Wednesday, February 13, 2008

The Brown Daily Herald Wednesday, F ebr uar y 13, 2008

Volume CXLIII, No. 16

Since 1866, Daily Since 1891

U. will give students off-campus parking

BUCC votes to join fair labor nonprofit consortium

Officials discuss dorm life, energy issues

By Emmy Liss Senior Staff Writer

Students showed support for a proposal to increase the fair treatment of workers who produce university apparel at a Brown University Community Council meeting Tuesday.

The council also discussed dorm living and recent energy announcements.

Returning to an issue the BUCC has discussed before, Walter Hunter, vice president of administration and chief risk officer, presented a proposal for the Designated Suppliers Program.

The DSP is designed to ensure that textile workers’ rights are not violated in the production of university apparel. This is built on two components: requirements of factories to treat workers fairly and requirements on licensees to ensure fair contracts and price standards.

The newest report from Hunter and the committee he worked with on the topic, which included faculty, students and administrators, recommends the University issue a statement in support of DSP and join the Worker Rights Consortium Working Group, a non-profit organization working to imple-

By Sam Byker Senior Staff Writer

Courtesy of Sarah Adler-Milstein

Students from the Student Labor Alliance and other student groups display their opinion at the BUCC meeting Tuesday.

ment similar programs at other universities.

“The key is for Brown to be at the table,” Hunter said.

Katie Panella ’07, who has worked with the group, also spoke and praised the student, faculty and administrator collaboration.

“This is a result of a lot of different opinions,” she said. “Impor-

tant decisions should not be made behind closed doors,” The Student Labor Alliance was in full attendance to support Hunter’s announcement of the DSP proposal. SLA first brought this issue to the attention of Simmons in 2005 and has since focused a lot of time and energy on making this program work at Brown, student

representatives said.

“SLA has been present and will continue to be present,” Lenora Knowles ’11 said.

The BUCC unanimously voted to follow the steps outlined in the DSP proposal.

continued on page 4

Former Columbia prof. hired to lead global initiatives

By Jenna Stark Senior Staff Writer

Vasuki Nesiah, a senior associate at the International Center for Transitional Justice, was named director of international affairs, a new position created as part of the the University’s ongoing initiative to give Brown a more global identity.

Arriving on campus in early February, Nesiah, a native Sri Lankan, is to work alongside Vice President for International Affairs David Kennedy ’76 in steering the new initiative. Nesiah is a former adjunct associate professor of international

and public affairs at Columbia.

The University held a national search with hundreds of applicants to fill the new position, Kennedy said. The search committee included three senior deans and two senior faculty members who were involved in the interview process, he said.

The final five candidates were brought to campus. Of the five, Nesiah was the strongest candidate, Kennedy said.

“I’m thrilled she accepted our offer,” he added. “She was our firstchoice candidate and I’m excited to welcome her to campus.”

Nesiah applied for the position because she was looking for a way to return to academic work without being confined to the classroom.

Nesiah said she enjoyed her work at ICTJ and Columbia, and thought the work at Brown would combine the elements of both jobs that she liked.

“The more I found out about Brown’s approach to academic vision, the more it seemed perfect,” she said.

Nesiah’s first step as the new director is meeting with different groups on campus to determine what students and faculty want

from the internationalization initiative. “We’re not keen on coming in with a program that’s preordained, but one that’s based on the direction people would want it to go,” she said.

Nesiah has already met with faculty in the physics, engineering and chemistry departments, she said.

“It was the beginning of a dialogue,” said Professor of Physics Chung-I Tan. “We would like to have recognition that science in itself is very much global and incontinued on page 6

The ‘dormitory to end all dormitories’ turns 40

By Marielle Segarra Staff Writer

Occupying an entire square block on the south end of campus, the Graduate Center is a lot of things to a lot of people. Some students see the building as a cement fortress.

FEATURE Others say it’s an example of modern architecture and geometry. But all agree it is not being used as was intended when it was built in 1968 — to house graduate students.

The Graduate Center was designed by architectural firm Shepley, Bulfinch, Richardson and

3

HIGHER ED

Abbott and built by E. Turgeon Construction Company, according to the Encyclopedia Brunoniana.

Before it was built, graduate students lived at 67 and 69 Manning St. Grad Center was built “with the Oxford (housing) model in mind,” said Barrett Hazeltine, professor emeritus of engineering. “It was sort of fashionable in its time, this idea of small rooms all structured around a central corridor.”

Hazeltine, who has taught at Brown since the 1960s, said Grad Center was built to create a space for grad students to socialize and

LOSING DIVERSITY Ending affirmative action leads to more Asians and fewer black and Hispanic students, a study finds

www.browndailyherald.com

continued on page 4

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CAMPUS NEWS

Kim Perley / Herald File Photo

The Graduate Center was originally conceived as “the dormitory to end all dormitories,” said Professor of Mathematics Thomas Banchoff. Now, it inspires as much bemusement as awe.

FORGET FLOWERS A Brown professor knows the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for the man in your life

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OPINIONS

SELLING BROWN Maha Atal ‘08 thinks banning early admits at ADOCH will hurt the University

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

The University plans to eliminate all on-campus parking for undergraduates next semester and will begin offering students spaces in an offcampus garage or lot with a shuttle service to College Hill, University officials have announced.

Currently, about 200 spaces in various lots around campus are allocated to rising juniors and seniors in a spring semester lottery. That practice will continue this year, but the spaces will be in an area off-campus, the location of which has yet to be determined, said Brendan McNally, special assistant to the executive vice president for planning.

Brown has decided to expand by making its core campus denser, pushing space for auxiliary services like parking into other areas. Construction of the $50-million Nelson Fitness Center, will eliminate the large parking lot within the Erickson Athletic Complex. That, said McNally, will eliminate enough parking spaces that Brown would be out of compliance with city law if it didn’t replace them.

Providence requires all businesses and institutions to have a certain amount of off-street parking based on the number of patrons, students or visitors they have, McNally said.

Two spokespersons from the mayor’s office did not return calls from The Herald.

“As we’ve done a lot of these major projects, we’ve had to find a solution for the parking. Leasing spaces off College Hill provided a solution that was the most cost-effective,” McNally said. “Underground parking is extremely expensive, and surface parking — there isn’t enough of it on College Hill. So as we moved forward, that put us to say, ‘Where can we do it off campus?’ That’s what we’re doing right now.”

The off-campus site must be on or near a bus route and a safeRIDE shuttle route, McNally said. The spaces would need to be relatively close to College Hill and safe, both for cars and students, McNally said.

The University has been considering such a project for a long time, but now administrators have decided to commit themselves to the plan, he said.

Rates will be heavily subsidized by the University, McNally said, and should be comparable to current prices — $515 per academic year for undergraduates.

Charlotte Lipschitz ’10 pays $50 a month for a private parking space near Hope and John streets, southeast of campus. As a sophomore, she couldn’t enter the parking lottery, so she picked the cheapest listing she could find on Craigslist. One listed at Angell and Thayer streets started at continued on page 4

sunny, 40 / 24

tomorrow’s weather The snow will disappear faster than your chances for finding convenient parking next year

News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com

T oday Page 2

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Menu

But Seriously | Charlie Custer and Stephen Barlow

Sharpe Refectory

Verney-Woolley Dining Hall

Lunch — Beef and Broccoli Szechwan, Sticky Rice with Edamame Beans, Polynesian Ratatouille, Spinach Strudel, Breakfast for Lunch, Raspberry Sticks

Lunch — Chicken Pot Pie, Pizza Rustica, Fresh Sliced Carrots, Pasta Bar, Raspberry Sticks

Dinner — Pork Chops, Baked Sweet Potatoes, Macaroni and Cheese with Avocados and Tomatoes, African Honey Bread, Apple Oatmeal Crisp

Dinner — Roasted Honey and Chili Chicken, Egg Foo Young, Sticky Rice, Jamaican Pork & Apricot Saute, African Honey Bread, Apple Oatmeal Crisp

Sudoku

Dunkel | Joe Larios

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

Enigma Twist | Dustin Foley

© Puzzles by Pappocom

RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Los Angeles Times Crossword Puzzle C r o sDaily swo rd Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

ACROSS 1 Like new recruits 4 Pelota catcher 9 Hair waves 14 Prefix with bar 15 Helvetica lookalike 16 Better than close 17 Narnia tale 19 Medicinal herb 20 East Coast hoopster 22 Identical 24 “Whether __ nobler ...”: Hamlet 25 More than tipsy 26 Chubby hot dog 31 Church tower feature 32 Hostel 33 Sheet of stamps 34 Seating preference 35 Rice field frequenter better known as the Java sparrow 38 N.J. army base 41 Opening time 42 Old gray mare, e.g.

45 Tombstone name 46 Computer term, based on an arcade game, regarding the annoyance of fending off recurring spammers 49 Jacques’s “here” 50 Med. care provider 51 Sonja Henie’s birthplace 52 Nursery rhyme line that finishes this puzzle’s theme 58 Explosive trial 59 Respected, as an elder 62 Choice group 63 Irregularly notched 64 Towing gp.

65 Units of force 66 Landlords’ income 67 It’s eight hours later than PST

DOWN 1 Rocker Ocasek 2 Burnt log leftover 3 Laborer 4 Kid’s plea 5 Leif’s father 6 Kind of pay 7 One might be tall 8 Notifies 9 Chilean cabbage?

10 Corp. meeting caller 11 Vexes 12 Longtime “Breakfast Club” radio host Don 13 Say “Boo!” to, say 18 A hundred bucks 21 Grabbed the worm 22 Schuss or slalom 23 Massachusetts cape 27 2001 Spacey film 28 Gum mouthful 29 German conjunction 30 Former U.S. soccer team captain Claudio 31 Try to buy on eBay

34 District 35 Orange seed 36 Pen name 37 36-Down filler 38 Pretended 39 Without actually saying so 40 Popular ’50s’60s date spot 42 Oats holder 43 Every one 44 Old Metro maker

Gus vs. Them | Zachary McCune and Evan Penn

46 Powerful arms, briefly 47 First FBI director 48 “__ Lisa” 50 Cannot stand 53 Right on a mapa 54 “Chicago” actor 55 Presently 56 Starr predecessor 57 Mine output 60 Flee 61 Lap (up)

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Free Variation | Jeremy Kuhn

xwordeditor@aol.com

2/13/08

Classic Deo | Daniel Perez

By Russell G. Brown (c)2008 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

Draw comics for The Herald! herald@browndailyherald.com

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2/13/08 Editorial Phone: 401.351.3372

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H igher E d Wednesday, February 13, 2008

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Without affirmative action, House takes on textbooks in HEA bill Asian admission rates rise Bill addresses rising

By Patrick Corey Staff Writer

In the absence of affirmative action laws, admission rates at public universities have risen for AsianAmerican students, while numbers for white, black and Hispanic students have declined, according to a recent study.

The study, released by the University of California at Los Angeles last week, also found that across all races, the male population drops in schools with blind admissions processes.

The study tracked admission statistics for selective public universities in three of the nation’s four most populous states — California, Florida and Texas. These states have not had affirmative action in college admissions since 1999.

“What we were doing was taking a look at three states that had felt the effects of banning affirmative action,” said study co-author David Colburn, professor emeritus and provost emeritus at the University of Florida. “We wanted to see how it all played out.”

Working with Colburn on the report was Victor Yellen, emeritus lecturer, assistant provost and former director of institutional research at UF, and Charles Young, chancellor emeritus and professor at UCLA. Young was UF’s president when the state banned affirmative action

and was chancellor at UCLA, which also prohibits affirmative action, for nearly 30 years before that.

