KeySpan to expand an LNG facility in Providence was rejected by the FERC, partly due to the risks associated with tankers navigating Narragansett Bay, The Herald reported in 2005. The Providence facility would have also required ships to move up the bay through many of the same waters as the Weaver’s Cove terminal.

Despite the strong legislative opposition to the LNG industry, Grasso said he was optimistic about the future. “We firmly believe this will be a successful venture,” Grasso said.

Fed cuts key interest rate to 4.5 percent

By Neil Irwin Washington Post

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reser ve slashed a key interest rate Wednesday, continuing its campaign to tr y to keep problems in the housing market from slowing the U.S. economy, even as a separate government report indicated that the economy grew at a healthy pace in the third quarter.

The central bank’s policymaking body cut the federal funds rate, a rate at which banks lend to each other, a quarter percentage point to 4.5 percent — a move that had been widely anticipated by investors. At its previous meeting, on Sept. 18, it had cut rates half a percentage point.

The lower rates are likely to result in lower borrowing costs for holders of credit cards, adjustable rate mortgages and student and auto loans. It will also make it cheaper for businesses to expand by borrowing money.

Markets fell immediately after the announcement. The Dow Jones industrial average, which was up as much as 80 points before the Fed announcement, was gyrating wildly shortly afterward, fell briefly into negative territory and then quickly rose again. The Dow closed up more than 137 points, or 1 percent, at 13,930. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index added 18 points to rise to 1,549. The Nasdaq grew by 1.5 percent, or 42 points, to 2,859.

“The pace of economic expansion will likely slow in the near term, partly reflecting the intensification of the housing correction,” said the Federal Open Market Committee in a statement accompanying its announcement. “Today’s action, combined with the policy action taken in September, should help forestall some of the adverse effects on the broader economy that might otherwise arise from the disruptions in financial markets and promote moderate growth over time.”

The statement appeared to signal that the central bank would be reluctant to cut the rate further at future meetings, as it said that the risk of inflation now roughly balances the risk of slower growth. The FOMC next meets on Dec. 11. continued on page 9

C ampus n ews Thursday, November 1, 2007

Scourge of bike thefts strikes campus

By Kristina Kelleher Senior Staf f Writer

The following summary includes all major incidents reported to the Department of Public Safety between Oct. 18 and Oct. 24. It does not include general service and alarm calls.

The Providence Police Department also responds to incidents occurring both on and off campus. DPS does not divulge information on open cases that are currently under investigation by the department, the PPD or the Office of Student Life. DPS maintains a daily log of all shift activity and general service calls which can be viewed during business hours at its headquarters, located at 75 Charlesfield St. Thursday, Oct. 18: 12:46 p.m. Officer was dispatched to take a report of a larceny of a bicycle from Smith-Buonanno Hall. Upon arrival, the complainant stated that between 7 p.m. on Oct. 17 and 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 18 person(s) unknown stole his bicycle. The lock cable was cut and the bike was taken from the south bike rack. The bike was not registered with Crime Prevention.

2:34 p.m. Student reported that his bicycle had been stolen. The mountain bike had been chained to a rail by the Graduate Tower C landing. There are no suspects at this time.

8:03 p.m. Student reported that her mountain bike was left secured on the bike rack between Perkins Hall and Young Orchard 4. The bike was secured with a combination lock and last seen at about 6:45 a.m. on Oct. 18. She returned at 4:15 p.m. on Oct. 18 only to discover that her lock had been cut and the bike taken. She has the lock that was cut, and there are no suspects at this time.

9:44 p.m. Student reported her bike had been chained to a light pole adjacent to New Pembroke 2 near the courtyard. She went to retrieve it and it was not there. She had in her possession the cut bike lock that was next to the space where her bike was.

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9:45 p.m. Student reported that her mountain bike was left secured on the bike rack off Power Street adjacent to the main fire alarm panel in Perkins Hall. The bike was secured with an unknown cable combination lock and last seen at about 6 p.m. on Oct. 17. She returned at 5 p.m. on Oct. 18 and discovered that the cable lock and bike were gone. The bike was not registered with Crime Prevention. There are no suspects at this time.

9:40 p.m. A wallet was found near Soldier’s Arch and brought to DPS. The student owner who arrived to retrieve it stated that cash was missing. She last had her wallet on the bench near the GeoChem building at approximately 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 18. There are no suspects at this

CRIME LOG time.

Saturday, Oct. 20: 4:19 p.m. While on patrol sergeant observed two males on the top landing of the fire escape of MacFarlane House. He began to walk towards the fire escape and one of the males ran down it. He yelled for him to stop but the male took off running. The other male was asked for his ID, which he produced, and was asked what they were doing there. He responded that they were just enjoying the view. A short time later the other male was stopped near Sayles Hall. He was identified by his Brown ID and asked why he took off running. He stated that he had problems in the past with climbing up ladders or roofs and did not want to get in trouble. After the area was checked for contraband and damage they were released from the scene. The Office of Student Life will handle any disciplinary action that may result from this incident.

Sunday, Oct. 21: 8:20 a.m. Officer spoke with complainant who stated that his bicycle was stolen from the front of the List Art building bicycle rack.

He said that on Oct. 20 at 10:30 p.m.

he locked his bicycle to the bike rack and on Oct. 21 at 7:45 a.m. he noticed his bicycle missing and the cable lock cut and on the ground. He was unable to find the serial number for his bicycle and did not have it registered with Brown University Crime Prevention. There are no suspects regarding this matter.

12:52 p.m. Student reported that sometime between 4 p.m. on Oct. 19 and 12:30 p.m. on Oct. 21 unknown person(s) stole his bicycle. He reported that his bicycle had been locked to the western most bike rack in lower Keeney Quad. The bike was locked with a cable lock that had been cut. The bike was not registered with Operation ID. 2:07 p.m. Complainant stated that he locked his bicycle to the railing of Barus and Holley and his bicycle is missing. The railing is off Lot 43. He locked his bicycle on Oct. 21 at 1:50 p.m. and returned to his bicycle on Oct. 21 at 2:07 p.m. and the bicycle was missing and the cable lock was cut and on the ground. He registered his bicycle with Crime Prevention, however he did not know the serial number for the bicycle at this time.

