F R I D A Y OCTOBER 10, 2003
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXVIII, No. 90
An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891
Campus life improvements could be reality next semester
www.browndailyherald.com
Mayor Williams wants to make D.C. “a city of democracy”
BY KRISTA HACHEY
The Undergraduate Council of Students submitted a report outlining plans for 24hour study spaces, universal card access and improvements to study spaces at a time when it has been granted unprecedented access to the Corporation’s October meeting. The Brown Corporation and University administration received the Report on Short-Term Campus Life and Student Services Improvements on Wednesday. Members of the Corporation met with the UCS Executive Board Thursday night and expressed a willingness to communicate about changes to the campus as they occur, said Sonia Gupta ’06, chair of the UCS Admissions and Student Services Committee, which worked with the Council’s Campus Life Committee on the project. “This document is one of the first major projects that UCS has accomplished this year,” Gupta said. According to the report, most of the recommendations could be implemented as early as next semester. The general theme of the document and its proposals is “late-night, all-thetime access,” said Chair of UCS Campus Life Committee Ari Savitzky ’06, adding that the report includes possible costs for the recommendations. The report recommends creating a non-residential 24-hour study space with computer and dining resources — the most feasible option being the basement of Faunce House. The building’s central location, computing capabilities and dining facilities made the building particularly attractive, the report states. As part of a larger plan to create recreational and study spaces with 24-hour universal card access, “mini-clusters” — each with six computers and a printer — could be added to study lounges, the report recommended. Only 16 of the 24 card access boxes on campus have the
BY KIRA LESLEY
Other mayors have failed to create a vision for community improvement in Washington, D.C., where some of the richest neighborhoods in the country border some of the poorest. But this is exactly what Anthony Williams wants to do. Mayor Williams delivered the keynote address of the Anton Lippit Conference Thursday evening to a crowd of about 100 people in Sayles Hall. This year’s conference, put on by the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions, focuses on community building in the 21st century. In his address, which was titled “Community Building: Neighborhood by Neighborhood,” Williams described Washington’s unique history as a federal city, discussed some of the problems Michael Flaxman / Herald
DC Mayor Anthony Williams spoke about community improvement in Sayles on Thursday.
Queer Alliance camps out to stamp out hate BY ALEXANDRA BARSK
A circle of approximately 50 flickering candles, held by members of the Brown community, lit a dark Main Green Thursday night. Students and faculty members staged a Queer Alliance-sponsored campout to raise awareness of homophobia on campus. What started out at 9 p.m. as a small group steadily grew throughout the evening. The event began as an open discussion to address the presence of hate on campus. Several members of the administration, including University Chaplain Janet Cooper Nelson and David Greene,
see CAMPUS LIFE, page 5
U.S. continues sanction mistakes with Cuba, but cooperation is on the rise BY JONATHAN HERMAN
The United States has “a capacity to unlearn” lessons learned in the past with Cuba, said Jorge Dominguez, director of Harvard University’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs Thursday. “One can count on the United States to make very helpful, stupid mistakes,” he said. In a speech at the Watson Institute Thursday, Dominguez discussed how the U.S. policy has led to the current tenuous Cuban-American relationship. “There are moments when one
believes that the U.S. government will be able to act effectively, carefully and with an element of real insight,” Dominguez said, “followed by circumstance(s) when the same set of officials, the same president and the same secretary of state get it very, very wrong.” Dominguez used the Cuba Libre cocktail — a combination of Cuban rum and Coca-Cola — as a metaphor for America’s role in Cuban life. “Here is a celebration, a festive opportunity to toast Cuban independ-
interim vice president for Campus Life and Student Services, were present to show their support. Some students directed their questions and comments toward Greene. Those present discussed the recent alleged hate crime in the community as well as how smaller instances of homophobia should be treated. In the past, when there was an incident involving the writing of homophobic remarks on the whiteboards in Keeney Quad, Greene said the University sent out notes to all residents of the dorm, making them aware of the incident and citing the behavior as unacceptable. But, he said, the University must be cautious when sending out communitywide notifications because people can become numb to them and the notices may lose their impact. Ashley Harness ’05 welcomed the group, saying she wished the campout would serve to reclaim space and create a safe environment for people to share their hopes. She said she wanted the community to break down the stereotypes and labels that it attaches to one another in order to move forward. Harness opened the circle to further discussion by sharing a poem by June Jordan. Other students contributed by singing, reading poetry and an excerpt from a queer performance piece and sharing personal experiences and opinions. Students raised various issues, including whether the alleged hate crime would
see WILLIAMS, page 4
Former president of Brazil says democracy is of primary concern BY MICHAEL RUDERMAN
Democracy should be the fundamental issue for the world to address, not security. But the world is headed in the other direction, threatening the international order, said former President of Brazil and professor-at-large Fernando Henrique Cardoso. In the second lecture in the Global Security Seminar Series offered by the Watson Institute for International Studies, Cardoso spoke Thursday of the deterioration of the world order and its consequences for the spread of democracy. The global community is so focused on its security needs that it has stopped looking for prospects for development, he said. This shift from development to security is due in part to “a less cooperative world order,” he said. He said he believes the deterioration of the international community is fueled by institutions at the global level that are unable to solve the world’s problems. Cardoso offered the World Bank as one example. Run by Americans and Europeans, the World Bank is too “weak to cope with the worldwide necessities of development,” because it has limited funds. The World Trade Organization is also undermined by wealthy countries,
see CUBA, page 4 see QUEER, page 5
I N S I D E F R I D AY, O C T O B E R 1 0 , 2 0 0 3 Coming home to R.I., Pulitzer-Prize winning Jhumpa Lahiri reads from her first novel page 3
Six coals, three diamonds and two cubic zirconia make it a crummy week diamonds & coal,page 6
safeRIDE leaves columnist LittenbergBrown ’04 stranded and less safe, he says column, page 7
see BRAZIL, page 5
TO D AY ’ S F O R E C A S T Cross country runner DeCoste ’04 sees finish to year-long knee rehabilitation journey sports, page 8
Weather-plagued practices and tournament hinder men’s golf at Toski sports, page 8
cloudy high 73 low 48