M O N D A Y MARCH 22, 2004
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXIX, No. 37
An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891
Slavery and Justice Committee brings nat’l media to Brown
Possible transfer of club sports to athletics dept. concerns department, athletes BY MELISSA PERLMAN
Things are going well for the men’s club soccer team. As an Undergraduate Council of Students-funded activity, the team gets $1,500 each semester. That’s enough to buy uniforms and travel to competitions each season. But next season, buying uniforms might be the least of the club’s problems, according to member John Redgrave ’05. As the Undergraduate Council of Students explores transferring jurisdiction over all club teams to the Department of Athletics, Redgrave said he fears his team could be eliminated. Management of club sports is currently divided between the athletics department and the Undergraduate Council of Students. Athletics manages club sports that are not duplicated on the varsity or recreational level, including sailing, rugby and ultimate frisbee, while UCS manages club sports such as soccer, tennis, lacrosse and field hockey. Clubs controlled by the athletics department have access to the field space surrounding the Olney-Margolies Athletics Center, trainers and insurance. Clubs managed by UCS have none of these privileges. If the Faculty Committee on Athletics and Physical Education approves the transfer of all club sports management to the athletics department, as UCS has proposed, some clubs will likely be eliminated unless athletics receives a substantial increase in funding, according to Matthew Tsimikas, assistant athletics director. Adding six more club teams to the rossee CLUB SPORTS, page 4
www.browndailyherald.com
BY DANA GOLDSTEIN
Nick Neely / Herald
Traditional South Asian dances and dress featured prominently in Friday night’s South Asian Student Association’s annual cultural show.The two-and-a-half hour performance featured more than 30 acts and drew an overflow crowd to Salomon 101.
SASA show exhibits traditional, Western- influenced sides of South Asian culture BY KRISTA HACHEY
The South Asian Students Association called this year’s cultural show “Masti,” a Hindi word meaning “fun and energetic.” The event, held Friday night in a packed Salomon 101, lived up to the name as it showcased 18 acts and included nearly 100 performers. “The show is a representation of what that culture means to many different students — sometimes this involves sticking strictly to the traditional South Asian culture, and sometimes this means portraying a culture that fuses both the South Asian and American experience,” SASA Events Committee Co-Chair Seema Vora ’06 told The Herald. The night began with a “face-off”
between Kathak, a North Indian classical dance form, and Step, the rhythmic and stomping dance form that is popular within African American communities. Former Herald Senior Editor Kavita Mishra ’04, wearing bells on her ankles and traditional dress, demonstrated the quick footwork of Kathak and engaged in a back-and-forth game of imitation with the step team, whose black, clunky boots provided an interesting contrast to Mishra’s bare feet. Among the first-act performances was a short segment of a Varnam, which choreographer Arya Shekar ’05.5 said is normally 35 to 40 minutes long. see SASA, page 4
NYC protest draws disparate elements
It’s been almost one year since President Ruth Simmons established the University’s Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice and almost eight months since Brown Alumni Monthly reported on it. But the national media has just caught on. The Providence Journal was the first major newspaper to cover the story, on March 4, followed by a frontpage story in the New York Times March 14. Reactions to the coverage have revealed a culture clash between the slow-moving, reflective world of academia and the fast-paced, deadline-driven cycle of journalism. At the committee’s first event, a Thursday panel featuring five professors, Committee Chair and Professor of American Civilization James Campbell expressed frustration with media coverage of the committee, which he said has focused primarily on the “sexy” issue of reparations. The committee is embarking on what amounts to a two-year research project on the politically charged issue of the University’s — and the nation’s — legacy of slavery. It is slated to publish recommendations in the spring of 2006 about how Brown can come to terms with its historical ties to the slave trade. While acknowledging the committee is “in the position to make an intervention in a national debate,” Campbell told The Herald last week that the media will have to wait to find out exactly what that intervention will be. “Part of the reason we’re spending the next two years is because we don’t know enough — we as individuals and we as a society,” he said. see MEDIA, page 8
A year later, student anti-war groups struggle with identity BY SARA PERKINS
At 6:15 a.m. Saturday, Fokion Burgess ’07 finished writing the phone number for the New York City office of the American Civil Liberties Union on his forearm and began passing his black markers around on the charter bus parked outside Faunce Arch. “In case you get arrested,” he explained, then rattled off the number to around 20 assorted student activists. Six hours later, the dreadlocked, tiedyed first-year student was barely visible weaving between men trailing giant Palestinian flags, a chanting group of Haitians supporting their ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and a group of small old ladies with signs attached to their sunhats who were distributing stickers saying “Stop the War! No Police State!” An estimated 200 Rhode Islanders, on a
bus caravan organized by the Providence chapter of ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), attended a march in New York City to mark the first anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq. The students who attended the anti-war protest, one of several in cities around the world, were not all members of any single on-campus organization. Vanessa Huang ’05, who sold bus tickets, found participants by putting up fliers and sending information to listservs, she said. The event showcased the broad coalition of groups and causes that have become incorporated into the anti-war movement and the challenge to campus anti-war organizing at Brown and other colleges and universities. see ANTI-WAR, page 6
Haskins ’04.5 makes “Dream Job” finals
Sara Perkins / Herald
Representatives from many different causes marched in New York City Saturday on the first anniversary of the war in Iraq.
W E AT H E R F O R E C A S T
I N S I D E M O N D AY, M A RC H 2 2 , 2 0 0 4 Inventive student works on display in annual Bell Gallery exhibition arts & culture, page 3
Taiwanese dance group to perform as part of Taiwanese Cultural Week arts & culture, page 3
Despite terrorism striking nearby, Brown students in Spain go on with lives abroad campus news, page 5
On Sunday night’s live episode of ESPN’s “Dream Job,” Maggie Haskins ’04.5 learned that she will progress to the final round of the elimination series. Haskins will compete for a one-year sportscaster’s contract next Sunday night at 9 p.m. The winner will be determined by Internet or text message votes from viewers during the broadcast. Visit www.espn.com for information on how to register to vote. — Herald staff reports
Rob Sand ’05.5 says hip hop might be the Democrats’ answer a successful campaign column, page 11
Jason Forte ’05 earns Player of the Year; basketball has three men make all-Ivy teams sports, page 12
MONDAY
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TUESDAY
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