Wednesday, November 7, 2007

The Brown Daily Herald Wednesday, N ovember 7, 2007

Volume CXLII, No. 105

Since 1866, Daily Since 1891

Spring Weekend to move a week earlier to dodge Passover

By Meha Verghese Staff Writer

Brown’s Spring Weekend — the traditional four-day extravaganza of music, food and drink — will take place from April 10 to 13 this year, a week earlier than usual. This spring, the start of the Jewish holiday Passover falls during the third weekend of April, which is when the University usually schedules Spring Weekend, said Ricky Gresh, director of student activities.

“We tr y to schedule (Spring Weekend) several years in advance,” Gresh said, but this year’s conflict was not discovered until the summer. “We discovered that the calendar that was consulted a few years ago had an error in it,” he said.

Changing the dates was not difficult, Gresh said. There were no conflicts, since the problem was discovered before the Scheduling Office began booking the use of public spaces for the academic year.

Spring Weekend coincided with Passover in 2005 and with Eastern Orthodox Easter in 2006, and some

Course Announcement Bulletin to return, the registrar tells the faculty

By Michael Bechek and Michael Skocpol Senior Staf f Writers

ing to University Chaplain Janet Cooper Nelson.

The Pew survey, published in January, found that 20 percent of 18- to 25-year-olds identify as atheist, agnostic or nonreligious — twice the percentage found in the 1980’s.

Cooper Nelson said, since she came to Brown in 1990, about 5 percent of Brown students identify themselves each year as “atheist/agnostic” on surveys given to

Members of the Corporation, Brown’s highest governing body, have insisted that improving and expanding student housing figure more prominently into the University’s plans for the near future, President Ruth Simmons told the faculty Tuesday.

University officials had expected to abandon plans to construct a new residence hall in response to the unexpected cost of replacing the moribund Smith Swim Center, Simmons indicated, instead choosing to prioritize improvements in other areas.

At its monthly meeting Tuesday, the faculty also heard from University Registrar Michael Pesta that Brown will publish a printed course announcement bulletin for the 2008-2009 academic year, after determining that its elimination this year had exacerbated students’ difficulties with the transition to the new Banner online registration system.

“This will be known as the year without a course announcement,” Pesta told a faculty member who said he had heard “a lot of blowback from students” about its absence this year. The new bulletin will be available to students in April, in time for pre-registration for the Fall 2008 semester.

Reporting on the October meeting of the Corporation, Simmons

continued on page 4

continued on page 8

File photo courtesy of Zachary Marcus

At last year’s Spring Weekend, students listened to the Flaming Lips amid blue balloons, distributed by the headliners.

students had to choose between attending religious services or Spring Weekend events, said Megan Nesbitt, assistant director of Hillel.

“Since then, the Office of Student Activities has been in touch with religious communities to find out the dates of Eastern Orthodox

Easter, Easter and Passover in an attempt to avoid overlapping Spring continued on page 4

Faithlessness on the rise?

By Joanna Sharpless Contributing Writer

Herald File Photo

President Ruth Simmons, pictured here at UCS last year, will attend Wednesday’s general body meeting.

Simmons to speak at UCS

By Franklin Kanin Senior Staf f Writer

Students who stop by Petteruti Lounge tonight to share their views on the student activities fee increase — which will be voted on tonight — at the general body meeting of the Undergraduate Council of Students will be disappointed. The meeting will take place in Leung Gallery to accommodate the crowd that the council hopes President Ruth Simmons will draw.

Tonight Simmons will discuss the Plan for Academic Enrichment and seek student feedback on her administration’s initiatives. “(Simmons) is doing this review of the plan to present to the Corporation in February. This is sort of the prime time for student feedback,” said UCS President Michael Glassman ’09. “What’s missing from the original plan that needs to be focused on? This is a great opportunity for us to say, ‘Housing has really

INSIDE:

3

CAMPUS WATCH

www.browndailyherald.com

New dorm back on the agenda

been neglected,’ for example.”

Glassman said he hopes the discussion will serve as a chance for students to interact with Simmons about the plan, and not just listen to the president describe the plan. UCS members have already been given background information on the plan so they will be knowledgeable about the topics of the discussion.

“The intention is to avoid, ‘What’s the Plan for Academic Enrichment?’

We really want to spend time having people talk to her and giving her feedback,” Glassman said.

Simmons will be accompanied by other University administrators, including Executive Vice President for Planning and Senior Adviser to the President Richard Spies, Assistant to the President Marisa Quinn, Interim Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services Russell Carey ’91 MA’06 and Associate Vice President for Campus Life continued on page 6

CORNELL CASH Cornell is investing $20 million to help develop public transit and affordable housing in Ithaca.

5

CAMPUS NEWS

FAITH ON CAMPUS

Is God losing ground in the crusade for college students’ faith? More and more collegeaged Americans are identifying themselves as atheist, agnostic or nonreligious, according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

But this trend may not hold water at Brown.

Atheists on Brown’s campus have not noticeably increased over recent years, and the percentage of Brown students who actively identify as “atheist/agnostic” is actually smaller than the national numbers reported by Pew, accord-

second in a series on religious life at the University

Chuck Norris to roundhouse kick bookstores this month

By Nick Werle Senior Staff Writer

Ian Spector ’09 is not a fan of Chuck Norris, the fetishized action star who has been the subject of thousands of jokes over the last few years.

“I haven’t to date seen any movie with him except for Dodgeball,” Spector said. “But that doesn’t really count.”

For most people, it might not be notable to have never seen an episode of “Walker, Texas Ranger,” but Spector is the creator of the famous Web site “Chuck Norris Random Fact Generator,” and is releasing a book, “The Truth About Chuck Norris: 400 Facts About the World’s Greatest Human,” Nov. 29 that includes the best “facts” from his database.

Though several imitations have sprung up on the Web, peddling jokes about Chuck Norris’ viril-

THE UEL’s DISCONTENT Some students and professors are organizing to save the Urban Environmental Lab.

11

OPINIONS

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

Oona Curley / Herald

“Chuck Norris Fact Generator” creator Ian Spector ’09 is releasing a book of the “facts.”

ity and fighting skills, Spector’s is widely acknowledged as the first.

Indeed, he has been featured in numerous newspapers and on tele-

CAMBIER RESPONDS Adam Cambier ‘09 responds to critics of his recent oped on Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron.

vision shows including “Nightline” and a VH1 special on Internet sucontinued on page 6

12 SPORTS

m. WATER POLO FALLS Men’s water polo lost over the weekend to St. Francis College at the Northern Division Championship.

News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com

T oday Page 2

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

But Seriously | Charlie Custer and Stephen Barlow

We a t h e r Today

TOMORROW

sunny 52 / 34

sunny 46 / 30

Menu Sharpe Refectory

Verney-Woolley Dining Hall

Lunch — Barley Pilaf, Falafel in Pita with Cucumber Dressing and Tahini, Barbecue Beef Ribs, Rice Krispie Cookies

Lunch — Bruschetta Mozzarella, Beef and Broccoli Szechwan, Edamame Beans with Tri-Color Peppers, Frosted Cookie Squares

Dinner — Sweet and Sour Vegetable Stir Fry, Chicken Cacciatore, Red Rice, Vegetarian Cream of Tomato Soup, French Apple Pie

Aibohphobia | Roxanne Palmer

Dinner — Corn on the Cob, Brussels Sprouts with Horseradish, Hearth Bread, Barbecue Chicken, Hot Dogs in Beer, French Apple Pie

Sudoku Octopus on Hallucinogens | Toni Liu and Stephanie Le

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

Classic Deep-Fried Kittens | Cara FitzGibbon

RELEASE DATE– Wednesday,©November 7, 2007 Puzzles by Pappocom

Los Angeles Times Crossword Puzzle C r o sDaily sword Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis ACROSS 1 Violin heard in “The Red Violin” 6 She played Lois in “Lois & Clark” 10 Smear 14 University of Maine town 15 Was affected by 17 1952 Gene Kelly musical 19 Burden and then some 20 Discontinued Saturn model 21 Not sing.

22 Like some hair applications 23 Austerity 25 Medical suffix 26 Vote against 27 Environmentalist 28 1987 Masters champ Larry 29 Sine __ non 30 1960-61 chess champ Mikhail 32 “Concord Sonata” composer 33 1981 Richard Pryor film 36 Ancient portico 38 Casper-to-Pierre dir.

39 Heat source 40 Izod Center hoopsters 41 Door parts 43 Herriman’s “Krazy” feline 46 Like some Jews: Abbr.

47 Objet d’art 48 Sported 49 Question of identity 50 Hither’s partner 51 Given to wandering 53 1986 Whoopi Goldberg movie 56 Like a family with a nonworking spouse 57 “Home Improvement” star 58 Hospital count 59 Word before cold or wind 60 Authority

3 TV Tarzan portrayer 4 Boiling 5 “Just __” 6 Ed’s wife on “The Honeymooners” 7 Velvet finish?

8 Clear-headed 9 What flows in Greek gods’ veins 10 “__ Rosenkavalier” 11 Able to conform 12 Implement 13 Year-end rewards 16 Commonly used numerical base 18 Participate in a documentary film, perhaps 24 Come close 25 “__ you!”: absent lover’s lament 27 Astronaut Grissom 29 Suppress 31 Daily record 33 Reached a low point 34 “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” villain 35 W. Hemisphere defense gp.

36 Deception using exaggeration 37 “Lad: A Dog” author 42 Like some bottled garlic 43 Hungarian composer Zoltán __ 44 Springs up 45 __-thriller: computer-age drama

47 Gastropod whose shell is used as a horn 48 Half a Washington city 50 Yang’s counterpart 52 Advanced writing degs.

54 TV’s Magnum et al.

55 Org. with a much-quoted journal

Classic How To Get Down | Nate Saunders

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Classic Deo | Daniel Perez

xwordeditor@aol.com

DOWN 1 “Already?”

2 “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” By Don and Barbara Gagliardo material (c)2007 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

11/7/07

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

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

Eric Beck, President

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

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

11/7/07

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.

C ampus W atch Page 3

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Cornell to invest $20m for housing, transportation

Alumni participation a fine balance for student groups

By Emmy Liss

Contributing Writer Cornell University will invest $20 million over the next 10 years in the Ithaca, N.Y., community in order to create affordable housing and public transportation for faculty, staff and students, Cornell President David Skorton announced last month.

According to Stephen Golding, executive vice president for finance and administration at Cornell, Skorton asked his senior staff about a year ago to “step back and think about key strategic areas that the university should be partnering with the local community on, to ensure over the next 20 to 25 years that the area remains economically strong and culturally and socially vibrant.”

Six key themes were identified as critical areas: healthcare, pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade education, the environment, housing, economic development and infrastructure. Several teams then looked at the various topics that comprise each of these “strategic areas” to determine “what the university can and should do,” he said.

The decision to focus on housing was made because of a recognized need for more affordable housing for faculty, staff and students, Golding said, adding that any new plans will be developed “in concert with local community plans” in order to ensure “that we do this thoughtfully and carefully.”

Transportation is also a focus, as the university would like to reduce the volume of single-occupancy vehicles that travel through campus and Ithaca at large, a result of the long commutes of many in the area.

Reducing the number of vehicles on the road and having a more viable public transit system would “alleviate pressure on the local community,” Golding said.

