F R I D A Y APRIL 8, 2005
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXL, No. 45 GOTTA GET OUT TO ‘DISPLACE’ Unique poetry exhibit, located on a RISD Museum stairwell, examines immigrant identity A R T S & C U LT U R E 3
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An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891 THE HOROWITZ EFFECT Erica Sagrans ’05: David Horowitz’s calls for ‘intellectual diversity’ have shaped Ruth Simmons’ presidency OPINIONS 7
BATTERING RAMS After sweeping URI, baseball gears up for Penn and Columbia at Aldrich this weekend SPORTS 8
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U.: Wrestling coach’s ultimatum crossed the line No apparent NCAA rule violation; DTau not satisfied with U. response BY JUSTIN ELLIOTT CAMPUS WATCH EDITOR
Following vigorous outcry from current and former members of Delta Tau, several top University officials have addressed complaints that Dave Amato, head coach of Brown’s wrestling team, dissuaded first-year wrestlers from joining Delta Tau and other fraternities. But DTau President Chris DeCarolis ’06 said the University has not gone far enough and wants a public apology and an admission of wrongdoing from Amato. “I think (Amato) recognizes he went too far in this case, and I would say the same thing,” said Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services David Greene, who said he and Joan Taylor, the interim athletic director, had both spoken to Amato about the situation. “It’s absolutely appropriate to be able to talk to members of the team about choices they’re making and to counsel them about that, to talk about the experiences other players have had when they’ve made those choices,” Greene said. “Those things all seem to be just right, and (Amato) did those things. I think what’s not appropriate is setting an ultimatum for members of the team ... and we’re all on the same page that that’s not the way that the coach would relate to players in the future.” Greene, who said that the matter is resolved from the University’s point of view, would not say whether Amato had been officially reprimanded, saying that “any sort of personnel action or anything that would happen” is private. DeCarolis told The Herald Thursday that the University’s response fell short of his expectations. “For David Greene and the athletic director to say (Amato) knows he was wrong isn’t enough,” DeCarolis said. “Until I hear from him, I’m not satisfied. ... Until he can acknowledge publicly that what he did was wrong, I cannot trust that he won’t do it again,” he added. “If Coach Amato had stopped a (wrestler) from joining the (Queer Alliance), immediately he would have been reprimanded if not fired,” he said. Amato said Thursday he had no comment about the situation. Asked if he would be willing to make a public apology, Amato said he had not spoken with any members
of DTau, including DeCarolis, “so I really don’t have a comment on what he’s saying.” Amato has acknowledged that he dissuaded several first-year wrestlers from joining DTau, but said that he had the best interest of the students in mind. One firstyear wrestler, Ben Cannon ’08, turned in his bid for Sigma Chi, but subsequently depledged after Amato told him he had to choose between joining a fraternity and being on the wrestling team. Another firstyear wrestler, who had handed in his bid to Dtau, decided not to pledge after discussions with Amato. After that first-year dropped out, DTau fell one short of the eight pledges it needed to retain on-campus housing status. However, the Office of Residential Life is allowing DTau to stay on campus next year and the fraternity has postponed its pledge
process until the fall, according to DeCarolis. Amato has said that in recent years the wrestling team had gotten “lumped together” with DTau and its disciplinary problems. He said that in March 2004 he had to give under-oath testimony to the police about an assault that occurred after a party thrown by ex-wrestlers and ex-Delts. Amato said he had to assure police that no wrestlers knew the identity of the assailant. Current and former members of DTau, traditionally a wrestling fraternity, have said that Amato has seriously hurt recruiting efforts over the past three years. In 2003, Amato set an ultimatum for wrestlers, telling them they had to choose between pledging a fraternity and staying on the
ple in a room and have 20 different opinions,” he said. “Nonwhite students often feel passionately about issues that white students might not even be aware of,” Cunningham said. Payne pointed to issues such as University hiring of Latinos and minority enrollment. According to the Princeton Review, black students make up approximately 7 percent of the current Brown population, compared to 13 percent of the U.S. population. The Admission Office has formally acknowledged the problem, but there is still not proportional representation. “It’s been lip service because there’s been no dramatic jump,” Payne said. “Being black has definitely given me a different perspective,” Payne said when see UCS, page 5
see FILM, page 5
see DTAU, page 4
Chelsea Rudman / Herald
