F R I D A Y NOVEMBER 12, 2004
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXIX, No. 109
An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891
www.browndailyherald.com
Upstaged by new fitness centers, Bear’s Lair could see further renovations in next few years BY ERIC BECK
Even with the introduction of two new satellite fitness centers and the intention of constructing a new $20 million fitness facility, administrators indicate that they are still committed to maintaining the Bear’s Lair and making it available to students. The Bear’s Lair, located in the Graduate Center, has an expanded schedule that went into effect Monday after months of erratic and limited hours. The Bear’s Lair will be open between 7 a.m. and midnight Monday through Thursday, between noon and 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and between noon and midnight on Sunday. The University’s three other fitness centers — at the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center, Keeney Quad and Emery Hall — all have slightly different hours. The varied opening and closing times of the four facilities are designed to ensure that at least one is open at almost any time a student wants to work out, said David Greene, vice president for campus life and student services. The expanded schedule is the result of an assessment of student demand for the fitness facilities, Greene said. After the opening of the satellite fitness facilities in Keeney and Emery, “we did not know what the demand would be and what the effect would be on the Bear’s Lair by having a new fitness center with newer equipment a block away,” Greene said. “We thought for sure that the most heavily used facilities would be the two new ones and that they would detract
Juliette Wallack / Herald
Taking advantage of newly extended hours at the Bear’s Lair, Scott Wolin ’07 joined a friend to play pool shortly before midnight Thursday. Two new satellite fitness centers opened this fall, and administrators hope to renovate and expand the Bear’s Lair in coming years.
CNN correspondent headlines Southeast Asian Week convocation tonight BY ANNA ABRAMSON
When Lynsey Le ’06 visited Brown as a prospective student, she attended a student multicultural show and remembers thinking, “This is what I want to do.” Three years later, Le is following through on that impulse — along with Jennella Sambour ’07, she is serving as co-coordinator of Southeast Asian Week, a series of events celebrating
see BEAR’S LAIR, page 4
Southeast Asian culture that starts today and will run through Nov. 21. Organizers of the week aim to raise consciousness of the Southeast Asian student population on campus as well as global issues concerning Southeast Asians. The various discussions and shows will “represent the underrepresented,” Sambour said. The week is also
Poker fever is sweeping the nation, and the bug has hit students at Brown, who have set up regular games in the Lower Blue Room and dorm lounges around campus. But as popular as poker is — ESPN and Bravo both air shows featuring the game — students playing the game on campus might not know one important thing: playing poker for money is illegal in Rhode Island. Terry Addison, associate dean for judicial affairs, said it is illegal to play poker for money on campus and urged all students to stop gambling. “Whether it’s betting money or betting clothes ... as long as there is a prize in the context of the game, then it’s a form of gambling, and any gambling not licensed by the state is prohibited,” he told The Herald in an interview. “I would strongly recommend the cessation of poker games for money or any article of value,” he added later via email.
Addison said that this law is not limited to public places, but also applies to private property. “If you and three of your buddies were sitting in your basement off campus playing poker, it wouldn’t be legal,” he said. Chapter 11-19 of the Rhode Island General Laws covers state gambling and lottery laws. It states that any type of gambling, except for state-approved lotteries, is prohibited. Anybody who participates in a game “for the purpose of exposing, setting for sale or disposing of any money, houses, lands, merchandise, or articles of value ... shall be deemed guilty of a felony and shall be imprisoned not exceeding two years or be fined not exceeding two thousand dollars,” RIGL 11-19-1 states. Addison said he wasn’t sure how the University would punish students who did not comply with the law, but he said DPS officers would probably try to stop the illicit activities.
“If a DPS officer saw what he considered gambling, I would assume they would say, ‘That’s an illegal activity, you have to break that up,’” he said. Despite the illegality of gambling, Addison said that Brown administrators do recognize the recent surge in the popularity of poker and are looking at modifying University policy to possibly allow for poker playing. Students who have played poker for money in the past were surprised to hear that the law existed and are now thinking twice about playing for money in the future. “We have games in the Lower Blue Room and we always have people walking by and no one really has an issue with it,” said Scott Goldberg ’05. “Some DPS officers on duty may have walked by when we were playing, and they didn’t seem to have any problems with it.” Goldberg added that he will probably
see POKER, page 8
see LIASSON, page 6
see SE ASIAN, page 7
W E AT H E R F O R E C A S T
I N S I D E F R I D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 0 4 Poet-in-residence shares work, which contemplates the role and responsibilities of being a poet arts & culture, page 3
Sock & Buskin’s mesmerizing, compelling “Fucking A” draws full house on opening night arts & culture, page 3
Production Workshop’s “The Great Show” features clever script and story, good direction arts & culture, page 3
BY CHRISTOPHER CHON
National Public Radio political correspondent Mara Liasson ’77 is still digesting the results of what she described as the longest, most expensive, nastiest and most important election of our time. Liasson, whose reports can be heard on NPR’s “All Things Considered” and “Morning Edition,” as well as on Fox News Channel’s “Special Report with Brit Hume” and PBS’ “Washington Week,” gave what was billed as a “Washington insider’s view” on the presidential election Thursday afternoon in Salomon 101. “It will have enormous consequences for both parties, for the future composition of the Supreme Court, and perhaps — we don’t know yet, but perhaps — it is the beginning of what Karl Rove had called the ‘rolling realignment of this country’ through perhaps permanent or long-standing Republican majority,” she said. According to Liasson, Bush and the Republicans succeeded in keeping the focus of the election on terrorism, national security and “moral values,” while Kerry’s downfall was his inability to shift the focus to jobs, the economy and health care. Exit polls showed that “moral values” was the most important factor in determining how voters made their decisions. Behind moral values were jobs, the economy and Iraq. Moral values “meant gay marriage, abortion, maybe a general cultural affinity for George Bush over John Kerry,” she said. “The simplest way to explain this is that (Kerry) was a New England senator with a left-of-center voting record on defense and
On-campus poker games play with the law BY STU WOO
NPR’s Liasson ’77 says presidential election came down to ‘values’
Tamilla Mamedova ’07 writes of the fear that non-Americans have of a second Bush administration column, page 11
Swimming and diving teams prepare for coming seasons after losing key members to graduation sports, page 12
FRIDAY
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
THIS MORNING FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2004 · PAGE 2 Coreacracy Eddie Ahn
TO D AY ’ S E V E N TS SOUTHEAST ASIAN WEEK CONVOCATION LECTURE 6 p.m.(List Art 120) — Betty Nguyen, CNN correspondent, will speak about her experiences both as a Vietnamese-American and as a news correspondent.
CONCERT: THE GRAHAM COLTON BAND 8 p.m. (Sayles Hall) — The Brown Concert Agency presents the Graham Colton Band live in concert.
THEATER:“THE GREAT WORK” 8-10 p.m. (Production Workshop, 7 Young Orchard Avenue ) — Brown’s student-run theater presents this new comedy by Molly Lambert ‘05, directed by Brian Faas ‘05.
THEATER:“FUCKING A” 8 p.m. (Production Workshop 7, Young Orchard Ave.) — The latest Sock & Buskin production, a drama by Pulitzer Prize-winning playright Suzan-Lori Parks.
Hopeless Edwin Chang
MENU SHARPE REFECTORY LUNCH — BLT sandwich, Italian Roasted Potatoes, Oregon Blend Vegetables, Pancakes, French Toast, Hash Brown Potatoes, Turkey Breakfast Sausages, Hard Boiled Eggs, Butter Cookies, Chocolate Mousse Torte, Comino Chicken Sandwich.
VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALL LUNCH — Vegetarian Chick Pea Soup, New England Clam Chowder, Chicken Fingers, Vegetarian Grinder, Sugar Snap Peas, Butter Cookies.
DINNER — Poached Cod with Sweet Garlic, Basmati Rice Pilaf, Steamed Vegetable Melange, Broccoli Spears, Focaccia with Rosemary, Fruited Strawberry Jello, Pumpkin Pie, Meatloaf with Mushroom Sauce.
DINNER — Vegetarian Chick Pea Soup, New England Clam Chowder, Fried Scallops, Shells with Broccoli, Baked Potatoes, Zucchini, Carrot and Garlic Medley, Asparagus with Lemon, Focaccia with Rosemary, Pumpkin Pie.
