T U E S D A Y OCTOBER 8, 2002
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXVII, No. 87
An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891
www.browndailyherald.com
New club brings libertarian perspective to Brown politics BY ELENA LESLEY
Beth Farnstrom / Herald
OPPOSING WAR Members of Not Another Victim Anywhere set up shop on the Main Green yesterday to oppose a possible war in Iraq. Later on Monday, President George Bush called on Iraq to disarm or face U.S. military force in a national cable television address. SEE STORY, PAGE 7.
Bizzacco ’03.5 becomes Cicilline’s right-hand man BY ANIA KUBIN
Chris Bizzacco ’03.5 has more real-world political experience than most political science and public policy concentrators could ever dream of having. He left Brown last semester to become mayoral campaign manager to David Cicilline ’83 — a position he still holds as the November election nears and as he resumes his studies. Bizzacco became involved in Cicilline’s campaign in April 2001 when he learned that Cicilline needed a summer intern. Bizzacco met with Cicilline and landed the position. As an intern that summer, Bizzacco worked on the early planning phase of the campaign. Cicilline asked him to work Chris Bizzacco ’03.5 on the campaign full time, and Bizzacco left Brown to take the paid position of campaign manager during the spring of 2002. For Bizzacco, this opportunity was a continuation of years of political exposure and interest. “Politics was always a part of growing up in my family,” Bizzacco said. A Rhode Island native, Bizzacco said he has several local political role models. His grandfather was president of the Johnston City Council, his uncle was also active in politics in Johnston and his mother was involved with the school committee in North Providence. They were honest, hardworking and inspiring, Bizzacco said. At age 13, he began working for Providence Casting, his family’s business. Hot summers spent assembling buttons and buckles taught him about the burdens of heavy labor, he said, and he found himself “looking for a way out.” For Bizzacco, public service became just that. At Brown, Bizzacco is double concentrating in political
science and public policy. However, he said he could “only get so much out of a book,” so he took time off to work with Cicilline to get “real life” experience. During his summer internship, Bizzacco researched municipal problems and accompanied Cicilline on various events in Providence, including a conference on youth and gun violence. He said he saw that “corruption is infused in every part of the city and in every part of city government,” and eliminating that problem is the focus of Cicilline’s campaign. Crime rates are high, schools are performing poorly and families are being kicked out of their homes, Bizzacco said. Despite Providence’s recent renaissance, there are many people living in the city’s surrounding areas that were left behind, Bizzacco said. Through his managerial position, he said he hopes to help Cicilline change Providence. “Organizing a political campaign is a really intense operation,” Bizzacco said. He added that people who want to run for office should first run someone else’s campaign to learn about what it involves. And it involves a lot — creating a message, organizing volunteers and raising money, he said. But the most intense part, Bizzacco said, is reaching into communities and meeting people. Bizzacco said through his work, he met a boy who is afraid to jog because of the gunshots he hears outside, parents who have lost their kids to violence and children who read the same textbooks two years in a row because their schools can’t afford new ones. This September, Bizzacco returned to Brown as a fulltime student, but he said he is still committed to Cicilline’s campaign and remains its manager as part of an independent study with Professor of Political Science Darrell West. The most difficult part of returning to school has been the “transition from reality to theory,” he said. Though Bizzacco plans to finish his education at Brown and then go to graduate school before returning full time to politics, he said the lessons he learned from Cicilline will be lasting. “Through David I was able to see what public service is really all about and how you can change people’s lives,” Bizzacco said.
I N S I D E T U E S D AY, O C T O B E R 8 , 2 0 0 2 Green Party candidate David Segal looks to pull an upset in Ward One election page 3
French American School of Rhode Island offers a different, bilingual education page 3
In Rhode Island, coffee drinkers find a unique product hardly matched elsewhere page 5
Students for Liberty, a political group that advocates social and economic freedom, was recently promoted to Category III status by the Undergraduate Council of Students. Under UCS rules, the organization will now be given an official budget by the Undergraduate Finance Board. “This was something I thought we very much deserved,” said the group’s president, Eric Neuman ‘04. “I was pleasantly surprised, but not shocked.” Students founded the group a little over a year ago “to fill a void on campus,” Neuman said. “We didn’t see a lot of activity on economic and personal liberty.” While the group espouses the doctrines of laissez-faire capitalism, it also supports socially liberal causes. “We support a woman’s right to choose, freedom for and from religion,” and same-sex union, Neuman said. “This combination of conservative economic and liberal social ideologies, “makes us an odd political group,” he said. Despite this “odd combination,” SFL attracts devoted members and sponsors various activities. Last spring, the group held a panel composed of international students who discussed their personal experiences with globalization. Every other week last year, the group met to read and discuss the works of contemporary and classic economic philosophers. In the near future, SFL plans to sponsor a lecture by Brown Medical School Assistant Professor Daniel Harrop, the Libertarian candidate for District Three State Representative. “Many Libertarian candidates are in line with our political thought,” Neuman said. But he added that SFL is not technically affiliated with the National Libertarian Party. Too often, the party “is an outlet for people who want to get pot legalized,” said Joseph Lisska ‘04, vice president of the Brown College Republicans and SFL treasurer. “They don’t care about the philosophical theories surrounding individual freedom.” Although they identify with Libertarian values, SFL’s members hail from different partisan backgrounds — Democrats, Independents and Republicans belong to the group. Lisska said he had no trouble reconciling his memberships in SFL with his role in the College Republicans. SFL is geared more toward philosophy, while the Republicans are an effective tool for social and political change, he said. Lisska added that he strongly identifies with both groups’ economic stances, because “the economic realities of this world make me not favor the Democrats. Labor unions are a disgusting leech on our society.” Despite members’ diverse partisan affiliations, discussions of party are “checked at the door,” said SFL’s Vice President, Laura Schonmuller ‘03. “On campus we feel there needs to be more discussion about freedom, government and social restrictions,” she said. “We don’t really want to put a party name on that.” Neuman said he thought SFL would appeal to a see LIBERTY, page 4
TO D AY ’ S F O R E C A S T Schuyler Von Oeyen ’05 says the United States must consider all options before war column,page 11
Volleyball claims big weekend wins and a first-place finish as hosts of Brown tourney sports,page 12
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