Thursday, November 20, 2008

The Brown Daily Herald T hursday, N ovember 20, 2008

Volume CXLIII, No. 117

UCS calls for ending enforcement of prereqs

Amid pomp, archaeologists bury capsule

Provost ‘concerned’ about proliferation of A’s

By Jenna Stark Senior Staff Writer

by Mitra Anoushiravani Senior Staf f Writer

The shiny metal “torpedo” seemed out of place in the daylight of the Main Green. So too did the men and women gathered around it wearing ivy wreaths and carrying spice “offerings.”

FEATURE A standard-bearer marched to the beat of a snare drum as four young men carried the artifact on two support beams, as if carrying a ritual sacrifice to an altar.

The torpedo — in reality, a time capsule — was ceremoniously buried Wednesday morning beneath Rhode Island Hall, which is currently undergoing major renovations.

The ritual antics, organized by the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World, which will occupy the revitalized building, were meant to lighten the mood of what is usually an austere ceremony.

“We’ve been treating the renovation of Rhode Island Hall very much as an archaeological project,” said Susan Alcock, professor of classics and director of the institute. When the project manager of the renovations, which will not be finished for another year, brought up the idea of burying a time capsule, “our eyes lit up immediately,” Alcock added.

Shawmut Design and Construction’s Nicole Blais, the project man-

Since 1866, Daily Since 1891

Jenna Stark / Herald

A group of archaelogy buffs mock-ceremonially bury a time capsule. ager, said a time capsule has been buried in construction projects at other schools.

“Given that it’s an archaeological project, it sounded appropriate” to use one, she said.

The vessel — “gigantic” (by

time capsule standards) at three feet long by 12.75 feet wide, Alcock said — was buried amid pomp and circumstance at 10 a.m. following a procession down Waterman and continued on page 4

RIPTA to cut $2m from budget to address shortfall of only $1.8 to $2 million. The original proposal was amended following a request from Gov. Donald Carcieri ’65 Facing a big budget deficit and high that RIPTA take no dramatic action fuel prices, the Rhode Island Public until the state legislature reconvenes Transit Authority’s board of directors in January, Therrien said. approved service reductions for 47 of Only one bus route, no. 24 “West the state’s bus routes this week.

Bay Shopper,” servicing a senior citiThe service reductions are “much zen home once a week, will be commore minor” than originally pro- pletely eliminated. The rest will see posed, according to Mark Therrien, either a decrease in bus frequency or RIPTA’s assistant general fewer hours of operation. manager. Along with the “We are not abandoning METRO elimination of 20 drivers, the communities,” Therrien cuts, approved on Monday, should said. “No area will be left out in the save RIPTA $900,000 by the end of cold.” the current fiscal year in June, he RIPTA officials reviewed over said.

8,500 trips to gauge ridership and But the reductions will come no- instanced of overcrowding, Therrien where close to addressing the author- said. Route reductions were chosen ity’s estimated $8 million deficit, and if data showed a recent decrease in RIPTA officials said more dramatic ridership. action must be taken by January. “In Yet RIPTA’s announcement Monthe end, it’s left up to the governor day that it could cut service “came and the legislature,” Therrien said. out of left field,” said Vale CoferRIPTA held public hearings as Shabica ’09, a member of Students for late as Oct. 7 on its original proposal a Democratic Society. RIPTA board for $12 million in service reductions members, he said, had repeatedly and the elimination of 140 jobs, but emphasized in meetings with SDS Monday’s reduction represents a members that no service cuts would dramatically scaled-down version of continued on page 4 that proposal, calling for a reduction

The Undergraduate Council of Students passed a resolution at its general body meeting Wednesday expressing disapproval of the enforcement of prerequisites on Banner, and heard Provost David Kertzer ’69 P’95 P’98 express his opinions on topics ranging from grade distribution to the economy.

The council also rejected a different resolution that would have endorsed an end to officially observing Columbus Day at the University.

Kertzer, when asked what he thought about recent data from the Office of Institutional Research that showed that the number of A’s surpassed 50 percent of all grades given in the 2007-2008 academic year, said, “I don’t think it’s a good thing. I think it’s a problem.” The University, he said, was approaching a grading system that was all but “A’s or no credit.”

Kertzer added that there was much debate among the faculty about grading, and that he was determined to take the issue seriously.

Asked if he would approve of discontinuing the enforcement of prerequisites on Banner, Kertzer said he did not understand the logic of having prerequisites without their being enforced. He said he thought

it was reasonable that if a student wanted to take a course but had not fulfilled the prerequisites, he or she would need to speak to the professor.

He also said he was working with the Dean of the College’s office to improve sophomore advising, and briefed UCS members on what the economic downturn would mean for the University.

Just as many of the University’s peer institutions are making substantial changes to their budgets, Brown is no different, he told the council. “We need to find a way to tighten our belts and keep our eye on what is really essential about a place like Brown, which is the education we provide,” he said. He added that he was concerned about students’ ability to pay tuition and that he recognized “the need for more financial aid.”

The general body overwhelmingly passed a resolution stating that prerequisites should not be enforced through Banner and that academic departments should re-evaluate their current prerequisites.

Tyler Rosenbaum ’11, chair of the council’s academic and administrative affairs committee and a Herald Opinions Columnist, said he was optimistic about the support shown by the Faculty Executive Committee, which he said was “who we need to go through” to effect the resolution. Rosenbaum added that the results of a UCS/Brown continued on page 13

d o w n the r u n w a y

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By Brigitta Greene Contributing Writer

VO LU ME

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POSTRolls with SNL’s Simon Rich, talks Thanksgiving and reflects on Sex Power God

www.browndailyherald.com

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CAMPUS NEWS

Kim Perley / Herald

Kappa Alpha Theta held a fashion show Wednesday night to benefit volunteer advocacy for abused children.

monologues coming Students will produce Eve Ensler’s play “The Vagina Monologues” this spring

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OPINIONS

convention unquestioned Suzannah Kroeber ’11 asks why we need gender-specific bathrooms in the first place

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

16 SPORTS

hey, it’s something...

The winless men’s hockey team manages a tie against ranked ECAC rival Harvard

News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com

T oday Page 2

Thursday, November 20, 2008

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

We a t h e r TODAY

Vagina Dentata | Soojean Kim TOMORROW

partly cloudy 38 / 22

partly cloudy 39 / 23

Menu Sharpe Refectory

Verney-Woolley Dining Hall

Lunch — Chicken Fingers w/ Dip-

Lunch — BBQ Beef Sandwich, Pea-

ping Sauce, Vegan Tofu Pups, Zucchini Yianchi, Gyro Sandwich

nut Butter & Jelly Bar, Chocolate Flake Cookie, Curly Fries

Dinner — Vegetarian Tamale Pie,

Dinner — Spice-Rubbed Pork

Spanish Onion Soup, Spanikopita, Filet of Sole in Lemon Roll-ups

Chops, Vegan Paella, Chicken Mulligatawny Soup

Free Variation | Jeremy Kuhn

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

Fizzle Pop | Patricia Chou

Enigma Twist | Dustin Foley

© Puzzles by Pappocom RELEASE DATE– Thursday, November 20, 2008

Los Angeles Times Puzzle C r o sDaily s w oCrossword rd Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

ACROSS 1 Domino on the keys 5 Two-time Grammy winner Kathy 11 Chutzpah 15 Steaming roller 16 Too 17 It’s sold in bars 18 Composer Khachaturian 19 Antelope that believes in corporal punishment?

21 Himalayan hair style?

23 Brewer’s need 24 For the ages 25 Fitting 26 __ pinch 27 Put the metal to the metal?

32 Dismissal from the court?

36 Prefix with -zoic 37 Philip of “Kung Fu” 38 Pop, as a soda can 40 Rather, for one 41 Hubs 43 “Just what you’d expect Capote to say!”

45 Beer go-with 47 “The Girl From Ipanema” setting 48 Co. with keywords 49 Identify, in a way 54 English-speaking 57 Hearth ailment?

59 Amorous murmur in the barracks?

61 Large piece of cake?

62 Col. neighbor 63 Nasal divider 64 Basie’s “__’Clock Jump” 65 Noticed 66 Like some palms 67 They cause blowups DOWN 1 Heartthrob 2 Baseball’s Hammerin’ Hank 3 “American Idol” judges, ultimately 4 Longtime Georgia senator

5 Kenyan tribesman 6 Defense secretary after Cheney 7 Banjo sound 8 Keep an eye on 9 Nevada’s second-largest county in area 10 Clay, today 11 Spirited exhortation 12 Pond organism 13 Contact, e.g.

14 Lug 20 “__ Blue” 22 Former leader?

25 Medicinal creams 27 Kaput 28 “My bad!”

29 Motel 6 alternative 30 Birthright seller 31 Get into 32 Red-bearded god 33 Recon goal 34 Social satirist Mort 35 Places with lots of white robes 37 Chalet backdrop 39 Scandinavian land, to its natives

42 It might be creamy 44 Stroller passenger 46 Kind of 1940s suit 49 Orders 50 Declaration from a folder?

51 Societal collapse 52 Unwelcome forecast

53 Continental capital 54 It’s between Mason City and Des Moines on I-35 55 “Way to go!”

56 Stick together, in a way 57 Manners?

58 Ballyhoo 60 Twit

Classic Deo | Daniel Perez

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Classic Aibohphobia | Roxanne Palmer

xwordeditor@aol.com

11/20/08

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

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11/20/08

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

M etro Thursday, November 20, 2008

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Alum stepping away from Rhody blog Now that the presidential election is over and the bar exam is behind him, Matt Jerzyk ’99 has decided to sell his influential political blog Rhode Island’s Future. In a blog post on Tuesday, Jerzyk announced that he had entered into an agreement to sell the blog and has begun working as an attorney in Providence for DeLuca and Weizenbaum, a personal injury and product liability practice.

Jerzyk, a former union and community organizer, started R.I.’s Future in January 2005 as a way to share his thoughts about the race for then Sen. Lincoln Chafee’s ’75 seat. The blog achieved notoriety during that race, when it revealed that a series of negative e-mails criticizing Chafee’s Democratic opponent, Sheldon Whitehouse, were sent by a Chafee staffer from a Senate computer. Senate equipment is prohibited from being used for political purposes, and the staffer was suspended without pay as a result of the scandal.

The blog also revealed this year, spurred by discussions about Sen. John McCain’s multiple houses, that Gov. Donald Carcieri ‘65 owns a property in Florida and had not paid taxes on it in years, Jerzyk said. Carcieri has since paid a check of $12,657 to pay those taxes, Providence’s Turnto10. com reported in late August.

He cited the blog’s ability to look at issues from a different perspective than most media organizations as one reason behind its success, despite not having a paid staff.

“If you ask different questions you are going to get answers that nobody was looking for before,” he said.

The blog also serves as a forum for political discussion and progressive views. Jerzyk said one of his main goals was to create a place for Rhode Islanders who “have been left out of the political debate in one of the most notoriously closed political environments in the country.”

Jerzyk said he will continue writing for the blog, but on a less frequent basis. Although he declined to say who had purchased the site, he said it will continue in “very good hands and grow into an even better forum.”

As print media organizations like the Providence Journal continue to cut back on staff and coverage, Jerzyk said blogs can play an important role in keeping communities informed.

“The cutback we’re seeing is really in local news reporting, so if you live in Cranston or Warwick where are you going to get your news?” he asked. “My hope is that some entrepreneurial citizens will start a local political blog.”