Jero Matt Vascellaro
A Donkey’s Tale Yu-Ting Liu
CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Some parasites 5 Ancient region near Moab 9 G neighbor 14 Role model 15 Lot 16 Family member 17 Start of a quote 20 Downed 21 Dried-up 22 Restrain 23 Finks 25 Harangue 27 Andean tuber 29 Bucket sites 34 Quote, part 2 41 Fashion issue 42 Isabella, por ejemplo 43 Inter __ 44 End of the quote 47 Jacket options 48 “Telephone Line” gp. 49 Meddle (with) 53 They may be seen after a fight 57 Territory 61 Paul’s “The Prize” costar 63 Sweetie 65 Author of the quote 68 Hardly local 69 Note for a staff 70 Shore bird 71 “Touched by an Angel” costar 72 Informal leader 73 Bellicose deity DOWN 1 Old Roman dough 2 “Any __?” 3 Raccoon cousin 4 Pulitzer novelist Glasgow 5 Pond breeder 6 Popular soap, popularly 7 None of the above
8 “Like Mike” actress 9 __ Arbor 10 Adapts 11 Riga native 12 Be sore 13 Come down 18 Metal bar 19 Clinton, e.g. 24 Disdain 26 “Up, up and away” carrier 28 “It’s __!” 30 French state 31 Actress Palmer 32 Choice cut 33 Catch 34 “Why don’t we?” 35 School from which director Martin Ritt received an honorary doctorate 36 “Dark Angel” actress 37 Barely flow 38 Barefaced utterance 39 As to 40 Some Scots 1
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ARTS & CULTURE FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2004 · PAGE 3
“The Great Work” does more than display troubled teens BY JEN SOPCHOCKCHAI
Production Workshop’s “The Great Work” is impressive — both as a theatrical production and as a studentwritten play. An original play by Molly Lambert ’05, “The Great Work” follows the lives of five quirky and troubled youths who spend endless hours together in a pool house without adult supervision. Gracie, whose parents have abandoned her for Hawaii, struggles with grief over her aunt’s death. Morris’s parents plan to ship him off to Utah in a week after he’s arrested for underage drinking. Olive thinks she may be pregnant. Tranq tries to battle clinical depression by taking up alchemy as a hobby. And Queenie’s just along for the ride. Lambert excels at the in-joke banter that bounces between her characters, but that’s not to say “The Great Work” is without its profound undertones. In her writing, Lambert strikes a perfectly humorous chord — without the offbeat brand of humor infused into every scene, this show would play very much like a melodramatic after-school special. At first the play presents itself as a realistic day in the life of troubled teens, striking a tone not unlike the film “Garden State.” But Tranq’s poolside alchemical quest to unlock the universe becomes an eccentrically appropriate metaphor and supernatural experience for all the characters, and this gives the story an unusual twist. Lizzie Vieh ’07 as Gracie handles a range of performances well. She is snide and sarcastic one moment but hysterical and on the verge of tears the next, and it’s all believable. And Max Silvestri ’05 as Morris is simply hilarious. Both the two actors and the two characters they play have a lot of chemistry together — the audience instantly gets the sense that there’s a lot of personal history behind their interactions. This is made apparent at the start of the play, but unfortunately, Lambert does not cash in on this potential in any satisfying way. Lighting designer Elisabeth Reinkordt ’05 produces possibly the best lighting that has been cast upon PW’s stage. Spotlights combine with a misty haze to create the authentic yet slightly surreal atmosphere the play calls for. And set designer Spencer Collins ’05 actually constructs a pool out of linoleum tiles. Director Brian Faas ’05 sets a rich and vibrant scene, always giving his actors interesting movements and blocking. The actors fall in frame very well, almost cinematically — to the point of making one wonder just how influenced by “Garden State” this show really is. Herald staff writer Jen Sopchockchai edits the Arts & Culture section. She can be reached at herald@browndailyherald.com.
‘Fucking A’ mesmerizes audience with creative production BY JOEL ROZEN
Written by Suzan-Lori Parks and directed by Associate Professor of Theatre, Speech and Dance Rebecca Schneider, “Fucking A” debuted last night in Leeds Theatre. With a run extending through Nov. 21, the production achieves a rare feat — in a single evening, it manages to mesmerize nearly everyone in the audience with a devastating, shatteringly creative production. Just a year after Parks’ Pulitzer Prizewinning “Topdog/Underdog” finished its run, “Fucking A” was first presented in 2003 at New York’s Public Theater and displays the potential of a playwright at the height of her powers. Drawing on the literary models of her New England predecessors, Parks finds for her latest play inspiration in “The Scarlet Letter.” Unlike Hawthorne’s alienated adulteress Hester Prynne, however, this contemporary Hester — played here
to sympathetic, earthy effect by Celine Justice ’05 — wears her “A” for a different reason. A former scrubwoman, Hester Smith has agreed to take on the unenviable role of abortionist in her nameless, fictional town and is now subject to the scorn and derision of her neighbors. Hiding under the “A” that has been branded onto her skin, she fully inhabits her thankless job to earn the money needed to free her son from prison. Though the audience is never treated to a glimpse of the abortionist in action — there is only so much gore it can take in this very bloody tale, after all — Hester’s devotion to her cause is signified by the bloodstains polluting her uniform. Presiding over this decidedly pro-life community, the buffoonish, belligerent Mayor (James Lowe ’05) happens to have married “The Bitch” (Katherine Meister ’06), who, years ago, caused the impris-
Resident poet Joan Retallack ponders the nature of poetry BY MADELEINE MARECKI
Poets are not mostly profligates — or fools, according to poet Joan Retallack, who read the phrase from her work in progress entitled “Reinvention of Truth.” “Then what the hell are they?” she wondered. On Tuesday night, an audience in the McCormack Family Theater heard such thought-provoking phrases interspersed with vivid visual images. Resident poet Retallack shared excerpts from three of her projects with about 30 students, faculty and community members. Each reading revolved around the idea of who a poet really is and what importance poetry has in the world. Despite having published seven books of poetry and two of criticism, as well as winning the America Award for her piece “MUSICAGE,” Retallack’s uncertainty over the mission of the poet is conveyed powerfully in her words. Retallack opened her presentation with snippets from “Memnoir.” She wrote the highly acclaimed book in response to the theme “Memoir/Antimemoir” presented in one issue of Chain Magazine, according to the poet. She admitted her uneasiness with both ideas of memoir and anti-memoir, and attempted to deal with the two concepts in her writing. The result was “Memnoir,” which she called “a negotiation, not a compromise” of those conflicting issues. The text of “Memnoir” is flooded with questions concerned with how a poet can accurately portray and interpret the world. At one point, Retallack asks whether life can be expressed in a story, and then muses that perhaps a song might be better. She questions whether verbal depiction is even possible, lamenting, “Can a sunrise be described by yards of description?” Retallack follows these doubts with stunning descriptions that both stun and convince the reader that perhaps the world can be captured in words. The numerous questions in “Memnoir”are interspersed with “e.g.” and “i.e.,” followed by even more numerous, vivid visual images. One section of the poem beautifully depicts a playground scene. The most minute details expand into full-color mental portraits within the listener: from a child eating a Mars candy bar to
a pants leg caught in the spokes of a bicycle to the child’s father who puts too much ham in omelettes. The next reading came from Retallack’s current work in progress, entitled “Reinvention of Truth,” a yearlong project that will end in early September 2005. Retallack chose powerful sections that forced the reader to ponder profound questions centered on truth and its representation, specifically through writing and words. Retallack spoke of “acknowledging the gap between realities and representation,” and suggested that the solution to coping with these confusing concepts is through poetry. When introducing her last reading, Retallack dryly said, “This is the closest to improvisation I will ever come,” eliciting laughter from audience members. In this project, Retallack wrote poetry on 26 sheets of paper, each labeled with a letter from the alphabet. She read the first line of every page, creating a chaotic sensory experience. At first the constant stream of words was both confusing to hear and difficult to make sense out of. This was the intended effect. Yet, as Retallack continued reading, the lines from the different pages began to connect with one another. One line in particular sums up the experience that is Retallack’s poetry. “Sorting through one inclination after another,” Retallack read. Those words reflected exactly what she was performing in the piece. The reading provided those in attendance a chance to listen to Retallack’s complex and stunning work as read by its author. The barrage of profound, wide-reaching questions made the poetry overwhelming at times. In the setup of the reading, there was not much time to ponder the meaning of the lines before hearing the next. However, the event was deeply moving and provoked much thought, particularly regarding how poetry can capture life. Retallack left the audience pondering more than the importance of poetry. She also proposed that poetry can be directly used by all — poets and non-poets alike. As she said in reading from “Reinvention of Truth,” “Your mind — you can be the proud owner of this formidable machine.”
onment of Hester’s son. Meanwhile, back at the abortion clinic, Hester counts on the moral support of her friends Canary (Shannon Ware ’04.5), the mayor’s mistress whose main ambition is to replace his sterile wife, and the resident butcher (Michael Smith ’05), who, in his equally sanguine attire, seems a perfect visual match for an abortionist. As if the situation didn’t already seem far-out enough, Parks has laced her emotional script with several creative flourishes to enhance her play’s offbeat, quirky surrealism — and, perhaps, to elevate the allegorical implications of Hester’s predicament. As a playwright, Parks has made a name for herself as a sort of verbal alchemist, capable of turning metaphysical language and her arch sense of symbolism into theatrical gold. “Topdog/Underdog” was hailed for the brilliant, musical pyrotechnics of its dialogue, and with “Fucking A,” Parks has taken this musical inclination even further, and with great results. Backed by a five-piece jazz band, the characters frequently burst into singspiel banter. The tradition of sing-speaking can trace its roots back to pre-war cabarets in Berlin, when Bertolt Brecht and Weill were transcribing complex philosophies to the stage, and Parks has clearly learned from their legacy. Even the song titles, “I Am a Whore” and “The Working Woman’s Song,” sound Brechtian in the best sense — the actors are able to surmount their vocal inconsistencies with dramatic renderings of the songs’ witty lyrics. The first night’s audience reacted positively to such melodic interruptions, listening and laughing, spellbound but in on the joke. Further complicating the story, Parks has effectively created a new language for her script, bits of which can be heard whenever the women want to hide the meaning of their speech. Incorporated to reflect the women’s foreign estrangement from their society, and perhaps to imply the taboo nature of certain “women’s issues” (the words “abortion” and “period” are almost never uttered in English in the show), the gibberish lines are delivered convincingly by Justice and Ware, and with the necessary irony. To rescue those unfamiliar with the new lexicon, literal English translations are projected above the characters’ heads. The ensuing Greek tragedy of the second act is amply and intelligently supported by the actors’ sensitive performances. Justice and Ware are inspired in their roles, the former turning in a truly riveting and psychologically complex performance as the branded abortionist. As the mayor, Lowe is clever and quite funny, though in some ways he fails to capture the subtle villainy driving his character’s jokiness. The breakout performance, however, truly belongs to Biko Eisen-Martin GS, whose muscular frame and complex mood shifts render his interpretation of Hester’s criminal son, Monster, one of the evening’s most arresting and memorable. In the end, though, “Fucking A” is an ensemble piece, and the cast — with its prison inmates, hunters, and civilians — is one of the strongest in recent memory for a mainstage show. The mantra Hester keeps repeating to herself while washing a day’s work of blood off her hands, “We just gotta get through the day,” may be Parks’ tragic summation of the plight of the working woman, but by the final scene of this gripping, gorgeous production, the audience will find itself wishing it had never gotten through.
