The Brown Daily Herald T uesday, A pril 15, 2008
Volume CXLIII, No. 51
Two student activists arrested Sunday in D.C. Warren ’09, O’Brien ’10 protest Darfur genocide outside White House By Joanna Wohlmuth Senior Staf f Writer
After more than 500 students marched across the National Mall on Sunday to Lafayette Square, 18 of them — including Scott Warren ’09 and Colin O’Brien ’10 — broke with the group. They crossed Pennsylvania Avenue to stand on the sidewalk directly in front of the White House with protests signs and, as they had planned, were arrested. The protest was one of the many held around the world for the “Global Day for Darfur” to mark five years of genocide in Sudan. It was organized by STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition, the national umbrella organization for more than 700 high school and college programs, including Brown’s Darfur Action Network. The primary goals of Sunday’s protest were to put pressure on President Bush to intervene in Sudan and to get press attention for their cause, said Warren, the national student director and founder of STAND. After standing in front of the White House holding signs bearing protest slogans for about 15 minutes, federal law enforcement arrested the students one by one using plastic handcuffs. They were driven to a jail and spent about two hours in holding cells while they were fingerprinted and paperwork was processed. Both students and police knew that the protest and arrests were going to take place beforehand, Warren said. Students were told what would happen once they were arrested and instructed on
how to behave during the process, he said. “We wanted to make sure we were doing it as peacefully as possible and not provoking any altercations with police,” Warren said. Everything was going according to plan until an officer began to go over the holding procedures, said O’Brien, STAND national high school outreach coordinator. The officer told the students that they would spend the night in jail and would be taken to a judge in the morning. “After 30 seconds of really awkward silence he started cracking up,” O’Brien said. “For those 30 second I was about ready to die.” To be released, each accepted a misdemeanor charge of violating a permit, since the students occupied the area in front of the White House with protest materials for an extended period of time, and paid $100 bail, Warren said. Because they do not plan to challenge the charges, the misdemeanor will go on their permanent record, but no further action will be taken against them by law enforcement officials. “I had doubts beforehand about getting arrested but was really, really happy with my decision,” O’Brien said. “It was really encouraging for us to see so many people on the other side of the street as enthusiastic as we were.” O’Brien said he was concerned about having the charge on his permanent record and questioned whether engaging in civil disobedience would help or harm their cause. “Like everything we do in the movement, it is difficult, if not impossible, to determine the impact beforehand. ... You have to do these things a bit blindly, but we have already seen positive results,” he added. “I am confident that it was continued on page 4
a S t irrin g m e m o ri a l
Min Wu / Herald
Anna Ninan ’09 and members of the Darfur Action Network put flags on Lincoln Field to represent people killed in the conflict in Sudan.
Olympic boycott on student groups’ radars By Gaurie Tilak Staff Writer
As violence in Tibet and Darfur and calls for a boycott of the upcoming Beijing Olympics opening ceremony continue, student groups have taken different positions, or none at all, on the issue. Increasing violence in Tibet and continuing violence in Darfur have raised concerns that China has not lived up to the human rights standard of an Olympic host. Many, including members of Congress, have urged President Bush not to attend the games’ opening ceremony in August. The House of Representatives passed a resolution officially asking him not to attend, though it is non-binding. Many European heads of state have already
Black athletes face challenges, panelists say
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By Alessandra Suuberg Contributing Writer
Alex DePaoli / Herald
New York Times sports writer William Rhoden (second from left) and former basketball coach Craig Robinson (second from right) discussed race and sports at a panel event.
Rhoden drew attention to a problem with the power structures in professional sports. He said that although most athletes and some coaches are black, most team owners are white. “Who’s got the real power?” he asked. Robinson agreed with Rhoden’s point and said that in his experience in college sports, most athletic directors were white.
DOJ: Cops improving Providence Police have improved their civil rights record, the Justice Department has found
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declared they will not attend the opening ceremony of the games. Last week, even the International Olympic Committee, the organization that selected Beijing to host the games, took the rare step of criticizing China’s human rights record, the New York Times reported Friday. Among students who have expressed support for a boycott are those concerned with the violence in Darfur. “It’s overly simplistic to say the Olympics are just a sporting event,” said Scott Warren ’09, president of the Darfur Action Network, Brown’s chapter of STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition, both of which he founded. Warren added that a boycott of the opening ceremony has the potential to
make a powerful statement, especially since the leaders of England, France and Germany have already pledged not to attend. However, Warren said a boycott of the games themselves would be irresponsible. “A complete boycott is unfair to the athletes,” Warren said. The Chinese Students Association, among other groups, has no official opinion on whether the Olympics should be boycotted to protest the country’s human rights record, citing its identity as a cultural rather than political group. “CSA’s members all come from different backgrounds and have different viewpoints,” CSA President Julia Chiang ’09 said. “It would not continued on page 4
Med School inches up in latest U.S. News rankings
by Gaurie Tilak Staf f Writer
Black athletes are exploited by universities, professional teams and the media, panelists said at a discussion titled “Reflections on Race and Sport in America” held Monday night in a packed Andrews Dining Hall. Professor of Africana Studies James Campbell mediated the discussion, which included New York Times sports writer William Rhoden, former men’s basketball head coach Craig Robinson and track star Nicole Burns ’09. The issue of race in spor ts “has become so much a feature of our lives that we scarcely even see it anymore,” Campbell said.
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CAMPUS NEWS
Rhoden compared the world of professional sports to a plantation, where athletes, both black and white, are exploited by team owners. He said players are often traded like commodities and not paid as well as team owners. Rhoden and Robinson both said it was unfair that athletes continued on page 4
STICKY PHANTOM New Dorm resident has his door glued shut; suspects remain at large
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OPINIONS
Alpert Medical School placed 31st for research and 23rd for primary care in U.S. News and World Report’s 2009 rankings of about 130 medical schools — improving from last year’s ranks of 34th and 27th, respectively. The rankings were based on peer and residency director assessments, research activity, student selectivity and test scores, among other factors. Robert Morse, director of data research for U.S. News and World Report, said Brown’s scores in those categories increased across the board this year. He said improvements were seen in the school’s scores for peer reputation, undergraduate GPA and MCAT scores.
BaBYISH REPORTERS Sarah Rosenthal ’11 thinks pundits should take a break and stop being so “infantile”
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Brown medical students as a group had some of the highest MCAT scores on the list, he added. The only area in which Brown’s scores decreased was in faculty-tostudent ratio, he said. That decrease was the result of “slight fluctuation” in the year-to-year enrollment of students, Karen Scanlan, communications manager for Bio Med and Medical Affairs, wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. Dean of Medicine and Biological Sciences Eli Adashi said the medical school has “made significant progress,” but added that there “is still more work to be done.” That includes more than just climbing U.S. News’s list, he said. “It is a mistake to tailor one’s strategy on (the rankings),” he said. continued on page 6
tomorrow’s weather It’s going to be sunny tomorrow in Providence, even if you can’t get a job here.
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