Issuu

T H U R S D A Y FEBRUARY 19, 2004

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXIX, No. 17

An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891

www.browndailyherald.com

UCS proposes change to club sports funding system BY STEWART DEARING

At its weekly meeting Wednesday night, members of the Undergraduate Council of Students discussed a preliminary plan to change the organization of club sports and a number of campus life improvements to be made this semester. Undergraduate Finance Board representative Rob Montz ’05 proposed that the Department of Athletics manage all club sports, a responsibility it currently shares with UCS. There is no system in place to manage the funding and organization of club sports. “This plan will ensure that people have equal access to trainers and practice space while streamlining a bad system,” Montz said. He assured members that intramural sports would not be affected by the implementation of the proposal. “All club sports use athletic space and not UCS space, so this wouldn’t be a huge change,” he added. But shifting club sport management to the athletics department might necessitate cutting some clubs in the interests of funding and space. UCS alone runs seven club sports, but the University could only fund two or three, according to Montz. Priority would be given to sports that do not have varsity or intramural teams. Club soccer and lacrosse, for example, would probably be among the first to go because they exist at the varsity level, he said. “It’s just priorities,” Montz said. “I think eventually some of these club sports are going to have to be eliminated.” Secretary Joel Payne ’05 said student input is needed, especially to determine which club sport teams would be dropped or changed. “Our job as UCS is to bring in student opinions,” said Admissions and Student Services Chair Sonia Gupta ’06. “If we don’t have space, we need to push for space.” UCS member Luke Meier ’04 said the council should not eliminate a single club sport as long as students want to play it. “We also need to take into account the students that want to play the sport but can’t at the varsity level or don’t want to,” he said. Council members also expressed concern that the athletics department would put the interests of varsity teams ahead of those of club sport players. David Greene, interim vice president for Campus Life and Student Services assured them no changes are set in stone. “The proposal is preliminary, and you’re coming at it without the information,” he said. Greene also presented planned improvements to campus facilities, including renovations to Arnold see UCS, page 4

Nick Neely / Herald

Brown Athletic Director David Roach,left,Black Coaches Association Executive Director Floyd Keith and BCA President Stan Wilcox held a conference Wednesday announcing the establishment of the Fritz Pollard Award.The award will be given annually to a black male college or professional coach.Brown will fund the $10,000 prize and invite the winner to give a presentation on campus on minorities in sports or other topics.The award,which will be given for the first time June 5,honors Pollard ’19,who was the first black athlete to play in the Rose Bowl.

New Career Services director tries to increase office visibility BY JANE TANIMURA

After almost a year on the job, Kimberly DelGizzo, Career Services director, has initiated plans to improve the office, including changing its name from Career Services to the Career Development Center. DelGizzo made this change to convey “the message to the entire Brown community that we are here to serve people in the career development process.” In the past, students have seen Career Services as a place to go only when they need help writing a resume or finding a job, she said. “We really want our constituents on and off campus to see our operation at Brown as one center on campus that students can access to do career development and to gain information about how to make well-informed decisions,” she said. One of DelGizzo’s immediate goals is to market the name change to the Brown community, encouraging students to come to the center earlier and more often, she said. To accomplish this goal, DelGizzo hired Jennifer Muldoon, a public relations officer, for a new position designed to help the Career Development Center publicize itself to the community. “(Muldoon) is helping us to think about ways to convey our mission and our message to students and faculty more effectively,” DelGizzo said. Currently, Muldoon is redesigning the office’s Web site and putting together

materials to define “who we are and how we serve our constituent base,” DelGizzo said. But DelGizzo is also counting on students to spread the word about Brown’s career services. A new student liaison group will facilitate the exchange of information between students and her office, she said. The Career Center is also looking to refine the process of career development itself. DelGizzo emphasized that it is a long-term process and said she wants students to connect with the office earlier on, ideally in their first year at Brown. “Brown students are encouraged to be architects of their academic experience, and from the career perspective, we encourage students to be architects of their future,” she said. Though the struggling economy has made it more difficult for students to find jobs upon graduation, DelGizzo said earlier engagement in the process will increase students’ chances of success. “While the economy is more difficult than in years past, there are jobs out there,” she said. “And if students are actively engaged in this process, I think they will find success in pursuing opportunities that are of interest to them.” Still, some students say the center isn’t doing enough. Stefanie McGowan ’04, who has been visiting the office since sophomore year, said the advice counselors give isn’t always helpful.

Doctors Without Borders physician says political unrest hurts humanitarian groups campus news, page 5

Rachel Marshall ’04 says it’s not easy for voters to get absentee ballots column, page 9

BY MELANIE WOLFGANG

The contours of the 2004 presidential election are likely to shift noticeably in the coming months, three political science professors told about 50 students Wednesday night in a panel discussion. The discussion, which was followed by a question-answer session, was titled “The Gloves Are Off: Implications of the 2004 Race to the White House.” Student moderators Brookes Brown ’04 and Herald opinions columnist Stephen Beale ’04 began the evening by posing a series of questions to Assistant Professor of Political Science Jennifer Lawless, Assistant Professor of Political Science and Public Policy Scott Allard and Professor of Political Science Darrell West. Questions addressed a range of topics, including the role of the Internet in presidential campaigns, President George W. Bush’s cowboy persona and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean’s “Dean Scream” following the Iowa caucuses. The panel discussion was followed by a “lightning round,” which required oneword answers from the speakers and was accompanied by a buzz of excitement from the audience. “Awesome,” said Allard, when rules for this round were announced. Upon being asked who was going to win the election, all three speakers replied firmly, “Bush.” But all of the panelists expressed

see CAREER, page 8

I N S I D E T H U R S D AY, F E B RUA RY 1 9 , 2 0 0 4 RISD administration announces $500,000 budget deficit, public forums risd news, page 3

Bush will likely win reelection, panel says

see PANEL, page 4

TO D AY ’ S F O R E C A S T Citing ethnicity in Israeli-Palestinian debates is destructive, says Arta Khakpour ’05 column, page 11

Gymnastics has successful home meet after previous weekend’s defeat sports, page 12

sunny high 40 low 24

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

THIS MORNING THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2004 · PAGE 2 Coup de Grace Grace Farris

W E AT H E R THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

High 40 Low 24 sunny

High 41 Low 34 sunny

High 48 Low 34 showers

High 42 Low 25 showers

GRAPHICS BY EDDIE AHN

Four Years Eddie Ahn

TO D AY ’ S E V E N TS RATAS, RATONES, RATEROS (FILM) 7 p.m. (Watson Institute, room 112) — by filmmaker Sebastion Cordero of Ecuador. In Spanish with English subtitles. Presented by the Center for Latin American Studies.

POETRY READING 8 p.m. (Hourglass Cafe, Faunce House)

MENU SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH — Vegetarian Cream of Pea Soup,Turkey and Wild Rice Soup, Cilantro Chicken, Sauteed Vegetable Casserole with Cheese, Mexican Succotash, Coconut Crescent Cookies, Chocolate Carrot Cake, Boston Cream Pie. DINNER — Vegetarian Cream of Pea Soup,Turkey and Wild Rice Soup, Roast Turkey with Sauce, Italian Meatloaf, Cavatelli Primavera, Mashed Sweet and White Potatoes, Sauteed Broccoli with Garlic, Carrots Vichy, Alabama Butter Biscuits, Coconut Crescent Cookies, Chocolate Carrot Cake, Boston Cream Pie.

My Best Effort William Newman and Laura Martin

VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALL LUNCH — Vegetarian Fagoli Soup, Egg Drop and Chicken Soup, Italian Sausage and Peppers Sandwich, Vegan Tofu Raviolis with Sauce, Creole Mixed Vegetables, Coconut Crescent Cookies. DINNER — Vegetarian Fagoli Soup, Egg Drop and Chicken Soup, Italian Meatloaf,Vegan Ratatouille,Vegan Rice Pilaf, Fresh Sliced Carrots, Mandarin Blend Vegetables, Alabama Butter Biscuits, Boston Cream Pie.

Greg and Todd’s Awesome Comic Greg Shilling and Todd Goldstein

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 With 16-Across, this puzzle’s title 5 Pizazzy 9 Pan handler 13 Stink ending 14 Parade hat 15 Hot stuff 16 See 1-Across 17 Shrub with edible nuts 18 Deejay Freed 19 ’80s-’90s Bengals quarterback 22 Put away 23 Taste 24 First of its kind 30 Actress Scala 33 The king of France? 34 __ Dhabi 35 Shakes up 36 Satellite navigation system, e.g. 40 Lowly worker 41 Lofty lyric 42 “Two mints __”: old ad phrase 43 Rev.’s talk 44 Kind of dolphin 47 To date 48 Dungeons & Dragons monster 49 Jake and Elwood of film, with “The” 56 Down 57 Picture enhancer 58 Surface cover 60 Skipper’s post 61 “Them” author 62 Card collection 63 In a ho-hum manner 64 Swamp growth 65 Likelihood

7 Eisenhower et al. 8 Stadium 9 Preface to a shake 10 Saintly sign 11 __ Marriott (Joe Millionaire) 12 Cooler 14 Pile of papers 20 Radio and television 21 Cause of inflation 24 Messy substances 25 Actress Zellweger 26 Ann __ 27 When time is up? 28 Be quiet, in scores 29 Cable giant 30 Toledo cats 31 Ryan of “Pippin” 32 Comparable to a beet 35 Normandy beach 37 Encourages loudly 1

5 14 17

34 37

23 28

9 15

22 25

Hopeless Edwin Chang

02/19/04

xwordeditor@aol.com

Penguiener Haan Lee

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

50 Break in the action 51 Banff bluff 52 Be highly regarded 53 Return of a call? 54 Kind of hog 55 Box filler 56 Phone button letters 59 Pts. in Patriot games

P A J A M A S G R A B B A G A U R E A T E U L U L A T E Z I L L I O N M I N E R V A A C T R E S S P E N E L O P E E D E N S E A T S O B E R D E A R M E R O Y C E L E A K L E O C A R I B B E A N V O Y A G E S P O O L D I S D R E D I S L A M S P O O F S O N I T O L D S T E A M S O N A I R C R A F T S E A T T L E A L L I S O N A B R A H A M L I O N I Z E W A L L E T S K E T T L E S

47 49

DOWN 1 Cub’s club 2 __ League 3 Hacking knife 4 John’s mate 5 Magna __ 6 Smog, e.g.