PAGE 4 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2004
Bear’s Lair continued from page 1 some use from the Bear’s Lair,” he added. Fitness center monitors were asked to track usage statistics to give administrators an understanding of how many students were using the various facilities, said Julie Richardson ’07, a student worker at the fitness centers. “The reality is that the demand for good fitness equipment and good fitness centers is high enough that we are not going to meet it with the satellite fitness centers,” Greene said. “It was pretty clear that the demand was high enough that we ought to be committing the resources to having the centers open more hours.” The cost of staffing is the biggest constraint on fitness center schedules, Greene said. He added that he arranged for $25,000 to cover the increased staffing for the rest of this academic year. Greene said he hopes that the University Resources Committee will allocate funds to cover the expanded hours of the fitness centers. But if it doesn’t, he added, he is committed to finding the money another way. “We are going to have to find it one way or another, because if we are going to have these centers we are going to have to keep them open,” he said. While frequent users of the Bear’s Lair applaud the new hours, many students are unhappy with the condition of the fitness equipment. Finding a treadmill to use is
especially difficult because some have been broken, Richardson said, though she said the University recently repaired two treadmills. She added that she often hears complaints about broken equipment when she works as a monitor at the facility. The equipment at the Bear’s Lair is older than that at the new satellite centers, but the administration will monitor the equipment and repair it as needed, said Matthew Tsimikas, assistant director of athletics and physical education. Fitness equipment has a lifespan of only three years because of its heavy use, Greene said. He added that the University is considering leasing equipment instead of purchasing new machines to ensure that they are replaced more consistently. The University will also be adding more accessory equipment such as stretching mats, Tsimikas said. Greene envisions improving the Bear’s Lair by doing more than just replacing outdated exercise equipment. “I think the downside of the way we have the Bear’s Lair laid out now is that there is limited space for social areas and study areas,” Greene said. Improving common areas is especially important in Grad Center, he said, because its suites tend to be more isolated than other dorms on campus. Greene’s long-term plan, which he hopes to implement in the next few years, aims to separate the fitness component of the Bear’s Lair and add space that can be used for studying and socializing, he said. The biggest change to fitness
“I think the downside of the way we have the Bear’s Lair laid out now is that there is limited space for social areas and study areas.” — Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services David Greene facilities at Brown will come with the new Jonathan M. Nelson Fitness Center. At Convocation in September, President Ruth Simmons announced three donations worth a total of $20 million to fund the project, and the Corporation approved the site and authorized the search for an architect at its October meeting. Greene said he expects the new center to be an “absolutely first-rate fitness facility.” While most current students will not be at Brown to enjoy the new center when it opens in several years, they can take advantage of expanded hours and refreshed equipment at the current facilities. Anne Troup ’07 is just glad that she will not have to sneak into the Bear’s Lair after hours to work out anymore. The new hours fit her schedule just fine, she said. Herald staff writer Eric Beck ’08 can be reached at herald@browndailyherald.com.
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
WORLD & NATION FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2004 · PAGE 5
Resistance to U.S. offensive continues FALLUJAH, Iraq (Los Angeles Times) — The mosque had
been taken, but the fire kept coming. “We’ve got chunks of territory, but these guys (insurgents) are all over the place,” Marine Lt. Brandon Turner said Thursday as he stood amid shattered glass and concrete under the green dome of Al Kalfa mosque, his fellow Marines resting on a plush red carpet. “They just keep coming at us.” There is no real pattern to the fighting in Fallujah — a fierce, chaotic battle that continued to rage Thursday, house to house, street to street. But if there is any accepted truth so far it is this: The insurgents are not going away easily. And that truth has a corollary: The Marines are doing all they can to draw the guerrillas out and kill them. “The enemy is right where we want him. He’s coming to us,” said Lt. Col. Gareth Brandl, commander of the 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, which has experienced perhaps the toughest fight of all the units penetrating thecity. “And we’re killing him.” Many of the 3,000 to 5,000 insurgents estimated to have been in Fallujah before the invasion are believed to have fled the Sunni Muslim city west of Baghdad. But those who have remained are tenacious, even though Marines say they have killed hundreds of them. Guerrilla snipers crouch in buildings and amid the rubble. Small squads of insurgents rush Marine positions. Dozens of rocket-propelled grenades have struck tanks and other military vehicles. A pickup truck with six guerrillas carrying rocket-propelled
see RESISTANCE, page 7
France blamed in Ivorian unrest ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (The Washington Post) — Ivory Coast
President Laurent Gbagbo Thursday challenged French accounts of an Ivorian air bombing that killed nine French troops and a U.S. aid worker Saturday. He accused France of using the incident as a “pretext” to launch a drastic counter-attack in order to weaken his grip on power. In an interview with the Washington Post, Gbagbo questioned whether any French troops had died in the bombing, saying that only an investigation by his government would clarify the events that led to a massive retaliation by French military forces. “I haven’t see any dead bodies,” said Gbagbo, dressed in a dark suit and tie as he sat in the library of his official residence. “I didn’t see anything.” The streets of Abidjan were calmer Thursday, with little of the looting and street mob scenes that had reigned since Saturday. But another 700 French citizens left the commercial capital on the second day of an airlift to Paris, while hundreds of Gbagbo’s supporters still controlled sections of the battle-scarred city. Gbagbo called the Saturday attack a “pretext” for retaliation by former colonial rulers intent on undermining him. He said the French military response was so swift that it must have been planned long in advance of the incident. He also said that without the French intervention, which destroyed the tiny Ivory Coast air force, his government would have been able to defeat a revolt in the north that has split the country for the past two years. The president’s comments were immediately disputed by French authorities here. The French military spokesman, Col. Henry Assauvy, said, “It’s absolutely false. I know that the rumor is always that France is always preparing a coup. ... We are not here to prepare a coup.” Assauvy added that the French became involved militarily last weekend only because the Ivory Coast air force
BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM
attacked a position held by French peacekeeper forces. The counterattack destroyed two fighter jets and some helicopters. “We attacked the warplanes because we were attacked,” Assauvy said. Gbagbo’s comments appeared to be part of a public relations push by Ivory Coast officials to portray themselves as victims in the complex standoff that has provoked nearly a week of violent unrest in this West African capital. As calm returned to the streets, the French military relinquished control the international airport and commercial flights were set to resume Friday. French troops also pulled back from the Hotel d’Ivoire, where their highly visible position had stirred protest because of its proximity to the home of the president. But signs of the recent unrest were visible throughout the city. Overturned hulls of burned-out cars and trucks lay by roadsides, and coils of hastily laid barbed wire snaked along routes leading to the French military base. Hundreds of supporters of Gbagbo, dubbed “Young Patriots,” used makeshift barricades such as tree limbs to block passage to sections of the city where they roamed freely. A total of 1,500 French nationals have now flown to Paris since the outbreak of violence, and nearly the same number early remained camped out at the French military base awaiting flights. Until last week, an estimated 15,000 French citizens lived in Ivory Coast, most of them in Abidjan, a city of wide, tree-lined boulevards that once prompted comparisons to Paris. Since then, the city has deteriorated with a swiftness that startled many longtime residents. Lavender Degre, 37, a Zambian who runs a nonprofit group here, said mobs looted her son’s school this week.
