The Brown Daily Herald T hursday, F ebr uar y 21, 2008
Volume CXLIII, No. 20
Since 1866, Daily Since 1891
Michelle Obama stumps in Warwick Iraqis must unify to keep
peace, former minister says
By Nandini Jayakrishna Senior Staff Writer
WARWICK — Americans facing social and economic challenges should look to Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., as the presidential candidate who can best understand their plight, the senator’s wife told about 2,000
By Anne Simons Contributing Writer
METRO supporters at a rally in Warwick Wednesday night. Michelle Obama came to Rhode Island for a private fundraiser in Providence and to campaign on behalf of her husband before the state’s March 4 primary. Obama was introduced by her brother, Craig Robinson, head coach of the Brown men’s basketball team, at the Community College of Rhode Island’s Knight Campus. It’s not often that “a guy who lives on the East Side of Providence continued on page 4
Adam Robbins / Herald
Michelle Obama told about 2,000 supporters that her husband could empathize with their concerns Wednesday night in Warwick.
A new spin Students attend discussion on ‘political sections — in their dorms One couple awoke to climate’ find a section going on By Marisa Calleja Staff Writer
Growing up outside Washington, D.C., Dan Ehlke GS relished the occasional snow days in his hometown and marveled at the powerful
FEATURE precipitation that could shut down an entire city. Now, at 29, Ehlke has turned his childhood fascination into a lifelong pursuit. A seventh-year graduate student in political science, Ehlke’s passion for weather forecasting has gained him notoriety as a teaching assistant and course administrator for POLS 0220: “City Politics.” By checking a number of Web sites several times a day, he draws conclusions from disparities between different readings of the weather, and presents them to his classes — “each and every section.” “I find that people generally respond positively to it,” said Ehlke. “Many are surprised, and some find it random, since not it’s directly connected to what I do. On the other hand, weather is such a universal experience. Everyone likes to have some working knowledge on what it’s going to be like. It’s part of how people connect themselves.” Though his passion for all things meteorological runs deep, Ehlke said it is mainly a hobby and serves as a break from his numerous teaching duties, both at Brown and at Stonehill College. He refers to it as “an oasis” and an escape from his day job — academia is very much his calling. continued on page 8
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METRO
FIVE YEARS LATER Half a decade after the Station fire, a concert and play help commemorate the West Warwick tragedy
www.browndailyherald.com
By Kyla Wilkes Contributing Writer
Some students in Professor of Comparative Literature Arnold Weinstein’s lecture course, COLT 1420T: “The Fiction of Relationship,” can go to class without ever leaving their dorms. Because of a shortage of rooms, Weinstein has decided to hold some of his course’s Thursday discussion sections in various dormitor y and house lounges across campus.
Since his course meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1 p.m., which is a popular hour for classes, a shortage of classrooms makes the lounge sections necessar y, Weinstein said. He added that he actually prefers the informal atmosphere of the lounges or living rooms because lounges often facilitate better discussions. “Brown classrooms are awkward learning situations. I have a lot more relaxed give-and-take — which is what you want sections to be — in students’ own living arrangements,” continued on page 6
Iraqis must prove that they can run their government “without a policeman,” a former senior minister in the interim Iraqi government told a moderately full Salomon 101 Wednesday night. Ali Allawi served as minister of trade, defense and finance in the interim Iraqi government created after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. He gave listeners an insider’s perspective on the nature of the Iraq state, the war in Iraq and the situation in the Middle East at the inaugural Peter Green Lecture on the Modern Middle East. After leaving government in May 2006, Allawi wrote a book about U.S. involvement in Iraq. Titled “The Occupation of Iraq: Winning the War, Losing the Peace,” it was recognized by the Washington Post as one of the top ten nonfiction books of 2007, according to a University press release. Success in Iraq depends on the Iraqi people, Allawi told his audience. “If Iraqis cannot solve their problems, the rest of the world is not going to do it for them,” he said. Allawi laid out a few preconditions for “salvaging” the situation in Iraq, including establishing a political center before the 2009 elections and reducing regional tensions. Quoting Abraham Lincoln, Allawi said of sectarian issues in Iraq, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” If Iraqis can’t live with fellow Iraqis of different religions, their house will fall down around them, he added. The mood in Iraq is “guardedly optimistic,” Allawi, who was last in Iraq two months ago, told The Herald. He said he would like to
Suman Karumuri / Herald
Former Iraqi minister Ali Allawi spoke Wednesday in Salomon 101.
see a gradual withdrawal of U.S. forces over about 18 months with a residual force left for diplomatic purposes. On the subject of the upcoming U.S. presidential elections, he said all of the American presidential candidates “seem to be on the right track” on Iraq policy. Dubbing the U.S. the “midwife” of the second Iraqi state, Allawi told the audience the U.S. toppled what he said he believed to be a terrible dictatorship and changed the dynamic of Middle East power relationships. In February 2006, when the previously underground insurgent war spilled over into the general population, the country dissolved into a civil war between undefined sides. He said the war ended in the summer of 2007 because the insurgents realized they could not win and had to figure out how to exist in the new state, but they looked unstoppable until the U.S. deployed additional troops. He also said the role of the U.S. in the Middle East should be to foster mutual recognition and respect and to bring modernization continued on page 4
With more students using Macs, Ruckus tries to tap in
Online service will offer streaming music for Macs
By the numbers • Students using
PCs: 70% Macs: 30% By Melissa Shube Staff Writer
• Freshmen using
Next month, after years of Mac exclusion and a need to expand its reach, Ruckus will begin offering a streaming music service compatible with Apple computers. At the same time, the number of Mac users on campus is rising rapidly, with just under half the freshman class using Apple computers. Students with Macs are still in the minority at Brown, said John Brougher ’06, computer education specialist at Computing and Information Ser vices. For ever y 70 students with PCs, there are 30 with Macs, Brougher said. “But that’s really changing fast,” he said, adding that the freshman class has a 55-to-45 PC to Mac ratio.
• Students using
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CAMPUS NEWS
PCs: 55% Macs: 45% Ruckus: 2,663 • Tracks downloaded as of Monday:
1,217, 634 • Tracks available:
Over 3.5 million
Meara Sharma / Herald
• Disciplinary cases for illegal downloading in 2006-07: 512
Come March, Mac users will be able to listen to streaming music on Ruckus. As that ratio has changed, Ruckus is moving to capitalize on Mac users’ music demand. In March, the company plans to unveil a service that will allow Mac users to stream — but not download — music. “You’ll be able to
SCI-NON-FI Former New York Times science reporter speaks about the challenges of her craft
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OPINIONS
build playlists, profiles, and it will be stored on the site,” said Chris Utah, Ruckus’s director of campus sales. “We use Windows’ (digital rights management) to secure our files, and Apple just doesn’t recognize it,” Utah said.
Presidential pals Tyler Rosenbaum ‘11 doesn’t want the president to be his buddy
195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island
As of now, the service is only compatible with PCs, leaving Mac users without any free and legal way to download music. Using the Windows version of continued on page 6 tomorrow’s weather Snow spreads quickly. Just like the gossip on juicycampus.com
Snow, 35 / 28 News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com