The specifics of how the $20 million will be applied to housing and transportation are not clear yet.

“The final determination for what we do and how we do it and what the characteristics of the program are will be informed by conversations with local community leadership.

We think we know what we need to provide, but we want to do it in a way that’s sensitive to our community,” Golding said.

Ithaca is currently in the midst of its own building plans, both independent of and in concert with Cornell. There is “a lot of planning being fairly well coordinated (and) money behind our initiatives is a welcome sign,” said John Gutenberger, director of community relations for Cornell.

Gutenberger said the $20 million investment is important for shortterm planning, because “if we invest wisely and if we do our job and there are positive community results coming out of that ... it will bring more community dollars to the table.”

Cornell currently gives about $2 million a year to Ithaca, some of which is earmarked for the local fire department, which serves the university. A separate contribution is also made to the Ithaca school district each year.

Like any university and its surrounding community, Cornell and its neighbors have their tensions, but relations are generally positive and are improving, Golding said, “di-

rectly due to the fact that the president believes a strong relationship is absolutely critical to benefit the community and Cornell.”

In order to move forward with housing and transportation planning in tandem with local communities, Cornell has asked all of its neighbors — the Town of Ithaca, the City of Ithaca and various other towns, in total five different political constituencies — to bring forward any housing strategies or priorities.

Housing will be a collaborative effort to “positively impact communitywide strategy,” Gutenberger said.

The university is looking at the possibility of constructing new housing, particularly in the form of townhouses or apartments in the downtown area, as well as building homes near campus or offering mortgage assistance on already existing structures.

“We don’t want people to have to drive 30 to 40 minutes to work, we don’t want cars driving through to exacerbate relations (because) of congestion and we have a need for a specific type of housing. This combination leads us to believe that over the next 10 years, by committing to these programs, we can improve life for faculty, staff and students,” Golding said.

According to Richard Spies, Brown’s executive vice president for planning and senior adviser to the president, such an investment

by Brown in Providence is a possibility. Though a large investment in infrastructure in the community is not in the University’s short-term plans, Spies said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if in 10 to 15 years the University were to “invest in something to be built.”

But Spies stressed that Brown’s situation cannot be compared directly to Cornell because they are in a “different situation than a more urban university.” Any future building projects at Brown would more likely take place in “undeveloped or underdeveloped areas,” not in Brown’s immediate surroundings, given that “the residential neighborhood is well established,” Spies said.

Spies said there was no pressing need to invest in housing near Brown. Unlike in Ithaca, there is a “fair amount” of reasonably priced housing located close to the Brown campus for students and faculty.

At Brown, approximately 55 percent of faculty and 35 percent of staff live in Providence, Spies said. At Cornell, a third of faculty and staff have a 25-to-30-minute commute, according to Golding.

Brown’s direct relationship with the city of Providence is “developing and evolving,” a necessary component for future growth, Spies said.

President Ruth Simmons has noted this relationship as an important point to which the University needs to devote more focus and has asked Spies to “step up our involvement,” he added.

Like Cornell, Brown contributes annually to its larger community, giving about $1.5 million, which was “designed to allow the city to use it as they see best,” Spies said. The donation is meant to “recognize that we benefit from the city, and in our own way support it.” The payments are made in lieu of property taxes, from which universities are generally exempt.

By Evan Pelz Contributing Writer

Student groups frequently go to great lengths to secure funding from alums, often creating or relying on alumni associations for assistance with fundraising and advice on how to handle certain problems or obstacles. But occasionally, this practice can be taken too far by some overzealous alums.

Take, for example, an incident that befell the Yale Literary Magazine 30 years ago. Andrei Navrozov, a former editor of the magazine, attempted to continue overseeing the publication following his graduation, according to an Oct. 22 Yale Daily News article. Navrozov remained involved with the magazine for nearly a decade after graduating, current Yale Literary Magazine Co-Editor-in-Chief Jordan Jacks told The Herald. Jacks said Navrozov “took control of a loophole and severed all connections to the undergraduate community.”

After a prolonged legal battle that ended in 1987, Yale succeeded in wresting control of the magazine from Navrozov, Jacks said.

The case of the Yale Literary Magazine is an extreme example of alums continuing their involvement with student groups they belonged to as undergraduates. On campuses across the country, many alums remain involved in student groups in some way or another. Alumni involvement in student organizations is usually helpful, with the Yale Literary Magazine case serving as the one major blot on the record of alumni contributions to student groups, Jacks said.

For the most part, there are only benefits to alumni involvement with student groups, the biggest being the financial contributions that are typically forthcoming from alums

remember to register for classes

of student groups. At Yale, the Association of Yale Alumni does not directly support student groups, but support comes from a variety of other sources, Executive Director of the AYA Mark Dollhopf told The Herald.

The first place Yale student organizations turn to obtain financial support is the dean of the college.

But if that support does not suffice, student organizations can go to a variety of interest groups, including specific alumni groups or organizations, Dollhopf said.

In cases where these alumni associations do not already exist, the AYA steps in to help create them, Dollhopf said, naming the Yale Debate Association as an example.

The debate group didn’t have an alumni association to turn to for the funding of its 100th anniversary celebration. In that instance, the student group went to the AYA and Dollhopf worked with alums and the students in order to create an association, he said.

The AYA is “not a bank that dispenses money, but supports the alumni associations to help the student organizations. The AYA is not in the business of fundraising,” Dollhopf said.

With so many student groups relying on alumni funding, the question becomes, “Who’s running the show: alumni or students?”

Dollhopf said. Though Dollhopf said he had not heard of the Yale Literar y Magazine incident, he maintained that undergraduates should always have some control in alumni organizations.

At Brown, Director of Student Activities Ricky Gresh said when alumni are passionate about their former organizations, there can be a fine line between wanting to maintain connections to the group and becoming too involved in the inner

workings of the organization.

Gresh said that Brown alums are mostly used “for advice and support to make sure the students are getting the most out of the organizations that they can.” Normally, there isn’t a problem with alums trying to exert too much pressure on organizations, Gresh said, but “student organizations are for students, and we need to make sure the students set the direction for the future they want.”

A good example of a student group with appropriate alumni support is Brown Student Radio, Gresh said.

Jenny Weissbourd ’08, general manager of BSR, told The Herald that the structure of BSR doesn’t allow alumni control over the organization. The executive board “is made up of students and has the power in the structure of the organization,” and there is an advisory board, which has alumni participation, Weissbourd said.

Since the advisory board doesn’t have direct power or control over the station’s activities, there is “no control over the organization exerted by alumni,” she said.

Weissbourd said the main benefit of alumni support is that “a lot of them have jobs related to radio and it’s useful to use their feedback in a professional capacity.”

Although BSR receives some financial support from alumni, she said that “it is not enough to shape any of our decision-making.” She said that the money they do receive from alums is for specific projects or improvement of the station.

Weissbourd said alums do not interfere in the central workings of BSR because “their experience was as students and they see it is imperative for current students to have no alumni influence in the decision-making.”

Page 4

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Atheism at Brown: on the sidelines, or in the fray? continued from page 1 newly matriculated students. While more than 20 percent of students “don’t say anything about themselves religiously,” about 70 to 75 percent “offer some proper noun about what they are religiously or culturally,” she said. There have not been large demographic shifts in Brown’s religious populations in that time, Cooper Nelson said.

Cooper Nelson doubts the accuracy of the Pew survey’s findings, and said she thought the results might reflect a particular agenda to paint religion as losing importance in American life.

The recent, rapid spread of secular student groups to many college campuses, however, seems to suggest that secularism is on the rise among college students. The Secular Student Alliance, which seeks to facilitate the growth of student groups that “promote the ideals of scientific rationality, secularism, democracy and human based ethics,” according to its Web site, has grown dramatically from 30 affiliated groups to 106 affiliated groups in the last seven years, according to Executive Director August Brunsman. The number of SSA-affiliated groups has doubled in the past year alone.

Greg Epstein, who serves as Harvard University’s humanist chaplain, said he has noticed greater interest in humanism, which is closely related to atheism, on college campuses.

Epstein defined humanism as “a progressive life stance that, without supernaturalism, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment, aspiring to the greater good of humanity.”

While only four students were active in the Harvard Secular Society four years ago, several dozen students

are now involved in the group, and its events attract hundreds, Epstein said. He said he had seen student-run secularist or humanist groups spread to many college campuses, including Tufts and Brandeis universities and Bentley College.

“Clearly it’s growing. It’s growing at a rate that somebody like myself — I could clone myself six or seven times and still not be able to keep up with all the people who are interested in what I’m doing on campus,” he said.

Cooper Nelson said she has never heard of an organized student atheist group on Brown’s campus, and the idea for a humanist chaplaincy has never come up. She said her office would be supportive if students expressed an interest in organized atheism.

Harvard has had a humanist chaplaincy since the 1970s, a position that became a permanent and endowed chaplaincy in the 1990s, Epstein said.

Brunsman thought college students’ increased interest in atheism might be due in part to recent books like Richard Dawkins’ “The God Delusion” and Sam Harris’ “The End of Faith,” which challenge principles of religious belief. “Those books are reducing the social cost of being an open atheist or agnostic or humanist, and it’s easier for people to come out as having those beliefs,” Brunsman said.

Epstein attributed the spread of atheism and humanism to scientific advances, increased campus diversity and current events. Greater religious pluralism on campuses is allowing students to be more comfortable expressing conflicting beliefs, including atheist ideas, and dislike of religious fanaticism may drive others to atheism, he said.

College students are particularly likely to adopt atheist values, Brunsman said. “When people are students, especially college students, they’re at a place in their lives where they’re open to exploring new identity and saying, ‘What do I want to believe?’ I think they’re especially receptive and comfortable with coming out or deciding to be nonreligious,” he said.

Then why wouldn’t Brown — known for its strong, diverse interfaith community and accepting student body — also have experienced a marked increase in atheism?

Cooper Nelson said Brown’s welcoming religious community might instead eliminate pressure or desire to identify strongly as religious or atheist. “There many have been more opportunities at Brown to gather around ideas of conviction without having to declare yourself,” she said.

Because Brown’s religious communities encourage dialogue, Cooper Nelson said, students might not have felt the need for a secular student organization. “Students seem to form communities around what they enjoy doing, and there’s something about the bits and pieces of growing atheism as if they are ‘against-ness’ organizations,” she said. “Our formation of organizations at Brown has seemed to be more pro- than anti-.”

While Cooper Nelson does not see Brown students turning away from religion, she said she believes atheist viewpoints are already well represented on campus. Atheist presenters often speak at the Interfaith supper Cooper Nelson hosts in her home each Thursday.

“We’ve always had very strongspoken, well-articulated positions of atheism at Brown by enormously moral people,” she said. “For us, the presence of an atheistic voice is a

constant.”

Herald Opinions Columnist Zachary Beauchamp ’10, an atheist who says he is “nominally Jewish” and doesn’t “ascribe to the theological aspects of the religion,” said he thought general apathy might explain students’ lack of interest in organized atheist groups.

“Brown students on the whole don’t get involved in organizations unless they really think there’s a reason they should,” he said. “They don’t care so much about religious beliefs.”