see GBAGBO, page 9
PAGE 6 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2004
Liasson continued from page 1 social issues, and that was a big hurdle for him to overcome.” Karl Rove, Bush’s senior advisor and chief political strategist, centered the Republican strategy on “not necessarily reaching out to swing voters, but finding conservative voters,” Liasson said. Rove “set out to find the missing four million evangelical voters that he believed stayed home in 2000,” she said. Religious voters have tended to side with the more conservative Republican party in the recent past, but turnout for Bush was
particularly high in this election because of support for gay marriage bans, which passed in all 11 states with the issue on the ballot. “Seventy percent of the vote of regular churchgoers of whatever religion” voted for Bush, Liasson said. “Church attendance is now becoming the best indicator of partisan preference in America — if you go once a week or more, you are probably a Republican; if you go once a week or less, you are probably more secular, and you’re a Democrat.” Liasson said gay marriage became an issue of moral values for conservative and even many moderate voters. “I really wonder what would’ve happened without the Massachusetts state court rul-
ing, without the images on TV of gay couples getting married in San Francisco,” she said. Whereas in 1992, Pat Buchanan became “kind of the symbol of a Republican party gone too far,” Liasson said in this election, Michael Moore and San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsome became symbols of a Democratic party gone too far, which turned away many moderate voters. Liasson said Kerry made several mistakes during his campaign, particularly “giving up” early on the South, a voting bloc which Liasson called a “red America fortress.” “Kerry conceded from the start 200 electoral votes,” she said. “He tried to become the first
Democrat in history to win the White House without a single state from the Old Confederacy minus Florida. Too much of the country was simply off-limits for Kerry.” Liasson also said Kerry lacked a “clear, consistent message” from the start and did not respond quickly enough to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ad campaign, which attempted to discredit Kerry’s conduct as a soldier in the Vietnam War. “I think that the Democratic National Convention in Boston accomplished only one thing; that one thing was to tell Americans that John Kerry had been a Vietnam veteran and therefore could be a commander in chief,”
she said. “But they didn’t do enough other things — they didn’t lay out big ideas, he didn’t run as a reform Democrat. That’s all that Boston communicated, and that opened him up for the assault that came right after that in August, which was the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ad campaign. Kerry didn’t respond fast enough.” On the other hand, Liasson called the Republican campaign a “disciplined, on-message machine” which was run like a corporation: “they had a gameplan early on, they never doubted it, they knew exactly what they were going to do.” The Republican Party understood that in order for Bush to win, he had to run like an aggressive challenger and not an incumbent, she said. “It’s been said often that he ran the most negative race by an incumbent, and that’s probably true,” she said. “And I think the Bush campaign decided that was the only way he could win.” This loss for the Democrats is “even more devastating” than the loss in 2000 because the Democrats “didn’t lose so much as they got beat,” Liasson said. “They did turn out their voters, they did meet their targets, the Democrats were more unified and aggressive and better funded than ever before, but they still couldn’t make it over the finish line,” she said. “And now there’s obviously going to be a lot of soul-searching and a lot of thinking about the future.” Liasson said the Democrats “have to find a way to talk about values and morality in a way that frames debate, instead of just reacting to it. Kerry tried to do it, but I think it’s more than just saying ‘family values is valuing families.’” The Democrats in 2008 will probably look for a “red-state governor who can re-frame the values debate, who can bridge the cultural divide,” she said. And though there are many options such as New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson or Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, Liasson said one thing was certain: “In 2008, no New England senator need apply.” During the question-andanswer forum, Liasson said Illinois senator-elect Barack Obama is the “true rising star of the Democratic party.” She called him a skillful and talented politician who transcends race, but said he must first serve his time in the Senate before there can be talk of a possible presidential run. When asked by a student why Howard Dean’s scream in Iowa had such a negative impact on the former presidential candidate, Liasson said that it was a moment when Dean “just didn’t seem presidential to people.” However, she did not attribute Dean’s undoing to his scream, but rather to his losses in Iowa and New Hampshire. The focus of Liasson’s prepared lecture, however, was the general election. “In the end, I think Kerry was simply unable to make the economy and jobs and health care the focus for change, and in the last weeks, big chunks of low-income voters chose to vote their values instead of their economic concerns,” Liasson said. “I sat with voters in Florida who were downscale, voters that didn’t have health insurance, gas prices were crippling with them, but they really just wanted to talk about school prayer and how Kerry was going to do away with it.”
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2004 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 7
‘Saving Private Ryan’: A new casualty of the indecency war WASHINGTON (The Washington Post) — ABC suits scrambled
Wednesday to try to contain the mutiny among stations that refuse to air Thursday night’s broadcast of the unedited “Saving Private Ryan,” citing indecency concerns. At press time, ABC stations owned by Cox Television, Citadel Communications, Belo Corp., Hearst-Argyle and E.W. Scripps, among others, had declined to air the 1998 Academy Award-winning movie. They say they’re afraid the film’s scenes of extreme violence and intense adult language will lead to sanctions by the Federal Communications Commission under its new, supersize anti-indecency standards. Among those pre-empting the World War II movie are stations in Dallas (the country’s seventh largest television market), Atlanta (No. 9), Tampa (No. 13), Phoenix (No. 15) and Orlando (No. 20). Ironically, most of them already aired “Saving Private Ryan” when ABC ran it, unedited, to commemorate Veterans Day in 2001 and 2002. Of course, those broadcasts predated the national debut of Janet Jackson’s breast at the Super Bowl, for which CBSowned TV stations will be slapped with a $550,000 indecency fine even though CBS insists it had no prior knowledge of the now infamous
SE Asian continued from page 1 a celebration of diverse cultures not always visible on campus, both student planners said. The convocation, which will be held at 6 p.m. in List Art Center 120, features CNN correspondent Betty Nguyen, who has covered major news stories, including the war in Iraq and the Sept. 11 attacks, and is also the cofounder of the non-profit organization Help the Hungry. Her lecture is titled “Breaking News: Southeast Asians in the Headlines.” Le said she is excited about the opportunity to welcome a Southeast Asian who is active in the media because many Southeast Asian leaders are not visible in the public sphere. “We want to bring those figures to the public eye and say hey, look, we’re finally out here,” she said. Nguyen’s speech will offer insight into “what it’s like to be a reporter, a woman and a Southeast Asian,” Sambour said. Other events include a lecture given by Councilman Rithy Uong of Lowell, Mass., at 6 p.m. Monday in Wilson 102. His discussion will address issues such as access to education, political activism and youth gang violence. On Wednesday at 5 p.m. in Salomon 001, the Southeast Asian Series will host a panel discussion on AIDS featuring Adjunct Associate Professor of Anthropology Patricia Symonds, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics David Pugatch and Makna Men
“wardrobe malfunction.” ABC has told its affiliate stations it would cover any fine the FCC might choose to impose over the movie broadcast. However, should the FCC fine a station, that could be used against it when its license comes up for renewal. “The Federal Communications Commission has changed its standards for certain content related to programming broadcast before 10 p.m.,” Ray Cole, president of Citadel Communications, said in a news release. Citadel’s ABC affiliates in Des Moines and Sioux City, Iowa, and Lincoln, Neb., are pre-empting the movie. Cole told The TV Column that Citadel attempted to get an advance waiver from the FCC but the commission refused, saying that stations need to “exercise their own good-faith judgment.” The FCC declined to comment on any aspect of this story. “Without an advance waiver from the FCC ... we’re not going to present the movie in prime time,” Cole said. “Under strict interpretation of the indecency rules we do not see any way possible to air this movie. To be put in this position is unfortunate, and reflects the timidity that exists at the commission right now.”
see RYAN, page 9
GS. Symonds will discuss sex trafficking while Pugatch and Men will share their reflections on several trips to Cambodia. Sambour emphasized the importance of this type of discussion, saying that AIDS is “an exploding problem that will only get bigger if we don’t do something.” The series’ last event, to be held Nov. 21 in Salomon 101, is the annual Southeast Asian Cultural Show. The show, which will feature guest musician Anh Thao Le and student performances, offers students the opportunity to “speak and share their culture,” Sambour said. The coordinators said these events allow Southeast Asians to exhibit their own unique cultures without being simply clumped together with all Asians. Still, Sambour said, “within the (Southeast Asian) culture, so many countries and customs are represented, which is what makes this so interesting.” The series has been in the works for a while, coordinators said, and it will mostly focus on Southeast Asians in the media. Le said while she was initially “hesitant” about contacting potential speakers, she soon learned “it’s all about networking.” The project is also the result of collaboration between many groups, Le said. She is the cochair of the Vietnamese Students Association, one of the participating organizations. The Third World Center provided support for the entire week, and funding and support also came from University departments, individuals, the academic deans and the Student Activities Office, she said.
Palestinians move to fill Arafat’s roles RAMALLAH, West Bank (Newsday) —
Palestinian politicians Thursday tried to fill the void left by the death of Yasser Arafat, the father of a nationalist movement who put his cause on the world map but willed his successors a weary, stateless people. As funeral arrangements fell into place here and in Egypt, a slate of officials was installed to control the various appendages of Palestinian authority, all formerly steered by one of the Middle East’s most enigmatic and influential figures. Arafat’s titles — president, chairman, faction chief — were promptly divvied up among his old guard, with the mantle of leadership falling heavily on Mahmoud Abbas, a former prime minister who clashed with his guerrilla comrade and is considered more palatable by Israel and the United States. “It will be difficult for the Palestinians to face this critical moment,” said Ahmed Ghneim, a senior leader in Arafat’s Fatah movement. “It will be very difficult for one person to fill all the positions of Arafat.” World leaders Thursday called for renewed peace talks and both Palestinians and Israelis recognized the potential for chaos or a surprising breakthrough in a conflict that has claimed over 3,400 Palestinian and nearly 1,000 Israeli lives since 2000. “Peace in the Middle East must be the international community’s highest priority,” said British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is meeting with President George W. Bush today in Washington and is
expected to encourage him to engage in fresh negotiations. Under intense security, Arafat will be memorialized in Cairo today, the first state funeral there since President Anwar Sadat’s ceremony in 1981. The international event is being held in Egypt so Arab leaders will not have to travel to the burial later Friday in Ramallah, which is controlled by
Israel. For the past 48 hours, crews have been clearing Arafat’s rubblestrewn compound in preparation for their leader’s return, two weeks after he was airlifted out for the first time in nearly three years. A monument, mosque and helipad were emerging from the debris last
Resistance
Golden. “We’re just looking to get him when he pops out.” Marines have advanced through more than half of Fallujah. But no one here believed Thursday that the city was close to being under control. “We’ve still got to impose security,” said Lt. Col. Michael Ramos, commander of the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Marine Regiment. U.S. forces are doing all they can to force the guerrillas into the open. Army psychological operations teams have been broadcasting Arabic-language tapes excoriating fighters in the most explicit terms. “Liars and cowards, you are nothing but dogs!” goes the text of one tape, the dog reference especially insulting in the Arab world. “You have no honor! You hide behind women and children!” The idea is not to offend ordinary Iraqis, said Army Spc. Jose Rincon, who is heading one of the psychological operations teams. “We just want to get the terrorists angry enough to fight.”
