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Monday, October 19, 2009

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Daily Herald the Brown

vol. cxliv, no. 87 | Monday, October 19, 2009 | Serving the community daily since 1891

Long-term focus at Corp. meeting

Quinn Savit / Herald

President Ruth Simmons and Chancellor Thomas Tisch ’76 addressed parents and fielded questions Saturday afternoon.

Members discuss priorities, outlook for tough times

Med. education building approved

By Sydney Ember Senior Staf f Writer

Approval of plans for a new Medical Education Building occupied the “lion’s share” of the Corporation’s time this weekend, Chancellor Thomas Tisch ’76 said, along with discussions about the University’s ongoing drive to expand into Providence’s Jewelr y District. The Corporation, which of ficially endorsed design plans for the new project, also heard further details on the planned $45 million renovation of the facility. Construction work will begin early next year on the existing Brown-owned building at 222 Richmond St., pending approval from the City Plan Commission and the Providence Zoning Board of Review. The new home of the Alper t Medical School — set to open in August 2011 — will offer an anatomy lab, an area for the proposed “academies” within the curriculum

The Corporation convened its first meeting of the academic year this weekend, welcoming 12 new members and approving designs for two major capital projects, including a new Medical Education Building in downtown Providence. About a year after the financial crisis slashed $740 million from the University’s endowment, prompting officials to seek longterm budget reductions totaling approximately $90 million, Brown’s highest governing body focused on maintaining “forward momentum” and accomplishing the goals outlined by the Plan for Academic Enrichment, said Chancellor Thomas Tisch ’76. continued on page 4

By BriGITTA GreenE Senior Staf f Writer

and a “critical skills area” with a replica of an examination room for more effective patient-doctor training, said Edward Wing, dean of medicine and biological sciences. The Corporation approved designs for the “academies” to occupy their own space on the second floor of the new building, Wing said, giving medical students “their own social space,” complete with lockers and offices for advisers. The downtown location, Wing said, was especially important for the medical school because of its proximity to local hospitals, many of which are located in the area. The school represents “one of the big moves for Brown off the hill,” Wing said, adding that the University has plans to light up the new building at night when it is completed. “It’s a symbol and a beacon for Brown and medical education,” continued on page 5

Parents get a Same-sex marriage supporters rally at State House chance to quiz Simmons By Ana Alvarez Contributing Writer

By Ellen Cushing Senior Staf f Writer

President Ruth Simmons outlined the University’s recent achievements and challenges and highlighted the importance of financial aid to a standing-room-only crowd of parents and students Saturday afternoon. The “Hour with the President” — one of many events on College Hill for Family Weekend — consisted of a short speech followed by a question-and-answer session and drew an estimated 1,000 people to the Main Green despite the chilly weather. In her speech, Simmons focused largely on making higher education accessible to people of all backgrounds. “As a nation, we’ve got to keep focused on making opportunities possible for new families, for people from below the poverty line to get a first-class education,” Simmons said. “Nothing is more important.” “It’s central to Brown’s mission to make that possible,” she said, before going on to discuss the impact of financial aid — and the anonymous donors who make it possible

inside

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News.....1-4 Arts.......5-6 Spor ts...7-9 Editorial..10 Opinion...11 Today........12

www.browndailyherald.com

Disappointment, anger and resilience were among the sentiments expressed Saturday at a gay marriage rally sponsored by Marriage Equality Rhode Island. About 150

same-sex marriage supporters Massachusetts, Connecticut and gathered on the south steps of the California. State House demanding Among the speakers legislation to legalize at the rally was State METRO same-sex marriage. Sen. Rhoda Perry P’91, Despite cold weather, a spir- D-Dist. 3, who said that because ited crowd attended the rally and “all five other sister New England included natives of Vermont, states have mandated that rights

and privileges associated with civil marriage extend to all of their citizens,” Rhode Island too must “move on, and ensure that the legal rights to marriage uniformly extend to all its citizens.” Perry, continued on page 4

At 40th birthday bash, GCB raises a glass to itself The next year, the bar opened as part of the Jelly Bean Lounge, on the bottom level of what is now On their 21st birthdays, Brown the Bear’s Lair. Along with the wide undergrads often flock to the selection of beers for which the bar Graduate Center Bar for a night is still known, the vividly colored of celebration. This Saturday night, campus hangout offered sandwichthe GCB threw a party for its own es, live entertainment and, accordbirthday — and at 40, ing to a 1973 article in the GCB is still looking FEATURE the Providence Journal, pretty good. “stereo FM music.” Susan Yund, who has been the In 1972, Rhode Island became manager of the GCB for 15 years, one of several states to lower its said business is strong and grow- drinking age from 21 to 18 on the ing steadily. But the history of the basis that 18-year-olds were old bar hasn’t always been smooth. enough to vote and be drafted to In 1968, the city of Providence fight in the war raging in Vietnam. denied the Faculty and Graduate Consequently, Yund said, the GCB Student Council’s request for a li- was “very, very successful back in quor license for a bar in the base- the 70s and early 80s.” ment of the brand new Graduate But though the Grad Center Center. The club appealed the city’s complex was originally designed decision, and the state ordered the continued on page 5 license granted. By Emma Berry Staff Writer

Herald File Photo

The GCB celebrated its 40th birthday this Saturday.

News, 3

Arts, 7

Opinions, 11

open for business With the Corporation on campus, Rhode Island Hall was rededicated Friday

the round A new student magazine calls for creative conversation

disingenuous Simon Liebling ’12 says the University owes its workers and students more

195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island

herald@browndailyherald.com


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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

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Monday, October 19, 2009

“My classes are fantastic and the homework is so much fun.” — Colin MacGregor ’14, of the Brown-RISD dual degree program

Swearer Center to hire 20 new staffers with grant BY Alex Bell Contributing Writer

