Thursday, February 26, 2009

Daily Herald the Brown

vol. cxliv, no. 25 | Thursday, February 26, 2009 | Serving the community daily since 1891

Moderate Party may get R.I. recognition

Bush adviser: GOP can bounce back

no s h o w

By Kevin Pratt Contributing Writer

BY George Miller Metro Editor

A lawsuit and bills in the state General Assembly may allow the Moderate Party of Rhode Island, a year-old political organization, to gain official recognition by the next election.

METRO Under current state law, a party can gain official status by collecting signatures of voters equal to 5 percent of the turnout of the previous presidential or gubernatorial election. The signatures can be gathered only during an election year. Parties are also recognized if they fielded a candidate for president or governor who got at least 5 percent of the vote.

Rhode Island has “the most restrictive ballot access laws in the United States,” said Ken Block, chairman of the Moderate Party.

The party’s lawsuit, filed in federal court, challenges the constitutionality of the state statute. The Rhode Island American Civil Liberties Union filed the case, which Block said is still in its early stages, on behalf of the group, whose platform targets “the four Es:” the economy, ethics, education and the environment.

Block said the state needs to “get our house in order” and not waste time on divisive social issues such as abortion and gay marriage.

Robert Kando, who is being sued by the group in his position as the executive director of the Rhode Island Board of Elections, said he did not find the current law unconstitutional.

The roughly 23,500 voters’ signatures required to meet the 5-percent threshold is “not an outrageous amount” to require for a group seeking recognition as a statewide party, he said. The lawsuit also names Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis and Attorney General Patrick Lynch ’87.

“The statute that the Moderate Party has an issue with is a well thought-out statute and it’s a reasonable statute,” said Mike Healey ’87, spokesman for the attorney general.

He said case law shows that states can require organizations to show a “significant modicum of support” to be granted the privileges of a political party.

Bills introduced in the General Assembly this month seek to lower the signature threshold to 1 percent

inside

continued on page 6

News.....1-4 Metro........5-6 Spor ts...7-8 Editorial..10 Opinion...11 Today........12

www.browndailyherald.com

Qidong Chen / Herald

The Avon Cinema stopped its long-running tradition of screening midnight movies.

See News, page 3

These are “dark times” for the Republican party, David Frum told a List Auditorium audience last night, but one way into the light is a less polarizing stance on social issues.

Recognizing homosexuality as a “reality” and calling for a “workable consensus” on the abortion debate, Frum — a former speechwriter and special assistant to President George W. Bush — maintained a moderate tone throughout much of his lecture.

Frum, who worked in Bush’s White House in 2001 and 2002, criticized the former president for leading “his party to the brink of disaster” in his latest book, “Comeback: Conservatism That Can Win Again,” which Frum signed copies of in the List lobby.

Frum told The Herald before the lecture that a cultural shift toward selfexpression and individualism in the 1970s has become “part of the reality

that conservatives have to adapt to.”

He added that the shift was not the product of one political ideology.

“The same force weakened the traditional family and also weakened trade unions,” he said.

Though he called the election of Barack Obama as the first black president “remarkable and gratifying,” he said the president’s Chicago background was a stronger indicator of his political identity than his race.

Referring to that city’s reputation for “abuses of the political process,” Frum said that the “idealistic young people who rallied to Barack Obama” can expect to be shocked at the degree to which political practices remain unchanged in the Democratic party.

The Republican party suffers from a “thin bench of talent” because of its stringent screening of potential candidates, he said.

Frum told The Herald that Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal ’91.5, a continued on page 3

Taking advantage of collapse, students head to Iceland

By Jeremy Jacob Contributing Writer

Iceland, the small European island nation, is famous for its hot springs, egalitarianism and medieval sagas.

Unfortunately, it is now also known for the collapse of its economy and government in the teeth of the global financial crisis, which has led to devaluation of the country’s currency and falling prices for many of its commodities.

After reading in a travel article over winter break that this reduction in prices of food and airline tickets made an Icelandic vacation

less expensive, Lee Stevens ’12 de- in a hostel in Reykjavik, the councided it would be a fun place to tr y’s capital and largest city, for spend her spring break. She later the week, using the city as a “base convinced her friends Andrew Lee camp” for possible excursions.

Stevens said what drew her to ’12, Julie Chien ’12 and Andrew Doty ’12 to make the trip.

Iceland was its “very pristine” landWhile many students scape and the fact that will be spending their FEATURE she isn’t sure if she’ll get breaks at home, relaxanother opportunity to ing and seeing family, the group go.

“When the hell else am I going — along with Rachel Lamb ’12, who to get a chance to go to Iceland?” was already planning a trip to Iceland with her friend and Carleton Stevens said.

Because Iceland imports most College first-year Julia Cohen — will be embarking on a week-long of its food, with one notable exceptrip to Iceland. tion being fish, food prices can be The group of six will be staying double those in the United States,

Stevens said. But the country’s economic troubles make a normally expensive trip far more affordable.

In addition to the low cost, Lamb said her interest in hiking and Cohen’s in geology contributed to their decision to visit Iceland.

“We looked at pictures and were reading things and it just seems beautiful,” Lamb said. “We talked to people and they said it would probably never be this cheap again.”

Stevens said the group is planning the trip on its own, without help from a student travel agency continued on page 2

Recyclemania underway again

By Mitra Anoushiravani Senior Staf f Writer

Brown hopes to improve on its recycling record with a strong performance in this year’s Recyclemania.

Recyclemania, a ten-week long national college-campus recycling and waste minimization competition, began its eighth annual contest on Jan. 18.

According to its Web site, the

post-

program’s main goals are to “increase recycling participation by students and staff” and to “lower waste generated on-campus by reducing, reusing and recycling.”

Each week, participating schools self-report the weight of waste produced and materials recycled by their community. Schools can track their progress online at Recyclemania’s Web site and see continued on page 2

Kim Perley / Herald File Photo

College Hill bins may not be empty for long — Recyclemania is back.

Inside

Metro, 5

Opinions, 11

post- scatters dat Brown seed till it flowers all pop-culture like, and 69s.

city gets greener

Oh To be young Sean Quigley ’10 dissects the role of young people in political discourse.

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

Providence Councilman Seth Yurdin proposes a law to clean up diesel fuel emissions

herald@browndailyherald.com

Page 2

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

C ampus N EWS

Thursday, February 26, 2009

“Things (in Iceland) are pretty volatile right now.”

— Lee Stevens ’12, who plans on traveling to Iceland

Applicants to U. summer programs show no increase

By Anish Gonchigar Contributing Writer

The number of applications for the Swearer Center for Public Ser vice’s summer fellowships is expected to remain stable this year, according to Roger Nozaki MAT’89, director of the Swearer Center and associate dean of the College.

According to Nozaki, the fellowships give out between five and 20 scholarships each — depending on the particular program — and there are approximately two to three times as many applicants as awards given.

Swearer Center fellowships are generally multi-staged processes, as students come in months beforehand to begin consulting on their projects.

“You have to have a really strong commitment to the project you are working on,” Nozaki said.

Alan Harlam, director of social entrepreneurship and director of the C.V. Starr Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship, said students applying to these programs don’t seem to be influenced by the economic uncertainty.

“I think most of the people who come through the door are motivated by the work they want to do,” Harlam said.