continued from page 5 grenade launchers was spotted near one mosque. Several snipers on rooftops halted the advance of a platoon of Marines heading out on foot Wednesday to attack insurgents in a mosque where they reportedly had been firing on U.S. troops. “They seem to be communicating with each other,” said 1st Sgt. Jose Andrade of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, as he crouched on a main street, taking cover. “It makes it harder to get at them.” Marines on the streets are constant targets. Troops accustomed to getting around on foot are being transported about in tracked amphibious vehicles whenever possible. But street patrols inevitably must be done on foot, with no lapse of concentration. “The enemy just pops out of anywhere and fire off rounds and RPGs,” said Cpl. Adam
see PALESTINE, page 9
PAGE 8 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2004
Poker continued from page 1 not play poker for money on the Brown campus or in public places in the future. Jon Hasebe ’05, who plays in the Minden Hall lounge, was also surprised to hear of the law and didn’t fully understand it. “If you play in a friend’s house, I really don’t see the danger in it,” he said. “It’s a fun thing to do with your friends.” He said he understood why such a law might be in place, but said gambling is a relatively minor problem compared to misdeeds such as underage drinking. “Obviously, (gambling) is something (you) could get addicted to,” Hasebe said. “But I guess it’s better than underage drinking. If you can come out and gamble $10 or $20,
Hockey continued from page 12 “She is the anchor to the defense. She really stands out when you watch us play.” Vincent scored most of her six goals on corners and also earned three assists. Her powerful hit made her an asset offensively, but the majority of her work was in the backfield, where she made five defensive saves. “I feel very honored,” Vincent said. “There are a lot of really good players on that (All-Ivy) team, and I feel honored to be in their company.” Townsend is a three-year starter and has played everywhere from back to forward, but
then it’s better than getting really, really drunk.” Both Hasebe and Goldberg encouraged the University to change its policy to allow for poker playing. “I think that poker is becoming more mainstream and the University should look at its policies and possibly update them,” Hasebe said. “You hear of people playing poker games in home all the time, and I assumed it was legal,” Goldberg said. “I think the policy should be amended. If money is being exchanged between players and each player understands that they’re going into the game, taking a risk, and they’re not giving a kickback to the house, they should be allowed to play.” Herald staff writer Stu Woo ’08 can be reached at herald@browndailyherald.com.
this season she stayed toward the front of the field. She was Brown’s second-leading scorer with three goals and an assist. Townsend was also key on corners and took about half of the hits in the second half of the season. She not only puts the ball in the net but is a strong force on the field, controlling action for the team up and down the field. Townsend and Vincent share the talent of manipulating the flow of the game that is vital to a successful team. Boris has played the midfield for three years but stepped up this year by scoring three goals. She is another three-year starter, but scored her first career goal this season. “Lindsay Boris has a tremen-
Water polo continued from page 12 offense as a whole these past two weeks more than usual, and not just six-on-fives. Going into a tournament like Easterns, the team has undergone “a review of all aspects of the game,” Gall said. Despite stiff competition across the board — Easterns is comprised of the eight best teams on the East Coast — the team is expecting to advance beyond the first round. Last year’s team failed to make Easterns after a disappointing loss to Iona at Northerns that was symbolic of the entire 2003 season; two years ago, Brown qualified for and hosted Easterns, finishing in sixth place. Had the team not qualified for Easterns this year, it would have been a major letdown, but if the team does not win the tourna-
dous work ethic in games,” Norris said. “She just never stops, and I think people recognize that.” Most of the coaches judge players on other teams not only in how they played against their team, but also by observing other games and watching film throughout the season. Sometimes coaches feel that players are overlooked, but this year Norris was very pleased. She said having standout players is good for the team as a whole. “It is an individual award, but it reflects the team,” Norris said. Herald staff writer Kathy Babcock ’05 covers field hockey. She can be reached at herald@browndailyherald.com.
ment, few will call the season a failure. “Basically, I’m looking for us just to be able to compete and build on the things that we’ve been working on this season,” Gall said. “I’m definitely looking to win a couple games, and even though winning versus Navy would be an upset, we are not going into the game expecting to lose.” Last year, and to some extent this year, the team has not been able to come up with many wins against its toughest opponents — for instance, Brown has not beaten a top 20 opponent this
M. swim continued from page 12 Wang said he likes the responsibility of being a captain — a title he also held last year — and helping the new faces get involved in the mix. He also said that he feels the team will be anchored by a its upperclassmen. “We’re still building from two years ago, and it’s getting to the point where we have confidence,” Wang said. While Brown and his swimmers share an optimism and excitement for the approaching season, they are also realistic about the challenge that faces them tomorrow. Spearheaded by John Cole, who took last year off in order to train for the 2004 Olympic Trials, Harvard, as usual, is the early favorite to win the Ivy League. The Crimson also have the firepower to compete on a national level. “Not many can hang with him,” Sharpin said of Cole, who he swam against in high school.
season. But the team seems to have left that thought at home. “They feel like they haven’t played their best yet this year as a team,” Gall said. “The guys have been working hard and I think that they feel this is the time where it’s going to pay off.” “We haven’t had a ‘great’ win all season in my eyes,” Samson said. “We are definitely thirsty for that one season-changing win against a great opponent.” Herald assistant sports editor Eric Perlmutter ’06 covers men’s water polo. He can be reached at herald@browndailyherald.com. But there seems to be consensus among the Bears that an early challenge like this will be a valuable learning experience that will help them figure out where they stand. “Harvard has a strong team, and it’s a way to gauge how strong we are,” Hedberg said. It is also an opportunity for the Bears to see where they might need to make adjustments in different events to optimize their talent. “We’ll see where we can shuffle to have the best lineup,” Sharpin said. Harvard is a tough start to the season, but will be a welcome one, because there is yet another thing that Brown and his players agree on: it’s time to get started. “We’ve been training since Oct. 1, and it’s time to see where we’re at,” Sharpin said. At noon Saturday in the Smith Swim Center, they will find out. Herald staff writer Charlie Vallely ’06 covers swimming and diving. He can be reached at herald@browndailyherald.com.
W. swim continued from page 12 32-member team: seven freshmen and 15 sophomores. With the majority of the large team possessing only a small amount of Ivy League swimming experience, the early part of the season could be trying but Brown said he feels the team is up to that challenge. “We graduated strong senior classes on both our men’s and women’s teams, so this year’s edition of Brown swimming and diving is quite different — but that is what makes college coaching so interesting and challenging,” he noted. Aside from Chuck and Roach, Jessica Brown ’05 is the only other senior on the team. Since practices officially began Oct. 1, the seniors have been doing their best to set an example for the younger members of the squad to follow. The team has typically been working out six days a week, half the time going twice a day. Early morning workouts on Saturdays may be demanding for many athletic teams, but it comes with the territory with the swimming and diving group. “You like to develop some confidence, so you need to prepare for the competition,” Brown said. The Bears will find out if they’ve prepared enough Nov. 19, when they take on Harvard for the first meet of the season.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2004 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 9
Palestine continued from page 7 night, in time for the thousands of Palestinians that are expected to converge on the city Friday and throughout the weekend. Fearing violence, Israel is on its highest alert status, enforcing strict closures on the Palestinian territories and inside Jerusalem, where Friday prayers have often turned into rough clashes. Palestinian authorities too are rushing extra police into Ramallah, to try to maintain control for a worldwide audience. Throughout the day, Palestinian officials stressed their swift and orderly succession. Within hours of the announcement of Arafat’s death, Abbas was elected chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization. He will likely also be a top candidate for president of the Palestinian Authority when elections are held for that post. In the coming weeks, he’ll work closely with Prime Minister
Ryan continued from page 7 In his news release, Cole said, “The inconsistent manner in which the FCC is choosing to apply these rules puts TV stations like ours in a most difficult position. As this relates to ‘Saving Private Ryan,’ our concern centers on whether the FCC would consider the context in which the intense adult language and graphic battleground violence is presented in the movie.” According to Cox’s Atlanta station general manager, Greg Stone, the company asked ABC for permission to edit the film or air it outside prime time but was turned down. According to news reports, ABC’s broadcast rights preclude any editing. Cox’s ABC affiliates in Orlando, Atlanta and Charlotte will not air the movie. On Atlanta’s WSB-TV Web site, Stone cited the FCC’s March ruling that it was both indecent and profane when NBC broadcast live Bono exclaiming, “This is really, really (expletive) brilliant!” as he picked up his trophy at the 2003 Golden Globe Awards. That same word comes up often in the movie. The Bono ruling “reversed years of prior policy that the context of language matters,” Stone said. “The F word is getting zero tolerance,” Bill Hoffman, general manager of Cox’s WFTV, told the Orlando Sentinel Wednesday. “Interest groups are watching stations and vigilantly policing them with respect to indecency.” Belo is pulling the broadcast from all four of its ABC stations, in Dallas, Austin, Louisville and Hampton-Norfolk. Belo stations ran the movie in 2001 and ‘02,
Gbagbo continued from page 5 The family spent Thursday morning in line, waiting to join the exodus to Paris. “My husband is white, and we’re scared,” she said. “We’ve been here for 10 years, and this is the first time we’re really scared.” Gbagbo, in the interview,
Ahmed Qureia, another powerful Arafat deputy, and with the littleknown speaker of the parliament, Rauhi Fattouh, who was sworn in as interim president until elections. “You have just seen how we can use democracy,” said Hassan Kreisheh, after he replaced Fattouh as the new parliament speaker. Still, the Palestinian constitution is a document in progress — something the Israelis are urging to be completed before elections. And none of the new leaders carries Arafat’s street credibility. Many young Palestinians said Thursday they wanted a president who embodies the fight, rather than the bureaucracy. One of the names often mentioned is West Bank Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, who is serving multiple life sentences in an Israeli jail. Another is Farouk Kaddumi, Arafat’s replacement as overall chief of Fatah and an opponent of the Oslo peace process, who is based in Tunisia. “We are looking for a person like Arafat to be a tough leader,” said Mohamad Mutair, 26, at the
Kalandia refugee camp outside Ramallah. There are also potential challenges from militant Islamic groups such as Hamas, which has carried out the bulk of the suicide bombings and is popular in the exceptionally restive Gaza Strip. Israel too has not assured the flexibility that the new regime may need to comply with a law that requires elections within 60 days. Towns and villages are sealed off by the army and Palestinian officials are calling for international election monitors. “This is a test for the Israelis,” said Ziad Abu Amr, a Palestinian cabinet member, “to see if they are serious about allowing the Palestinians to continue their democratic life.” Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Thursday said there is hope for new cooperation. But the hardline leader is insisting on his unilateral pullout of Gaza and said “that as long as there are no real steps to fight terrorism and dismantle its infrastructures, there will be no change in Israel’s policy.”