“He had a comparative perspective,” Colburn said.

Though the results of the affirmative action ban varied from state to state because of differences in policies intended to mitigate the effects, general trends emerged to confirm that Asian-American students are disadvantaged in a raceconscious admissions system.

California was hit hardest in its loss of black and Hispanic students and did the least legislatively to retain diversity. In 1996, Californians adopted Proposition 209, which prohibited university admission offices from considering race, sex or ethnicity in its decisions.

As a result, the number of black students admitted to the University of California at Berkeley dropped from 562 in fall 1997 to 191 in fall 1998. Hispanic admission numbers plunged as well, from 1,266 to 600.

Since 1997, the percentage of black and Latino students admitted to the University has dropped 6.5 percent while the Asian-American percentage has jumped 6.2 percent.

Florida and Texas were able to stifle such dramatic population shifts by implementing programs to ensure public university admission to high-achieving high school students. Texas, which lost a court continued on page 6

Violence forces changes to Kenyan study-abroad plans

By Gaurie Tilak Staff Writer

Since post-election violence has erupted in Kenya, colleges across the United States have faced a tough decision: Should they cancel studyabroad programs there, or let them continue and put their students’ safety at risk?

The normally stable African nation has been in turmoil since the December 2007 presidential elections, in which incumbent President Mwai Kibaki was elected over his opponent Raila Odinga, despite claims of election rigging. For years, Kenyans have typically voted along ethnic lines. The election results have led to tension among Kenya’s major ethnic groups and political parties.

In response to the violence in Kenya, several U.S. colleges and universities have canceled or relocated their Kenyan study-abroad programs for the spring semester.

The School for International Training is an independent organization based in Vermont that directs study-abroad programs for students across the country. Students in the Kenyan SIT program travel around the country to examine health and social development.

SIT has decided to relocate its program from Kenya to Uganda for the spring 2008 semester. SIT moved the program partly because the violence in some areas would have restricted travel.

“We felt that the restrictions on the students were going to be too strict,” said Sarah Martin, manager of university relations for SIT’s study-abroad program, adding that the organization often has to adjust programs because

of political issues.

But SIT rarely cancels a program outright, Martin said.

“It’s not something we like to do, but sometimes that’s the best choice,” she said. “Overall though, it’s fairly rare.”

Whether the program is able to run as planned in Kenya next fall depends on the political situation at the time.

“We always evaluate a big picture before we decide to run a program or not,” Martin said.

For now, the center felt the best decision was to relocate the program to a safer country.

“Students aren’t going to get the same cultural experience, but they’ll have an equally rewarding one,” she said.

Princeton decided to cancel its program in Kenya this semester and to offer students the chance to study in Panama instead. The Kenyan program focused on ecology and conservation, and the university felt that those fields could be studied just as easily in Panama.

“We began monitoring the situation very early on after the election before the violence exploded,” wrote Daniel Rubenstein, director of the program in African studies at Princeton, in an e-mail to The Herald.

Though the majority of the program was to take place in a research center in a safe region, some parts of the program involved traveling to more violent urban areas.

“With uncertainty and risk high, we felt it was inappropriate to put students in harm’s way,” Rubenstein wrote. continued on page 6

textbook costs

By Catherine Cullen Contributing Writer

A bill reauthorizing the Higher Education Act was passed by the House of Representatives Thursday. In the bill was an amendment addressing the financial burden of rising textbook costs. Though the provisions of the bill have been greeted as good news by students, members of the publishing industry are more skeptical.

The reauthorization, which, among other things, simplified the Free Application for Federal Student Aid form, changed the requirements for Pell grants and regulated private loan conditions, called for increased transparency on the part of textbook publishers and also directed universities to publish lists of required texts in course catalogs.

The sponsors of the bill argue that including required texts in a course guide would allow students to get a more accurate idea of the cost of the classes they are considering taking.

Proponents of the amended bill argue that increased transparency will lessen the financial burden on students by lowering the mark-up publishers can place on books.

Groups, including the Association of American Publishers and the National Association of College Stores, claim the new requirements would place an undue burden on publish-

ers and may in fact increase the cost of course materials for students.

Stacy Skelly, the AAP’s assistant director for higher education, said the association is “fully supportive of transparency,” adding that “it’s part of how publishers can be successful.” But she cautioned that publishers “do have to be careful of legislation that may increase textbook prices.”

Students asked about how textbook prices affect their course selections generally responded that they chose their classes regardless of the cost. But students did say that textbooks cost more than they should.

Jessica Colmenares ’11 is one of many students who doesn’t consider textbook prices when choosing classes.

“I’m pre-med so I take the classes that I need to,” Colmenares said. “That’s why price doesn’t really matter. But I do think they’re overpriced.”

Colmenares, like many students in science-related concentrations, feels the price of textbooks acutely.

Another pre-med student, Jordan Apfeld ’11, accepts the heavy costs of science texts because they are required.

“I only consider (price differences) for my humanities classes,” Apfeld said. “Like, if there’s only 50 pages of reading but you have to buy a whole book for 20 bucks.”

Science concentrators are also more heavily affected by the price of bundled materials than other students. Bundled materials, as defined

in the amendment, are “college textbooks or other supplemental learning materials that may be packaged together to be sold as course materials for one price.” The amendment requires publishers to “unbundle” course materials and make the materials available separately.

Citing classes in the chemistry department, especially CHEM 0330: “Equilibrium, Rate and Strucutre” and CHEM 0350: “Organic Chemistry” as particularly dependent on bundles, some students expressed interest in buying the course materials separately. Michael Chang ’11 said he had “never used the CDROM” included with the textbook for his science classes and said he would not buy it if it were offered separately from the required textbook.

Kelsey Peterson ’10 noted another problem with bundled course material: textbook buy-backs.

“You can’t sell back just one part of the bundle,” she said. “You have to sell it all back and workbooks that you’ve written in don’t work for this.”

Skelly defended integrated materials, saying that “pedagogically (it) wouldn’t make sense to separate them.” She described computer science and graphic design courses as benefiting from these arrangements because students “can’t have examples on paper with the software not there and can’t have the software without the written exercises.” She said she is concerned continued on page 6

Page 4

Off-campus spots not OK with some student drivers

Hill Neighborhood Association who supports the plan. Making car own$400 per month, she said. ership less appealing “is perfectly Lipschitz is on Brown’s sailing consistent with Brown’s environmenteam and carpools with other students tal initiatives,” he added. “I think it’s to daily practices. On weekends, she terrific.” said, individual members often travel “Practice what you preach,” Zieto separate regattas, which requires nowicz said. “Get on a bus. Ride your transportation the team van can’t pro- bike.” vide. Thus, a certain number of team Sophia Berger ’10 disagrees. “Not members need cars on College Hill. everyone needs a car, and it’s better “I’d much prefer to park on-cam- if you can share a car,” she said. “But pus, because whatever spot I could realistically, Providence does not have get would be a little bit closer,” Lip- particularly good public transportaschitz said. If she wants to have her tion — it’s hard to get around. There current space again next year, she are a lot of basic services that are not may have to pay for it through the walkable distance, especially when it’s summer months, when she won’t be really cold and icy out. And it’s not in Providence. really feasible to get everywhere by But an off-campus lot with shuttle either walking or biking.” service doesn’t appeal to her. “I think Berger shares a friend’s car — and that’s a really bad idea,” Lipschitz the cost of its parking space — with said. “What if you need to leave at four other students, who use it mainly six o’clock in the morning?” So she’ll for grocery shopping and other erprobably try to find a private spot rands. They pay $100 per month for a closer to campus, she said. spot near Hope and Williams streets University and were planofficials have ning to enter cited Brown’s the parking lotU-PASS protery next year. gram, which alNow, they’re lows Brown ID reconsidering. holders to ride “I think we’d Rhode Island be more likely Public Transit to find a private Authority for spot off-campus free, as one (if it was) closer Chris Bennett / Herald File Photo than the Brown way of eliminatThe College Hill streets may have to ing the need for parking,” she accomodate more cars soon. student parksaid. “It kind of ing. An expansion of Brown’s Zipcar eliminates the purpose of having a service could also help, but nego- car if you have to go downtown to tiations are still underway to lower get it.” the rental company’s membership The elimination of the Erickson age to 18 and add additional cars to lot, which is frequently used by sportthe three currently on campus, The ing event attendees, could compound Herald reported Jan. 30. the parking problems that Bruno fans Lipschitz is skeptical. Zipcar already face. “would work for people who use “I’m not sure the University really their car once a month and know in has any solutions that are as good as advance,” she said. “It’s not like you what we currently have,” said Tom can call Zipcar and say ‘I need a car Bold, associate athletic director for in 20 minutes. Where is it?’ ” facilities. “As a part of our job we Community leaders and officials get people to come to events, and appealed to students’ sense of com- it’ll certainly be difficult to attract munity. “If more students were keen people — especially during inclemto the idea of utilizing what the college ent weather — when we don’t have provides as far as transportation, it’d parking readily available right out in make it better for everyone up in that front of the complex.” area,” said Providence Police Depart“We’ve talked about some satellite ment Sgt. Paul Zienowicz, commander areas, some shuttles — all things that of the police traffic services unit. are viable solutions, but I’m not sure “In the year 2008, where every- it’s the kind of thing someone ... combody is concerned with global warm- ing to an athletic event is real happy ing, sustainability and green initia- about having to do,” he said. tives, why are students complaining Lt. John Ryan, commanding ofabout not being able to bring their ficer of the PPD District 9 substation, cars onto campus?” asked Chris said the University is working with Tompkins, a member of the College local stakeholders to change College Hill’s street parking system, which currently permits only two-hour parking in most places, and to come up with new solutions that could help students and visitors.

In the meantime, city workers in the area will continue to run a brisk business issuing tickets, which start at $20 for overtime parking. And if Brown cuts on-campus spaces, Ryan said, “I think it’ll increase intensity for everyone trying to get parking.

It’s tough now. Add more cars and it’s only going to get worse.” continued from page 1

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

BUCC hears analysis of ‘residential experience’ continued from page 1 Energy initiatives Chris Powell, director of sustainable energy and environmental initiatives, presented goals for reducing the University’s carbon footprint. On Jan. 24, President Ruth Simmons announced greenhouse gas reduction goals, which Powell recapped at the BUCC meeting.

Existing buildings on campus will reduce their emissions to 42 percent of 2007 levels by 2020.

New construction will be 25 to 50 percent below state emission standards. The plans are designed to achieve, at minimum, a silver standard in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a rating system for buildings. Any newly acquired facilities will operate between 15 and 30 percent below state standards.

The discrepancy in numbers between building categories is largely due to unknown factors, such as existing heating devices, possibilities for fuel switching and the buildings’ current ef ficiency levels.

Existing structures will undergo evaluation in order to make sure they have the opportunity to “operate to design,” Powell said.

The University will also evaluate the potential for new improvement or investment. The president’s home is currently being used as a “case study,” and the Laboratories for Molecular Medicine, a newly acquired property at 70 Ship St., is also being examined.

Projects in the works — the Mind Brain Behavior Building, the Creative Ar ts Center, the renovation of Rhode Island Hall, the Nelson Fitness Center and a new aquatics facility — are being planned with High Performance

Design and LEED Silver regulations in mind.

“We want to make sure we build these buildings for the long-term,” Powell said.