With nearly $63,000 in federal stimulus aid, the Swearer Center for Public Service is planning to hire 20 new employees this year, including tutors, mentors and community liaisons. Though the stimulus money will only last one year, officials at the center said they hope to use the funds to expand several programs in Providence schools. “The programs aren’t necessarily going to be radically different from what we’ve been doing,” said Roger Nozaki MAT ’89, director of the Swearer Center. “But now we can hopefully enlarge their effect.” The grant is the only one Brown has received from the Corporation for National Community Service, according to Tim Leshan, director of government relations and community affairs. “Most of (the stimulus funding) is for scientific research,” Leshan said. “Not much of it is around community ser vice, so this is pretty unique.” The University has received nearly 70 awards from the National Institutes of Health or the National Science Foundation for scientific research, he added. Nozaki said the Swearer Center’s involvement with the National College Advising Corps, an organization that helps students from low-income communities and under-performing schools go to college, enabled it to apply for funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The advising corps, which works in 11 high schools in urban areas in Rhode Island, is led by full-time, paid “college guides,” usually recent graduates of either Brown or the University of Rhode Island, and part-time “access scholars” who lead SAT workshops and other academic programs. Brown students also volunteer as teachers’ assistants or help run afterschool programs. Nozaki, who is an associate dean of the College, said the money will pay for efforts in the city, including 10 new positions at Hope High School, four new positions for the Parent Involvement Program and six new positions at D’Abate Elementary School in downtown Providence. About 20 paid Brown students already facilitate similar programs at Providence’s Hope High School through the center, such as the Brown SAT/College Prep, the College Guidance Project, Algebra in Motion, Brown Science Prep and the Rhode Island Urban Debate League. The Swearer Center’s Parent Involvement Program consists of four paid Brown students who reach out to parents and advocate the schools’ agendas through events and conferences, according to center Associate Director Kate Trimble, who is directly managing the federal grant. Trimble called the program a “grassroots organization effort” to enhance parent’s participation in their children’s academic lives. continued on page 6

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The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is an independent newspaper serving the Brown University community daily since 1891. It is published Monday through Friday during the academic year, excluding vacations, once during Commencement, once during Orientation and once in July by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Single copy free for each member of the community. POSTMASTER please send corrections to P.O. Box 2538, Providence, RI 02906. Periodicals postage paid at Providence, R.I. Offices are located at 195 Angell St., Providence, R.I. E-mail herald@browndailyherald.com. World Wide Web: http://www.browndailyherald.com. Subscription prices: $319 one year daily, $139 one semester daily. Copyright 2009 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.

Herald File Photo

Project 20/20 members aim to bring high-efficiency light bulbs to 5,000 Providence homes.

Earth-friendly light bulb project nears goal By Jamie Brew Contributing Writer

How many Brown student groups does it take to change 67,000 light bulbs? Just one. Project 20/20, a student-run program that installs energy-efficient lighting in low-income Providence households, is nearing its goal of replacing light bulbs in 5,000 homes with compact fluorescent lamps. The project began in the spring of 2008, the brainchild of Associate Professor of Environmental Studies

Steven Hamburg, Providence resident David Fox and a small group of students. The idea was simple: At no cost to residents, the group would install compact fluorescent lamps in low-income households, saving each family $10 to $15 on ever y monthly utility bill while reducing the community’s greenhouse gas emissions. Gradually, Project 20/20 expanded to include numerous paid staff and volunteers and continued a steady march toward its initial target of 5,000 houses. It has now served

more than 4,900. As the largest program under the umbrella of the Community Carbon Use Reduction at Brown initiative, Project 20/20 has brought together a wide and diverse base of students and has garnered a great deal of support. “It’s really raised more awareness than a lot of other efforts,” said Shane Easter ’10, one of the project’s originators. “It has benefits that appeal to a lot of different students.” Project 20/20’s mix of environcontinued on page 4

RISD dual-degree program enters 2nd year By Brian Mastroianni Senior Staff Writer

As a high school student, Colin MacGregor ’14 thought he would eventually push aside his love of art in favor of a career in medicine. That began to change after he participated in summer art programs and worked on more personal art projects in his free time. When it came time to apply to colleges, he realized he wanted to have the traditional undergraduate liberal arts experience without giving up on his passion for art. He found only one program that fit perfectly with these academic goals — the Brown-RISD dual degree program. “I’ve been having a great experience so far in the program,” MacGregor said. “My classes are fantastic and the homework is so much fun.” MacGregor is in his first of five years in the program, which is spent learning art foundation at the Rhode Island School of Design. After living at Brown during their second year, students choose how to divide their residency for the remainder of the program, though they must reside for a minimum of two years at each school. MacGregor is still unsure of continued on page 6

Herald File Photo

The Brown-RISD dual degree program is in its second year.


Monday, October 19, 2009

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

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Number of students from India grows By Ellen Cushing Senior Staf f Writer

As the University redoubles its efforts to increase Brown’s profile abroad and attract more international students — particularly students from India — the numbers are beginning to show for it. Though China still contributes the most international students — 33 enrolled in the class of 2013 — Brown’s Indian population is steadily increasing. According to data provided by the Office of Admission, the number of first-year Indian students has grown. Only three students enrolled with the class of 2010 listed India as their nation of residence, while this year’s entering class boasted 15 students from the subcontinent. Panetha Ott, director of international admission, said the University was “actively trying” to inform Indian students about Brown and attract them to the school. Matthew Gutmann, vice president for international affairs, underscored Brown’s interest in India. “Brown needs to have a bigger presence in India,” he said, adding that he plans to visit India himself this year.

By Dan Alexander Senior Staf f Writer

Kayleigh Butera / Herald

The number of international students from India has grown in recent years, according to the Office of Admission.

“I would hope that we would have more students from India interested in studying here,” he added. Ott said a primary component of the admissions office’s strategy was sending officers to these

countries. “Our strategy is to visit countries from which we are trying to get students,” she said. Dean of Admission James Miller ’73 said his office has been focuscontinued on page 6

Bruins to study ruins at rededicated R.I. Hall By Caitlin Trujillo Staff Writer

In its long history, Rhode Island Hall has housed a hodgepodge of departments, from Natural Philosophy to Mineralogy. Now, the Artemis A.W. and Martha Sharp Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World can be added to the roster after a warm and genial rededication ceremony last Friday evening. University Chancellor Thomas Tisch ’76 opened the event under

Marketing firm brings big bucks for Brown athletics

a packed tent in front of the building — the fourth oldest on the Main Green. Other speakers included President Ruth Simmons, Chancellor Emeritus Artemis Joukowsky ’55 P’87, Joukowsky Institute Director and Professor of Classics Susan Alcock, Professor of Archaeology, Classics and Art History at Boston University James Wiseman and Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein, Jordanian ambassador to the United States. The speakers alternated between praising the importance

of archeology and honoring the Joukowskys’ contributions to the field. Alcock said archaeology requires establishing global connections and that the field required a balance of “enormous exuberance matched with enormous responsibility.” Wiseman also spoke about the relationships between archaeology and departments such as anthropology, biological sciences and others as archaeology itself continued on page 6