Both Epstein and Cooper Nelson said the absence of leaders willing to organize around atheism might also explain why secular student groups have not formed at Brown. People who reject religion often identify its organized nature as a threat, but such organization is vital to the process of creating an effective humanist community, Epstein said.

“Disorganized religion doesn’t visit you in the hospital,” he said.

“Disorganized humanism can’t be successful. ... We have to learn to have leaders and stand together.”

David Sheffield ’11 is trying to step into the void to lead a Brown secular community by starting a Brown Freethought group dedicated to promoting scientific inquiry, atheism and humanism, according to its Facebook page.

Sheffield is currently trying to organize the group’s first meeting and hopes to eventually get the group approved by the Undergraduate Council of Students. Sheffield himself identifies as an atheist.

“I have not seen anything to convince me otherwise,” he said. “The same thing with Russell’s Teapot. If someone says there’s a teapot circling the sun, same as the Earth I guess, there’s no way I should believe it un-

less someone shows me a teapot.”

Sheffield was surprised to discover the lack of organized atheism at Brown, especially since he had heard of secular groups at Harvard, Yale, Cornell and Columbia universities.

Sheffield said he thinks an atheist group is needed to help stimulate campus discussion, because organized religious communities at Brown hamper debate. “People don’t like having their beliefs called into question,” Sheffield said. In his vision, a Brown Freethought group would bring speakers to campus to encourage discussion about atheism.

Sheffield agreed with Epstein that organization was essential to promote dialogue. “In order to get something done, you need to organize something, or it isn’t that effective,” he said.

Rachel Kerber ’10, who is also an atheist, described religion as a “nonissue” at Brown. “Atheist people don’t feel a need to protect or defend their atheism,” Kerber said, adding that she does not see Brown as a religious campus.

Kerber said she senses a lack of organized discussion about atheism on campus and thought an active atheist group would be a good addition to Brown. Nonetheless, Kerber felt that unofficial dialogue on campus is generally open and accepting.

“Having conversations with people who are religious, I’ve never felt attacked or felt a need to defend why I’m atheist,” she said.

Beauchamp said he sees no need for an organized atheist group and probably wouldn’t join one.

“I don’t think an atheist group would fulfill any need or function that I would need,” he said. “What are they going to do? Sit around and talk about how there is no God? That seems unnecessary.”

Religious concerns shift Spring Weekend earlier continued from page 1 Weekend with any of those,” Nesbitt said. She said she provided the SAO with those dates.

The University and student groups “want to be really respectful” of all religious holidays, Nesbitt said.

Gresh said that, in past years, conflicts were noticed only after many of the arrangements for events had been made, making a change in date impossible. In those circumstances, the Student Union — a collection of the major programming groups on campus such as the Special Events Committee, Brown Key Society, Brown Concert Agency and Greek Council — and the SAO worked with religious leaders to accommodate religious services and include some in the Spring Weekend schedule.

“The important thing is to maximize the number of people who can participate,” Gresh said. “It’s really... about what kind of community do we want to be and what is Spring Weekend all about.”

The change in date is a logistical challenge for BCA, which organizes the two large concerts usually held on Thursday evening and Saturday afternoon during Spring Weekend.

“From our standpoint, the biggest challenge that we face for Spring Weekend is the unpredictability of the weather,” said David Horn ’08, booking chair for BCA. “April is already a volatile month, and the (earlier) we are into April, the more likely we are to have bad weather,” he said.

With this year’s earlier date, Horn

said, there is a higher chance of poor weather forcing Saturday’s concert indoors. As a result, BCA is making an effort to ensure that at least some events can be held outdoors. “I’d say being outdoors is really the essence of a Brown Spring Weekend,” Horn said.

The rain location for Saturday’s concert is Meehan Auditorium, the venue where the Thursday show is typically held. But because of complaints about the auditorium’s acoustics and atmosphere, BCA is trying to find other options, Horn said.

One option is to hold an event outside, rain or shine — “a Woodstockstyle event,” Horn said, but there are potential issues with damage to the Main Green and whether students would be willing to attend a concert in the rain.

The other option, Horn said, is to schedule both concerts for outdoor venues. “The major thing that we’re trying to do is we’re trying to plan to have both concerts outside so in the case there is bad weather, there’s a higher probability that at least one of the concerts is held outside,” Horn said.

Horn said the availability of bands and higher booking fees in early April could also be obstacles.

“In most cases, it’s less expensive to book a band if they’re already on tour and planning around your date,” he said, citing the Flaming Lips, who performed during last year’s Spring Weekend as part of their tour. “Most bands have a spring tour, but that starts in late April, not early April,” Horn said.

BCA will hold a MyCourses

survey next week to assess student opinion regarding Spring Weekend and gauge what students would like to see. “We’re primarily focused this year on how important the location and venue is, because that’s a fundamental issue we’re dealing with,” Horn said.

Greek Council organizes the two other concerts during Spring Weekend — Rage on Wriston and Dave Binder’s Sunday concert. Rage on Wriston, a concert on the Friday of Spring Weekend featuring local and student bands, should be unaffected by the change of date, said Greek Council Chair Steven Beckoff ’08.

“It shouldn’t make a difference to the student concert, because students are always willing to perform,” Beckoff said. But, he added, “It would affect Dave Binder if he is booked. Usually we have him for the weekend of the 20th.”

Beckoff said he plans to contact Binder soon to make sure he can perform on the new date, but Beckoff said he thinks the ability to include the entire student body in Spring Weekend festivities outweighs any possible inconvenience of the date shift. “My freshman year, Spring Weekend was during Passover, and (a lot of people on campus are) Jewish, so that’s a big deal. It’s nice that the administration is taking that into consideration,” he said.

Ultimately, Horn said, Spring Weekend will still be enjoyed by students, despite any potential difficulties. “The bands we are going to bring are going to be so much fun that it won’t make a difference,” he said.

C ampus n ews Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Page 5

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Weinstein brothers’ twin careers follow Faulkner Students, faculty organizing to protect UEL

BY Marielle Segarra Staff Writer

By Rachel Arndt Senior Staff Writer

Efforts to save the Urban Environmental Lab are gathering steam as concerned faculty members and students organize to save the structure.

The Mind Brain Behavior building is slated to take the UEL’s place on Angell Street adjacent to the Walk, the planned greensward that will link Lincoln Field with the Pembroke campus.

The new building, which was approved by the Corporation last month, will force either a relocation or destruction of the UEL, which houses the Center for Environmental Studies.

The Mind Brain Behavior building will house the Department of Psychology, the Department of Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences and the Brain Science Program. The project will cost the University $69 million, said Associate Provost Pamela O’Neil. Construction is slated to begin in March 2009 and conclude by the fall of 2010, but plans are contingent on fundraising results, O’Neil said.

But there is a “growing group of students and alumni who are interested in doing something trying to protect the UEL,” said Laura Genello ’07, who was a concentrator in environmental studies and is heading up efforts to preserve the UEL. That group is trying to prevent the destruction of the building itself, and “at the very least get the Center for Environmental Studies a better site than Metcalf” Research Laboratory, she said.

The University has offered the center two possible new locations — the third floor of Metcalf and a space on Stimson Avenue. The Stimson location, near the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center, is relatively distant.

“We don’t want to move it to some remote location that’s on the edge of campus,” O’Neil said.

Originally a carriage house, the UEL building was converted to house the center in 1981. Most of the construction was done by students, and in 1983, the department moved into what Professor Emeritus of Environmental Studies Harold Ward called the most “energy efficient building on campus.”

“The walls are better insulated than anything Brown has ever built before,” Ward said, and the building is partially heated using convection.

“I think the only option for the building is to move it, he said. “The building is worth saving.”

Patti Caton, administrative manager for the center, agreed. “The only way the building’s going to be saved is if it’s moved,” she said — though, she said, she doesn’t think a relocation is likely.

“It’s a very unique space on campus,” Caton said. “Visitors are just totally amazed that there’s such a great place like that in the middle of campus.”

Student and alum efforts to save the building are still nascent. Genello sent an e-mail to all environmental studies concentrators Oct. 23 asking for their help to try to save the UEL. “In my mind,” she wrote, “destroying the UEL runs counter to all the qualities of the University that made my Brown experience worthwhile.”

After sending the initial e-mail, Genello and other students started a “letter-writing campaign to people at the University who are involved with the construction process,” she said, targeting officials such as O’Neil and Michael McCormick, assistant vice president for planning, design and construction.

“We’ve been trying to ... get other students involved,” Genello said. “It’s interesting because we just started getting around e-mails about this, and the students and alumni on the e-mail list who are not ES concentrators are equally concerned.”

“Right now it seems like efforts are ... growing and forming as we’re gathering people together,” Genello said. “It’s really in the stage of getting as many people involved as possible and getting the ball rolling.”

O’Neil said the University wants to listen to the concerns of the UEL’s defenders and maintain the unique identity granted to the center by the UEL. “The UEL does give that program a sense of identity,” O’Neil said, and maintaining that identity “is the most important thing.”

A “green renovation” of Metcalf might “provide the kind of identity that they are looking for,” O’Neil said.

Though the UEL may eventually become too small for the center’s needs, Ward said he thinks it should nevertheless be preserved, a remark echoed by others.

“It just doesn’t make any sense to take the most energy efficient building and just demolish it,” Caton said.

There is a heavily disputed topic in Professor of Comparative Literature Arnold Weinstein’s family. It’s not whether he or his twin brother Philip, a professor of English literature at Swarthmore College, is the more impressive William Faulkner scholar, or what exactly smells like dirt in Faulkner’s “The Sound and the Fury.” The question is, are the twins — both of whom have undergraduate degrees from Princeton University and doctoral degrees from Harvard University — fraternal or identical?

The brothers, who grew up in Memphis, Tenn., in the 1940s and 1950s, admit they are similar in many ways. Growing up, they played on the basketball team and were involved in all the same activities, Arnold said.

“We were pretty inseparable,” he said.

Arnold said their mother had no idea she was having twins until he popped out, 10 minutes after Philip was born. The Weinsteins were tiny as babies, weighing around four pounds each.

“We were lucky to make it,” Arnold said, adding that his mother said “she wept when she saw us ... we had fingers like matchsticks.”

Arnold said he thinks the twins are identical and that most people agree.

“Somehow I think we really correspond more to the same model.

We have too many of the same quirks,” he said.

Philip, who teaches English at Swarthmore, said his mother always told the twins they were fraternal because there were two afterbirths.

“I think it’s strange, if we’re fraternal, that we’re so alike,” Philip said.

Whether identical or fraternal, the twins have always been able to complement each other without competition, Arnold said.

“My wife is convinced that it made both of us into good spouses,” Arnold said. “From in the womb, we were used to sharing space.”

Arnold said neither of the twins

don’t forget to register

was well-read growing up, and Faulkner didn’t show up on any of their high school reading lists. But when they enrolled at Princeton as undergraduates, where they were also roommates, each one developed a love for the iconic Southern writer.

One professor in particular, Lawrence Holland, taught an English course that Arnold said got him “hooked” on Faulkner for life.

Philip’s appreciation for Faulkner took a while to develop: He said his high school attempts to read “Absalom, Absalom!”— one of Faulkner’s densest novels — were short-lived. But his tastes soon matured.

“We were hooked by the time we were 19,” Philip said.