When asked about solar and wind power implementation, Powell said that though nothing is currently planned, “we’re looking at other options as we go through.”

Ginger Gritzo, energy and environmental programs coordinator, unveiled the new Web site — “Brown is Green.” The goal of the Web site is to “educate its community, armed with the tools to prevent further damage to the environment,” she said.

The Web site’s four key foci are research and teaching, University commitments, community collaboration and student groups and initiatives.

As part of the Community Carbon Use Reduction at Brown plan, the University has made $350,000 available in grants for projects which will reduce carbon emissions. The funding will be paid out over this calendar year and applications are available to all members of the community.

As new projects and programs are implemented, the University will begin tracking the savings and cost of each effort, in order to better know “exactly what we need and what we’ll be spending,” Powell said.

The ‘residential experience’ Also on the council’s agenda was the report from the Committee on the Residential Experience, which was created to review the student experience outside of the classroom. Margaret Klawunn, associate vice president of campus life and dean for student life and co-chair of the committee, presented the group’s prelimi-

nar y suggestions for improving the residential experience.

In light of the Task Force on Undergraduate Education, she said, “We have to ask, ‘How is the undergraduate experience out of the classroom a part of that?’”

The report covers three main categories: facilities, student-faculty interaction and programming and staffing within the residence halls.

Working with students, faculty and administrators, the committee determined that there is a deficit of lounge space and a need for more frequent renovations in dormitories.

Faculty and student interactions have high value, Klawunn said, but the University could support them further. In conjunction with the ongiong review of undergraduate academics, the faculty fellows program is being revised by the committee in order to tie academics and student life together more strongly.

Student feedback regarding residence hall programming led the committee to recommend tailoring programs to dif ferent kinds of suppor t. Though the student-counselor ratio in freshman dorms is one to 20, it jumps in sophomore dorms to one to ninety, the report stated.

The committee wants to provide more counselors and “redeploy” counselors already hired to provide the appropriate resources.

BUCC members of fered additional suggestions, including greater funding for students and faculty to eat meals together; more communal spaces in academic buildings, like Barus and Holley’s lobby cafe; and more structured interactions between undergraduate and graduate students.

Walls built to protect students from ‘urban crime’ continued from page 1 study together.

“There wasn’t a focal point for grad students to meet,” he said.

“It was supposed to be the dormitory to end all dormitories” and “immensely desirable,” said Professor of Mathematics Thomas Banchoff, who has been a professor on College Hill for over 40 years. “All the grad students were supposed to want to live there.”

But the building’s structure only made it possible for four units of grad students to live on a floor, Banchoff said, which may not have fostered socializing.

“It did become a desirable space for undergraduates, but the graduate students never warmed to it, even at the time,” he said.

Banchoff said grad students preferred to live off-campus in nicer housing.

Assistant Vice President of Planning, Design and Construction Michael McCormick said the building’s aesthetics may not have appealed to grad students.

“The architecture style of the time was very hard-edge and brutal,” McCormick said. “My guess is they pretty quickly realized that it was fairly cold and not very social.”

Sam Ewenczyk ’10 became wellacquainted with the building last semester, when he wrote and directed a five-minute video on Grad Center for HIAA 0850: “Modern Architecture.”

“The design was to give grad students privacy and a space for themselves” that also let them talk and communicate with each other, Ewenczyk said, adding that he thought the building was “constructed out of a good intention.”

“By limiting entrances to the complex, residents are spared from having pedestrians walk close to their windows. This way, privacy is ensured,” he wrote in the script for his documentary, based on information from architectural library archives.

Ewenczyk said some grad students at the time had spouses and children, so the building layout also sought to accommodate growing families.

Though he said he tried to stay objective in his documentary, Ewenczyk said he took issue with certain aspects of Grad Center.

“The fact that there’s a cement wall erected completely turns the building into a fort,” he said.

“There’s definitely a certain element to it that people resent.”

The undergraduates who live in the building “feel isolated,” he said, adding that he had spoken to several Grad Center residents while researching for his project.

But Hazeltine said that while the building may be out of style now, it needs to be understood in the context of when it was built.

“It was a relic of the time, when people liked buildings like that,” he said.

McCormick echoed Hazeltine’s

words.

“That was also just the style in that period of time,” he said. “It was really more about protecting the building from the street than participating in the street life.”

McCormick said there was concern about “urban crime” at the time, so the University wanted to build a safe and protective building. “There was a theor y about defensible space that was ver y popular at the time,” he said.

Though the building is still around, there have been several changes since its construction, including the transformation of its cafeteria into the Bear’s Lair, Hazeltine said. He said he thought the cafeteria was nixed because it received so little traffic.

But the draw of alcohol kept one part of Grad Center popular then — and now. A lower drinking age in the 1970s made the Graduate Center Bar a bustling destination on campus, Hazeltine said.

The bar “was very fun” and undergrads would often play pool there, Banchoff said. But Banchoff doesn’t necessarily trot over to Grad Center to sample the beer on tap.

“I like the outside helix because it’s an example of a helicoid,” Banchoff said of the spiral staircase that leads up to the Bear’s Lair.

He said the staircase is the largest helix in Providence and that he brings his mathematics students over to Grad Center “to try to get a feel for the geometry of it.”

C ampus n ews Wednesday, February 13, 2008

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

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The best V-Day gift for guys? Sex, prof. says Men don’t need eye contact, author says

By Christian Martell Staff Writer

Courtesy of Little Green

Manchester, NH’s school district is one of many public school systems being assisted

by Brown’s Education Alliance. Federal grants sponsor the alliance’s public outreach.

Education Alliance using grants to expand Because of federal assistance, the Brown Education Alliance is reaching out across the country seeking to bring “equity and diversity” to struggling schools.

The alliance recently received a federal grant allowing it to work with school districts and state departments of education “to create ways in which states can better support the work of school boards,” said Adeline Becker, executive director of the Brown Education Alliance, a non-profit organization that provides technical assistance and consulting on inequity issues in school districts along the East Coast.

It is not clear how large the grant is.

“Brown does have a commitment to community outreach,” Becker said. “We do have a commitment, particularly after the slavery study, to be looking at issues relative to minorities, and that’s intrinsic to our work.”

The alliance has both a research and a development component, meaning that it works with both areas to analyze the current conditions of schools and to make suggestions for improvement based on the states’ education budgets, she said.

Given that districts with many minority students are often in the worst condition, Becker said the Education Alliance looks at the low performance of particular populations or demographics, performs curriculum audits and examines teacher quality.

The alliance, which is staffed entirely by Brown students and faculty, has projects across the Eastern Seaboard and is expanding across the country. There are projects currently underway in Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, New York, Louisiana and Washington state, Becker said.

Because of its historical focus on equity and diversity, the Education Alliance has a particular focus on support for students learning English. Recently the alliance received a different federal grant to send 40 local teachers to Brown to earn master’s degrees in English as a second language education and cross-cultural studies.

Though a number of districts have contacted the Education Alliance about its work with those learning English, “We’re broader than that,” Becker said. The Collaborative Alliance Network, or CAN, for example, is a network of representatives from institutions of higher education and K-12 administrators who, along with the Education Alliance, work to improve the recruitment of students of color into teaching.

“There’s a well-known and — in many places — expanding divide between the demographics of the teaching population and the attending populations,” said Scott Fletcher, chair of the University of New Hampshire’s education department and member of CAN. Fletcher said that especially in urban areas, there is a “divide in the cultural experience” of students and teachers.

Though there are other programs like the Education Alliance at universities across the nation, none has exactly the same goals or practices as Brown’s department, which is a good thing, Becker said.

“There are a large number of students from diverse backgrounds.

Having a variety of institutions is important to the nation — we’re not all the same.”

Looking for the perfect Valentine’s Day gift? For a man, sex would be your best bet, says Scott Haltzman ’82 MD’85.

“It’s not about power,” in a relationship, said Haltzman, a clinical assistant professor of psychiatr y and human behavior. “It’s about trying to figure out what needs your partner has.”

Sex is something that will keep men happy, Haltzman wrote in the fifth chapter of his new book, “The Secrets of Happily Married Women: How to Get More Out of Your Relationship by Doing Less,” which was released last month.

The crux of Haltzman’s book can be gathered from the chapter titles alone: Chapter 1: Know Your Husband, Chapter 2: Nurture His Needs — and Yours, Chapter 4: Talk Less and, of course, Chapter 5: Have Lots of Sex. “Haltzman gives readers a pragmatic approach to relationships.

He’s not politically correct and

doesn’t tr y to be polite. But his writing is funny, enjoyable and addresses fundamental differences between men and women,” said Alan Windsler, Haltzman’s editor.

Windsler works for Jossey-Bass, a San Francisco-based publisher.

The book is a product of Haltzman’s own experience as a married man of 20 years and as a practicing marriage counselor. He cites various studies in the field and includes real stories that married women submitted to his Web site, DrScott. com.

Haltzman said that, in theor y, men and women should be capable of doing the same things, but that is usually not the case.

“For women, it’s about having a connection with their partner, but men get better results when they approach their relationship as a job,” he said.

Haltzman also notes that though verbal communication is “ever ything for women,” men respond better to non-verbal communication.

“When men talk to each other, they don’t even need to face each other or make eye contact to get a point across,” he said.

Since its release, the book has already earned him attention from

multiple radio talk shows, U.S .

News & World Report and the New York Times.

But Haltzman said he’s anxious about what the female feedback will be like for this book.

“So far, most women (that have read the book) have just been shocked that what I said makes sense,” Haltzman said.

Windsler said the publishing company has high hopes for the book.

“Reviews have been good, and it’s no secret in the industry that women buy relationship books more than men do,” Windsler said.

The book is the second in a three-part series of self-help books for couples. The first, “The Secrets of Happily Married Men: Eight Ways to Win Your Wife’s Heart Forever,” was released in 2005 and also earned him media attention.

Haltzman is currently offering a free, autographed copy of his second book to those who fill out a survey on his Web site. Comments shared on the sur vey will give him feedback for his third book, “Secrets of Happy Families.” The third and final book in the series is slated for release sometime next year, Haltzman said.

CSI: NY star Harper ’88 goes beyond the screen

By Allison Wentz Staff Writer

Hill Harper ’88 doesn’t believe Diddy’s rags-to-riches story. On a tour promoting his book, “Letters to a Young Brother: MANifest Your Destiny,” Harper told an audience that the successful rapper, whose real name is Sean Combs, rarely mentions his time at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and as an unpaid intern with a major record label.

“It’s much better and cooler to say, ‘I went from the corner to the limo overnight,’” Harper said during the speech, video footage of which is posted on the Internet.

Harper is best known for his lead role in CSI: NY on CBS, several roles in Spike Lee films and an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show. But he hasn’t limited himself to his acting career. The actor is also a philanthropist, business man, author and friend and supporter of presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Harper’s philanthropic work provides mentoring for young men and women. He launched the MANifest Your Destiny Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides mentorship, grants and scholarships continued on page 6

Courtesy of Yosi Sargent

Hill Harper ’88 is an outspoken supporter and self-professed friend of presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

— Sophia Lambertsen

Laura Linney ’86, star in ‘The Savages,’ nominated for Academy Award

By Andrew Kim Contributing Writer

Laura Linney ’86 once asked her professors if they thought she should pursue a career in acting. They assured her that she seemed very much at home on stage.

Linney took their advice. Now, after starring in the 2007 film “The Savages,” she is a third-time Academy Award nominee.