“I really think that blogs are the town hall of the 21st century,” he added.

“We’ve changed both the political culture and the media culture.”

—Colin Chazen

Prov. artists discuss city’s cultural future Nearly 50 Providence musicians, dancers, actors, painters and photographers gathered Tuesday to discuss ways to enhance public involvement in the arts. The forum, held at Roger Williams Casino, was led by Lynne McCormack, director of the city’s Department of Arts, Culture and Tourism.

Residents often fail to notice the city’s cultural assets, McCormack told the artists. They are “good at complaining,” she said, adding that they don’t realize how “cool” Providence is.

Seated at round tables with dozens of markers, pens, pencils and paper, the artists were encouraged to “think creatively” as they examined the city’s current arts climate and planned for its future.

Tuesday’s forum was part of a recent initiative, Creative Providence, started by Mayor David Cicilline ’83. In 2003, Cicilline founded the arts, culture and tourism department to form “a citywide cultural plan for strategic and synergistic use of art, culture, film and tourism,” according to the department’s Web site. This past September, he made good on that proposal by launching the plan.

On Tuesday, McCormack described Creative Providence as a “huge” undertaking. With the help of two regional consulting firms and the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, McCormack said her department hopes to examine the city’s arts scene in all forms, including visual arts, music, theater and dance.

More than 2,000 Providence citizens have already responded to an email survey asking residents for their opinions on the city’s arts and culture scene sent out by Dreeszen & Associates, which helps communities with cultural planning, and New Commons, a consulting firm whose leaders aided McCormack during her presentation Tuesday. Craig Dreeszen, who has conducted personal interviews with 20 local artists, said more than 40 community members have signed up to lead focus groups to discuss concrete ideas and concerns, he said. He estimated that by June 2009 — when Creative Providence is slated to publicly release its findings — more than 3,000 citizens will have participated.

Though the city has spearheaded the effort, McCormack said the plan is a “truly a cooperative effort,” requiring the community’s input.

And though many Providence artists — especially those associated with nonprofits, who often rely heavily on public and private donations — will be unable to avoid the adverse effects of the current economic crisis, both Dreeszen and McCormack are optimistic about the initiative’s future successes.

In fact, McCormack said she sees the city’s financial difficulties as the perfect occasion to advance the local arts. A combination of music, dance, theater and visual arts groups provides more than 2,800 jobs and account for nearly $111.8 million in the city, she said. With steady improvement, she added, the arts sector may be able to stimulate the local economy.

The arts, culture and tourism department will host a two-day summit in March to continue soliciting ideas from local citizens.

— Lauren Fedor

Sister, Sister: Providence forges ties abroad

By Connie Zheng Staf f Writer

Nine years ago, the celebrated Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy lent ten portraits of members of the Medici family to Brown’s David Winton Bell Galler y. The city also sent a delegation of artisans, musicians and restaurateurs to Providence to participate in a week-long festival called “Splendor of Florence.” The chefs set up shop in empty banks, the artists displayed their leather goods and the craftspeople set up workshops.

Florence is one of Providence’s three official sister cities, as recognized by Sister Cities International, a non-profit based in Washington, D.C. that promotes what its president, Patrick Madden, calls “citizen diplomacy.”

Building bridges between communities can help to rectify the image of the U.S. abroad, Madden said.

“The reality is, we’re not going to bomb our way into a new image abroad,” he said. “The best ambassadors from America are its citizens. We are a piece of a bigger conversation between America and the world.”

Providence’s other two sister cities are Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, and Praia, the capital of the Republic of Cape Verde, according to Gonzalo Cuer vo, director of internal communications for Mayor David Cicilline ’83. The city council signed formal resolutions with their coun-

Alex DePaoli / Herald File Photo

Providence has sister cities in Italy, the Dominican Republic and Cape Verde.

terparts in Praia in 1994, Florence in 2002 and Santo Domingo in 2004, Cuervo said.

Before these ties were formalized, however, residents of Providence and its sister cities had already formed relationships. True to the idea of citizen diplomacy, “these processes have to be driven by the constituent groups,” Cuervo said.

The Providence-Santo Domingo relationship began “at the request of several constituents,” among them members of local Dominican cultural groups, Cuervo said.

The two cities already had trade relations.

Providence also supports the second-largest population of Dominicans in the United States, according to L ynne McCormack, director of the Department of Art, Culture and Tourism. Providence’s

relationship with Praia can be attributed to its “significant Cape Verdean population,” Cuervo said.

Founded in 1956 after President Eisenhower proposed a citizen diplomacy initiative at a White House summit, SCI has since helped to connect 700 U.S. cities with over 2000 cities around the globe.

Providence’s relationships with its current sister cities first started without SCI’s help.

The city’s sisterly ties to Florence stemmed from a relationship that started several years ago. Cuer vo cited the “Splendor of Florence” festival as one product of what were once informal ties.

Massimo Riva, chair of the Italian studies department, who lived in Florence, said he “kind of knew” continued on page 8

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Thursday, November 20, 2008

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Capsule entombed under Rhode Island Hall continued from page 1 Thayer Streets to the Main Green.

The parade drew some stares as the drummer and standard-bearer led the small crowd through Soldiers Arch. The four “strapping youths” carrying the time capsule wore wreaths, and all participants were dressed in ceremonial red and black clothing.

“We did it as a ritual,” said Krysta Ryzewki ’08 GS, adding that many elements of the ritual held significance for ancient societies, and that the ceremony made the day “both fun and slightly historical.”

The ceremony also included offerings of roots, grains, tea leaves and a “human sacrifice” (a graduate student mimed the procedure) in honor of the Joukowsky Institute’s areas of expertise — Greco-Roman, Mayan and ancient Chinese societies.

The archaeologists tried to fill the capsule with items that they knew could be preser ved and understandable in the future, but struggled because most items that hold important information are “paper items,” Alcock said, adding that such items could become unreadable with time due to changes

in language and the disintegration of paper.

The objects in the capsules represent different themes, such as “The Year 2008,” “Day in the Life of the Joukowsky Institute,” “Rhode Island Hall Renovation” and “Life on Campus,” Alcock said during the ceremony.

The capsule contains a DVD with the contents of the Joukowsky Institute’s Web page, a “GigaPan” picture of the Institute and its current faculty and students, a dollar bill, a copy of the 2007-2008 Critical Review, an inflatable baseball bat and a copy of the Nov. 5 issue of The Herald, which has a photo of students celebrating Barack Obama’s election.

The capsule will remain untouched beneath the building until the next renovation. “As long as (Rhode Island Hall) stands, the capsule will be hidden,” Alcock said.

The building, which has stood for more than 150 years, “will be good for another 150,” she added. “At least I hope so.”

The hall, which was built in 1840, was first used as a science building, where students did taxidermy projects, Alcock said. Workers found a stuffed mouse and crocodile skin during the renovation, she said.

The time capsule is not the first of its kind on campus. Within the Sidney Frank Hall for Life Sciences’ two-story pedestrian bridge is a time capsule that lists the names of the Providence community members whose handprints were used for the “Lines of Sight” art installation.

But the Rhode Island Hall time capsule is viewed more in an archaeological context than as part of a piece of art.

“It’s a fitting episode in the history of the building,” said Elise Nuding ’11, who did an independent study project last semester that examined the history of Rhode Island Hall.

She said she hopes the legacy of the building will be made accessible so that future classes can learn about its previous role on campus.

“I would love for future students to be able to look at this building and know about its history.”

The location of the time capsule — under the cement foundation of the building ­— is marked by a plaque that declares the date of the burial, Blais said.

“It’s a statement of hope for the future and hope for things to come,” Alcock said during the ceremony. “It won’t be lost to memory.”

Rahul Keerthi / Herald File Photo

Riders board a RIPTA bus at the Thayer Street stop. The authority will eliminate some service to make up for a budget shortfall.

Bus service cuts will not be enough to close shortfall continued from page 1 be made until January.

Since a hike in fares this summer, the activist student group has made public transit a priority, storming a meeting of RIPTA’s board in September and causing it to adjourn early.

Cofer-Shabica attributed RIPTA’s deficit to the “roundabout way” in which public transportation is funded in the state, saying Rhode Island has the money but chooses not to prioritize public transportation in its budget.

RIPTA’s eight-member board of directors “doesn’t have the backbone to go to the General Assembly and demand funding,” he said.

RIPTA is a quasi-public authority, receiving 40 percent of its annual funding from the state, said Robert Shawver, associate chief engineer for capital programming at the Rhode Island Department of Transportation.

This state funding comes mostly from gas tax revenues, which have fallen in recent months. The budget deficits are largely the result of the high price of diesel fuel used by the buses, Therrien said. RIPTA’s budget is based on an average price of $2.60 per gallon of diesel, but the yearly average so far has been $3.30, he said.

The Blue Ribbon Panel on Transportation Funding, created by Carcieri and co-chaired by State Director of Administration Jerome Williams, has been working since March to find a solution to the state’s transportation woes — and RIPTA is not the only source of worry.

The DOT is looking to raise $300 million to fund much-needed infrastructure improvements for the state’s roads and bridges, which are

deteriorating after years of neglect, the Providence Journal reported Nov. 15.

“The DOT is so underfunded — we can only do what we can do,” Shawver said.

Williams stressed the dual importance of both maintaining infrastructure and supporting public transportation. “RIPTA buses have to drive on the roads ... over the bridges,” he said.

In the meantime, the Blue Ribbon Panel is discussing alternative ideas for covering the deficit. The members will present their final proposal to the governor Dec. 4.

A separate group is looking into ways RIPTA can reduce its expenses and raise revenues, Williams said.

One of his proposals is a five-cent increase in the gas tax, which he said would raise enough money to cover the authority’s deficit this year. But he said he does not know if there is enough support in the state legislature to pass it.

Cofer-Shabica said such a gas tax was a “really silly idea” that made “no economic sense.” An increase in the price of gas would only result in a decrease in gas purchases and thus a decrease in state tax revenue, he said.

But Williams said he hopes to avoid the originally proposed 20 percent reductions in any way possible, especially when high ridership and an economic downturn mean an increased need for public transportation. Many proposals are on the table but no concrete action can be taken until January.

A state transportation bond passed on election day this month will allocate more than $3.6 million to RIPTA for the purchase and rehabilitation of buses.

C ampus n ews Thursday, November 20, 2008

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

News in Brief Jo’s local food table a monthly feature

Helping you relax, profs’ furry friends

A table offering locally-produced snacks, desserts and baked goods has become a monthly feature at Josiah’s because of its popularity with students, according to a manager at the eatery.

The table’s offerings — which include bread, cheese, yogurt, taffy, dried cranberries and Swiss chocolate — are supplied and grown by local farmers and vendors, some of whom also participate in the weekly Farmer’s Market on Wriston Quad. The table is part of a Brown Dining Services effort to incorporate more local food into its offerings.

The “Local Table,” which is set up in Jo’s one Wednesday night every month, is meant to be an alternative for people who are not able to make it to the Farmer’s Market earlier in the day, said Sean Debobes, assistant manager for retail operations.

Jo’s first introduced the table about a year ago, and high student demand has since prompted Dining Services to make it a monthly fixture.

“People really like it,” Debobes said. “We started off much smaller, but we’ve doubled what we’ve ordered each time. Sometimes we’re sold out by eight o’clock.”

Students browsing the table at Jo’s Wednesday night said they liked the variety of items being sold.

“This is my first time seeing the Local Table,” said Brandan Lai ’12.

“I think it’s pretty cool because there’s more variety on what you can spend your meal credits on.”