A par tnership forged between Brown and a sports marketing company last year has helped soften the blow to the athletics department in the current recession, according to a University official. In May 2008, the department signed a contract with Nelligan Spor ts Marketing to increase sponsorships and advertisements for Brown athletics, said Director of Athletics Michael Goldberger. Before the contract, Rick Merriam, then assistant athletic director for marketing, had been largely responsible for soliciting outside funding. But Merriam, who helped bring in the company, left Brown for another job soon after Nelligan’s arrival to College Hill. With a university-wide hiring freeze in place, the Department of Athletics could not refill Merriam’s position. “Rick was ver y good,” Goldberger said. “I can’t see how we could have possibly done as well as we’re doing right now” if the company hadn’t been hired. The company’s performance has improved in the last three and a half months. Since the start of the current fiscal year, athletics has already taken in more sponsorship dollars than it did in the previous fiscal year. The money is split almost equally between Brown athletics and the company, Goldberger said. National names such as Dunkin’ Donuts, AT&T, Domino’s Pizza and Taco Bell were brought in by the company, bringing the number of Brown coporate sponsorships to 35. Nelligan Sports Marketing has also minted ties with local restaurants, the Brown Bookstore and the Brown Alumni Association. The new sponsorships have earned the University more than

just money. When the Department of Athletics hosted the AdidasBrown Soccer Classic last month, it was able to give the Southern Methodist University soccer team free lodging because of sponsorships established with local hotels. Advertising and sponsorship revenue is factored into the athletic depar tment’s base yearly budget, which means that any excess income reduces the amount of money the University gives to the department. Although the extra cost of hiring the company has so far outweighed the added revenue, Goldberger said he remains optimistic. “It’s one of those things that we felt would take two or three years to build up to a level where it could really be beneficial for us,” he said. The five-year contract has a renewable option if the company meets revenue goals, according to Goldberger. “If they achieve what they set out to do, then we’ll renew,” he said. The idea to hire an outside spor ts marketing firm was first suggested by the President’s Advisory Council on Athletics—a group of trustees, former trustees and experts in athletics, Goldberger said. The department chose Nelligan Sports Marketing because of the company’s already-existing partnership with nearby Providence College, and because it had more of a national presence than many other firms under consideration. “Some of the other groups that we looked at were more local, and I thought that one of the real pluses of a school like Brown is its national reputation,” Goldberger said. “To deal with organizations continued on page 5

Simmons talks finance, barbecue to parents continued from page 1 — on her own academic career and the lives of Brown students. Simmons then cited the recent appointment of famed African writer Chinua Achebe as an example of the quality of Brown’s faculty and emphasized the University’s commitment to being a “world-class teaching institution.” She implored parents to encourage their children to forge relationships with professors. “That is the single most important thing for your students’ learning experience — the quality of faculty they have access to,” Simmons said. Simmons also addressed the University’s finances in the wake of the economic crisis and Brown’s staggering endowment losses. “We are trying to make adjustments without having to sacrifice the quality of your children’s education,” Simmons said. “We’re try-

ing to identify ways in which we can be more efficient, and we’re tr ying to be ver y sensible about expenditures. We’re preserving the essential elements of your students’ education but letting go of things that are, frankly, not central to those purposes.” After her speech, Simmons and other university administrators responded to questions from parents and students and discussed subjects as varied as Brown Dining Services workers’ recent contract dispute and the comparative quality of Texas- versus Kansas-style barbecue. Diane Fellman, whose daughter Lilly Mirviss ’12 transferred to Brown this fall, called Simmons’ speech “ver y inspirational” and praised the president’s candidness and sense of humor. “She wasn’t afraid to answer hard questions, and she’s ver y funny,” Fellman said. Claudette Young Hinds, the

mother of Chahney Hinds ’12, said she was impressed by Simmons’ discussion of the University’s plans to withstand the economic crisis. “She has a plan that is dynamic enough to respond to this kind of thing,” Hinds said. “It says that President Simmons is operating a well-oiled machine.” And Matt Handbury — who is the father of Elisa Handbur y ’10 and traveled to Providence all the way from Sydney, Australia — appreciated Simmons’ advice. “She’s ver y personal and approachable and accessible,” he said. “For example, her call for parents to encourage their children to establish rapport and contact with their teachers is not only wise, she made it seem achievable.” Handbury continued: “Among the expected self-congratulator y hype about Brown, it was very personal. She is someone who’s obviously very powerful and assured, but there was a human touch.”

Herald Staff Photo


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“It’s brought people into the fold who are not traditional environmentalists.” —Libby Kimzey ’09.5, Project 20/20 manager

Long-term focus at Corporation meeting continued from page 1 The Corporation approved designs for the new Medical Education Building in Providence’s Jewelry District and authorized a new model for a combined aquatics and fitness center on the site of the former Smith Swim Center. Tisch said the Corporation also discussed the design for the new Perry and Marty Granoff Center for the Creative Arts and plans to renovate the Metcalf Chemistry and Research Laboratory into a new brain science building. The Corporation made no other major announcements. Tisch said the board will discuss detailed budgetary issues at its next meeting in February. “This is generally not a meeting of spectacular action points,” Tisch said. “A large part of the meeting was animated by gaining perspective on forces of the last couple of years.” “It was a ver y constructive meeting,” he added. “I would describe the overall tone as reflection, challenge, opportunity and optimism.” Tisch said he was pleased with the direction of the capital projects given the economic situation, which he said has forced the University to implement changes including renovating existing buildings instead of constructing new spaces and waiting to approve construction until funding for new projects is collected in full. “In relation to what it would have been a year ago, the projects are done on a much more responsible and prudent basis,” Tisch said. “The new construction has now been reformulated wonderfully.” Overall, Tisch said new capital projects are focused on creating new spaces in the heart of cam-

Monday, October 19, 2009

Efficient lightbulb goal around the corner continued from page 2

Herald File Photo

The Corporation met this weekend and approved new building plans for Providence’s Jewelry District and a slew of donations.