Linney was nominated in the Best Actress category last month for her role in the Tamara Jenkins film. In the movie, Linney plays Wendy Savage, a struggling playwright who learns that her father has been diagnosed with

dementia. Wendy and her brother, a college professor played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, share the responsibilities of caring for their father.

Linney transferred to Brown after one year in Northwestern University’s theater department.

Professor of Theater, Speech and Dance John Emigh, who taught Linney, said the actress preferred Brown’s liberal arts education to Northwestern’s more pre-professional acting program.

“She came here to get a whole education. That’s why she left Northwestern,” Emigh said. He taught Linney and worked with her in theater productions.

Linney’s stage roles at Brown included Ada, the lead in the play “Childe Byron,” in her senior year.

Romulus Linney, her father, had written the play several years earlier, but Emigh said he did not pick the play with Laura Linney in mind for the role.

“She originally wasn’t going to try out,” Emigh said. “Then she said, ‘Why shouldn’t I try out?’ She was just absolutely the best person to play the role.”

Emigh said Linney’s involvement with drama at Brown was not limited to starring roles. When Emigh directed a production of “Spring Awakening,” Linney worked as a stage hand,

setting up microphones.

“She was happy to do this,” Emigh said.

Linney went to the Juilliard School after her graduation and worked with Emigh’s former teacher, Michael Kahn. Linney received a master of fine arts degree after four years.

“She wasn’t always the flashiest, but I think she absorbed and profited the most,” Kahn said in a Dec. 16 Washington Post article.

After graduating from Juilliard in 1990, Linney appeared in a number of Broadway and off-Broadway productions, as well as minor appearances in television and film. Linney’s breakout role was Meryl Burbank in “The Tru-

man Show” in 1998.

Since then, Linney has been in the films “You Can Count on Me,” “The Life of David Gale,” “Mystic River,” “Love Actually” and “Kinsey.” She has also acted on Broadway, with Tony Award nominations for her roles in “The Crucible” in 2002 and “Sight Unseen” in 2005.

Linney has been nominated for an Oscar twice before. She received a Best Actress nomination for her performance in “You Can Count on Me” in 2000 and a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her performance in “Kinsey” in 2004.

“I hope she wins,” Emigh said. “I think she’s due.”

Page 6

No plans to add more staff for U. int’l efforts continued from page 1 ternational. There really is no border to scholarly work, yet bringing in more international components would benefit students and enhance Brown’s reputation, which will in turn help everybody else,” he said.

Nesiah said she appreciates student and faculty feedback on the internationalization program.

“Openness and broadness is partly seen as an opportunity,” she said. “Hopefully, it will be something that’s defined collaboratively and not just through Watson (Institute for International Studies),” she added.

The University’s effort to look abroad should not become a global race against other universities, but rather an opportunity to think about internationalization in terms of global inequalities and as a global citizen, Nesiah said.

“It’s not just about internationalization, but about internationaliza-

tion with a sense of global responsibility,” she added. “That is a big part of the Brown identity.”

In the fall, Nesiah plans to begin teaching an international relations course she previously taught at Columbia Law School, titled “Identity, Rights and Conflict.” Though the course was designed for graduate students, Nesiah said she would like to engage more with undergraduates at Brown.

Kennedy said he has no plans to add more staff to his office.

“I think our idea is not to build a new bureaucracy,” he said. “There’s a great group of people already working. I don’t see us replacing it, but rather augmenting it and helping each other.”

Nesiah added that staff increases will be “program-led.”

“If we have expansion of a particular program, then maybe we will add people to run that program,” she said. “We don’t have any staff expansion plans, as it were.”

Lack of affirmative action helps Asian students continued from page 3 challenge to its affirmative action policy in 1996, passed a law in 1997 that guaranteed acceptance at all state-funded universities to students who graduate in the top 10 percent of their class.

“Their African-American and Latino numbers continued to be pretty good,” Colburn said.

When it decided to slash affirmative action in 1999, Florida implemented the “Talented 20” program, which guarantees state university admission to students who graduate in the top 20 percent of their class. The report found that “diversity in Florida was pretty good,” Colburn said.

Colburn stressed that affirmative action bans have the biggest impact on the male population across all races. Male population overall declined fairly significantly among all races and ethnicities, the report found.

Colburn said the general rise of the Asian-American population in California does not account for their increased representation at public universities.

The report shows that “AsianAmerican students were winners in California,” he said. “The system was a loser by having much less diversity than they had previously.”

Vincent Quan, a junior at Berkeley, said that even as an AsianAmerican student, “it was kind of a culture shock to see that many

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Asian people on campus.” Berkeley’s freshmen admits were 41.7 percent Asian American or Pacific Islander in fall 2007, according to a Berkeley brochure.

Quan said that living in such an environment can skew perspectives on the outside world.

“I think when you go to a school like Berkeley, where you see a lot of people of the same ethnicity, it feels like you’re in a bubble,” he said. “You think Berkeley is how the world is. When you leave campus to go somewhere else, it’s a little bit shocking.”

Quan said that the large Asian American population “provides you a unit to associate with,” but he couldn’t say if it was necessarily good or bad for the school.

Affirmative action opponents had mixed reactions to the study.

Roger Clegg, president and general counsel of the Center for Equal Opportunity, an organization that lobbies against affirmative action, said since Asian Americans are “dispropor tionately well qualified,” he was not surprised that “a color-blind admissions process favors them.”

Some of the report’s findings were less believable for Clegg.

“I’m skeptical of the finding that white students would not also be helped by a policy that gets rid of discrimination,” Clegg said. “Our studies have shown that white students are hindered by politically correct admissions policies.”

House bill could yield textbook savings continued from page 3 that these materials would fall under the category of unbundling, one of the major grievances the AAP has held against the legislation.

Richard Hershman, director of government relations for the National Association of College Stores, wrote in an e-mail to The Herald that the House Higher Education Act legislation “includes a number of positive provisions addressing the course material affordability issue, including increasing industry transparency (and) increasing disclosure on book costs to students.”

He added that he was pleased with

the bill’s provisions that increase the financial aid allowance for some students by $150 to a total of $600 for books and supplies.

But Hershman reiterated Skelly’s concerns about the effectiveness of the measures. He outlined the NACS’s requested changes to the language of the amendment, emphasizing the problematic timing of the bill for universities. The amendment as it stands requires colleges to report necessary textbooks in course announcement guides, but University Registrar Michael Pesta said he doubted complete textbook lists would be available when the guides go to print. The language proposed

by the NACS requires colleges to instead report ISBNs of textbooks two weeks prior to classes, allowing students the most up-to-date information on pricing.

The issue of timing and other transparency requirements for publishers and universities will be worked out when the House and Senate begin conference negotiations over the bill. The Senate passed its own version of the Higher Education Act reauthorization in June but did not include the amendments on textbook transparency measures. Now the House and the Senate will have to come to final terms over the bills.

Kenyan violence alters study abroad continued from page 3 Lauren Bartholomew, a Princeton junior, is one of the students who is studying in Panama instead of Kenya this semester. In an e-mail to The Herald, she wrote that she found out about the Kenyan program’s cancellation late last semester.

“I was very upset that the trip was cancelled, but I understood why it was cancelled,” she wrote. “Initially, I looked for other places in Africa to study.”

Bartholomew said she while she is having a “rewarding experience” in Panama, she hopes to study in Kenya in the future.

“I’m still keeping track of the situation and still hope that things are resolved for the sake of the people there as well as the future education of students around the world,” she wrote.

Not all institutions have chosen to suspend programs for this semester. The University of Minnesota will continue its program in Kenya for the spring semester, though the departure of students in the program

was delayed by a week. Al Balkcum, director of international programs at the Learning Abroad Center at Minnesota, cited a strong network in Kenya as one of the reasons the program was able to continue.

“We have been there for 20 years,” Balkcum said. “We have a very strong infrastructure.”

Like SIT, the University of Minnesota rarely cancels a study-abroad program. Minnesota last canceled a program in 2002, when an attempted coup in Venezuela halted a summer study program. The program was resumed the next fall.

The students participating in the Kenya program are all juniors and seniors, many of whom have been to Africa before.

“These are pretty sophisticated students,” Balkcum said. “If students had not had a lot of experience we probably would have canceled.”

Balkcum also said the program may have been canceled had it been centered on language and cultural immersion.

“It has a lot to do with the type of program that you’re offering,” he

said.

Students in the Minnesota program stay in the homes of Kenyans, many of whom have been collaborating with the university for more than 15 years. The Learning Abroad Center maintains daily contact with the on-site staff in Kenya as well as near-daily contact with the students themselves. The university has also prepared a backup evacuation plan in case political conditions worsen.

Out of the 30 students initially planning to go to Kenya, only three have withdrawn. One student did not attend Minnesota, and the student’s university required withdrawal from the program. In addition, of nine students participating in year-long studies in Kenya, only one opted to go home. The student would have had to relocate to another part of Kenya, where he would not have been able to continue his research.

Overall, Balkcum said students have not been disheartened by the situation in Kenya.

“We already have 22 or 23 students enrolled for next fall,” he said.

Harper ’88 follows ‘trade secrets of life’ continued from page 5 to disadvantaged young men.

A Brown alum with two advanced degrees from Har vard, Harper said he had access to certain “trade secrets about life, happiness, success, achievement” that others may not.

“Should someone’s ability or resources stop them from getting certain information that many of us take for granted?” Harper said.

Harper said he also believes that literature can mentor troubled youth. Harper received many books from friends while he was growing up and in college that he found motivational, he said. He based his book partly on “Letters to a Young Poet,” by Rainer Maria Rilke. He said he found Rilke’s work particularly inspiring.

In the future, Harper and the MANifest Your Destiny Foundation plan to build a retreat center for inner city youth. Harper stated that often, for youth, “Your neighborhood becomes your experience.”

He said it is surprising how many kids living in the Bronx have never been to Manhattan.

“Taking someone out of their normal environment can often help open them up to new ideas,” Harper said, adding that much of the material he covers with youth is not new.

“Hearing (the same lessons) with different ears, that’s the goal.”

Harper’s present work focuses mainly on the mentorship of young men because “young men are suffering in many urban areas,” Harper said. “A lot of young men don’t know how to ask for help either,” he added.

Harper wrote his second book with young women in mind. Gathering many contributions from women he knows, Harper wrote “Letters to a Young Sister: DeFINE Your Destiny,” which is due in stores June 3.

Harper’s interest in mentoring began early, according to friend and business partner Sean Cummings ’87.

“Hill has always had a keen in-

terest in mentoring, and, in fact, we were both Big Brothers when we were in Rhode Island,” Cummings said. “We spent a lot of time particularly using sports as a way to teach and mentor a couple of kids in the Providence area.” Now, Harper and Cummings co-own two hotels in New Orleans.

Harper’s acting credits include appearances in independent films, off-Broadway productions and TV shows such as the Sopranos.

Harper attributes most of his multi-faceted resume to his experience at Brown.

“The curriculum is wonderful because it allowed me to try so many different things I was interested in and that’s why, ultimately, I was able to pursue so many diverse interests,” he said.

“Brown introduced me to theater,” Harper added. He recalled taking a theater arts class for the first time at the University.

“If it wasn’t for Brown, I probably wouldn’t even be an actor now,” Harper said.

W orld & n ation Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Obama wins capital area

By Dan Balz and Tim Craig Washington Post

WASHINGTON — Sen. Barack Obama swamped Sen. Hillar y Rodham Clinton in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia Tuesday, extending his post-Super Tuesday winning streak and forcing Clinton onto the defensive as the Democratic presidential race moves toward a showdown in Ohio and Texas on March 4.