FEATURE Why did Faulkner, among the myriad authors they read, so enthrall the brothers?

“He is the most tragic writer,” Arnold said. “He is able to write about human subjectivity and consciousness in a way that no other writer has ever done.”

Because “his books are easily regarded as impenetrable and unreadable, to read him is also a form of self-discovery. His work can be off-putting but also very rewarding,” Arnold said.

“There’s an emotional intensity — he lets out all the stops,” Philip said. “Baroque and tormented,” he is “more experimental than any other 20th-century American novelist.”

The twins also connected with Faulkner’s view of race relations in the South. With the exception of their black housekeeper, the brothers, who grew up in the South during the years of segregation, never saw the large segment of the population that was black, according to Philip.

“Faulkner writes about race in a compelling way,” he said. “He brings it all back to life.”

“The race tragedy is one of the reasons neither Arnold or I could bear living in the South,” Philip added.

Though neither brother will

admit his place among the most highly regarded Faulkner scholars in the country, each twin had positive things to say about the other’s career.

“I don’t think I’m in that listing at all,” Arnold said. “I think that my brother is part of a small group of top people — I think he’s the best, but I may have a bias.”

The brothers admitted they each approach Faulkner from different angles.

“We’re oriented professionally a little differently,” Philip said. “My work is probably more responsive to other critical writings and Faulkner as a topic in interpretation and critical theory. ... Arnold comes at him more from his own sensibility. Arnold is freer.”

Arnold, who has not written any books exclusively on Faulkner, called his brother “much more of a card-carrying Faulkner scholar,” though he said he still makes it his mission at Brown to make the author accessible to his students.

Arnold was asked by television host Oprah Winfrey to give four lectures on Faulkner in 2005 for her online Summer Book Club. He and his brother also each teach a course on Marcel Proust, James Joyce and Faulkner. Arnold said they are the only two scholars to teach a course specifically on these three writers.

Philip, former head of the William Faulkner Society, has published two books focusing on Faulkner — “Faulkner’s Subject: A Cosmos No One Owns” and “What Else But Love? The Ordeal of Race in Faulkner and Morrison.” Philip currently lives on Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., and is working on his third Faulkner book.

So does the brothers’ love of Faulkner seep into family dinner conversations?

Though Philip said the twins try to avoid boring the family with Faulkner discussions, Arnold acknowledged that the topic is somewhat unavoidable.

“We’ve had (those discussions) all our lives, and we still do,” he said. “I think (Faulkner) is sort of the permanent furniture in our two brains. He’s lodged there.”

Page 6

Early-Early Decision for athletes continued from page 12 Scout.com, Har vard University has five verbal commitments, with the earliest coming in August. The University of Pennsylvania has four, with one student committing in midJuly.

As far as sports recruiting goes, the Ivy League is at a disadvantage compared to other conferences because it does not offer athletic scholarships. The allure of a scholarship can entice a recruit to make a verbal commitment to a college often as early as the their junior year of high school, months before Ivy League schools mail their likely letters.

But Leffelman said scholarships may not be the most important incentive for prospective Ivy League students.

“They can’t give a financial scholarship, but the scholarship is getting into a school like Brown,”

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Leffelman said. “At first I was like, ‘This doesn’t seem right, since I worked hard my entire life to get a scholarship.’ But then I talked to so many (Ivy League alums), and I was overwhelmed how much of a scholarship it is to go to a school like this,” he said.

Financial aid and admission decisions continue to be decided independently for all students, according to University policy. The Ivy League Admission Statement dictates that schools can give financial aid based only on need, not athletic merit.

Critics complain that the recruiting system allows subpar students to get into highly selective schools through the back door. Director of Athletics Michael Goldberger confirmed that recruited athletes tend to have less impressive academic credentials than non-athletes. But he said they still fall in the top 10

percent of high school students and are “remarkably talented.”

“There are certainly some recruited athletes whose GPAs are lower than those of other Brown freshmen, just as there are musicians, poets and student-government people whose averages are lower,” said Howard Chudacoff, a professor of American history and Brown’s NCAA faculty representative. “It has been my experience over my several decades at Brown that ever y recruited athlete at Brown has qualified academically for admission.”

Critics also complain that the system emphasizes athletics over what the Ivy League is known for: academics.

“I believe likely letters are unfortunate because they suggest that Brown and its Ivy League competitors are putting athletics first and academics second,” Chudacoff said. “We justify these letters by saying we must send them out to be competitive with schools that offer athletics scholarships and because other Ivy institutions send them.

That is probably true, but still unfortunate.”

Even without scholarships, many recruited athletes will continue to slide through the admission process stress-free while non-athletes sweat it out until April.

“Every school has a different pitch, whether it is location, academics or immediate playing time,” Floyd said. “Brown sold me on the life after basketball. The opportunities that such a distinguished institution will (provide) give me a chance to succeed at whatever I do after I college.”

Chuck Norris counted to infinity, twice continued from page 1 perstars.

“I don’t want to be branded as an Internet superstar, but I was number (29)out of 40,” he said. At the site’s peak, during the winter of 2005-2006, it was pulling in 18 million hits per month, he said.

Publishers first approached Spector during the spring of 2006, when the site was very popular. Though he turned them down then, he was later persuaded to write a book of the site’s best “facts” when the William Morris Agency approached him that summer. Eventually, he began working with Gotham Books, a division of the Penguin Group, and is no longer represented by the William Morris Agency.

Spector said he actually wrote the manuscript in one night. He started writing around 10 p.m. one November night and finished at about 8 a.m. the next morning. Originally, he was told to pick 250 of the best facts from the Web site, but the project soon ballooned to include 400 of the site’s jokes.

“I knew I didn’t want to include too many vulgar things involving genitalia or infants,” Spector said.

“Anything that is really vulgar or hard-core probably wasn’t approved by me. But if that’s what they think will sell, it’s fine by me.”

Though Spector does not have the same fascination with Norris that may be shared by many of his site’s visitors, he did get to meet the man himself in January 2006 at the invitation of the action star’s wife.

Norris is not affiliated with the Web site or the book.

Because most of the book’s content came directly from his Web site, Spector said he is unsure whether he should be considered a bona fide author. “People say now that I’m considered an author because I wrote a 20-page intro that got cut down to

eight pages and copied and pasted a bunch of stuff off of my Web site,” he said. “That makes me an author?

That’s not what I think of when I think of an author.”

In addition to the jokes, Spector’s book features illustrations by Angelo Vildasol, who had previously worked on a book by the Internet-humor fixture Maddox. Spector recounted how the elusive Vildasol, who lives in Colorado, would e-mail him with updates on the project at 6 a.m. some days. The two have never met in person.

The site relies on visitor-submitted jokes to populate the “fact generator.” During its peak, Spector said the site received thousands of submissions a day. Though he couldn’t say how many of the jokes he wrote himself, he stressed that he — along with a few friends who helped him run the site when it was at its greatest popularity — had to rewrite most of the submissions to make sure they were actually funny.

This attention was likely responsible for the site’s popularity, he said.

“As it was progressing, there was a lot of quality control. Our acceptance rate was about 5 percent,” he said.

J.P. Reader, a bookseller at the Brown Bookstore, also cited the surprisingly high quality of the humor as the reason for the site’s fame.

“I was surprised because I don’t usually find pop culture references funny,” he said. “I haven’t looked at it in about four months but it was definitely a work-stopper. … There are some Chuck Norris things that were actually subtle even though they are absurd claims.”

So if none of the “facts” are actually true, then why a “fact generator” about Chuck Norris?

“Weird obsession pretty much nails it,” Spector said. “There’s something about the obscurity of him that people find funny.”

UCS to host Simmons, discuss fee increase continued from page 1 and Dean for Student Life Margaret Klawunn.

At tonight’s meeting, UCS will also discuss the student activities fee increase resolution proposed

by UCS Student Activities Chair Drew Madden ’10. The proposal says that UCS will ask the University Resources Committee for a $54 increase to the student activities fee.

The proposed increase would raise the fee from $146 to $200 per year for each student. The resolution also proposes considering using some student activities funds to increase baseline funding for Category II groups and provide some funds to Category I groups.

UCS Treasurer Jose Vasconez ’10, who ser ved on the student activities committee last year, said he is in favor of increasing the fee because it would benefit the whole campus. “If we raise the student

activities fee, I think it would be better for student groups, and therefore the entire student population ... because the quality of events would rise,” he said.

Vasconez, who also sits on Undergraduate Finance Board, said he has witnessed how an increase could benefit student groups. “As a member of UFB, I noticed that a lot of the time student groups don’t receive as much funding as they would like and we can’t fund them to the level we would like,” he said.

Madden said he does not expect much contention over the activities fee proposal. “I would expect, from the general sense I’ve gotten from UCS, that it would pass,” he said.

“I’ve seen concerns about individual clauses, but have not personally seen anything about the resolution itself.”

Tonight the council will also elect a student to the board to fill the spot vacated by Alex Morse ’11.

thanks for reading

W orld & N ation Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Page 7

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

AT&T may have helped NSA spies House overrides Bush veto to

By Ellen Nakashima Washington Post

WASHINGTON — His first inkling that something was amiss came in summer 2002 when he opened the door to admit a visitor from the National Security Agency to an office of AT&T in San Francisco.

“What the heck is the NSA doing here?” Mark Klein, a former AT&T technician, said he asked himself.

A year or so later, he stumbled upon documents that, he said, nearly caused him to fall out of his chair. The documents, he said, show that the NSA gained access to massive amounts of e-mail, Web search and other Internet records of more than a dozen global and regional telecom providers. AT&T allowed the agency to hook into its network at a facility in San Francisco and, according to Klein, many of the other telecom companies probably knew nothing about it.

Klein is in Washington this week to share his story in the hope that it will persuade lawmakers not to grant legal immunity to telecommunications firms that helped the government in its anti-terrorism efforts.

The plain-spoken, bespectacled Klein, 62, said he may be the only person in the country in a position to discuss firsthand knowledge of an important aspect of the Bush administration’s domestic surveillance. He is retired, so he isn’t worried about losing his job. He carried no security clearance, and the documents in his possession were not classified, he said. He has no qualms about “turning in,”

as he put it, the company where he worked for 22 years, until he retired in 2004.

“If they’ve done something massively illegal and unconstitutional — well, they should suffer the consequences,” Klein said.

“It’s not my place to feel bad for them. They made their bed. They have to lie in it. The ones who did (anything wrong), you can be sure, are high up in the company. Not the average Joes, who I enjoyed working with.”

In an inter view Tuesday, he alleged that the NSA set up a system that vacuumed up Internet and phone-call data from ordinary Americans with the cooperation of AT&T. Contrary to the government’s depiction of its surveillance program as aimed at overseas terrorists, Klein said, much of the data sent through AT&T to the NSA was purely domestic. Klein said he believes that the NSA was analyzing the records for usage patterns as well as for content.

He said the NSA built a special room to receive data streamed through an AT&T Internet room containing “peering links,” or major connections to other telecom providers. The largest of the links delivered 2.5 gigabits of data — the equivalent of one-quarter of the Encyclopedia Britannica’s text — per second, said Klein, whose documents and eyewitness account form the basis of one of the first lawsuits filed against the telecom giants after the government’s warrantless-surveillance program was reported in the New York Times in December 2005.