There are no suspects at this time.

Monday, Oct. 22: 4:54 p.m. Student stated that on Oct. 21 at approximately 3 p.m. she left her bike secured with a cable lock to the railing located on the stairs of Graduate Tower E. When she returned at approximately 4:30 p.m. the bike and the lock were missing.

6:18 p.m. Student stated that on Oct. 22 at 9 a.m. he left his bike on the bike rack at Bio-Med and when he returned at 5 p.m. the bike was missing. The bike was not secured with any type of lock.

Tuesday, Oct. 23: 12:24 p.m. Student stated that between Oct. 19 approximately 8 p.m. and Oct. 20 at 2 a.m., unknown person(s) entered his unsecured and unattended room in Olney House and took his camera from a bookshelf.

CDC meetings reach nearly half of the senior class

By Sophia Lambertsen Contributing Writer

Almost 700 seniors have attended senior meetings — designed to introduce them to career search tools — at the Career Development Center so far this year, CDC Senior Associate Director Barbara Peoples told The Herald.

“Our attempt here is to give comprehensive information to the senior class. Many seniors don’t know the breadth of what is available,” Peoples said of the meetings, which are mandatory for seniors to activate their accounts on the new Career Connection recruiting system.

The senior meetings are held on afternoons or evenings throughout the year, though they were more heavily concentrated in the beginning of the semester.

They show seniors a “big picture” of the job search, explain center policies and procedures and distribute information packets for future reference, Peoples said.

Peoples emphasized that it is never too early or too late for students to begin a relationship with the CDC. The CDC will continue to hold the sessions in the second semester and provides continuing services to students after graduation.

Like this semester, meetings will be more heavily concentrated at the beginning of the semester.

“There are a lot of students who are really working on their academics, or a thesis, fellowships, grad school, or are ver y involved in research and may not want to complete a job search right away,” Peoples said.

Concrete figures about Brown students’ success in the job search this year are not yet available, Peoples said, noting that the CDC surveys employers who participate in the on-campus recruiting program at the end of the semester.

Even without figures, though, Peoples said she is optimistic.

“We have had an incredibly busy semester. We are really pleased with the number of employers that have come and the number of students who have participated. The early information is that this is a busier year than we have seen,” she said.

The CDC surveys students at the end of each senior session, and Peoples said seniors have praised the informational packets and the online tutorial presented in the meetings, though many have complained about meeting times.

“We tr y to of fer meetings whenever we have rooms available,” Peoples said.

Peoples said the meetings are 45 minutes long and have a question-and-answer session at the end. Students with further questions are encouraged to stay after.

Students have not expressed any real concern about the mandator y nature of the meetings, Peoples said, stressing the importance of the meetings in teaching seniors to navigate the new Career Connection service.

Alex Langsam ’08 said that he was “pushed into going to meeting by a roommate” but that he was surprised by how helpful it was. He has since gone to some workshops held by the CDC, he said.

But despite a positive response from seniors, the CDC hasn’t been able to reach the entire senior class. Marco Martinez ’08 said that he did not know about the meetings or the new Career Connection system. Martinez said he finds that the CDC does not apply to his interests.

“I find that Brown’s network for careers is very much centered around business and banking and the economy, and that at career fairs there are a lot of nonprofit and humanitarian organizations like the Peace Corps. It’s either extreme — there’s nothing for the people in between,” he said.

www.browndailyherald.com

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Vegetables, and student bodies, are Ripe in new SuFI calendar continued from page 1 garden at the corner of Hope and Charlesfield streets.

The calendar was photographed

by Lucus Foglia ’05 and Kate Abarbanel ’06 in List 225. “It was a very comfortable atmosphere,” said Nicole Poepping ’08, a producer who also modeled for the calendar. “There was a table lined with produce, so after you took your clothes off you were able to look at what would meld with your body and what would look best in the photo,” she said.

There was no selection process for the models, Poepping said. Interested students contacted the producers, signed up on the Main Green or responded to outreach efforts made to some athletics teams.

Models showed up both in groups and alone. Foglia and Abarbanel did around 90 different shoots over the span of two days, Benjamin said.

The images that made the cut include a couple embracing with raspberries lining the woman’s spine, a rear view of four women with lettuce on their heads and a man clutching

a variety of colorful winter squash — all nude. Each page also contains a list of produce available locally during the featured month, as well as sexually charged recipes, such as Mushrooms with Mojo or Hot and Steamy String Beans.

The organizers wanted the photos accompanying each month to include produce locally available at that time. “We were scratching for March and April because it’s the end of the storage crop season and the beginning of the growing season,” Poepping said. “The few things

that were happening were morrell mushrooms and asparagus, but we couldn’t find mushrooms and we used asparagus” before.

The picture for March is a couple hugging and clutching mushrooms.

April is basil on a breast.

SuFI sold the calendars on the Main Green during Parents Weekend. Some students were excited, and others, including some parents, seemed slightly taken aback.

“It’s a little on the edge for some people,” Poepping said. “It’s a little borderline for some parents — it

might be awkward for them to have nude pictures of their student’s classmates on their wall.”

“But they make great gifts,” Benjamin added.

The calender was last printed in 2004 for 2005. The 2008 calendars are available at the Brown Bookstore, the Brown Farmer’s market and Farmstead Cheeses in Wayland Square.

They will also be on sale in the Post Office next week. They can be purchased online at www.farmfreshri.org/ripe.

Field hockey team is still winless After moving from India, continued from page 12 Brown, meanwhile, suffered through offensive droughts because of the strength of PC’s attack.

“There were times that we really struggled to get the ball out of our backfield with possession,” Harrington said. “We were stringing two passes together, but then that next pass would be an interception by Providence College (and) would be coming right back into our defensive end. … Basically, their whole defensive unit, their whole team, was on the attack. …

(But) once we did get it behind their (attack), we did have opportunities to get it to the cage.”

After taking only two shots in the first 27 minutes of the second half, the Bears broke through for six in the final eight minutes, but backup Friars goalie Kim Vesling made four saves to keep the Bears out of the cage.