pus — or “filling in the hole in the doughnut.” According to an e-mail sent by President Ruth Simmons to the Brown community Saturday, the Corporation also received an update from architect Frances Halsband on a planning study of the Jewelry District. The expansion, highlighting Brown’s aggressive push into the downtown area, is spearheaded by the renovation of an historic building at 222 Richmond Street for the new Alpert Medical School building, Tisch said. “What it reflects is that fields of knowledge expand,” Tisch said about the University’s development plans. “It’s an engine of opportunity.” In addition to extensive discussion regarding the University’s major construction projects, Tisch said the meetings were marked

by “a dynamic of new fresh faces and fresh voices,” which he said resulted from a “bumper crop of new members.” The Corporation welcomed three new fellows and nine new trustees. Lauren Kolodny ’08 was sworn in as the first-ever young alum trustee, a position which the Corporation created in May. The Corporation also approved the idea to combine the planned Jonathan Nelson ’77 Fitness Center and a new pool in one facility. The University will now move on to the design stage of the project, said Richard Spies, executive vice president for planning and senior adviser to the president. “We are really optimistic,” he said. “A lot of hard work was done to find a way to achieve most of the objectives of the project.” Combining the two projects will save the University about $25 million. The Corporation heard a number of suggestions and questions about the project’s specific design elements, Spies said. “There are compromises that get made, and working through those takes time,” he said. “But the main objective was to start the process.” The Corporation also accepted a slew of donations totaling nearly $20 million for various projects, including a $3 million gift for a new endowed professorship called the Intrepid Heroes Professorship in Orthopaedic Surgery at the medical school. The funds were donated by Diane Weiss — a “friend of the University,” according to Ronald Vanden Dorpel MA’71, senior vice president for University advancement — to support wounded veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and to help them get functional prosthetic limbs. “She’s a grateful patient,” Vanden Dorpel said. Three of the accepted gifts were from overseas, he said, including one from a donor in Europe and two from donors in Asia. The international gifts “demonstrate the fact that we are reaching out to overseas alumni and parents,” he said. “It was a good bunch of gifts.”

mental, humanitarian and economic goals make it more than just a green effort, said Libby Kimzey ’09.5, the current project manager. “It’s brought people into the fold who are not traditional environmentalists,” Kimzey said. That includes Kimzey herself, an international relations concentrator who said she hadn’t been heavily involved in environmentalism before but now wants to work on energy projects after graduation. This summer, Project 20/20 teamed up with Providence’s Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, whose Beloved Community Summer Jobs program helps steer youth away from violence by finding them employment. Erik Duhaime ’10, internal coordinator,

organized the hiring of eight workers through ISPN. One of Project 20/20’s aims was also to help Brown reduce its carbon footprint. But because the process for certifying emissions reductions is cumbersome and expensive and the University is far exceeding its carbon reduction goals, the project’s leaders have decided to concentrate on communities outside of Brown. The project will continue until it hits the 5,000-house mark and, perhaps, until it exhausts its surplus of compact fluorescent lamps. But it will soon come to a close, Kimzey said. With the end of its flagship program, she said, the Community Carbon Use Reduction at Brown Initiative will direct $150,000 of its remaining funds to new projects this year.

Gay-rights supporters rally for marriage equality continued from page 1 whose district includes College Hill, has repeatedly introduced legislation in the General Assembly to legalize same-sex marriage. Supporters were urged to take action and send postcards to their representatives — provided by MERI — declaring their support of same-sex marriage legislation. Ken Fish, a gay-rights activist and retired state education official, advised the crowd, “Don’t just get pissed off. Take some action.” “I think that anger needs to be expressed, because all of us have been feeling that for a long time,” said Andrew Winters, assistant to the vice president of student affairs and GLBT programs and services at the University of Rhode Island. “And this damn journey that we are on is taking too long.” Several speakers in the rally denounced Gov. Donald Carcieri ’65, who said at a Thursday fundraiser for the Massachusetts Family Institute that “gay marriage is not a civil right” and that he gets “aggravated” when people call it that. On its Web site, the institute calls homosexuality “destructive to family, individuals and society” and supports “the healing of those plagued by a same-sex attraction.” State Rep. Frank Ferri, D-Dist. 22, a former chair of MERI and an openly gay state legislator, responded to Carcieri at the rally, saying, “Guess I know what one of my roles is at the State House: I aggravate Governor Carcieri.” Fish, the gay-rights activist, said in response to the governor’s remarks, that the word “aggravated” did not approach the feeling of “how deeply this loss is felt by members of our community,” adding that the governor reminded him of “the Southern governors of a generation ago, attempting desperately (to

defend) segregation, all in the name of tradition.” “I don’t want to be healed,” Fish added. “I don’t think I’m sick and I don’t think it’s the plague. The plague is right-wing bigotry.” Fish also expressed anger toward Democratic legislators for their failure to stand up for gay rights. “A greater villain lurks in the legislature, and it’s so-called Democratic leaders,” he said. “We need real progressive Democrats, not conservatives that call themselves Democrats. They would be Republicans in any other state.” Despite the governor’s resistance, speakers at the rally were hopeful that in the coming years Rhode Island will join the rest of New England in legalizing samesex marriage. Maine will hold a vote Nov. 3 to uphold or repeal its existing same-sex legislation. “We have a lot of work to do to get us there, but it will happen,” said Patrick Crowley, chair of the legislative committee of MERI. “We will always last one day longer than the other guys, because we are right and our cause is just.” “We are making progress, and we are in a crescendo,” Winters said. “It’s good to see the young people working with the old people, the straight people working with the gay people, the students working with the community.” M. Charles Bakst ’66, a former Providence Journal political columnist and Herald editor-in-chief, told The Herald he was glad he attended his first marriage equality rally as a supporter. “I find these rallies both depressing and uplifting,” he said. “It is dismaying to me that in 2009 there is still an argument over this. Someday not too long from now people will look back on this struggle and say, ‘What was that all about?’ ”


Monday, October 19, 2009

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

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“It’s frustrating to be the bar that trains them.” — ­ Susan Yund, GCB manager, on teaching new legals bar etiquette

Brown athletics seeks GCB celebrates birthday in style national sponsors continued from page 1

continued from page 3 that have a much broader base, a much wider spread network, we think could be beneficial to us in the long run.” But the company was not able to maintain all of Brown’s past sponsorships. The University’s General Manager of Sports Marketing Tony D’Arcangelo, who is also the company’s representative on campus, said some sponsorships were renegotiated and others were dissolved. Some businesses that had been looking for exclusive partnerships with Brown, backed out when the company signed national

competitors. For instance, Ronzio Pizza and Subs stopped sponsoring Brown athletics after its deal with Domino’s Pizza. But according to D’Arcangelo, almost ever y local sponsor that Brown lost was replaced by a national sponsor. Goldberger added that the University will never sign a deal with an alcohol or gambling company. Nelligan Spor ts Marketing, which also has par tnerships with Princeton and UPenn, represents 25 schools, conferences and bowls across the countr y. It recently signed another contract with Har vard.