38 Banned pesticide 39 Recipe bit 44 Subject of the film “Spellbound” 45 Rose up 46 Some Deco works 47 Delish 49 Wasn’t colorfast

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD, INC.

The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is published Monday through Friday during the aca-

Business Phone: 401.351.3260

demic year, excluding vacations, once during Commencement, once during Orientation and

Juliette Wallack, President

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

Carla Blumenkranz, Vice President 2538, Providence, RI 02906. Periodicals postage paid at Providence, R.I. Offices are located at 195

Lawrence Hester, Treasurer

Angell St., Providence, R.I. E-mail herald@browndailyherald.com. World Wide Web:

Jack Carrere, Secretary

http://www.browndailyherald.com. Subscription prices: $179 one year daily, $139 one semester

Editorial Phone: 401.351.3372

02/19/04

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

RISD NEWS THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2004 · PAGE 3

Administration announces $500,000 deficit, predicts cutbacks in non-academic areas BY DANA GOLDSTEIN

Budget projections show RISD could end this fiscal year with a $500,000 deficit, President Roger Mandle announced in a letter to the RISD community Feb. 10, four days before undergraduates left campus for a nine-day vacation at the end of wintersession. “After reviewing the budget from the first half of the year, we have determined that we have to be exceptionally careful managing our existing operating budgets,” Mandle wrote. For RISD to present its Board of Trustees with a balanced budget at the end of the fiscal year, “sacrifices will be necessary from all segments of administrative, academic and museum programs,” the letter continued. After Mandle’s letter was posted on the RISD Intranet, discussion boards there and on the RISD Daily Jolt Web site hosted messages posted by students wondering if their departments would suffer from cutbacks. But Jeff Apfel, executive vice president for administration and finance, said RISD is doing all it can to keep budget cuts from affecting student life. “From a student’s point of view, I don’t think they’ll notice” budget cuts, Apfel told The Herald.

Academic programming, guest lectures and visiting professor appointments are unlikely to be affected by the looming deficit, Apfel said, adding that a more likely place for cutting costs is non-academic staff positions. “The (2004-2005) budget is still being put together, including some position savings,” he said. “That could be from a vacancy freeze or some small position reductions.” A vacancy freeze would mean searches would not be conducted for unoccupied staff positions. In his letter, Mandle stressed that despite these budgetary pressures, plans for the RISD Center renovation of Memorial Hall and the construction of a new library, dormitory and student life space at 15 Westminster St. will go forward, primarily because of targeted donations from alumni to fund these projects. “All of us at RISD must continue to aspire toward improving this exceptional school and museum,” he wrote. “Throughout this difficult period, we have been able to maintain the momentum of our capital campaign, securing gifts for scholarships, programs and facilities.” Apfel said students could still expect work to start at 15

Westminister St. this spring, but that work on the RISD Center, funded in part by a donation from the Chace family, would not begin until “we have sufficient funding on hand. It could slip past next year, but we are pretty confident that we’ll get the

Budget projections show RISD could end this fiscal year with a $500,000 deficit, President Roger Mandle announced in a letter to the RISD community Feb. 10. money in hand.” Mandle also used his letter to explain the origins of the financial pressures facing RISD and other institutions of higher education. He highlighted endowment losses due to the recent economic downturn, political pressure from Congress to limit tuition increases and costs he dubbed “uncontrollables,” such as health insur-

the brown daily herald

ance premium increases and higher energy costs. Last October, Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.) introduced a bill threatening penalties for colleges and universities whose tuition increased by more than double the rate of inflation two years in a row. “Even if (Rep. McKeon) gets his way, the impact on colleges would begin to be felt only over a couple of years,” Apfel said. “From a student’s point of view, it’s really a mixed blessing if it means that in the name of lower tuition increases, we’re eviscerating valuable programs.” “Endowment has gone down, costs have gone up, but President Mandle is aware of parent and student concerns and Congress’ concerns,” Apfel said. “I think what he’s saying is, ‘Hey, it’s difficult being a college president.’” The RISD finance staff will hold open meetings in the next few weeks to discuss the college’s fiscal situation, Mandle wrote in his letter. Details about those meetings will be posted on the intranet calendar. Herald staff writer Dana Goldstein ‘06 edits the RISD News section. She can be reached at dgoldstein@browndaily-herald.com.

the key to the brown community since 1866

PAGE 4 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2004

UCS continued from page 1 Lounge and lounges in Barbour and Andrews, two new 24-hour study spaces in New Pembroke 4 and Faunce House and satellite fitness centers in Emery Lounge and Bigelow Lounge. “The idea is to get these new spaces up and running so they won’t be ideal and then have construction over the summer to improve them,” he said. Over this semester, Greene said he plans to involve students in choosing an architect and finding furniture for the new spaces. The University hopes to have the spaces available to students before the end of the semester, he said. Gupta also discussed longterm plans to improve meal plan options, enhance food selection and extend late-night hours at Josiah’s and the Gate. Josh Butler ’04 presented the plan for the Responsible

Panel continued from page 1

doubt over whether the circumstances at present would stay essentially constant until the November election. For example, the capture of Osama bin Laden, another terrorist attack or a dip in the economy could dramatically sway the direction of the race. “Ten months is an eternity in politics,” West said. “I think despite what pundits predict and think they know, I would expect more surprises in the coming weeks and months leading up to the fall election,” Allard said. “The volatility makes it interesting.” These surprises could actually function as triggers, setting off chain reactions that affect the overall trend of the race. Just as Sen. John Kerry’s (DMass.) victory in the Iowa caucus gave him the momentum to win in New Hampshire, Lawless noted, Sen. John Edwards’ (D-N.C.) second-place finishes in Tennessee and Virginia have positioned him as the clear alternative to Kerry while bumping Dean from the race. Regarding the current contest for the Democratic nomination, Allard said the party needs to produce a more innovative platform. “It’s been easy for them to throw stones, but I don’t think there are a whole lot of new ideas,” Allard said. It is clear, regardless of the nom-

Leadership Weekend — planned for March 11 to 13 — which will feature a speech from President Ruth Simmons, a benefit concert and panel discussions. “What we really want to do is come up with ideas that inspire people from different backgrounds,” Butler said. “We thought this would do that.” He urged UCS to become actively involved to get responsible leadership to bring student groups together on multiple levels. Campus Life Chair Ari Savitzky ’06 proposed that the Council discuss new ways to table-slip and to get the community involved in the issue. He said the Brown Events Magazine is now in the process of improving its service but will continue at least until the end of the semester. For now, table-slips are back, he said. Members thanked class representative Melba Melton ’06 for their new UCS T-shirts and ended the meeting with a group photo.

inee chosen, that the Democratic Party has a challenging path ahead and will need to “take that veneer of credibility off the Bush administration,” according to West. The panelists saw the issue of same-sex marriages as a divisive but not decisive one. “There are definitely two Americas” on the issue of samesex unions, West said. But he added, “I don’t think swing voters

“Awesome,” said Allard, when rules for this round were announced. will vote based solely on this issue.” Immigration reform, the war in Iraq and the economy will be more central to the election, he said. West said he did not think former Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader would have a significant influence if he entered the race, though he added that if Nader could collect 2 or 3 percent of the vote, he might affect a very close election. When asked who might be possible candidates in the 2008 election, West jokingly offered Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.). “I think that’s plausible,” agreed a grinning Lawless. The panel was sponsored by the Brown Political Science Society and was held in Salomon 001.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

CAMPUS NEWS THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2004 · PAGE 5

Political instability challenges humanitarian organizations, speaker tells audience BY KATE EDWARDS

Humanitarian organizations are challenged not only by the problems of disease, malnutrition and poverty in developing countries but also by implementing their programs in a hostile political climate, said Alain Dubos, a founding member of Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), in a lecture Wednesday. Dubos, former vice president of the French division of MSF, told The Herald after his lecture that the most important problem facing the organization is the security of doctors practicing under unstable political circumstances. He said that while some nations are appreciative of health care provided to its citizens, others are not as receptive. The locations visited by MSF can be dangerous, and members have been injured, held captive and killed. International instability since the end of the Cold War has made MSF’s task more difficult, but by remaining nonpolitical, the organization can continue to protect basic human rights and ensure medical care for people in need, Dubos said. The many medical problems facing the world community, especially diseases such as AIDS, continue to present a staggering challenge, he said. MSF is funded almost entirely by private donations and limits the amount of money it takes from the government. This practice allows the organization to transcend international politics and focus solely on its goal of humanitarian aid, Dubos said. He stressed the importance of the freedom to provide health care, saying, “The humanitarian challenge is ever tied to political reality.” MSF is a nonprofit humanitarian organization that has provided emergency medical aid since 1971 to more than 80 countries. Dubos presented a video summarizing several areas aided by MSF, including Afghanistan, Palestine, Chechnya and Iraq. Volunteer doctors, nurses and other medical professionals treat infectious diseases, practice basic emergency medicine and provide mental health services to displaced and impoverished people around the world. The lecture, titled “Humanitarian Action: Impartial Aid or Alibi for the Powers to Be,” took place in the Bio-Medical Center. It was sponsored by the Alliance Francaise de Providence and the Office of Curriculum Affairs of the Brown Medical School.