“That was ver y frustrating,” Zysk said about not being able to score. “Andrea Posa (’08) had some beautiful shots that by some awful chance of luck just didn’t go in. It was really frustrating that the ball was not bouncing the right way.”

thanks for reading

But Zysk knows that the Bears can’t afford to wallow in defeat.

They have to move on before they face Yale on Saturday in New Haven in their final game of the season.

“You have to remember the good points of what you did well and let go of the points at which we kind of lost it and didn’t have our stuff together,” she said. “We’re not playing Providence anymore.

The game is in the past. We have to concentrate on who are Yale’s key players, what formations do they play, what are their corners are like. We just have to completely concentrate on Yale.”

Kohli ’08 stars at Brown continued from page 12 New York by the time Kohli arrived at Brown, and Kohli found himself with “no cell phone and no family” in his first time outside of India.

Kohli had particular trouble adjusting to the food in America. He remembers his first breakfast on campus, which he ate at Au Bon Pain on Thayer Street. Not knowing what bagels were, Kohli ordered one anyway, but was wary of the cream cheese, passing on the spread. Kohli also asked for cold coffee, a popular Indian beverage, but the cashier assumed he meant iced coffee. To Kohli’s disappointment, he did not enjoy the iced coffee and was stuck eating “just bread.”

Kohli found American holidays equally unfamiliar at first, spending his first Thanksgiving alone in an empty Perkins Hall. “I didn’t even know what Thanksgiving was,” he said. “I ordered food and watched a lot of movies.”

Since those first few months on campus, breakfasts and holidays have improved for Kohli. He now spends Thanksgivings with Ratnam’s family in New York, and according to Ratnam, his parents consider Kohli “like one of their kids.” In fact, at Kohli’s first Thanksgiving meal with Ratnam’s family two years ago, Ratnam’s father invited Kohli to make the opening speech. “Everyone loved it,” Ratnam said. “Saurabh has been a part of the family ever since.”

Kohli said he appreciates how welcoming Ratnam’s family has been.

His own parents left India for the first time to visit him the summer of his freshman year, and Kohli now sees them once or twice a year.

Kohli also said that Eric Thomas ’07, co-captain of the team last season, was particularly supportive in helping him make the transition to American college life. Thomas was the only member of the class of 2007 on the team during Kohli’s freshman year, and according to Kohli, Thomas was glad to have younger teammates.

“Eric really took care of me,” Kohli said. “I was more lost than the other freshmen, so every time he would go out, he would call me and introduce me to all his friends.

He was like an older brother.”

Now, three years and two Ivy League championships later, Kohli finds himself ser ving as the cocaptain of a young team. “I love it,” he said. “It’s a lot of responsibility, but I like having the guys look up to me.”

Kohli can certainly command the respect. In his first year with the team, Kohli advanced to the semifinals of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Northeast Regional Championships with Thomas as his doubles partner and, later in

the season, he had key wins in both singles and doubles play as the Bears went 7-0 in the conference to clinch the Ivy title.

The next year, Kohli earned Second Team All-Ivy recognition with doubles partner Hanegby after another season of strong play and another Ivy championship. Though Brown did not win the Ivy title last season, Kohli continued to consistently post wins. He was named First Team AllIvy along with Hanegby in 2007.

As co-captain, Kohli pays careful attention to his teammates’ needs, perhaps because of his own experience of feeling lost in a new environment.

“He’s a really great captain because he really cares about each of the players, and it shows,” Ratnam said.

For example, during practice last week, the Bears were playing a game of football, which Kohli had to sit out due to a knee injury. When Chris Lee ’09 was injured during the game, the discouraged team stopped playing as seriously, and the coaches threatened to make the uninjured players run sprints.

“But Saurabh jumped in, with his injury, and got the game back on track so we wouldn’t have to run sprints,” said co-captain Noah Gardner ’09. “He goes out of his way to make things easier for other people, even at his own peril.”

Head Coach Jay Harris said Kohli also makes an exemplary captain because his unyielding determination motivates his teammates.

“Saurabh is extremely competitive­.

He hates to lose more than anybody,” Harris said. “He has a sense of toughness that rubs off on the rest of the guys, and the guys are inspired by that. They see how hard he fights, and he lets them know that’s what he expects of all the guys.”

Ratnam added that Kohli sets an example for the team off the court as well. “Saurabh has really been an inspiration to me,” he said. “He has fun — he’s always the life of the party — but he also works hard. He’s very disciplined.”

That discipline should pay off for Kohli after graduation, since he hopes to use his economics concentration to pursue a career in banking or consulting.

However, Kohli said he will miss “waking up late, playing tennis and being with all my friends” when he graduates. “Every day (at Brown) is amazing. These have been the best three years of my life,” he said.

And Kohli will certainly be missed as well when he leaves Brown. In particular, the Bears will miss Kohli’s presence on the team as a constant model of toughness.

“He’s the one person I always want out there on the court,” Gardner said.

W orld & n ation Thursday, November 1, 2007

Victims’ families criticize Virginia Tech

By Chris L. Jenkins Washington Post

A representative for seven families of the Virginia Tech shooting victims issued a report Wednesday criticizing the work of the Virginia Tech Review Panel and the university’s response to the incident, at one point questioning the objectivity of the panel’s study and calling some of its findings “outlandish.”

In a 43-page analysis, Vincent Bove, a security specialist from New Jersey who has spoken on behalf of some of the family members since June, attacked the wording and some of the findings of the panel appointed by Democratic Gov. Timothy Kaine.

The panel met for several months over the spring and summer to investigate the April 16 massacre in which a student from Fairfax County, Va., Seung Hui Cho, killed 32 people at two locations before killing himself. The report also tries to expound on some of the panel’s findings, seeking to sharpen criticism against the university.

Bove said he was not releasing his report on behalf of the family members but added that he had shown them and others copies of it.

Two families declined to comment when contacted.

Bove’s report largely focused on the sections of the panel’s report that discussed campus safety and security issues as well as crisis management. He did not offer observations on the sections that analyzed Virginia’s mental health system, federal and state privacy laws or gun control issues.