but “sensitivity to these kind of matters has changed over the last few years,” Belo Vice President Carey Hendrickson explained to The TV Column. “Community tastes are not constant and change over time. Every time something like this comes up, you have to evaluate and re-evaluate; we felt this was appropriate for this time.” ABC executives declined to discuss the matter with The TV Column. In a statement, the network said it was proud to be presenting the movie, noting it would contain 11 advisories, including one at every ad break. The network has shot an introduction to Thursday night’s broadcast, delivered by Sen. John McCain, a Vietnam War veteran and prisoner of war, and Harold Baumgarten, the WWII veteran whose story of being a 19-yearold private landing on the beach at Normandy inspired Steven Spielberg to make this movie. And, in one of those politicsmakes-strange-bedfellows moments, ABC even recruited Parents Television Council pit bull Brent Bozell to put out a statement giving a big thumbsup to the broadcast. Bozell is the guy who launched the successful campaign to get the FCC to declare Bono’s Golden Globe comment indecent. He’s also credited with initiating the letter-writing campaign about the Super Bowl incident that so impressed FCC Chairman Michael Powell. “No television event has ever received as many complaints from the American public—over 540,000—as the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show produced by CBS,” Powell marveled in his statement accompanying the FCC’s announcement it would
slap CBS stations with that record-setting fine. “Context is everything,” Bozell says in the statement. “We agreed with the FCC on its ruling that the airing of ‘Schindler’s List’ on television was not indecent and we feel that ‘Saving Private Ryan’ is in the same category. In both films, the content is not meant to shock, nor is it gratuitous. We applaud ABC for letting viewers know ahead of time about the graphic nature of the film and that the film would be uncut. “We will not be filing an indecency complaint with the FCC over the airing of this film,” Bozell added reassuringly. But Parents Television Council didn’t attack ABC stations the first time they aired “Saving Private Ryan.” The American Family Association, aka the Rev. Donald Wildmon’s conservative watchdog group, did. These days the AFA is focusing on trying to get advertisers to promise not to buy time in ABC’s new hit series “Desperate Housewives” because it features a housewife who’s having an affair with her high-school-age gardener and female neighbors discussing their relationships with their husbands over coffee. But back in 2001, the AFA went after ABC over “Saving Private Ryan,” filing a complaint with the FCC in hopes it would slap the stations with an indecency fine. In its complaint, the AFA noted the movie’s “violence, bloodshed, language and profanity,” according to a letter of response from the FCC, a copy of which was obtained by The TV Column. The FCC denied the AFA’s complaint. But that was preJanet.
expressed little concern over such departures. “They will come back,” he said, wagging his finger in the air. “You must come back in three months. They will be there.” He displayed more worry about the world’s perception of the events of the past week. As he explained it, a longtime war with anti-government rebels was nearing its end after the government suddenly broke a peace deal Friday and resumed
attacks on rebel positions. Gbagbo said the French military intervention had prevented his forces from finishing the job. The embattled leader, who took office in 2000 after an aborted vote count in national elections, has long maintained that the French support the rebellion. “The government of (French President) Jacques Chirac never accepted that I have reached the position of president,” he said.
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
EDITORIAL/LETTERS FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2004 · PAGE 10 S T A F F
E D I T O R I A L
Diamonds and coal A diamond to Brown’s new and improved “bolder and riskier” approach to its finances. It seems only natural that spending more money on things we don’t need would allow us to spend even more on things we do need. Quick — channel all our tuition toward moonwalks! On the Main Green! For insider outsider art! Coal to Mario Desouza ’05, who broke the standards of community behavior by leaving his suite door unlocked while he took a nap — and got cited for it. You’re an Ivy League student, Mario. You should know better than to doze off accidentally while reading “A Short History of Financial Euphoria.” A diamond to the triumphant return of Uncrustables to Josiah’s. The next chapter in the 5,000-year history of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich has finally been written. A cubic zirconium to mail fraud. It’s definitely illegal, but it’s good to know we’ve got someone watching out for us. A diamond to trust. But coal to Kenneth Dulgarian for abusing it by lulling his tenants, including Chez Lenore, into a false sense of security, depriving them of leases and then evicting them summarily. Coal to “Ethicist” Randy Cohen for making living the ethical life sound so darn simple during his lecture. Now we have no excuse. But a diamond to the short guy for providing the first laugh of the night. What a mensch. A diamond to annoying ringtones for interrupting “Modern Genocide.” But coal to crimes against humanity — we’re sending our Nokias to Darfur. Coal to RISD SOLAR for dashing our dreams. We thought a “solar house” would be something far hotter than the shack you’re building on the bank of the Providence River. A diamond to awkward hugs. They’re the perfect way to end any job interview.
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD EDITORIAL Juliette Wallack, Editor-in-Chief Philissa Cramer, Executive Editor Julia Zuckerman, Executive Editor Jen Sopchockchai, Arts & Culture Editor Leslie Kaufmann, Assistant Arts & Culture Editor Danielle Cerny, Campus Watch Editor Jonathan Ellis, Metro Editor Sara Perkins, News Editor Dana Goldstein, RISD News Editor Alex Carnevale, Opinions Editor Ben Yaster, Opinions Editor Ian Cropp, Sports Editor Christopher Hatfield, Sports Editor Bernie Gordon, Assistant Sports Editor Chris Mahr, Assistant Sports Editor Eric Perlmutter, Assistant Sports Editor PRODUCTION Peter Henderson, Design Editor Amy Ruddle, Copy Desk Chief Melanie Wolfgang, Copy Desk Chief Eddie Ahn, Graphics Editor Judy He, Photo Editor Nick Neely, Photo Editor
BUSINESS Jack Carrere, General Manager Lawrence Hester, General Manager Anastasia Ali, Executive Manager Zoe Ripple, Executive Manager Daniel Goldberg, Senior Financial Officer Mark Goldberg, Senior Financial Officer Ian Halvorsen, Senior Financial Officer Lisa Poon, Marketing Manager Abigail Ronck, Senior Accounts Manager Kathleen Timmins, Senior Accounts Manager Laird Bennion, Senior Project Manager Elias Roman, Senior Project Manager Jungdo Yu, Senior Project Manager Laurie-Ann Paliotti, Sr. Advertising Rep. Susan Dansereau, 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 Fritz Brantley, Features Editor Jeremy Beck, Film Editor Jonathan C. Liu, Music Editor
Kidd Sandwich, Night Editor Eric Demafeliz, Elizabeth O’Neill, Copy Editors Senior Staff Writers Stephanie Clark, Robbie Corey-Boulet, Justin Elliott, Ben Grin, Kira Lesley Staff Writers Marshall Agnew, Camden Avery, Kathy Babcock, Zaneta Balantac, Alexandra Barsk, Zachary Barter, Hannah Bascom, Eric Beck, Danielle Cerny, Christopher Chon, Lexi Costello, Ian Cropp, Stewart Dearing, Gabriella Doob, Jonathan Ellis, James Feldman, Amy Hall Goins, Dana Goldstein, Bernard Gordon, Kate Gorman, Krista Hachey, Chris Hatfield, Jonathan Herman, Leslie Kaufmann, Kate Klonick, Allison Lombardo, Chris Mahr, Lisa Mandle, Ben Miller, Sara Perkins, Eric Perlmutter, Meryl Rothstein, Marco Santini, Jen Sopchockchai, Lela Spielberg, Stefan Talman, Jessica Weisberg, Brooke Wolfe, Melanie Wolfgang, Stu Woo, Anne Wootton Accounts Managers Steven Butschi, Rob McCartney, John Nagler, David Ranken, Joel Rozen, Rukesh Samarasekera, Ryan Shewcraft Project Managers In Young Park, Libbie Fritz Pagination Staff Eric Demafeliz, Deepa Galaiya, Jason Lee Photo Staff Marissa Hauptman, Ashley Hess, Matthew Lent, Bill Pijewski, Kori Schulman, Sorleen Trevino, Juliana Wu Copy Editors Chessy Brady, Jonathan Corcoran, Eric Demafeliz, Leora Fridman, Allison Kwong, Katie Lamm, Suchi Mathur, Cristina Salvato, Sonia Saraiya, Lela Spielberg, Zachary Townsend, Jenna Young
SHANE WILKERSON
LETTERS Lack of transfer and RUE aid a tragedy To the Editor: Marie Hopkins could not be more correct regarding transfer and RUE aid (“RUEing the aid situation,” Nov. 11). I gave up $7,500 a year in academic scholarships when I transferred to Brown. Like all transfers who arrived beginning in the fall of 2003, I receive no financial aid from the University. RUEs receive a shoestring financial aid budget. Transfers used to, as well. On top of all of the other humiliations bestowed upon transfer students, whether it is housing inequity or almost no financial aid, Brown, under the leadership of President Ruth Simmons, has eliminated all financial aid for transfer students. It is hypocritical to the extreme for Brown to publicly declare that financial aid is improving, because while need-blind aid for incoming first-years has been implemented, financial aid for transfer students has been eliminated entirely. Transfers are fed up at being ignored, sidelined
