The Brown Daily Herald F riday, O ctober 31, 2008 THE HERALD POLL
Strongly disapprove 1.1%
86.1 percentStrongly of approve students support Obama, poll finds
Don’t know / no answer 15.3%
UCS
Do you approve or disapprove of the way the Corporation is handling its job as theCorporation University’s highest governing body?
Strongly approve 4.6%
Ruth
Since 1866, Daily Since 1891
5.1%
Volume CXLIII, No. 103
Additionally, 5.1 percent of respondents said they are eligible to vote Strongly Don’t know / Somewhat butSomewhat are not registered. approve Don’t know / The approve no answer approve Herald poll indicates that 29.1% no answer 43.8% 39.4% Brown undergraduates overwhelm- students have generally not been 33.0% Somewhat ingly support Sen. Barack49.3% Obama promiscuous this semester. 80.9 perapprove Somewhat in the 2008 presidential election, ac- cent of Brown undergraduates have 9.4% disapprove cording to a Herald poll conducted had zero or one sexual partner so far 36.7% earlier this week. this semester, according to the poll. 21.4% 86.1 percent of students said they 44.1 percent of respondents reported Somewhat support Obama for president of the 3.2% having had zero partners. This time Strongly disapprove disapprove United States, versus 6.3 percent Strongly who last year, 88.1 percent of students reJustin Coleman / Herald said they favor Sen. John McCain. ported that they’d had between zero disapprove Former Republican presidential contender Mike Huckabee struck an affable tone Ruthand two sexual partners, compared Do you approve or disapprove of the Independent party candidate Ralph last night, speaking and answering questions for just over an hour. UCS Council of Nader received 1.4 percent of the with 86.9 percent this year. Only 1.5 way the Undergraduate Students (UCS) is handling its job? Don’t know / vote, while Libertarian candidate Bob percent of respondents reported that Strongly approve Strongly Barr garnered only 0.5 percent.no answer they’ve had six or more partners this TAs The Heralddisapprove poll was conducted semester. Oct. 27 and Oct. 1.1% 28 and has a 3.6 President Ruth Simmons’ popuDon’t know / No answer percent margin of error with 95 larity stayed fairly consistent from 15.3% Very dissatisfied percent confidence. 3.2%A total of 649 last year. 80.4 percent of students Strongly Somewhat By Melissa Shube pleased by his willingness to Brown undergraduates completed approved of the job Simmons is doSomewhat Somewhat Don’t know / approvewith 84.9 percent this Senior Staff Writer crack jokes. Huckabee received which was administered as ing, compared approve Very the poll,disapprove dissatisfied a standing ovation at the end of a written questionnaire to students in time last year. Only 4.3 percent said no answer 43.8% 33.0% satisfied 14.0% Former Arkansas Gov. Mike his talk. the University Post Office atSomewhat J. Walter they somewhat or strongly disap49.3% 34.1% Wilson, outside the Blue Room Huckabee spoke to a packed SaHuckabee ser ved ten-and-ain proved of the job Simmons is doing, approve lomon 101 Thursday night about half years as governor. He then Faunce House and in the Sciences 9.4% 36.7% and 15.3 percent didn’t know or had his experience as a presidential ran for the 2008 Republican presiLibrary. no opinion. Somewhat candidate, the impor tance of dential nomination, satisfied winning eight Of students polled, 86.1 percent The Undergraduate Council of Very Somewhat improving health care and the states before ceding the nominareported that they are registered to Students does not enjoy the same 3.2% Somewhat 42.5% 1.4 0.9 implementation of tax reform. tion to Sen. John McCain. vote in the United States, with 72.6 support. 38.1 percent of students 0.5 Strongly disapprove Students seemed both enHuckabee said he remained percent of students polled registered disapprove tranced by his message and relatively unknown throughout in a state other than Rhode Island. continued on page 6 By Anne Simons and Sara Sunshine Senior Staff Writers
S
5.4
%
3.2% Somewhat disapprove
Do ha
5.1%
Huckabee: Presidential races short on substance 5.5% %
3.9
Obama
86.1%
McCain
Don’t know / 4.8 No Answer
6.3
What a difference one month can make. On Sept. 29, Wachovia Bank told the 1,007 colleges — including Brown — that had assets in its short-term investment account that they would only be able to access 10 percent of their money, sending some schools scrambling to make sure they could cover operating costs. As of Oct. 27, colleges can access 52 percent of their portion of the $9.3 billion in the account. At the time of the freeze, Brown had about $5 million in a Commonfund account, a small portion of the amount — which fluctuates throughout the year between $50 to $150 million — it invests in similar funds, said Executive Vice President of Finance and Administration
TAs
By Sydney Ember Staff Writer
On Thursday, Iraq War veteran Camilo Mejia described watching an Iraqi man violently beating an eight-year-old boy. The boy had thrown a rock at American soldiers, and in response, Mejia’s lieutenant was going to take him into custody. The man, just a bystander, pleaded with the lieutenant not to
know take away the boy. The lieutenant Don’t out — about/ No his answer experiences in Very dissatisfied told the man the boy could remain Iraq, his decision to refuse reif he would do something worse deployment and what he says is Somewhat to him than what the soldiers had America’s “criminal and illegal” Very dissatisfied planned for him — taking him back occupation there. Speaking to an satisfied 14.0% to the American base, where Mejia audience of more than 70 students, 34.1% said he would face “God knows faculty and community members what.” in List 120, Mejia talked about the Somewhat The man brutally beat the boy current “poverty draft” and both as Mejia looked on, too afraid tosatisfied presidential candidates’ plans for speak out to his lieutenant. the war. 42.5% But last night, Mejia did speak “The truth of the matter is the
Wastewater Infrastructure Awareness Month By George Miller Senior Staff Writer
Courtesy of rinwpca.org
A member of Fecal Matters, Rhode Island’s Operations Challenge team, races to repair a broken section of pipe at the 2007 nationals in San Diego, Calif.
WHAT IF JFK WASN’T SHOT? ‘Virtual JFK,’ directed by Watson Institute Fellow Koji Masutani ARTS & CULTURE ’05 opens at the Cable Car www.browndailyherald.com
86.1%
McCain
0.5
6.3
Other
1.4
continued on page 4
Nader
Waste not, want not: a different kind of boldly brown
Daylight savings time ends on Sunday
3
Obama
SPOTLIGHT
continued on page 9
Don’t forget to set back your clocks by one hour. Daylight Savings Time will end on Sunday at 2 a.m.
majority of the people we are killing is civilians,” Mejia said. “And this is not natural.” Mejia, 33, came to Brown as part of the Resisting Empire Tour, sponsored locally by Brown’s antiwar group Operation Iraqi Freedom, to speak about his experiences during his six-month tour in Iraq and his subsequent decision Somewha
5.5% %
By Joanna Wohlmuth Senior Staff Writer
Iraq War vet, objector speaks out against ‘occupation’ 3.9
U. now has more access to certain funds
Barr
Nader
Other
BYE BYE BICYCLE Rusty bikes in moldy rooms: No longer a fixture in five Wriston CAMPUS NEWS dormitories
5
11
OPINIONS
It’s a big month for wastewater in Rhode Island. This doesn’t make the bus ride out to Warwick to visit a sewer on a Saturday morning any more pleasant. Actually, it’s called a wastewater treatment facility. The plant usually hosts field trips of elementary school students, and most of the people coming through the day’s open house have been families, says Janine Burke, the plant’s executive director. But there are two full-grown men chatting up the employees, and they don’t appear to work at the plant. They’re talking wastewater
aNTI-Establishment sds? Following its recent actions, James Shapiro ’10 wonders about the D in SDS
195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island
lingo — knowledgeably and excitedly. In fact, everybody at the plant is excited. While there’s a day for bringing your daughter to work and the rat gets its own year, the month of October belongs to the sewers. It’s Wastewater Infrastructure Awareness Month in Rhode Island — didn’t you know? The month’s festivities coincide with the industry’s big conference and technology expo in Chicago — including the “wastewater Olympics” — and features the release of “Liquid Assets” and “Hidden Assets,” two Public Broadcasting Services documentaries about “the story of our water infrastructure,” as touted by a dramatic glossy flyer. The two men couldn’t be happier.
12
SPORTS
continued on page 6
balls and pucks Chaz Firestone ’10 gets verbally assaulted at a hockey game in Toronto ... in Boston
News tips: herald@browndailyherald.com
T oday Page 2
Friday, October 31, 2008
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
We a t h e r
Nightmarishly Elastic | Adam Robbins
TODAY
TOMORROW
partly cloudy 49 / 31
sunny 59 / 40
Menu Sharpe Refectory
Verney-Woolley Dining Hall
Lunch — Vegan Vegetable Couscous, Shepard’s Pie, Halloween Cookies and Cupcakes
Lunch — Chicken Fingers, Baked Vegan Nuggets, Mediterranean Bar, Halloween Cookies and Cupcakes
Dinner — Portuguese Vegetable Casserole, Rice Pilaf, Filet of Fish Florentine, Manhattan Clam Chowder
Dinner — Paella with Mussels, Baked Macaroni and Cheese, Spinach Stuffed Tomatoes, Candy Apples
Vagina Dentata | Soojean Kim
Sudoku Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9. Brown Meets RISD | Miguel Llorente
Epimetheos | Samuel Holzman
RELEASE DATE– Friday, October 31, 2008 © Puzzles by Pappocom
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle C r osswo rd Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Glacier National Park’s Garden Wall, e.g. 6 Shorten 10 “In the Dark” band’s nickname, with “the” 14 Scrolls successor 15 Boss of fashion 16 Mediterranean peak 17 Voter from Twain’s hometown? 20 Period 21 Visit 22 Intimidate 23 TV’s “Batman” 24 Obedience school word 25 Meetings of the Hypnotist Party? 32 Burdened one, perhaps 33 Way off 34 Batter’s no. 35 Commandment word 37 Wall St. strategy 38 Blights 41 Tenth Commandment word 43 Communist goon candidate whose name isn’t on the ballot? 46 Treaty gp. formed in Bogotá 47 Dove, for one 48 Deck out 51 Beatles name 53 Manhattan, e.g.: Abbr. 56 Convention deadlock? 59 Empire fighter of film 60 Concern 61 Encourage 62 Acronymous gun 63 Web pg. language 64 1923 literature Nobelist DOWN 1 Pine 2 More than chuckle
3 “The Facts of Life” mentor Garrett 4 X, at times 5 Imperative 6 Like a unicorn tamer, in myth 7 Dominate 8 Graceful arch 9 Lobbyist’s quarry 10 Seat of Macon County, Illinois 11 Classic words of reproach 12 Before long 13 Dressmaker’s seam 18 Comice relative 19 Proclamation 23 Used to be 24 Exec 25 Father-in-law of Motel the tailor 26 Had a tantrum 27 Pull the plug on 28 Rose born William Bruce 29 Barrage 30 War zone correspondent 31 Notice 32 He dethroned Carnera in 1934 35 Indian honorifics
36 Riled (up) 39 Administered an oath to 40 Malay word for “man” 41 Steinbeck’s poodle 42 Alley name 44 Juan Perón’s third wife 45 Novelist Roberts 48 Ready, willing and able: Abbr.