Lucy Stark ’10, who is apply-

ing for the Starr Fellowship this year, wrote in an e-mail to The Herald that the economy was not a factor in her decision to apply.

The fellowship “seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to stay in Providence and do meaningful work,” Stark wrote. “I think the Fellowship, if I get it, will be a good experience for me to learn how to work independently and outside of school.”

Stark wrote that her friends who are applying for similar programs are probably not doing so for economic reasons.

“I’d guess ... that most people are applying because they have a project they really want to do — not because of the economic crisis,” she wrote.

The Undergraduate Teaching and Research Awards program is not expecting a major increase in applicants this year either, said Christina Furtado, assistant dean for Upper Class Studies and director of the program. Furtado said there were over 350 applications for about 200 spots.

Teach for America, a public ser vice program that allows recent college graduates and professionals to work in public schools for two years at a time, is expecting a 60 to 70 percent increase in applicants from Brown, The Herald reported last week.

sudoku

Courtesy of Andreas Tille

Reduced costs are making Iceland an increasingly attractive travel destination.

Iceland’s collapse makes for cheap airfare continued from page 1 such as StudentUniverse. Among their plans is a trip to Iceland’s most famous geothermal spa, the Blue Lagoon. The spa, which Stevens said has health benefits in addition to its naturally warm water, is one of the most popular attractions in Iceland. Other natural sites, including Iceland’s geysers, glaciers and the island of Videy, which contains a large variety of bird life, are also high on the group’s to-do list.

Stevens said she thinks the group will spend most of its time in

Reykjavik, due to limited knowledge of how to get around the country.

Stevens said the group is not worried about the collapse of the economy and does not think the trip includes many risks, noting that a new government was recently set up in Iceland. She did admit that “things are pretty volatile right now” but added that Iceland doesn’t “seem to be slipping into anarchy yet.”

“Things could still change before we get there,” she said.

According to the United Nations’ Human Development Index, Iceland

is the world’s most developed country and one of the most egalitarian, based on income inequality metrics, which measure income distribution and economic inequality.

Stevens estimated that the trip will cost anywhere from $700 to $900 per person. The group’s fixed costs include $400 for their round trip airfare, as well as $23 per night for their hostel accommodations.

“I could go to Mexico or Florida anytime,” Stevens said.

“But this may be the only chance that I could go to Iceland for this much money.”

Brown leads Ivies in waste management continued from page 1

Daily Herald the Brown

Editorial Phone: 401.351.3372 | Business Phone: 401.351.3260 Stephen DeLucia, President Michael Bechek, Vice President

Jonathan Spector, Treasurer Alexander Hughes, Secretary

The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is an independent newspaper serving the Brown University community daily since 1891. It is published Monday through Friday during the academic year, excluding vacations, once during Commencement, once during Orientation and once in July by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. POSTMASTER please send corrections to 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 2009 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.

how they compare to other universities around the country.

This is Brown’s four th year participating in the competition, having consistently finished in the middle of the pack in past years.

“Brown’s goal is to generally improve over last year, particularly in the waste minimization category,” wrote Madeleine O’Neill ’12, student co-coordinator for EcoReps in an e-mail to The Herald. EcoReps coordinates Brown’s participation in Recyclemania. Brown ranks as the top Ivy in waste minimization for the fourth week of competition, with 8.71 pounds of waste per person — down from 9.40 pounds last year and much lower than Princeton’s 12.08 pounds for the same week, according to the Web site.

During the same week, Brown recycled 0.75 pounds of paper per person, up from 0.65 pounds last year; 0.60 pounds of cardboard per person, down from 0.65 pounds; and 0.31 pounds of bottles and cans per person down, from 0.32 pounds.

O’Neill wrote that EcoReps plans on using the statistics to create educational programs such as information sessions for Residential Peer Leaders and first-year units.

She added that the group recently conducted an audit of the school’s recycling bins to make sure that the bins were in the most convenient locations.

“Other schools tend to use Recyclemania as a short-term focus for improvement,” wrote O’Neill.

“Brown, on the other hand, uses it as a platform for improvement in

the school’s infrastructure.”

The competition has been advertised in Morning Mail, with more advertisements to come during the remaining ten weeks. But most students interviewed by The Herald were not aware of Recyclemania and were surprised to learn that it started roughly five weeks ago.

“I haven’t seen any tableslips or noticed anything,” said Ipsita Krishnan ’11, adding that had she known about the competition, she would have recycled more over the past few weeks.

Prabenzo Martadarma ’11 said, “They should advertise better. I’m really surprised.”

But Martadarma said that he would not have changed the amount he recycled even if he had known about the competition because he already recycles what he can.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

C ampus N EWS

Page 3

“It’s like a Cold War scenario played out again in South Asia.”

— Farrukh Malik ’11, on India-Pakistan tension

Lights out for midnight shows Frum: Cut payroll taxes

BY Luisa Robledo Staf f Writer

When Adrienne Langlois ’10 wanted a Friday full of suspense, she would go to midnight showings of Alfred Hitchcock or the Coen brothers movies at the Avon Cinema. Now, she will have to settle for duller evenings and, when the clock strikes 12, she will just have to go to bed.

Until eight months ago, the Avon Cinema ran midnight shows of classic Hollywood movies every week of the year. It also showed movies that had come out in the past six months and received renewed attention at this time.

But decreasing attendance forced owner Richard Dulgarian to cancel the midnight movies.

“People just weren’t coming,” he said. “It was obvious that the shows were not paying for themselves.”

Dulgarian doesn’t know the reason why people stopped coming to his midnight shows.

“Maybe our society is going to bed earlier,” he said. “Or maybe

there’s just more things to do on a Friday or Saturday night.”

The news disappointed the Avon’s loyal costumers like Langlois, a contributing writer for post-, who spent several nights of her first two years at Brown in the theater.

“I’m gonna miss it,” Langlois said. “I have very fond memories of my time there.”

Langlois smiled as she remembered when she went to see “The Big Lebowski.” The theater was full and the audience was excited to see the film, she said.

“I went with a group of friends to see this movie,” she said. “And, those who were watching it for the first time had the opportunity to see it on the big screen and not on their laptop screens.”

For some moviegoers, the schedule was not the issue, it was money.

“They still charge the regular admission price to watch an old film,” Langlois said. “It becomes expensive.”

Another regular costumer, Bonnie Min ’10, said that cancel-

ing all midnight functions was too radical.

“They could have one each month,” Min said. “They could print out flyers and make sure that everybody knows about it.”

Min also mentioned that the Avon should try to have midnight screening in weeks when there are no midterms or final exams.

“I’m sure that the week after midterms would be a good idea,” she said. “People would want to have that unique experience after studying hard.”

Committed to getting the “films to the population,” Dulgarian has made some changes in the schedules. The theater now screens all movies earlier, with the latest showing around 10, he said.

“We’re trying to slip in the 10 p.m. show,” Dulgarian said. “We want to see if there’s an interest, a response.”

This week “Doubt” is playing at the Avon at 9 p.m., and this coming Friday there will be a screening of “Milk,” which just won two Academy Awards, at 10 p.m., he said.

Students aim to expose India-Pakistan conflict

By Monique Vernon Contributing Writer

Raised at an early age on opposite sides of the India-Pakistan border, Meghna Philip ’11 and Farrukh Malik ’11 might not have pegged each other as future collaborators. Ever since the two countries split more than 60 years ago, tension between India and Pakistan has colored a rough history between the two nations.