Obama had his most impressive night of the competition, not only in the size of his victory margins but in the breadth of support he attracted from men and women, young voters and old, African Americans and whites. The results left Clinton, the one-time front-runner for the Democratic nomination, in a deep hole.

The senator from Illinois was winning Virginia with about 62 percent of the vote. In Maryland, he was projected to be the easy winner after polls were kept open an extra 90 minutes because of bad weather.

He was headed for an even bigger margin in Washington.

Obama’s victories came after a weekend in which he decisively won primaries and caucuses in Louisiana, Nebraska, Washington state and Maine, giving him a boost after he and Clinton split the nearly 1,700 delegates awarded on Feb. 5, when 22 states voted in Democratic contests.

The lopsided wins Tuesday mean Obama will emerge with a clear majority of the 168 pledged delegates at stake and a widening lead overall among pledged delegates. When socalled superdelegates are added to the calculations, Obama and Clinton are still in a highly competitive race that could run into the summer.

Still, Obama’s winning streak, the size of his margins and the prospect of more victories next week put Clinton in a tenuous position, despite the close delegate count. Even before Tuesday’s results, Clinton had announced a shakeup of her team, replacing campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle with Maggie Williams, her White House chief of staff.

Tuesday night, campaign officials confirmed that deputy campaign manager Mike Henry had left the campaign and will be replaced by Guy Cecil, who had been helping to oversee delegate operations.

Obama is favored to win next week’s Wisconsin primary and Hawaii caucuses. That will leave Clinton to look to the big states of Ohio and Texas to blunt his momentum, as she has twice done already to his attempts to take control of the race.

Howard Wolfson, Clinton’s communications director, said the campaign “will do as well as we can and fight hard for every vote” in Wisconsin. He added that the team is still optimistic about Ohio and Texas.

Clinton advisers see those states as friendly territory — Ohio because of its economic problems and sizable blue-collar population, and Texas because of its large Latino vote, which the senator from New York carried impressively in earlier contests. Democratic strategists said Tuesday night that Obama’s victories will make those contests more competitive. continued on page 8

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Azerbaijan confronts radical Islam, and maybe Iran

By Kim Murphy Los Angeles T imes

ASTARA, Azerbaijan — If there is a post-Cold War Berlin, it may well be this agricultural town straddling a river between Iran and Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic that has become an important ally in Washington, D.C.’s declared war on Islamic extremism.

The pedestrian border crossing is a narrow steel gateway and bridge, traversed daily by local people with a foot in both countries, the occasional heroin trafficker, traders bearing cheap clothing and perfumes and, sometimes, Shiite Muslim proselytizers with boxes full of Iranian religious CDs. “We see books, all kinds of religious materials. In all of these cases, we take the materials and give them to the administration,” said a border guard who stood scrutinizing a line of Iranians filing into the country.

In the turbulent world of geopolitics, the Middle East receives most of the attention. But it is here along the gloomy shores of the Caspian Sea that one of the most vital global contests — for energy, money and political dominion — is being waged between East and West.

Azerbaijan, which controls 7 billion to 13 billion barrels of petroleum reserves, is home to a crucial new pipeline that provides the West with its first major access to Caspian Sea oil that is not dependent on Russia. The Central Asian country is also a key refueling point for U.S. planes bound for Afghanistan.

In the past year, however, this little-known nation dominated by Shiite Muslims has seen a rising incidence of religious fundamentalism and threats of extremist violence in opposition to the government’s ties with Washington.

Some of it is spillover from Muslim separatist violence in the nearby Russian republics of Chechnya and Dagestan. But the fingerprints of Shiite-ruled Iran are increasingly

apparent, authorities say, in what many analysts believe is a warning against expanded cooperation with the United States.

“Today, Azerbaijan has made a European choice, but Iran has made a choice to the East,” said Rasim Musabayov, a political analyst in the capital, Baku. “It seems to them that an independent Azerbaijan is somehow a danger for the existence of the Iranian republic.”

The fact of “an increase in Iranian subversive activities in Azerbaijan” coincides with growing Iranian fears that Azerbaijan could be used as a launchpad for an American attack on Iran, said Svante E. Cornell, deputy director of the Central AsiaCaucasus Institute at Johns Hopkins University. “It’s basically telling the Azeris, `This is the damage we can inflict on you,’ “ he said.

Iran is also keenly aware of Azerbaijan’s potential ability to stir up the estimated 20 million ethnic Azeris who live in northwest Iran, an area many in Baku pointedly refer to as “Southern Azerbaijan.”

Some Iranian officials fear that the U.S. is pushing ethnic minorities to confront the Iranian leadership.

Mindful that the country is walking on a political knife edge, Azerbaijani officials repeatedly have said they would not allow their country to be used in any military action against Iran. Yet Baku is already comfortably part of the Western infrastructure aimed at Afghanistan, Iran’s eastern neighbor, and signs of a U.S. military presence are not hard to find.

“It’s an open secret that Azerbaijan is essentially set up as a sort of rapid deployment location for the U.S.,” said a Western political analyst who has spent a great deal of time in the country.

“Almost anyone with a trained eye at Baku airport can see there’s this whole section with unmarked planes. For almost all the military flights into Afghanistan, the refuel-

ing takes place in Baku, and you only have to walk into one of Baku’s carpet shops to figure out how many American soldiers are overnighting there.

“Essentially, it’s already part of the system.”

In interviews with Muslim cler-

ics, opposition politicians and political analysts in Baku, many said they believed the government was exaggerating the threat of Islamic extremism in order to convince the United States, which sometimes is continued on page 8

Senate approves intercepts of international calls

By Greg Miller Los Angeles T imes

WASHINGTON — The Senate approved espionage legislation Tuesday that would expand the government’s authority to intercept international phone calls and e-mails and block lawsuits against U.S. telecommunications companies that aided in past spying efforts.

The 68-29 vote was a victory for the White House, which has battled Congress for two years over the legality of an eavesdropping operation -- launched by President Bush in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks -- that involved intercepting calls in the United States without court warrants.

Despite Senate passage, the fate of the legislation remains uncertain. The Senate bill has to be reconciled with competing legislation that passed in the House.

Democrats in that chamber have opposed shielding the phone companies from liability for taking part in what some members have called an illegal spying operation.

Senior congressional aides said there was no clear path to a compromise on the issue. But a series of recent defections by moderate

Democrats in the House have raised prospects that the White House position -- or something close to it -- eventually might prevail. As part of a stopgap measure passed last month, the government’s existing surveillance powers are scheduled to expire Friday.

Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, D-W.Va., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the measure would “restore civil-liberties protections ... and allow for targeted surveillance of potential terrorists.”

But critics said the vote sacrificed civil liberties in a capitulation to the White House. Sen. Russell D. Feingold, D-Wis., said the Senate had let the Bush administration “off the hook for its illegal wiretapping program.”

Tuesday’s vote was the latest in a series of halting attempts by Congress to update a 30-year-old statute known as the Foreign Intelligence Sur veillance Act, which governs how the United States carries out electronic espionage.

The debate centers on how to update that legislation to accommodate the advent of new technologies, including the Internet and cellular telephones, while at the same time preser ving long-

standing privacy protections for Americans.

The Senate bill, set to expire after six years, would bolster the authority of a secret surveillance court to oversee the activities of the National Security Agency, which eavesdrops on phone calls and email traffic around the world. The measure would require the government to obtain a warrant whenever the target of surveillance is a U.S. citizen.

But the bill would give the NSA sweeping new powers to intercept phone calls and e-mails traveling through fiber-optic cables in the United States and compel the nation’s largest phone carriers to grant access to their networks.

The nation’s top intelligence officials have testified that being able to tap into those networks -- and not be slowed by a requirement to obtain a warrant -- is critical to monitoring the communications of al-Qaida and other adversaries.

That is because much of the world’s communications traffic now passes through U.S. networks, even calls that start and end overseas.

The House and Senate are in agreement on the broad outlines of these authorities, although they differ to some extent on the powers

of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to monitor the NSA and prevent abuse.

Their main disagreement centers on whether to grant retroactive legal immunity to phone companies facing lawsuits for cooperating in a Bush administration program that bypassed the FISA court and was kept secret from all but a handful of members of Congress.

Key Senate Democrats argued that the companies shouldn’t be punished for complying with requests that the Bush administration led them to believe were legal.

“The fact is, if we lose cooperation from these or other private companies, our national security will suffer,” Rockefeller said.

President Bush has threatened to veto any bill that doesn’t include protection for the companies.

Leading House Democrats have resisted, saying that the companies shouldn’t be shielded from liability for taking part in what many believe was an illegal surveillance program.

Democratic leaders were in negotiations Tuesday over possible compromise language, or temporary extensions to give both sides additional time to work out a deal.

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Wednesday, February 13, 2008

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Central Asian nation faces Obama winning where he used to trail tricky relations with Iran continued from page 7

continued from page 7 critical of the government of President Ilham Aliyev’s record on human rights and democracy, that it is waging a vital fight against Islamic militants.

“Radical Islam has become a means of blackmail for Azerbaijan to use against the West,” lawyer Elchin Gambarov said in an interview.

He represented a man who was convicted last year of cooperating with Iran to try to establish an Islamic state in Azerbaijan. “This case from the beginning was a game of role-playing by the Azerbaijan government to show Western countries that `I’m here alone against Iran, I’m face-to-face with Iran.’ ” Yet even some opposition leaders point to a strong Iranian influence.

Yadigar Sadigov, head of the local branch of the opposition Musavat Party in Lankaran, just north of Astara, said the majority of local clerics have studied in Iran, and it is widely believed that the Iranian secret services are supporting the flow of religious literature across the border.

“They use them to spread their influence in Azerbaijan,” Sadigov said. Iran’s case has been helped, he said, by recent crackdowns on fundamentalist Muslims in Azerbaijan; the continuing poverty of many Azerbaijanis despite recent oil boom riches; shortcomings in elections; and the arrests of independent journalists.

The rise of Islamic militancy is unusual in this country, which has had a laid-back approach to religion. Even now, Azerbaijanis attend mosques in relatively small numbers, and many have difficulty specifying the theological differences between Sunnis and Shiites.

Then, last fall, 15 members of

an Islamic charity went on trial on charges that the group was a front for a militant organization backed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

Prosecutors alleged that members of the group, identified as the Northern Imam Mahdi Army, were in communication with Iranian intelligence agents. They were accused of trying to pass along detailed engineering information about the Baku-TbilisiCeyhan, or BTC, oil pipeline and details of the activities of U.S., British and Israeli agencies in Azerbaijan.

The group’s leader was Said Dadashbeyli, the supply manager for a U.S.-Azerbaijani oil drilling joint venture in Baku who had lived in Canada.

Dadashbeyli and his co-defendants were sentenced to up to 14 years in prison in December. According to the National Security Ministry’s account of the closed-door trial, two members of the group met several times with agents in Iran, including in Tehran and the holy city of Qom. According to the account, they received training in Iran on how to use maps and explosives and were given $10,300 to gather information on the embassies of the U.S., Britain and Israel and establishing an Islamic state in Azerbaijan.

The ministry said Revolutionary Guard agents also asked the group to obtain photographs and detailed information about the 1,099-mile oil conduit that runs from Baku on the Caspian Sea through Tbilisi, Georgia, to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean.