Planned medical hub part of larger expansion continued from page 1 he said. Because the building was not included in the University’s 2006 fiveyear Institutional Master Plan, the University must now go through a formal amendment process and receive city approval for the project, said Richard Spies, executive vice president for planning and senior adviser to President Ruth Simmons. University proper ties in the Jewelr y District lie outside the of ficial “institutional zone,” and Brown must secure a special-use permit before beginning construction, Spies said. Administrators are hopeful that the city will approve the project, he said, as it is consistent with the city’s and the state’s plans for the area. The University hired the private development consulting firm Appleseed, Inc. to analyze the impact of the renovation on the local economy, Spies said. Though the University traditionally performs its own economic impact analyses, administrators decided to take a more formal approach for the Jewelr y District property, he added. Renovation of the Medical Education building will create approximately 350 temporar y jobs and generate $26.2 million of economic output in the state, according to the Appleseed report. “The economy is such an issue for everyone,” Spies said. “We want to demonstrate to the community that the project can serve the many purposes we’ve described for it.” Administrators and city officials anticipate that increasing Brown’s presence in the Jewelr y District will contribute to a “knowledge

economy” in the city, spurring future growth and development. Planning architect Frances Halsband presented her report on Brown’s properties in the Jewelr y District, focusing specifically on the area around the medical education building, Spies said. Halsband’s study takes a comprehensive look at Brown’s future presence in the area, examining potential low-cost improvements that would continue to foster economic and community growth. The University has long been looking to the Jewelr y District for future development, especially as a longanticipated highway relocation project opens up new land. But collaborative planning with community groups, government officials and surrounding universities has recently come into question following debate on a bill pending in the state legislature that would allow the city to assess property taxes on private universities. For this reason, Spies said, focus on Halsband’s report was limited to areas surrounding 222 Richmond rather than the neighborhood in its entirety. “As long as there is this big cloud on us in terms of the issue of tax, were taking it one step at a time,” he said. “We want to focus on an area where we know we can actually do something.” The Corporation suppor ted Halsband’s suggestions to look at surrounding streetscapes, including widening the sidewalks on Richmond Street, improving landscaping and encouraging retail in the area, Spies added.

to cater to the social needs of graduate students, it never really caught on, said Professor of Biology Ken Miller ’70 P’02, who lived there as a junior. Consequently, he remembers a GCB crowd that was “almost overwhelmingly undergrads.” At the time, Miller said, there were no bars on Thayer Street and only a few on the East Side. When the bar opened, “people were delighted with the novelty of having a place on campus where you could gather and you could also have something to drink.” Miller said he frequently went to the bar on Saturdays with friends. His wife, who graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1972, “always found the Grad Center Bar a good place to go over and meet guys from Brown,” he added. But soon, a rise in drunk-driving fatalities spurred many states to raise the legal drinking age, a change ultimately mandated by the federal government in 1984. Rhode Island did so gradually, raising the limit to 19 in 1980, 20 in 1981 and 21 in 1984. As a result, Yund said, the bar “suffered for a few years,” a problem that was compounded by a move to a smaller space in 1986. But since then, she said, traffic

at the bar has continued to grow. “Just in the last couple of years we did some redesigning of the bars that allows us to double our draftlines,” she said. The bar now carries 16 constantly changing varieties of beer on tap. In the past two or three years, Yund said, the bar has also attracted an increasing number of RISD students, who can join for a discounted fee because the design school has purchased a bulk membership for its students. “When I started working here (in 1990), it was almost exclusively grad students and faculty,” Yund said. “Med students are a fairly recent phenomenon.” While the bar is still popular with undergrads, especially on Thursdays, she said, over the past 15 years the balance has shifted back toward its original goal — to be a social space for graduate students. “Our charter is to serve the Brown community,” Yund said, which makes the bar different from for-profit ventures. “We do business honorably,” she said, noting that any profits from the bar are donated to local non-profit groups such as the food bank and Amos House, which works to help the state’s poor and homeless. All the money collected at Saturday’s event

was donated to the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. “For many people, we’re the first bar they’ve hung out in,” Yund said, adding that this makes the bar’s atmosphere unique — but also means that patrons sometimes leave small tips or don’t tip at all. “It’s frustrating to be the bar that trains them.” Miller remembered one Saturday afternoon in particular that he spent at the GCB. As a senior, Miller was captain of the water polo team, then a club sport. “We were expecting to play a game, I think against Columbia,” he said. There was a misunderstanding, Miller said, and the opposing team called to say they’d be a few hours late. In the meantime, Miller and his team went to the GCB — bringing along the game’s referee. The other team eventually arrived ready to play, but not before the Brown team had spent a few hours in the bar and consumed a couple of beers. “We won the game, by the way,” he added. Though he does not have many memories of the GCB, Miller does have a tangible record of his evenings there. “We still have a glass beer mug that I swiped from the Grad Center Bar,” he said. “I hope they’re not going to come after me.”

— With additional reporting by Sydney Ember

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Page 6

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Monday, October 19, 2009

C ampus N EWS Renovated R.I. Hall dedicated continued from page 3

continues to unify into a cohesive pursuit. Al-Hussein lauded the Joukowskys’ role in the preservation of Petra, one of Jordan’s most important archeological site. In a short and appreciative speech, Joukowsky took the stage to testify to the “astonishing power of education” in the discipline. Midway through the ceremony, four television screens showed a short profile of the Joukowsky Institute and the renovations of Rhode Island Hall. The video included the Joukowskys and Alcock, as well as other archaeology professors and students. Simmons closed the ceremony, but instead of giving a speech, she invited the Joukowskys and their children to the stage. The children toasted their parents, and Simmons thanked the Joukowskys for their contributions to Brown. “You have done so much for this university,” Simmons said. “You are an inspiration to everybody here. You’re an inspiration to me.”