Nick Neely / Herald

Erica Trauba ‘07 rolls her kayak, supervised by Benjamin Liotta ‘07. The Brown Outing Club took to the pool Wednesday night.

Feud continued from page 6 Google stole some of Yahoo’s thunder Tuesday by announcing that it had added 1 billion additional Web pages to its index since August, bringing the total to 4.3 billion, as well as 880 million images and 845 million messages from the Usenet bulletin boards. Yahoo’s “announcement really doesn’t have a material effect on our business from a finan-

Low-Carb continued from page 6 Atkins plan, Sioni, who was carrying 270 pounds on his 5-foot, 11-inch frame, decided to try it. Although his Iranian American family eats rice at every meal, he sticks to salmon, eggs, meat, chicken and lots of salads. “I’ve lost 10 pounds already in a month,” he said recently while shopping at Heavenly Low Carb, one of several Los Angeles stores catering to followers of the Atkins, South Beach and Sugar Busters diets. Owners of Heavenly Low Carb and similar stores say that parents regularly come in with their teenagers to buy ready-todrink shakes and snack bars, hoping to keep the youngsters away from school vending machines. Carbohydrates are sugar molecules that the body uses for energy. Most low-carb diets are based on the idea that when you overindulge in refined starches and sugars, you convert the excess sugar into fat and risk developing obesity,

cial perspective,” said Jonathan Rosenberg, Google’s vice president of product management. Yahoo’s Web sites were visited by 111 million people in January, making it the most popular Internet portal, according to comScore. But Google is the leading search engine, with 35 percent of all U.S. searches. Microsoft relies heavily on Yahoo, using Inktomi for its regular search results and Overture for paid search. But founder Bill Gates admitted recently that

Microsoft had underestimated the importance of Internet search. The software giant plans to build Internet search directly into the next generation of its Windows operating system for personal computers, which could give computer users a way to bypass Google and Yahoo’s search engines altogether. Yahoo executives don’t “have an operating system that they can build (a search engine) around, but they have the mil-

lions of people who use Yahoo as their home page and for email,” said Chris Winfield, president of 10e20, a Web development firm in New York City. Yahoo has already built fancy search features into its shopping site, such as pulling up results with product photos and price comparisons beside them, and plans to do the same in its travel, finance, music and job-listings businesses soon, Weiner said. “This is really just the beginning for us,” he said.

diabetes and heart disease. Instead, the diets recommend more protein and eating only fiber-rich complex carbohydrates, such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains, which break down more slowly. Nutrition experts support weaning kids from sugar-laden sodas and cutting back the starches. But given how kids and teens love their spaghetti and mashed potatoes, experts are skeptical about whether kids can refrain for long. Doctors also point out that eliminating all carbohydrates isn’t healthy, because they provide nutrients essential for development. “A growing child needs a constant flow of ... carbohydrates, proteins and fats in set amounts,” said Robert Gotlin, director of orthopedics and sports medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York. During the first two weeks on the Atkins plan, fruit, bread, pasta, grains, starchy vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans and most dairy products are off-limits, forcing the body to burn fat for energy. However, he said, those restrictions deprive the brain of glu-

cose, potentially dulling thinking, while sacrificing vitamins, minerals, calcium and fiber. Despite the medical community’s early opposition to the Atkins plan, more doctors now accept the program because studies have demonstrated that eating more protein and fat, while reducing intake of carbs, can reduce cholesterol and other artery-clogging substances, and promote weight loss. “The truth is there is emerging science that is really supportive of how bad high carbohydrates and insulin are for your body,” said Anhalt. While no one disputes that low-carb dieters can lose weight fast, there are no good long-term studies. Doctors worry that kids, just like adults, probably will regain weight once they veer from the diet. Those who haven’t established healthful eating habits risk developing eating disorders, said Francine Kaufman, chief of pediatric endocrinology at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. She said there’s minimal research to show that Atkins is appropriate for growing kids.

The best and most prudent course, said Kaufman and others treating an epidemic of Type 2 diabetes in overweight children, lies in moderating carbs while establishing sensible lifelong eating patterns. Given that the average kid consumes about a dozen carbohydrate-rich foods daily, she said there was room to safely replace the refined sugars and starches with an apple or whole-grain bread. Some families have found ways to reduce carbs without becoming obsessive. Benita Magit, a family therapist in Los Angeles, has followed a reduced-carb regimen for three years. Her son, Sam Ulrich, was a breadlover until he was diagnosed with pre-diabetes. With Kaufman’s approval, he began eating his mother’s way. The eighth-grader has shed 10 pounds from his 6-foot, 1-inch frame and has lowered his blood sugar. Although he still indulges an occasional hankering for pizza, “the next day, I have a salad and no carbs,” he says. “It’s just a way of life.”

PAGE 6 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2004

Yahoo-Google feud escalates (L.A. Times) — Yahoo Inc. on Wednesday announced that it dumped Google Inc.’s popular search engine in the United States, the first punch in an escalating fight between Internet heavyweights. Anticipating the blow, Google tried to soften the impact by releasing an update to its index of some 6 billion Web pages, images and Usenet postings. Once partners, the top Internet portal and the most popular search engine provider have become fierce rivals scrapping over how people access information online. Searching the Internet has emerged as big business and

soon will become a three-way race, as software giant Microsoft Corp. prepares to launch its own search technology. “What’s at stake is the starting point for many people’s Internet experience,” said Charlene Li, a principal analyst with Forrester Research Inc. Also at stake is potentially billions of dollars paid by advertisers for placement in Internet search results. That market is expected to be between $2.5 billion and $3 billion this year and could double in the next few years, according to several research firms. “Search has evolved as the sweet spot of advertising,” said

James Lamberti, vice president of marketing solutions for comScore Networks Inc., a research firm. “There’s huge amounts of revenue at stake.” Yahoo Chief Executive Terry Semel wants to make search integral to his turnaround of the once-struggling company. In addition to revenue from search-related advertising, the former co-chairman of Warner Bros. wants to use the feature to tie together many of Yahoo’s Internet properties into a “digital theme park” that users don’t have to leave to find information elsewhere on the Web. Google still powers the search engines on many of Yahoo’s international Web sites, but Yahoo plans to switch to its own search technology worldwide within a few weeks, said Jeff Weiner, a Yahoo senior vice president. The technology was developed by Inktomi Corp., which Yahoo acquired last year for $235 million. Buying Inktomi was one of several steps Sunnyvale, Calif.based Yahoo took as it prepared to challenge Google, the closelyheld Mountain View, Calif., company that demonstrated the draw of Internet search tools. Google.com attracted 60 million visitors in December. In addition to Inktomi, Yahoo spent $1.8 billion for Pasadena, Calif.-based Overture Services Inc., whose “pay per click” service lets advertisers buy placement next to search results. Google, which is reportedly planning an initial public offering for this spring, said Yahoo’s move was long anticipated. see FEUD, page 5

Two Separate Trails Led to Fugitive Los Angeles (L.A. Times) — For 14 years, Gisele Marie Johnson lived with a secret she kept hidden from her son: She was an international fugitive, wanted in Canada for kidnapping the boy during a custody fight with his father. For both mother and son, the truth began to emerge a year ago, from completely different sources. Orey Goudreault typed his first name on an Internet search engine and eventually found his own picture — as a 2year-old — on a Web site for missing children. About the same time, Johnson filled out an application for permanent residency in the United States, creating a paper trail that would eventually lead authorities to her front door in the San Fernando Valley. Contacted by a Canadian missing-children’s agency after her application was discovered, Johnson began months of negotiations with the group, agonizing over whether she should turn herself in and risk separation from her son. “She had really a big decision to make,’’ said Rhonda Morgan, executive director of Missing Children Society of Canada, who was an intermediary between the mother, the father and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. “She wanted our help in trying to get the charges dropped, and we told her we can’t do that.’’ On Wednesday, a shackled and tearful Johnson appeared in U.S. District Court here for an extradition hearing, a week after

authorities arrested her on her way to work as a Los Angeles Unified School District clerk. Orey’s fate also remained in question, as authorities have to decide whether the boy whose life had been turned upside down would be returned to his father or would stay in a foster home under the care of the Los Angeles County Children and Family Services Department. “He’s very upset at this point in time, and we’ve heard he’s stopped talking to everybody right now, including his mom,’’ Morgan said. The boy’s fateful Internet discovery was rooted in a bitter custody battle in an Alberta family court 15 years ago. According to Canadian court documents filed in Los Angeles, father Rodney Steinmann said he and Johnson were never married; they dated for some time before breaking up in 1986. Steinmann told police that several months after that split, Johnson told him she was pregnant but planned to have an abortion. “Two years after she left, she contacted him and told him that he had an 18-month-old son,’’ court documents said. “She threatened him that if he wished to see his son, he would have to pay child support under the table.’’ Steinmann told police that he agreed and at one point paid the mother a lump sum of $5,000. Steinmann said that for a while, Johnson dated other men and that her son lived full-time with see KIDNAP, page 8

Low-Carb message reaches kids, but is it a good one? (L.A. Times) — With millions of U.S. adults devoting themselves to low-carbohydrate diets such as the Atkins weight-loss program, it is not surprising that some children are following their lead. However, pediatricians and nutritionists say low-carb diets may be a bad idea for children. With rising rates of childhood obesity creating a major public health problem, these experts agree that going easy on refined sugars and starches in cookies, chips and bagels is a good thing. They worry, however, that kids who avoid or limit such foods as bread, potatoes, rice and fruit

may be depriving themselves of important nutrients that are necessary for growing bodies. And they caution that parents who encourage such eating may not be aware of the consequences. “The family is doing it and saying, ‘If it’s good for me, it’s good for my kids,’” said Henry Anhalt, chief of pediatric endocrinology at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. “There’s this misconception that if they go on the Atkins diet, they’ll have greater success than if they eliminate the saturated fat and simple sugars in their diet.” An estimated 59 million U.S.

