The Brown Daily Herald F riday, F ebr uar y 15, 2008
Volume CXLIII, No. 18
McCain makes first R.I. appearance
As president, McCain said he would make the Bush tax cuts permanent, reduce taxes on American corporations and adopt green technology in a “free enterprise, capitalist fashion.” Ana Morgan, a McCain supporter at the rally, said McCain’s continued on page 4
—Rachel Arndt
WARWICK — The biggest challenge facing the United States in the 21st centur y is the “struggle against radical Islamic extremism,” said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to
METRO
Courtesy of JohnMcCain.com
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., spoke Thursday for about 20 minutes at a Warwick rally.
gates of hell, I will get Osama bin Laden,” he said, prompting loud and prolonged applause from his supporters. Referring to Iraq as the “central battleground” in the war against Islamic extremism, McCain said he would like Democrats and Republicans to “join together to defeat al-Qaida and the forces of evil.”
Chafee ‘75 endorses Obama Former Rhode Island Sen. Lincoln Chafee ’75 endorsed presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., Thursday morning. Gov. Donald Carcieri ’65 announced his endorsement of John McCain later in the day at a rally the Arizona senior Republican senator held in Warwick. “I’ve got to vote for Chris Bennett / Herald File Photo Obama,” Chafee told The Former Rhode Island Sen. Lincoln Chafee ‘75 Herald. “The leading candidates are supporters of the war, and that’s a major issue for me … It would be a shame” to have only candidates who support the war as choices in November, he said. As senator from Rhode Island from 1999 to 2006, Chafee was a Republican, but he left the party this summer after losing his bid for reelection in 2006 to Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse. “The biggest surprise (of Chafee’s endorsement) is in terms of John McCain,” said Darrell West, professor of political science. The two have a “warm personal relationship,” and McCain held fundraisers for Chafee during reelection campaign. Chafee’s Obama endorsement is a “major slap at John McCain’s Iraq policy,” West said. Still, “in general, endorsements don’t count for that much,” he said, citing Sen. Ted Kennedy’s, D-Mass., endorsement of Obama before Super Tuesday. Despite that endorsement, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., beat Obama in Massachusetts. Chafee is currently a visiting fellow in international studies at the Watson Institute for International Studies. He joined the Watson Institute last year.
By Nandini Jayakrishna Senior Staff Writer
supporters at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Thursday. Beginning his address with jokes and humorous anecdotes, McCain spoke mostly about national security and terrorism, with brief remarks on the economy and the environment. McCain said his experience ser ving in “ever y major national security challenge this country has faced in the last twenty years” has prepared him well for his role as the next president. “I do not need any other job training,” he said. McCain, who spoke for about 20 minutes, emphasized the need to combat terrorism in the Middle East and catch Osama bin Laden, who might be hiding in Afghanistan or Pakistan. “I look you in the eye, and I tell you if I have to follow him to the
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SPOTLIGHT
Matching grants to be part of grad support next fall By Brian Mastroianni Senior Staff Writer
In 1988, Yimo Lin’s ’09 parents were far more familiar with College Hill than she was. Her mother, a nuclear physicist, and her father, a lasers and optics engineer, were post-doctoral researchers at Brown. But Yimo was back in their native China, two years old and living with relatives, waiting for her parents to make enough money to bring her to America. While conducting their research on College Hill, Lin’s parents lived in a “one-room attic barely high enough to stand up in,” and washed dishes in a French restaurant, earning $25 a night, Lin wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. Though Lin’s parents were paid for their research, they needed to supplement it “with whatever work they could find,” she wrote. Two decades later, the Graduate School has spent millions of dollars to offer greater financial support for its students while lessening the need for outside employment. But the policies designed to meet these goals, including both a five-year guarantee of support and a matching grant program that will debut next fall, have critics saying the policies are too broad for a large university with a diverse student body. For graduate students who need funding beyond their stipends, the University has started a matching program that will take effect during
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CAMPUS NEWS
the 2008-09 academic year. “The program is designed for students to find external funding, which is part of their professional training — it provides financial incentive to search for funding outside of the University,” said Chad Galts, communications director for the Grad School. The initiative was prompted by “conversations with graduate students and observations of support within their departments,” Bonde said. The departmental support “ensured that the policy was in the best interest of graduate research,” Bonde said. The initiative will affect all graduate students, except those who are part of the Division of Biology and Medicine, which has its own separate sources of funds, she said. The program’s offer of financial supplements is awarded to students whose external grants provide stipends of $3,000 and up. Not all graduate students are familiar with the new program. “I’m not aware of this program,” said Jonathan Nichols GS, who studies geological sciences. “In general, if the information does not come in through my Morning Mail, I will not know about it,” he said. “It would be nice if the University made this information more visible.” The policy will have a greater effect on grad students in the humanities than in math and science fields, Nichols said. “In geology and most sciences, the funding comes
med school morale Warren Alpert’s gift increased morale but hasn’t yet affected the Med School’s coffers
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continued on page 4
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ARTS & CULTURE
Cupid’s arrows travel long-distance By Scott Lowenstein Metro Editor
Under the watchful eye of a poster of “A Clockwork Orange” and an enormous cardboard sign supporting Barack Obama, Nick Greene ’10 trolls the Internet on a rainy Providence day. He’s looking for a Valentine’s Day ecard for his boyfriend, Daniel Goldbard ’09, who is studying abroad in Madrid. “Where are the tacky, gay cards?” Greene says, scrolling through a list of cards on Yahoo. com and a Spanish Valentine’s Day Web site. Rejecting a slew of cards — one was “too heteronormative,” another “just whack” — Greene finally settles on a pink and purple card festooned with moving hear ts and accompanied by a poem he found on the Spanish Web site. Greene’s virtual gift exemplifies the blend of technology and tradition that Brunonians have found to celebrate Valentine’s Day from a distance.
Steve DeLucia / Herald
that’s so yesterday Paige Sarlin GS screened her documentary on the forgotten technology of slide projectors
“On Valentine’s Day … it’s hard when they are not there,” says Barbara Petersen ’10, who has been dating her boyfriend Tyler, a junior at the University of Colorado, for more than two years. For these couples, Valentine’s Day serves as a potent reminder of the distance that separates them. Whether it’s study abroad, different campuses or graduation, these couples won’t let their love be confined to College Hill. But budgets and midterms may prevent Brown students from reaching significant others with anything more than a quick phone call or e-mail, a difficulty highlighted on Feb. 14. “It’s always hard being away, no matter what day it is,” says Santiago Godard ’11, who has been dating his girlfriend Emily, a Northeastern University student,
for five years. Godard, a native of Mexico, says though he is used to his long-distance relationship — his girlfriend is from Australia — it’s still essential to “remember to communicate,” on Valentine’s Day, or any other. Maintaining that long-distance relationship is about “honesty, trust and effort,” Godard says. And luckily enough for the tech-savvy college set, rapidly improving technology has made communication from Rhode Island to just about anywhere with an Internet connection increasingly possible. E-mail and Facebook allow for almost instant contact across campus or across the world. Skype — the popular and free online phone service — is also a favorite among lovesick students other wise out of each other’s reach. continued on page 4
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Long-distance love
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OPINIONS
Which democrat? Matt Aks ‘11 discusses which Democratic candidate can defeat John McCain
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sunny, 26 / 17
tomorrow’s weather Sadly, the sun won’t make up for the embarrassment of getting egged on Thayer Street
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