49 It bugs bugs 50 __ English Bulldogge 51 ER shout 52 Period 53 “Young Frankenstein” lab assistant 54 Robert the Bruce subject 55 Focusing device 57 Oberhausen “Oh!” 58 Middle __
Enigma Twist | Dustin Foley
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Alien Weather Forecast | Stephen Lichenstein and Adam Wagner
xwordeditor@aol.com
10/31/08
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A rts & C ulture Friday, October 31, 2008
Page 3
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
‘Biography’ of stars, myth at Perishable Alum’s film at Cable Car imagines a world with JFK By Hannah Levintova Arts & Culture Editor
“Biography of a Constellation,” by Lila Rose Kaplan ’02, is an experimental play that evolves in concentric circles through time and space. Moving from a Greek myth to a 19th-century Harvard observatory,
REVIEW then on to a present-day New York planetarium, a constellation and a galaxy, the play, showing now through Nov. 2 as one of three plays in Perishable Theatre’s 14th International Women’s Playwriting Festival, relates the stories of three women who learn what challenges they are willing to face in pursuit of their passions. It is by no means, however, an exaggerated feminist display of the kind that is often difficult for anyone, male or female, to take seriously. It is a modest but compelling expression of female resolve that also raises themes that are undeniably applicable to all of humanity. “Biography of a Constellation” is billed as a story inspired by Annie Jump Cannon, one of several women, called “the computers,” employed at the Harvard Observator y to compile astronomical data in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. However, the show also recounts the classical myth of a princess chained to a rock to be devoured by sea monsters. And it relates the story of a planetarium announcer, passionate about astronomy and equally eager to revolutionize the gender binary and the roles it compels men and women to play in society. The last and longest of the plays presented at the festival, “Biography of a Constellation,” runs a little over an hour and weaves together the fates of these three women. The play begins in a dark planetarium, where the Planetarium Announcer, played by Elise Morrison GS — a student in the Brown/ Trinity Repertory Consortium — introduces the planetarium’s show: “Meet the Constellations,” framed as an educational program for children. The show relates the story of one constellation in particular — Andromeda, which is linked to a Greek myth and contains a galaxy of the same name. In between sections of Andromeda’s story, the Announcer narrates the stages in the life of a star — birth, childhood, aging and death. “We begin at the end,” she says. “The death of a star is visible long before you can detect its origin.” In the first scene of the play, the audience travels forward in time to the archives of the Har vard Observatory, where the Archival Librarian, played by Gloria Crist, claims that she is 133 years old and Annie Jump Cannon herself. She is stunned when she receives a phone call saying that the woman she believes herself to be has died. Throughout the play, the Librarian lurks around the observatory studying the Andromeda galaxy and pestering Cannon’s grandson Gregory Higher (Gregory Moss MFA’08), a Harvard astronomy professor who is struggling to write his grandmother’s eulogy. Aware of his grandmother’s deep passion for astronomy and her extensive work at Harvard, he comes to the archives
seeking inspiration for his speech. He is baffled by the fact that the Librarian repeatedly claims to be his grandmother. Ultimately, they are both deeply troubled by the death of Annie Jump Cannon, albeit for different reasons, and this provides the foundation for an unlikely and comical connection on stage. This narrative alternates with the Announcer’s asides and the story of the Greek mythical figure of Andromeda, played by Jillian Blevins. The phases of a star’s life are reflected in the separate trajectories of each woman’s story through time. “This play is about watching each of these women advance through each (phase) to the next place of being,” Kaplan told The Herald. “The play belongs to all three of the women, not just one. Their love of the stars propels them forward to make progress, both scientific and also personal.” The next character we meet is the princess Andromeda, daughter of Cassiopeia, the queen of Ethiopia, also played by Gloria Crist. In the original myth, Andromeda is tied to a rock to be consumed by sea monsters as punishment ordained by the Gods for her mother’s extreme vanity. In Kaplan’s reinterpretation of this story, the rock is represented on stage by Crist, symbolizing Cassiopeia’s responsibility for her daughter’s captivity. The plot follows Andromeda’s progression through three different situations of confinement, first chained to a rock, then to Perseus (Bryan Kimmelman), the rescuer she is forced to marry, and ultimately to the sky itself as a constellation. The Planetarium Announcer makes sure to point out to her audience, with witty and not overbearing skepticism, that Andromeda’s story is a generic fairy tale, one with a typical happy ending in which a woman is saved by a man. In the world of Kaplan’s play, however, a docile Andromeda is nowhere to be found. Andromeda wants nothing more than to take pictures of stars through her telescope, and Blevins succeeds at portraying her as a hybrid of impassioned curiosity and sagacious composure. Perseus just wants to paint. He refers to himself as a “deeply misunderstood visual artist,” and Kimmelman pulls off an entertaining caricature of a tortured and somewhat ditzy painter, portraying a character who is far from the imposing male hero typical of Greek mythology. Though Andromeda is always bound against her will — to the rock, to Perseus, and finally to the sky — the roles of dominator and dominated are turned upside down as she manipulates the quixotic Perseus into an accomplice to her ultimate goal — exploring the stars. Enthralled by Andromeda and inspired by her dogged resolve to do what she loves, Perseus is moved to paint and complies with her plan. He paints her into the sky as a constellation, thus freeing her to do what she loves, making her confinement also a liberation. “Andromeda was a jumping-off point,” Kaplan said. “A princess who is chained to a rock because she is a princess seemed to go along with the theme of questioning what it means to be a woman in society.” For Kaplan, it seemed similarly mythic that Annie Jump
By Caroline Sedano Senior Staff Writer
Courtesy of Manuel Rotenberg
Playwright Lila Rose Kaplan ‘02
Cannon and the other “computers” were helping to create a map of the universe. Kaplan chose to triple-cast Gloria Crist as Annie Jump Cannon in the recent past, the Archival Librarian in the present and Cassiopeia in the mythical past to help reinforce the theme of connectivity in the play. “It’s the idea that we are all affecting each other all the time,” she said. “An ancient mythic queen and an old librarian can have some things in common.” Overall, Crist’s separate portrayals are appropriately nuanced. She is frazzled as the Librarian, yet exudes a gentle wisdom when playing Cannon. However, though thematically effective, the downside to such casting is that it does occasionally result in rapid and murky character transitions, leaving the audience confused in a play that is already challenging to follow. Overall, however, Crist’s performances are varied and effective, and her shifts between different time periods and lives are nearly seamless. The Planetarium Announcer is abrasive and bold. She is the play’s third female voice and is the most personable of the characters. “She is the audience’s friend,” Kaplan said.” She has the most formalized language when she talks about the stars, and the most everyday when she talks about herself.” Morison is a pleasure to watch in her role as the Announcer, aptly merging wit and cynicism with insights vital to the show. Addressing the audience as children, she discusses themes that are far from childish — “cultural conditioning,” “existential crises,” feminism, even her own bizarre love problems — with hilariously sarcastic didacticism. In so doing, she provides the connective tissue necessary for audience members to link the phases of a star’s life to those of each of the play’s three women. Her instructive voice helps the audience to weave together the worlds of the play long before their actual convergence at the show’s end. “Biography of a Constellation” plays tonight and tomorrow at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. on a program with two shorter plays. “Lazarus Disposed,” by Desi MorenoPenson, tells the story of Bethany, an outlandish wife trying to cope after the loss of her husband, or rather his magical disappearance into her kitchen sink. Her lover, Ferdinand, is played by former Herald opinions columnist Patrick Harrison ’08. “Lizzy Izzy,” by Holly Jensen, relates the tale of 18-yearold Isabella, a Portuguese exotic dancer about to go on trial for a crime that her life’s tribulations fated her to commit.
Before his assassination in 1963, President John F. Kennedy was planning to withdraw 16,000 U.S. troops from Vietnam as the first step toward pulling out completely. And yet by 1968 there were 500,000 U.S. troops in Vietnam and 20,000 U.S. soldiers had been killed. The United States did not pull out of Vietnam until 1975. A new documentary, “Virtual JFK: Vietnam If Kennedy Had Lived,” directed by Koji Masutani ’05, a visiting fellow at the Watson Institute, examines what Kennedy’s policy decisions might have been had he not been assassinated. The film opens tonight at the Cable Car Cinema and runs through Thursday. Masutani explained that, for historians, assessing the “what if” question is often a tantalizing yet problematic undertaking. He tried to avoid pure guesswork in “Virtual JFK” by looking “at a pattern of behavior.” The film analyzes Kennedy’s responses to the Cuban Missile Crisis, the construction of the Berlin Wall and other political conflicts through the examination of press conferences, speeches and memos in order to speculate how Kennedy might have proceeded in Vietnam. “If it were a betting game, you’d say, like, if six times he de-escalates the situation, what would you guess he’d do in the seventh situation?” Masutani explained, adding that there was a fine line between a piece of fiction and a scholarly project. Despite being an international relations concentrator at Brown, Masutani always had his sights set on filmmaking. He jumped at the opportunity to get involved with the film version of a book that Professor of International Studies Jim Blight and Watson Institute Communications Manager Karen Lynch were working on — studying the policy differences between Ken-
nedy and Johnson. “The methodology in the film is different from their approach in the book because it’s hard to see what someone’s intentions are through paper alone,” Masutani said. “I tried to pay attention to what he does, not what he says. Politicians will say anything.” Masutani stressed that transcripts or books can not capture Kennedy’s wit, charm and ease — especially when dealing with reporters. “Kennedy used to have a press conference every three weeks with three to four hundred people,” said Masutani, who said he watched countless hours of press conference footage in making the film. “It’s very alien to our generation because he’s so articulate and shows he has a firm grasp of foreign affairs.” Masutani is quick to point out that this film has obvious parallels and relevance to today’s political situation. “We didn’t want to date it by mentioning the Iraq war,” he said. “But we are making a film about a president, his decisions about war and his commitment to engage in diplomacy. And today we have a president who has decided to engage in two wars. The connection in my mind is that here is an example of what is not happening today.” Despite little experience with filmmaking, Masutani has spent the last three years working mostly alone in creating the documentary and now is responsible for promoting it, which he said is both rewarding and isolating. “I spend all my time watching and editing footage. I’ve become socially inept,” he joked, adding that it has been nice to stay in Providence after graduating, but for the most part “Providence is great for college and married people.” Masutani and Blight will lead a talkback after tonight’s screening. In the coming months, Masutani, Blight and Lynch will begin work on a teachers’ guide for the film and movie.