adults are limiting their intake of carbohydrates, according to a recent survey by the Valen Group, a Cincinnati-based business consulting firm that does work for the low-carbohydrate food industry. About 17 million of them are on a specific low-carb program, such as the high-protein, high-fat Atkins diet, according to the survey. No one knows how many children are eating this way, because few young dieters consult a doctor or nutritionist and reliable statistics on children and diets are hard to come by. But medical professionals do know that children are influenced by their parents and peers. Take Sasha Sioni, 17, a college student from Los Angeles. After a friend dropped 40 pounds on the see LOW-CARB, page 5

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2004 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 7

Dean pulls out of Democratic race BURLINGTON, Vt. (L.A. Times) — Howard Dean gave up his insurgent campaign for the presidency Wednesday, essentially reducing the race for Democratic nomination to a two-man contest that could be decided in a coast-tocoast struggle in early March. The showdown between Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) was fully joined, with Edwards moving aggressively to position himself as the pro-worker, tough-ontrade alternative and Kerry saying he had the experience needed to offer the strongest challenge to President Geoge W. Bush. Edwards said Wednesday he opposed not just the North American Free Trade Agreement but at least three other trade treaties Kerry backed, an expansion of arguments that helped him take second place in Tuesday’s Wisconsin primary. Kerry insisted his stances on trade were not so different from Edwards’, with both calling for higher environmental and labor standards for U.S. trading partners. And Kerry, who attended exclusive prep schools, went to lengths at campaign stops in Ohio to say he has just as much empathy as for the dispossessed as Edwards, who repeatedly refers to empathy he says he learned growing up in the poor textile mill towns of the South. “I think that all of us who have been sensitive to life and to people and to problems share an understanding of what it means to somebody to lose their job,” Kerry said. It was Dean’s reprisal of his role as campaign provocateur that won much of the media

attention Wednesday. The former Vermont governor left the race, but not without conditions. “I am no longer actively pursuing the presidency,” the former governor told hundreds of emotional supporters jammed into a hotel ballroom in his hometown of Burlington. But Dean added that his backers could still vote for him in upcoming primaries, including the March 2 contests in California and nine other states. He said those votes would translate into convention delegates that would help him mold the platform of whichever nominee emerges from the Democratic National Convention this July. “We are on the ballots,” Dean said, as his wife, Judy, stood behind him, smiling and clapping. “Use your networks to send progressive delegates to the convention in Boston. We are not going away. We are staying together unified, all of us.” Aides suggested that Dean — who raised a Democratic record $50.3 million, mostly in contributions of less than $100 — might push for the party nominee to embrace his proposal for a $250 limit on individual campaign contributions. But Dean’s goals for the near future remained in the formative stages Wednesday. What seemed certain was that the former Vermont governor would attempt to maintain his sway over his supporters, including the 640,000 people on his campaign’s e-mail list, to help defeat Bush and, perhaps, to raise money for other Democrats. Dean gave no indication that he would endorse either Kerry or

Edwards. He has been relatively friendly with Edwards on the stump but feuded openly with Kerry, calling him a “Washington insider.” Kerry has more than three times as many convention delegates as Edwards, with 608 of the 2,162 needed to win the nomination. He increasingly is winning the backing of Democratic power centers — Thursday he will be endorsed by the AFL-CIO. And he had the continuing bounce of a winner, having won 15 of the 17 nominating contests held thus far. Still, the Edwards camp was boosted by his finish 6 percentage points behind Kerry in Tuesday’s Wisconsin primary. And Kerry’s behavior Wednesday suggested he had his opponent on his mind, as the 19-year Senate veteran sought to minimize his differences with his younger colleague, who has been in the Senate less than one term. Edwards held a fundraiser in New York City on Wednesday and is to campaign Thursday at Columbia University. In a conference call while riding the train from Washington to New York, Edwards urged Kerry to make himself available to more debates. He declined to say whether long-shot candidates Al Sharpton of New York and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) should be included in those forums. Edwards’ emphasis on a faceto-face showdown with the frontrunner has some urgency, since he remains less known to most Americans, according to polls.

4.2 1uake is reported near Northern California geothermal field (L.A. Times) — A magnitude 4.4 earthquake centered near the Geysers geothermal field north of Santa Rosa shook a wide area of Northern California Wednesday shortly after noon, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. The 12:37 p.m. temblor was felt in San Francisco and was the latest of a growing number of quakes in the area. Many scientists believe the quakes are related to the injection of large quan-

tities of waste water into the geothermal field to assist generation of steam used in electric power production. There were few quakes in the vicinity near the Sonoma-LakeMendocino counties junction prior to development of the geothermal facility in the 1960s, but there have been hundreds of quakes there since then. Wednesday’s temblor, which caused no reported damage or injuries, was one of the largest of

the quakes recorded in the area. A magnitude 4.2 struck last year, and this was the ninth of 4.0 or larger since the facility opened. Electric power production at the Geysers is equivalent to that used by the city of San Francisco. The depth of the latest quake was about 2.2 miles below the surface. A reservoir of subterranean magma lies about five miles below the surface, and most of the quakes recorded have been shallow.

PAGE 8 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2004

Bush Biding Time on Marriage Amendment Washington, D.C. (Washington Post) — President George W. Bush said Wednesday that he was troubled by the issuance of marriage licenses to gay couples in San Francisco, but he again stopped short of endorsing a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Bush plans to make such an endorsement, but the announcement’s timing is being debated in the White House. Bush said during a brief question-and-answer session in the Oval Office that he has “watched carefully what’s happened in San Francisco, where licenses were being issued even though the law states otherwise.” More than 2,600 marriage licenses have been issued to same-sex couples since Thursday. “Obviously, these events are influencing my decision,” the president said. “I’m troubled by what I’ve seen. People need to be involved with this decision. Marriage ought to be defined by the people, not by the courts.” Earlier, Bush held an off-therecord meeting with 13 conservative Roman Catholic leaders and commentators. Bush told GOP lawmakers last month that if he determined an amendment was necessary, he would support the Federal Marriage Amendment introduced by Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.). But some

administration officials fret that its wording is ambiguous, and they cannot be sure what its effect would be. Officials of several Christian conservative groups said White House aides assured them Bush will endorse an amendment. Some of the officials are expressing increasing impatience with the delay. The Family Research Council, a public policy group that promotes “the JudeoChristian worldview,” told supporters in an e-mail Wednesday that “the silence from Washington has been deafening. ... There is no better time than now for our elected members of Congress to rise up and pass a federal marriage amendment.” Mark Mead, political director of Log Cabin Republicans, the nation’s largest gay Republican organization, said he believes Bush will wait until “after current events shake out” to make an announcement. Massachusetts legislators deadlocked last week on how to counteract a court ruling requiring legal recognition of gay marriages in that state. They are scheduled to resume a constitutional convention March 11. “I believe White House folks are worried about him being perceived as intolerant,” Mead said of Bush. “Our message is that amending the constitution isn’t conservative.”

Kidnap

when she became pregnant, and she did the dutiful thing, and she informed him,’’ Wallace said Wednesday. “He wrote her a letter that stated ‘abort it, I don’t want anything to do with you or the child.’ ‘‘ Johnson never thought that a court would take away custody because she had been raising Orey on her own for 2 1/2 years, Wallace said. During the court proceedings, the father’s attorney made much of the fact that she took prescription antidepressants, Wallace added. “That was the one thing that was being used to really degrade her and her stability,’’ Wallace said. “She certainly wasn’t the least bit off-balance.’’ Wallace said the judge gave sole custody to the father because he thought that Orey would have been better off in a wealthier household and with his paternal grandparents nearby for added stability. “She was the most fabulous mother, the most fabulous friend,’’ Wallace said. According to U.S. marshals, Johnson appears to have fled from Canada to Mexico for four years with her son, and eventually ended up living in an apartment complex in San Fernando Valley. Authorities said she had been living in California for five years, with Orey using the last name “Torres.’’ Friends of Orey said he was told by his mother that his father had abandoned them.

continued from page 6 the father. Eventually, according to Steinmann, the parents returned to dating each other and the boy went to live with his mother again. About September 1988, the mother reportedly told Steinmann she was pregnant again with his second child. Steinmann demanded a courtverified paternity test. The mother threatened Steinmann, telling him that “she would tell the courts that he was a child molester, a male prostitute and a homosexual,’’ according to court documents. Steinmann told police that he pursued the paternity test anyway and that Johnson filed a 54page affidavit accusing him of child molestation, which Steinmann denied. The documents do not say what the paternity test found. Ultimately, a court awarded Steinmann sole custody of Orey, effective June 1, 1989. But Steinmann said that a week earlier he had dropped his son off at Johnson’s house for a visit and never saw them again. A friend of Johnson in Canada disputes Steinmann’s account of the custody battle. Laurie Wallace, 46, of Canmore said her friend was faced with a painful dilemma that she thought could only be solved by fleeing the country. Johnson “had a very brief relationship with the father