Claudia Jones, an AT&T spokes-

woman, said she had no comment on Klein’s allegations. “AT&T is fully committed to protecting our customers’ privacy. We do not comment on matters of national security,” she said.

The NSA and the White House declined comment on Klein’s allegations.

Klein is urging Congress not to block Hepting v. AT&T, a classaction suit pending in federal court in San Francisco, as well as 37 other lawsuits charging carriers with illegally collaborating with the NSA program. He was accompanied Tuesday by lawyers for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which filed Hepting v. AT&T in 2006. Together, they are urging key U.S. senators to oppose a pending White House-endorsed immunity provision that would effectively wipe out the lawsuits. The Judiciary Committee is expected to take up the measure Thursday.

In summer 2002, Klein was working in an office responsible for Internet equipment when an NSA representative arrived to inter view a management-level technician for a special job whose details were secret.

“That’s when my antennas started to go up,” he said. He knew that the NSA was supposed to work on overseas signals intelligence.

The job entailed building a “secret room” in another AT&T office 10 blocks away, he said.

By coincidence, in October 2003, Klein was transferred to that office and assigned to the Internet room.

He asked a technician there about continued on page 9

2007 deadliest year for troops since Iraq war’s start

By Amit R. Paley Washington Post

BAGHDAD, Iraq — The U.S. military announced Tuesday that five soldiers and a sailor had been killed a day earlier, making 2007 the deadliest year for American troops since the start of the war in Iraq.

The record death toll of at least 852 U.S. military personnel killed this year underscores the high cost of the American troop increase, launched in February, which has begun to drive down the sectarian violence that once gripped much of the country.

“The strategy was to interject our soldiers between the Iraqi citizens and the terrorists, insurgents and militias,” Lt. Col. Douglas Ollivant, chief of plans for American forces in Baghdad, said in an interview. “A regrettable consequence of that is your casualties go up.”

But the grim milestone belied a much more optimistic trend: Troop casualties have declined sharply since early summer. In October, the death toll for U.S. troops fell to 38, its lowest level since March 2006, according to Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, a Web site that tracks military fatalities more rapidly than the Pentagon makes its numbers public.

Lt. Col. Dale Kuehl, a battalion commander in western Baghdad, said fighting in the spring had helped secure local neighborhoods. He said there had not been a roadside bomb attack in his area of operations for three months and

no mortar or rocket attacks since July.

“In general, the area is quiet,” Kuehl wrote in an e-mail. “The past year has been an emotional roller coaster. I have had some of the worst days of my life ... but I also have felt a strong sense of accomplishment.”

“I am confident that we have established a much more secure environment for the people we have been tasked to protect,” Kuehl added. “However, a part of me is afraid to believe what we have accomplished, knowing what it has cost to get us to today.”

The deaths of the six troops Monday were a collective reminder of the dangers that the U.S. military still faces in Iraq.

In the northern province of Tamim, four soldiers were killed by an explosion near their vehicle while they conducted combat operations, the military said. In nearby Salahuddin province, a sailor was killed by an explosion, it said. And in western Anbar province, once a stronghold of Sunni extremism but now relatively calm, the military said a soldier was killed while conducting combat operations.

The attacks brought the total death toll for American troops in Iraq this year to 852, higher than the 849killed in 2004, when most of the casualties came during large-scale conventional battles, according to Iraq Coalition Casualty Count.

Col J.B. Burton, commander of the Dagger Brigade Combat

Team, 1st Infantry Division, based in northwestern Baghdad, said pitched fighting in May and June was a necessary part of the U.S. counterinsurgency plan.

“We had to get off these bases and get into the neighborhoods where the enemy was,” he said.

“We saw an increase in violence, but it enabled us talk to citizens and cause al-Qaida to lose control of their sanctuaries to the point where they’re ineffective.” The Sunni insurgent group al-Qaida in Iraq has asserted responsibility for some of the worst violence in the country.

In June, Burton’s unit was seeing up to 600 violent events a day and more than 50 U.S. soldiers killed or wounded every month.

Now the numbers are dramatically lower.

“Our last combat-related death — knock on wood — was in September,” Burton said.

Across Baghdad, the number of American troops killed has plummeted from 58 in both May and June to 14 last month, according to Ollivant. “It looks like the beginning of a long-term trend to us, and we are, as we always say, cautiously optimistic,” he said.

“We suspected we were going to have to pay a price up front as the cost of implementing” the counterinsurgency strategy, Ollivant said.

“That is regrettable, and we miss every one we lost. But from where we sit now, it looks like those sacrifices have paid off.” continued on page 9

keep water resources bill alive

By Jonathan Weisman Washington Post

WASHINGTON — The House handed President Bush the first veto override of his presidency Tuesday, voting overwhelmingly to save a $23 billion water resources bill stuffed with pet projects sought by lawmakers from both political parties.

The Senate will likely follow suit as early as Wednesday, in what would be the biggest Republican defection of Bush’s term — even given the legislation’s obscurity.

Tuesday’s 361 to 54 override tally was 90 votes more than the twothirds needed, and it included 223 Democrats and 138 Republicans.

Just 54 Republicans stuck with Bush.

“Congress will reassert its policy-making ability,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., vowed.

“We are, in fact, the deciders on policy.”

The vote could put Republicans in an awkward position as Bush confronts Democrats in coming weeks over spending bills that the President says are too generous. It also could complicate the stalemate over bipartisan efforts to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Many of the same Republican lawmakers who voted Tuesday to save what Bush called a bloated water projects bill will have to make the case that other bills to fund health care, education, local law enforcement and other Democratic domestic priorities really are too expensive.

GOP leaders from the House and Senate had warned Bush that his veto would be overridden. But Bush decided to take a stand.

“When I was asked whether or not he should consider vetoing it, I said, ‘Probably so,”’ said Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott, R-Miss.

“When I was asked would it be sustained, I said, ‘Probably not.’ When I was asked how I would vote, I said I’d vote to override.”

The bill authorizes billions of dollars in coastal restoration, river navigation and dredging projects, levee construction and other Army Corps of Engineers public works efforts. Seven years in the making,

the bill took on particular political resonance in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when Gulf state lawmakers secured nearly $2 billion in restoration and levee construction projects for the Gulf coast. The bill also will continue projects such as Everglades restoration and upper Mississippi River dredging, while pushing new oversight of the Army Corps.

“This is far too important for this nation and my state of Florida,” said Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., who led the Republican charge to override Bush’s veto.

“Let’s override the president.

Let’s do something right for America,” Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, exhorted.

But the bill merely authorizes such projects. Lawmakers backing the projects now must secure funding through the House and Senate appropriations committees, with no guarantees. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said some Republicans made the case that the GOP’s stand for fiscal rectitude should apply to such “authorization” bills, but others drew a distinction between measures such as the water bill and actual spending bills on which they have vowed to stand with the president.

“I can safely say there are differences of opinion among Republicans,” McConnell said.

Domestic spending for the fiscal year promises to be the larger drama over the next few weeks. Democrats had hoped to send Bush a $150.7 billion spending bill to fund health, education and labor programs, twinned with a $64.7 billion military construction and veterans affairs bill, daring the White House and Republicans to reject large increases in veterans health care spending.

The military bill exceeds Bush’s budget request by $4 billion. The health and education bill is nearly $10 billion more than the president wanted.

That package was expected to pass overwhelmingly last night in the House, but Senate Republicans are likely to prevail this week in their efforts to split the two bills, allowing Bush to sign the military legislation and reject the domestic spending measure.

Page 8

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Faculty hears from the president on student housing, the provost on academic stats continued from page 1 said members of the Corporation’s budget and finance committee told her that improving the overall quality of Brown’s student housing needed to remain a top priority.

Because that committee has the final say in setting the University’s capital budget, Simmons said administrators will need to re-think their intention to put student housing on the back burner. Any formal plans to improve or expand housing will not be approved until the February Corporation meeting, when Simmons will provide the governing body with a set of recommendations detailing how more initiatives to improve student living spaces at Brown could be accommodated in plans for the next few years.

“My sense is that this group is very serious about this, and they won’t let go of it,” Simmons said.

“I suspect we’re going to have to do something that is more aggressive than we intended, but I have no idea what that will be,” she said later.

Simmons said it remained unclear how the University would accommodate an added emphasis on student housing in its plans. She added that she would “fight pretty hard to keep other items on the agenda.”

The Plan for Academic Enrichment — Simmons’ wide-ranging blueprint for raising Brown’s academic profile, first approved in 2002 — has so far focused University resources on an aggressive expansion of the faculty, introduction of need-blind admission and a spate of new building projects on campus.

With the announcement of an official internationalization effort in October 2006, University officials have signaled their intention to add to that list a focus on strengthening Brown’s global character.

Recently completed construction projects have included the $95-million Sidney Frank Hall for Life Sciences and the 24-hour Friedman Study Center in the Sciences Library. By 2010, the University also

expects to complete a range of other projects, among them a new cognitive and linguistic sciences building, a $55-million fitness center and a new Creative Arts Center.

A new residence hall has not been included among announced construction projects. But the University is currently planning to spend $23 million on renovations to existing student housing, Elizabeth Huidekoper, executive vice president for finance and administration, told the faculty yesterday.

Members of the Corporation’s budget and finance committee — among them parents of current students who have visited other institutions while navigating the admission process, Simmons noted — expressed concern that “the quality of space and diversity of space in the area of student life was much better at most of our peers,” Simmons said. Their message was clear, she added: “It would be a serious mistake not to attend to that in the nearer term.”

Student leaders familiar with the University’s plans told The Herald last month that the administrators planned to slow or abandon student housing projects due to the need to generate funds for a new swim center. But University officials said no plans for how to accommodate a swim center in the budget had been finalized.

At the meeting, Simmons seemed to confirm that administrators had planned to set aside major housing improvements, at least for the next several years.

“If the Smith Swim Center had not failed, student housing would have been on the list,” she told the faculty.

Huidekoper said at the meeting that “we felt we had to back something off.”

Despite indicating her preference for prioritizing other projects, Simmons said student spaces at Brown were in many ways lacking, despite some recent efforts to improve them.

Brown’s efforts to keep pace with peer schools in student living

spaces has so far involved “digging ourselves out of a hole,” she told the faculty. “Getting to that next stage is hard.”

The planned renovation of Faunce House to convert it into the Stephen Robert Campus Center, which could be completed by the end of the 2008-2009 academic year, “will help a bit” in improving student space, Simmons said. But the University’s ultimate goal is to be able to house more than the current 80 percent of students who live on campus and improve the overall quality of housing at Brown.

Articulating some of the problems with current student spaces on campus, Simmons cited the ongoing use of converted common spaces for housing.

“I heard recently that in Keeney, so many of the common spaces are being taken up for housing,” Simmons said. “The students are now being consigned to gathering in the hallways.”

“Some residences are just not in good shape,” she added.

With the debate over University priorities heating up, the faculty also heard from Associate Professor of Psychology Ruth Colwill, the chair of the Faculty Executive Committee, who said the FEC has begun to receive feedback from faculty as part of a reassessment of the Plan for Academic Enrichment that Simmons announced at the October faculty meeting.

Simmons has asked various University constituencies, including faculty and alumni, to evaluate the plan and consider what adjustments could be made as the campaign moves forward.