Popular items yesterday evening included chocolate bars, fudge and apple pie.

“I really like how everything is natural,” said Cassie Chang ’12. “I know the food here is not artificially processed, and I can’t easily get any of this food at the other campus eateries.”

— Charlene Kim

By Luisa Robledo Contributing Writer

‘Monologues’ production planned for Feb. Brown students will produce and perform Eve Ensler’s bold 1996 play “The Vagina Monologues” on campus for the first time this February, according to a student who recently obtained the performance rights.

The play, a series of anatomically aware monologues about female empowerment, is slated to be the centerpiece of a week-long series of events, according to Daniela Rodriguez Da Silva ’10, the campus coordinator of V-Day 2009, a national nonprofit grassroots movement with a mission to end violence against women.

The national event organizers encourage college students to perform “The Vagina Monologues” to raise money and awareness for anti-violence groups in their communities and abroad. Last year the V-Day organization granted the rights to produce the play on Brown’s campus to another student, who never performed the play.

The organization told her only one student from each school could own the rights at any given time, but Rodriguez Da Silva was able to obtain the rights from the student who already held them.

The task now is following the guidelines for producing the play, Rodriguez Da Silva said. V-Day organizers ask their student contacts to provide them with detailed accounts during the months of preparation before the show goes up and once the performance is over. Not a single word from one of the monologues can be altered.

But these are just details for Rodriguez Da Silva, who said she has wanted to perform the play “since forever.”

Christie Stephenson ’11, who will be an executive director of the play, said “a lot of people have come forward” to help produce the play, “which shows how primed the Brown community is for this type of dialogue.”

Stephenson, a member of The Herald’s business staff, said the V-Day 2009 coordinators are looking to put their own spin on “The Vagina Monologues” by asking students, both male and female, to read their own monologues on stage after the formal production.

The play’s sexual themes and provocative language have earned it notoriety among both fans and detractors. The play won an Obie Award in 1996 from the Village Voice for the best new off-Broadway play, but has been the subject of censorship elsewhere.

In 2006, Providence College, which is run by the Dominican Order of the Catholic clergy, banned a student group’s performance of the play. The college’s president, Rev. Brian Shanley, said he prohibited the play about female sexuality and violence because the piece contradicted Roman Catholic teachings, the Associated Press reported in February of 2006.

— Beatrice Igne-Blanche

Andrea Matthews ’11 was passing by the Main Green Tuesday when she saw something that prompted her to call it “the best day” of her life — at least half a dozen dogs, all wagging their tails excitedly.

Matthews was just one of many students who stopped by Health Ser vices’ Heavy Petting event, which invites faculty, staff and graduate students to bring their dogs to help frazzled students relax.

Introduced six years ago, the dog-petting gatherings are held twice a semester. Yesterday’s event drew about eight dogs, whose owners brought them to enjoy the attention of students eager to pamper a furr y companion. Students are not allowed to keep dogs in University residence halls.

“It’s a chance for students to take a break, and taking a break, whatever way you decide to do it, is important,” said Health Educator Naomi Ninneman.

“I love it, I love it. I can’t wait to do it again!” said Karen Quinn, a coordinator in the Bio Med Research Administration, who brought her dog Sam, a three-year-old golden retriever. He was a hit with students who stopped by the event.

“I think it’s a great idea,” said Sara Hof fman ’11. “Dogs are definitely awesome for mental

Alex DePaoli / Herald

Students enjoyed a moment of relaxation petting dogs on the Main Green Wednesday.

health.”

According to Associate Professor of Psychology Ruth Colwill, who researches canine communication systems and behavior, Hof fman may be correct. “Having a dog present in the room can have a soothing effects and reduce physiological signs of stress,” Colwill said.

Studies have shown that pets

can produce positive psychological changes in people who interact with them often, she said. For example, some research has shown that pet owners are more likely to approach “stressful situations” as “challenges” to be overcome, she said.

“I think Barack Obama did well buying a dog,” Colwill said. “He is really going to need it.”

U. hoping renewed tax law aids donors’ giving

By Talia Kagan Contributing Writer

As the economic downturn worsens, raising questions about the University’s financial prospects, a recent move by legislators may encourage donors to use different methods of giving.

Planned giving — a type of deferred giving — raises money that the University will use only in the future and takes advantage of the tax code to benefit both the recipient and the giver, according to Executive Director of Planned Giving David Coon. Roughly one out of every six dollars of the $1.272 billion raised by the Campaign for Academic Enrichment so far is a result of planned giving, he said.

A tax extension provision from the federal government’s October bailout package encourages retirement plan donations, one type of planned giving, Coon said.

Known as the Individual Retirement Account Charitable Rollover, it allows IRA owners over 70-and-ahalf years old the option of donating tax-free charitable funds directly from their IRA account for contributions under $100,000. Congress first

passed this tax advantage in 2006 and renewed it in 2007. It has now been extended for the 2008-09 fiscal year.

Between July 1, 2006 and July 30, 2007, Brown received 128 gifts taking advantage of this plan, totaling $1.5 million. During the same period one year later, Brown received 99 such gifts, totaling $1.156 million.

“My supposition is that (the rollover) probably doesn’t increase who the donors are, but it may increase how much they’re willing to give us,” Coon said.

According to Coon, Brown’s database contains roughly 10,000 potential donors who qualify for this tax advantage, though there are possibly more because the database lacks dates of birth for some older alumni.

The campaign office has publicized the renewed policy with announcements on its Web site and in e-mail newsletters to alumni.

Though he has recently found it harder to schedule appointments with potential donors, Coon said planned giving is “particularly attractive right now” because it can provide stable options in the uncertain financial climate.

One strategy allows donors to entrust money to the University’s endowment and in return receive a yearly income, he said. This income can be in the form of a fixed percentage of the fair market value of trust assets — a portion of the donation based on the current market situations — for gifts above $100,000 or a fixed amount for gifts above $10,000.

Coon said one potential donor was considering adding money to a trust because “he feels (Brown’s) endowment can do better than anything he can do.” Another donor expressed interest in making a $100,000 contribution to the endowment for similar reasons, Coon said.

Meanwhile, economic trends are unlikely to affect one common type of planned giving, donations through bequests, Coon said.

“Brown has one of the strongest histories of receiving bequests in the Ivy League,” he said, adding that in the last four years the University has received an average of $34 million per year through these bequests.

Even with the current financial climate, Coon said, “people are still willing to put Brown in their wills.”

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Oregon town elects the country’s first openly transgender mayor

By Kim Murphy Los Angeles Times

SILVERTON, Ore. — Stu Rasmussen promised a new administration if he was elected, and he’s as good as his word: Silverton residents not only are getting a new mayor, they’re also

getting a new Stu. Rasmussen, longtime manager of the local cinema, was also elected mayor in 1988 and 1990, and served four years — but that was when he was wearing slacks and sport shirts to council meetings. The new Rasmussen — who got breast implants a few

years ago and began calling himself Carla Fong — wears skirts, lipstick and high heels.

The thing is, Rasmussen has been a fixture in this small former lumber mill town so long, people tend not to pay much attention to what he’s wearing.

Earlier this month, Rasmussen became America’s first openly transgender mayor. His constituents say they elected him not for his looks but because he promised to put a halt to the rapid development that has threatened Silverton’s small-town charm.

“My first two terms, I was a very straight-looking guy,” said Rasmussen, 60, a software engineer who has written on transgender issues. “Now, I write under the name Carla Fong, but basically I’m Stu in Silverton. Honestly, it would be too much trouble to retrain the whole town.”

Rasmussen walks down Silverton’s Norman Rockwell-like main street in a plunging purple top revealing impressive cleavage, with a tight black miniskirt, flowing red locks and dagger-like red nails. He is stopped every few feet by people who want to shake his hand and congratulate him on his victory, in which he took 52 percent of the vote against 39 percent for incumbent Mayor Ken Hector in the nonpartisan election.

“To be perfectly candid, the incumbent ... and I are not bosom buddies — that was a bad choice in terms,” deadpans Rasmussen. “Ken’s heart is in the right place, but it’s just when his mind’s made up, that’s it — facts won’t change it.

“What was it Alexis de Tocqueville said — his mind is not like the fertile field onto which seeds fall. Ken ... had a council that was easy for him to get along with because, when he didn’t get his way — well truthfully, his last name is Hector, and he just kind of lived up to it.”

Rasmussen, who has served the last four years on the City Council, promises an era of “reasoned discourse” in the city “where everybody’s going to be participating for a change.”

He has pledged to help control the rapid growth that has seen new homes and an industrial park spring up in this town of about 9,600, and vowed to demand safety reviews of the dam upstream — which he fears could fail during an earthquake and inundate the town.

Hector said that growth had slowed considerably in the last four years, and that the dam in question

had been certified as being able to withstand an earthquake of 8.3.

“I grew up in Southern California, and you know as well as I do: If you’re in an 8.3, you’ve got bigger worries than just a dam breaking,” he said.

In years past, Silverton has been known mainly as the home of Bobbie the Wonder Dog, who got lost on a road trip to Indiana in 1923 and showed up back home in Oregon six months later, apparently having walked the 2,800 miles in between.

Then there are the annual Davenport Races, in which residents propel customized couches down Main Street in honor of Homer Davenport, a political cartoonist in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who was born just south of town.

“I like to say we’re 40 miles and 40 years from Portland. Here’s a place you dial the wrong number and you get in a conversation anyhow,” Rasmussen says.

“It’s a bucolic little town,” said City Manager Bryan Cosgrove. “We’re doing a lot of investments in our downtown, and we have funding challenges like any other city. As for the election, I’ve kind of stayed out of all the publicity, because it’s not really about the city per se; it’s about Stu.” Silverton appears to have come to terms long ago with Rasmussen’s nebulous gender, which he describes as “25 percent, maybe 30 percent between” man and woman, and his “adoption of the twins,” as the mayorelect refers to his breast surgery. But he still manages to catch some people off guard.

“Guys come up to me in the bar and say, ‘Hate to tell you this, but I saw this woman on the street the other day, and I’m thinking, great legs, nice tan, and she turns around and I go, “Oh, my God, it’s Stu!”’” Rasmussen recounts in the deep voice that seems always softened with a trace of humor.

“If I could have a face transplant, it’d be perfect. A face like this, only a mother could love. But people overlook the face now,” he says, glancing discreetly down at his tank top, “because there’s all this other real estate.”

Not long after Rasmussen debuted his new look, the City Council adopted a dress code mandating “business casual” at council meetings.

“We’re doing business for the city, and he’s showing up in outfits that frankly were embarrassing. ...

Miniskirts and halter tops to a City Council meeting? Imagine that in Seattle or L.A.,” Hector said. “When you’re dressing, I’m sorry, like a $3 hooker, it’s disrespectful to your community.”

“He wanted no cleavage, no short skirts, no high heels,” Rasmussen said, with a slight roll of the eyes.

“He’d made his point; he’d won the game. So I just proceeded to ignore it.”

Until he takes office in January, Rasmussen is focusing on drawing in patrons to his large, 1950s-style, 40-foot-screen cinema with full digital sound, which at the moment is “hemorrhaging cash.” He is also trying to market a coin-operated multi-player trivia game he designed for bars and restaurants.

Much of the rest of the time he spends with his girlfriend of 35 years, Victoria Sage, whom he describes as “the light of my universe.” (The two split briefly after the breast augmentation and wardrobe change. But Rasmussen, feeling he’d been “shot through the heart,” managed to win her back.)