Yet years later, Philip and Malik are two of this year’s recipients of the C.V. Starr National Service Fellowship, granted by the Swearer Center for Public Service. Their enterprise, “The India-Pakistan Dialogue Project,” aims to improve relations between Indian and Pakistani students in South Asia.

The decades-long conflict has resulted in the present-day nuclear arms race between the two nations.

“It’s like a Cold War scenario played out again in South Asia,” Malik said.

Because of the current state of affairs, the two students wanted to create a forum for other students affected by the situation.

The India-Pakistan Dialogue Project aims to take advantage of 21st-century technology — social

networking tools and an online forum — to foster dialogue between university students in India and Pakistan.

With professors establishing the parameters, the forums will concentrate on the discussion of specific issues that impact the lives of the students and their communities.

The discussions will lead to a conference on College Hill in the spring of 2010. The moderating professors will select six or seven students who have demonstrated qualities that make them suitable to fly to Brown and attend the conference, Malik and Philip said.

The three main goals of the project are to create relationships between people of the two nations, identify students who show promise to be future leaders and create possible solutions for the issues that face Indians and Pakistanis, Malik said. To achieve these goals, Malik and Philip said they want to create a space for sustainable, productive discourse.

With the help of the Starr grant, Malik will travel to his home country of Pakistan, and Philip will travel to her home of India, during the summer. There, they plan to visit between five and 10 universities that will participate and establish the foundation

of the project.

The contention between India and Pakistan is one that has permeated the lives of Malik and Philip.

“I grew up in Pakistan. It was like one of those things you couldn’t get away from,” Malik said of the conflict.

“It dominated the headlines.”

Although Philip moved to the United States from India when she was five years old, she said she was always aware of the conflict between the two countries.

“The ironic part is the connectivity (between Indians and Pakistanis) exists everywhere else but South Asia,” Philip said. Outside of India and Pakistan, members of the two cultures associate with one another, she added, but in South Asia the tension persists.

If successful, the project will not only bring opposing sides together, but also will create exposure to the issues facing South Asian students everyday.

At the moment, Malik and Philip have enlisted Assistant Professor of History Vazira Fazila-Yacoobali Zamindar to help them, but they said there is room for growth and an increase in participation from interested students.

continued from page 1

rising Republican star, is “obvously one of the leading candidates” for the 2012 and 2016 Presidential elections.

Frum kept the his tone light in the short lecture, comparing the Republican party’s aggressive stance on social issues to the fictional guitar amp in the movie “This is Spinal Tap,” which had 11 volume settings while most have ten. “We’re at 11,” he said.

Frum, who said he identifies as pro-choice, said Republicans often view social issues as binary rather than on a spectrum. Republicans can maintain their positions on immigration, abortion and gay rights while moderating their tone, he said.

National efforts toward a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, he said, tended to offend those who do not support the ban without great effect on those who support it.

On abortion, Frum said Republicans should adopt “realistic goals that don’t disavow principles but settle for what is achievable.”

Frum praised the Obama administration for appointing Larry Summers to head the National Economic Council, and he called for a renewed focus on competence and ethics in the Republican party after the “steady stream” of ineffective officials in the Bush administration.

To combat the current economic downturn, he suggested that tax cuts — particularly a suspension of the payroll tax — would be the best way to go. Obama’s $787-billion economic

stimulus plan would pay for the suspension of the payroll tax for a year, he said, and cutting the tax would be a “powerful and fast” method of economic stimulus that would put $120 per week into the pockets of American workers.

He also advocated the creation of a national health insurance market with simplified and nationally standardized rules. Currently, each state writes its own insurance policies, Frum said, adding that creating a national market will require “swallowing traditional ideas about federalism.”

Frum also said the Republican party faces a challenge of identity on environmental issues. Credibility on environmental issues has become crucial to the viability of candidates for national office, Frum said, just as knowledge of national security was important for their predecessors. Conservatism should adopt an “environmental ethic” that respects the quality of life of property owners, Frum said.

Republicans can also learn from Obama’s rhetorical style, Frum said, adding that the president employed a conciliatory style not seen since the Reagan days. But he said he felt Bush was more willing to compromise with opposing viewpoints on matters of substance.

The lecture was a kickoff event for the Rhode Island Republican Jewish Coalition, the newest chapter of the national organization, said Stacy Silverman ’08, the chapter’s president. It was co-hosted by the Brown Republicans and the Rhode Island Young Republicans.

Page 4

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Thursday, February 26, 2009

W orld & N ation

Mumbai attacker faces death penalty Mark Magnier Los Angeles Times

Authorities on Wednesday filed charges of murder and “waging war” on India against what they say is the lone known surviving gunman in the Mumbai attacks, which killed more than 170 people in November.

If convicted, 21-year-old Ajmal Amir Kasab, dubbed the “smiling assassin” by Indian media for the facial expression seen on closedcircuit video during the attack on the Mumbai railway station, could face the death penalty. Nine other gunmen were killed in the 60-hour siege, which also targeted luxury hotels, a Jewish center and other sites.

Also implicated in the 11,000page charge sheet were at least 35 suspects believed to be based in Pakistan who allegedly abetted the attackers or had a role in planning the attacks. Separately, police accused two Indians of involvement in the attacks.

Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told reporters that he hoped to wrap up the trial within six months, a rapid turnaround given that cases here can drag on for years. The massive document, part of which he waved during the news conference, reportedly contains accounts by over 2,000 witnesses as well as evidence provided by the FBI, which assisted Indian police.

The others charged include two

Pakistan army soldiers and Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, founder of the militant Islamist Lashkar-e-Taiba group India says was behind the attacks, along with senior Lashkar members Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Zarar Shah and Abu Hamza.

The gravity of Tuesday’s charges against Kasab, who India says is from Gipal Pura in Pakistan, suggest there is little chance he will be extradited to Pakistan, legal experts said, a step Islamabad has requested.

It is also unlikely Pakistan will allow any of the dozens of other nationals who were charged Tuesday to face trial in India. Islamabad has argued that India should instead hand over any evidence so suspects can be tried in Pakistan.

In addition to being charged with waging war against the nation, various others were accused Tuesday of murder, illegal entry into India, damaging public property and related weapons offenses.

“The filing of charges is good as far as it goes, but Kasab is a foot solder, and the colonels and generals are elsewhere,” said G. Parthasarathy, a former Indian ambassador to Pakistan, now a security analyst with New Delhi’s Center for Policy Research.

“There’s something of a charade in Pakistan with regard to a trial,” he added. “Unless you have independent observers and family members there, it’s going to be a farce.”

Pervez Hoodbhoy, a professor at

the Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad, said Pakistan’s track record on trying militants hasn’t been very good, nor is extradition likely given the political implications.

Tuesday’s report includes accounts of guns and grenades used by the attackers that police said bear markings linked to Pakistani arms companies. Indian police also say they have a list of items left by the attackers that were manufactured in Pakistan, including detergent, toilet paper and toothpaste.

Kasab was captured after fleeing the railway station in a stolen car.

Pakistan announced last month it had arrested 71 leaders of Lashkare-Taiba and detained 124 more in an effort to crack down on the Islamic militant group believed to be responsible for the Mumbai attacks. But some Indian analysts said Pakistan has a long history of quietly letting suspects go a few weeks after they are arrested.