Among the concerns faculty had expressed, Colwill said, is a desire for increased funding for undergraduate research and for science education. Some faculty expressed a wish to see progress in the planning of a science resource center, she said.

The science resource center was the central recommendation of the Undergraduate Science Education Committee, whose report was finished over the summer.

Many faculty had also mentioned a need for more graduate student fellowships to support the increasing size of the faculty, Colwill said.

Some had also responded that it is too difficult to get funding for interdisciplinary initiatives, she said.

She encouraged faculty to continue to provide feedback, saying

that if they were unhappy with the current balance of the University’s priorities, “This is an opportunity to at least make a suggestion about how that balance might be restored.”

Colwill also commended Simmons for her “courage” in soliciting faculty opinion at this point in the campaign and for promising not to “filter” any of the ideas before the faculty could discuss them. It would have been easy to “plow forward” without asking for feedback, Colwill said.

In addition to her comments about the Plan for Academic Enrichment, Simmons told the faculty that in a private session with Corporation members at its meeting last month, she had been asked about issues that have arisen elsewhere in higher education. Those included efforts by a group of conservative alums at Dartmouth College to influence university policy and the controversy that arose around a speech given by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at Columbia University earlier this fall.

Simmons described the Dartmouth alums’ effort, which has included tr ying to gain seats on the University’s governing board, as “a ver y public and, I think, a ver y divisive campaign” that had negatively affected the campus and alumni giving.

On Ahmadinejad, she echoed remarks she made last month in an interview with The Herald, explaining that she views her role as “less to join every debate than to assure that this kind of exchange can take place.” She said she is cautious about introducing speakers — as Columbia President Lee Bollinger did Ahmadinejad — because her own actions are “inextricably entangled” with official University policy in some people’s minds.

The faculty also heard a report from Provost David Kertzer ’69 P’95 P’98 , in which he outlined a range of statistics relating to Brown’s academic standing, especially in comparison to peer schools. The slides he used were the same as those he used in his presentation to the Corporation’s Academic Affairs Committee in October, according to a label on the first slide.

65 percent of the 122 new faculty positions outlined in the Plan for Academic Enrichment have been filled to date, Kertzer said. As a result, though Brown’s position in the U.S. News and World Report

college rankings has been mostly stable, it has improved in the category of faculty resources, one of the factors used in computing the overall ranking. The University went from 27th nationally in 2000 to 18th in 2008.

However, while the faculty-tostudent ratio has correspondingly decreased in recent years, Brown’s position has not improved relative to peer schools, Kertzer said, because other schools are also improving.

Additionally, Kertzer said, the University has improved to 24th in the category of average expenditure per student, another factor used in computing the overall ranking, from 31st in 2000.

Kertzer expressed some concern over statistics showing that total research grants awarded to the University were not increasing as much as officials had hoped, especially with the recent completion of Frank Hall, a 170,000 square foot research facility.

“There’s some feeling in the Corporation that, ‘Well, we’ve provided all these research facilities, where are the results?’ “ Kertzer said. He cited stagnant or even decreasing federal funding nationally from the National Institutes of Health as a reason total grants were not rapidly increasing.

Kertzer also said the implementation of a five-year guarantee of support for graduate students had positively affected both the numbers of applicants to the Graduate School and Brown’s selectivity in choosing from among them.

The Grad School had an overall acceptance rate of 16 percent in 2007-2008, he said, down from 27 percent in 2001-2002. He also noted that the MCAT scores of Brown medical students were comparable to those of students at Yale University and other peer institutions.

The meeting was not without its lighter moments. When asked a question by a faculty member at one point, Simmons seemed to pause, then shared an unrelated anecdote that she said had unexpectedly “popped into my head.”

Simmons said she had encountered a Brown student while at the St. Louis airport earlier this year, and the student informed her that he had never heard her speak, much to Simmons’ surprise.

“How could that be?” Simmons said she asked the student.

His response: “Oh, I’m a computer science student.”

Davies ’08 leads m. soccer by example continued from page 12 teammates and a little bit of luck.

“In the past I have had opportunities and haven’t finished,” Davies said. This season, things are different. “I’m not creating the chances, but I’ve been fortunate to finish the plays,” he said.

Noonan said he and the rest of the coaching staff always thought Davies had a special ability to get open. “He is elusive. He turns up in good spaces,” Noonan said. “You never know which way he is going to go. There is no signature move that he always uses to get by defenders.”

This season, Davies has finally been able to put it all together, finding open space, controlling the ball and finishing in the back of the net.

After getting hot early in the season with four goals in two games on Brown’s West Coast road trip in September, the goals have just kept

on coming.

Though fortune may have played some role in Davies’ increased success, he worked in the offseason on his stamina so he could stay on the field for longer and play on both sides of the pitch.

“The role I’m playing this year is different,” he said. “I’m relied on more. The team needs me to score.”

And score he has. Davies’ goals against Rutgers University and Yale last week earned him both Ivy League Player of the Week and College Soccer News National Team honors for the second time this season. But Davies is most happy with his improved play this season and Brown’s success.

“Coming into the season, I didn’t know what to expect. We lost seven or eight seniors from last year,” he said. “I wouldn’t have expected to be 13-1-1 (overall). Each win increases our confidence.”

Still, Davies knows there is long way to go. Though not very vocal, he is still a leader, as one of just four seniors on the Brown squad — which means helping to keep the team focused on its goals. “You have to put everything into perspective.

We haven’t accomplished anything yet,” Davies said.

The Bears hope to reach their first goal Saturday, when they face Dartmouth at 4 p.m. at Stevenson Field. The Big Green trail Bruno by just a half-game in the Ivy League standings — Brown is 5-0 in the conference this season, the Big Green is 4-0-1.

With just two league matches to play, if Brown wins Saturday’s contest it will clinch the Ivy League Championship. Dartmouth’s defense has been stout all season, allowing just eight goals, but one challenge will be to contain Davies, something few squads have accomplished so far.

WEDNESDAY, november 7, 2007

Scientists find new solar system

By Marc Kaufman The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — Astronomers have discovered a fifth planet orbiting a distant sun, marking the first time that another solar system with that many circling bodies has been found.

The central star, named 55 Cancri, has smaller and larger planets circling on paths similar to those in our solar system. Astronomers said that while the planets are unlike those in our solar system in terms of their size and distance from the sun, the fact that they are all circling in stable orbits is highly significant.

“Now we know our sun and its family is not unusual,” said astronomer Geoff Marcy of the University of California at Berkeley. “Our Milky Way has 200 billion stars and billions of solar systems. We suspect that many harbor Earth-like planets.”

While scores of extrasolar planets, or “exo-planets,” have been located so far, they said, millions remain to be found.

The fifth planet, which eluded detection for years because it was tucked in between two other orbiting planets that had been detected previously, appears to be a gas giant like Jupiter or Saturn and so is unlikely to sustain life. But it orbits in what is termed the “habitable zone”

of its solar system — a band around the star where the temperature would permit liquid water to pool on solid surfaces — meaning that a rocky moon orbiting the planet, if there is one, could theoretically support life.

“The gas-giant planets in our solar system all have large moons,” said Debra Fischer, an astronomer at San Francisco State University and lead author of a paper that will appear in the Astrophysical Journal. “If there is a moon orbiting this new, massive planet, it might have pools of liquid water on a rocky surface.”

The star 55 Cancri resides in the constellation Cancer, nearly 41 light-years away. It has about the same mass as our sun and is easily visible with binoculars. The planets that orbit it, however, are far too small to be seen with the most powerful telescopes and were located and identified by measuring the “wobble” their gravity creates in the motion of their sun.

Using the wobble method, as well as looking for distant specks crossing the face of stars, astronomers have identified about 260 exo-planets since the first was discovered in the early 1990s. Most are single planets circling their sun, with a few cases of three and four in a solar system.

The planet closest to 55 Cancri is believed to be about the size of Neptune and circles the star in less than three days. The second planet is a little smaller than Jupiter and completes an orbit every 14.7 days.

The third planet, similar in mass to Saturn, completes one orbit every 44 days, and the newly found fourth planet is about the size of Saturn and orbits in 260 days. The farthestout planet is huge — four times the mass of Jupiter — and orbits every 14 years.

The researchers said there may well be other, smaller planets in the vast space between the fourth and fifth, but no telescopes are powerful enough to detect them or measure their effects on the star.

Finding the five planets circling 55 Cancri took 18 years of continuous research using the Shane telescope at Lick Observatory in Northern California. While finding the fifth planet is an unprecedented achievement, astronomer Marcy said it marks a beginning rather than an end.

“Finding five extrasolar planets orbiting a star is only one small step,” he said. “Earth-like planets are the next destination.”

The research was funded by NASA and the National Science Foundation, which have both made finding exoplanets a high priority.

NSA surveillance program taps AT&T network continued from page 7 the secret room on the 6th floor, and the technician told him it was connected to the Internet room a floor above. The technician, who was about to retire, handed him some wiring diagrams.

“That was my ‘aha’ moment,” Klein said. “They’re sending the entire Internet to the secret room.”

The diagram showed splitters, glass prisms that split signals from each network into two identical copies. One copy fed into the secret room. The other proceeded to its destination, he said.

“This splitter was sweeping up everything, vacuum-cleaner-style,” he said. “The NSA is getting everything. These are major pipes that carry not just AT&T’s customers but everybody’s.”

One of Klein’s documents listed links to 16 entities, including Global Crossing, a large provider of voice and data ser vices in the United States and abroad; UUNet, a large Internet provider in Northern Virginia now owned by Verizon; Level 3 Communications, which provides local, long-distance and data transmission in the United States and overseas; and as more familiar names such as Sprint and Qwest.

It also included data exchanges MAE-West and PAIX, or Palo Alto Internet Exchange, facilities where telecom carriers hand off Internet traffic to each other.

“I flipped out,” he said. “They’re copying the whole Internet. There’s no selection going on here. Maybe they select out later, but at the point of handoff to the government, they get everything.”

Qwest has not been sued because of media reports last year that said the company declined to participate in an NSA program to build a database of domestic phonecall records out of concern that it may have been illegal. What the documents show, Klein contends, is that the NSA apparently was collecting several carriers’ communications, probably without their

Page 9

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

consent.

Another document showed that the NSA installed in the room a Narus semantic traffic analyzer, which Klein said indicated that the NSA was doing content analysis.

Steve Bannerman, Narus’ marketing vice president, said in an interview that the NarusInsight system is “the world’s most powerful Internet traffic processing engine.”

He said it is used to detect worms, as well as to capture information to help authorities stop criminal activity. He said it can track a communication’s origin and destination,

as well as its content. He declined to comment on AT&T’s use of the system.

Klein said he decided to go public after President Bush defended the NSA’s surveillance program as limited to collecting phone calls between suspected terrorists overseas and people in the United States.

Klein said the documents show that the scope was much broader.

Klein was last in Washington in 1969, to take part in an antiwar protest. Now, he said with a chuckle, he’s here in a gray suit as a lobbyist.

U.S. deaths in Iraq increase in 2007 continued from page 7 At a news conference in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone, Rear Adm. Gregory Smith said the violence would be far worse were it not for U.S. troops’ success in discovering stockpiles of weapons.