“She tolerates it nicely. She lets me be the pretty one,” he said. “It’s not her thing, but she’s my biggest supporter, and she’s a lovely woman.”

W orld & n ation Thursday, November 20, 2008

Daschle selected for top health post by Obama

By Janet Hook and Noam N. Levey Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON — Signaling his commitment to take on the thorny challenge of refashioning American health care, President-elect Barack Obama has asked former Sen. Tom Daschle to be secretary of Health and Human Services, placing a loyal political ally with vast Capitol Hill experience at the forefront of the debate.

Expanding access to health insurance, and mandating that all children be covered, was one of Obama’s signature campaign promises. Like Obama, Daschle has long said the federal government should play a more aggressive role in extending health insurance to more Americans and improving the quality of care.

Obama’s selection of a high-profile figure with tested legislative skills — Daschle served eight years as Democratic leader in the Senate — was viewed as a sign that the new president expects to move aggressively rather than incrementally on a health-care agenda that could require delicate political maneuvering.

“You wouldn’t appoint Tom Daschle to be secretary of Health and Human Services if you weren’t serious about making health-care reform as a priority,” said Drew E. Altman, president of the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.

Daschle’s appointment drew praise from several key interest groups expected to be involved in the health-care debate, among them insurers, doctors and other lawmakers.

His legislative experience is expected to be especially valuable. Health care is an explosive issue that prompted a deadlock in Congress the last time major adjustments to the system were proposed, during President Bill Clinton’s first term.

“He certainly knows the corridors” of Congress, said Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn.

Daschle represented South Dakota in the House and Senate for 16 years, including his tenure as Senate Democratic leader. He is close to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., who is helping lead Senate efforts to craft health-care legislation. Daschle also has served on the governing board of the Mayo Clinic, one of the nation’s premier medical centers.

The South Dakota native is also an emblem of how Obama is surrounding himself with old hands from the Democratic establishment even as he promises to introduce a new political style of operation in Washington — something that has drawn increasing criticism from Republicans.

“Barack Obama is filling his administration with longtime Washington insiders,” said Alex Conant, spokesman for the Republican National Committee. “For voters hoping to see new faces and fewer lobbyist connections in government, Daschle’s nomination will be another disappointment.”

Daschle’s wife, Linda, is a registered lobbyist with a long list of corporate clients that may present potential conflicts of interest, and Daschle raised concerns about subjecting her business to confirmation-fight partisanship, according to a Democrat close to the process.

The selection of Daschle was not formally announced by the Obama transition team, but several Democratic officials close to the process confirmed Wednesday that he had been offered the job and had accepted it.

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Daschle himself carries deep scars from the partisan battles that Obama has campaigned against. He lost his Senate seat in 2004 after Republicans launched a national campaign to defeat Daschle, who was then Senate majority leader, by portraying him as a relentless obstacle to President George W. Bush’s agenda.

Daschle toyed with the idea of running for president in 2008 but instead opted to support Obama, endorsing him early over other former Senate colleagues running for president, including Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Fifteen years ago, Daschle played a central role in pushing the Clintons’ unsuccessful health-care reform effort on Capitol Hill.

Today, he remains a vocal champion for bringing the roughly 46 million uninsured Americans into the health-care system — though, like most advocates of overhauling healthcare delivery, he no longer calls for the creation a single-payer system like the one promoted by the Clinton administration.

Daschle has proposed giving all Americans access to the current health-care system for federal employees, which relies on private insurers.

Obama made a similar proposal on the campaign trail.

In his recent book “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health Care Crisis,” Daschle also called for the creation of a “Federal Health Board” to recommend what drugs and treatments health insurers should cover, based on evidence of their effectiveness.

Daschle’s prescriptions for the health-care system are generally similar to an outline unveiled last week by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., who is talking with Kennedy’s staff and representatives from the Obama transition team about writing legislation.

Most importantly, Daschle and Baucus want to keep the existing system of employer-based coverage intact, and layer over it a new system that would include those people who are not currently insured.

On Wednesday, there were additional signs that health-care legislation may gain traction next year. Senior Senate Democrats and Republicans involved in the debate met in Kennedy’s office to discuss how to handle the issue when the new Congress convenes in January.

Afterward, they issued a joint statement calling on their colleagues to “seek to achieve comprehensive health-care reform that includes access to effective coverage, quality care for all, and measures to control rising costs.”

Earlier in the day, America’s Health Insurance Plans, the health insurance industry’s Washington-based lobbying arm, announced its support for proposed new regulations that would require insurers to cover all customers, regardless of pre-existing conditions.

In exchange, the insurance industry group called for a mandate that all Americans obtain health insurance, a key part of Baucus’ proposal, though one that Obama rejected on the campaign trail. Obama said the government should mandate coverage only for children.

Fifteen years ago, by contrast, insurers rejected federal mandates for universal coverage during the debate over the Clinton administration’s health-care proposal.

Dow closes below 8,000 on more bad news

By Neil Irwin and David Cho Washington Post

WASHINGTON — Businesses cut prices at a record rate and builders started fewer new homes last month than anytime on record, according to new government data, as the outlook for the economy continues to dim.

The data helped spur another terrible day for the stock market, as did a projection of more hard times ahead by leaders of the Federal Reserve. A serious recession now appears all but assured.

The stock market fell another 5 percent, as measured by the Dow Jones industrial average, which closed below 8,000 for the first time in this bear market. New-home starts in October were the lowest since at least 1959, when the government began keeping data. The consumer price index plummeted by the most since that series of monthly data was started in 1947, as the economy slowed so abruptly that companies had to slash prices to sell products.

And Federal Reserve leaders released projections indicating they expect the economy to worsen significantly in the coming year. The most pessimistic of 17 Fed officials expects joblessness to rise to 8 percent at the end of 2009, which would be the highest in a quarter-century.

“We’re in the deep portion of the economic trough,” said Richard Yamarone, chief economist of Argus Research, explaining yesterday’s market sell-off. “So you have to expect a certain degree of negative sentiment, you almost have to expect doom and gloom at this point.”

The consumer price index, a broad measure of inflation facing U.S. households, fell 1 percent in October, driven by an 8.6 percent decline in the price of energy. But the falling prices were considerably broader than that; excluding food and energy, which are volatile, prices fell 0.1 percent, the first monthly decline in that “core” price index since 1982.

Prices for clothing fell 1 percent, for example, and the price of used cars and trucks was off 2.4 percent.

More broadly, economists said, businesses are losing any ability to set prices because demand for their goods has dried up.

“It’s not simply that they don’t have pricing power,” said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors. “It’s that they can’t sell what they have. If you have any inventory, you have to make sure it moves, and that means cutting prices.”

The silver lining of the negative inflation numbers is that dropping prices make it easier for people — at least those who do not lose their jobs in the downturn — to afford the goods and services they buy.

Similarly, weak construction numbers — housing starts fell 4.5 percent and new building permits issued fell 12 percent in October, the Commerce Department said — also contain benefits for the economy in the longer run. The fewer new homes built, the sooner the economy can work through an oversupply of housing.

Just this summer, many Fed officials and other economists viewed spiking inflation as among their foremost concerns. That appears to have changed. Besides raising their expectations for unemployment, the 17 top Fed leaders (12 regional bank presidents and five serving governors) cut their predictions of inflation in 2009.

Minutes released Wednesday of the late-October meeting of the Fed’s policymaking committee gave strong signals that the central bank could cut interest rates again at its December meeting, following two rate cuts in October. Rate cuts indicate greater concern about a slowing economy than about the risk of higher prices.

The policymaking committee “agreed that it would take whatever steps were necessary to support the recovery of the economy,” according to the minutes.

The dropping prices even raise the possibility of deflation, or a sustained fall in price levels that can create a dangerous self-reinforcing cycle, although economists generally think it unlikely the United States will enter such a cycle.

“There is a risk out there” of deflation, Federal Reserve vice chairman Donald Kohn said in a conference Wednesday at the Cato Institute. “But it’s still small in my mind.”

There was no single reason for Wednesday’s stock market decline, which accelerated in the final hour of the trading day. Turmoil in the commercial real estate market deepened as securities backed by loans on commercial properties such as office buildings fell in value. Shares of financial companies, especially Citigroup, and real estate investment trusts fell sharply.

But investors were also spooked by the Fed’s weak projections and a general sense of anxiety.

“It’s a tough environment, you’ve got layoffs, you’ve got bad news,

people are worried about banks,” said Andrew Brooks, head equity trader at T. Rowe Price. “It’s a nervous, anxious market.”

Investors sold off corporate bonds with lower credit ratings, concerned that a rash of retailers, manufacturers and other companies will close their doors and default on their debt in the coming months.

Moody’s has been predicting a sharp rise in failures among firms that have lower-rated — or “junk” — credit ratings. In a report last week, it predicted a “deep and protracted” recession would force more than one in ten of these companies to go under. The majority of U.S. firms have these credit ratings.

The nerves in the bond markets are making it prohibitively expensive for many companies to raise money.

And without a healthy bond market, a swath of economic activity is eliminated. Firms stop borrowing to buy construction equipment to put up buildings, acquire land for expanding restaurant chains or raise money to get through a cash crunch.

Because corporate junk bonds are more risky to own, investors often demand a higher yield to buy them. Wednesday, these yields, which move in the opposite direction of bond prices, rose above 20 percent for the first time since 1990.

The squeeze on companies eventually will cause some of them to file for bankruptcy protection. On Monday, Moody’s reported that the number of companies in danger of running out of cash reached the highest level since 2002.

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Providence and Florence: Profs see shared character continued from page 3 about Providence’s bond with that city. Riva, who is also a professor of modern culture and media, said he was “always convinced” that Providence’s sister city was Venice, “because of the canals and the gondola.”

“I guess the whole idea centers on the idea of the Renaissance City,” Riva said, when comparing Providence to Florence, where he attended college. Another similarity between the two cities, he added, was “the idea that Florence was the city of art, but also had an industrial side to it.”

Evelyn Lincoln, associate professor of history of art and architecture and Italian studies, who teaches the course “HIAA0550: Florence and Tuscany in the 15th Century” and co-curated the Bell Galler y’s

Medici exhibit in 1999, found a different set of similarities.

Lincoln noted that Florence was a center for goldsmithing during the Renaissance, while Providence was a silversmithing hub. She also cited the “artistic vitality” of both cities, their textile industries and their focus on tourism as similarities.

“There’s a busy-ness, not frenetic-ness,” Lincoln said. “Providence is not New York, just like Florence is not like Milan.”

Riva said schools such as Brown and the Rhode Island School of Design should have a more prominent role in enhancing contact between the cities.

“We should jump at the opportunity for international exchange,” he said. He hopes for the revitalization of a now-defunct Brown-in-Florence program, he said.

Give a hoot; don’t pollute.

W orld & N ation Thursday, November 20, 2008

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Pirates baffle international community Little progress on bailout

By Peter Spiegel and Henry Chu Los Angeles T imes

LONDON — The Saudis chose to negotiate. The Indian navy opened fire. The U.S. navy said shipping companies should do more to protect their vessels, and the ship owners said governments should guard the high seas.

But everyone wants the barely functioning government of Somalia to control the pirates who sail from its ports to seize the cargo ships and tankers that ply past.

Mightily armed, but slightly baffled, 21st century civilization appears to have no collective answer to piracy, a scourge once considered banished into history.

“These are not just unskilled bandits,” said Russian navy spokesman Igor Dyagalo. “Most likely we are dealing with two or even three pirate syndicates planning these attacks. They have very good sea communications, and they’re well-armed.”