and brushed aside. The University should put some of its high-minded rhetoric into action, for a change, and actually strive for some financial aid equality among its students. To do any less lowers Brown to the level of nothing more than another corporation striving to best meet its bottom line. Don’t be surprised if many bitter future alums conveniently forget to donate to the University because they were discriminated against in the financial aid process while they were students at Brown. If Brown has any overly troublesome relations with the city of Providence any time in the near future, bear in mind that Mayor David Cicilline ’83 was a transfer student. Michael Thompson ’07 Nov. 11
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letters@browndailyherald.com 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. CO M M E N TA RY P O L I C Y 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, letters and comics reflect the opinions of their authors 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 FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2004 · PAGE 11
Bleed the red states dry GUEST COLUMN BY NATE GORALNIK AND BARRON YOUNGSMITH
While literally every Kerry state touches either water or Canada, the Republicans have a lock on the South and the entire interior, which gain votes in the Electoral College with every passing census. Last Tuesday, voters in these states turned out in record numbers for a roll call of the nation’s great symbols: Faith, Family and Country. The rise of the “moral values” voter presents a difficult challenge for an enfeebled Democratic Party. America’s political divide is not a clash between policy camps but between different ways of life. If the “culture wars” of the Reagan years were an argument over culture, that argument is over. As defeated Democrats cast listlessly about, idly contemplating reform of the Electoral College and contemplating secession to Canada, Republicans are plotting something resembling genocide. Having knocked off the Big Two (Kerry and Senate minority leader Tom Daschle), Republicans are seeking to exterminate the Democrats as a viable political party. The tactic is simple: deliberate starvation. The red states used it against the Indians when they wiped out the buffalo and the antelope. Now they’ve turned their guns on the unions, welfare recipients and trial lawyers whose financing the Democrats depend on for survival. Once the backbone of the Democratic Party, the labor movement has been virtually wiped out by conservative “right-to-work” laws that make union membership optional in many states. These laws have enriched Corporate America at the expense of workers, and have placed a severe squeeze on the Democratic Party by depriving unions of billions of dollars of compulsory dues. Conservative activist Grover Norquist brags, “Every worker who doesn’t join the union is another worker who doesn’t pay $500 a year to organized labor’s political machine.” With unions as good as dead, the GOP is going after trial lawyers, now the Democrats’ biggest contributors. By simplifying regulations and capping penalties, Republicans have sought to eliminate the big settlements that weaken big business at the expense of trial lawyers and the Democrats. As governor of Texas, Bush even tried to raise taxes on the law firms that accounted for nearly 80 percent of donations to the Texas Democrats. Similarly, the Bush agenda will move to eradicate the livelihood of bureaucrats, teachers, welfare recipients and environmentalists. Every government job outsourced is a likely Democratic voter shot in the back. Every federal entitlement replaced by a private-account scheme makes a child less dependent on big government, more invested in big business and less likely to vote Democratic. Republicans know that a political party without wealthy constituents cannot survive, and they're doing everything they can to cut the Democrats’ umbilical cord. Liberals, then, must kill or be killed. We have a plan. The Achilles’ heel of Republican majority rule is the farm subsidies that sustain the rural economies of the red states. Mississippi cotton growers, Carolina textile workers and Indiana pork farmers all survive on New Deal-era government handouts that essentially transfer wealth from the Kerry states to the conservative heartland. Some federal subsidies literally pay these “hard-working folks” not to grow anything at all. For all the Republican rhetoric about self-reliance and the free market, the steady drip of farm welfare is the only leg rural economies have to stand on. They allow red-state voters to live in an Edenic, Bible-filled, rural cowboy fantasyland and punish those who don’t share their values. For years, voters in rural states have scorned the Democrats who make their way of life possible. Now, imagine a world in which Democrats have pulled the plug. Rural America would disappear overnight. It literally cannot survive without government handouts. Men with cowboy hats would suddenly find their beloved animals worth Kleenex as vast boatloads of foreign goods flooded grocery stores throughout the nation. Truck drivers with American (or Confederate) flag stickers would see their lifestyle wiped out. Left uneducated by Republican budget cuts in rural school districts, these voters would witness the resurrection of the Dust Bowl. Rural values would be swapped for the values of refugees as Red State voters begin the mass exodus to the coasts in order to beg for welfare handouts from “liberal elitists.” So much for rugged individualism! Democrats cannot defeat the patriotic symbol of the simple farmer, but they can bankrupt actual farmers. If red-state voters think the Democrats are the party of sissy dependence on big government, it is time the Democrats showed them what the free market really feels like: scorched earth. For too long, “moral values” voters have bit the liberal hand that feeds them. It’s time to put them out on the street. Act now, Democrats, and it will hasten the day when nothing stands between the joyful union of our two coasts but a national park. Nate Goralnik ’06 is the Mobutu Sese Seko to Barron YoungSmith’s ’06 Park Chung Hee.
Militarization at Brown GUEST COLUMN BY JANE MEE WONG
In 2001, two DPS officers violently arrested two students of color for refusing to show their IDs while they were crossing the Main Green on Brown’s “open campus.” This spring, a DPS officer shoved the victim of a hate crime when the victim ran toward him for help. Rather than openly reviewing police misconduct, the administration pushes such acts of police brutality and racial profiling under the carpet. Qualms about racial profiling are conveniently dismissed as trivial misunderstandings. Director of Institutional Diversity Brenda Allen said, “If (DPS is) responding to calls about a group of students of color, is it the officers who are engaging in profiling or are they just responding to a call?” The administration consistently drums into us the benefits of militarization on campus. The Herald also reported that DPS “are also trained in skills geared toward avoiding the use of force. Specifically, the skills taught are “verbal judo” and Kingian non-violence, a negotiating technique that uses the methods of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr ...” In the aftermath of abuse, the mistrust students have toward mishandling of power by DPS cannot simply be appeased by the adoption of “verbal judo” or “Kingian non-violence” tactics. Ironically, “Kingian non-violence” was employed initially as a mode of resistance by oppressed people against state violence and racism. The administration's encouragement of non-violence methods, while actively implementing the militarization of this campus reflects a confused stance and a double standard. Who are the “criminals” at Brown who will deserve the non-violent tactics, and which of those will have guns pointed at them? The administration stresses often that arming the Brown police ensures the safety of students. Yet preemptive militarization, which makes offense a form
of defense, never results in safer conditions. The resulting climate of fear and suspicion serves only to promote a further escalation of violence. The “crimes” administrators hope to reduce also seem limited to those that involve some kind of armed robbery, where vulnerable Brown students are targeted by the violent and armed non-Brown “Other.” Other forms of violence that occur within Brown, such as sexual assault and hate crimes, are not met with similar zeal by the administration. To date, despite constant requests from students, there are no accessible sexual assault or hate crime protocols that will encourage victims to report and hold perpetrators accountable. Rather than breaking down this divide between Brown as an elite institution and the rest of Providence, the administration perpetuates it through its decision to arm DPS. The disregard of the impact arming will have on the lives of other Providence residents who live in the vicinity of Brown’s “open campus” is reflected by the administration’s flagrant disregard of Mayor David Cicilline’s ’83 and Ward 1 City Councilman David Segal’s opposition to arming. This isolationist mentality is again reflected in the administration’s decision to arm DPS as a more benign alternative to local police. Rather than engage earnestly in community efforts to hold local police more accountable through the Providence External Review Authority, Brown decides to arm DPS to reduce its reliance on what is deemed to be the more oppressive local police force. Guns need targets. And most often, these targets will be those who fit the stereotypical image of “criminal.” The administration needs to stop arming now and take constructive steps to make us all safer.
Arming needs to stop.
Jane Mee Wong ’06.5 is at the end of her rope.
