T U E S D A Y APRIL 23, 2002
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXVII, No. 55
An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891
www.browndailyherald.com
Congressmen: Dems must evaluate party’s pro-choice stance BY KATIE ROUSH
Marion Billing / Herald
A GREEN PARTY A rainy Monday on Earth didn’t keep the environmentally minded Brown student from celebrating Earth Day.Students passing the Main Green were invited to jot down eco-friendly “personal resolutions” on green pieces of paper.
Once soldiers, 3 Israelis now watch from afar BY DANIEL GORFINE
Though most Americans are accustomed to observing events in the Middle East from afar, at least three Brown students have military experience that affords them a closer perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As former Israeli soldiers, Yaniv Gelnik ’03, Ran Nussbacher ’02 and Ika ’04, who identified herself only by her first name, said recent violence and their experience as military personnel have shaped their view of the conflict. Given the current crisis and the Palestinian tactics Israel faces, it is now easier to support Israeli military action and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, they said. “I never supported Sharon historically, but even as a left-winger my frustration leads me not to criticize without an alternative” course of action, Gelnik said. Gelnik used to work with an Israeli organization called “Peace Now,” which sought to “make peace as soon as possible because it’s in the best interest of Israel,” he said. But he added that former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak “was elected to bring peace” by the Israeli people, and that he in turn offered Yasser Arafat and the Palestinians “97 percent of the original land” in question at Camp David in 2000. “It was the best offer they were ever going to get,” Gelnik said, “and Arafat is the reason Sharon was elected.” Nussbacher said he has “mixed feelings” about Sharon but that “something had to be done at this point in time and that the military operation was probably the right thing to do.” “However, there has been unnecessary destruction of infrastructure and life,” he said. Nussbacher blamed the current crisis on “the failure of the Palestinians under Arafat to build the infrastructure needed for a normal society — instead of using money for Arafat’s own army and palace — and on the failure of Israel to provide the Palestinians with hope for peace.” “Sharon is not so much the issue as is the security of the people of Israel,” Ika said. “This operation had to be done to maintain some kind of safety level for Israelis who had become afraid to even leave their homes.”
The National Democratic Party’s unwavering pro-choice position could alienate a vital core of the party’s supporters, two pro-life Democrats said in a Monday night lecture. The discussion featured U.S. Reps. David Carlin, D-R.I., and Catherine Graziano, D-R.I., both members of Democrats for Life of America, an organization of pro-life Democrats. Carlin said the purpose of the talk was not to make an argument for the pro-life position. He focused instead on the political consequences that the NDP could face if it continues to “alienate democratic voters by their intolerance of pro-life opinions.” He said the NDP is “insulting” the opinions of many of its pro-life constituents, including Catholics, by silencing pro-life Democrats. The Republican Party, in comparison, despite its close ties to the pro-life movement, is more tolerant of dissenting pro-choice views, Carlin and Graziano said. They expressed concern that such intolerance would undermine the NDP’s strength, making it the United States’ “secondary political party” in the future. Carlin attributed the growing Republican base in the United States to the NDP’s rigidity on the pro-choice issue. He said if this trend continues, eventually the Democratic Party will lose the core of its voting constituency. As a remedy, the NDP needs to allow different viewpoints within the party, Carlin said. Dana DeBoeuf, a lobbyist for Rhode Island Right to Life, said Rhode Island is an unusual state in terms of the high number of Democrats supporting the pro-life stance. Graziano added that in the Rhode Island Legislature, which is largely Democratic, bills such as the “Safe Haven
“The world didn’t care too much when Israelis were being killed,” she said, adding, “no one interviewed me when I was worried about my family living in Jerusalem.” Ika said the purpose of Israel’s operation is to “collect ammunition and destroy the infrastructure of terror organizations.” She cited data from the Israeli military showing that over 4,000 rifles, 30 kilograms of explosives, 13 mortar bombs and chemical and intelligence materials have been collected in Operation Defensive Shield. “When Arafat finally takes off his military uniform maybe it will be a symbol that he is no longer a man of war but instead a man of peace,” Ika said. She spoke of a Palestinian friend living in Bethlehem, who in a recent conversation said many of the Palestinians wish to live like Israelis but cannot in such a backward society where their leader behaves like a king and pays little attention to the people. She also refuted allegations of a massacre in Jenin, saying that Israel could have completed the mission with its airforce but used a ground operation that killed 29 Israelis in order to limit the number of Palestinian civilian casualties. Gelnik added that his friends now serving in the military are “being very careful” in all their operations and have the proper democratic mechanisms to make “inquiries into Jenin.” Nussbacher said he is “not surprised” by the U.S. position on Israel’s military operation and has “no illusions about the hypocrisy of the United States.” “I understand the lip service is for their own interests, but in practice the U.S. did not apply a lot of pressure, only words,” he added. Gelnik said he is “critical of campus voices at Brown where many actions serve no educational purpose, do not create dialogue and instead sensationalize the issue.” “I am annoyed by people at Brown who put signs up for the sake of putting signs up with no thinking or educa-
In an open panel Monday, six former U.S. Supreme Court law clerks painted a realistic picture of a clerk’s influence at the top level of the U.S. judicial branch for the students in Professor Edward Beiser’s “PS116: Politics of the Legal System.” The clerks, Sarah Cleveland ’87, James Forman Jr. ’88, Jonathan Levitsky ’90, Craig Primis ’91, Jonathan Sallet ’74 and Robert Shanks ’72, all former students of Beiser, spoke about law clerks’ role in the running of the Supreme Court. Sallet, who was a clerk for Justice Lewis Powell, said many clerks feel they have more power in the court than they actually do. He compared the law clerks to the characters in Tom Stoppard’s play, “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead,” in which two minor characters mistakenly believe the plot revolves around their lives. Sallet said the role of a law clerk is to give advice to the justice he or she works for, but that the ultimate decisionmaking process belongs to the justice. The panelists agreed that law clerks do have power in two areas of the court. Clerks screen the petitions to the court, which gives them some power over which cases the court hears. Clerks also write the opinions of the court, and are able to voice their own opinion through the language that they use in writing. Primis, a clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas, described
see SOLDIERS, page 8
see CLERKS, page 4
see LIFE, page 8
Clerks have little influence over Supreme Court justices, alumni assistants report BY CAROLINE RUMMEL
I N S I D E T U E S D AY, A P R I L 2 3 , 2 0 0 2 Reaves, ACUP discuss University-owned buildings and space solutions page 3
In last meeting of academic year, UCS ties up loose ends, prepares for elections page 3
TO D AY ’ S F O R E C A S T Incidents of car damage, theft top BUPS crime report for April 4 to April 17 page 3
Alex Schulman ’03 says the United States must be consistent in its foreign policy decisions column,page 11
Men’s baseball takes out Dartmouth, awaits showdown with Harvard for first place page 12
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