Page 4
Brown hearts Huckabee continued from page 1 the majority of his campaign. “I didn’t realize how obscure I was until I tried running for president,” he said. He expressed dissatisfaction with the importance of campaigns on the outcome of the presidential election. “The pursuit of it has become more about the process than policy,” he said. He said in the Republican primary debates, which he called “a bad game show,” he was not asked about important issues such as education reform. Huckabee said that education was “a real problem,” citing that one out of three children in America was dropping out of school. Broadening the education curriculum is essential to keeping kids in school, he said. Removing music and art education, he added, is “the dumbest thing we’ve done.” He also talked about problems in the health care system which he called a “disease care system.” Preventative care, or helping people stop overeating, under-exercising and smoking, could decrease health care costs, he said. Huckabee advocated a tax system that would replace all federal income taxes with a retail tax on consumption. This system would also eliminate the IRS. “We have a tax system that makes it almost impossible for Americans to compete,” he said. He said the current tax system penalizes work, investment, risktaking, entrepreneurial activity and savings. He also said that federal debt was an embarrassment. “My generation has spent it, and left you with the bill.” Huckabee’s speech was punctuated by self-deprecating commentary. When a cell phone went off in the room, Huckabee said, “That’s probably John McCain asking would I go ahead and be on the ticket with him after all.” “I’m busy at Brown University,” he quipped. During the question-and-answer session after the debate, Hucka-
Friday, October 31, 2008
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
bee addressed some contentious issues. When asked about the importance of the vote from those who are socially liberal but fiscally conservative, Huckabee set out a defense of social conservatism. He drew a direct correlation between personal behavior and the cost of governments. “The best thing that each of us could do individually is live a life that doesn’t have to be governed so much,” he said. A student asked if he thought presidential hopefuls Barack Obama or John McCain had a better health care system. Huckabee replied that he didn’t think either has a great health care plan, saying that the system was outdated because leaving the responsibility for health care to employers doesn’t make as much sense today as it did when a person stayed at one job for his or her entire career. He promoted a system that would travel with people as they switched jobs and force insurance companies to support preventive health measures. Later, a student asked if Huckabee would sign her bracelet, and he said he would do it right then. “I have a pen, if you don’t,” he said. Jonah Fisher ’12 said the feeling in the room was of “a comfortable, intellectually honest and warm environment.” “He showed the humanity of the other side in a way we often ignore, because it’s convenient to demonize Republicans and conser vatives,” Zohar Atkins ’10 said. “I appreciated Mike Huckabee’s not having won the primary for the pure fact that we get to enjoy an honest voice that doesn’t have to campaign but can express the idealist worldview that is so silenced by the commodification of the presidency,” Atkins added. Nat Rosenzweig ’10 said he saw similarities between Huckabee’s message and Obama’s. “I think he and Obama share that power to touch humans, in that they have the sincere desire to understand all political issues on a deeply human level.”
Q & A with Mike Huckabee Former Arkansas Governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee spoke to a full Salomon 101 Thursday night. The Herald talked to him beforehand about his experience on the campaign trail, Republican ideology and the economic crisis. The Herald: Did anything surprise you while you were on the campaign trail? And do you think that participating in the campaign has changed you? The biggest surprise was that it was not as brutal running for president as it was running for anything in Arkansas. Arkansas is a tough political environment, especially if you’re a Republican. That was a big surprise. How it changed me, it certainly made me, I think, even more appreciative of America. It didn’t make me cynical, it gave me a lot of optimism and hope. And I was encouraged, rather than discouraged by the entire experience. After the third presidential debate, you said on the TV show “On the Record” that “if this were a bowling match, Senator McCain needed a strike. He left a seven and 10 pins, and while it’s a hard pick up, it’s not impossible.” So what do you think the McCain campaign should do in order to get this strike, and with four days left until the election, do you think he has enough time to do it? I think it is. John McCain needs to focus on a simple economic message. He needs to quit worrying about Bill Ayers and ACORN and all the distractions because, at this point, people either believe it or they don’t and it’s not going
to matter. What is gonna matter is that he’s got to give people a reason to doubt the Barack Obama plan for the economy. That’s the key for him. And he could win. We’ve recently seen a dramatic increase in government inter vention in the economy. How do you feel about the increased government involvement and oversight, which is traditionally not supported by the Republican party? I think the bailout was a huge mistake. It was a disastrous concept, and it created a precedent that we’re already seeing resulting in other companies, entire states all lined up in the federal trough. I personally believe if Senator McCain had opposed the bailout rather than support it, he might have come out of that situation 10 points ahead. Do you think the ideology of the Republican party has changed since you first entered politics in 1992? It may have somewhat. The biggest problem is, it’s not that the basic ideology has changed, but the Republicans who were elected didn’t practice the ideology. When they spent as much money as Democrats they weren’t really acting like Republicans. When they brought more control to Washington, and to the federal government at the expense of states and municipalities, they didn’t act like Republicans. When they incurred huge debts without any really significant way to pay for them, they didn’t act like Republicans. So it wasn’t that people have soured on the Republican brand, it’s that Republicans haven’t delivered it.
You have said that some Republicans feel there is a disconnect between fiscal responsibility and social responsibility. What were you referring to? There’s a connection, when people want less government and lower taxes, they need to understand that the reason we have so much government and high taxes is largely because of the breakdown of basic human behavior. For example the building of prison beds, providing remedial education, social service structures, are largely the result of the breakdown of human behavior. If people govern themselves, there would not be a lot of need for external civil government other than to provide basic infrastructure, a basic military to protect our borders, etc. So the degree to which there is a character or moral breakdown and people are more likely to commit a crime, to hurt someone, to cheat somebody in business, then we start demanding that government step in and regulate and restrict that kind of behavior. Do you have any advice for students interested in pursuing politics or public ser vice? Don’t do it. (Laughs.) I would tell them that the most important way to prepare is to spend some time in the private sector, working, maybe even raising a family, living in the real world where people have to make tough decisions, and interacting with government. Nothing will give them a better understanding of what’s broken in government then having to deal with it every day. — Melissa Shube
Iraq vet went to jail for refusing to serve continued from page 1 to refuse redeployment. The talk was sponsored by Amnesty International, the Watson Institute for International Studies, the Office of Institutional Diversity, Students for a Democratic Society, Young Democratic Socialists, the International Socialist Organization, Brown American Civil Liberties Union, the American Friends Service Committee and the Rhode Island Mobilization Committee. Mejia emigrated from Nicaragua with his family in 1991 and joined the National Guard while studying at the University of Miami to
prepare for a Ph.D. program in psychology. After his return, he refused redeployment and was later sentenced to one year in jail after a military court convicted him of desertion. Though he did not want to be called a “coward or a traitor” before his initial deployment, Mejia said he recognized after his return that he “had to make a choice.” “I realized that I had to either do what the militar y was telling me, which was to keep my mouth shut and keep doing what I was doing, or to say no, I’m not going to do it.” Mejia said his decision was influenced partly by his first mission in Iraq, when he was taken to a “jet bunker,” a temporary prisoner of war camp. “The place was in complete violation of international Red Cross standards,” Mejia said. He described the methods used to keep the detainees sleep-deprived, such as surrounding the prisoners with razor-sharp wire, covering their heads with sandbags so they lost their sense of space and time and hitting the wall next to the detainees with sledge hammers in order to simulate the sounds of an explosion. Mejia also described the humiliation and brutalization he witnessed in Iraq — atrocities that were possible, he said, because the military made no attempt to educate soldiers or Marines about Iraqi culture. For example, he said Iraqis raise their
hands to say hello, and do not understand that American soldiers want them to stop advancing when they make a similar motion. Iraqis would often continue approaching American convoys until soldiers opened fire, which could result in the murder of entire Iraqi families. He also criticized American occupation, which he said involves raiding hospitals and terrorizing families by entering homes “armed to the teeth” and killing and arresting innocent civilians. His experience, Mejia said, taught him that the military tried to discourage individuality, forcing soldiers to become “part of a machine.” But he said he realized that he could replace his previous fear and desire to sur vive while in Iraq with his own attempt to answer moral and philosophical questions. “You can take away my stripes, my rank, my pay, my physical freedom,” Mejia said, “but you cannot take away my spiritual freedom because I am free to follow my conscience.” Rick Ahl ’09, a member of Operation Iraqi Freedom, said the talk was a clear statement about the dehumanization of war. “The only reason war is allowed to continue is because people are allowed to ignore it,” he said. “It was really more of an account of what he experienced,” Keziah Wesley ’12 said. “I’ve never heard anything like that before.”
C ampus n ews Friday, October 31, 2008
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2013 applicants first to submit Common App
Meara Sharma / Herald
Zoe Pierce ’11 and Kathy Meek ’11 were among those carving pumpkins yesterday at the Sarah Doyle Women’s Center.
ResLife starts clearing out abandoned bikes By Colin Chazen Senior Staff Writer
After years of clogging bike rooms with their rusty frames and broken wheels, generations of abandoned bikes are being removed by the Office of Residential Life. ResLife cleared out the bike rooms of five Wriston dormitories on Wednesday, moving all bikes left in the rooms to an off-campus storage facility. In all, 28 bikes were removed, said Thomas Forsberg, associate director of housing and residential life. Forsberg said he expects to clear out all 32 dormitor y bike rooms by the end of the semester. The removal of bikes from those spaces, which began Wednesday, came in response to student complaints about the clearly abandoned bikes taking up space in bike rooms across campus. ResLife sent out an e-mail to all
dorm residents on Monday notifying them that they would be removing all bikes left in bicycle rooms in Chapin, Diman, Goddard, Harkness and Marcy houses between the hours of 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Wednesday. At least one bike owner left his bike in the room during the designated time and has since contacted ResLife about getting his bike back, Forsberg said. All removed bikes will be labelled and photographed before being placed in off-campus storage. Once the bikes have been removed, students have 90 days to claim their bike before they will be declared “surplus,” according to Forsberg. The University is still deciding what to do with bikes that remain unclaimed after the waiting period. ResLife is considering donating them to charity or offering them to students, Forsberg said. Some Wriston residents said
the bike rooms were in need of clearing. “There are a ton of bikes down there. You can tell a lot of them haven’t been used in years,” said Erik Maser ’11, a resident of Olney House who keeps his bike locked to a staircase near his room. “There’s no room down there.” Ben Mathews ’11 complained about having to leave his bike exposed to rain outside because of the space crunch. “It’s hard enough finding the space around Providence to ride a bike, let alone a place to put it,” he said. Maser expressed concer n, though, that some students might not remember to remove their bikes before ResLife does. “I think a lot of people are going to get their bikes taken and they won’t know what happened,” he said. Forsberg of fered one piece of advice to students with bikes: “Watch for the e-mails,” he said.