Indian officials said Wednesday a navy ship exchanged fire with a suspected pirate vessel before blowing it up in waters off the African coast. And over the weekend, pirates took control of a Saudi oil tanker, leading to negotiations with the Saudi government.

Shipping and security officials said pirates are exploiting the maritime equivalent of what military officers on land call ungovernable spaces: vast, remote regions made lawless because of failed states, mostly out of the reach of international militaries. They find the ships fairly easy to capture, and many shipping companies willing to pay lucrative ransoms to free hijacked crews and cargo.

Like the globe’s other piracy hotspot, the narrow spit of sea between Malaysia and Indonesia called the Strait of Malacca, the Gulf of Aden is one of the most sensitive chokepoints in global commerce, a passageway for an array of valuable cargo like oil, weapons, and manufactured good shuttling between Europe and Asia.

These waters are four times the size of Texas. And while the stable, comparatively wealthy East Asian countries that line the Malacca Straits have committed their naval and coastal forces to stamping out hijackings and piracy, the Gulf of Aden is bordered by poor or dysfunctional countries like Djibouti, Yemen, and particularly Somalia, home to a long-simmering civil war and a central government that barely exists.

“The area is much bigger,” said RAND Corp.’s Peter Chalk, author of a recent study on piracy and terrorism at sea. “You do not have that kind of regional cooperation now, and you have a huge void of governance in Somalia. All of those factors make dealing with this problem that much more difficult.”

That inability risks halting maritime activity going from the Indian Ocean into the Red Sea. Already at least one major shipper, Norwegian oil and chemical tanker operator Odfjell, has announced it is halting all transits through the Gulf of Aden by its 100-vessel fleet.

Others may soon follow. Shipping consultants have reported a skyrocketing of insurance premiums for ships passing through the vast waters between the Horn of

Africa and the Arabian peninsula, with some estimating the costs rising as much as tenfold. BGN Risk, a British firm that analyzes corporate risk, said the additional costs to the shipping industry could total $400 million per year.

“The vast extension of the pirates’ reach will extend the area deemed as insecure by international shipping — and more importantly by insurers,” wrote London-based energy analyst Samuel Ciszuk in a report Tuesday for IHS Global Insight.

Many international shippers insist it is not their role to fight pirates.

Vladimir Mednikov, vice president of Sovcomflot, Russia’s largest shipping company, said governments and the international community should secure the open seas.

“We are peaceful people. We are not in the business of war,” Mednikov said. “We are carriers of oil and gas and other commodities.

Cyrus Mody, manager of the International Maritime Bureau in London, an arm of the International Chamber of Commerce, said his organization would like to see more naval stops of socalled “mother vessels,” the base ships used by pirates as jumping off points, which should then be confiscated.

But Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said some of the blame must fall on the shippers themselves, who have not done enough to protect their cargo.

“I take issue with this whole notion that it’s incumbent upon the armed forces of the world, the navies of the world, to solve this problem,” Morrell said at a Pentagon news conference Wednesday. “The shipping companies also have an obligation to secure their ships, to prevent incidents such that we’ve been seeing at alarming rates over the past several months.”

Pentagon officials bristled at suggestions that the U.S. and allied

navies have not actively pursued the suspected Somali pirates, arguing that a NATO task force in the region and other allied naval vessels have taken aggressive action to curtail their activities.

The officials said one of the principal reasons for establishing its new Africa Command, formally inaugurated just last month, was to combat piracy both around the Horn of Africa and the similarly oil-rich Gulf of Guinea in west Africa.

The U.S. navy says intelligence officials are watching for signs of terrorist involvement in piracy.

“Wherever there is big money, you will find terrorists,” said U.S. Navy Vice Adm. William E. Gortney, commander of all coalition navies in the region, though he added that the recent spate of piracy off Somalia shows no signs of links to international terrorists.

Coast Guard Capt. Phillip J. Heyl, the chief staff officer in Africom’s operations division, said the U.S. is highly reliant on local governments’ willingness and ability to improve their coastal defenses.

But militar y officials and experts also say even a stepped-up naval presence is unlikely to stop the piracy. With an estimated 20,000 ships per year passing through the gulf, U.S. and NATO officials have acknowledged that their 14 allied naval ships off the Somali coast, including those from India and Russia, are simply not enough to provide escorts to all commercial vessels.

“We’re never going to get enough ships down there,” Gortney said.

Military officials argue that the problem also must be addressed ashore in Somalia, where the pirates are organizing unmolested.

Until then, private security companies are likely to ramp up their efforts to fill in the gaps.

Jeff Gibson, vice president for continued on page 10

for car manufacturers

By Lori Montgomery and Kendra Marr Washington Post

WASHINGTON — Congressional allies of the auto industry were rushing late Wednesday to put together a bipartisan aid package for faltering Detroit car companies, but lawmakers said they may leave town Thursday without taking action.

Senate Democrats abandoned plans to take $25 billion from the $700 billion financial rescue program enacted last month, acknowledging that they did not have enough votes.

Detroit’s advocates quickly turned their attention to a Republican proposal to keep the car companies afloat.

That proposal, which was endorsed by the White House, calls for modifying a loan program created to help the automakers develop advanced technologies and retool factories to produce more fuel-efficient vehicles. Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, said the money would be given to the automakers temporarily to fund day-to-day operations. But when the money was repaid, he said, the loan program would be used for its original purpose.

Voinovich said he was working with Sens. Christopher Bond, R-Mo., and Carl Levin, D-Mich., in hopes of persuading senators from both parties to back the idea. If a deal is cut, Senate leaders said they would vote on it Thursday.

“I think there is a genuine concern here of getting something done during this period of time so that we don’t lose General Motors,” Voinovich said. “I think most people realize that this country’s in a deep recession. If we lose GM ... it could put us over the cliff.”

But a deal in the Senate would have to be ratified by the House, where the Republican plan would be dead on arrival, Democratic aides said. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,

D-Calif., has ruled out changes to the existing loan program. Several companies have already applied for the funds, and Democrats fear the car companies might back away from their commitment to build cleaner cars if the program’s terms are changed.

Modifying the loan program “would be sending exactly the wrong signal,” said Rep. Barney Frank, DMass., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and a key architect of the Democratic plan to bail out the car companies. He added that “there’s a very strong likelihood for bankruptcy if nothing happens.”

With the impasse unbroken, Congress is on the verge of leaving the possible collapse of the domestic auto industry in the hands of the departing Bush administration. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Wednesday urged Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to use his vast authority over the rescue money to help the car companies on his own initiative.

“Paulson knows he has authority to take the money,” Reid said. “He just doesn’t want to do it.”

White House officials retorted that congressional inaction would be to blame for any disruption of the auto industry over the holidays.

“If Congress leaves for a twomonth vacation without having addressed this important issue, and especially if the Senate leaves without Senator Reid even allowing a vote on this (Republican) amendment, then the Congress will bear responsibility for anything that happens in the next couple of months during their long vacation,” White House press secretary Dana Perino said Wednesday.

The maneuvering came as the chief executives of the Big Three automakers trooped for a second day continued on page 10

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California court votes to review Prop. 8 challenges No sure way

By Maura Dolan and Jessica Garrison Los Angeles T imes

SAN FRANCISCO ­— The California Supreme Court voted 6-1 Wednesday to review legal challenges to Proposition 8, the voter initiative that restored a ban on same-sex marriage, but refused to permit gay weddings to resume pending a final decision.

The court’s action, taken during a closed conference, suggested the court wants to resolve all of the legal issues surrounding Proposition 8, including the fate of existing gay marriages, in a single ruling.

It also indicated that at least one of the court’s seven members, Justice Carlos Moreno, may be leaning in favor of overturning the measure.

Moreno, who joined the state Supreme Court’s 4-3 ruling last May to strike down a state ban on samesex marriage, was the only justice to support granting a stay of the proposition.

In a move that puzzled some legal analysts, Justice Joyce Kennard, a generally reliable supporter of gay rights, voted to “deny” review of the Proposition 8 challenges. The court gave no indication of her reasons but said she was willing to hear a separate case on the validity of existing gay marriages.

The court may hold a hearing on the lawsuits as early as March, a timetable that scholars said was swift considering the complexity and importance of the legal issues.

Some analysts said the delay bode well for the challengers, while others said it indicated nothing about the court’s leanings.

“If the justices were really leaning towards upholding Proposition 8, and that was clear, they would have wanted to do it as quickly as possible and put the issue to rest,” said University of California, Los Angeles, law professor Brad Sears, an expert on sexual orientation law.

He said the delay could indicate that

the justices were divided and need and without delay,” Brown said. time to resolve the issues.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger University of California, Berke- released a terse statement through ley, Law Professor Goodwin Liu an aide. “The governor believes the said the court’s refusal to put Propo- Supreme Court ought to bring clarsition 8 on hold pending a ruling ity to this issue,” said the spokesdid not suggest the court would man. eventually uphold the measure. “A Schwarznegger has previously stay is an extraordinary measure,” said he expected the court to overhe said. turn the proposition and indicated Lawyers pressing the legal chal- he favored that. lenges praised the court and also Dana Perlman, a Los Angeles refused to draw inferences from lawyer who married his partner, the court order.

Hugh Kinsellagh, in July, said Shannon Price Minter, a lawyer watching the court has been “painfor the National Center for Lesbian ful.”

Rights, one of the litigants, ex“I’m excited the court is taking pressed gratitude for the “extremely the case,” said Perlman, who along fast” timetable and disappointment with his spouse is one of an estithat the court did not permit same- mated 18,000 same-sex couples who sex marriages to resume pending have married since June, when the a final ruling.

California Supreme Court ruling “We are concerned that there took effect. may be some But he said couples who will he is “pained NATIONAL NEWS never be able to ... having to sit marry because of this because of and wait for the men and women death or illness,” Minter said. in black robes” to decide the fate Asked about Kennard’s vote of his marriage. to refuse to hear the challenges, Since voters approved ProposiMinter said: “I am neither worried tion 8 earlier this month, opponents nor complacent. I just feel like with have filed six lawsuits to overturn all of them we have our work cut it. The court agreed to review three out to convince them. There is no of them. telling where any of them stand.”

Gay rights advocates argue the The campaign for Proposition measure was actually a constitution8 also praised the court’s action, al revision, instead of a more limited which granted the campaign the amendment. A revision of the state right to argue in favor of the mea- Constitution can be placed before sure. the voters only by a two-thirds vote “We see today as a grand slam,” of the Legislature or a constitutional said Andy Pugno, general coun- convention. Proposition 8 reached sel of the ProtectMarriage.com. the ballot after a signature drive.

“Ever ything we asked for was In addition to asking for more granted.” written arguments on the revision He said Kennard’s vote “seemed question and the status of existing to indicate that she thought the law- marriages, the court told lawyers suits had ... little merit.” to address whether Proposition 8 California Attorney General violated the separation of powers Jerr y Brown, whose office also doctrine under the California conwill defend Proposition 8, called stitution. the court’s decision to review the Gay-rights lawyers have argued cases “welcome news.” that the measure took away the abil“The matter of Proposition 8 ity of California’s courts to ensure should be resolved thoughtfully equal protection for minorities who

have historically suffered discrimination. The lawsuits also contend the initiative was a constitutional revision because it denied equal protection to a minority group and eviscerated a key constitutional guarantee.

Supporters of Proposition 8 counter that it merely amended the constitution by restoring a traditional definition of marriage.