‘Year of India’ coincides with recruitment effort continued from page 3

ing on recruiting international students. “We certainly are being a lot more proactive in terms of international recruitment,” he said. “We’ve spent a lot of time in Asia over the last four years,” he added, “and we’ve been to India every year for the last three or four years.” The University is also working to strengthen its relationship with India by declaring 2009-2010 the “Year of India.” According to Vasundhara Prasad ’12, one of the event’s organizers, one of the goals of the initiative — which includes a year of events on campus — is to increase awareness of Brown in India. Prasad, who is originally from

Mumbai, said that through this and other efforts, Brown was “definitely making its presence felt” in India. Last spring, alums founded the Brown Club of India, a group for Brown alums and parents. “I think they’re really making a conscious effort,” Prasad said. Prasad also said that while Brown is not yet a household name in India, recent ef for ts have increased the University’s profile. “When people in India apply to schools in the United States, they only apply to the known names, and Brown hasn’t had much of a presence,” she said. “We need people to aspire to get into Brown as they aspire to get into Harvard or Yale.”

U. wins public service grant continued from page 2 Similarly, the University is looking to expand its involvement in before- and after-school programs at D’Abate Elementary School. Nozaki said this is the first time he is aware of that Brown is working so closely with a local school. According to Principal Brent

Kermen, half of these programs are facilitated by Brown students, who also ran six-week-long classes this past summer for almost 200 students at the elementary school. Brown sees “us in need and they step forward to fill that void for us,” Kermen said. “And they always look to do more.”

Dual degrees offer best of up-hill and down continued from page 2 what he will concentrate in at either school, but, no matter what, he will graduate with a Bachelor of Arts from Brown and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from RISD. “Had I not been admitted to the program, I definitely would not be double-majoring in art and some other subject,” MacGregor said. “This is a great opportunity for me to do what I love.” The dual degree program is unique to Brown and RISD, said Deputy Dean of the College Stephen Lassonde. While other programs such as Tufts University’s dual degree offerings with the New England Conservatory of Music and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts exist, they are “still programs within the universities themselves,” said Lassonde, who is Brown’s dual degree coordinator. The Brown-RISD degree, on the other hand, is a direct partnership between two very distinct universities, he said. Only in its second year, the dual degree program consists of 13 students in each class, with numbers not expected to exceed 20 students per class in the foreseeable future, Lassonde said. “Because it is such a complicated program, it needs to be small so that we can have the careful and committed advising that goes with it. It is very difficult to navigate through each institution,” he said. To ensure that the class size remains small, Lassonde said students are not allowed to transfer into the program. If transfers were accepted, the program could grow beyond its capacity for advising and instruction, which would make it difficult for transfer students to earn their degrees in five years, he added. “It’s a program that was conceived with students in mind who were coming out of high school and knew this was what they wanted to do,” he said. As a high school senior, Stephanie Swart ’13 set her sights on art school, thinking she would be content with academic programs focused solely on visual arts. Life as a dual degree student changed her mind. “Given my high school background, I found that I was not used to doing only art and humanities once I actually got to college. It was frustrating just having entire days working on art my first year here,” said Swart, a potential cognitive science concentrator at Brown and a film, animation and video major at RISD. With Brown’s science offerings, “I feel like I have more of a balance,” she said. Beth Soucy ’13 had the reverse experience. Approaching art more as a hobby, Soucy anticipated pursuing an undergraduate education at a typical liberal arts university, instead of at an art school. After working on her RISD foundation studies in her first year, Soucy said she found an environment perfect for her academic needs. “It is just such a great creative

atmosphere. Everyone is there creating something alongside everyone else. What you’re learning is very public — you learn from and share with everyone else around you,” she said. Part of this learning environment includes what Swart sees as a more competitive climate at RISD than at Brown. “I don’t feel like I’m competing with my classmates when I’m here at Brown,” she said. Soucy had a similar view of the two institutions. “RISD is more about adapting and becoming better. Brown is more an open exchange of ideas to solve problems and come up with new ideas,” Soucy said. These differing academic philosophies are part of the culture shock that comes with moving up College Hill from RISD to Brown. Caitrin Watson ’13, who is a dual degree student and Soucy’s roommate in Keeney Quadrangle for their first year on Brown’s campus, said she identifies more as a “Brown person.” “I like being at Brown more than at RISD. In some ways it is harder to be productive here at Brown because work is social. The atmosphere is just different here,” Watson said. “As much as you don’t want to stereotype, there is a definite Brown and RISD ‘personality,’” she added. Though MacGregor does feel disconnected from Brown’s campus, he said he is thankful to have made friends during orientation activities. He is a member of the Brown club tennis team and manages to see his Brown friends on the weekends. “It is harder to go out on weekdays when you have your studio classes,” he said. “Some of our Brown friends have come down here to visit us, but you can’t go up and see your friends every day.” Administrators who oversee the dual degree program try their best to lessen the culture shock that comes from the campus-to-campus transition, Lassonde said. After complaints from last year’s first dual degree class, first-years now participate in both Brown’s and RISD’s orientation activities. Students are also assigned faculty advisors at both institutions, and the current first-year dual degree students have peer advisors who entered the program last year. Though dual degree students might not have as much of an opportunity to embrace the freedom of the open curriculum as their peers, Lassonde said, both dual degree classes are filled with students who know exactly what they want to get out of the program. “They know that they won’t be able to fulfill graduation requirements in the same way,” Lassonde said. “They have these great institutions to flow between, which could sometimes seem frustrating in its lack of freedom.” “But that’s who these kids are — they are artists who want a large education, and they can get that in this program.”