International fear of Bush GUEST COLUMN BY TAMILLA MAMEDOVA
Because I am an international student who doesn’t know enough about the electoral system or the negative consequences of Bush’s first term, I am not going to discuss the election. I am also not going to talk about how wonderful or horrible Bush is. Obviously, as a non-citizen on student visa, I am not allowed to vote in America. Even if I did, I probably wouldn’t know what to do since I am very clearly against Bush (the understatement of the year) but I am also critical of some of Kerry’s statements and policies. So it was a good thing after all that I didn't get to vote: I just wouldn’t know what to do. What I want to discuss here is a much more crucial issue, one that personally affects me and other internationals, especially those from “suspicious” countries in Asia and the Middle East. What the reelection of Bush means to me is more fear and potentially more threats to my freedom as a foreigner in the United States today. At this point, I have to say that I have never faced anything of this sort during my life at Brown. I love being here, and I think that most, if not all, international students would agree with me that our campus is definitely not hostile to foreign students. If anything, I feel very welcome and at home here. Unfortunately, these good feelings are limited to the Brown campus — they do not apply in the rest of the country. In fact, there have been many incidents of discrimination and harassment of international students — especially Middle Easterners, Muslims and anyone who looks like a potential terrorist — in cities throughout America, even on college campuses! How do I know? Apart from what I have read in the paper or watched in the news, which rarely mentions this, I have many friends all over America who are international students. I could write a whole book on their experiences, as well as some of my own, so don’t get me started. When I hear or read about Arab-Americans and
American Muslims being deported or sent to jail for no obvious reason, or about police breaking into their houses to conduct “a search for suspicious material” and many more humiliating things like that, I start questioning how much freedom American citizens have in post-9/11 America. Yusuf Islam — formerly known as Cat Stevens and famous for songs such as “Wild World”— is a British citizen who was sent back to England because his name appears on a list of suspicious people who might have contributed to Muslim charities that have ties with terrorists. A Swiss scholar and a leading international Islamic thinker named Tariq Ramadan, who spoke at Brown a few years ago, has had a similar experience. Named one of Time magazine’s 100 Spiritual Innovators in 2000, Ramadan accepted a job at Notre Dame University and was to start work this semester. However, in late July his visa was revoked by the Department of Homeland Security. No explanation has yet been given. I think all that has been mentioned above is a disgrace for America, and I feel most sorry for the American citizens (for everyone — not just the ones being discriminated against) who work hard to solve these problems and still have to deal with such issues every day. I would talk more about my own experiences as a Muslim and a Turkish citizen, but let me just conclude with this: While walking on Thayer this afternoon, I saw a copy of the Providence Phoenix that was just distributed today. It has George Bush on the cover with the following words as the title: “Mourning in America.” On the left lower corner of the same page, it reads “Be afraid. Be very afraid.” I think the other half of America who didn’t vote for him — and most of the world — already are. At least I know that I am.
Internationals
with reason to fear.
Tamilla Mamedova ’07 prays that the books she checks out at the Rock aren’t monitored.
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
SPORTS FRIDAY NOVEMBER 12, 2004 · PAGE 12
All-Ivy honors given to three from field hockey
W. swimming hopes for last year’s success with new faces
Harvard meet will be litmus test for m. swimming
BY ADAM ROYSTER
BY CHARLIE VALLELY
its strongest players next season. The Bears are only losing three players, one of whom was injured for most of this past season, and only one starter, Julia Kelderman ’05. Last year the Brown recipients of AllIvy honors were Lizzie Buza ’04, Laurel Pierpont ’04 and Meghan Harwood ’04. They were all seniors and had all received Ivy honors before. This year’s crop of All-Ivies is likely to receive honors again next year, barring injury. Vincent is a two-year starter at sweeper and, strangely, was Brown’s leading scorer despite playing farthest back of anyone on the field except the goalie. “She’s on our offensive corners, she’s on our defensive corners,” Norris said.
Coming off an impressive 9-3 season last year, the women’s swimming and diving team has a great deal to prove heading into the 2004-2005 campaign. Because the team lost some of its top athletes to graduation, the leaders of this year’s team have big shoes to fill if last year’s performance is to be repeated. Losing All-American Honorable Mention and first team All-Ivy Liz Daniels ’04 to graduation was a particularly big blow. Compounded with the additional loss of All-Ivy first team honorees Emily McCoy ’04 and Lindsay Hoban ’04, one has to wonder whether the women will sink or swim. “For any team it’s a sizable loss, not only in swimming but in leadership ability,” said Head Coach Peter Brown. “We’re just looking for people to move in to fill those roles.” Jessica Larsen ’06, Mariana Chuck ’05 and Michelle Roach ’05 have been selected as the pre-season captains. Assisting the upperclassmen in leading the team will be returning First Team All-Ivy selections Lauren Hinkson ’06 and Eileen Robinson ’06, the anchors in the 200-meter and 400-meter freestyle relay team. Last season’s second team All-Ivy member Elizabeth Wong ’06 also returns. “For what we lost, what we’re gaining is considerable,” said Becky Kowalsky ’07. “Though our team may be a bit younger, we have some very talented freshmen that are going to surprise a lot of people.” There are 22 underclassmen on the
see HOCKEY, page 8
see W. SWIM, page 8
In its first meet Saturday against Harvard, the men’s swimming and diving team will begin its season after almost a month and a half of official preseason practice. “Our preparation thus far has been quite good,” said Head Coach Peter Brown. “I like what I’m seeing.” One of Brown’s swimmers, William Hedberg ’06, has been equally encouraged by the team’s efforts but had other words to describe the pre-season. “We’ve been getting our (butts) kicked pretty regularly through October,” he said. Brown and his team have been on the same page so far. Team members and Brown agree that this year’s squad, which lost four instrumental seniors while taking on an unprecedented eight first-years, has been taking great strides to shape its identity. “This is a completely new team,” said Andrew Sharpin ’05. “Seniors were a strong point in our lineup last year.” Most notably, the Bears lost Max Allen ’04 and first team All-Ivy selection Jefferson Moors ’04. But the team remains optimistic, particularly because of the new recruits. Though they will not be able to step into the shoes of the exiting seniors right away, they provide a necessary asset — depth. “We’re a much bigger team now,” said captain Tim Wang ’05. “By having more people, you create more competition. So I have to say that (the first-years) have had a positive impact already.” “It helps make your team stronger within,” Brown said. In spite of the sizable turnover, the transition has been made easier by a strong core of juniors and seniors. Brown said that he feels that the captains, Matt del Mastro ’05 and Wang, have made substantial contributions in bringing the team together. “They’re good role models and good students,” Brown said, also noting their leadership by example in the pool. When you have captains like this “things tend to fall into place more readily.”
Judy He / Herald
Kristen Vincent ’06 was a unanimous first team All-Ivy selection after leading the Bears in scoring from her sweeper position. BY KATHY BABCOCK
The end of a difficult field hockey season had a silver lining for three Brown juniors who received All-Ivy honors early this week. Kristen Vincent ’06 was unanimously selected for first team AllIvy, Brooke Townsend ’06 received second team honors and Lindsay Boris ’06 received an honorable mention. “I was very pleased,” said Head Coach Carolan Norris. “To get someone on first team, second team and honorable mention represents the team very well.” For most of the players, the awards were a welcome surprise. “I was surprised. I thought some other people might get it,” Vincent said. “It’s a very big honor.” As evidence by these awards going to juniors, Brown’s team will be returning
Swimming and diving season preview
M. water polo ready for East Coast’s best after two weeks of preparation BY ERIC PERLMUTTER
All season long, the men’s water polo team has said that the Eastern Championship is the only tournament that truly matters. Beginning on Saturday, it will be time for the team to show what it’s got. “With me being new this year, I think it’s taken a little while to get adjusted, but everyone is on the same page now, and everyone has high expectations,” said Head Coach Jason Gall. Brown enters Easterns, held at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Penn., this weekend, as the fifth-seeded team and will face the United States Naval Academy in the first round. After the Bears’ placed third at the Northern Championships two weeks ago and earned themselves a trip to Easterns, the team has had two weeks of practice to prepare for an opponent that is ranked 17th in the nation. The tournament features four teams familiar to Brown — St. Francis College, Harvard, Princeton and the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology — and three teams that Brown has not seen, including Navy. Fortunately for Bruno, the team is healthier than it’s been all season and has enough knowledge of how Navy plays to form a cohesive game plan. “I tend to think that they’re going to be a quick team,” Gall said. “They’re a good driving team, which means they’ve got good shooters. In the past they’ve had a well-conditioned team, so we’re going to have to make sure that we’re playing good counter-attack defense.” The team also intends to doubleteam certain Navy players on the offensive end, according to Gall. Two-meter defender Luke Samson ’07 echoed Gall’s emphasis on counterattack defense and double teams. He said that Navy is a fast and disciplined team that does not present too many chances for opponents. “Navy has one or two dominant players, so going into the game, we know
who we need to focus our attention on if we want to win,” said Samson. “We need to capitalize on our opportunities, especially six-on-five, which has given us some trouble throughout the year.” Indeed, the six-on-five has been Brown’s Achilles heel, as the team has been unable to consistently convert man-advantages. In the past, Gall and some players have said that the problem is not one of preparation, but of execution. So does that shortcoming, one that can only be nixed with experience, worry the team going into a tournament without much room for error? “It would, but our last game was two weeks ago,” Samson said. “Since then, we have spent a lot of time just on sixon-five, sometimes focusing our entire practice on it. I think the team is more comfortable running it now, with all the attention we have recently given it.” The Bears have focused on the
see WATER POLO, page 8
see M. SWIM, page 8 B ROW N S P O RTS S C H E D U L E Thursday, November 11 Football: Nick Hartigan ’06 named CoSida District I Academic All-American Friday, November 12 Men’s Ice Hockey: vs. Princeton, 7 p.m., Meehan Auditorium Women’s Ice Hockey: at Princeton Women’s Volleyball: at Columbia Saturday, November 13 Men’s Swimming and Diving: vs. Harvard, noon, Smith Swim Center Men’s Ice Hockey: vs. Yale, 7 p.m., Meehan Auditorium Football: at Dartmouth Women’s Volleyball: at Cornell Women’s Ice Hockey: at Yale Equestrian: vs. Wesleyan (at Middletown, Conn.) Men’s Water Polo: Eastern Championships (at Bucknell University) Men’s and Women’s Cross Country: NCAA Regional Championships (at Van Cortlandt Park, N.Y.) Sunday, November 14 Men’s Soccer: at Dartmouth Wrestling: Cortland Open (at SUNY Cortland) Men’s Water Polo: Eastern Championships (at Bucknell University)