It’s that time of the year again, when the leaves are turning and nightmares of rejection are cropping up — college application season. Seniors in high schools across the country and the world are frequenting the Common Application Web site, filling out lengthy supplements and trying to solidify their goals in life, all in the name of getting into the university of their choice. For those applying early, the first hurdle is about to be crossed. For Brown, the early decision deadline for the class of 2013 is tomorrow, Nov. 1. The class of 2013 will be the first class to use the Common Application to apply to Brown, a change meant to make the entire process simpler, Dean of Admission James Miller ’73 told The Herald in September. However, applicants have expressed some difficulty with the new supplement. The supplement was “kind of a little bit more than I had expected, particularly the part about a book or project or class that has influenced me,” said Lauren Siciliano, a senior at the Emma Willard School in Troy, N.Y. The Brown forum on College Confidential, a Web site where adults and teens alike can swap information and myths about the college process, is riddled with questions about the supplement and extraneous threads about more superficial aspects of Brown, such as a comment by “QuakQuaker” that “Brown and Red really don’t go together — what were they thinking?” Early decision applicants have also begun discussing how they will react to the decisions, to be released in mid-December. One user, “alfredeneuman,” wrote, “I know if I don’t get in I’m definitely not going to school the next day, and I’ll probably watch Office reruns.” Ani Lee, a recruited cross-country athlete and senior at Carmel High School in Carmel, Calif., sent in her application earlier this week. “Hitting ‘submit’ at the bottom of the Common Application was probably one of the most nerve-racking things I’ve ever done. I just wanted everything to be perfect, or as perfect as I could make it,” she wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. The current class of high school seniors is the largest in the nation’s history, according to a September article in The New York Times. But Lee is hopeful. “Now, I guess I just have to wait; it’s no longer in my hands.” — Shara Azad
Boo!
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76.6 percent of students satisfied with number of TAs in classes continued from page 1
Herald Poll Results 1. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Ruth Simmons is handling her job as president of Brown University? Strongly approve: 43.8% Somewhat approve: 36.7% Somewhat disapprove: 3.2% Strongly disapprove: 1.1% Don’t know / No answer: 15.3% 2. Do you approve or disapprove of the way the Undergraduate Council of Students (UCS) is handling its job? Strongly approve: 5.1% Somewhat approve: 33.0% Somewhat disapprove: 9.4% Strongly disapprove: 3.2% Don’t know / No answer: 49.3% 3. Do you approve or disapprove of the way the Corporation is handling its job as the University’s highest governing body? Strongly approve: 4.6% Somewhat approve: 29.1% Somewhat disapprove: 21.4% Strongly disapprove: 5.4% Don’t know / No answer: 39.4% 4. Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the number of TAs in your classes? Very satisfied: 34.1% Somewhat satisfied: 42.5% Somewhat dissatisfied: 14.0% Very dissatisfied: 3.9% Don’t know / No answer: 5.5% 5. Are you confident or worried about the University’s ability to maintain its commitment to financial aid? Very confident: 10.6% Somewhat confident: 24.7% Neither confident nor worried: 14.8%
Somewhat worried: 33.0% Very worried: 10.2% Don’t know / No answer: 6.8% 6. If the 2008 presidential election were held today, which candidate would you support? Bob Barr: 0.5% John McCain: 6.3% Ralph Nader: 1.4% Barack Obama: 86.1% Other: 0.9% Don’t know / No answer: 4.8% 7. Are you currently involved with or working/volunteering for a presidential campaign? Yes, I volunteered in Rhode Island for a campaign.: 5.7% Yes, I volunteered in another state for a campaign.: 9.6% I gave money to a campaign.: 13.7% No, I did not volunteer or give money.: 74.7% Don’t know / No answer: 1.5% 8. What is your current voter registration status? Registered to vote in Rhode Island: 13.6% Registered to vote in another state: 72.6% Not eligible: 8.6% Not registered: 5.1% Don’t know / No answer: 0.2% 9. Given the current economic situation, how confident or worried are you about finding a job when you graduate from Brown? Very confident: 12.9% Somewhat confident: 23.3% Neither confident nor worried: 15.1% Somewhat worried: 31.9%
Very worried: 7.4% I do not plan to look for a job right after I graduate: 7.4% Don’t know / No answer: 2.0% 10. Compared to your peers at Brown, do you consider yourself overall to be: Well above average: 7.2% Somewhat above average: 33.3% Average: 40.8% Somewhat below average: 5.1% Well below average: 1.1% Don’t know / No answer: 12.5% 11. How many sexual partners have you had so far this semester? 0: 44.1% 1: 36.8% 2: 6.0% 3-5: 3.4% 6 or more: 1.5% Don’t know / No answer: 8.2%
How the poll was conducted Written questionnaires were administered to 649 undergraduates from Oct. 27 to Oct. 28 at the University Post Office in J. Walter Wilson and outside the Blue Room at Faunce House in the morning and afternoon, and at the Sciences Library at night, with the exception of a brief period Monday during a fire alarm at Wilson when students who walked by the building were polled. To ensure random sampling, pollsters approached every third person and asked if the person would like to complete a poll. The poll has a 3.63 percent margin of error with 95 percent confidence. The sample polled was demo-
Do you approve or disapprove of the way Ruth Simmons is handling her job as president of Brown University? Ruth Don’t know / Strongly no answer disapprove 1.1% 15.3% 3.2% Strongly Somewhat approve disapprove 43.8% Somewhat approve 36.7%
graphically similar to the Brown undergraduate population as a whole. The sample was 43.5 percent male and 56.5 percent TAs female. Don’t know / No answer First-years made up 27.4 perVery dissatisfied cent of the sample, 29.3 percent wereSomewhat sophomores, 21.4 percent Very satisfied weredissatisfied juniors 14.0% and 21.9 percent 34.1% were seniors. 69.7 percent of respondents Somewhat identified themselves as white, satisfied 7.9 percent identified as black 42.5% or African-American, 7.8 percent Hispanic, 18.6 percent Asian, 0.9 percent American Indian or Alaska Native, 0.7 percent Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 1.3 percent identified with a racial group or ethnicity not listed and 2.2 percent chose not to answer. The sum of the percentages add up to more than 100 percent due to respondents who identified with multiple ethnic or racial groups. Senior Staff Writers Anne Simons ’11 and Sara Sunshine ’11 coordinated the poll. Herald editors, senior staff writers and staff writers helped conduct it. 5.5% % 3.9
strongly or somewhat approved of the job UCS is doing. But 49.3 percent answered that they didn’t know or had no opinion, up 17.7 percent from one year ago. Student opinion is split on the Corporation, the University’s highest governing body, with 33.7 percent of students saying they approve of the job the Corporation is doing and 26.8 percent saying they disapprove. Though there has been some concern recently among faculty about the number of graduate student teaching assistants needed in undergraduate courses, the majority of students polled were unconcerned: 76.6 percent reported they were very or somewhat satisfied with the number of TAs in their classes. As the University weathers the current financial storm, 43.2 percent of students reported being somewhat or very worried about the University’s ability to maintain its commitment to financial aid. 35.3 percent of respondents said that they are very or somewhat confident about its ability, while 14.8 percent responded that they were neither confident nor worried. With unemployment rising nationwide, 36.2 percent of students reported being very or somewhat confident that they would find a job when they graduate from Brown. 39.3 percent of students said they were somewhat or very worried about finding a job, while 7.4 percent answered that they did not plan to look for a job right after graduation. When asked to compare themselves to their Brown peers, students remained generally modest. 40.8 percent of students said they considered themselves “average” and 40.5 percent answered that they were “somewhat” or “well above average.” Only 6.2 percent responded that they find themselves below average.
Fecal matters, and this month, so does wastewater infrastructure continued from page 1 Sewer groupies Burke, the plant’s executive director, introduces them as “sewer groupies.” Burke came up with the name, says P.J. Doppke of Riverside, “although I’d say it’s pretty accurate.” He and Chris, the other sewer groupie, are brothers, and they are veterans of many more sewage plants than this one. “I’d really like to hit Riverside,” P.J. says, noting that it doesn’t smell as nice as the others and he’s wondering why. Or Narragansett for that matter, he says. Um, how did the brothers get into this? “None of us like sports,” P.J. explains, so they had to find another pastime. He said visiting these plants is right up their alley — a “how stuff works” kind of thing. Chris saw an ad in the Providence Journal for a sewage plant open house last year, P.J. said, and the two were hooked. P.J. speaks with glee about all the strange things he’s seen at wastewater plants. Though the poop is no longer solid by the time it reaches a plant, he says, that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty else for the filters to catch, namely condoms and old rags. “Most people don’t realize what they flush down the toilet,” he says. But the best things, he says, are the grease balls — nasty conglomerations of all the thick oils people have improperly disposed. So much talk about wastewater can make one’s head feel a little like a grease ball, but P.J. puts it all in per-
spective. Water’s important to the Ocean State, he says, from its quahogs to its beaches. And he should know: a native Rhode Islander, his and Chris’s father owned a boating company. “All that stuff is really essential to what it means to be a Rhode Islander,” he says.
resembling a witch’s cauldron full of Sloppy Joes. The bacteria, which live in a sludge that the plant reuses, eat the ammonia and turn it into nitrogen gas, Doyle says. “One of the perks of working” at the plant, Operator Pete Sullivan later jokes of the bacteria, “is it’s all-youcan eat.”