Arts & Culture The Brown Daily Herald

Monday, October 19, 2009 | Page 7

‘Anna Bella Eema’ tells a supernatural tale Campus journal brings By Kristina Fazzalaro Contributing Writer

Perishable Theatre opens its 20092010 season tonight with the regional premiere of “Anna Bella Eema,” a musical with a great deal of Brown artistic muscle behind it. This “ghost story spoken and sung in three voices” was written by Lisa D’Amour, a visiting lecturer in theatre arts and performance studies, and directed by Kym Moore, a visiting assistant professor of theatre, speech and dance. The production features Elise Morrison GS as Anna Bella and Ron Cesario, a lecturer and costume shop manager in the theatre department, as costume designer. “Anna Bella Eema” looks through the lens of the gothic to examine different coping mechanisms people employ when responding to impossible situations. “People deal with crazy shit happening in a huge range of ways,” Morrison said. “It leaves some people crazy and some people with a crazy streak.” The show tells the stor y of Anna Bella and her mother, Irene, who live in a broken-down trailer park on the outskirts of a large city. Their home is soon to be demolished by the town to make way for an expanded interstate highway, but Irene, an eccentric, hermit-like and slightly disturbed

individual, refuses to leave. Anna Bella chooses to escape this chaotic reality by creating Anna Bella Eema, “a powerful, supernatural thing that acts as Anna Bella’s playmate and helps her grow up,” Morrison said. The introduction of the supernatural is paralleled by Irene’s method of teaching Anna Bella about the evils of the outside world — through books and stories of vampires, monsters and werewolves. These ghost stories are a source of entertainment for the 10-year old Anna Bella. But, as her 25-year old self explains, looking back on the situation, she also understands that the real world is going to tear her family apart, and her mother is not doing anything productive to stop it. At the same time, Anna Bella is also maturing with Eema as her guide, leaving the world of fairy tales behind and entering reality. The combination of a richly layered script, innovative and experimental music and the introduction of a larger and more active set design, promises a play that is “unlike anything you have ever seen or heard before,” according to Morrison. “The play is beautiful and the language is gorgeous,” said Moore, the director. The original production of “Anna Bella Eema” was set mainly at the dining room table of Irene and Anna Bella’s house with little

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physical movement, but Moore felt the stor y required a different backdrop to support the language. “Our production has a lot of physical action largely to help it,” Moore said. “We needed a framework to help people see the images of the story.” Moore said that, despite the changes, the production team remained as faithful to the text as possible and was careful about making any alterations. “The first goal was to make the story as clear as we possibly could,” she said. The script is brought to life by “three actresses that together make their own magic,” Moore said. “The acting is just phenomenal. They were the right three actresses for these roles right now in Providence. It makes directing a lot easier and a lot more fun.” Indeed, the work was largely a collaborative effort of Moore, D’Amour and the cast. There was a true family feel among the cast and crew, especially those coming from Brown, Morrison said, adding that it was fun to run into Moore or D’Amour at Brown and discuss the play or laugh about things that happened at rehearsal. “It was so nice to have those two worlds shared and blended,” she said. “It’s so great to see them around campus.” “Anna Bella Eema” will be running from Oct. 19 through Nov. 7 at Perishable Theatre.

together students, writers By Corina Chase Contributing Writer

The publication of the first issue of The Round adds a new magazine to the University’s collection of literar y and artistic journals. The magazine — a collection of poetry, prose and visual art — includes work by Brown undergraduates, graduates, students from other universities and several pieces by professional writers. The founders of The Round — Elizabeth Metzger ’11, Daniel Loedel ’10, Frannie Hannan ’10 and Sylvia Linsteadt ’11 — came up with the idea for the magazine last fall and fundraised throughout last year. Since publishing its first issue a few weeks ago, The Round has become an official student publication. The name of the magazine comes from the idea of a musical round, a “musical conversation that draws on and responds to the voices that have come before it,” The Round’s editors wrote in an e-mail to potential contributors. The editors aim to recreate a similar conversation with writing and visual art, featuring both critical essays on the state of literature and creative work. Loedel, one of three prose editors and the design editor for The Round, said this conversation is the dialogue between writer and

reader, and between a writer and all other writers — past, present and future, amateur and professional. To this end, The Round’s first issue featured writing by poet Paul Muldoon and novelists Mar y Gordon and Michael Burke, as well as an epigraph from Nietzsche’s “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” and a poem by W.H. Auden. Loedel said the editors hope publishing student writing alongside professional writing will encourage young writers to “take themselves seriously.” In her foreword to the new issue, Gordon made a similar point, urging writers to “risk large terms” — to aim high, to never shirk the “difficulties of writing” and to remind readers of “what it is to be most fully and richly alive.” Loedel said The Round considers submissions from anyone, not just artists and writers affiliated with Brown. Its editors look for works that are “far-reaching,” he said — pieces of art and writing from a range of voices, with a wide potential audience. Editors of The Round plan to publish an issue at the beginning of each semester. In the future, Loedel said, they hope to expand the presence of visual art in the magazine while still publishing a variety of writing.


SportsMonday The Brown Daily Herald

Monday, October 19, 2009 | Page 8

Bears tame Tigers with second-half offensive surge By Dan Alexander Senior Staff Writer

Most wide receivers would be happy after having four catches and 30 yards in an upset of a nationally ranked team. But Buddy Princeton 17 34 Brown Farnham ’10 isn’t like most receivers. After Farnham’s 30-yard day against Holy Cross last week, Brown Head Coach Phil Estes said he could tell Farnham wished he had played a bigger role in the offense. “Everybody has a day like that, when the ball goes the other way,” Estes recalled telling Farnham after the Holy Cross game. “I said, ‘But you know how impor tant you are and the big plays that you can make.’” Now Princeton knows too. A week after his relatively quiet performance against Holy Cross, Farnham was everywhere on the field against the Tigers, amassing 309 all-purpose yards. He finished with 10 catches for 199 yards and one receiving touchdown. He also returned a kickoff 92 yards for a second touchdown in the Bears’ (3-2, 1-1 Ivy) 34-17 win over the Tigers (1-4, 0-2 Ivy) on Saturday. “Unbelievable,” Estes said. “Buddy came up big.” On Brown’s first play from scrimmage, Farnham caught a 35-yard pass to put the Bears in field-goal range. His catch killed the momentum the Tigers had gained with their 67-yard drive to the end zone on their first possession. From the time the Bears first got the ball, Farnham stole the show. By the end of the first half, the 8,017 fans in attendance at Brown Stadium had seen him make seven catches