Analysts said India has little leverage over Pakistan short of declaring war. That option would be extremely risky given that both sides have nuclear weapons.

“In the long-term, I think the only way for this to be resolved is for India and Pakistan to work together to curb terrorism,” Hoodbhoy said. “In the mean time, India’s best option is to work through legal means and continue trying to building international pressure.”

Metro The Brown Daily Herald

City may require cleaner construction trucks

metro in brief

Court favors R.I. in Narragansett case The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1 Tuesday that land owned by the Narragansett Indian tribe in Charlestown cannot receive federal trust status, which would have largely removed it from state and local control. The ruling was a victory for the state, which has been fighting to develop the land since 1998.

The court ruled that the tribe’s land does not qualify to be held in trust by the Department of Interior because the Narragansetts were not a federally recognized tribe when the Indian Reorganization Act passed in 1934. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the act “unambiguously refers to those tribes that were under federal jurisdiction when the IRA was enacted.”

The Narragansetts became a federally recognized tribe in 1983 and bought the 31-acre property in 1991.

Rhode Island filed suit in 1998 when the Department of the Interior agreed to take

the land in trust. The U.S. District Court and First Circuit Court of Appeals found in favor of the tribe.

“By preventing the Narragansetts from placing land into federal trust, citizens are assured that no land can be stripped from state or town jurisdiction,” Joseph Larisa, solicitor on Indian affairs in Charlestown, said in a press release, the Providence Journal reported.

“This means there can be no tax-free smokeshop ... and no Indian casino until and unless the people vote to have one.”

Narragansett Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas said the ruling ignored the tribe’s history, specifically when the state disbanded the tribe in 1880 and took its lands, according to the ProJo. He pledged to work with other tribes to petition Congress, the White House and the United Nations to take up their cause.

— Joanna Wohlmuth

City gets $5.5m fund for lead abatement Providence homeowners can now apply for federal funds to help remove lead paint from their homes, Mayor David Cicilline ’83 said Monday. Cicilline announced the $5.5 million fund from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development at a press conference along with fellow Democrats Sen. Jack Reed, Rep. Patrick Kennedy and Rep. James Langevin.

Low-income occupants can apply for grants covering 50 percent of repair costs, with the other half paid for with interest-free loans. The grant will be forgiven if occupants live in their homes for five years, Cicilline said.

Non-occupant owners can apply for a grant covering 25 percent of costs and a loan to cover the rest.

Cicilline said the money would pay for upgrades to at least 120 houses citywide.

“This is especially important in a city like Providence

Thursday, February 26, 2009 | Page 5

when you consider the age of the city’s housing stock and the number of families with very young children who live in these homes,” Cicilline said. The upgrades will help construction companies and create work, he added.

Reed cited decreased numbers of children with significantly high levels of lead in their blood in Rhode Island as “proof positive that if we invest in safer homes we’ll get healthier children.”

According to a state Department of Health study, the portion of Rhode Island children entering kindergarten with a history of high levels of lead in their blood fell from 28 percent in 1997 to 5 percent this year.

An additional $100 million for lead abatement is included in the stimulus package recently passed by Congress, Reed said.

— George Miller

By Joanna Wohlmuth Metro Editor

An ordinance requiring diesel construction vehicles to meet cleaner emissions standards when working on city-funded projects was introduced by Ward 1 Councilman Seth Yurdin at a Providence City Council meeting last Thursday.

Under the proposed law, companies given city contracts over $150,000 will have to use ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel and retrofit older equipment with emissions filters.

One of the motivations behind the proposal is the availability of federal funding for such initiatives, said Yurdin, whose district includes Fox Point and most of College Hill.

In a show of support, the other 14 council members signed on to co-sponsor the proposal, Yurdin said. The bill will go through the ordinance committee before going back to the entire council for a final vote.

Diesel exhaust contains small particles and gases which are easily breathed in, causing new diseases and exacerbating existing conditions such as lung and heart disease, cancer and asthma, said Molly Clark,

manager of health promotion at the American Lung Association of New England.

Exhaust from construction equipment is particularly harmful in urban environments like Providence, Clark added.

“The important thing to realize is it’s a public health (issue),” Yurdin said. “This is one of the really significant and dangerous forms of pollution in cities and particularly in Providence.”

Emissions from construction vehicles account for 40 percent of all diesel emissions in the Northeast, said Annie Costner, coordinator of the Diesel Pollution Initiative in Rhode Island for the environmental non-profit Clean Water Action. Providence County is among the worst 6 percent of counties in the nation for health problems caused by diesel emissions, “which is kind of shocking,” she said.

Clean Water Action has been involved with previous diesel pollution reduction efforts at the state and local level. It has supported laws to ban the idling of vehicles for more than five minutes and a requirement that all school buses be equipped with emissions control devices by

2010, Costner said. The Environmental Protection Agency has identified construction vehicles as the next focus of air pollution reduction efforts, she said.

With federal stimulus funding coming to the state for infrastructure projects, such as sewer and road repair, “it made sense to make sure that those good projects aren’t creating a bigger mess or public health threat,” Costner said.

In addition to legislative efforts, Yurdin has been working with neighborhood organizations to reach out to local business owners about preventing the prolonged idling of delivery vehicles and getting the police involved when necessary, he said.

“It’s hard to enforce idling (laws) because you have to have an officer sitting watching a vehicle idle for five minutes,” Yurdin said. “It’s better to be more informal.”

Part of Yurdin’s motivation to reduce diesel emissions came from the diesel pollution summit he attended at Brown’s Urban Environmental Lab last year, where he heard “strong scientific testimony” about negative health effects linked to emissions, continued on page 6

Page 6

M etro

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Councilman wants cleaner diesel engines Party seeks recognition continued from page 5 he said.

In addition to hosting programs for cities and town in Rhode Island with groups like Clean Water Action, Brown students, faculty and staff are also getting involved in projects to limit diesel pollution. Brown is currently looking to develop a policy requiring construction contractors working on University projects to abide by clean emissions standards, said Christopher Bull, senior

research engineer and senior lecturer in engineering, who has been involved in projects to promote clean diesel technologies.

Students in ENVS0410: “Environmental Stewardship,” taught by Lecturer in Environmental Studies and Manager of Environmental Stewardship Initiatives Kurt Teichert, are working with Clean Water Action this semester to improve efficiency and implement green building strategies on campus, Teichert said.

Though Yurdin has not yet heard

any negative reactions to the proposed ordinance, he said he anticipates resistance from certain contractors who may not want to retrofit or replace older equipment, he said.

According to Costner, retrofitting costs roughly 0.5 percent of the total cost of projects over $2 million but can become a significant portion of the budget of smaller projects.

“If (contractors) want the city jobs, they are going to put (the filters) on and pass that cost along to the city,” she said.

continued from page 1 and eliminate the requirement that signatures be collected no earlier than Jan. 1 of an election year.

State Sen. Ed O’Neill, I-Dist. 17, who co-sponsored the Senate bill on behalf of the Moderate Party, said third parties deserve access to what is basically a “one-party system” in the General Assembly. Currently, only 5 of 38 state senators and 13 of 75 representatives are Republicans.

“There’s no checks and balances within the legislature to reel legislation back toward the middle,” Block agreed.

State Sen. David Bates, R-Dist.

32, who introduced the bill, said, “Rhode Island has a very, very difficult situation. It’s almost impossible for a new party to get started.”