The court’s previous rulings on similar lawsuits have been mixed.

The court has upheld at least six initiatives and rejected only two that were challenged as illegal revisions.

Supporters of Proposition 8 have threatened to oust any justice who votes to overturn the measure, but the official campaign has distanced itself from that threat. The court’s members serve 12-year terms and appear on the ballot unopposed in retention elections. Opponents could try to unseat them during their retention elections or try to mount a recall.

Although the court tends to defer to voter sentiment on initiative challenges, it has overturned popular ballot measures in the past.

In 1966, the California Supreme Court struck down a 1964 initiative that would have permitted racial discrimination in housing. Voters had approved the measure, a repeal of a fair housing law, by a 2-to-1 margin. Opponents challenged it on equal protection grounds, not as a constitutional revision.

In the following judicial retention election, the margin of victory for the justices who appeared on the ballot declined by about 20 percent, said Bob Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies and an expert on the initiative process.

Federal courts overturned another contentious initiative, an antiimmigration measure.

Unlike state judges, federal judges have lifetime tenure and do not face voters.

to respond to pirates continued from page 9

international training and operations at Blackwater Worldwide, said he has had inquiries from about 60 shippers and insurance companies.

“The pirates are going after soft targets,” Gibson said. “If a ship is being escorted by another boat, or some small boats, or maybe even a helicopter overhead, (the pirates) are going to decide: Let’s not make the effort.”

Such practices run up against U.N. guidelines for operating commercial ships, however, and critics argue that armed guards on board — which are not always visible to attacking pirates — may lead to needless bloodshed without deterring potential attackers.

The U.N.’s International Maritime Organization distributed new guidance after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks strongly discouraging any arming of commercial crews, saying such a move risks “escalating an already dangerous situation.”

Automaker bailout is uncertain continued from page 9 to Capitol Hill to face lawmakers aggravated by the prospect of approving yet another industry bailout.

In testimony before the House Financial Services Committee, the heads of General Motors, Chrysler and Ford repeated their assertion that the companies had slashed costs, reoriented their production lines and were well on their way toward profitability when the global financial crisis crushed sales and pushed the domestic auto industry to the brink of collapse.

With auto sales at the lowest point in more than 20 years, the companies are burning through cash and say they urgently need government assistance to continue paying their bills. If a new $25 billion loan is approved, Chrysler chief executive Robert Nardelli said he expects to get about $7 billion. Ford chief executive Alan Mulally, who runs the strongest of the three firms, said he may be forced to ask for the same amount if the economy continues to deteriorate. And GM Chairman Richard Wagoner Jr. said he expects to get as much as $12 billion.

With that much money, Wagoner said, “We think we have a good shot to make it through next year.”

Stung by the escalating costs of various Wall Street bailouts, lawmakers pressed the executives to say how they would spend $25 billion from the taxpayers.

“The American people have bailout fatigue,” said Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., the panel’s senior Republican.

Several lawmakers also berated the auto titans for traveling on private jets to ask for a government handout.

“There’s a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets flying into D.C. and people coming off of them with tin cups in their hands,” said Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y. “It’s almost like seeing guys show up in the soup kitchen in high hat and tuxedo.”

Thursday, November 20, 2008

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Lawyers, volunteers descend on deadlocked Minnesota Senate race

By P.J. Huffstutter Los Angeles T imes

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The election of 2008 is far from over here in Minnesota.

A breathtakingly narrow lead in the U.S. Senate race — 215 ballots in favor of incumbent Norm Coleman over challenger Al Franken, out of 2.9 million cast — has sparked lawsuits, accusations of electoral shenanigans and a Midwestern take on the infamous hunt for hanging chads in Florida.

NATIONAL NEWS Beginning Wednesday morning, state election officials began hand-counting the optically scanned ballots, as the race’s whisper-thin margin — seven-thousandths of 1 percent — triggered a mandatory recount.

In St. Paul, an impatient crowd of election judges and volunteer observers gathered at 8:30 a.m. inside a conference room and listened to Ramsey County election manager Joseph Mansky calmly outline the rules.

One ballot should be reviewed ever y five seconds, and at least 30,000 ballots would be counted each day. Keep an eye out for stray marks. No food or coffee or anything that could spill near the ballots.

Then Mansky apologized for leaving before the first white banker box was unsealed: “I’ve got to go to court,” Mansky said. “I’m being sued” — by Franken, who filed suit for the release of information on voters here in Ramsey County whose absentee ballots had been rejected.

Hundreds of lawyers and recently trained “ballot-verification” volunteers from both Coleman and Franken’s camps were dispatched to more than 100 recount locations

Wednesday, to peer over shoulders as election staffers judged ever y mark, pen stroke and smudge.

The final outcome could be decided by mid-December, though some predict the battle could stretch to January if there were additional election or legal challenges.

This theater of curiosity and suspicion could determine the future legislative path of president-elect Barack Obama: Minnesota is one of two still-undecided Senate seats — the number of seats Democrats would need to have filibuster-proof control in the Senate.

If Franken wins Minnesota, Democrats would have a 59-seat majority in the Senate, and leave Georgia GOP incumbent Saxby Chambliss as the sole obstacle keeping the Democrats from their longed-for goal. Chambliss faces a runoff with Democrat Jim Martin on Dec. 2.

“Clearly, the Democrats are getting close to the threshold of 60 seats” in the Senate, said Dan Hofrenning, a political science professor at St. Olaf College in Northfield. “Each step closer becomes more monumental.”

This isn’t the first time a highprofile Minnesota race has demanded such a laborious second-look.

In 1962, incumbent governor Elmer Andersen initially thought he had beaten Democratic-FarmerLabor challenger Karl Rolvaag. The pair battled over the results and a recount for months, resulting in Rolvaag being named the winner by a mere 91 votes.

The race between Coleman and Franken, one of the original writers for “Saturday Night Live,” has been long and bitter. The race grew even more contentious after the polls closed. On the morning after the election, unofficial results showed that Coleman had a lead of 725 votes. Coleman and Franken each received 42 percent of votes.

As Coleman declared victory on Nov. 5, he urged Franken to waive his right to a recount — which state law requires in races in which the margin between winner and loser is less than one-half of 1 percent. (A losing candidate can request that one not be held.) Franken, however, supported the recount.

As the days passed, the final tally fluctuated, and Coleman’s lead dwindled.

Both sides have flooded the cour ts and secretar y of state’s offices with legal challenges and requests.

Reports of irregularities also have emerged. In Mountain Iron, the tallies called in on election night were later revised to add 100 votes for Franken — but the time stamp on a voting machine’s recording tape was Nov. 2.

How many votes may have been misread by the state’s optical scanners is unclear, but state and county officials estimate that it is one or two ballots out of every 1,000. In Ramsey County, the seat of the state capitol, that could mean between 200 and 300 ballots, Mansky said.

Unlike some states, where voters select a candidate by punching a hole through a ballot or use a stylus to tap their choice onto an electronic screen, Minnesotans use a pen or other writing implement to mark a paper ballot. Machines then register the marks.

By late Wednesday morning, the county election chief was back from his brief appearance at Ramsey County District Court, where a judge had granted Franken’s request. Mansky roamed through the eight recount stations set up inside the conference room. There was such a crush of observers from both camps — grandparents, college students, office workers taking a day off — that Mansky occasionally had to squeeze his way through the crowd.

The mood was somber, and people spoke in whispers — until someone questioned a ballot.

One Franken obser ver questioned whether a voter intended to pick Coleman, because the black check mark scrawled next to his name edged into another candidate’s oval. A Coleman volunteer asked Mansky, several times, whether the fact that the mark next to Franken’s name was lighter than marks made

elsewhere on the ballot meant the voter didn’t intend to back him.

Mansky patiently told the observer that the voter chose Franken.

Another election judge several tables away called Mansky’s name.

Moments later, at the other side of the room, came another call for help. Taking a deep breath, Mansky moved on to deal with the challenges.

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Thursday, November 20, 2008

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Yale up next for m. icers after 3-3 Harvard tie continued from page 16 remaining, Pietrus fired a shot at Hoyle that brought Brown’s student section to its feet. Hoyle denied the shot, but Russell’s retry off the rebound was deflected by Vokes into the net, tying the game 3-3 and sending the student section into cheers.

Although the score remained even for the rest of regulation, the Bears seemed to lose some of their intensity. “I was somewhat disappointed with how we finished down the stretch,” Grillo said.

With 13 seconds left in the period, McCafferty checked Mike Stuart ’09 into the glass between the Brown bench and the penalty box. Although Stuart remained on his feet, his skate hit the glass, shattering it over the ice. Play stopped for 12 minutes as Brown facilities cleaned up the shards.

Both teams picked up the inten-

sity again in overtime. Harvard’s Alex Killorn deked Brown’s defense and fired a shot from the right. The puck slid inches in front of the goal line, behind Rosen, but the Crimson couldn’t knock the puck in, and it sailed wide of the goal.

Brown’s best opportunity came when Vokes broke loose after a turnover. He snapped a wrist-shot from the right face-off circle, but Hoyle snagged the puck with his glove.

When the final buzzer blew, both teams slowly skated off the ice after the 3-3 tie. Asked if he was satisfied with the Bears’ second tie of the season, Pietrus said, “I don’t know if I would say satisfied. You know, we tied.”

The Bears return to the ice for their second game of a six-game home stretch at 7:07 p.m. next Tuesday. Brown faces Yale (4-1, 2-1 ECAC Hockey), who defeated the Bears 6-3 and 3-0 in their first two match-ups this season.

Trudeau ’09 goes online continued from page 16 companies see social media as something that they must break in to in order to continue to reach the same consumers that they had been reaching, rather than an opportunity to target new ones.

Nike Basketball’s latest offspring, “Ballers Network,” exists only as an application on Facebook. The decision to make it available exclusively on Face-

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

book was motivated primarily by the belief that in order to reach a cer tain audience, you must seek them out where they already live.

Right now, young people live on social media sites, and the sports world knows this.

Tom Trudeau ’09 is updatin’ his facebook status! LOL :)

Multi-sport athletes straddle ice and field continued from page 16 Murphy noted that there are physical advantages commonly found among hockey players that translate to greater athletic success beyond the rink.

“You have to be a good athlete … to play hockey because you need really solid core strength, you need leg strength, you also need the hand-eye (coordination), and you need the spatial awareness,” Murphy said.

“And in hockey … if you’re on the ice doing all this, it kind of multiplies your athletic ability because it’s so fast and you’re doing so many things at once,” she continued.

Asay, who plays softball in addition to ice hockey and is a member of Canada’s National Women’s Baseball Team, agrees that hockey players have a leg up for playing other sports.

“Hockey requires a variety

of skills: endurance, power and strength, and also good hands,” she said. “That probably translates into lacrosse quite a bit, with stick skills,” she suggested.

Male said that the timing of hockey, which is almost an exclusively winter sport, likely has a great deal to do with hockey players being able to play more than one sport.

“People are more likely to have a summer sport as well, (so they can) stay in shape,” Male said. “I know a lot of hockey players that play soccer during the summer.”

Since she is Canadian, Asay also attributes the popularity of hockey in Canada to athletes developing another sport. She said 75 percent of her baseball team also plays hockey.

There is a significant time commitment to playing two sports — Asay said she probably spends 25 hours per week on average,

excluding travel, for hockey, while spending 19 hours on softball. Practices are six days a week for both sports.