Police in Baku said they seized firearms, explosive devices, knives and drugs as well as counterfeit currency from the apartments of some of the defendants.

Iran has vigorously denied any involvement in the case.

“I don’t buy the momentum argument,” Wolfson said. “We have seen time and time again that candidates with momentum did not win the state they were supposed to win. ... Voters make independent judgments about who they think is the best person. Momentum is a media narrative, not something voters consider.”

But several Democratic strategists questioned that judgment.

“Just trying to hold on until Texas and Ohio while Obama picks up more and more steam is a very risky strategy for Clinton,” one Democrat, who requested anonymity to give a candid assessment, wrote in an e-mail.

Neither Obama nor Clinton remained in the Washington area to await the returns Tuesday night.

Clinton flew to Texas for a rally in El Paso and planned to spend Wednesday courting Hispanic voters in the Rio Grande Valley and in San Antonio. Obama was scheduled to appear at the University of Wisconsin last night and planned an economic speech in Janesville, Wis., Wednesday morning.

Turnout across the Washington metropolitan region soared as voters seized on the opportunity to play a role in helping to decide the Democratic nomination after years in which the competition has largely been concluded before the campaign turned to the Potomac area.

Elections officials reported potentially record-breaking turnout for a primary across the region, with hour-long waits at many poll-

ing places and shortages of “I voted” stickers. Maryland and Virginia broke the pattern of past contests between Obama and Clinton in the shape of the two candidates’ support, according to exit polls from the National Election Pool.

As in other states, Obama racked up huge margins among black voters in Maryland and Virginia. Clinton won a decisive majority of white women, as she has throughout the nominating season, but Obama was winning white men in both states by similarly strong margins.

Obama also led Clinton in almost every age category, a break from previous contests in which he won younger voters but Clinton often carried older voters. Obama’s biggest margins were among voters under age 45, but he also led among those between 45 and 60. He and Clinton were splitting those age 60 and above.

In earlier primaries, Obama won liberals while Clinton captured moderates. Tuesday, he was winning both groups. In the past, Obama won among wealthier voters while Clinton won among downscale voters, but Tuesday Obama was winning both decisively. Obama easily carried independents, as he has in the past, but he also won among Democrats, where Clinton has been stronger.

About half of voters in both Maryland and Virginia cited the economy as their top concern, similar to results in other states that have already held a primary or caucus.

But in a departure, those voters sided with Obama. In earlier

races voters most worried about the economy favored Clinton.

Obama also beat Clinton among voters who named health care as their top concern, even though this has been a past area of strength for Clinton. Almost a third of Democratic voters in Maryland and Virginia called the Iraq war the biggest issue in the campaign and Obama beat Clinton among these voters by 2 to 1.

In early returns in Virginia, Obama was handily beating Clinton in Hampton Roads, Northern Virginia and almost all of the counties in central Virginia, including Richmond and its suburbs. In vote-rich Alexandria and Arlington, which has a growing immigrant population and large numbers of affluent young professionals, Obama was beating Clinton by more than 20 points.

But Obama’s success also extended into the outer suburbs, where he won Prince William and Loudoun counties, even though the Clinton campaign believed they could do well there by winning over suburban women.

Younger and well-educated voters also flocked to Obama. In Albermarle County, home of the University of Virginia, Obama had nearly 70 percent of the vote with all of the precincts reporting. Obama also had narrow leads in several rural, overwhelmingly white, counties in the northern Shenandoah Valley.

But Clinton was winning big in Southwest Virginia’s coal country, underscoring that Obama continues to struggle in connecting with working class Democrats.

Networks planning for writers’ return

By Lisa de Moraes Washington Post

With all but the most congenitally gloomy people expecting Hollywood writers to call off their strike Wednesday, execs at all the broadcast nets huddled Monday to figure out which scripted series could produce more new episodes in what’s left of this TV season, which shows should produce new episodes, which shows still have unaired original episodes, which shows to scrap, and which shows it makes the most sense to concede the season and relaunch in the fall.

ABC wasted no time announcing it had picked up nearly nine hours of scripted series programming for the 2008-09 TV season. As of late Monday, the other networks had not yet weighed in.

You’re in luck if you’re a fan of these ABC shows, in alphabetical order: “Brothers & Sisters,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Dirty Sexy Money,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Lost,” “Private Practice,” “Pushing Daisies,” “Samantha Who?” and “Ugly Betty.”

That’s nearly nine hours of programming — out of the approxi-

mately 14 hours of prime time ABC typically fills with scripted series these days. It schedules the other eight hours of prime time with “20/20,” reality franchises (“Dancing With the Stars,” “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” etc.), football, NASCAR and “Rerun Theatre.”

Some of these chosen ABC series — particularly freshman shows such as “Pushing Daisies,” “Dirty Sexy Money” and “Private Practice”

COLUMN — won’t be back with new episodes until fall, to give the network the opportunity to relaunch them.

“Any show that is a success, or semi-success is absolutely back,” said one Hollywood agent, in re discussions among TV execs on the first day back at work since the Writers Guild big cheeses said it was time to end the strike. “Successful shows are all going to jump back and figure out how many they can do — at most they can do five or six and air them” this season, speculated the agent, who did not want to be identified because the discussions with the networks are

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ongoing.

That’s not entirely true. Fox’s serialized drama “24,” for instance, will wait out this season and come back in January, because only eight of the 24 episodes had been shot and anyway, thanks to the strike, the network to paraphrase Jack Bauer, has “run out of time!” to air a season’s worth of 24 episodes before the season wraps in May. Meanwhile, shows that do go back into production may find their shooting schedules changed somewhat. Instead of stopping production in May, as usual, some series might shoot through June, banking a few episodes for next season.

“They want to amortize costs — getting back up and running is expensive if you’re doing just five episodes,” the agent explained.

As of Monday night, here’s how the rest of the season seems to be shaping up, though the situation is still kind of fluid.

And, don’t forget: Some “yes” series have not been ordered back into production but still have unaired episodes that were produced before the strike hit. And many “no” series are not dead, just being held to relaunch in the fall.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

OMAC space woes squeeze athletes continued from page 12 ready for practice.

“I want to make it clear that I don’t blame the softball team for the situation,” wrote rugby captain Keisha Carlson ’08 in an e-mail.

“However, I think it is absolutely ridiculous that the only indoor track and basketball courts at this University are closed for general use for nine hours a day.”

In addition to the softball and baseball practices, the basketball courts and track are closed from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. for track and field practice, though this situation is not unique to February.

The fencing team also practices on a basketball court during the fall and winter.

After the evening practices, intramural basketball and indoor soccer have the courts from 9:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. Club volleyball also has practice twice a week.

That leaves the OMAC open for full recreational use from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. daily during the week, although the OMAC schedule, which is posted online, has other activities, such as Bryant Univer-

sity track practice, scheduled on certain days.

“All students, not just club sports, like to use the track to work out or play basketball for exercise, and most students, just like the varsity athletes, have class, work, lab, etc. between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., when the track and courts are available,” Carlson said.

“We all pay the same tuition to attend Brown and at any other institution, I am sure that one of the privileges of attending the university is use of the athletic facilities at normal workout hours,” she added.

Yee said she feels that intramurals are a way that the facilities are still open to students.

“A lot of students participate in intramurals,” she said. “It is troublesome, though, if you want to play (pick-up) basketball.”

The Brown Office of Public Affairs and University Relations Web site states that “approximately 3,500 students take part in intramural programs; 2,700 students, faculty and staff register for physical education classes.”

The solution to the problem is on the horizon: the planned construction of the Nelson Fitness Center, which was proposed last year and is projected to be completed in 2010. Yee said it will focus on recreational use, with two whole floors devoted to basketball courts, weight rooms, locker rooms and dance studios, while there will be one separate floor for varsity sport use. It will serve the role of what Yee calls a “rec center” that is present at many other universities.

Still, in the short term, nobody is happy with the current arrangement, and solutions are hard to come by. The rugby team is now practicing outside and using the wrestling room sporadically for contact work, but these are not ideal solutions for a team looking for a national championship.

“We are expected to play 80 minutes without stopping, with full contact, with running, hitting, falling and getting back up to do it again,” Carlson wrote. “For some reason, I don’t think time on the elliptical (trainers) is going to get us ready for that.”

Skiing sets its sights on regionals continued from page 12 skier from Brown win the individual title,” LeBlanc said. “Last year we had Kelly O’Hear (’07), who was probably the best skier Brown’s ever had, and she never won the individual title because she wasn’t consistent enough. For Krista to win it as a freshman is pretty awesome. She blew the field away.”

Consiglio benefited this past weekend from plenty of help from her teammates on both days. On Saturday co-captain Anna Bengtson ’09 took 10th place, which LeBlanc said was the best finish of her career, with a time of 1:41.03.

Also scoring for the Bears on Saturday were Sophie Elgort ’08 and co-captain Meaghan Casey ’08. Elgor t and Casey finished 18th and 29th with combined times of 1:42.14 and 1:46.46, respectively.

LeBlanc attributed Brown’s third-place finish on Sunday in large part to the impressive performance of Blaine Martin ’11, who had battled illness all year but came through with her best finish to date, taking 17th place

with a time of 1:43.70.

“It was great to see Blaine ski so well,” LeBlanc said. “She really gave us a big boost.”

Brown also benefitted from a 14th place finish by Bengston, who had a time of 1:43.45, and Elgort, who skied a total time of 1:44.29, good for 19th.

“We worked really hard all week on our slalom,” LeBlanc said.

“And as a team we really improved and are right where we need to be at heading into regionals.”

The format of the ECSC Regionals, which will held in New Hampshire in two weeks, will be different than the one the Bears have been used to competing in all season. The top five teams from each Eastern division will be competing in the event, but each team will only have five skiers race, rather than the usual ten skiers per team. Another change is that only the times of each team’s top three skiers will count toward the total team score, unlike in the regular season, when a team’s top four skiers make up the team score. The top five at regionals will go on to nationals.

“It’s not unreasonable for us to shoot for a podium finish at

W. water polo swims to 1-3 record in California continued from page 12 one point the Bears pulled back to make the score 6-4, but the Roadrunners staved off the attack and held on for a 9-6 win.

Bruno bounced back to get in the win column in its first game on Sunday against California Baptist, winning 14-12. Neither team could amass a lead of more than three goals at any point in the game, which was tied at 11 with 2:28 remaining. It was the Lancers who broke the tie, but the Bears gathered themselves and put in three goals in the remaining time for a comeback victory.

The three clutch goals came from Rory Stanton ’09 and Sarah

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Glick ’10. Glick had five in the game and 11 on the weekend, second on the team. Lauren Presant ’10 had 13, including five against the Lancers.

The 1-2 record put the Bears in the game for 13th place against Maryland. The Terrapins came out with an early 3-0 lead and were up 5-2 at halftime, but the Bears battled back, making it 9-6 with 2:06 to play in the game. But the effort was too little, too late, and the Terrapins held out for 10-8 win. Bruno was led by Presant and Glick again, who had four and three goals, respectively.

The team will next head to Maryland for the Elite 6 Tournament from March 1 to 2.

regionals,” LeBlanc said. “We’re skiing right where we need to be, and in practice this week we just need to work on maintaining where we’re at right now and we should do ver y well at regionals.”

Missed shots sink w. hoops continued from page 12 a high note, with the deficit down to only 10 points, 34-24.

Dartmouth wasn’t ready to roll over though, and in the second half the Big Green stole the show. Just over three minutes into play, Dartmouth went on a 10-2 run, taking the largest lead of the night of 18 points at 44-26.