Bates was endorsed by the Moderate Party in November’s election, as was Rep. Rodney Driver, D-Dist.

39, who introduced an identical bill

in the House.

Current law places “very demanding requirements,” including a short time and “inordinate number of signatures,” on new parties, Driver said.

Changing the law would also give the Moderate Party the chance to raise money earlier, especially if the start date for collecting signatures is removed, Block said.

Current law means that his group would lose out on a year or more of fundraising that the established parties get, he said. The Moderate Party operated as a political action committee during last year’s election, supporting Democratic, Republican and independent candidates.

The preliminary start date for the trial is Mar. 16, though Block said it probably wouldn’t begin that early.

Bates said he was “optimistic” about the Senate bill’s passage, but added that composing the state budget is taking up most of the legislature’s time.

Interested in Web design? Join The Herald! herald@browndailyherald.com

SportsThursday The Brown Daily Herald

Thursday, February 26, 2009 | Page 7

The parity fallacy: How to fix baseball

Before the 2009 season begins, let’s pause and reflect.

We watch 30 teams struggle over 162 games for eight playof f Jonathan Hahn Sports Columnist

spots and then get to enjoy the crapshoot known as the postseason. We enjoy hating the loosey-goosey Yankees or obnoxious Red Sox, laughing at or crying with the Pirates or Orioles and wondering how the Marlins or Rockies do it. (They don’t, it’s that their divisions suck.) It’s worked out pretty well, with eight different World Series champions since 2000 and 23 different teams making playoff appearances.

Parity is alive and well, right?

Dig a little deeper and you’ll find that it’s not balanced or fair. Since 2000, there have been a total of 36 potential playoff spots for each league.

Looking closely, we find that in the American League, there have been ten different teams, but that 30, or 83 percent of those appearances have been dominated by the same six teams, leaving four teams with a combined six appearances and four with none.

It’s a little bit fairer over in the National League, which lacks the financial behemoths (and level of talent) of the AL, where 13 out of a possible 16 teams have made appearances, but we still see that 27 appearances — 75 percent of all available — came from the same seven teams, leaving six teams with two appearances or fewer and three with none.

That’s not parity. I’ve got a couple suggestions to make baseball fairer.

A real salary cap You knew this was coming — quit running for the hills. Baseball needs a hard salary cap, and not the joke that is the soft cap luxury tax.

There’s a fundamental flaw in your “free market” when you have the same four to six teams every year bidding on premium free agents. You don’t need to be a genius to figure out that the Yankee payroll of over $200 million offers a competitive imbalance, whether compared to the next highest teams at $138 million (the Mets and the Tigers) or the lowest team at $21 million (the Marlins).

Studies have shown that payroll has a positive correlation with winning, which means the more you spend, the more likely you are to win games and thus, make the playoffs.

You may not be able to buy championships, but you can certainly buy playoff appearances (just ask the Yankees).

As for the wealth transfer argument, where the cap transfers money from the players to the owners by restricting player salaries, it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make to ensure parity.

The free-market, competitive-bidding theory of cap-free baseball doesn’t really hold either, when baseball itself is an oligopoly that has a stranglehold continued on page 8

Mixed results in weekend competitions

Spor ts Staf f Repor ts

Over the weekend, various teams represented Brown both at home and on the road and came away with mixed results.

Fencing The men’s fencing team struggled at the Ivy League Championships at the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center on Sunday, compiling a 1-4 record to tie for fourth place.

Adam Pantel ’10 earned All-Ivy honors in the foil after going 3-0 against Princeton to lead Brown to a win in that event. He went 2-1 against Har vard.

Peter Tyson ’12 also had a strong day, finishing with a 2-1 record against both Har vard and Princeton in the saber.

The women’s squad also faltered at the OMAC, finishing with an 0-6 team record. But Aleksandra Mackiewicz ’11 had a strong day for Brown, going 2-1 in her saber matches against Har vard and adding a win in her bout against Princeton.

Both fencing squads will continue their season on Saturday at Brandeis for the IFA/ECAC Tournament.

Men’s lacrosse The defending Ivy League champion men’s lacrosse team started its season off with a 13-12 win over Lehigh on Saturday.

After building a 6-4 halftime lead, the Bears went up 12-6 less than two minutes into the fourth quarter. Lehigh scored five unanswered goals to cut the lead to one, 12-11, but Brown regained control and escaped with a win.

Andrew Feinberg ’11 and Col-

lins Carey ’10 each tallied three goals and two assists, while Thomas Muldoon ’10 and Nic Bell ’09 chipped in two goals apiece.

The Bears will host Hofstra on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.

Men’s squash The men’s squash team competed at the Hoehn Cup over the weekend, earning a No. 13 national ranking. Brown lost 6-3 to Franklin and Marshall in its first match of the competition, then rallied with a 5-4 win over St. Lawrence and a 6-3 win over Navy.

Against Navy, highlights included the No. 6 match, in which Evan Besser ’11 rebounded from two games down to pull out a 3-2 win, and a 3-0 win for Brad Thompson ’12 at No. 4.

Track and Field The men’s track and field team competed at the USATF New England Indoor Championships over the weekend, where the Bears earned several individual wins.

Marc Howland ’11 ran a personal best of 6.92 seconds to win the 60-meter dash, and Matt Jasmin ’09 continued his excellent season, running a time of 8.02 for a second-place finish in the 60m hurdles. Brown also dominated the 800m, with Sean O’Brien ’09, Alex Stern ’10 and Thomas Elnick ’12 earning the top three spots in 1:53.89, 1:53.94 and 1:56.88, respectively.

The Bears also had a strong showing in the field. Jordan Maddocks ’11 won the high jump with a jump of 2.04m, while Andrew Chapin ’10 and Reginald Cole ’10 each jumped 14.62m to tie for the win in the triple jump.

Justin Coleman / Herald File Photo

The women’s fencing team finished with a 0-6 record against Harvard over the weekend.

The women also had a strong showing at the USATF-NE Indoor Championships. The Bears were particularly impressive in the field, where Rachel Biblo ’11 won the long jump with a jump of 5.54m and Danielle Grunloh ’10 and Br ynn Smith ’11 finished one-two in shot put with throws of 14.42m and 14.35m, respectively.

On the track, Kesley Ramsey ’11 finished second in the 800m

in 2:11.93, while Susan Scavone ’12 finished second in the 60m hurdles in 8.92.

This weekend the Bears will travel to Har vard to compete in the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships.

Women’s water polo Over the weekend, the women’s water polo team went 2-2 at continued on page 8

Page 8

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

S ports t hursday

Playoff expansion can save baseball continued from page 7

on delivering its product. Ultimately, it comes down to the fact that Cincinnati isn’t the same size as New York, which brings us to the next issue.

Revenue Sharing: Free Money!

As baseball is a form of entertainment, you’re choosing to spend your hard-earned money on it. More people within your area means more potential money being spent on your product.

It’s been suggested that the New York metropolitan area could hypothetically support about four to six baseball teams. That’s a lot of teams.

Since there are currently only two teams, that’s like having twice the revenue potential of every other baseball team, which is why large markets are able to outspend smaller markets.

Search online for the Zumsteg Plan, written in 2002 by Derek Zumsteg, a sabermetrician, and you’ll find an excellent revenue sharing plan.