“Simply put, it’s the fuel that drives the insurgency that has led to the death and destruction witnessed here in Iraq for the past several years,” said Smith, a U.S. military spokesman. Because of the troop increase this year, the number of weapons caches discovered has more than doubled from 2,667 in all of 2006 to 5,364 so far this year, Smith said.

In other indicators of a decline in violence, Smith said mortar and rocket attacks have decreased from more than 1,000 a month in May and June to less than 400 in October.

And the number of roadside bombs across Iraq has tumbled from about 65 a day in the fall of 2006 to less than 30 a day now,

Smith said.

Meanwhile, violence against Iraqis continued across the country.

A mass grave filled with 22 bodies in the Lake Thar Thar region of Anbar was discovered over the weekend by Iraqi soldiers, the military said.

Near Samarra, a suicide bomber driving a car filled with explosives blew up near a police commando checkpoint, killing five policemen and one civilian, police lieutenant Haidar Kadhim said. Twelve other people were wounded.

And in Mosul, a member of the governing council, Aref Youssif al-Shabki, was assassinated, an Interior Ministry official said. Three of his bodyguards were also seriously wounded.

Staff writer Josh White and staff researcher Robert E. Thomason in Washington, correspondent Sudarsan Raghavan in Madrid, Spain, and other Washington Post staff in Iraq contributed to this report.

www.browndailyherald.com

E ditorial & L etters Page 10

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Staf f Editorial

Athletics and the Ivy League It’s no secret that college athletes across the country often receive benefits not offered to other students. Whether recruiting trips, specialized tutors or athlete-only housing, student-athletes at Division I schools are typically given access to tremendous resources. With these perks becoming increasingly institutionalized at most major colleges, the Ivy League is a refreshing throwback to times when student-athletes were expected to be students first and athletes second, not the other way around.

The Ivy League does not offer athletic scholarships, and athletes usually compete on the weekend so as to avoid missing too much class time. The athletic department budgets of the eight Ivy schools would probably be hard-pressed to match what the Ohio State University athletic department spends in a month — the Wall Street Journal reported Ohio State’s athletic budget for this year is $110 million. The Ancient Eight may be among the few places in America where concert recitals are more likely to sell out than men’s basketball games.

To be sure, athletics are an important part of the college experience.

Sports and competition teach values and lessons that students cannot receive in other settings. There is an obvious need for Division I athletics at Brown, and there always will be.

Still, it’s hard to argue in favor of athletes receiving “likely letters” from the Office of Admission in early October. If Brown mails 100 “likely letters” to students unaffiliated with an athletic team but who hail from various backgrounds with a wide array of interests and specialities, how fair is it that many of the football, basketball and soccer players and others will also receive that same type of letter because they excel at a sport? It would be more fair if only some of the top athletes received “likely letters,” just like the top tuba player might be worthy of a letter, as would the top actress and the top chemist. But for athletes to be singled out to receive a level of assurance and peace of mind about one of the most significant decisions an 18-year old must make is unfair to the other students who excel in activities that, apparently, are not valued as highly as sports.

That’s not to say that “likely letters” should be extended to all the best tuba players and linebackers out there. But even though the Ivy League is surely the ideal athletic conference for those student-athletes interested in serious studying as well as serious sports, the “likely letter” practice for athletes displays a glaring difference between how Brown treats studentathletes and the rest of us.

As Professor of History Howard Chudacoff noted, simply by sending these letters, Brown suggests that it values athletics over academics. In the current climate of college recruiting at the Division I level, the University has no choice but to send these letters. But we hope there will come a time when Brown doesn’t have to send high school athletes a preferential almostassurance of admission just to convince them to come to College Hill.

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

Executive Editors Stephen Colelli Allison Kwong Ben Leubsdorf

Senior Editors Jonathan Sidhu Anne Wootton Business

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

Mandeep Gill General Manager Darren Ball Executive Manager Dan DeNorch Executive Manager Laurie-Ann Paliotti Sr. Advertising Manager Susan Dansereau Office Manager

A lexander gard - murray

Letters Loomis’ ’10 defense of hook-ups is flawed To the Editor: Although I did not read Renata Sago’s ’10 column (“A love to last past Saturday night,” Oct. 30), I’m inclined to agree with her based on the unimpressive counterargument presented by Sam Loomis ’10 (“Random hookups: An apology,” Nov. 5).

First, I found it illogical for Loomis to call self-respect an “unrealistic moral expectation” after claiming his own level of self-respect is so transcendental that he can disregard it as he pleases. Aren’t higher levels of self-respect, like the one he establishes, even more morally unreasonable?

Also, Loomis uses an excerpt from Jean Jacques Rousseau’s “Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality Among Men” to justify random hookups, specifically citing a section regarding Rousseau’s perception of the state of nature. An inherent issue in state of nature theories is that their interpretations differ from philosopher to philosopher. Furthermore, they differ on the basis of what that philosopher wants to prove, namely that their personal values — which

they have included as existing in the state of nature — are natural. Additionally, the state of nature is just a theory, not a physical time in history or point of reference. Loomis’s argument does not even acknowledge the apparent subjectivity or nonexistence of his “proof.”

Loomis says his convenient use of a Rousseau passage “shows that random hookups are natural.” But, anyone with an appropriate state of nature theory could “show” just the opposite. Being that there is no state of nature or universally accepted state of nature theory, Loomis cannot seriously try to use any conception of such to make an indisputable moral claim.

Lastly, his excerpt comes from a segment of the theory where speech has not yet been established among persons. Since we do have and use speech at Brown, this particular state of nature argument becomes difficult to use unless Loomis would also like to argue that there should be no speech in society.

Ijeoma Njaka ‘09 Nov. 5

production Steve DeLucia Catherine Cullen Roxanne Palmer

Design Editor Copy Desk Chief Graphics Editor

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

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

Steve DeLucia, Designer Ayelet Brinn, Ben Mercer, Sara Slama, Copy Editors Rachel Arndt, Michael Skocpol, 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, Sophia Lambertson, Cameron Lee, Sophia Li, Christian Martell, Taryn Martinez, George Miller, Anna Millman, Sonia Saraiya, Andrea Savdie, Marielle Segarra, Gaurie Tilak, Simon van Zuylen-Wood, Matt Varley, Meha Verghese, Joanna Wohlmuth 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 Oona Curley, Alex DePaoli, Austin Freeman, Emmy Liss, Meara Sharma, Tai Ho Shin, Min Wu Copy Editors Ayelet Brinn, Rafael Chaiken, Erin Cummings, Katie Delaney, Jake Frank, Jennifer Grayson, Ted Lamm, Max Mankin, Alex Mazerov, Ben Mercer, Ezra Miller, Seth Motel, Alexander Rosenberg, Emily Sanford, Sara Slama, Jenna Stark, Laura Straub, Meha Verghese, Elena Weissman

Correction An article in Tuesday’s Herald (“Students meet Clinton in East Greenwich fundraiser,” Nov. 6) incorrectly stated that Carly Rush ’08 had a role in organizing the Students for Hillary trip to an East Greenwich fundraiser.

Rush did not organize the trip.

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

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

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

O pinions Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Page 11

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

The abominable automobile SEAN QUIGLEY Opinions Columnist

In our modern, perhaps even postmodern, world, the automobile has a seemingly ubiquitous presence. So much so that many may never even contemplate the fact that our world has been altered, negatively in my view, by the emergence of a car culture. This car culture, which may be conceptually distinguished from the idea of a car itself, is lamentable because of its cacophonous relationship with human nature.

Realizing that many may view my position as a neo-Luddite reaction to technology, I will explain both why I lament the car culture, and why it is in fact distinguishable from the physical object that we label the car.

With the advent of the car in the late 19th century and its engine powered by combustion, the age-old desire to have expeditious means of transportation was further sated.

Barely anyone — including yours truly — can criticize the invention of a machine that allows for military personnel to reach a battle quicker, policemen to reach the scene of a crime quicker, medical technicians to reach an injured citizen quicker and the like.

However, the persistent alienation of humanity from both their fellow men and the natural world, as a direct result of the creation of a car culture whereby individuals thoughtlessly exclude themselves from that which makes them human, should be excoriated.

In these times, it seems as though the car is the secular communion bread (and gasoline the secular communion wine?) that daily nourishes society’s artificial cravings and modern humanist outlook. Usually without the slightest consideration of how much damage is

inflicted on the spirit of life when authentic human actions are incessantly auctioned off to machines, men and women drive to and park their cars at work, home, the homes of friends and our places of “play.”

There have been countless negative results. First, there is the interstate system that has caused so many rifts in society over the past 50 years. In addition to being an aesthetic nightmare, it merits harsh criticism for its innate tendency to isolate individuals, separate kin and require massive intervention on the part of the state.

lates the individual from those people who inhabit the same locale. The first cars, built in a way similar to the horse and carriage, afforded individuals the traditional opportunity to see and to be seen by fellow citizens while around the town and especially the town center. Moreover, they were not capable of immense speeds, such that they, unlike modern cars, did not create a culture in which our determination to live hectic lives resulted in the degradation of whatever remnants of a slow and contemplative life remained.

Needless to say, the car also has unaccept-

Like the radical left-wing Jacobins of the French Revolution, the automobile has the inherent goal of redefining humanity and the cultural outlook that humans possess.

Who can honestly say that the average American driver usually travels in a carpool?

Who has not experienced the pain of a separated family — nuclear or extended — with the efficiency of travel between the two parties’ locations cited as the reason and perhaps the solace? Who has not lost further respect for our government because of ridiculous (and ridiculously expensive) public works projects and arrogant policemen who regard ticketing motorists as a noble profession?

Secondly, the car in its present form iso-

able ramifications for the environment and the natural world. How many idyllic and pastoral regions were destroyed when roads for cars were deemed necessary! How much pollution has been created in this world, particularly in major cities, because an attachment to machinery and the complicated life has trumped the virtues of self-reliance and simple living!

I never thought that I would laud the increase in the price of gasoline, but daily I find myself rejoicing in the fact that motorists are now forced to make tradeoffs concerning their

consumption. Perhaps they will now consume with a conscience? Perhaps the increased price will be a disincentive for the pursuit of satisfying selfish and self-destructive vice?

Conservative philosopher and man of letters Russell Kirk, in an infamous condemnation, once labeled cars as “mechanical Jacobins.” The chief reason, in my interpretation, was that, like the radical left-wing Jacobins of the French Revolution, the automobile has the inherent goal of redefining humanity and the cultural outlook that humans possess.

Previous means of transportation may have required of us something foreign, but they did not fundamentally alter the natural state of affairs through which we experience others and the natural world.

The car is a great feat of human ingenuity, but it has been abused in such a way that humans indulge the selfish, power-seeking aspects of their nature. He who neglects his nature and his duties is destined to be ignorant of meaning, happiness and, most importantly, truth. Relying on a machine always to be one’s worker; supplanting human interaction with metallic seclusion — reinventing authenticity by putting state-created licenses and regulations in the place of experience with the natural and the rational — all are absurdities devoid of an understanding of who we are and what we ought to do.

Will we, as humans, have the courage to cast aside the inauthentic and clearly inessential aspects of how we live? If we fail to do so, I dread what may result. The loss of worldly beauty and high culture — by virtue, almost paradoxically, of its being otherworldly — is quite possibly the price that we will pay. For me at least, that is unbearable.