But Brown held tight and eventually brought the gap back down to 11 points with 7:51 remaining. But numerous foul calls sent Dartmouth players to the free-throw line, keeping the Bears out from reach.

“It’s tough to gain momentum when there are fouls being called like that,” Burr said. “But we battled well.”

Dartmouth got to the line 15 times in the second half, converting 10 of the freebies, while Bruno was just 1-for-2 from the charity stripe in the half.

Brittney Smith had a double-double for Dartmouth, with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

On Saturday, the Bears headed back to the court, losing 70-46 to Harvard. The Crimson shot well, while Brown committed turnovers.

Brown started off hot and controlled the tempo of the game, coming out in the first half with a 41.7 percent shooting average compared to Harvard’s 37.1. The Bears shot a better percentage than the Crimson in both free throws and three-pointers in the half.

As in Brown’s previous game, the play was very even between the teams. With only 2:22 left in the first

half, Bruno and Harvard were tied, 27-27. But Brown couldn’t sustain its level of play, and the Crimson started heating up. A last-minute jumper from Claire Wheeler put the Crimson ahead, 31-27, at the half.

“We really came out strong the first half and were only down by four at halftime,” said captain Ann O’Neal ’08. “But the second half we slowed down our scoring and we couldn’t stop Harvard from scoring.”

Going into the second half, Harvard started where they left off before the intermission.

“In the second half, we just let them pull away,” Fitzpatrick said.

One minute after halftime, the Crimson increased their lead to seven points, getting help from high-scorers Niki Finelli and Katie Rollins, who had 14 and 15 points, respectively.

Brown cut the Crimson lead to eight points twice after struggling early in the half, but it could pull no closer. The Bears’ scorers couldn’t match the points they were giving Harvard off turnovers. The Crimson scored 28 points off 25 Brown turnovers in the game.

At the 6:14 mark, Harvard was up 56-38 after a 10-0 shooting spree. But this wasn’t the end. In the last six minutes of play, the Crimson outscored Brown 24-5. Harvard increased its shooting percentage from 37.1 to 60 percent in the second half, while the Bears fell to just 28.6 percent.

The Bears will play the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton at home this weekend. The Bears were last at home on Jan. 19, when they played Yale.

E ditorial & L etters Page 10

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

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

The price is wrong Last Thursday, the House of Representatives voted to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, but with some amendments that would have tangible benefits for college students. For one, it simplifies the FAFSA forms, which are about as easy to navigate as the Bermuda Triangle. This would surely lessen the stress of applying for financial aid.

But most students can applaud legislation to keep down the rising costs of textbooks. An amendment to the bill calls for transparency among publishers, mandating that they reveal the markup for each book. From our view, the prices of textbooks have spiraled out of control. Textbooks cost each student more than $900 per year, according to a 2005 Government Accountability Office report, with prices rising at three times the inflation rate.

Some might argue the bill is overreaching, letting the federal government interfere with a perfectly good, supply-and-demand publishing market. “I’m having a hard time kind of getting a bead on what would we do, other than bring attention to it, provide leadership and highlight best practices,” Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings told the Association of Community College Trustees Tuesday, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. Spellings had no comment on whether she would support the House bill, the Chronicle reported, though she said the matter is not a federal one.

But the market for textbooks is driven by need rather than choice. It is a market not just for books but for education, which college students are forced to enter. The very nature of the textbook market is that students have no options in choosing which books to buy. In our Higher Ed section today, The Herald spoke to several students who said the choice is not between buying and not buying a textbook, but between buying a textbook and not getting the education they want. When placed in those terms, students have no choice but to pay whatever price the publisher sets.

The House version of the bill also requires publishers to “unbundle” textbook packages, which often include the flashy CD-ROM and the supplemental workbook, along with the textbook itself. When these items are packaged, it makes it nearly impossible for students to buy one component without buying the others, or to sell back a textbook but not its CD-ROM, putting a damper on students’ ability to enter the used textbooks market as either a buyer or seller.

Finally, the House bill requires that colleges and universities provide complete lists of required textbooks — along with ISBN numbers — in course announcement bulletins. Such a measure would require action on the part of universities to ensure that faculty select textbooks well in advance, but this is ultimately worthwhile. Often students must pay a premium to get textbooks quickly, but if they knew what they needed to buy well in advance, they would have time to shop around, creating a more competitive market.

Spelling’s comments Tuesday and the Senate’s version of the bill, which does not include these provisions, suggest these measures will have a tough time surviving a conference negotiation and a presidential veto. Still, we hope Congress and the president will work to guide these proposals into law. In the meantime, we urge you to write your congressman. The 41-cent investment could end up paying off big time.

T he B rown D aily H erald Editors-in-Chief Simmi Aujla Ross Frazier editorial Arts & Culture Editor Robin Steele Asst. Arts & Culture Editor Andrea Savdie Higher Ed Editor Debbie Lehmann Features Editor Chaz Firestone Asst. Features Editor Olivia Hoffman Metro Editor Rachel Arndt Metro Editor Scott Lowenstein News Editor Mike Bechek News Editor Isabel Gottlieb News Editor Franklin Kanin News Editor Michael Skocpol Opinions Editor Karla Bertrand Opinions Editor James Shapiro Sports Editor Whitney Clark Sports Editor Amy Ehrhart Sports Editor Jason Harris Asst. Sports Editor Benjy Asher Asst. Sports Editor Andrew Braca Asst. Sports Editor Megan McCahill

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F rances choi

Letters Column fails to understand CLAS’s focus To the Editor: I found that Saul Lustgarten’s column on Monday (“Rethinking Brown’s attitude toward Venezuela,” Feb. 11) betrayed a shallow understanding of the Center for Latin American Studies’ project to increase dialogue on the politics of the Andean region. First and foremost, we need to clear up some factual information: there are currently no plans for President Chávez to come to Brown — though the presidents of Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela were all invited to speak at the Changes in the Andes Conference, which began yesterday and runs through today (Feb. 13). President Evo Morales of Bolivia has accepted an invitation to speak on campus and will do so on Feb. 26. His speech will be sponsored not only by the Center for Latin American Studies, but by the Ogden Lectureship Fund, a University-wide institution dedicated to providing the Brown community with “timely addresses on international affairs,” given by presidents, diplomats and other experts in the field.

Having addressed these details, I wish to draw attention to some salient points about the Changes in the Andes Conference — a major event which Lustgarten mentions only in passing. When he asserts that CLAS has left Chávez’ position academically “unchallenged,” Lustgarten ignores the fact that this two-day conference plays host to academics from Harvard, the University of Connecticut, George Washington University, City University of New York, Georgia State University, Hobart and William Smith College, Bradford University (Britain), Webster University, Truman State University,

the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (Bolivia) and the Universidad Central de Venezuela. This is not to mention the Brown faculty and students — representing dozens of disciplines — who will take part in the discussions, both as moderators and participants. We at CLAS are eager for lively debate and we anticipate a great variety of opinion about the positive and negative effects of the policy initiatives being carried out in the Andes today.

Perhaps more to the point, in nearly ignoring this conference, Lustgarten also fails to take into account its stated purpose: to cut back on the kind of “sensationalist” portrayals of the Latin American left which he bemoans in his editorial. This conference proposes that we in the United States must engage in a bold examination of the implications of contemporary Andean politics — an examination which is, to as great an extent as possible, unclouded by the simplistic sound bite generalizations produced by those on both sides of this issue.

In closing, in response to Lustgarten’s assertion that “most people lack the knowledge” to hear and challenge the rhetoric of contemporary Andean politics, I would invite him — and everyone at Brown — to the Changes in the Andes Conference. See our website at http:// www.watsoninstitute.org/clas/ChangesInTheAndes. cfm for details.

Ben Brown ’08 Assistant to the Director, Center for Latin American Studies Feb. 11

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Clarification An article in Friday’s Herald (“No more parking for students on campus,” Feb. 8) implied that the University would no longer provide any parking for students. In fact, students will be provided with off-campus parking and a shuttle service to and from College Hill.

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O pinions Wednesday, February 13, 2008

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

ADOCH should include early decision admits MAHA ATAL Opinions Columnist In April 2004, I joined hundreds of high school seniors to spend “A Day on College Hill.” ADOCH was a chance to visit classes, sleep in the dorms, eat in the dining halls and decide if Brown was right for us. But I, like 37 percent of the class of 2008, was already signed up to attend Brown via early decision. What was I doing at an overnight admissions junket? Why was Brown wasting valuable money and dorm space on me?

Those are the questions that led this year’s ADOCH planners to limit attendance to regular-decision admits, those actually coming to evaluate Brown in comparison to its peer institutions. As other Ivies like Harvard and Yale move away from early decision, the competition among schools for regular-decision admits is getting fiercer.

As Dean of Admission Jim Miller ’73 told the Herald recently (“ADOCH will not include early admits,” Jan. 29), giving regular-decision admits an ADOCH focused on them and their choices will give Brown a better rate of return.

I attended the old, overcrowded ADOCH and loved it. Perhaps that’s because I was already head-over-heels for Brown. But I’m also convinced that having early-decision admits like me around in April would help, not hinder, Brown’s cause among the regulardecision crowd.

Students who choose Brown, whether

early or regular decision, do so because they want something unique: top-notch academics without intellectual snobbery or institutional regulation. Brown attracts students because of its culture, and that culture is different from the culture at Harvard or Yale. Copying the other fish in crafting our admissions events only contradicts our central message.

Because I’d been admitted early, Brown’s

with future classmates. Meeting classmates who have been enthusiastic about Brown since October provides the best possible image of Brown’s campus culture, and culture is Brown’s selling point. Not to mention that these early admits are Brown’s best advocates and serve as self-appointed advertisements, helping undecided students make their choice.

Meeting classmates who have been enthusiastic about Brown since October provides the best possible image of Brown’s campus culture, and culture is Brown’s selling point.

ADOCH was the only event of its kind I got to attend. But friends who applied regular decision tell me that most other schools design a sales pitch — an endless slew of information sessions to convince students that life would be great “if” they decided to attend.

Much of the audience at my ADOCH knew they would attend Brown, so the discussion centered on what life would be like “when” we arrived in the fall. It was less about selling Brown to us and more about letting us bond

Moreover, bonding with future classmates is an important experience even for those of us who have made up their minds. Like many a nerdy Brown student before me, I arrived at college anxious about how easily I would make friends. Though the students whose cell phone numbers I brought home from ADOCH did not become my best friends here, recognizing a few friendly faces during the first weeks of freshman year made the transition astronomically easier than it might

have otherwise been. That bonding is even more important now that Orientation has been shortened. Cutting a third of the class out of ADOCH undermines class bonding on two ends.

Worse yet is the possibility that if early and regular-decision applicants attend separate pre-matriculation events, the two groups will only form bonds amongst themselves. Early decision tends to favor those who don’t need financial aid — those who attend prep schools that help them strategize for the early-admit game. Regular decision students hail from a more economically diverse pool. I worry that a freshman class socially segregated from April onwards into early- and regular-decision students may wind up further separated along socioeconomic lines.

Yes, ADOCH was overcrowded, with two or three students sharing floor space in already cramped doubles. And granted, this presents a less-than-luxurious image of what life at Brown is like in comparison to schools where freshman rooms have fireplaces. But Brown has never been fancy, and the students whose college decisions are based on pomp and circumstance have never been drawn here.