The gist of his argument is that teams

shouldn’t be punished just because they serve a smaller population, a factor that has particular significance in Major League Baseball, whose teams face the challenge of selling out 81 home games each season.

Instead, teams should be rewarded for being able to attract customers given what they have, and revenue sharing should be adjusted accordingly. When coupled with a salary cap and floor, revenue sharing has tremendous potential to spread talent around, ensure financial stability for players and owners and ultimately create parity.

Future of Baseball: Dare to Dream Expand the playoffs.

Seriously, make it five or six teams in each league. Think about all the extra tickets they could sell and the races an expansion would create, especially this year when some 90-win team in the AL East likely won’t make it. That’s not right; it’s like last year’s

New England Patriots, who went 11-5 and missed the NFL playoffs.

As for those who advocate for the presence of an Evil Empire, I hear your argument — the desire for a bad guy, increased tickets, etc.

But let’s face it, watching the talentstacked Yankees or Red Sox beat up and thrash the less-talented Royals isn’t good parity, or entertainment, unless you also like stealing candy or need the fantasy stats (see: Jon Lester’s no-hitter).

So what will baseball become? Ideally, with the cap and revenue sharing plan, teams that are successful will be ones that make smart decisions with their money and draft well, not ones that can spend away their mistakes or buy wins. It’s time for some real parity in baseball.

Jonathan Hahn ’10 is deeply sorry and regretful for taking writing enhancing drugs.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Equestrian wins Conn. competition continued from page 7 the Princeton Invitational.

Brown began the tournament with a match-up against Mar yland on Saturday after noon, which the Terrapins took, 14-10, despite three goals from Lauren Presant ’10. But the Bears rebounded later that day with a 10-9 win over Bucknell, as Sarah Glick ’10 notched five goals, Presant added four and Stephanie Laing ’10 made nine saves in goal.

The Bears began the next day with a dominant 12-2 win over Villanova, paced by three goals each from Glick and Presant. Later on Sunday, Brown took on host Princeton in a thrilling contest that saw Glick send the game into overtime with her fourth goal of the game with just two seconds left. In overtime, though, the Ti-

gers scored twice while holding Bruno scoreless to pull out an 11-9 win over Brown.

Equestrian The equestrian team scored 38 points at Connecticut College to earn first place as a team, led by wins from Liz Giliberti ’10 in the open flat, Cara Rosenbaum ’12 in the walk trot canter and Rebecca de Sa ’10 in the walk trot.

Other strong performances came from Leona Rosenblum ’09, who finished second in the novice flat, Emma Bogdonoff ’10, who earned third place in intermediate fences, and Emily Bourdeau ’10, who rode to a third-place finish in the intermediate flat.

The team will next compete at UConn on Mar. 7.

Editorial & Letters The Brown Daily Herald

Page 10 | Thursday, February 26, 2009

e d i to r i a l

Running Frum conservatives

It’s always refreshing to hear a major political figure unafraid to publicly criticize his or her party, a point the handful of Brown students who attended David Frum’s lecture last night can attest to firsthand. Frum, a former Bush speechwriter and influential conservative public intellectual known for his outspoken opposition to Sarah Palin’s vice-presidential nomination, provided an interesting and refreshingly honest take on the GOP’s future. Frum was invited to campus by the Rhode Island Republican Jewish Coalition and the Brown College Republicans.

Given the College Republicans’ past choice of speakers (the polemicist David Horowitz, for example), we were impressed with their decision to support the RJC in bringing a less doctrinaire conservative like Frum to College Hill.

Brown students ought to be exposed to right-wing intellectuals more likely to engage rather than provoke them, and Frum’s speech (like the Janus Forum’s recent debate featuring John Yoo) should do just that.

However, the miniscule number of students in the audience suggests that the Republicans may have dropped the ball in their advertising campaign, which mainly consisted of a few small posters placed around campus right before the event. (Would a Morning Mail announcement have killed you guys?)

Ultimately, we don’t believe the blame for Brown’s poor showing should be laid exclusively at the Republicans’ feet: Brown students seem to be more drawn to extreme ideologues like former Senator Rick Santorum and liberal superstars like Thomas Friedman than they are to moderate, right-wing intellectuals.

The exception to this rule seems to be the Janus Forum debates, where conservatives like Yoo, Harvey Mansfield, Robert George and Francis Fukuyama, hardly the most famous of individuals, have packed the room, largely because of the structure of the events. The debate format attracts students familiar with both the left and right wing speakers and creates an appealing atmosphere for intellectually engaged students.

The Republicans should take note. Though obviously not every speech should be a debate (and this particular address was tailored to a Republican audience), they might consider organizing one in the future. Had Frum been discussing Republican politics with, say, idiosyncratic conservative Andrew Sullivan or Democratic strategist James Carville, student attendance would likely have been through the roof. Such events ought to be coordinated with the Brown Democrats, whose speakers have their own problems (there are only so many students who want to see local politicians and policy wonks).

Our new president, after all, seems to want to foster bipartisanship around the nation. It would be nice to see some at Brown.

Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.

the

brown

Editor-in-Chief

Managing Editors Michael Bechek Chaz Firestone

Steve DeLucia

d a i ly

editorial Arts & Culture Editor Ben Hyman Hannah Levintova Arts & Culture Editor Features Editor Sophia Li Features Editor Emmy Liss Higher Ed Editor Gaurie Tilak Higher Ed Editor Matthew Varley Metro Editor George Miller Metro Editor Joanna Wohlmuth News Editor Chaz Kelsh News Editor Jenna Stark Sports Editor Benjy Asher Sports Editor Andrew Braca Asst. Sports Editor Alex Mazerov Asst. Sports Editor Katie Wood Graphics & Photos Graphics Editor Chris Jesu Lee Graphics Editor Stephen Lichenstein Eunice Hong Photo Editor Kim Perley Photo Editor Justin Coleman Sports Photo Editor production Kathryn Delaney Copy Desk Chief Seth Motel Copy Desk Chief Marlee Bruning Design Editor Jessica Calihan Design Editor Anna Migliaccio Asst. Design Editor Julien Ouellet Asst. Design Editor Neal Poole Web Editor

herald

Associate Editors Nandini Jayakrishna Franklin Kanin Michael Skocpol

Senior Editors Rachel Arndt Catherine Cullen Scott Lowenstein

Business General Managers Office Manager Shawn Reilly Alexander Hughes Jonathan Spector Directors Ellen DaSilva Sales Director Claire Kiely Sales Director Phil Maynard Sales Director Katie Koh Finance Director Jilyn Chao Asst. Finance Director Managers Local Sales Kelly Wess National Sales Kathy Bui University Sales Alex Carrere Recruiter Sales Christiana Stephenson Credit and Collections Matt Burrows Opinions Opinions Editor Sarah Rosenthal Editorial Page Board James Shapiro Editorial Page Editor Nick Bakshi Board member Zack Beauchamp Board member Sara Molinaro Board member Post- magazine Arthur Matuszewski Kelly McKowen