India, Pakistan Agree to Talks on Kashmir Islamabad, Pakistan (L.A. Times) — Indian and Pakistani officials agreed Wednesday to a “basic road map” for peace negotiations aimed at resolving their historic and often violent differences over Kashmir and other matters. Wrapping up three days of talks, senior diplomats outlined a schedule for parallel negotiations on a range of subjects over the next five months, after which the Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers will meet to assess progress and decide on their next steps. Talks on the status of Kashmir — the divided Himalayan region claimed by India and Pakistan, both of which possess nuclear arms — will start in May or June, after India holds national elections in April, officials said. Other topics to be discussed at various levels and among different groups of experts include nuclear security, water sharing, maritime boundaries, trade relations, drug trafficking and confidence-building measures to ease border tensions. “We do have before us now a sort of a basic roadmap for a Pakistan-India peace process to which we have both agreed,” Pakistani Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokar said at a news conference following a two-hour meeting with his Indian counterpart, Shashank, who uses just one name. “We hope this road map will eventually lead to the settlement of all outstanding disputes between India and Pakistan and in the direction of durable peace.” The announcement added to the sense of optimism and good will that has been building in South Asia since Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s president, agreed Jan. 5 to resume peace negotiations after a gap of more than two years. Indian officials had resisted such a move, accusing Pakistan of backing Islamic insurgents in the part of Kashmir that India controls, but relented after Musharraf agreed to a joint statement pledging that he “will not permit any territory under Pakistan’s control to be used to support terrorism in any manner.” The challenge Musharraf faces in fulfilling that pledge was vivid-

ly demonstrated Wednesday afternoon when the former leader of the banned Islamic guerrilla group Lashkar-eTayyba turned up in the heart of the capital to attend a public memorial service for an Islamic militant slain last month by Indian security forces in Kashmir. “It’s ironic that jihad has been labeled as terrorism and our Pakistani leaders are saying the same things that Western leaders are saying,” Hafiz Mohammed Saeed told the crowd of about 500 men in a park festooned with militant slogans such as “Beat infidels so harshly that they run away.” “Pakistani leaders are using their entire machinery to curb jihad, and this is the worst form of state terrorism,” continued Saeed, a former engineering professor with a henna-tinted beard who came late to the service in a van with tinted windows. “Jihad in Kashmir will continue at any cost, and Kashmiris will be freed one day.” Founded in 1989, Lashkar-eTayyba, or Army of the Righteous, is one of the main Pakistani militant groups fighting Indian forces in Kashmir. Some of its members trained in Afghanistan during the Taliban era and have been linked by U.S. intelligence to al-Qaida. India has identified the group as one of two that orchestrated a December 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament in New Delhi, which brought the two countries to the brink of their fourth war. In January 2002, Musharraf banned the group, along with a number of others, but it has since reconstituted under a different name, Jamaat-u-Dawa, which organized Wednesday’s memorial service. Saeed spent several months under house arrest but was released early last year after a court ruled that the government had no grounds to continue holding him. In an telephone interview Wednesday night from London, where he is traveling on official business, Pakistani Interior Minister Faisel Saleh Hayat said Jamaat-u-Dawa has not been banned “because there is no credible substantive evidence that it is indulging in activities against the interest of Pakistan or using Pakistan as a base to harm

Career continued from page 1 “(My counselor), like most of the adult counselors, offered me little direction and continually advised me to use the Career Services Web site and to contact people on Access for networking,” she said. “I found this advice frustrating then, and two years later as a senior I still feel frustrated that this is the best advice the counselors have.” Students also complain about the inaccessibility of counselors. Though walk-ins are available everyday, McGowan said these meetings are often with student

the interest of people or governments or countries outside” Pakistan. He added, however, that Jamaat-u-Dawa is on Pakistan’s terrorism “watch list” and said he would inquire into the nature of Saeed’s speech to determine whether any laws had been violated. “Obviously jihad in the strict Islamic sense is not violative of the law, but if it promotes violence, then anything in that context does call for the rule of law to come into force,” he said. Saeed’s fiery words, in any case, were sharply at odds with the generally upbeat atmosphere surrounding Wednesday’s announcement of a schedule for talks, some of which will begin next month. Indian and Pakistani diplomats used words such as “cordial” and “constructive” to describe this week’s preparatory session, showing just how far the two governments have traveled since their armies faced each other across the border in 2002. The warming trend began in April, when Vajpayee extended a “hand of friendship” to Pakistan during a speech in Kashmir and has accelerated with the restoration of transportation links and “people-to-people” exchanges involving trade delegations, politicians and artists. At a private function in Karachi Tuesday night, a popular Indian singer, Jagjit Singh, entertained an audience of about 2,000 people, including a number of senior military officers, in a scene that would have been unimaginable as recently as six months ago. But the two sides remain far apart on Kashmir, a mostly Muslim region that India claims as an integral part of its territory. And as Wednesday’s memorial service made clear, Musharraf faces fierce internal resistance to anything that smacks of compromise on what Pakistanis regard as the core issue in relations with India. “These talks are just eyewash,” said Ibrar Ali, 26, a college student who attended the service for the slain fighter, Abu Zar Shamas ul Arafeen, who was the son of an education ministry official here. “Young people should join the jihadi forces. Musharraf is not God, and jihad is God’s order.”

advisors, not adult counselors. Katherine Kosub ’04, who has gone to Career Services for help with her resume, said students feel less inclined to meet with other students and would rather speak with more experienced adult advisors. “I think it would be nice if we could get help from professionals,” she said. But Laura Saetveit ’03, a program assistant for the center, who said she began using the office as a first-year student, warned that the center is not a free pass to a career. “Career Services is a vehicle for opportunity. They make it easier to do your work,” she said.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

OPINIONS EXTRA THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2004 · PAGE 9

JONATHAN LIU

Peeling back John Kerry Despite the wonderfully quirky ketchup fortune, it’s difficult to understand the current appeal of John Kerry. Before the alleged Botox treatments, there were at least those moments when his face would soften into a bemused frame of limply arched eyebrows, when his dense collection of almost self-parodying senatorial wrinkles would call to mind a forlorn basset hound. As it stands, Kerry’s appearance coincides with exactly what Terry McAuliffe wants: a version of George W. Bush stretched out on the rack and microwaved to just past ripe. Yet America wants to believe in the idea of Kerry so strongly that he is now projected not only as an attractive candidate but as a pretty studly guy as well. Take last week’s bogus rumors of a sex scandal, a “story” that was far more concerned with the post-Lewinsky archetype of vigorous power than any actual sex: A recent high school grad! Power asymmetry! Naïveté! An Associated Press reporter! Horror of horrors, Africa! Really, Drudge Report readers thought, could there be any place worse to suffer for the sins of the heart and of the potentially presidential phallus than Africa?! Of course the real issue with Kerry begins on that other Dark Continent, Asia. For the problem is that the center of Kerry’s much ballyhooed electability — his Vietnam experience — rests on an absolutely untenable juxtaposition: that conscientious objection to the war could stand side-by-side with “patriotic” service. Indeed, the moral revulsion backing his objections did not appear miraculously after discharge — they were part of his daily military life. In a 1971 address before Congress, Kerry said, “We saw that many people in this country had a one-sided idea of who was kept free by our flag, as blacks provided the highest percentage of casualties. ... We rational-

ized destroying villages in order to save them. ... We learned the meaning of free fire zones, shooting anything that moves, and we watched while America placed a cheapness on the lives of Orientals.” But one does not get as decorated as Kerry by refusing to fire or by practicing affirmative action on the frontlines. One does not become a war hero by regarding the life of the Other as equal to his own. We will never know how many people John Kerry personally killed but it is clear that he was no lowly draftee simply taking orders. On the contrary, he was an enlisted officer, a bundle of ambition looking for a bullet point of patriotism to pad that resumé despite his own moral objections. Sell crack or work for Goldman

A middle ground between service and protest? Sachs and it’d be hypocrisy; join the army and it’s somehow electability. Certainly Kerry faced a moral dilemma, but not an impossible one. For instance, George W. Bush — like Kerry, straight out of Yale and facing death on the battlefields with his inferiors — chose to join the Texas National Guard, a strictly defensive force. Not that the Republicans would actually run on such an ethical distinction — doing so would involve suggesting that Bush had at some point made a moral decision against war. Thus the ideological litmus test of American politics (and life) is laid bare: one must be willing to both personally inflict carnage and feel bad about it. Bush, if we are to accept the possibility of both resistance

and service, is clearly in the right, and yet here he is shaking in his electoral boots because his own hands were never drenched in real, live Oriental (read: Arab) blood. Because when Kerry speaks of his experience in Vietnam — when he suggests that there is some principled middle ground between opposition and collaboration — his concerns are far from the jungles of Southeast Asia. Perhaps he is consciously referencing Iraq. But the true unspeakable in this campaign is far greater than just that single absurdity. The true unspeakable is a question of hegemony, of the possibility of American moral culpability, of the prospect of perpetual Holy War based not on religious indoctrination but on cultural and economic resistance. Vietnam is not an unimportant metaphor; the history of that event suggests that no matter what Kerry and the American people wish to believe, this middle ground is, at best, uninhabitable and, at worst, an insidiously disguised reflection of the position it pretends to resist. In turn, the current “liberal” condemnation of Bush involving an explicit comparison with War-Hero Kerry, seems tremendously silly. If the GOP were, say, cocaine addicts (this is a purely hypothetical comparison), then the Democrats would be its willing enablers. Which is an apt analogy. Peel back the layers of Kerry’s glossy slogans and biographies and reveal not the hollow core of your average tomato but the web of dependencies, deficiencies and deep-seated assumptions that mark all addictions. Forget Teresa Heinz; bring on Betty Ford! Peel back the layers of Jonathan Liu ’07 and you will find no average tomato either.