In much of his report, Bove said the review panel’s report was not critical enough of the school’s response to the first shooting, even though the panel concluded that lives could have been saved if officials had issued an alert that a gunman was on campus after the first shooting at a dormitory. This has been a central issue because of the more-than-two-hour lapse between the shootings at the dorm and those at Norris Hall. Victims’ families and others have contended that if Virginia Tech officials had immediately notified the university community of the first incident, students, faculty and others would have been more vigilant.

“This type of leadership crisis deserves to be shown to the public,” Bove said in an interview when asked why he put together the report. “We need to know every facet of how leadership was negligent in this tragic event,” he said, even as he conceded that the panel recommended some critical areas of improvement.

The analysis dissected the panel’s work and the university’s response page by page, offering criticisms large and small. In some cases, Bove chastised the panel for not including names of various committee members in the report; in others, he labels observations by the panel on the campus police’s response to the initial incident as “ambiguous.”

He also contends that the university community should be held accountable for not having secure locks on doors.

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21 convicted in 2004 Madrid bombings, one acquitted

By Tracy Wilkinson Los Angeles T imes

MADRID, Spain — A Spanish court Wednesday convicted 21 men in the 2004 bombings of Madrid’s train system, the deadliest terror attack in continental Europe, but acquitted an Egyptian national whom authorities once touted as the mastermind.

Most of the 28 defendants, including two others originally accused of planning the bombings, were given sentences considerably lighter than those sought by prosecutors, thus angering survivors and families of the dead.

The mixed verdicts, contained in a 700-page ruling and announced in a heavily guarded courtroom on

Madrid’s outskirts, cap a case that exposed the workings of Islamic terror networks in the heart of Europe and foreshadowed attacks in London and elsewhere.

A total of 191 people were killed and nearly 2,000 injured when explosives hidden in backpacks ripped through four commuter trains during morning rush hour on March 11, 2004.

The investigation eventually revealed a “franchise” of Islamic militants, inspired by al-Qaida but originating in the Maghreb region of northern Africa. They had lived and worked in Spain for years, sometimes on the crime-ridden fringes of society but more or less blending with the local community.

They became actors in a new, more

So. Calif. firefighters plan Silvarado Canyon burn

By David Haldane Los Angeles T imes

Firefighters in Southern California on Wednesday focused on eliminating the last unburned patch of land within the bounds of the 28,500-acre Santiago fire, in advance of the anticipated return of Santa Ana winds this weekend.

“We’re still worried about the Silverado Canyon area,” Orange County Fire Authority Battalion Chief Kris Concepcion said, adding: “That’s why Silverado Canyon is the last area still under evacuation.”

Firefighters, he said, planned a controlled burn Wednesday to eliminate the remaining fuel.

“There is a large unburned island within the fire’s perimeter that needs to be burned out,” Concepcion said.

Officials said the fire — which destroyed 15 homes and damaged numerous others — was 90 percent contained. Full containment is expected Sunday.

By then, Concepcion said, it’s likely that the Santa Ana winds will be blowing again. But the winds, expected to blow from early Friday through Saturday, probably will “be more moderate “ than the ones of more than

a week ago, he said. “We have contingencies in place. It could potentially kick up the fire, but we don’t expect it to do that.”

After meeting in Los Angeles with the California Association of Governments on the rash of wildfires that began Oct. 20, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger warned, “We’re not out of the danger zone yet,” after directing state agencies and the National Guard to be prepared for possible new fires.

Arson investigators in Orange County, meanwhile, announced that they no longer are seeking the driver of a white Ford F-150 pickup allegedly seen near where the fire began.

“The owner was interviewed, provided information and was cleared,” Concepcion said. “Now we’re focusing on finding the 30 to 40 people who were in the vicinity of Black Star Canyon” Road, where officials believe the blaze was sparked by arson about 6 p.m. Oct. 21.

By late Wednesday about 1,950 firefighters remained on scene, Concepcion said, but added that fire officials are “doing a strategic mobilization right now to see what we need. We’re starting to ramp down” to a much smaller crew.

destructive kind of terrorism in a country long accustomed to the violence of Basque separatists.

The trial, which started in February, reminded Spaniards of their vulnerability to attack. It was used as a political lightning rod in a bitter fight between the leftist government, elected just days after the bombings, and the ousted rightwing party.

Three defendants, two Moroccans and a Spaniard accused of supplying explosives, were convicted of mass murder and sentenced to tens of thousands of years in prison.

Under Spanish law, however, they will serve no more than 40 years.

Spain has neither a death penalty nor life imprisonment.

Eighteen other defendants were

found guilty of lesser charges, including membership in a terrorist organization. The rest were acquitted.

When the acquittals were read, gasps filled the courthouse, packed with survivors, relatives and scores of journalists. Several relatives emerged weeping. They said they were furious and disappointed.

“I do not like that murderers are being let loose,” said Pilar Manjon, whose 20-year-old son was killed in the bomb blasts and who now leads a victims’ group.

“This is not about reprisals or vengeance,” added Jesus Rodriguez, who lost most of his hearing when he was trapped in a flaming train, “but society needs a solution, and this has not been made clear.”

Fed slashes key interest rate by a quarter-point continued from page 6 The move came despite a Commerce Department report earlier Wednesday that the economy grew faster than expected in the third quarter, with gross domestic product climbing at a 3.9 percent annual pace. For most of that period, the three months that ended Sept. 30, the impact of the late summer crisis in housing and credit markets had not had time to affect financial decisions.

The increase in GDP, a broad measure of the value of goods and services produced within U.S. borders, was driven by a sharp rise in exports (up 16.2 percent) and solid gains in consumer spending (up 3 percent). Those were enough to make up for a steep, 20.1 percent drop in investment in housing.

But for GDP, the big question ahead is whether American consumers will keep spending at a healthy pace even as the housing market gets worse.

“Housing has been going down dramatically, but the rest of the economy has been holding up remarkably well,” said Nigel Gault, a U.S. economist with consulting firm Global Insight. “The worry is that while things have been very good, we haven’t yet seen what the fallout is going to be from the dramatic

tightening in financial conditions.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and other Fed officials have indicated in recent speeches that they believe the economy outside the housing sector is holding up reasonably well, with businesses still hiring and consumers still spending money. But problems in the housing market have continued, and major banks and other financial institutions are displaying an inability to account reliably for their losses from recent credit problems — an uncertainty that could lead them to curtail lending down the road.