Editor-in-Chief Editor-in-Chief

Jessie Calihan, Jessica Kirschner, Anna Migliaccio, Designer Sydney Ember, Kelly Mallahan, Allison Peck, Copy Editors Mitra Anoushiravani, Chaz Kelsh, George Miller, Caroline Sedano, Night Editors Senior Staff Writers Mitra Anoushiravani, Colin Chazen, Ellen Cushing, Sydney Ember, Lauren Fedor, Nicole Friedman, Britta Greene, Sarah Husk, Brian Mastroianni, Hannah Moser, Ben Schreckinger, Caroline Sedano, Melissa Shube, Anne Simons, Sara Sunshine, Staff Writers Zunaira Choudhary, Chris Duffy, Nicole Dungca, Juliana Friend, Cameron Lee, Kelly Mallahan, Christian Martell, Heeyoung Min, Seth Motel, Jyotsna Mullur, Lauren Pischel, Leslie Primack, Anne Speyer, Alexandra Ulmer, Kyla Wilkes Sports Staff Writers Nicole Stock Senior Business Associates Max Barrows, Jackie Goldman, Margaret Watson, Ben Xiong Business Associates Stassia Chyzhykova, Misha Desai, Bonnie Kim, Maura Lynch, Cathy Li, Allen McGonagill, Thanases Plestis, Corey Schwartz, William Schweitzer, Kenneth So, Evan Sumortin, Haydar Taygun, Webber Xu, Lyndse Yess Design Staff Sara Chimene-Weiss, Katerina Dalavurak, Gili Kliger, Jessica Kirschner, Joanna Lee, Maxwell Rosero, John Walsh, Kate Wilson, Qian Yin Photo Staff Qidong Chen, Janine Cheng, Alex DePaoli, Frederic Lu, Quinn Savit, Min Wu Copy Editors Sara Chimene-Weiss, Sydney Ember, Lauren Fedor, Anna Jouravleva, Geoffrey Kyi, Frederic Lu, Jordan Mainzer, Kelly Mallahan, Allison Peck, Madeleine Rosenberg, Luis Solis Web Developers Jihan Chao

chris jesu lee

l e t t e r to t h e e d i to r s

Implementation of homework policy ‘misguided’ To the Editor: While we appreciate the effort put into the recent article about BuDS (“BuDS clamps down on no-homework rule,” Feb. 23), it did not address the inappropriateness of student managers’ actions, and the contradictions of the philosophy upon which the policy was implemented.

The BuDs workforce encompasses 341 workers, but only 11 were involved in the creation and implementation of the policy. Neither the implementation of the policy nor the article accurately reflect workers’ viewpoints.

The implication that the recipients of the formal warnings had simply refused to sign onto the new policy is preposterous. Student management issued formal warnings to over 100 student workers who had not signed the no-homework policy, which excludes them from receiving their bonuses. First, some of the students had never received the contract in their mailboxes. Second, students were not notified of any repercussions. If this policy was as important as was claimed, then we should have been notified that failure to sign would result in a formal warning. When workers pointed that out, “I am not your mother” was one of student management’s responses. Such disgraceful lack of professionalism leaves much to be desired. In contrast to the actions taken against the aforementioned implications, Swain states, “We’re trying not to get pressure to cut people’s jobs,” making the issued formal warnings seem like a cost-saving measure above all else.

Although Swain points out that it would be a “slap in the face” to cashiers if they were not allowed to read on shift because they sometimes have very few costumers per hour, she fails to recognize that workers and cashiers in the same unit would experience the same costumer flow, if not more.

The implementation of the homework policy as a means to address sanitation is misguided. The real problem lies with rodent and pest control, or poor and failing equipment. These have already been addressed to management many times in the past. In light of these realities, concerns over the homework seems at times insignificant and unreasonable. Rarely can a student’s 24-hour stomach flu or unintended allergic reaction be traced back to an orgo text laid next to cold cuts.

While the article states that Swain said that neither she nor Hartley had been presented a petition or consulted by workers who disagreed with the policy, Gate supervisor Yanely Espinal openly announced her petition at a formal supervisor training and felt as though she had been shut down.

Dining Services needs to recognize that we are student workers, emphasis on the student, and that our concerns need to be addressed. The Management team was established in 1971 to represent student needs, so it’s time for them to step up and uphold their responsibilities to their workers.

Iman Al-Saden ’09 Vanessa Dessis ’09 Laura Evans ’09 Kate Owen ’10 Nhut Giuc Tran ’09 Chelsea Lein ’09.5 Mayte Garcia-Salgado ’10 Deborah Saint-Vil ’10 Owen Dunn ’10 Yanely Espinal ’11 Sean Feiner ’11 Ju Li Khing ’11 Enoma Okunbor ’11 Feb. 24

correction An article in Wednesday’s Herald (“Green initiatives gain steam,” Feb. 25) suggested that the group Community Carbon Use Reduction at Brown was responsible for the 7.7 percent drop in Brown’s carbon dioxide emissions footprint, when in fact the Energy and Environmental Advisory Council and Facilities Management were responsible for the reduction.

An article in Wednesday’s Herald (“Phi Beta Kappa announces inductees,” Feb. 25) incorrectly reported that Paola Servado was elected to the Rhode Island Alpha chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. Paolo Servado ’10 was elected to the chapter.

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 editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial page 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 clarity 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.

Opinions The Brown Daily Herald

Thursday, February 26, 2009 | Page 11

Knowing our place SEAN QUIGLEY Opinions Columnist Now in my third year of college, I have attended enough conferences, conventions and club meetings to know that if the young are not an essential part of political life, we are certainly a desired group. Ever y party, movement and overall coalition seeks to have the vaunted youth on its side.

The reasons for this are many, but they tend to fall into two general categories, per my obser vations. The more traditional factions — who would seem at first to be hesitant about incorporating the young into their political groupings — praise the youth in their midst as wiser than their age suggests because even we “get it.”

To take an example, when opponents of Social Security or Medicare frame their arguments, they frequently drag out the youth card, pointing to the fiscal mismanagement of both programs as something that even we youngsters can understand.

The young will be the ones to foot the bill, they add.

The more progressive factions — seemingly hard-wired to incorporate the youth, because using us fits into their overall forward-looking, march-of-histor y political ideology — praise the youth for seizing the future in the present. They laud us for not waiting our turn.

President Obama’s infamous line during the presidential campaign, “We are the

ones we’ve been waiting for,” captured this infatuation with the present application of the young. In that vainglorious outcr y, the youth were co-opted for a movement that, far from utilizing the current governing classes, would import the future into the present. The pesky little things known as reality and circumstance gave way to dream and theor y, with the avant-garde youth as the chief instruments.

Both approaches to the youth, how-

have trouble countenancing this idea, I would love to take you to an average meeting of the Rhode Island Republican Party.

Worse still, these moribund figures with their outdated approaches lack appreciation for the merits of adaptation. They almost actively seek to become irrelevant, especially when they simply expect the youth in their midst to come along for the political ride.

Progressives, however, offer a similarly

One side refuses to incorporate the youth in any substantive way, and the other uses us rhetorically for political ends.

ever, are terribly flawed. They rather patronizingly neglect the independence of each youth that the opposing sides seek to herd.

The more traditional politicos fail primarily in their resistance to acknowledge the simple facts that earthly life is not eternal and that a changing of the guard will inevitably occur. As a result they tend to eschew our participation even as their ranks grow grayer and grayer with each passing election.

True to form, perhaps, they react negatively to most things and people who come with newer outlooks and attitudes. If you

poor strategy for incorporating the youth.

Obama may have talked a decent game about how “this is our time,” but his ultimate goal was purely political. As crushing as this might be to the followers of our recently installed political messiah, Obama is just another crowd manipulator.