sustaining, energy-efficient solar home. The pavilion will provide shade and act as an information booth, in lieu of the rent-a-tents provided by Solar Decathlon officials. The concept of creating a teambuilt entryway is “completely unique to RISD,” according to Associate Professor of Architecture Chris Bardt. Professors from the RISD Department of Architecture met Thursday afternoon to begin the critiquing process that will culminate in the selection of one or some combination of designs as the starting point for the final pavilion. — Chelsea Rudman
UCS encourages candidates of color to get involved BY HANNAH MILLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
With elections approaching, members of the Undergraduate Council of Students executive board are actively encouraging students of color to run for positions on UCS and the Undergraduate Finance Board. Students of color currently account for five out of 30 UCS members, and three out of 12 members of the Undergraduate Finance Board. Although racial minorities currently make up nearly 28 percent of undergraduates, they constitute only about 17 percent of UCS. At a Thursday session designed to inform minority students of the opportunities available in student government, UCS Class Representative and Appointments Chair Will Cunningham ’07 and President Joel Payne ’05 encouraged students to run and
get involved. The last four UCS presidents have been nonwhite students. “We’ve had plenty of diversity at the top of UCS,” Payne said, “but it’s now a matter of informing people that there are more leadership opportunities available. People in minority groups have to step up to the plate.” Although e-mails were sent to various minority student groups informing them of the info session, the turnout was small. Despite having only three students in attendance, Cunningham and Payne passionately stressed the importance of diversity in leadership. Though UCS is currently targeting students of varying racial backgrounds, Payne emphasized that diversity comes in many forms. “Diversity of opinion is the most important thing. You can have 20 black peo-
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BY STEFANIE SIMONS CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Leave it to Brown to bring together a drag-king motor-home tour bus, Argentinean punk lesbians named Mao and Lenin, and the best love scene according to Girlfriends magazine. In a whirlwind of unique films with a something-for-everyone objective, “Queer Window,” Brown’s first LGBTQ film and video festival, continues through Sunday at Providence’s Cable Car Cinema. This debut festival, which opened Thursday, is ambitious technically and ideologically. It is wedged in between last month’s French Film Festival and the upcoming Africana, Ivy and Latin American Film festivals. In only four days, the Cable Car will host 12 featurelength films and 26 film shorts in 14 screenings, along with hosting guest speaker and acclaimed producer-director Rodney Evans ’93. Each film will be shown once. No film is more than four years old, and most were released in 2003 or 2004. The festival samples the diversity of contemporary cinema with an aim to broaden the definition of gay, lesbian and queer film. Festival posters depict an apartment building whose windows feature scenes from different films. As the “Queer Window” title and materials suggest, this weekend’s moviegoers can “look into different lives, through different windows and different visions,” said Lynne Joyrich, associate professor of Modern Culture and Media and head of the festival steering committee. The goal of the festival is to bring “narrative and visual pleasure,” she said. Eugenie Brinkema GS, a member of the festival’s steering committee, said she sees “Queer Window” “as an activist film festival, not just for cinephiles.” According to Brinkema, discussions of queerness are not limited to large cities with festivals like New York or San Francisco. A prescreening loop of movie factoids as well as exciting guest introducers from LGBTQ groups Marriage Equality, Youth Pride, Inc., and Equity Actions — and even a drag show — should be the start of discussions that “bring together people before films even start,” she said. Movies range from documentary to narrative to experimental, from high art to crowd pleasers. Some overtly broach issues of queerness, such as the independent shorts in “Transitions and Intersections,” which include animation and documentaries about “gender outlaw” identities. Other films are less explicit, like the 2004 Cannes Special Jury Prize winner “Tropical Malady,” a Thai/French film lauded for developing a “new language in cinema.” Many of the films’ directors are Brown alumni. “Emerging Queer,” a collection of films by and about LGBTQ youth, includes the prom parody “Camaflogue Pink” by recent Brown grads Laura
SOLAR SYSTEM
The RISD SOLAR team will officially begin building its solar house in three weeks, but some construction at South Water Street began Tuesday with the erection of five “Shadow Pavilions” by groups of students in RISD’s architectural design class. The final Shadow Pavilion will act as the reception center for visitors to the team’s solar house at this fall’s Solar Decathlon in Washington, an international competition designed to raise awareness about alternative energy sources. Coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Solar Decathlon challenges participating teams to construct a self-
Film festival combines entertainment and activism
195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island
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