But officials worr y that those negative forces will weaken the economy in the coming year and say that the economic outlook is more uncertain than usual. That was why they cut the federal funds rate by half a percentage point at their last policymaking meeting and why the further reduction was expected Wednesday.

“Economic growth was solid in the third quarter, and strains in financial markets have eased somewhat on balance,” the Fed policymakers said in their statement. That appeared to be an indication that they view the interest rate cuts as a way to prevent future economic softness, not that they perceive the economy to be sluggish at the moment.

E ditorial & L etters Page 10

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Staf f Editorial

A strong response to a silent problem It might seem surprising that nearly one in five Brown students visits Psychological Services each year and that most commonly students seek treatment for depression. Sure, mental health isn’t exactly an easy topic to broach while standing in line for coffee and a bagel at the Blue Room. And if that many students are really going to Psych Services each year, they’re likely not gushing about it to whoever will listen. But Brown’s numbers roughly reflect national trends. As our generation consumes medication and mental health services at an alarming rate, we’re glad Brown students are supported by professionals with the right priorities.

Nearly a quarter of all college students are in therapy for depression, according to a 2002 national college health assessment by the American College Health Association. The Psych Services office on the second floor of Rhode Island Hall is more frequented than ever before. According to Belinda Johnson, director of Psychological Services, the number of student visits has increased by 31 percent in the last decade.

So how does that number reconcile with Brown students’ reputation for being among the happiest college students in the country? If anything, it serves as evidence of the substantial mental health resources Brown provides for students. Moreover, it seems we not only take advantage of those resources, but are better off — and yep, happier — for it.

Psych Services has offered all students five free psychotherapy visits a semester for longer than seniors have been on College Hill, and it’s comforting to know that there is always a “crisis clinician” on call. But the addition in recent years of a psychiatrist to the Psych Services staff makes the office more accommodating as a full-service mental health treatment center.

A staff psychiatrist is an important asset for students who require medication management. Students can visit the Psych Services psychiatrist an unlimited number of times — and last year 285 stopped by at least once, according to Johnson. That said, it’s alarming that opting for medication as the solution to mental health issues can be so simple: the 2002 college health assessment that reported nearly a quarter of college students were in therapy for depression also reported that significantly more students — 35 percent — are taking medication for depression.

Of course it would be great if, like Yale, Brown’s Psych Services provided students with unlimited access to all mental health services. But students have expressed satisfaction with their referrals to local therapists through Psych Services. And ultimately, it’s reassuring to know that there is an entire office at Brown working to minimize what Harvard’s chief of mental health services and author of “College of the Overwhelmed,” Richard Kadison, described as “the serious emotional challenges faced in college.”

Given the debate over institutional responsibility for student mental health treatment that followed in the wake of last spring’s shootings at Virginia Tech, it’s worth appreciating the responsibility and concern for individual well-being that guides our campus’ Psych Services.

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

L e tt e r s End the war, but stop honking!

To the Editor: Let me preface this by clarifying that I am highly opposed to the ongoing war in Iraq. I believe it was started based on misinformation, it has gone on too long and it should be ended in the most efficient way possible.

That said, the “Honk To End The War” protests occurring every Wednesday on Thayer Street are an exercise in inanity. As far as I can tell, these signs accomplish two things: they cause irritating noise pollution (I pity whoever works at Starbucks on Wednesdays) and they create an unsafe traffic environment. If there’s any productivity that results from the signs, it’s invisible to

me. The time of those involved would be better spent on fundraising, letter campaigns or any other form of activism that might potentially lead to rational change.

I support anyone’s right to protest, and I applaud those involved for pledging their time to support a cause.

However, the Brown community is full of intelligent and creative people. I’m confident that if they put their heads together, someone can come up with a way to effectively combat the war without making Thayer Street an unpleasant place to be on a weekly basis.

Dan Katz MS’05 GS Oct. 31

Task Force urges student participation

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

F rances choi

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

Steve DeLucia, Designer Erin Cummings, Alex Mazerov, Max Mankin, Katie Delaney, Copy Editors Michael Bechek, Irene Chen, Stu Woo, Night 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, Caitlin Browne, Zachary Chapman, Joy Chua, Patrick Corey, Catherine Goldberg, Olivia Hoffman, Chaz Kelsh, Jessica Kerry, Cameron Lee, Sophia Li, Abe Lubetkin, Christian Martell, Taryn Martinez, George Miller, Anna Millman, Sonia Saraiya, Marielle Segarra, Gaurie Tilak, Simon van Zuylen-Wood, Joanna Wohlmuth, Matt Varley, Meha Verghese Sports Staff Writers Andrew Braca, Whitney Clarke, Han Cui, Evan Kantor, Christina Stubbe 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, Emmy Liss, 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

To the Editors: A recent column in The Herald worried that the review of the curriculum will result in changes that will lead to the end of Brown’s “unique” educational philosophy (“We’re not on College Hill anymore: Dean Bergeron and the New Curriculum,” Oct. 23). One of the many unique aspects of Brown is the long tradition of engaging faculty, students and administrators in discussions about the curriculum.

All of us are or should be thinking about what it represents (its philosophy), whether it in fact meets its stated goals (its implementation), what makes it special and how to assure that it remains vibrant over time. The Task Force on Undergraduate Education is starting this process and we invite you to join the discussion. You can weigh in at our web site located on MyCourses, where the minutes of our meetings are posted and where you can find copies of the articles we have read and the data that we have reviewed thus far. You can also send us your views on the curriculum, which we look forward to reading.

Our report will represent what we hope is the beginning of a campus-wide dialogue. What do you find are the best parts of your education? Are there weaknesses/ problems? What might we do better? In keeping with our longstanding tradition dating back to when the New Curriculum was introduced in 1969, we hope and expect

that this conversation will embrace the whole Brown community. And if there were to be any recommended formal changes to the curriculum, these can only be adopted with the approval of the Brown faculty — neither presidents nor administrators have that authority.