Sludge and bugs The Warwick facility opened its doors at 10 a.m., but by 12:30 p.m. interest grows scarce. Patrick Doyle, an assistant superintendent at the plant, leads a tour of one. As the tour begins, he points to the interstate. A 48-inch-wide pipe brings in every drop of water from Warwick’s toilets and sinks, and it all comes right under I-95, he says, hinting darkly at what would happen if the pipe ever failed. Doyle later says the plant handles 5.5 million gallons of water a day, dumping the cleaned water into the Pawtuxet river. If you’ve flushed a toilet in Warwick, the results have been through here. The tour guide shows off the spiffy technology employed at the facility. A monitor displays all 47 pump stations that feed into the plant, with details on how they’re running. He says he could turn on pumps from his computer at home if he needed. The biological nutrient removal tanks are decidedly less flashy, though no less cutting-edge. They’re covered by a brown, undulating froth caused by the aeration system that feeds the tanks’ “bugs” — bacteria. The system turns each tank into something
‘Manage your stormwater or get managed’ That’s not the only perk, though. Last week, several plant workers traveled to the Illinois industry conference with wastewater on their minds and fire in their bellies. Meet Fecal Matters, Rhode Island’s decorated state competitive wastewater management squad. The team headed to nationals in Chicago after winning the New England regional competition in Cape Cod. The team of five competes in Operations Challenge, more affectionately known as the “wastewater Olympics.” Peter Eldridge, the chief of operations at the West Warwick wastewater treatment plant, is their coach. Ops Challenge is part of the Water Environment Federation’s Annual Technical Exhibition and Conference, or WEFTEC. Other WEFTEC attendees spend their time oohing and aahing over the latest in wastewater technology, attending one of 115 technical sessions (with titles such as “Fundamentals of Phosphorus Removal” and “Manage Your Stormwater or Get Managed”) or playing in the golf tournament. But this is no golf tournament. The Commode Commandos, out
of the Rocky Mountains, sought to defend their title this year, but Fecal Matters, comprised of members from the West Warwick and Cranston facilities, challenged the Commandos along with 40 other teams from across North America. Their performance in the five events — including pipe repair, rescuing a mannequin from a manhole and a simulation of a pump station failure — is based on timing and technique. The coach is allowed to step in if a team member gets injured, which — “knock on wood,” Eldridge says — hasn’t happened yet. Operations Challenge is about pride. You want to prove that you’re the best, Eldridge says. Bill Patenaude, principal engineer with the Office of Water Resources in the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, explains it this way: Even if sewers are an easy butt of jokes, there’s lots of pride within the industry about doing work that’s vital to the way we all live. The team attended its first competition six years ago, when it came up with the team name. One of the team members’ wives drew up their mascot, a piece of poo with a hat and sunglasses, hoisting a drink with his left hand and waving with his right. When the team started up, Eldridge says, he was lucky to be able to find four other guys to be on the team. Now plenty of people are clamoring to get on board. Fecal Matters did “very well” in Chicago, Eldridge says, though “not as well as we hoped to.” The team placed as high as fifth in a few events, he said, but a team from Virginia took
home the gold. Still, there’s always next year. The Rhode Island team will even have the home team advantage at the 2009 regionals, which will be held in Providence. What happens ‘downstream’ Wastewater management, of course, isn’t all fun and games. While it’s easy for the Department of Transportation to get attention for its infrastructure because everybody can see roads, it’s much less so for water infrastructure, Patenaude says. “Because no one sees it, it’s always a tough sell,” he says. Intended to expose these “hidden assets” is a half-hour special with that name, produced by Rhode Island PBS. They wanted to add a local flavor to “Liquid Assets,” the documentary airing nationally, says Kathryn Larsen, program director. Both shows premiered Thursday night. P.J. Doppke had his DVR set to record both. The documentaries, like the infrastructure awareness initiative, have the purpose of encouraging responsible behavior — like not dumping a tub of oil in the backyard, says Tom Stone ’89, the chairman of the Warwick Sewer Authority board. “We want people to understand that when they flush their toilet, there’s a lot that happens downstream,” he says. The water that leaves the Warwick plant goes into the Pawtuxet and from there into Narragansett Bay, he says. Stone says of the Warwick plant, “It’s not just a building with a bunch of pipes and a strange odor.”
W orld & n ation Friday, October 31, 2008
Who are the undecideds? McCain’s, he hopes By Robert Barnes and Jon Cohen Washington Post
WASHINGTON — Barack Obama made his last, best pitch to them Wednesday night, a 30-minute infomercial asking them to “stand with me, and fight by my side.” John McCain continues to think they will move his direction en masse and deliver him to a come-from-behind victory. But for voters who are still undecided after the longest presidential campaign in history, time is running out. And many of those who say they haven’t committed to a candidate may actually have a favorite. McCain pollster Bill McInturff wrote in a memo released to the media this week that voters who are telling pollsters they have not made up their minds, or refused to say who they are supporting, will eventually come through for McCain. He said that in the campaign’s polling, undecided voters are “older, downscale, more rural and are certainly economically stressed” and likely to vote for McCain because they voted for President Bush decisively over Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., four years ago. Even some Democrats subscribe to the theory that remaining undecided voters are really voters who have decided not to support Obama, despite his lead in the polls and the advantage he receives because of the unpopularity of the current Republican administration. Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Edward Rendell said in a recent interview that “the undecideds are most likely not going to go in Obama’s direction” in his state. Rendell, a perpetually nervous politician, acknowledges that Obama has a lead in his state greater than the number of undecideds but said there could be a problem if Democrats have trouble getting out their supporters. That is one reason those on both sides are focusing on whether Obama’s standing in the polls is over 50 percent rather than on the size of his margin over McCain. But beyond McInturff’s unsurprising analysis and the intuition of Rendell and others, it is difficult to find evidence on which to predict the direction of the undecideds or even know how many of them there are. The range on likely voters with “no opinion” in this week’s national polls varies from 1 to 9 percent. But that figure is more closely related to polling technique than to true indecision. For instance, while The Washington Post-ABC national poll classifies only a small percentage of voters as “undecided,” there is a larger percentage of the electorate that is “movable,” meaning those voters could shift their choice before Election Day. The estimated number of movable voters in the current Post poll, which shows Obama in the lead 52 percent to 44 percent, is 10 percent. That is about the same level as this time in 2004 (11 percent) and significantly under the level in 2000 (17 percent). Undecideds “are a very small group, I think, because people probably by now have made up their minds,” Obama senior strategist David Axelrod said recently. Obama’s media blitz Wednesday — the multimillion-dollar broadcast shown on a half-dozen networks and
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cable stations, the late-night rally with former President Bill Clinton — was a chance to talk directly to voters “one more time before they vote,” Axelrod said. But Tad Devine, a Democratic strategist not affiliated with the campaign, said he thought the Obama infomercial was already making the turn from trying to sell voters on Obama to “reassuring them” that they had made the right choice. “I don’t think we’re in a persuasion (stage) now, we’re in mobilization,” he said. Devine thinks that even those voters who say they are undecided have a pretty good feel for how they are going to vote, because of their underlying views about the issues or their personal feelings about the candidates. Debra Deremiah knew exactly who she would vote for in November: Hillary Rodham Clinton. With that option gone, the 59-year-old Democrat from Amherst, Ohio, is at a loss. “I’m undecided, and I am not an undecided type of person,” Deremiah said. She said she rarely votes a straight party ballot and is weighing who could “salvage” the economy and who has “the right experience for what we need now in our place in the world.” “I’ll vote,” she said, “I just don’t know which way I’ll go.” Nearly half of all movables in the Post poll are independents, as most partisans have sorted out as expected. Overall, independents go 49 percent for Obama, 45 percent for McCain. Several variables this year make predictions hard. For one, pollsters of all stripes see in their surveys an unprecedented interest in the race, which could lead to record turnouts and alter the normal turnout models. The interest is evident in early-voting states. In the Post poll, nearly two in
10 voters, 17 percent, said they have already cast ballots. And another 18 percent said they plan to vote before Tuesday. The Post poll illustrates a challenge for McCain in making a strong close. Among those voters who say they are still undecided or open to persuasion, more are currently McCain supporters than Obama backers. So McCain has to fight to hang on to those voters as well as convince those leaning toward the Democrat. And Obama’s supporters seem more enthusiastic. Among all likely voters in the Post-ABC poll, 49 percent say they are “definitely” voting for Obama heading into the final weekend, compared with 40 percent who say the same about McCain. At this stage in his successful elections in 2000 and 2004, Bush had the solid support of only 44 percent of those polled. One intriguing question about the undecided voters is whether there is a hidden racial component that would tip the group decisively toward McCain. The speculation is that voters might be reluctant to tell pollsters they would vote against Obama because he is an African American, even if they have decided to do so. But University of Wisconsin political science professor Charles Franklin has just completed an analysis of polling data that he says finds no evidence of that. His study of tracking data collected by the Hotline shows that undecided voters — 6 percent of the total in those surveys — have similar attitudes toward African Americans as those who have made up their minds. This and other analyses seem to show that whatever role racial prejudice plays in voters’ decisions, there is no net effect on Obama’s or McCain’s level of support.
Fab Four finally go digital in planned video game By Randy Lewis Los Angeles Times
The music of the Beatles will at long last start its journey across the digital universe next year as part of a new interactive video game being developed by the creators of the hit “Rock Band” game. The Fab Four’s recordings, the major holdout from availability in any digital form, will be part of a still-untitled game, being described as a fully immersive and interactive experience, to be released for the 2009 holiday season, said Jeff Jones, chief executive of Apple Corps, the company the Beatles established in 1968 to oversee their business affairs. “The project is a fun idea which broadens the appeal of the Beatles and their music,” Paul McCartney said in a statement. “I like people having the opportunity to get to know the music from the inside out.” McCartney; Ringo Starr; John Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono; and George Harrison’s widow, Olivia Harrison; have been and will continue to be directly involved in creating the game, Jones said. Participants in a Thursday-morning news conference announcing the game said it will take players on a journey through the Beatles’ music and story with imagery and songs spanning the band’s career. They also said it will be a completely new game, not a Beatles edition of Rock Band, though current Rock Band players will be able to use some of the same game peripherals. “The Beatles continue to evolve with the passing of time and how wonderful that the Beatles’ legacy will find its natural progression into the 21st century through the computerized
world we live in,” Starr said in the same statement. Participants in the teleconference included MTV executives Judy McGrath and Van Toffler, and Alex Rigopulos, chief executive and cofounder of Harmonix, which created Rock Band. Music supervisor for the game will be Giles Martin, the son of original Beatles producer George Martin, who worked with his father in creating the double-Grammy-winning soundtrack for the Cirque du SoleilBeatles show “Love” in Las Vegas. There had long been speculation about the use of Beatles music in a video game format, and earlier this year, Martin Bandier, chief executive of Sony ATV Publishing, which owns most of the Beatles copyrights, told the Los Angeles Times that he “liked the idea of a dedicated Beatles edition of `Guitar Hero.’” In aligning instead with the rival “Rock Band” team, Jones said that “MTV and Harmonix was clearly the innovator in this category of games; they had the first platform to offer a full band experience. Apple was also impressed with their creative approach.” Despite continued requests from many Beatles fans for sonically upgraded Beatles recordings, Giles Martin said the new video game would largely rely on the existing recordings and audio mixes. “The thing we’re trying to keep here is for people to play the songs as though they’re playing the originals,” he said. “We’ll be (using) the original mixes that my father and the Beatles did back in the day and doing our best to preserve the sound quality. We want people to interact with what they know very well, as opposed to rehashing the music as we did in `Love.’”
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Friday, October 31, 2008
Water polo’s LeBeau ’09 grants an interview continued from page 12 we can beat anyone on the East Coast. Complementing our win was a close loss to Bucknell which showed that we can beat anyone but that we need to keep working hard in practice for another month. What does the team have to do to finish the rest of the season strong heading into playof fs?
We need to practice like we want to play, with both urgency and patience. This means playing ever y possession in practice like it’s the fourth quarter of the championship game at Easterns, while also playing smart and not rushing shots. We have such a potent offense that if we are patient, something will open up. What are you going to miss the most from your time on the
water polo team at Brown? Water polo is an excuse to spend time with my best friends. After this fall, there will be very few times when we’ll all be together again, which is definitely what I’ll miss the most. Grant and the rest of the Bears closed out the regular season last night at MIT with a win and will start their postseason with a trip to the Northern Division Championship.