ARTA KHAKPOUR

Blood ties and bloodsport in the Middle East Isaac and Ishmael are dead. Like a lot of other mythic archetypes, they’re not giving up the ghost very easily. But unlike, say, Zeus or the Phoenix or Santa Claus, these two have a bad habit of taking a lot of other, real people with them. Isaac and Ishmael, are, of course, the supposed progenitors of the Jewish and Arab peoples. According to various Jewish and Muslim myths, Isaac was the favored son of the patriarch Abraham and begat the Jewish nation, while Ishmael, the offspring of Abraham and his mistress Hagar, was exiled to Arabia and fathered Arab society. And so we have centuries of bitterness and enmity, leading these two warring clans to the present bloodshed in the Middle East, with no respite in sight. Thus the seeming ethnic allergy Israelis and Palestinians have to living with one another, and the necessity, ultimately, of fencing these murderous siblings forever apart from one another. Thus goes the narrative — and it’s all as absurdly ahistorical and anthropologically invalid as, say, creationism. Much like creationism, it conditions the mindset of a lot more people than we’d like to admit, even here at Brown. It seems that every lecture regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is sponsored by either a “Jewish” group or an “Arab” group. There are, of course, groups like Tikkun and Common Ground that add some more ambiguity to this equation, and events like the recent “Democracy and Peace” panel that aim for dialogue. Even then, however, there are troubling elements. At that last panel, two Jewish professors sat on the right side of the moderator, while the two Arab scholars were on the left; even though the views they presented were far from monolithic, the speakers were separated by ethnicity. Well-known international organizations fall into these worn out patterns as well. Why does the Anti-Defamation League, a group devoted to protecting the civil rights of the Jewish people, post numerous articles on its Web site endorsing such Israeli policies as Sharon’s “security fence”? Many Jewish leaders and citizens oppose these policies — are they guilty of defaming their own people? Why does the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, formed to “protect civil rights and promote a balanced Mideast policy,” post an official counter of U.S. aid dollars to Israel on its home page? Is opposing divestment necessarily a marker that one supports the discrimination of

Arab Americans? There are massive pro-Israel fundraising drives within the American Jewish community. Throughout the Arab world, there is both government and private donation to the Palestinian cause. In both cases this money is won by an appeal to ethnic pride – a sense that if you don’t give, you’re abandoning “your people.” The problem occurs when this mindset leaves the realm of financial support and enters the political arena — and you feel that if you don’t support the current policies of “your people” in Israel or Palestine, you’re betraying them. Thus critics of Israel are denounced as anti-Semitic, and lots of enlightened, liberty-loving Jewish citizens in America and Europe are duped into supporting the destructive and oppressive tactics of Israel’s occupation. Likewise, Arab and Muslim donors worldwide are manipulated into financially supporting extremist groups like Hamas or Hezbollah — groups whose policies they would adamantly oppose in their own country. Hamas and the state presses of many Arab countries deny the existence of Israel and Israelis, while the Israeli right-wing similarly denies Palestine and Palestinians. The military censor of the occupied territories goes as far as banning the words “Palestinian” and “Israeli” in certain news publications, replacing them with “Arab” and “Jew.” The message? Israelis and Palestinians do not exist. There are only Jews and Arabs, the descendants of Isaac and Ishmael, locked into a biblically epic struggle for a holy land. Presenting the struggle this way rather than as a political dispute between two national groups is calculated for a specific reason: making compromise and cohabitation impossible. Demagogues on both sides of the conflict use this language like a weapon, inevitably making the leap to racism. Menachem Begin referred to the Palestinians as “beasts walking on two legs” while Yitzhak Shamir envisioned crushing them “like grasshoppers.” Benjamin Netanyahu, a few weeks ago, referred to Palestinian citizens of Israel as a “demographic problem” needing a “solution” — a dehumanizing phrase disturbing in its implications. In turn, Arabic media has, at various points, been a breeding ground for anti-Semitic vitriol and blood libel. Stories of Palestinian and Iraqi textbooks which perpetuate antiSemitic stereotypes are well known. And witness the com-

ments of the Malaysian Prime Minister last year – essentially rehashing the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, accusing Jews of “running the world by proxy.” The parties and leaders in question thrive off the ethnonationalistic sentiments of their people and have found the key to staying in power: stirring up as much fear and hatred of “the other” as possible. The tragedy of our times is that an impoverished refugee in the West Bank has an easier time identifying with the corrupt and self-interested bosses of the Islamic Jihad than with an Ethiopian Jew struggling to make a living on the other side of the fence. There is a duality at work behind oppression in the world, but it’s not the nationalistic, ethnic or religious “Us vs. Them” that Hamas, the Likud Party or even modern-day Orientalists would have us believe. It is the hard-working, rational-minded people of the world versus the extremists in their midst. It is, fundamentally, the view of the world as one human race struggling for peace and justice versus “my people, right or wrong.” What is needed is a paradigm shift — from viewing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as an ethnic one, with Arabs and Jews on opposing sides of an impassable chasm, to a struggle for human rights for both Israeli Jews and Palestinians. Unfortunately, most existing plans, from the Geneva accords to the Oslo agreements and even Sharon’s fence, operate on the former premise — that something in their blood, or something in the air, just makes Israelis and Palestinians inherently opposed to living with one another. When a human-rights model gains popularity, when peace lovers of all races are united on one side, the two-state solution and all similar partition plans will become irrelevant. The bloodshed that ethnic and religious partition caused in places like India and Pakistan will be avoided, and Israel/Palestine will become a pluralistic, peaceful society. Sounds impossible and idealistic — but both those terms were used to characterize the Zionist dream 150 years ago, and today the Jewish state exists. The question is whether that state will seek to become something more — a model for other nations — or remain mired in violence. May the children of Abraham rest in peace. Arta Khakpour ’05 is an archaeology and Middle East Studies concentrator.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

EDITORIAL/LETTERS THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2004 · PAGE 10 S T A F F

E D I T O R I A L

Performance evaluation Career Services is notorious among students for not being a helpful resource for job hunters. Those who visit Pembroke Hall looking for answers are told to use the center’s Web site and network through Brown’s online alumni database. Walkin counseling appointments are staffed largely by student volunteers, not professionals. And for students not intending to work in investment banking or the nonprofit world, Career Services has little to offer. Career Services Director Kimberly DelGizzo told The Herald she changed the name of the office to the Career Development Center to convey “the message to the entire Brown Community that we are here to serve the people in the career development process.” Career Services has changed its office’s name, hired a public relations officer and created a student liaison group — all measures aimed at promoting the office on campus. But Brown students already know what Career Services does. Frequent e-mails and mailbox stuffers tell us everything a student liaison group could. If we ignore the CDC, it is not because we are unaware of its existence but because we have tried its services and found them lacking. We do not need Career Services to tell us that the economy is struggling and instruct us to be proactive in our job searches. What we need is a proactive career center that is ready, willing and able to help us. We need more than a sporadically updated Web site. We need help making inroads with companies that haven’t hired Brown grads before or don’t have active recruitment policies. We need trained professionals — not students — who are available to answer our questions, whether they’re about resumes or internship opportunities. In the next few weeks, Senior Class officers and development officials will begin asking graduating seniors for contributions to the Annual Fund. If the University wants us to be able to repay our debts to it in the form of contributions, it must first give us the assistance we need in finding employment. And if Career Services wants to market itself better to students, it should direct its resources toward improving its services, not promoting itself.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD EDITORIAL Juliette Wallack, Editor-in-Chief Carla Blumenkranz, Executive Editor Philissa Cramer, Executive Editor Julia Zuckerman, Senior Editor Danielle Cerny, Arts & Culture Editor Meryl Rothstein, Arts & Culture Editor Zachary Barter, Campus Watch Editor Monique Meneses, Features Editor Sara Perkins, Metro Editor Dana Goldstein, RISD News Editor Alex Carnevale, Opinions Editor Ben Yaster, Opinions Editor Christopher Hatfield, Sports Editor PRODUCTION Lisa Mandle, Design Editor George Haws, Copy Desk Chief Eddie Ahn, Graphics Editor Judy He, Photo Editor Nick Neely, Photo Editor

BUSINESS John F. Carrere III, General Manager Lawrence L. Hester IV, General Manager Anastasia Ali, Executive Manager Zoe Ripple, Executive Manager Elias Vale Roman, Senior Project Manager In Young Park, Project Manager Peter Schermerhorn, Project Manager Laird Bennion, Project Manager Bill Louis, Senior Financial Officer Laurie-Ann Paliotti, Sr. Advertising Rep. Elyse Major, Advertising Rep. Kate Sparaco, Office Manager POST- MAGAZINE Ellen Wernecke, Editor-in-Chief Jason Ng, Executive Editor Micah Salkind, Executive Editor Abigail Newman, Theater Editor Josh Cohen, Design Editor Allison Lombardo, Features Editor Jeremy Beck, Film Editor Jessica Weisberg, Film Editor Ray Sylvester, Music Editor

SHANE WILKERSON

LETTERS Morals and abortion cut both ways

Kerry’s pro-choice stance is “brave”

To the Editor:

I applaud Laura Martin for honestly expressing qualms about John Kerry’s position on abortion in the Brown Daily Herald (“Kerry’s abortion problem — and mine” Feb. 18). However, Martin fails to consider the fact that supporting choice is just as much a moral position as opposing abortion. By calling Kerry’s steadfast support of a woman's right to choose “diehard” and “closed-minded,” Ms. Martin diminishes the moral stand Sen. Kerry and all supporters of choice take. She ignores our moral right to support a woman’s choice to end a pregnancy. In addition, she is misguided in her beliefs about the so-called “partial-birth ban;” it does more than outlaw one type of abortion procedure. It puts into place broad regulations that threaten some of the safest and most common abortion procedures. Finally, it should be noted that "partial birth" is in actuality a political term, and not a medical one. The “partial birth” ban was the first time in our nation's history that Congress banned a medically approved procedure — a fact that alone should be cause for objection. Ms. Martin has a right to oppose abortion, and Kerry’s campaign, because she feels it is not aligned with her morals. However, I have a right to support John Kerry and choice for women because in my moral code, ending a pregnancy is not immoral, and allowing a woman to choose whether or not to sustain a pregnancy is crucial for the preservation of human dignity and freedom of speech.