In the last few years, as I’ve seen Brown adopt unpopular technological advances like Banner and even toy with a plus-minus grading system, I’ve begun to fear that our desire to compete with other schools is leading us to forget who we are.

Maha Atal ’08 is sad that her days on College Hill are almost through

Better start packing, poor folks, Mr. Gentrification is moving in RENATA SAGO Opinions Columnist Posh, exclusive condos and ubiquitous Starbucks cafes now replace old, dilapidated tenements and corner liquor stores, courtesy of that polysyllabic word that is as difficult to pronounce as it is to prevent: gentrification.

I cannot remember when I first encountered the word, but when I did I quickly labeled it a euphemism for urban strangulation. While I laud the reinvigoration of urban minority communities plagued by the onslaught of inadequate housing, abandoned lots, drug dealing and gang violence, among other issues, I question the extent to which such structural adjustments benefit the residents of these communities. By reconstructing the appearance and increasing the value of urban communities, gentrification cracks the neighborhood door open for new kinds of buyers with higher socioeconomic levels.

What could be wrong with gentrification, then, if it encourages economic diversity in formerly impoverished areas? The inextricable links between race and class demonstrate the harrowing effects of gentrification, for it is only in squalid black and Latino communities that highfalutin’ builders come in with their revitalization plans. Some are successful in seducing local organizations with the vision of a peaceful, upstanding community devoid of the fracas to which it has been accustomed.

Enamored of the prospect of a new community, these organizations forget about the residents too poor to reap the benefits of this costly dream, the residents who have lived in the community for years, participating in its myriad transformations. They are the history, the backbone. Without this group, the com-

munity is vulnerable to the sort of change that discredits its residents and its history.

Gentrification represents the concurrent delight and plight for the urban environment as it suffocates communities, compromising rich histories of migration and struggle for profit maximization. Revitalization projects lead to higher rent, which forces those who cannot afford the hikes to settle elsewhere.

This doesn’t seem to encourage economic diversity at all.

Private companies are not committed to preserving the integrity of communities. They could care less about people having to move.

resented blacks and Latinos. Urban revitalization programs take a “tabula rasa” approach to community rebuilding, finding it easier to rid communities of their cumbersome low-income residents rather than establish initiatives to aid these groups. The physical space is “revitalized” while its occupants are in limbo.

Gentrification does not encourage economic integration — or even ethnic integration. Rather, it rids itself of responsibility for residents by deconstructing their living spaces. It changes the face of minority communities — literally.

Urban planning agents buy our houses one at a time in hopes of creating a new community whose skin may be black, tan or white so long as it has green undertones.

In fact, they unwittingly facilitate low-income residents’ relocation. Urban planning agents buy out houses one at a time in hopes of creating a new community whose skin may be black, tan or white so long as it has green undertones.

Historically, the connection between race and physical space — the geographic locations where minority communities have been placed — have birthed urban cultures that gentrification threatens. These urban cultures of which I speak are often confused with cultures of poverty shared by underrep-

The “G” word marks the sudden return of former suburbanites who took off during the era of white flight. They now seek to “deghettoize” the urban environment to which they are “entitled.” Not only do the suburbanites stake their claim in the scramble for lowincome communities, but elitist institutions (including our dear Brown, my friends) also play a role in destroying communities. The University of Chicago, for example, continues to tear down property in my community to build residence halls. The school has even given many of its faculty credits to live in

newly constructed homes in my neighborhood. Community history fades into nonexistence as university buildings become its new landmarks.

Increasing the value of the community and, consequently, the income of residents, gentrification incites residential income segregation. This affects racial demographics, for privileged non-minority groups relocate to formerly predominantly minority communities and underprivileged minority groups who once dominated these communities move to — well, I don’t even know where they relocate. To homeless shelters? Maybe to Section Eight housing? That couldn’t be, considering that Section Eight housing is being torn down across the nation.

Urban revitalization projects redefine socioeconomic standards while undermining the histor y and cultures that exist within these communities. Realtors even go as far as using newly gentrified communities’ historical underpinnings as marketing schemes, in spite of having denigrated the residents who helped form these histories. Take a trip through historically black Harlem in New York or Bronzeville in Chicago and see how affluent white residents are the new face of such communities. Such neighborhoods have undergone the necessary transitions, but at what cost? While giving minority communities a well-needed cosmetic facelift, gentrification removes those who have little to offer the community (which happens to be the former residents).

Gentrification is, undoubtedly, bittersweet.

Coupling the process with changes in public policy could ameliorate the conditions that low-income residents face. Easier said than done.

Renata Sago ’10 wonders who came up with the word “gentrification.” Try to say that five times fast

S ports W ednesday Page 12

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

W. water polo starts season with tough competition

Busy OMAC frustrates students

By Jason Harris Spor ts Editor

The women’s water polo team opened its season last weekend at the 16-team Triton Invitational at UC San Diego. The two-day tournament pitted Bruno against two nationally ranked opponents on day one. Brown lost to No. 9 UC Irvine, 17-9, in its season opener despite a quick start. Brown jumped on the Anteaters at the outset, taking a 2-1 lead in the first minutes. But Bruno could not sustain the effort, and UC Irvine responded with eight straight goals. Brown was down 13-4 at the half and 17-6 three-quarters of the way through.

In its second game, Brown faced No. 20 Cal State Bakersfield and former Head Coach Jason Gall.

Gall, who coached both the men and women’s teams, left Brown last June to take the Bakersfield job and was replaced by Head Coach Felix Mercado. The Bears started in a 3-0 hole, but battled back late. At

Nelson Fitness Center may solve problem

By Jason Harris Spor ts Editor

The cold of February means students look inside for physical activities, but this only makes the space crunch worse in the OlneyMargolies Athletic Center.

The combination of varsity and club team use, along with demand for recreational space have made students and coaches from all over the Brown population upset about the OMAC’s lack of availability.

“It’s how it has always been at Brown,” said Intramural and Facility Coordinator Diane Yee. “In the month of February, it’s kind of hectic with the weather.”

Februar y is the worst month because spring sports teams are gearing up for their seasons, but need practice space indoors. The varsity softball and baseball teams have the basketball courts and most of the track at the OMAC reserved from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. for the majority of the month.

During these times, recreational users can only use part of the OMAC, such as the fitness corner and weight room. But the varsity sports teams that practice in the gym aren’t in a great situation, either.

“It is overcrowded at night,” said baseball Head Coach Marek Drabinski. “It can be hard to operate and run a practice.”

The team has to set up blockades on the track to stop people from running because it fears an accident with a thrown or batted ball. This causes problems not only for recreational users, but also for other teams looking for some gym space.

The No. 1 women’s rugby team is trying to get ready for its spring season that includes Nationals, but it has struggled to find time and space. The team uses the track and various corners of the OMAC for conditioning, plyometrics and ball handling. But last week, the team was asked by the softball team to move off the track because the team had finished warming up and was

continued on page 9

W. hoops loses steam in second half in road losses Bears are now 1-19 after five road losses

By Whitney Clark Sports Editor

Ashley Hess / Herald File Photo

Shae Fitzpatrick ‘10 led the women’s basketball team with 15 points against Dartmouth on Friday night. She was 7-for-11 from the field and had two rebounds.

continued on page 9

Sp

o r t s

Courtesy of DSPics.com

Lauren Presant ‘10 had a team-high 13 goals in four games over the weekend at Triton Invitational at UC San Diego.

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W. fencers finish Ivy league season strong On Sunday, the women’s fencing team edged out No. 5 Harvard, 14-13, to finish third in the Ivy League at the second half of the Ivy League Championships at Princeton. The team also fell to No. 3 Columbia, 19-8, and No. 8 University of Pennsylvania, 20-7.

The team was led all season by Randy Alevi ’10 in the sabre and Francesca Bartholomew ’11 in the foil. Both fencers were named Second Team All-Ivy, based on their 12-6 in-league records. Ruth Schneider ’06 is the only other Brown female fencer to ever be named to the All-Ivy team. Against Harvard, Brown also received important contributions from epee fencer Christine Livoti ’08 and sabre fencer Charlotte Gartenberg ’08, who were both 3-0 in their events against the Crimson.

The men were not as successful, finishing sixth out of six in the same tournament. The men dropped contests to No. 6 Penn (16-11), No. 7 Harvard (21-6), and No. 5 Columbia (25-2). Both teams will be at Columbia on Feb. 24 for the Intercollegiate Fencing Championship, followed by NCAA Regionals the next week at Vassar.

— Jason Harris

The women’s basketball team will be happy to finally come home this weekend after losing five straight on the road.

L a s t 49 w e e k Brown Dartmouth 61 end’s pair of games completes 46 the team’s Brown 70 string of Harvard contests in foreign gyms as the team lost to Dartmouth, 61-49, on Friday and Harvard, 70-46, on Saturday. This dropped Brown’s record to 1-19 overall (0-6 Ivy League) while the Big Green and the Crimson improved to 8-12 (5-1 Ivy) and 12-8 (5-1 Ivy), respectively.

Against Dartmouth, the Bears followed an all-too-familiar story line. The team was revved up coming out of the gates, but after a strong start, things quickly went downhill. But in contrast to previous games, guard Shae Fitzpatrick

’10, Brown’s leading scorer on the night with 15 points, found a silver lining. Though the Bears lost their momentum and their chances of winning in the second half, they still didn’t give up.

“We really fought back and played a solid 40 minutes,” Fitzpatrick said. “We closed the gap instead of letting it get bigger. The team is really proud of that.”

The first half was back and forth between the sides. With Fitzpatrick scoring Brown’s first seven points, the Bears were down 10-9 at the 16:25 mark. Head Coach Jeannie Burr attributed the Bears’ success in the first half to consistent scoring, helping Brown hit its stride.

But this didn’t discourage Dartmouth. The Big Green went on a 12-3 run with under six minutes left in the half. A heavy contribution to Dartmouth’s scoring came from guard Koren Schram, who was leading scorer of the night. She tallied 17 points, 14 of which game in the first half.

Brown, despite being down 34-22, didn’t give up so easily. A buzzer-beater from Fitzpatrick sent the Bears into the locker room on continued on page 9

After strong finish, skiing looks to regionals

By Megan McCahill Assistant Spor ts Editor

The women’s ski team completed its regular season on a high note, finishing in third place on both days of a carnival at Mount Ascutney, Vt. The team competed in the slalom on both Saturday and Sunday and its two third-place finishes were the highest it had placed in the event all season.

“This was by far our best slalom skiing of the year,” said Head Coach Michael LeBlanc. “We really skied like a team this weekend.”

The Bears entered the weekend tied with Plymouth State for fourth

place in the division. With its results this weekend, the Bears clinched a spot in Eastern Collegiate Ski Conference Regional Championships, which takes the top five teams in Brown’s division.

“There really wasn’t a whole lot of pressure this weekend about making regionals,” LeBlanc said.

“Barring a complete disaster, we knew we were going to qualify, so we tried to focus on just being consistent and improving ourselves.”

Continuing what she’s done all season, Krista Consiglio ’11 led the way for the Bears, winning her fourth race of the season on Saturday with a total time of 1:36.73. On

Sunday, Consiglio’s time of 1:40.56 secured her fourth-place finish and cemented her as the individual winner of the entire division.

Winning the division individually is a testament to Consiglio’s remarkable consistency. Ever y run a skier has made all season is counted towards her total individual score. Consiglio, who has not finished outside of the top 10 in any race this season, ran away with the title, finishing 46 points ahead of the runner-up from Plymouth State.

“I don’t think we’ve ever had a continued on page 9