W. field hockey battles with Quakers continued from page 12 “When you’re having one of those days where ever yone is playing well and implementing the game plan well, it just gives this extra boost of confidence that you know no matter what the scoreboard says, you’re going to finish it,” she said. “Yesterday was one of those days.” The scoreboard went the right way for Bruno just 10:07 into the second half, when Zysk scored off a pass from Malgieri. 4:05 later, Zysk redirected a shot by Springmeyer into the cage to give Brown a 3-1 lead. “Both of Tacy Zysk’s goals were beautiful,” Harrington said. “Her third goal was a deflection, and it was a hard, hard hit ball from Leslie Springmeyer. I’m not really sure
how she got a touch on it, but she did, and it was a top-notch goal. Getting those bang-bang-bang was great for our momentum.” But it was not smooth for the Bears down the stretch. With 8:45 remaining in the game, Eaton was given a yellow card, which in field hockey requires a five-minute suspension in which the player must leave and the team must play shorthanded. With five minutes left in the game, the Crusaders cut the lead in half. “It gets a little scary when you have one less player on the field than the other team,” Sacco said. “Holy Cross did take advantage of that fact and was able to get in and really pressure our defensive circle, and they were able to get that goal.” But Harrington said the Bears
calmed down when Eaton returned to the game with about three minutes remaining, and they were able to slam the door. Brown goalkeeper Caroline Washburn ’12 finished with three saves, while Zysk led the offense with eight shots. The Bears will need the momentum from this win to carr y over to Sunday, when they travel to Philadelphia to take on the Penn Quakers (5-10, 3-2 Ivy League). The Bears will shoot for their first conference win in their final road game of the season. “We’re definitely taking this win and keeping ourselves pumped up for the game this weekend, taking that intensity into the game against Penn,” Sacco said. “I think we’re all really ready to buckle down and get an Ivy League win.”
$3 mil. of U. money frozen in account continued from page 1 Elizabeth Huidekoper. The account is operated by Commonfund, a Connecticutbased financial group, but as the fund’s trustee, Wachovia bears full fiduciary responsibility, giving them sole discretion to freeze the account, according to Keith Luke, Commonfund’s managing director. Wachovia has also announced its plan to resign as the fund’s trustee, effective Dec. 31. Many colleges and universities use short-term investment accounts like the Commonfund Short Term Fund to cover operating costs, Huidekoper said. The fund’s short-term nature means it acts as a sort of checking account for the University. The schools most affected by the freeze were those without bank credit set up and without other liquid assets, Luke said. But most have been able to meet normal operating costs now that more than half of the account is available, he added. Wachovia decided to restrict liquidity because it feared a rush to withdraw money could force it to sell securities in the account at lower than their intrinsic value, Luke said. At the end of September, the market for highly rated commercial paper, which constituted the majority of the Commonfund assets, was shrinking because “no one wanted the risk,” Luke said. At any given time, colleges have some of their cash flow directed in and out of these accounts to provide maximum liquidity while still making returns of about 1 to 3 percent, Huidekoper said. Though larger institutions keep the bulk of their assets in longterm endowment investments that can be drawn from when neces-
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sar y, many smaller schools do not have significant reser ves to draw from. Over the summer, the University decided to reallocate most of its holdings in the Commonfund to what were considered safer investments, Huidekoper said. When the fund was frozen, Brown had approximately $5 million in the account. About $3 million remains frozen in the account as the University moves money into Treasury securities, Huidekoper said. The exact balance of liquid assets in these accounts fluctuates throughout the year, depending on when inflow like tuition payments and gifts is received and when money is withdrawn to cover University expenses. “Ever y year (the allocation of funds) changes, so nothing is stable,” Huidekoper said. “It is constantly being managed” by the Investment Office. Huidekoper is one of 12 Commonfund board members but is not involved in specific fundmanagement decisions, she said. She helps to oversee the overall direction of Commonfund’s various short- and long-term accounts and represents the interests of the higher-education community on the board. Wachovia will remain involved with the fund until a successor trustee in named, Luke said. Commonfund is considering changing the structure of its short-term account and may decide to manage
the fund without the oversight of a trustee. In the interim, because deposits are not being accepted for the Wachovia-run account, a shortterm government securities fund has been set up by Commonfund, Luke said. “It is very clear that the entire liquid management business has changed dramatically,” Luke said. “But we know there is an absolute need” for such funds in the education community. Commonfund will continue to liquefy assets as quickly as possible in accordance with the fund’s investment strategy, Luke said. None of the securities held by the account have defaulted and all are still paying timely dividends and interest. At least 66 percent of the total funds will be available by Dec. 31 based solely on maturing securities, Luke said. Commonfund has provided interested clients with the contact information of banks that were willing to lend directly to schools and have kept them informed as decisions are made about the management of the fund, he said. They will continue to give schools access to their money as soon as possible while simultaneously working to set up a new short-term investment fund, Luke said. Some schools that invest in Commonfund include Washington University in St. Louis, in Missouri, Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa, and Assumption College in Worcester, Mass.
Firestone ’10: Bostonians gotta show some respect continued from page 12 As we left, my friend and I reflected on how juvenile and abrasive this abrasive juvenile had been, but also had the opportunity to consider his actions in a broader social context. Aside from the scoring, the biggest action of the first period had been a brutal open-ice hit by Bruin defenseman Dennis Wideman that horizontalized Leafer Matt Stajan and stopped the play. The crowd responded to the hit by erupting into a “U.S.A.” chant. Irony aside — Wideman and Stajan are both Canadian — what interested us was that the crowd never chanted “U.S.A.” for a skillful goal or a beautiful save; instead, the most patriotic chant was reserved for violence — and there was plenty more of that to come. By the start of the second period we had moved to the lower bowl and were less than 20 rows from the ice. The crowd warmed up to Canadian band Arcade Fire’s hit “Wake Up,” and the puck was dropped a few minutes later. But just 20 seconds into the period, Bruin Milan Lucic delivered a crushing check to Toronto’s Mike Van Ryn along the boards, instantly shattering an entire pane of acrylic glass. It was an impressive hit, but what few seemed to notice was that the bulk of the shards fell on a woman seated in the front row. Even from my seat across the rink, I could see a red streak form across the woman’s forehead. But the fans just a few rows back of her — along with the rest of the arena — cheered on their player, seemingly oblivious to the poor woman and the blood dripping out of the gash on her face. Big and Rich’s “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)” played from the speakers as the woman was sent to a local hospital, and the uninjured fans nearby were moved to some of the arena’s thousands of empty seats. The show of indifference and lack of compassion must have fired up the Leafs, because after the glass was fixed they scored four unanswered goals to win the game 4-2. The hecklers mostly kept their mouths shut for the rest of the game, save one portly man who grew so tired of our standing and clapping that he told an usher we weren’t sitting in our proper seats. Luckily, the man was drunk enough that the usher didn’t give much weight to his complaint and instead just smiled at us as we applauded our victorious team. We walked out of the Toronto ... Garden beaming, and received some expected flak in the overcrowded subway station. “You suck!” someone shouted at my friend. “You don’t even know me!” he replied. But as we filed through the automated glass gates, things got a little rougher. The “you suck” guy pretended to trip on something and bumped my friend in the back with his chest. My friend asserted himself and called the guy out — “Why would you do something like that?”
Trick or treat!
But just as we could start to feel some uncomfortable tension in the air, a mammoth of a man wedged his leg in between both of them. At first we were worried he was stepping in to back up the Bruins fan, but we quickly realized that he was actually trying to protect us. He shoved the aggressor aside with his rear and followed us through the gate. This man was huge and clearly drunk, but in a BFG sort of way. Eyeing our Toronto jerseys, he offered to accompany us home to make sure we didn’t get into any trouble. We politely resisted the offer, but when he asked us where we were headed and we told him Harvard, he smiled and showed us his Harvard ID — it turned out that our pudgy protector was a staff member at a computer lab there. The three of us squeezed into a subway car that was clearly over capacity. But just before the doors closed, two groups of about five friends each — including the aggressive Bruin fan — shoved their way into the car. The entire car was almost faceto-face. Our burly friend positioned himself in between us and the two posses, anticipating what was to come. It appeared that someone in one group bumped someone in the other group, and within a minute of the doors closing, one-third of the car had erupted into an all-out brawl, with barfight-style punches to the face. Our friend could have taken any of them easily, but he spread his arms and shielded the rest of the car from the fight. Women and elderly folks from the dangerous side of the car ducked under his arms and stood with us, and anytime the fight crept closer to our side he would give the group a big push back with his trunk. He even took one combatant aside and convinced him not to punch back because he wasn’t bleeding, even as blood trickled out of a cut beside his eye. By the time we reached Park Street, our new friend had broken up the fight and protected everyone on the car from harm — all with a goofy smile on his face. In exchange, we let him tell us all about his cross-continent trip to visit as many halls of fame as he could, passing through Niagara Falls — “that’s quite a crevasse you’ve got there.” I had grown bitter toward the city of Boston at the game and in the subway, but this man made me rethink my image of the region — until I learned that he was from St. Louis, Mo. So, New England, suffice it to say that you’ve lost a future fan, a loyal supporter and a devoted wig-wearer. The siren song of your successful teams and illustrious history will not draw me in, for I now know how sharp the Massachusetts Bay rocks really are. I cheered for the Rams last week.
Chaz Firestone ’10 still doesn’t know where Americans’ genitals are.
E ditorial & L etters Page 10
Friday, October 31, 2008
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
S t a ff E d i t o r i a l
Diamonds and coal Coal to the student who was reprimanded for reaching over the counter to grab french fries at Josiah’s — and then was caught doing it again a few minutes later. You, sir, are the reason that Jo’s remains a classy establishment. Speaking of class, cubic zirconium to Paul Bourgeois, captain of the new Trader Joe’s store that just opened in Warwick, for bringing Brown students a place to exchange their parents’ surplus wages for your delicious, organic commodities. Nonworking men and women of all dormitories, unite! Coal to Residential Council’s decision not to give pass-fail evaluations to program houses anymore. What will you do now, make course performance reports available? This is a dangerous assault on the New Curriculum. A diamond to the members of the football team who were among the more than 200 people bench-pressing on the Main Green to raise $22,500 for the American Cancer Society. Now that you have those free pink T-shirts, could you consider retiring your Thete Spring Weekend shirts? Coal to Providence Police Officer Noel Field, who told us, “Some of (the Thayer Street loiterers), I don’t know how else to describe it — they’re characters. They have mohawks.” Now now, didn’t you learn in police sensitivity training not to judge a suspect by his hairdo? Cubic zirconium to Ripon College in Wisconsin, which gave 170 of its freshmen bicycles in exchange for their pledges not to bring cars to school. Environmentalism is admirable, but are the bikes really being put to good use? As one student said, she likes to “go riding across town to the prairie.” P ete fallon
A diamond to the John McCain blow-up doll in a Chapin House suite. Now “F*ck McCain” is more realistic than ever. Cubic zirconium to the Brown University Community Council for its support for a discussion on whether to recognize Columbus Day. Just in time, too: With 345 days left until the next one, there’s barely enough time for the University to establish a joint commission, a task force, a special council, a community forum and a MyCourses discussion and voting page to make the final call. A diamond to DPS, which found a “greenish/brownish substance in a clear bag” during a housing inspection this week. According to the crime log, “The pipe and the green leafy substance were taken back to department headquarters, where a field test was conducted.” This Halloween, DPS gets a treat too.