The young people who lined up behind him became his tools, whom he hauled out of the shed whenever the older ideologues needed proof that they were still cuttingedge radicals. And he used those tools frequently and skillfully.

Obama does not care about the ideals of young people. His first major initiative, the

spend-until-you-drop stimulus bill, is proof enough of that. When given the chance to shake up the dogmatic attachment to a new New Deal panacea and stop piling debt on future generations, he opted instead for the old-fashioned spending package.

Obama’s plan was crafted in the dark legislative corners inhabited by Washington power-brokers and by other old-timers, all intent on spending other peoples’ money for projects sure to gain them political favor back home. Obama is just another officeholder, who will bring no glor y and no liberty for the youth who supposedly put him into the White House.

So, alas, this is where we are. One side refuses to incorporate the youth in any substantive way, and the other uses us rhetorically for political ends. It is thus a good thing for stability’s sake that this is a docile generation.

Our generation is at a crossroads. Some sided with McCain and had to withstand the subsequent marginalization. Some sided with Obama and were used as tools in a game that ended as they all do.

Hopefully we shall now think for ourselves and not be relegated to a substandard place determined by others claiming to know better. We must always know our place, of course, but we must also be the ones to choose it.

Sean Quigley ’10 is a history and classics concentrator from East Greenwich, Rhode Island. He can be reached at sean_quigley@brown.edu

Investments in well-being

BY ANDREA MATHEWS Opinions Columnist I remember hearing, in my days as a prospective student, about how Brown University is home to some of the happiest students in the country. (According to the 2008 Princeton Review, Brown is No. 2 behind to Clemson University. First is the worst, second is the best, I say.)

Thanks to lists like the Princeton Review’s, school reputation and word of mouth, it seems that colleges in general have strong incentive to keep their students happy. It makes sense that a healthy, safe and fulfilled student body would translate to a better university.

But incentives can be tricky; in the college setting, it is possible that the motivation to provide the most appealing environment for students may not translate directly to preser ving the welfare of ever y person.

Attributes like good food, low student to teacher ratios and quality advising are all things over which universities have clear control. But what about quasi-exogenous things like campus crime? Robber y and assault are not things that can be cleared up directly with additional funding, and yet colleges are still held responsible for them.

I heard a troublesome tidbit over winter break from a friend at a California liberal arts school. As their equivalent of an RC, she had learned quite a bit about her college’s policy regarding sexual assault, which apparently is not much of a policy at all. Lobbying a substantial accusation, she claimed that her school went beyond unresponsiveness

to actively discourage reports of rape and other sexual assault.

As victims who feel extremely vulnerable, sur vivors can often be easily deterred from reporting or continuing with ongoing claims. I’m not making any assertions about the best course of action for a victim of sexual assault. That is up for the victim him or herself to decide. What I am advocating is easily available support that satisfies any physical and emotional need and provides advice for victims on their options inside and outside of the college setting.

of August of last year, Brown welcomed a new Health Education staff member whose arrival was not nearly publicized enough.

Trish Bakaitis-Glover, Brown’s (relatively) new Sexual Assault Response and Prevention Program coordinator, fulfills a position that I wish ever y college would offer.

As Glover describes it, her first priority is to attend to a victim’s physical and emotional needs and then to inform him or her of the options available. This includes addressing health concerns of injur y, unwanted pregnancy and STDs. Glover also

In at least one aspect of sexual assault responsiveness, the University has come down on the side of its students.

It’s not difficult to see how a school’s incentive to take care of its students may break down in this situation. Providing inadequate care to victims of sexual assault is detrimental to their well-being, but acknowledging occurrences of such behavior, particularly if the perpetrators are students, could damage a school’s reputation. (What college would want to be on a Princeton Review list titled “Most Assaulted Students”?)

What has Brown done about this jumble of incentives? In at least one aspect of sexual assault responsiveness, the University has come down on the side of its students. As

makes known the options available in terms of reporting what happened, addressing the time limit attached to collecting physical evidence. “It’s really important that when someone’s sexually assaulted that they make their own decisions,” she said, acknowledging that the information she delivers can be crucial to that process.

Glover ser ves as more than a resource to victims of sexual assault; she can also act as an advocate for the victim to the Office of Student Life and other Brown actors to preser ve the confidentiality of the student.

Furthermore, she has the capacity to fa-

cilitate contact with the Providence Police or the Brown Department of Public Safety or both.

The position of Sexual Assault Response and Prevention Program coordinator is a new one to Brown, and is a valuable step in making Brown more responsive to sexual assault. But it should not be a solitar y one.

Prevention and deterrence are objectives that should not be allocated to just one person in this university, and we can certainly ask questions about how Brown treats students who have been convicted of sexual assault, particularly if they are repeat offenders. Beyond this, a Brown RC recently noted that though Glover’s position is important, it is perhaps under-utilized because so few people seem to know who she is.

Trish Glover probably wasn’t a resource that the Princeton Review took into account when it calculated its “Happiest Students” rankings, and perhaps it would have been inappropriate to do so. After all, a Sexual Assault Response and Prevention Coordinator is responsible for something far more serious than making sure students are smiling as they mill around the Main Green. But by investing in Glover’s position, our University has sent the message that recognizing rape does not mean a trade-off in ensuring its students’ well-being, and that makes me pretty happy.

Andrea Matthews ’11 is an economics and public policy concentrator from Santa Barbara, California. She can be reached at andrea_matthews@brown.edu

Today The Brown Daily Herald

5

Cleaner trucks in Li’l Rhody?

7

to day

to m o r r o w

44 / 34

53 / 34

Those damn Yankees

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Page 12

post-

the news in images

Inside...

03 feature

HIPPIES AND FASHIONISTAS \\ luisa robledo

04 film and television COME ALONG FOR THE RIDE\\ doug eacho TWO DRUNK GUYS TALKING ABOUT THE OSCARS \\ sam grey

5

05 music

50 YEARS OF REFUSAL \\ eva kurtz-nelson

c a l e n da r February 26, 2009

February 27, 2009

6 P.M. — “Immigration: President Obama’s Forgotten Priority” with Julia Preston, Watson Institute

7 P.M. — Relax and Unwind Workshop, Salomon 203

8 P.M. — Orientation Welcoming Committee Info Session, Wilson 102

07 sexpertise

TO 69 OR NOT?\\ allie wollner THE DISCOVERY \\ sam yambrovich

08 from the hill THE PIGEON CHEST \\ audrey fox

7:30 P.M. — Brown Breakdance Proudly Presents: Floorgasm, Salomon 101

THEIR LAST MEAL \\ ted lamm & alex logan

FINDING ACCEPTANCE IN IRONY \\ anthony badami

menu Sharpe Refectory

Verney-Woolley Dining Hall

Lunch — Gyro Sandwich, Chicken Fingers, Baked Vegan Nuggets, Italian Sausage and Peppers Sandwich

Lunch — Honey Mustard Chicken Sandwich, Vegetarian Pot Pie, Peas

Dinner — Salt and Pepper Jerk Chicken, Vegetarian Tamale Pie, Pesto Pasta

comics Enigma Twist | Dustin Foley

Dinner — Pork Medallions in Portabello Sauce, Vegan Paella, Au Gratin Potatoes with Fresh Herbs

crossword Cabernet Voltaire | Abe Pressman

The One About Zombies | Kevin Grebb

Vagina Dentata | Sojean Kim