The Task Force on Undergraduate Education Amit Basu, Professor of Chemistry Sheila Blumstein, Professor of Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences Barrymore Bogues, Professor of Africana Studies and Political Science James Morone, Professor of Political Science and Urban Studies Michael Paradiso, Professor of Neuroscience Jill Pipher, Professor of Mathematics Arnold Weinstein, Professor in Comparative Literature Jason Becker ’09 Rakim Brooks ’09 Fiona Heckscher ’09 Hannah Pepper-Cunningham ’08 Katherine Bergeron, Dean of the College Sheila Bonde, Dean of the Graduate School Stephen Lassonde, Deputy Dean of the College Kathleen McSharry, Associate Dean of the College and Dean for Issues of Chemical Dependency

Oct. 26

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O pinions Thursday, November 1, 2007

Page 11

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Don’t eat apples from the tree of unjust labor laws MICHAEL RAMOS-LYNCH Opinions Columnist The late-night eatery commonly referred to as Jo’s in Vartan Gregorian Quad is an ideal place to grab a late-night snack and chill with friends. In an effort to provide healthy options to students, the eatery has extended its menu to include pita chips, sushi and apples.

My favorite new addition to the menu is most definitely the sliced apples and caramel, a product of the Fresh Del Monte Produce Company. Indeed, the Del Monte product is incredibly tasty and refreshing. The sliced apples are undoubtedly one of the most delicious choices available at Jo’s. The juxtaposition of the sourness of the apple with the sweetness of caramel makes for a rather delectable dining experience.

However, the Del Monte sliced apples at Jo’s are produced by a company that has a history of violating worker rights and taking advantage of undocumented immigrants. One of the first incidents of human rights violations associated with Del Monte was in 1999.

Sworn testimony in an ongoing case connects two Del Monte employees with using guns to force Guatemala banana union leaders to leave the union.

In 2006, eight ex-workers in Oregon sued Del Monte for violating state law by firing them after they complained about unsafe working conditions. The workers also accused Del Monte of withholding overtime pay, break periods and safety gear. The case was settled for $400,000.

Several months after the 2006 lawsuit in Oregon, Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted the largest immigration raid in Oregon’s history. According to Keith Cunningham-Parmeter, an assistant professor at Willamette University and former worker rights attorney, “the ICE informant began collecting information in December 2006, which came on the heels of the Oregonian’s coverage of the plant in the summer of 2006 and the workers’ complaints that began in 2005. The most publicized case of low-wage

in southern Georgia. The workers were in the country legally, as the “H-2A” program allows guest workers to obtain special visas that allow them to work in the United States for whatever company needs them. Pursuant to a U.S. Department of Labor policy, the workers were entitled to earn the “Adverse Affect Wage Rate” to protect the wages of non-foreign farm workers. By guaranteeing a decent pay rate for migrant workers, domestic workers are not undercut by foreign labor. However, Del Monte avoids paying the

Something more than a lawsuit is needed to stop the wrongdoings of Del Monte. It is necessary to begin boycotting Del Monte products. immigrant workers complaining became the site of the largest immigration raid in the state.” The timing of the raid in relation to the lawsuit is highly suspect and possibly suggests that it was meant to serve as a warning to undocumented immigrant employees of Del Monte to not voice their complaints in the future.

In another case that is still ongoing, the Southern Poverty Law Center Immigrant Justice Project filed a class action suit against Del Monte on behalf of migrant farm workers who were working at a Del Monte plant

“Adverse Affect Wage Rate” by hiring middlemen to hire the guest workers and fill out the H-2A form. These middlemen are usually poor themselves, certainly much poorer than the Del Monte company. Del Monte weasels its way out of addressing employee abuse by claiming that the guest workers do not work for Del Monte, but rather for the middlemen who Del Monte hires to hire them.

It is very clear that Del Monte has a long history of violating worker rights. It is particularly shameful that Del Monte is a Fortune 600 company and obviously has the resources

to protect its employees from abuse and improper pay. Del Monte has proven itself to be a company of questionable values, one that prioritizes profits over worker rights. Moreover, rather than make attempts to change its labor policies to protect its employees, Del Monte tries to find new loopholes in the labor laws so it may continue its horrible treatment of workers and protect its profits.

The University needs to send a message to the CEO of Del Monte Produce: Mohammad Abu-Ghazaleh. He must know that socially responsible citizens do not condone the methods he uses to run his company. AbuGhazaleh has been the CEO of Del Monte since 1996. Though he has been sued multiple times before, it seems the lawsuits have simply provided him with tremendous experience and skill to avoid various labor laws.

Something more than a lawsuit is needed to stop the wrongdoings of Del Monte. It is necessar y to begin boycotting Del Monte products.

As a student on meal plan, I am personally offended that my money helps support a company with deplorable and shameful labor policies. Brown Dining services has made admirable efforts to only endorse companies that have unobjectionable labor policies, such as Fair Trade coffee. It should continue such efforts by ending its contract with Del Monte.

Until Del Monte ceases its mistreatment of workers, it is necessary to do without the ridiculously delicious sliced apples served alongside a healthy portion of succulently sweet caramel dip.

Michael Ramos-Lynch ’09 proposes a boycott on Del Monte products until the company abides by the necessary labor laws.

Islamofascism speaker misses the point

BY JEBEDIAH KOOGLER Guest Columnist There was an elephant in the room during Robert Spencer’s provocative speech last Thursday night. Spencer, the director of the website Jihad Watch, spoke as part of “Islamofascism Awareness Week” and presented a simple but highly controversial argument: that Islam is a religion of violence and oppression. Citing passages in the Quran, Spencer suggested that the Islamic faith inherently condones misogyny, abuse of homosexuals, authoritarianism and the killing of non-believers. “I do not believe that Islam at its core is a peaceful religion,” he said.

But while there is little debate that segments of the Quran could be read as a justification for bigotry or abuse, what Spencer left unsaid – a glaring omission that many in the audience later commented on – is that the overwhelming majority of Muslims don’t actually follow the passages that he cited.