T he B rown D aily H erald Editors-in-Chief Simmi Aujla Ross Frazier
Executive Editors Taylor Barnes Chris Gang
Senior Editors Irene Chen Lindsey Meyers
editorial Ben Hyman Hannah Levintova Matthew Varley Alex Roehrkasse Chaz Firestone Nandini Jayakrishna Scott Lowenstein Michael Bechek Isabel Gottlieb Franklin Kanin Michael Skocpol Ben Bernstein James Shapiro Benjy Asher Amy Ehrhart Megan McCahill Andrew Braca Han Cui Katie Wood
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Meara Sharma Min Wu Justin Coleman
Letters Funders don’t affect Janus Forum’s choices To the Editor: At the Janus Forum we pride ourselves on asking tough questions and examining positions we might be uncomfortable with. We believe as much as anyone that we should consider all the ramifications of where our financial support comes from. However, we also believe that The Herald’s characterization of the Janus Forum in Tuesday’s editorial was not only unfair, but grossly misrepresented who we are, what we stand for and how we operate and make our decisions. No one — not the Political Theory Project, not our funders, not even Ruth Simmons herself — could or would convince us to consider any issue or speaker for any reason besides the speaker’s knowledge and status, the facts at hand and the relevance of and interest in the topic. Although it is true that money sometimes talks, the fact of the matter is that we do not listen. We do not, as The Herald claims, have any “financial incentive to look at particular topics or falsely set up opposing viewpoints.” This would go directly against our mission of fostering open debate and dialogue around relevant political issues. All decisions about Lecture Series speakers and
topics are made by a consensus of the Janus Forum Steering Committee, a body of representatives from a wide array of Brown’s politically relevant groups, including the Brown Democrats and College Republicans, Hillel, emPOWER and the Queer Alliance, among many others. As a group, the committee brings its choices for topics and speakers to the Political Theory Project, which then handles scheduling and speaker fees, but we would like to emphasize that funding plays no part in the Steering Committee’s decision-making process. We invite all interested students and groups to take part in The Janus Forum in any way they can, as long as they come with an open mind and a passion for ideas. Dan MacCombie ’08.5 Sumeet Goil ’09 Anthony Staehelin ’10 Andrea Matthews ’11 Gene Goldstein-Plesser ’11 Chris Havasy ’10 Darren Kong ’10 Janus Forum Executive Board Oct. 29
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post- magazine Matt Hill Rajiv Jayadevan Arthur Matuszewski Colleen Brogan Kelly McKowen Patrick Martin-Tuite Bob Short Monica Huang Kristen Olds
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Chaz Kelsh, Steve DeLucia, Designers Rachel Isaacs, Anna Jouravleva, Geoffrey Kyi, Seth Motel, Copy Editors George Miller, Michael Skocpol, Simon van Zuylen-Wood, Joanna Wohlmuth, Night Editors Senior Staff Writers Mitra Anoushiravani, Colin Chazen, Chaz Kelsh, Emmy Liss, Brian Mastroianni, George Miller, Melissa Shube, Anne Simons, Sara Sunshine, Gaurie Tilak, Caroline Sedano, Jenna Stark, Joanna Wohlmuth, Simon van Zuylen-Wood Staff Writers Zunaira Choudhary, Leslie Primack, Connie Zheng, Christian Martell, Alexandra Ulmer, Lauren Pischel, Samuel Byker, Anne Deggelman, Nicole Dungca, Olivia Hoffman, Cameron Lee, Debbie Lehmann, Sophia Li, Seth Motel, Marielle Segarra, Kyla Wilkes, Juliana Friend, Sydney Ember, Hannah Moser, Sarah Husk Sports Staff Writers Peter Cipparone, Nicole Stock Business Staff Maximilian Barrows, Thanases Plestis, Agathe Roncey, Allen McGonagill, Ben Xiong, Bonnie Kim, Cathy Li, Christiana Stephenson, Corey Schwartz, Evan Sumortin, Galen Cho, Han Lee, Haydar Taygun, Jackie Goldman, Jilyn Chao, Kathy Bui, Kelly Wess, Kenneth So, Lee Chau, Lyndse Yess, Margaret Watson, Matthew Burrows, Maura Lynch, Misha Desai, Stassia Chyzhykova, Webber Xu, William Schweitzer Design Staff Shara Azad, Marlee Bruning, Jessica Calihan, Rachel Isaacs, Amy Kendall, Jessica Kirschner, Joanna Lee, Maxwell Rosero Photo Staff Alex DePaoli, Eunice Hong, Kim Perley, Quinn Savit, Justin Coleman Copy Editors Rafael Chaiken, Ellen Cushing, Younhun Kim, Frederic Lu, Lauren Fedor, Madeleine Rosenberg, Kelly Mallahan, Jennifer Kim, Tarah Knaresboro, Jordan Mainzer, Janine Lopez, Luis Solis, Ayelet Brinn, Rachel Starr, Riva Shah, Jason Yum, Simon Leibling, Rachel Isaacs
C O R R E C T I O N S P olicy 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. C ommentary 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. L etters to the E ditor P olicy 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 P olicy The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. reserves the right to accept or decline any advertisement at its discretion.
O pinions Friday, October 31, 2008
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Student for an undemocratic bureaucracy JAMES SHAPIRO Opinions Editor They’re at it again. One month ago the Students for a Democratic Society were busy embarrassing their peers in front of prospective employers. Last week they broke into the October meeting of the Brown Corporation in a desperate bid to change the University’s decision-making process. Many students have already voiced their annoyance with SDS’s tactics. I would like to take aim at their mission. SDS members want the Corporation to open its meetings to the Brown community, release its minutes to the public and let community members set the agenda and vote in a referendum on all major decisions. I take the opposite view, namely that students, staff and faculty should have no vote on University matters and Corporation meetings and records should remain closed. SDS supports community referenda as a way of ensuring that “those most affected by Corporation decisions will be those who have the final say.” If Brown gave ultimate authority to those most affected by University decisions — a group that includes not just current students, staff and faculty but also Providence residents and future students — it would spell Brunonia’s doom. To see why, consider the consequences of letting Providence residents vote on any University policy that affects them (the two SDS members I interviewed — Alex Tye ‘10 and Julian Park ‘12 — said they were open to the idea, although they noted that they could not speak for the group). Brown would have an impossible time expanding and maintaining its campus if local residents had the power to veto all new projects. Providence residents are affected by the
amount of money the University decides to donate to local public schools. Does that mean that they should be able to vote on the budget? Perhaps we should open up discussion on the “Plan to Redistribute the Endowment to Local Homeowners.” If that sounds far-fetched, consider one of SDS’s letters to the editor (“Accessible education,” Feb. 25) in which they demand that the University make lectures and libraries freely available to local residents. If, on the other hand, SDS members don’t want to cede Brown’s autonomy, they should admit that “participatory democracy” isn’t really what they’re after. Functional dilemmas aside, there are fur-
legal or ethical obligation to continue funding and attending Brown. Corporation members can claim another definite advantage over current students, faculty and staff. The latter face conflicts of interest. Consider the recent suggestion that Brown should eliminate tuition. Current students would likely benefit from this policy at future students’ expense because Brown would have to plunder the endowment in order to cover annual operating costs. Similarly, faculty and staff have incentives to maximize their compensation to the exclusion of other budgetary priorities. In contrast, Corporation members are impartial actors. Most of them have no financial
Students, staff and faculty should have no vote on University matters and Corporation meetings and records should remain closed. ther reasons to let the Corporation call the shots. Corporation members are more qualified to govern a major research university than the average Brown student is. Most students don’t understand how to run a business. Many Corporation members do. But perhaps administrative competence isn’t the issue. In a recent article (“In debate over records, a glimpse back in time,” Oct. 16), one SDS member said that the corporation isn’t making “bad decisions,” but rather “decisions they don’t have the right to make.” Of course, those who are uncomfortable with letting the Corporation spend their money have recourse. They are under no
stake in the University. When they deliberate, they can account for the interests of future generations of Brown students and faculty who cannot vote in referenda. SDS also demands that the Corporation let community members set the agenda, “to ensure that the Corporation addresses relevant issues, not simply those deemed significant by a small group of wealthy, powerful individuals.” If the Corporation didn’t set the agenda it might waste time on irrelevant issues deemed significant by a small group of vocal activists. The minutes I looked at (supplemented by reports from more recent meetings) confirm that the Corporation spends its time discuss-
ing vital concerns including construction projects, tuition, academics and the budget. SDS’s other demands are a bit more realistic. They hope to change the Corporation’s current practices of closing meetings to the public and sealing records for 50 years. I paid a visit to the archives to examine the Corporation’s old records and get a better idea of what goes on in their meetings. The minutes were informative, if a bit dated. Contrary to SDS’s claims, open minutes would reduce Corporation transparency by chilling debate over sensitive topics. Take, for example, discussion of Brown’s shortcomings relative to competitors. The two sets of records I reviewed (from June 1941 and May 1958) compared Pembroke and Brown to other schools in terms of their tuition and academic offerings. President Henry Wriston felt that Brown was wasting money on unnecessary courses, and he explicitly mentioned that Princeton offered less of them. Comparisons help Corporation members evaluate Brown and improve the University’s standing. But Corporation members would not be able to candidly contrast Brown with other schools if they knew that their conversations would soon come under scrutiny from donors, the media and recently admitted high school seniors. SDS’s demands are motivated by valid concerns. Student input is important and the Corporation might make better decisions if it were more attuned to community issues. However, the Corporation can get input using less drastic means — by, for example, designating a spot on the board for a recent alum, something the Corporation is considering. It is time to make peace with the establishment. As fun as protesting can be, collaboration and modest reform are the best, and only, way forward.
James Shapiro ’10 thinks the Corporation should relocate its meetings to Governor Street, between Benevolent and Power.