John Kerry’s clear stance on abortion was not “brutal” — it was brave. Thank goodness someone so much in the national spotlight is willing to vocalize a strong pro-choice position. Of course he knows that it is risky to support such a controversial issue, but it is important for the public to see that the pro-choice voice is not dominated by liberal left-wing feminists. The delicacy of the abortion debate leaves it to be seen whether Kerry will keep his word if he gets the nomination; however, for now, I appreciate the step he has taken simply by opening a dialogue. These are the kind of steps that will propel abortion toward legitimacy in the eyes of the public. Vanessa Wellbery ’04 Feb. 18

Priya Cariappa ’05 Feb. 18

Saif Ali Khan, Night Editor Melanie Wolfgang, Copy Editor Staff Writers Kathy Babcock, Zaneta Balantac, Elise Baran, Alexandra Barsk, Zachary Barter, Hannah Bascom, Danielle Cerney, Robbie Corey-Boulet, Lexi Costello, Ian Cropp, Sam Culver, Gabriella Doob, Jonathan Ellis, Justin Elliott, Amy Hall Goins, Dana Goldstein, Bernard Gordon, Krista Hachey, Chris Hatfield, Jonathan Herman, Miles Hovis, Robby Klaber, Kate Klonick, Alexis Kunsak, Sarah LaBrie, Hanyen Lee, Julian Leichty, Kira Lesley, Allison Lombardo, Chris Mahr, Craig McGowan, Lisa Mandle, Craig McGowan, Jonathan Meachin, Monique Meneses, Kavita Mishra, Sara Perkins, Melissa Perlman, Eric Perlmutter, Sheela Raman, Cassie Ramirez, Meryl Rothstein, Michael Ruderman, Emir Senturk, Jen Sopchockchai, Lela Spielberg, Adam Stern, Stefan Talman, Joshua Troy, Schuyler von Oeyen, Jessica Weisberg, Brett Zarda Accounts Managers Daniel L. Goldberg, Mark U. Goldberg, Victor Griffin, Matt Kozar, Natalie Ho, Ian Halvorsen, Sarena Snider Pagination Staff Peter Henderson, Lisa Mandle, Alex Palmer Photo Staff Gabriella Doob, Benjamin Goddard, Marissa Hauptman, Judy He, Miyako Igari, Allison Lombardo, Elizabeth MacLennan, Nicholas Neely, Michael Neff, Alex Palmer, Yun Shou Tee, Sorleen Trevino Copy Editors Emily Brill, Leslie Kaufmann, Katie Lamm, Anne Rabbino, Asad Reyaz, Amy Ruddle, Melanie Wolfgang

CORRECTIONS POLICY 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. COMMENTARY POLICY The staff editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial board of The Brown Daily Herald. The editorial viewpoint does not necessarily reflect the views of The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Columns and letters reflect the opinions of their autho rs only. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY Send letters to letters@browndailyherald.com. Include a telephone number with all letters. The Herald reserves the right to edit all letters for length and cannot assure the publication of any letter. Please limit letters to 250 words. Under special circumstances writers may request anonymity, but no letter will be printed if the author’s identity is unknown to the editors. Announcements of events will not be printed. ADVERTISING POLICY The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. reserves the right to accept or decline any advertisement at its discretion.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

OPINIONS THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2004 · PAGE 11

RACHEL MARSHALL

Absent absentee ballots

Nothing excites a self-proclaimed political junkie more than an election. Yet as much as I anxiously anticipate election years, I also dread the actual voting process. Every voting year I have to stage a battle with my local election board, as I desperately try to obtain an absentee ballot so that I can participate in my home state election. In the 2002 mid-term elections, I spent weeks calling Chicago’s Cook County Board of Elections, frantically trying to get them to send me an absentee ballot. After days and days of unreturned phone calls, misleading online instructions and frustrating conversations with confused staffers who seemed to think Rhode Island was in Canada, I finally succeeded in having an absentee ballot application mailed to me. Of course, I still had to mail it back and cross my fingers that I would receive an absentee ballot that I could fill out and mail back to Chicago in time for the election. This year is not proving to be any different. I have endured my fourth phone call this week in a desperate attempt to obtain an absentee ballot so that I can vote for the critical Senate open seat in the Illinois primary. Not all states are as difficult as Illinois — most have online applications to request a ballot, so that the process is considerably shorter. (Though 14 states — almost 30 percent of the nation — don’t even offer voters the option to print out an absentee ballot from the Internet.) As for the rest of the country, voting by absentee ballot is still a complicated process requiring patience, determination and not a little bit of luck. I only needed to ask a few other students about their absentee voting experiences to realize that the problem was widespread. One student from Ohio told me that she had been required to send in a hand-written letter to her county election office in order to apply for an absentee ballot. Another told of her sister being denied an absentee ballot at the last minute. More people just rolled their eyes at the mention of absentee voting, and seemed to indicate it is not worth the hassle. As I struggle for the third time in my life to decipher the most efficient way of voting absentee, I cannot help but become infuriated by a system that makes it so difficult for young people to participate in the democratic process while simultaneously denouncing them for their lack of involvement in public life. It is not a coincidence that the people who are most likely to vote by absentee ballot are people who lack a strong voice or representation in American government. Most absentee voters are students, military officers, or the sick and elderly. None of these groups is likely to mobilize to demand a better, more efficient system. The ultimate outcome is that many in these groups do not vote at all. Yet the right to vote is too sacred to easily forego. It is only by acknowledging and addressing the problems in the absentee voting method that we can more effectively participate in elections. Registering to vote is certainly a critical step in rallying the youth vote, but it is only by ensuring that 18-30-year olds do vote — whether in person or by absentee ballot — that people our age can effect the outcome of elections. A recent commercial sponsored by Vote-Smart.org and MTV’s Choose or Lose reminds us that in the last presidential election, only 18 million people between the ages of 18-30 voted, but the election was settled by only a few thousand votes. Vote-Smart’s goal is to get 20 million young people to vote in the upcoming election, a goal that seems depressing as it only represents a fraction of the eligible voters of that age range. For all the rhetoric that encourages students and young citizens to be engaged in the political process, the problem is that the voting system makes it far too complicated to vote. It is difficult to school people to vote when the process is so tedious and demanding. Promotions like Rock the Vote should therefore also campaign to make absentee ballots more accessible and logical as part of their way of engaging youth in the voting process. Many Brown students avoid the absentee voting conflict altogether by registering to vote in Rhode Island. Yet many of us still feel deep connections with our home states, or we know that elections in our home states may have greater significance than elections here in tiny Rhody. I do not mean to belittle involvement in local politics, and I think that if you connect to Rhode Island more than your home state you should feel proud to be a registered Rhode Island voter. But no Senate seat is up for reelection in Rhode Island this year. There is, however, a critical open Senate seat in my home state of Illinois. We all should be able to have the ability to vote easily in our home state elections without having to use up all our phone plan minutes and all our spare cash on stamps. After all, the hardest part of voting should be choosing a candidate, not figuring out how to get a ballot. Rachel Marshall ’04 spends hours filling in the absentee form bubbles perfectly.

Meaningless jargon, sent direct GUEST COLUMN BYJEREMY BEARER-FRIEND

It looks like Dean of the College Paul Armstrong, Director of Institutional Diversity Brenda Allen and Interim Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services David Greene need to brush up on their Orwell; there’s a pretty good essay out there on the politics of the English language that might prove useful. So how did we get here? A mere student of language scolding an English professor about his abuse of the English language? Or perhaps more disturbing, a lowly undergraduate scolding the dean of the college and his fellow campus ringleaders about their abuse of the English language? This is the back story. Last night, at 9:27 p.m., the entire student body received an e-mail from three prominent administrators. This e-mail was unspecific, imprecise and vague — I’m sure you noticed. According to the e-mail, there was an “altercation” this past weekend. The reader is not told what happened in this altercation. Rather, the reader is only told what didn’t happen: “no serious injuries resulted.” But saying what didn’t happen should not be confused with saying what did happen. It is clear to me that most likely vio-

Administrators cloud violence with vague e-mail. lence happened, a violence that has not been named. The letter then refers to “incidents such as the one that happened last weekend” as if the reader had been told what actually happened last weekend. I will take this opportunity to remind the reader, you have not been told what happened last weekend. No references to the "incident" will be meaningful until this “incident” is defined. According to the letter, this undefined incident then “suggests … we continue making progress in strengthen-

ing our community.” I ask, what is it that we are “continuing”? What is the letter actually proposing we do? It is possible that the letter is implying that we must continue to “recognize how the diversity of this community contributes to its strength.” I, in turn, ask the reader to recognize that such a championing of diversity is meaningless unless specific administrative measures are proposed. I will also note to the reader that such specific measures are never proposed in the e-mail we received. When the letter concludes by asking us to join the administration’s “ongoing work” I am compelled to sign up. Of course, I’m joining a “work” that has never been defined. I have enough good faith in Brown to assume that our dean of the college, who is also one of our English professors, would not sign a piece of writing that is not deliberate in its use of language. But if we accept that this letter was composed with much thought and care, then we must also accept that this letter was deliberately imprecise. So here we encounter the most disturbing question: why would the dean of the college and his fellow administrators write a deliberately vague and imprecise e-mail? And why would the the administrators send a deliberately vague and imprecise e-mail to the entire student body? It is clear that the administration would like students to know that it responds to student concerns. And it is clear that the e-mail sent to us by Armstrong, Allen and Greene postured at addressing our concerns without proposing practical or specific solutions. In this way, the administration was able to present the appearance of action without proposing, let alone executing, any specific action. So I am writing this column to say to the dean, the director of institutional diversity and the interim vice president: Thank you for your letter. It was not enough. We expect, and deserve, more. Jeremy Bearer-Friend ’05.5 is a comparative literature concentrator.