Throughout the Islamic world, there is little support for the notion that apostates should be killed, that non-Muslims should be taxed separately or that women should be mistreated. As with all religions, most adherents of Islam view the Quran as flexible and open to interpretation. While certain passages are embraced and followed carefully, others are tacitly rejected and ignored.

In fact, there are numerous ways of reading and interpreting the Quran in its historical context. As’ad AbuKhalil, a professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus, suggested in a recent phone conversation that there is a “very broad interpretation of Islam across many different countries and cultures.”

In 2003, AbuKhalil debated Spencer for FrontPage Magazine, an online conservative publication. Responding to Spencer’s assertion that Islam inherently condones violence and misogyny, he pointed out that it is absurd to cite random passages of the Quran and assume that “every Muslim is now looking for a pagan to kill, or that every Muslim engages in the beating of his wife.” The reality, he said, is that “people of every religion react to their holy text, whether it is the word of God or prophet, with much more flexibility.”

Few would disagree, for instance, that the Bible contains many of the same intolerant elements that the Quran does. The Old and New Testaments include passages that could be read as condoning the objectification of women, violence towards non-believers, and the abuse of slaves. Take Samuel I 15:2-3: “Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.” Or Ephesians 5:22-23: “Wives,

What Spencer left unsaid — a glaring omission that many in the audience later commented on — is that the overwhelming majority of Muslims don’t actually follow the passages he cited.

Only fanatics follow the more “disturbing, intolerant, and exclusivist elements of the three holy religions.”

Indeed, as AbuKhalil indicates, the nature of a religion’s holy book is rarely a good indicator of whether or not its followers will adopt violence or radicalism. Instead, it is the interpretation — dependent on numerous social, political and material factors — that is transmitted by local religious authorities and community leaders that matters most.

submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife...” Or read Titus 2:9-10, in which it is stated that “slaves (are) to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them...”

Despite these passages, most observers would not argue that Christians and Jews believe in the subjugation of women, the continuation of slavery or harsh punishment for

non-believers. As with Islam, most of those who follow the Judeo-Christian faiths disregard certain passages in favor of more tolerant ones.

Although Spencer was quick to paint Islam as flawed and incompatible with international human rights norms, the reality is much more nuanced, as events in the Muslim world over the past few years illustrate. Consider the following examples: a prominent Saudi cleric, and a former mentor to Osama bin Laden, recently argued that Islam rejects all forms of violence “regardless of what justification is given”; the ruling Islamist party in Turkey has passed the greatest expansion of women’s rights in almost a century; Iranian citizens came out in huge numbers after 9/11 to protest against terrorism; the Muslim king of Morocco has allowed women to become imams; and Egypt’s largest opposition political party, the Muslim Brotherhood, openly affirms pluralism, democracy and welfare for women.

The ways in which Islam, with roughly 1.6 billion adherents, is understood and practiced vary dramatically across different cultures and regions. Citing harshly-worded parts of the Quran to suggest that Islam is inherently a religion of violence and oppression, as Spencer did in his speech, dehumanizes its followers and irresponsibly ignores the vast majority of Muslims who do not subscribe to such an interpretation. Regrettably, rather than building ties and commonalities between people of different faiths and backgrounds, Spencer used his appearance here at Brown to sharpen divisions and to perpetuate false and destructive stereotypes.

Jebediah Koogler ‘10 studies international relations. He also blogs for Foreign Policy Watch.

S ports T hursday Page 12

Thursday, November 1, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Kohli ’08, former Indian tennis star, toughs it out at Brown

By Erin Frauenhofer Sports Editor

Co-captain Saurabh Kohli ’08 has taught the men’s tennis team the true meaning of the word “toughness.”

For Kohli, toughness was leaving his native India for the first time in his life to attend Brown. Toughness was contributing to consecutive Ivy League titles in 2005 and 2006. Most of all, toughness meant never saying “no” to a challenge.

This last item, Kohli’s refusal to back down from challenges, is what his teammates find the most inspiring. They recalled Kohli’s fearlessness during practice one day last season. Dan Hanegby ’07, co-captain at the time, tested the team with an exercise he had learned during his time in the Israeli army. The Israeli Army Crawl consists of crawling while keeping one’s body entirely flat, and everyone found the drill too difficult — except Kohli.

“None of us could do it, so we all gave up,” said Kohli’s teammate Basu Ratnam ’09. “But Saurabh said, ‘You know what, I’m going to finish this.’

So he crawled across all four courts (in the Pizzitola Center) and back, and by the end he was bleeding from cuts all over his arms and legs. He told us, ‘This is what Brown tennis is about.’ ” That mentality is one of the reasons Kohli has found so much success on the tennis court. He began playing tennis at nine years old as a substitute for cricket, India’s most popular sport.

“My dad was in the army, so we moved cities a lot and I didn’t have

Best in Show: Equestrian finishes first again

a lot of friends,” Kohli said. “I liked cricket, but I didn’t have enough friends to play.”

Kohli quickly picked up tennis, though it wasn’t until he was 12 that he had his first coach. Nevertheless, two years later, he was invited as one of five players selected from each Indian state to join a tennis development academy established by the All India Tennis Association. Kohli began competing in national tournaments, and he remained ranked in the top five at the junior level for the duration of the program, which ended when he was 17. The next year, Kohli enjoyed a two-month reign at No. 1 and ended 2003 ranked at No. 3.

Kohli spent the following year competing at the professional level before making the decision to come to America. “I wasn’t going to be in the top 100 in the world, so I wanted to balance both tennis and education,” he said. “In India, you don’t play at college to represent your school. You have to travel a lot and miss classes. But I wanted to get a good education.”

Kohli’s older brother, Sharad, had graduated from the University in 1999 and encouraged him to consider Brown. Sharad was also a member of the tennis team during his time at Brown.

“My brother spoke very highly of this school,” Kohli said, adding that he considers Sharad his role model.

“He’s the first person from my family to come to America to study. He’s an extremely hard worker.”

However, Sharad had moved to continued on page 8

By Peter Cipparone Sports Editor

Ashley Hess / Herald

Saurabh Kohli ’08, who came to Brown as a freshman from his native India, has been a model of toughness.