For Male, “it’s sort of a challenge, but I think that practicing almost every single day gives good structure to the day: going to class and doing homework, (getting) a workout and then going to practice,” she said.

“I like being in season all the time,” Male added, even if it means trying to catch up on work or sleeping on bus rides.

Even though Murphy does support athletes pursuing more than one sport, she sees a decline in the numbers of multi-sport athletes, admitting that “it is getting harder and harder for athletes to play (more than one sport), as we demand more and more.”

“But they can do it,” she added.

UCS rejects Columbus Day resolution continued from page 1 Concert Agency Poll, in which about half of all students said they were negatively affected by prerequisites, showed strong student support that he felt the faculty committee would take seriously.

Jerry Cedrone ’11 said he wanted UCS to push to have the FEC carry out its resolution and that the council should not rule out a demonstration on the Main Green. “Our credibility as of now stands very low with the student body because for a long time we’ve been a body that just passes resolutions and pats ourself on the

back,” Cedrone said.

The council rejected a resolution that would have expressed support for ending the observance of Columbus Day at Brown. The students were not sufficiently swayed by a presentation earlier this month by Reiko Koyama ’11, who told the council that by keeping Columbus Day on the academic calendar and giving students the day off, the University was condoning Columbus’ role in the deaths of millions.

The general body was heavily divided between those who supported changing the day off and those who did not. Many members said the

second Monday in October was a convenient time for students to visit family and if the date was changed then vacation times would not match up. Other members echoed Koyama’s concern that changing the name of the holiday without changing the date would not make the statement that Brown does not condone Columbus.

The general body ultimately rejected the resolution by a vote of 21 to 15. UCS President Brian Becker ’09, who had refrained from speaking during the debate, said he was “personally very disappointed in the council.”

E ditorial & L etters Page 14

Thursday, November 20, 2008

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Staf f Editorial

Opportunity of the unfamiliar With the semester heading toward its final weeks, some students will be returning from their study abroad experiences as others prepare for their own journeys to different countries. These individual experiences may prove invaluable in an increasingly global communities, for students to apply to their studies and future careers. These experiences often provide a foundation for a deeper and richer understanding of what it means to participate in a world where actions in one nation no longer simply remain with its geographic boundaries.

The purpose of study abroad experiences are mainly to allow a student to immerse themselves in a local language, culture and the things a student can’t experience from a travel guide. Brown’s program in Cuba allows a different form of education. As the Director of International Programs Kendall Brostuen told The Herald, “It’s one thing to have a textbook knowledge of another place, and another to be on the ground.”

While semesters abroad have not been implicated, these experiences may be limited with the recent federal appeals court’s dismissal of the lawsuit against academic travel restrictions of programs to Cuba fewer than 10 weeks long. This restriction results in a drop in the number of programs nationally from over a hundred to a dozen, according to Associate Professor of History James Green.

Robert Muse, a lawyer with the Emergency Coalition to Defend Educational Travel, cites the lack of universities’ support for their case — which he said was because of their fear of losing federal grant money — as one of the reasons their lawsuit was unsuccessful.

While Brown’s exchange program in Cuba has not been affected, Brown should consider the implications of this lawsuit’s dismissal on future academic endeavors both in Cuba and other countries. Though Muse said Brown has not been approached for its support, as an academic community, the University’s support for the freedom of academic travel is key to the comprehensive education it purports to extend to its students.

In his introduction to the “Best American Travel Writing 2000,” travel writer Bill Bryson writes, “To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.”

The danger of taking the familiar for granted means that sometimes a single worldview may become a dominant one. Being able to experience the everyday in an unfamiliar context is an invaluable asset the University should continue to support.

T he B rown D aily H erald Editors-in-Chief Simmi Aujla Ross Frazier

Executive Editors Taylor Barnes Chris Gang

Senior Editors Irene Chen Lindsey Meyers

editorial Ben Hyman Hannah Levintova Matthew Varley Alex Roehrkasse Chaz Firestone Nandini Jayakrishna Scott Lowenstein Michael Bechek Isabel Gottlieb Franklin Kanin Michael Skocpol Ben Bernstein James Shapiro Benjy Asher Amy Ehrhart Megan McCahill Andrew Braca Han Cui Katie Wood

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A lex yuly

L e tt e r s

‘No decisions made’ about potential construction delays To the Editor: I am writing to correct misinformation regarding the status of Brown’s capital projects as reported in the November 18 Brown Daily Herald article, “Bad economy will delay many new buildings.” To be clear, there have been no decisions made to delay planned capital projects.

As the recent letter from President Simmons to the community stated, given the uncertain and challenging economic environment, the University’s capital budget will be reviewed to determine which renovation, new

building construction, infrastructure and technology projects can proceed during this period and which should be deferred. The Facilities and Design and Budget and Finance Committees of the Corporation will consider and act on recommendations that emerge from this review.

Elizabeth Huidekoper Executive Vice President for Finance & Administration Nov. 19

Alum criticizes justification of group’s actions To the Editor: In the wake of the SDS actions at the recent Corporation meeting, I note the various letters to the editor that attempt to dodge or redirect responsibility for the actions of specific individuals.

One letter (“SDS Members should not be charged” Nov. 13) claims that “It is unacceptable that individuals are being arbitrarily singled out and held responsible for collective action” and that “the organization responsible for the action, not the individuals, should be charged.”

This is utter nonsense. The students making these claims should reflect on the implications that arise from

this line of reasoning. Should we accept the rationale that “I didn’t harm the villagers of My Lai. It was the platoon’s fault” or “I didn’t gas the Jews, blame the Nazi Party”?

For those who attempt to distinguish these students’ actions on the basis of the “purity” of their motives, I would point out that a central tenet of civil disobedience is the willingness to accept punishment. It is remarkably easy to take a tough moral stand when we dodge responsibility for our actions.

David Crimmin ‘72 Nov. 19

Class is in session for internationals in Dar es Salaam To the Editor: I am writing to clarify Friday’s story on the situation in Tanzania. The headline reported incorrectly that students studying abroad were out of class because of a student strike. Actually, international students at the University of Dar es Salaam — including the seven students in Brown’s program there — continue to attend classes, and faculty at the university continue their academic activities. “Foreign short term/occasional students” were specifically exempted from the administrative actions announced Wednesday by Vice Chancellor R.S. Mukandala.

Additionally, a new directive from the Vice Chancellor at the University of Dar es Salaam was released yesterday, November 17, 2008, reiterating that all international

students are to continue their classes and that all faculty are to conduct their classes as usual through the rest of the semester.

The health and safety of students in our programs is our highest priority. The students are safe and are continuing their work. We do hope that the strike by Tanzanian students will be resolved quickly and that normal academic life will resume at the University of Dar es Salaam.

Ned Quigley Associate Director Office of International Programs Nov. 18

C o r r e ct i o n

The Herald reported on Nov. 18 (“Post-election, no love lost among Dems,” Nov. 18) that Ariel Werner ‘09 is not an active Democrat in local elections. In fact, she is active in local elections but not as a Democrat. The article also reported that there was tension between the Brown Democrats and Students for Barack Obama since the Democrats’ decision not to endorse a candidate in the primaries. The tension is not related to that decision.

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

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

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

O pinions Thursday, November 20, 2008

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

The fallacy of gendered bathrooms

BY SUSANNAH KROEBER Guest Columnist Since I arrived at Brown, there has been a significant amount of discussion and debate over the need for gender-neutral housing and bathrooms. The University deser ves credit for promoting gender-neutral housing, especially compared to its peer institutions.

The gender-neutral bathroom question is perhaps less clear-cut, and I submit this is because people disagree about the purpose of a gender-neutral bathroom. While some believe that gender-neutral bathrooms are open to anyone (similar in concept to the bizarrely named “unisex bathrooms” in workplaces), others think that genderneutral bathrooms are only for those who identify as transgender.

These two hypotheses are irreconcilable, which means that at least one group will be dissatisfied with either outcome. The needs of the transgender community are not ser ved if community members do not respect that space or those who make use of it. On the other hand, if gender-neutral bathrooms were only open to the transgender population, a significant number of restrooms would need to be set aside for use by a ver y small group.

What is most striking about this issue is how the necessity of gendered bathrooms is never questioned. The assumption behind gendered bathrooms is that gender division suits everyone except transgender students.

Once we recognize that gendered bathrooms don’t work well for other community members (queer, genderqueer and androgynous

students, for example), we can work toward a more tailored solution.

Transgender students are not the only ones for whom gendered bathrooms pose a daily struggle. Any girl who has short hair and wears stereotypically masculine clothing may also be subject to odd glances or rude questions when entering the restroom of her preferred gender choice. The problem with designating a gender-neutral bathroom exclusively for transgender students is that

over others. If we really want to reser ve bathrooms for individual subgroups, we would have to get creative with the signs: “women who people might think look like men (but aren’t transgender),” “men who might be mistaken for women (but aren’t transgender),” “genderqueer,” “I’m in the process of working out my gender identity” and “I can’t choose — there are too many options!”

Most Brown students understand that the

The assumption behind gendered bathrooms is that gender division suits everyone except transgender students. Once we recognize that gendered bathrooms don’t work well for other community members, we can work toward a more tailored solution. doing so leaves out the majority of people who might find gender neutrality useful, including students whose outward appearance does not mesh with society’s view of what a man or a woman is.

By adding one more bathroom on campus that is reser ved for a specific group, we are just adding a third option to the gender binar y. Rather than promoting equality and acceptance of ever yone’s individual choices, we are prioritizing some choices

idea of a sexual orientation binar y — that a person is either gay or straight — does not adequately reflect the complexity of sexual identity. Bathrooms are one of the remaining institutionalizations of a gender binar y that does not work in our diverse community.

The resolution of an issue such as this depends on the maturity of the vast majority of the community. It’s unfortunate that the community at large may not be mature enough to cope with the desegregation of

bathrooms. I understand where this mentality comes from. As an outwardly genderambiguous woman, I’m relieved when I enter a restroom and someone does not feel the urge to point out, “this is the ladies room, dear.” There is no faith that I can either recognize the sexist depiction of a woman on the door or read the sign. How can we therefore expect others to react kindly to all gender-neutral bathrooms and treat the idea with respect?

There is simply no expectation in our society that we could share restrooms between genders, but gender-neutral bathrooms can be implemented with great results. This year in Hope College, all the restrooms are gender-neutral and there haven’t been any angr y protests or letters to the editor. If we expect community members to act maturely, they probably won’t disappoint.

Desegregating bathrooms is not one of my top priorities in terms of changes that should occur at Brown, nor do I think it a likely development during the rest of my time here. I do think that it is not unreasonable to ask people to be mature about this question. Gender binaries don’t begin to address the diverse needs of Brown’s community. But instead of ripping down all the gendered signs, I’d just ask people to reser ve their comments for their own private musings. If someone who looks like a man walks into the women’s room, sees a woman and does not immediately turn around, that’s a pretty clear indication that she knows what she’s doing.

Susannah Kroeber ’11 hopes that mall security is never called into a women’s room on her account ever again.

Change is coming — to political satire

BY Joshua Kaplan Opinions Columnist A few weeks ago I sent in my ballot for Barack Obama with little hesitation. But now I’m gripped with a small amount of regret.

It is not that I think Obama will be an ineffective and disastrous president — quite the contrar y. I am concerned about the future of my favorite political satire show.

The Bush administration has done and, I suspect, still has the potential to do, a few more extremely boneheaded things. But I must credit them equally along with Jon Stewart in making “The Daily Show” the brilliant program it is today.