Frat boy today, president tomorrow? GUEST COLUMN BY JOEL PAYNE

It seems that the Democrats feel the need to attack President George W. Bush’s National Guard record. Whether it comes from the right or the left, mudslinging is mudslinging. It would be nice to think that the Democrats were talking about passing legislation, homeland security, and generally doing the work of the American people. Instead, they want to take the low road to the White House. What they don’t realize is that they are causing irreparable damage to the American political process. Other than being misleading and irresponsible, the problem with the propagation of this garbage is that it discourages potentially excellent public servants from entering the political arena. An ABC News poll from January showed that eight out of every 10 kids have no interest in becoming the President. One of the most popular reasons given for not wanting to be president is the intense public scrutiny that comes with the job. While Democrats try to pounce on Bush’s past to sully his reputation now, they are suffering from a case of memory lapse. Back in 1998, the Democrats were crying and moaning about a “vast right-wing conspiracy” with the whole Monica Lewinsky ordeal. They saw how the country responded to President Bill Clinton’s impeachment and should have the best perspective on the pitfalls of digging dirt for the sake of trashing someone’s reputation. Regardless, they still find it necessary to launch a week-long media campaign about how the President undervalues the National Guard and how he went absent without leave back in the 1970s. Bush released the records to vindicate himself and had several officers who he served with speak on his behalf. Nevertheless, the Democrats continued to accuse him of finding a loophole to get out of fighting in Vietnam. Who among us doesn’t have a skeleton in his closet? Colin Powell would have run for president in 1996 if not for this culture of mudslinging. In one interview, Powell said his wife Alma threatened to leave him if he decided to run, and I can’t blame her for taking such a stance. Some would chalk this process up to the price of leadership, but I would call that a shameless cop- out. An example of the price of lead-

ership is being accountable to 290 million American citizens for your current actions. The price of leadership is not explaining your behavior at a frat party back in 1975. I’ve never understood how your actions at age 19 or 20, barring a serious crime (rape, murder, robbery), could be used to predict the kind of person you are at 55 or 60. Some things I did 2 years ago at age 18 I wouldn’t do now. If a prerequisite for being a leader in politics is to have lived a perfect existence, then the halls of Congress and the Oval Office would be empty. Though there are not many things I respect about President Bush, I give him credit for being honest about his past. In his autobiography, Bush admitted that he made many mistakes as a young man. He said, “I am a person who enjoys life, and for years, I enjoyed having a few drinks. But gradually, drinking began to compete with my energy.” At least this guy is man enough to admit to past mistakes and learn from

The Democrats take the low road. those mistakes. That’s a quality that’s missing from politics today, and it’s called personal accountability. The Democrats should learn that the American people can be strange when it comes to inferring that their sitting president somehow lacks compassion for the troops fighting overseas. They are especially funny about those inferences when the accusations turn out to be unfounded. This plan will backfire — mark my words. The funny thing about this is that it has put me in the position of defending President Bush, with whom I wholly disagree on almost every issue. Regardless, I have to call a spade a spade. Mudslinging is wrong. It was wrong in 1998, and it’s wrong now. What is this world coming to?

Joel Payne ’05 has compassion enough for you all.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

SPORTS THURSDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2004 · PAGE 12

Gymnastics easily defeats Springfield, sweeping top three in all events BY BROOKE WOLFE

The Pizzitola Sports Center was once again transformed into a gymnastics arena when the team hosted Springfield College Sunday. Brown finished with a dominating score of 190.375 to Springfield’s 183.425. The win was especially sweet for Bruno because Springfield’s assistant coach, Jamie Shapiro, was a captain of the Brown gymnastics team last year. “They weren’t really tough competition, but it was a fun meet,” said Caryn Leventhal ’07, who competed in the vault. Jayne Finst ’04 and Gina Verge ’04 came in first and second in the all-around competition, with scores of 38.925 and 38.125, respectively. As a team, the Bruins had 1-2-3 sweeps in three out of the four events, and a complete sweep in the floor exercise. Finst led the vault with a score of 9.650, followed by Verge with 9.500 second-place finish, and Suzanne Schlosser ’04 tied for third with a 9.400. On the bars, Kelly Moran ’05 finished on top with a 9.775. Kelly Moran ’05 and Sarah Cavett ’06 tied for second at 9.700, and Finst took fourth with a score of 9.675. Finst scored top honors again on the beam, with a score of 9.825, while Melissa Forziat ’05 took second with a score of 9.700, and Mandi Baughman ’06 took third

Nick Neely / Herald

Jayne Finst ’04 led the gymnastics team to a dominating victory over Springfield College on Sunday at the Pizzitola Sports Center. with a 9.675. But where Bruno really shone was in the floor competition. All six Brown competitors placed above all of Springfield’s competitors, giving Brown a total sweep of the event and a dominating victory. Finst led the Bears with a near-perfect 9.900, and Schlosser came in second with an equally impressive 9.775. Forziat and Verge tied for third with a 9.725.

NCAA: Colorado scandal lies in new accusations, not recruiting “violations” LAST WEEK’S HEADLINES SHOW THAT the proverbial “good time” was had by prized football recruits at the University of Colorado. Recruits were taken to parties CHRIS MAHR where there was MAHRTIAN drinking, bevies of ENCOUNTERS coeds and often sexual encounters with said coeds. There were cries of foul. Fingers were pointed at Head Coach Gary Barnett and the football program. People wanted to use Colorado as an example of all that’s wrong with college football, and the NCAA was licking its chops. It’s not great, but sex parties are not what we should be concerned about. In today’s college environment, there is bound to be notable amounts of drinking, partying and promiscuity, especially at a place like Colorado (recently named “top party school” by The Princeton Review). The average Joe and Joanne are aware of this when they start looking at colleges, football players included. So if Colorado already has a reputation of being a party school, is there any point in trying to hide that reputation from football recruits? If the recruit chooses to sign, he’s going to discover college’s underbelly anyhow. And so what if this kind of stuff goes down during recruiting visits? It doesn’t give

a program much of a competitive edge, as evidenced by the Buffaloes’ 5-7 season in 2003. What’s more, recruiting visits rarely influence players’ decisions. The best players won’t necessarily be sold by the best recruiting visits. As for the argument that such practices are unethical, anyone who believes that college football should (and can) be a complete paragon of virtue is seriously misguided. What we should be concerned about are allegations of rape brought against players by former Colorado kicker Katie Hnida and three Colorado students. Consensual sex happens at party schools, but rape should not. This is where Colorado should focus its investigation, not on parties attended by willing individuals. Most importantly, why should Colorado be blamed for something that occurs at every other football-crazy school? Football players have played hard off the field for a long time — there’s no reason for the NCAA to crack down on them now. The allegations of rape coming out of Boulder are a serious matter, but the uproar over recruiting parties is much ado about nothing. People in college drink and have sex. Where’s the harm in that? Chris Mahr ’07 hails from Newtonville, Mass., and does not use drinking and sex parties to convince pre-frosh to enroll at Brown University.

“Fast Track” proves to be aptly named as men’s indoor track climbs Ivies in several events BY MARCO SANTINI

With two weeks until the Ivy League Championship, the men’s indoor track team keeps getting better. This past weekend, the team competed at Boston University’s Fast Track Invitational. Although team scores were not kept, the competition was heated, and the team rose to the occasion. Brendan O’Keefe ’04 ran a personal best in the mile for the second week in a row. O’Keefe’s 4:06.20 finish ranks him sixth on Brown’s all-time indoor top 10 and places him at the top of the Ivy League. Fellow distance runner Michael DeCoste ’04 also ran a personal best — 14:1 9.11— in the 5000-meter run. The time outdid his previous personal best by 24 seconds, and keeps the senior ranked sixth on Brown’s all-time top-10 list and third in the league. Rounding out the distance crew, Matthew Emond ’04 moved into second place in the Ivies with a stunning 8:13.26 in the 3000-meter run. In the same race, Owen Washburn ’06 recorded a personal best with an 8:26.07 mark. In the middle-distance events, Dallas Dissmore ’06 set a personal best in the 500-meter dash with a time of 1:03.97, placing the sophomore third on the top-10 list and ranking him second among 500 runners in the Ivy League. Dissmore returned later to anchor the 4x400 relay. Currently, the team is third in the Ivy League Conference behind Dartmouth College and Cornell University. In the sprints, there were no surprises. Michael Pruzinsky ’07 ran fast, again, coming in under 22 seconds in the 200-meter dash for the first time this season. Pruzinsky’s time of 21.97 ranks him second in the Ivy League behind Cornell’s Rahim Wooley. “It was nice to run under 22,” Pruzinsky said. “As a team, we just have

to keep making progress.” Also ranked second in the Ivy League, Daveed Diggs ’05 ran a 7.64 in the 55meter hurdles. In the high jump, defending outdoor Ivy League Champion Ray Bobrownicki ’06 matched a personal best, easily clearing 6’10.25”. Bobrownicki is presently at the top of the Ivy League and hopes to repeat as champion in two weeks. “Hopefully, we can peak at Heps and build some momentum for the outdoor season,” he said. Co-captain Anthony Hatala ’04 and Michael Murray ’06 both vaulted 15.25’ to tie for eighth seed in the Ivy League. Brown boasts four vaulters in the league’s top 10. David Glazier ’06 threw for 51’ 4.25”, while Jake Golenor ’06 threw 51’1” to lead the shot putters. Both rank in the league’s top 10. The track team will continue its season this at the USATF New England meet Sunday in Cambridge, Mass. The meet is the last of the indoor season before Heptagonals, and for some athletes it is the final opportunity to qualify for the Ivy League Championship. “Some athletes are on the bubble, some are hoping to get better and some need the rest,” said Head Coach Robert Johnson. “Hopefully this weekend we can get some good performances that mirror the hard work put in during practice.”

Brown Sports Scoreboard Tuesday, Feb. 17 Men’s Squash: Yale 8, Brown 1 Women’s Squash: Yale 9, Brown 0 Wednesday, Feb 18 Women’s Ice Hockey: Providence 2, Brown 1 (ot)