Sean Quigley ’10 has been accused of being a reactionary.

Cambier ’09 tries again, minus the metaphor ADAM CAMBIER Opinions Columnist

It appears that I owe someone an explanation.

In my column two weeks ago (“We’re not on College Hill anymore: Dean Bergeron and the New Curriculum,” Oct. 23) I criticized Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron’s administration of her office using the “Wizard of Oz” as an extended metaphor. The response I received was swift and brutal. The director of Brown’s writing program derided my use of the Wicked Witch of the West analogy as baseless and cheap libel (”Douglas Brown responds to Cambier’s ’09 take on Bergeron,” Oct. 25), and President Ruth Simmons called my tone “chilling” (”A conversation with the president,” Oct. 30).

These criticisms ultimately missed the point — rather than countering my argument, they attacked my rhetoric. My use of the “Wizard of Oz” as a vehicle for my message was not an attempt to be uncivil but an effort to make the column fun to write and enjoyable to read.

The use of humor (whether successful or not) to form the foundation of a larger message has been my modus operandi in writing for the opinions page for years. For instance, in the past I’ve advocated rewriting the Bible, plastering feminist slogans on the back of booty shorts and infecting unwitting celebrities with the avian flu. I certainly don’t expect busy people with more important things to do to be familiar with what I’ve written in the past, but the criticism leveled at me by the administration demonstrated a misunderstanding of

what my column was really about.

The only person to counter my actual argument was former Opinions Editor Patrick Harrison ’08, who wrote that my putting the New Curriculum atop an untouchable pedestal ignored the dynamic role students played in the creation of Brown’s current educational philosophy (“Ira Magaziner ’69 P’06 P’07 P’10 is not your daddy,” Oct. 31). Harrison’s arguments are all valid, and he raised one point in particular that I’d like to draw on: Though the New Curriculum itself should be open to change, the precedent that it set is that the

Bergeron’s violation of the “by students, for students” precedent set by the New Curriculum that sparked this wave of controversy came with the restructuring of the hierarchy of the Office of the Dean of the College. When she fired experienced Executive Associate Dean of the College Perry Ashley and reassigned his duties to two other deans, she acted against the interests of students. A pre-law acquaintance of mine recently complained that the new pre-law deans lacked the experience in the field of law school applications to offer her constructive advice and that their new duties

Does anyone really think that Bergeron is a sinister villain out to destroy the New Curriculum and ruin our educations? university should be by and for students.

Thus, here’s the message of my previous column, unclouded by obtuse analogies or exaggeration for humorous effect: Many people here at the University — both students and faculty — do not like the changes Bergeron has made since taking office last year and are worried about the future. I can’t claim to speak for everyone, but based on the overwhelmingly positive feedback I’ve received from students on what I wrote two weeks ago, I can say with some confidence that my opinion is typical.

on top of their already significant workloads left them too busy even to glance over her admissions essays. Her complaints are not out of the ordinary — I know other students who have tried to meet with the deans in question and have had trouble fitting into their overloaded schedules. I fully admit that Bergeron is well within her rights to restructure her office however she wishes, but the fact that she put many students at a disadvantage, not after consultation with people from within the University but on the advice of outsiders from Princeton and Stanford, demonstrates

a lack of commitment on her part to working with the student body when making such important decisions.

The controversy over the layoffs in the dean’s office indicates a deeper dissatisfaction swelling beneath the surface. After a Herald article detailed the firings of Ashley and others as a part of Bergeron’s office reshuffling, a student posted a thread on the Daily Jolt discussing the news. Instead of sticking just to the topic of the firings, the thread swelled to monstrous proportions as numerous students and even a faculty member expressed serious concerns about Bergeron’s intentions regarding Brown’s open curriculum.

Does anyone really think that Bergeron is a sinister villain out to destroy the New Curriculum and ruin our educations? Of course not. In the end, however, perceptions matter.

As can be seen on the Daily Jolt and from the feedback that I personally have received, the general perception of the dean by the student body is clear — worries about her actions thus far as dean leave most people unsure about the future of the university. Given Brown’s rich and storied tradition of administrators listening closely to the concerns of undergraduates, Bergeron and others in the current administration ought to consult with a wide swath of students and hold open forums on the issues before taking such drastic actions that could prove to be so detrimental to the student body. This more open and more democratic approach can only help both Bergeron and those of us who attend the University, and ultimately would serve to maintain what makes Brown so unique.

Adam Cambier ’09 is psyched about the return of “The Amazing Race.”

S ports W ednesday THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

M. water polo sets sights on Eastern title

Early, Early Decision: Athletes commit to Brown as early as October

Page 12

By Elisabeth Avallone Contributing Writer

With an enrollment of 2,300, St. Francis College proudly calls itself the “Small College of Big Dreams.”

Perhaps nothing at the New York City school embodies the motto better than its water polo team, the perennial powerhouse that consistently beats up bigger colleges.

Like Brown, for example.

After a rocky start, the No. 19 men’s water polo team fell 14-10 to No. 11 St. Francis in the finals of the Northern Division Championships at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sunday. It was the Bears’ second loss to the Terriers, who also won a September match 14-12.

St. Francis led the Bears 9-4 at halftime and 12-6 after three quarters. Though the Bears out-scored St. Francis 4-2 in the fourth quarter, the Terriers’ offensive prowess in the first half proved too strong to topple.

“I think our biggest problem was execution,” said Head Coach Felix Mercado. “We weren’t outplayed — we just didn’t execute well. All of that is fixable with practice. We are going to focus more on the tactical part of the game by walking through stuff so the team has more time to see what I expect from them.”

Mike Gartner ’09 led the Bears in scoring with four goals and also had four ejections. Hank Weintraub’s ’09 single goal was coupled with six assists. Grant LeBeau ’09 with two goals, and Gerrit Adams ’08 and Corey Schwartz ’11, each with one goal rounded out the scoring for the Bears. Goalie Kent Holland ’10 had seven saves.

“Initially we came out slow,” Weintraub said. “We were a little bit intimidated, but we got over that in the second half and will be more competitive with them the

By Hari Tyagi Contributing Writer

dspics.com

Mike Gartner ’09 and the m. water polo team fell in the Northern Division finals.

next time we play them.”

Though the loss was disappointing, the only thing it affected was the Bears’ seeding at the Eastern Championships in two weeks. The Bears will now focus on that tournament, since a title there would earn Brown a trip to the NCAA tournament.

“We want to win (Eastern), but I’ll be satisfied if we play to our fullest capabilities,” Mercado said.

“I want us to be in every game and if we lose, it’s because that other team was better than us — not be-

cause we didn’t play well. If we end up winning the whole thing it will be great, but I’ll be happy if at the end we can look in the mirror and say we played our best.”

Weintraub was a bit more specific when asked about his goals for the Eastern Championships.

“Are you kidding? We want to win. We’re a dark horse. No one expects us to win, but we’re looking for an upset,” he said.

The Eastern Championships take place at Harvard from November 16 to 18.

For many Brown freshmen, April 2 was the day the suspense ended, when the University sent out acceptance, rejection and wait-list letters to thousands of applicants. But for Jelani Floyd ’11, a recruited men’s basketball player, the wait ended months earlier.

“It takes off a lot of stress,” said Floyd, who verbally committed to Brown in February and received notification of his “likely” acceptance immediately afterward. “Since I knew I was going to get in, I would have been amazed if I wasn’t admitted in April. It’s very hard to get admitted into an Ivy League school, and a ‘likely letter’ just takes a lot of that anxiety off.”

The Admission Office said dozens of athletes verbally commit to Brown before many non-athletes even apply to the University.

“The verbal commitment is from the athlete’s point of view,” said Garrett Leffelman ’11, another recruited men’s basketball player. “It lets all other schools that are recruiting the athlete know, ‘No, stop recruiting me.’ ” While most students receive their Brown admission notifications through early decision in mid-December or regular decision in early April, the admission office reserves a spot for some recruited athletes as early as October.

In early October, two high-school seniors ­— Marques Coleman, of Glendale, Ariz., and Noel Hollingsworth, of Salt Lake City — verbally committed to play basketball at Brown, according to Scout.com.

Floyd confirmed the information.

After an athlete verbally commits, the admission office sends the recruit a “likely letter.” The letter virtually guarantees that the athlete will be accepted at Brown — unless his or her grades drop severely, said Dean of Admission Jim Miller ’73.

The notification cannot be given to recruits until they send in an official application, encouraging such students to apply as early as possible.

“We assess athletes and decide based on our experience and what the applicant pool will look like,” Miller said. “Nothing is official until there is an official admission offer early decision or regular decision.”

Miller said Brown also sends “likely letters” to about 100 nonathletes — “to top students” — each year during the regular decision process, just as other Ivy League schools do.

Admission for recruited athletes in the Ivy League is slightly different than in other NCAA Division I schools.

“At other universities, once a student commits to play a sport, they are automatically in,” Floyd said, “but here at Brown once you commit, you have one foot in the door, and all you have to do is be consistent (with grades), and both feet will be in the door come acceptance-letter time. You must get admitted like any other student, but you have a couple of edge points over regular students because you play a sport.”

All spor ts recr uit athletes throughout the year. For example, all Ivy League institutions but Dartmouth have had verbal commitments from at least one men’s basketball prospect this year. According to continued on page 6

M. soccer’s Davies ’08: once green, now Brown

By Jason Harris Assistant Spor ts Editor

Ashley Hess / Herald File Photo

Kevin Davies ’08 has scored in four of the past five games for the men’s soccer team.

The men’s soccer team’s seven straight wins have been the result of a team effort. The Bears have received contributions from freshmen and seniors, for wards and defenders, starters and subs. But over the course of the No. 4 Bears’ most recent winning stretch, one player in particular has taken on a major role. With a goal in each of the last three games, and four out of the last five, forward Kevin Davies ’08 has kicked in his fair share for a team looking to win the Ivy League title and make a run deep into the postseason.

Davies’ soccer career began at age five on the youth fields of his hometown, Port Washington, N.Y,, where he played for the green team.

Though he was skilled in many different sports, soccer became his favorite.

“I didn’t have a soccer family, so I played all sports and was best at soccer,” he said. “I have now grown to love it.”

Davies currently leads the Bears with 10 goals and is second in points with 23, one behind fellow forward Dylan Sheehan ’09. The two have proven to be a tremendous combination up front for the Bears.

“Dylan and I are two completely

different players,” Davies said. “He holds the ball and keeps possession. ... I run around off flick balls. We complement each other.”

Head Coach Mike Noonan said he has been impressed with the way the two forwards have gelled this season. “(Davies and Sheehan) have a good partnership and relationship,” he said. “In the past it was more in-

dividualistic. Now they have a good understanding of where the other is. They also wear teams down by pressing on defense.”

Davies’ production on the score sheet is way up from last year, when he tallied just one goal and four assists. The turnaround this season has come from hard work, good continued on page 8

���������� ������������ ����������������� ����

������

���������� ����� �����

�����

�

�����

��

�

������

�

����������

�

�

������

�

�����������

�

�

������

�

�������������

�

�

������

!��"�

�

#

�$����

�

��������� ����!����

�

�

������

"

���������

�

#

�����

#

$�

�

"

������

�

%�!����

�

��

������

��

�����

�

��

������