On the day before the 2004 election Stewart pointed out the close relationship between Bush’s poor governance and his show’s success. Urging ever yone to vote the next day, he told the audience, “On a personal note I am a comedian who makes fun of what I believe to be the absurdities of our government. Make my life difficult.

Make this next four years really (expletive) difficult for me. So that ever y morning all we can do is come in and go, ‘Madonna is doing some Kabbalah thing — want to do that?’ I’d like that.”

Jon Stewart might have wanted a Kerr y victor y, but it is undeniable that those first four years gave the show some amazing

material to work with.

Recall President Bush in 2003 landing a fighter jet on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln with a large “Mission Accomplished” banner in the background. A year later and President Bush stood in the Rose Garden justifying his stunt. Cut back to Stewart and the audience starts laughing before he can finish commenting on the clips he has just shown.

But perhaps no moment stands out more

quite serious words were a punch line: “If we’re an arrogant nation they will resent us ... I think one way for us to end up viewed as the ugly American is for us to go around the world saying, ‘We do it this way, so should you.’”

To make Stewart’s job even easier, Bush chose a wonderful Vader-like sidekick as his vice president. The first term had its chuckles about Dick Cheney relocating from undisclosed location to undisclosed loca-

I’m just not sure that Barack Obama and Joe Biden have what it takes to entertain this nation. than in 2003 when The Daily Show sliced together video clips to create a President Bush vs. Governor Bush Debate.

Sure, politicians do and should change over time, but the change was so stark it was hard to believe the words coming out of Governor Bush’s mouth. The Governor’s

tion. But then in 2006 Stewart was given the golden opportunity to utter these words: “… making 78-year-old Harr y Whittington the first person shot by a sitting veep since Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton, of course, was shot in a duel with Aaron Burr over issues of honor, integrity and political maneuvering.

Whittington was mistaken for a bird.”

I’m just not sure that Barack Obama and Joe Biden have what it takes to entertain this nation. Obama has made a few blunders, particularly regarding people clinging to guns and religion, but that’s no match for the antics of the current White House occupants.

Biden provides a sliver of hope. He has a reputation, particularly amongst the media, for his oratorical gaffes. Gaffes are, of course, not as good as prematurely declaring victory after landing on an aircraft carrier or shooting a friend in the face, but in Biden’s case, these slip-ups have potential.

His vice presidential campaign was mostly free of them, but near the end he whipped out a beautiful one: “Mark my words, it will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy ...

Watch, we’re going to have an international crisis, a generated crisis to test this guy.”

There’s some potential in tr ying to scare the hell out of a room full of supporters at a private fundraiser.

So while I await the change brought by the new Obama administration, it is with a drop of sorrow that I will not be able to experience four more years of the same — the same amazing half-hour of political satire night after night.

Joshua Kaplan ‘11 is The Herald’s official fake cable news correspondent

S ports T hursday Page 16

Thursday, November 20, 2008

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

For sports, a new marketing frontier As the sports world adapts to a struggling economy, industr y executives are looking for cheap alternatives to reach consumers and promote their brands. Their latest search has led many to social media, specifically social networking sites such Tom Trudeau as Facebook, Tru Story MySpace, Friendster and Bebo. These four sites alone have a combined 330 million registered users.

Nearly ever y major sport has recognized the need for a presence in social media, enticed by its immensely attractive attributes.

Professional sports leagues can use social media to gain access to the valuable 12- to 34-year-old age group, identify people who are deeply engaged in specific teams and leagues and benefit from an open-sourced environment.

Social media themselves only really gained the immense popularity that it has today within the last five years. As such, marketers are a long way from figuring out the best way to tap into social media’s vast potential. In fact, existing models don’t actually add any direct revenue, with most pro-sports leagues content to benefit from increased brand exposure. For example, Major League Baseball developed MLB.com “Fanbook,” an application that fuses MLB.com content with standard social-networking functions. The National Hockey League started utilizing increased exposure via social media with its official Facebook page, which allows users to share messages, photos and videos. It has since developed similar applications for MySpace, Digg and del.icio.us.

While it may be beneficial for leagues simply to provide applications that ser ve mostly as an offsite extension of of ficial league Web sites, other businesses have found ways to turn a profit. Citizen Sports Network’s fantasy sports offspring, “ProTrade,” joined with Sports Illustrated to provide fantasy sports to the Facebook community. By taking existing content and services provided on a specific site and bringing them to a location with more broad-based appeal, ProTrade’s membership jumped from around 250,000 to 2 million, and its revenue increased by 600 percent.

Other new, small, sports-based companies dedicated to specific teams, sports or players, such as Watercooler, TruMedia Networks and SportsFanLive are enjoying early success. They were started to capitalize on the growing social media sites thanks to their low barriers for entr y.

Bringing existing content that might other wise never be utilized to a place that potential consumers visit on a daily basis, such as Facebook or MySpace, seems like good business. But despite the obvious appeal, some sports-based continued on page 13

M. hockey, still winless, rallies to tie No. 18 Crimson

By Dan Alexander Contributing Writer

In what players and coaches call “the oldest rivalry in college hockey,” Brown (0-4-2, 0-2-2 ECAC Hockey) tied the No. 18 Harvard Crimson (4-2-1, 4-2-1 ECAC Hockey) Tuesday night.

Assistant Captain Matt Vokes ’09 forced overtime when he redirected a shot from Jeremy Russell ’11 to even the score at 3-3 with under sixand-a-half minutes remaining in the final period. The teams were never more than a goal apart, and the lead changed three times.

Coming off of a 3-0 loss to Yale, the Bears faced stiff competition against Harvard, who defeated two ranked opponents last weekend. “We got to the rink Sunday, and (Head Coach Roger Grillo) got in our face and challenged us,” said Assistant Captain Jordan Pietrus ’10.

The Bears came out with energy, but got off to a rough start on the scoreboard. Bobby Farnham ’12 was sent to the penalty box 1:42 into the game for slashing. As Farnham’s penalty call came over the loudspeaker, Harvard’s Chad Morin sent a pass across the point to Captain Jimmy Fraser, who put a wrist shot behind goalie Dan Rosen ’10.

Although Harvard had a slight edge in the first few minutes, the Bears came out strong for the re-

mainder of the first period. Six minutes into the game, Eric Slais ’09 sent a short pass to Sean McMonagle ’10 behind the right faceoff circle with just 25 seconds left on the powerplay. McMonagle snapped a wrist shot past Harvard goalie Matt Hoyle to tie the game, 1-1.

Brown’s defense was tenacious in the first period and throughout the game. With players packed in tighter to Rosen, they were able to block 10 out of 24 first-period shots before they even reached Rosen.

“That’s something we’ve been working on all year — getting our guys to collapse a little more and help our goaltender out,” Grillo said.

Under four minutes into the second period, Pietrus flattened a Harvard player in front of the Crimson bench. With Harvard’s bench yelling “Two! Two!” to suggest a penalty, Pietrus skated down the left side of the ice. Pietrus spotted Slais charging towards the goal on the opposite side of the ice and set him up for a one-timer. Slais beat Hoyle, giving the Bears their first lead of the season.

But in the final five minutes of the period, the Crimson evened the score at 2-2 when Captain Brian McCafferty received a wrap-around pass from Fraser. McCafferty sent Rosen a shot from the left side of the blue line. Rosen tried to make the glove save, but the puck whizzed by him

Ashley Hess / Herald File Photo Matt Vokes ’09 evened the score in the waning minutes of the men’s hockey team’s game against rival Harvard Tuesday, earning the team a 3-3 tie against the 18th-ranked Crimson.

into the upper-right corner of the goal.

Action got started immediately in the third period, with Harvard controlling the puck. Only 44 seconds after face-off, Harvard’s Colin Moore sneaked the puck past Rosen to give

Harvard a 3-2 advantage.

The Bears gained a sense of urgency, and proved that this was a rivalry game in the next 14 minutes. With less than seven minutes continued on page 13

W. hockey players shine both on the ice and the fields

By Etienne Ma Contributing Writer

Glancing around her office at photos of her past teams, women’s ice hockey Head Coach Digit Murphy can recall numerous multi-sport athletes she once coached. The names roll off her tongue — Murphy immediately mentions Katie King ’97, Becky Keller ’97 and Tara Mounsey ’01, all of whom were Olympians in ice hockey and also played softball or — in Mounsey’s case — field hockey during their time at Brown.

Multi-spor t athletes have a history of being on the women’s

hockey team; roughly a quarter of all ice hockey players Murphy has had on her team over the past 20 years have played more than one varsity sport, she estimates.

The trend started early — the first player Murphy ever recruited as Brown’s head coach, Kate Presley ’94, played goalie for the hockey team but also had a brief stint as a lacrosse player, ultimately cut short by an injury to her eye socket.

Murphy recalls another episode in which Cara Gardner ’01 played a field hockey game at noon. Then joined her ice hockey teammates for another game without even warming up.

Catherine Moos ’07 was a “superstar at both” soccer and hockey, said Frances Male ’09, herself a rugby and hockey player. Emilie Bydwell ’08 also played for the U.S. national rugby team in addition to being a member of the hockey team.

Among all athletes at Brown this year, there are only around 10, men and women included, who participate in more than one interscholastic sport. Four belong to the women’s hockey squad.

Amanda Asay ’10, Male, Maggie Suprey ’11 and Macie Winship ’11 all play another sport in addition to hockey. Asay plays on the softball

Sp

o r t s

team, while Male plays club rugby.

Suprey and Winship both play on the lacrosse team.

Murphy, who while at Cornell achieved Hockey Ivy Hall of Fame status while also playing softball, is unsure why there are so many dual-sport athletes on her team.

Upon reflection, she admits that “it must be me.”

Murphy looks for dual-sport athletes because “we look for athleticism as a package,” Murphy said. They ask “overall, what’s your skill set as an athlete, not just as a hockey player.” continued on page 13

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Pyett ‘12, Dougherty ‘09 earn Ivy honors

Justin Coleman / Herald Women’s soccer’s Lindsey Cunningham ‘09, seen here, was named a Third Team Academic All-American by the College Sports Information Directors Association/ESPN the Magazine.

Paige Pyett ’12 of the women’s hockey team was named the ECAC Rookie of the Week for her impressive play over the weekend in Brown’s two-game series against Cornell and Colgate. In the Bears’ 3-2 overtime loss to Cornell, Pyett recorded one goal and one assist, and followed that performance up with another strong showing against Colgate, finding the net in the first period to tie the game at 2-2, en route to a 4-3 win for Bruno. Pyett has gotten off to a strong start in her freshman season, and is currently second on the Bears with five points, coming on three goals and two assists.

Quarterback and co-captain Michael Dougherty ’09 of the football team was named the Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week for the third time this season, in recognition of his headlining performance in Brown’s 45-16 win over Dartmouth on Saturday. Dougherty completed 16 of 22 passes for 238 yards and two touchdowns, and he added a 69-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, as the Bears improved to 5-1 in the Ivy League and inched closer to an Ivy League championship. Dougherty also received the honor earlier this season for his performance in a 41-34 loss to Holy Cross, when he passed for 526 yards, and after a four-touchdown performance in a 34-27 victory over Penn.

Tri-captain Lindsay Cunningham ’09 of the women’s soccer team was named a College Sports Information Directors Association/ESPN the Magazine Third Team Academic All-American. Cunningham, a COE concentrator, led the Bears with 15 points on six goals and scored three game-winning goals this season, and she was given the honor for her strong play on the field and academic performance off it.

— Benjy Asher