Field hockey loses to PC, continuing winless season

By Andrew Braca Sports Staff Writer

The field hockey team suffered a 6-1 loss against cross-city rival No. 20 Providence College (13-7 overall) on Tuesday. The Friars defrocked the Bears with a relentless attack that produced advantages of 21-15 in shots, 17-6 in shots-on-goal and 11-9 in penalty corners. The loss drops Brown to 0-16 on the year with one game remaining.

“PC is a very fast, aggressive attacking team,” said Head Coach Tara Harrington ’94. “When we didn’t transition from attack to defense (and) organize quickly, they definitely capitalized upon it. … Going into the game, we talked to the team about protecting our

defensive circle and trying hard not to give up corners to PC because their corner unit is tremendous.

Unfortunately, we fell out of that a little bit. We gave up corners we shouldn’t have given up and didn’t make the simple adjustments we needed to make.”

The Friars scored two pairs of goals in quick succession early on.

After the teams traded four-shot barrages in the first 10 minutes, Michalagh Stoddard put PC on the board at 11:59, and Adrienne Marois extended the lead 2:29 later. Brown kept Providence off the board for nearly 13 minutes after that, before Nellie Poulin found the back of the cage at 27:10 to give the Friars a 3-0 lead, then tallied an assist on Ashlyn Hudson’s goal 1:52 later.

The Bears broke through 1:45 later on a goal by Tacy Zysk ’11 to trim the Friars’ lead to 4-1. After a penalty corner, Victoria Sacco ’09 took a shot that PC goalie Rachel Chamberlain stopped. The rebound came to Zysk, who pushed the ball into the goal for her second goal of the year before Chamberlain could kick it away. Harrington and Zysk agreed that the goal gave the team’s confidence a boost.

“We’ve always had the philosophy that, no matter how much time is left on the clock, we’re fighting,” Harrington said. “We have faith that we can find a way to put that ball in the goal. That was a little bit of a lift that I think we needed for our morale at that moment.”

“It felt like we might be able

Sp

o r t s

to chip away at the lead that they had already established,” Zysk said.

“It kind of rejuvenated us before halftime.”

Kristen Hodavance ’08 replaced Lauren Kessler ’11 in goal at the beginning of the second half and made four saves before Poulin tallied her second goal of the game 3:53 into the half. At 46:46, Marois scored her second goal of the game, and Jessica Lane picked up her third assist to give PC a 6-1 lead, but Brown was much more effective in slowing down the Providence attack in the second half. Hodavance finished with seven saves, and the Friars took only one more shot after their final goal. continued on page 8

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Toman ’11 wins rookie award, again

credit / Herald

caption

The recent string of impressive performances from Megan Toman ’11 lends hope for a bright future for the volleyball team. Toman has claimed the honor of Ivy League Rookie of the Week for the second time this season, after leading the Bears in hitting last weekend.

Toman averaged 4.11 kills per game with a .255 hitting percentage during Brown’s two conference matches. On Friday, she recorded a match-high 21 kills and 10 digs, but the Bears fell, 3-2, to Dartmouth.

On Saturday, she contributed 16 kills to tie for the match high as the Bears defeated Harvard, 3-1.

Overall, Toman is the Bears’ top hitter on the season, with 3.54 kills per game and a hitting percentage of .174. Toman currently stands at eighth place in the Ivy League in kills per game, and she is also eighth in the league with 0.43 service aces per game. On top of that, Toman has posted an average of 1.84 digs per game.

— Erin Frauenhofer

This fall season, the men’s soccer team is facing a challenge for the title of most dominant team on campus from an under the radar source — the equestrian team.

On Saturday, the Bears tied for first place in a show at the Mystic Valley Hunt Club in Gales Ferry, Conn., to finish at the top of the show standings for the fourth consecutive competition. The team accumulated 35 points, which equaled Post University’s total and was six more than the 29 from the University of Connecticut, the team’s primary rival.

The Bears now hold a 30-point lead over UConn in the Region 1 standings, a margin that will carry over to the spring after the fall season ends on Nov. 18.

“It’s great to have an early lead,” said Emma Bogdonoff ’10. “But even though we’re doing really great and we’re 30 points ahead, a lot of things can change quickly. It’s great to have an early lead, but it’s important that we keep the momentum.”

A rough start to the show almost derailed the team’s chances to build on its fall success. Co-captain Whitney Keefe ’08, the team’s standout rider in the Open division last season, failed to pin in the Open Flat Class.

But slowly Brown began to secure solid results. Allegra Aron ’11 and Lucia Corso ’08 received firstplace ribbons in the Intermediate Flat and Beginner Walk Trot Canter, respectively. Bogdonoff, who was the high point rider in the past two shows while competing at the Novice level, earned another blue ribbon and seven points in her first-ever Intermediate Flat class.

“I just pointed up to Intermediate in flat classes recently,” Bogdonoff said. “I was held out (of shows and kept at novice) for nationals last year, so it was definitely exciting to participate in my first intermediate class.”

Bogdonoff earned just one point with a sixth-place finish in the novice jumps classes, but the tally allowed her to move up to intermediate jumps for the next show.

Due to strategy, Bogdonoff said, the team held out a number of usual participants, including Brianna Goutal ’11 and Irmak Tasindi ’08.

“At the beginning of the season we had some really strong novice riders with Irmak and Rachel (Griffith ’10 and me),” Bogdonoff said.

“I pointed up ... and Irmak basically wins every show she’s in, so she’ll point up, too. At the beginning of the season we have a lot of people point up, but we have a great group of freshmen to fill in.”

But the team was still able to finish first despite the absence of regular contributors. McCall Lewis ’08 and Joyce Kwak ’08 won the beginner Walt Trot Canter and Walk Trot, respectively, and freshmen Elise Fishelson ’11 and Kathryn Eng ’11 took home blues as well in their first ever Intercollegiate Horse Show Association competitions.

On Nov. 10, the Bears will travel to Hebron, Conn., for a show. In the meantime, the team will shore up any weaknesses that could hinder its continued dominance. “(Saturday) wasn’t our strongest show,” Bogdonoff said, “But it’s nice that we still tied for first.”