Library shelvers deserve better treatment BY PATRICK HARRISON Guest Columnist The Herald should be applauded for its coverage of the difficulty Brown’s under-appreciated library shelvers have had getting adequate compensation for their work-related injuries (“Librar y shelvers suffer from repetitive stress injuries,” Oct. 24). Having worked part time this past summer as a student shelving assistant, I can testify to the strenuousness of the job and the professionalism of the library shelvers. Shelving books may seem like an easy job, but hours and hours of repeating the same simple movements can create real wear on the body, and the monotony of the work can leave you feeling mentally fried. If the soles of your shoes are wearing thin (as mine were), or if you’re not careful about how you move your body, you end up sore at the end of just a single day of work. All the little exceptions to the rules — say, every once and a while you forget to take a break, or you bend down to shelve a book instead of squatting down — begin to add up. Though I am a healthy young person, I found myself experiencing mild foot and lower back pain after half a summer of 20- to 30-hour weeks at the job. I can only imagine the toll that decades of full-time shelving work must take on a body twice as old as mine. It must be added to The Herald’s coverage of the shelving staff’s injuries that the library shelvers are not just suffering bodies, but dynamic individuals who manage to stay upbeat despite their less than ideal working conditions. The shelving staff is a vibrant and
friendly bunch who made me, a temporary worker, feel at home even in the windowless basement of the Rock. Their personalities make an other wise dreary and monotonous job enjoyable at a human level. They are also very professional. They taught me how to do my job and gave me tasks without ever being bossy, unctuous or otherwise compromising the comfortable workplace rapport. Most importantly, they did not just look after the quality of my work, but also after my physical welfare, making sure that I knew how to shelve books without hurting myself and that I took adequate
the health risks of being a long-term library shelver. The University’s position seems to be that the shelvers’ injuries are not inevitable results of their job for which the University must take responsibility, but rather are the shelvers’ own faults. This attitude is symptomatic of a broader devaluing of physical labor in today’s economy, a trend that is all the more pronounced at institutions of higher learning, which valorize and reward intellectual and clerical labor over physical labor. The truth is this: Repetitive physical labor, even labor as seemingly low-intensity as
Brown has to be more responsive to the needs of its employees. breaks. After all the concern that the librar y shelvers showed me, I cannot believe that the reason librar y shelvers are incurring injuries is that they are not applying the safety techniques taught in training workshops, as Head of Preservation Eric Shoaf suggested to The Herald. Shoaf’s remarks, as well as those of Director of Environmental Health and Safety Stephen Morin, whom The Herald paraphrased as saying that that “shelving is not an area that jumps out as having a high occurrence of injuries,” seem to intentionally downplay
shelving books, breaks the body down, and the people who make their living through such work must be fully compensated for the physical deterioration they will inevitably incur as part of their job. To say that there are health “risks” associated with a career as a library shelver is misleading. It is almost certain that working in shelving for years will result, if not in a dramatic physical injury, than in generally accelerated physical strain. Shelving may not be as immediately dangerous as other forms of manual labor, and shelving-related injuries may be less dramatic than life-threatening
construction accidents, but the certainty of long-term physical damage is no less real. Brown can make changes both large and small to treat its shelvers more fairly. Starting small, the librar y should stop putting books on the bottom shelf of the stacks in the library, which involve the most strain on shelvers’ backs and knees to reach. This has already been done in some sections of the library and should continue to be implemented throughout the library as overstocked stacks are reorganized. The library should also increase pay for student shelving assistants to better reflect the physically demanding nature of their work relative to other student jobs. Student shelvers currently make a quarter less per hour than students working in the book bindery, for example. Ultimately, however, Brown has to be more responsive to the needs of its employees and the judgments of employees’ doctors pertaining to work-related injuries. It is disgraceful that Brown employees should have to resort to lawsuits to claim fair compensation for their hard work. The Herald must continue its critical coverage of the University’s labor practices. Finally, Brown students and alumni should support University workers’ efforts for fair compensation and safe labor practices. After all, student tuition and alumni donations contribute to the salaries of the University’s physical workers. If we alumni and students are not a part of the solution, then we are part of the problem.
Former Herald Opinions Editor Patrick Harrison ’08 misses the shelf life.
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Friday, October 31, 2008
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Water polo sensation LeBeau ’09 talks practice, playoffs By Nicole Stock Spor ts Staff Writer
Grant LeBeau ’09 of the men’s water polo team was named CWPA Northern Division Player of the Week for his exceptional play last weekend. LeBeau tallied 13 goals and five assists in three games. He scored four goals in the Bears’ win against George Washington, while racking up three more goals in a losing effort to No. 19 Bucknell. In the match against the No. 16 U.S. Naval Academy, LeBeau led the team with a six-goal effort to propel the Bears to another win. He leads the team with 46 goals and 31 assists totaling 77 points so far this season. The San Diego resident was named The Herald’s Athlete of the Week for his outstanding offensive effort in the past three games. Herald: When did you start playing water polo and what made you start playing? LeBeau: I started playing water polo the summer before my freshman year of high school. I played because I had a background in body surfing so I was a decent swimmer and because I wanted to make my arm stronger for baseball. What made you choose Brown when considering where to play? I really liked the coaches, the facilities and the people I met on my recruiting trip. But the real reason was academics. Do you have superstitions or pregame rituals? I’m not one for superstitions, but I like to visualize game situations when we’re shooting to warm up before games. I never stop until
translate their control of the game into a goal. At only 11:27 minutes, Sacco found the back of the cage on a penalty corner, with the assists going to Springmeyer and Michaela Seigo ’10. It marked Sacco’s third goal off of a penalty corner in the past four games. “Vicky Sacco had a really nice shot,” Harrington said. “She’s been hitting the ball hard and hitting the ball with confidence.” Despite taking 11 shots in the period, the Bears could not find the back of the cage again before halftime. Instead, the Crusaders converted on their lone penalty corner of the half just 5:48 before halftime to tie the game. But the Bears remained undaunted. “Definitely, going into the half we would have liked to have been in the lead, as opposed to being tied, but I don’t think that it hurt us in any way,” Sacco said. “If anything, it helped us to come out of the half with a lot more intensity.” Harrington said the team made a few small adjustments at halftime, but the biggest reason for the team’s success in the second half was a positive attitude.
You almost had me fooled, New England. I had almost adjusted to the missing ‘u’s in my favourite words, almost came to like the extra color on your flag and almost gotten over not being able to drink here despite being Chaz Firestone old enough to Crazy Canuck drive a car to a voting station with a gun in my hand, a cigarette in my mouth and army enlistment papers in the glove compartment (you should tr y it sometime). And after over two years here, I had almost found myself rooting for one or two of your teams. But then, in three hours, you threw it all away. Last week, a Torontonian friend of mine from NYU met me in Boston to enjoy some good Canadian fun at a Bruins-Leafs game. Now, I’m a pretty casual sports viewer on the couch, but at a live game, I step it up a few notches. If you’ve ever been annoyed by that guy with the blue clown wig who stood up and shouted at every play that favored his team — or country — well, that was me. So, naturally, I expected the boos and subpar insults hurled my way by some hoodie-wearing teenagers when I took my nosebleed seat at last Thursday’s game. Someone referred to Canada as “America’s nutsack,” an unamusing and in any case anatomically inaccurate crack, unless Americans’ genitals are on their faces (I think there’s a compound word for that). I also expected the poor-quality heckling on the part of Bruin fans, one of whom reacted to a penalty call by shouting, “Tripping? I did not think that was tripping! Play fair, refs, play fair!” And, of course, I expected Canadians to have a good night on the ice. So when Boston took an early 1-0 lead on a goal by Bruins center and proud Canadian Patrice Bergeron, I politely reminded the aforementioned hoodie-wearers that it was actually a Canuck who “scoa’ed” the goal they were applauding — in the Toronto-Dominion Banknorth Garden, no less (oh, you didn’t know what TD stood for?). But what I didn’t expect was the reaction I received. This genitalfaced kid of maybe 17 bumped me with his chest, grabbed my blue wig — the purchase of which, I should add, sent money to cancer research — and hurled it 20 rows down, using both F-words along the way. I returned to my seat dejected, only to see Boston light the lamp again 31 seconds later. My friend and I had already planned to move closer to the ice after the first period, but that confrontation effectively sealed the deal. On the way out, a security guard asked me if I wanted him to throw genital-face out of the arena, but I just asked him to keep an eye out for trouble — it’s not the Canadian way.
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Ashley Hess / Herald File Photo
Grant LeBeau ‘09 scored 13 goals and added five assists in only three games, earning him Athlete of the Week honors.
I hit a good shot.
water polo played because almost all the players and coaches have come from the West Coast.
What is the biggest dif ference between water polo on the West Coast compared to What has been the key to the East Coast? your consistent play and preThe biggest difference is depth. dominantly your goal scoring Most teams have a couple of play- over the past several weekers who could ends? have played at The key to ATHLETE OF THE WEEK the big West my scoring is Coast schools, but talent gener- the other seniors. Mike (Gartner ally drops off after the top couple of ‘09) is such a dominant center players. I think that another large that other teams have to drop on difference is the amount of time him which opens up our perimspent practicing in the offseason. eter shooters. Hank (Weintraub We lift a lot in the offseason but ’09) and Nico (Fort ’09) are such we’re only in the pool once or twice good drivers that they often beat a week, compared to schools like their defender which forces other UC Irvine who are basically in-sea- defenders to help back. This opens son year round. There isn’t much up perimeter shooters for clean difference in the actual style of shots.
What are some individual goals that you would like to meet before the end of the season? My only team goal is to win Easterns. The only person who will remember how many goals I score is my dad. Everyone will remember if we win Easterns. How much of a confidence builder was it for the team to beat Navy and George Washington and only lose to Bucknell by two? I think that this weekend went perfectly. Our win against Navy shows what we can do when we play up to our potential and that continued on page 9
Field hockey dominates in Holy Cross’ dominion By Andrew Braca Assistant Spor ts Editor
Ashley Hess / Herald File Photo
Tacy Zysk ‘11 scored two goals to lead the Bears to a 3-2 win over Holy Cross on Wednesday.
The field hockey team came roaring out of the gate to dominate Holy Cross in a 3-2 win on Wednesday in Worcester, Mass. The Bears (4-11) rolled up advantages of 20-6 in shots and 12-7 in penalty corners in their rout of the Crusaders (5-11). “Right from the first whistle, we came out strong and we really were a dominating team for the entire game,” Victoria Sacco ’09 said. Head Coach Tara Harrington ’94 said the key to the game was Brown’s suffocating full press, led by center midfielder Nora Malgieri ’10 and center back Sara Eaton ’09. “They did a very good job of coordinating the pressure (and) communicating where to step up and front,” Harrington said. When the Bears won the ball on the press, they quickly transitioned into a counterattack that Harrington called “explosive.” She praised forwards Tacy Zysk ’11, who scored two goals, and Leslie Springmeyer ’12, who contributed two assists. It didn’t take Bruno long to
Trouble Bruin in Beantown