for 184 yards. “He’s just a good football player,” said Princeton Head Coach Roger Hughes. “If he weren’t on someone else’s team, he’d be fun to watch.” In the first half, Farnham had more receiving yards than Princeton’s total yardage. But despite Farnham’s efforts, the Bears went into halftime ahead only 20-17. With a balance of outside rushes and short passes, the Tigers managed 179 yards of total offense in the first half. Princeton quarterback Tommy Wornham was 17-of-22 passing for 135 yards, one touchdown and one interception before halftime. The Tigers got help in the battle for field position from punter Joe Cloud, who put the Bears inside of their own 5-yard line on both of his first-half punts, which averaged 54.5 yards. But each time Princeton gave Brown a long field, Bears’ running back Zach Tronti ’11 managed to get Brown away from its end zone with runs up the middle. “The trouble was we had them pinned back inside the five, I think, three or four times, and just didn’t stop them down there,” Hughes said. “That’s just something we have to do.” Defensively, the Tigers let off of their frequent blitzes, which had defined them this season. Instead, they stayed back in coverage for much of the day. “We were just trying to mix it up,” Hughes said. “You have to mix it up with a good quarterback. Otherwise, he’ll pick you apart.” Brown quarterback Kyle NewhallCaballero ’11 was 13-of-20 passing for 255 yards and two touchdowns in the first half. After the Bears went ahead

in the second half, Newhall-Caballero handed off more than he dropped back. He finished 23-of-36 passing with 309 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. The Tigers went into halftime on a high note after a questionable call that negated a Brown touchdown and led to a Princeton field goal. Princeton dropped back to pass with eight seconds left and the ball at the Brown 33-yard line. But seeing no one open, Wornham took off on the ground, rushing to the 20-yard line before being hit by cornerback A.J. Cruz ’13. Cruz stripped the ball and ran it back for a touchdown. But the officials called a personal foul on Cruz for a helmet-to-helmet tackle, giving the ball back to Princeton at the 10-yard line with :00 on the clock and the chance for one more play. The Tigers kicked a 27yard field goal and made it, making the score 20-17 Brown. “My job is to go in there and make sure that that isn’t a momentum swing for Princeton,” Estes said. Estes couldn’t have done his job any better. On the opening kickoff after halftime, Bobby Sewall ’10 received the ball at the 8-yard line. He took a few steps right and reversed the ball to Farnham. After taking the handoff, Farnham danced and dodged his way through Princeton defenders until breaking free at midfield. His 92-yard touchdown return gave the Bears a 27-17 advantage. The Princeton of fense couldn’t get anything going in the second half. On Princeton’s final possession of the third quarter, defensive end Jimmy Develin ’10, a co-captain, had a sack on first down. Defensive

Jesse Morgan / Herald

Buddy Farnham ’10 amassed 309 all-purpose yards versus Princeton this weekend.

tackle David Howard ’09.5 followed up with two tackles in the backfield on second and third down, forcing the Tigers to punt. After Newhall-Caballero threw an interception early in the third quarter, the Bears mostly kept it on the ground for the rest of the game. Tronti had 19 carries in the second half and finished with 29 carries for 134 yards. Estes credited the offensive line

for opening up holes for Tronti, especially on the Bears’ final drive, a 19-play, 74-yard campaign to the end zone that chewed up 11:08 of the fourth quarter, leaving just 1:32 left in the game with a secure 34-17 lead. With the lyrics “celebrate good times, c’mon” blasting out of a stereo in the locker room after the game, the Bears celebrated their first Ivy League win of the season.

Field hockey falls to no. 4 Princeton By Andrew Braca Spor ts Editor

Tweet dreams, Brunonia. twitter.com/the_herald

The field hockey team fell to No. 4 Princeton, 5-1, on Saturday. The Tigers (11-2, 4-0 Ivy League) held advantages of 31-2 in shots and 18-1 in penalty corners, but Brown (48, 0-4) outscored Princeton in the second half. As an icy wind whipped Warner Roof, the Tigers blew away the Bears in the first half to gain a five-goal lead heading into halftime. Princeton scored three goals in the first 13 minutes. After Brown’s defense stiffened for nearly 19 minutes, the Tigers scored twice more in the final four minutes of the half to head into the break with a 5-0 lead. Bruno’s offense was flat, generating little offensive pressure and not taking its first shot until the 33rd minute, but the defense was playing deceptively well. Princeton dominated in possession of the ball, spending enough time on offense that

the halftime lead could easily have been 10-0, but the Bears frequently kept the Tigers from penetrating the circle and taking shots. That culminated when Princeton failed to score in the second half, held to 13 shots and stonewalled by Brown goalie Caroline Washburn ’12, who made 9 of her 13 saves in the second frame. The Tigers’ 31 total shots were 18 fewer than they took in last year’s game. The Bears broke through with 4:21 left on Kelley Harrison’s ’13 first career goal. Leslie Springmeyer ’12 got the ball at midfield and took it down the left side before passing down to Whitney Knowlton ’10. Knowlton sent a crisp cross to Harrison at the right post, who beat a diving Princeton goalie Cynthia Wray to the back of the cage to produce the 5-1 final score. The Bears will hit the road twice this week, facing crosstown rival Providence College (5-9) on Tuesday and Cornell (8-3, 2-2) on Saturday.


World & Nation The Brown Daily Herald

Monday, October 19, 2009 | Page 9

Increase seen in flow of Western terrorists By Craig Whitlock Washington Post

BERLIN — Midway through a propaganda video released last month by a group calling itself the German Taliban, a surprise guest made an appearance: a cleanshaven, muscular gunman sporting the alias Abu Ibrahim the American. The gunman did not speak but wore military fatigues and waved his rifle as subtitles identified him as an American. The video contained a stream of threats against Germany if it did not withdraw its troops from the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan. Although the American’s part in the film lasted only a few seconds, it has alarmed German and U.S. intelligence officials, who are still puzzling over his background, his real identity and how he became involved with the terrorist group. U.S. and European counterterrorism officials say a rising number of Western recruits — including Americans — are traveling to Afghanistan and Pakistan to attend paramilitary training camps. The flow of recruits has continued unabated, officials said, in spite of an intensified campaign over the past year by the CIA to eliminate al-Qaida and Taliban commanders in drone missile attacks. Since January, at least 30 recruits from Germany have traveled to Pakistan for training, according to German security sources. About 10 people — not necessarily the same individuals — have returned to Germany this year, fueling concerns that fresh plots are in the works against European targets. “We think this is sufficient to show how serious the threat is,” said a senior German counterterrorism official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. German security services have been on high alert since last month, when groups affiliated with the Taliban and al-Qaida issued several videos warning that an attack on German targets was imminent if the government did not bring home its forces from Afghanistan. There are about 3,800 German troops in the country, the third-largest NATO contingent after those of the United States and Britain. German officials say Taliban and al-Qaida leaders are trying to exploit domestic opposition in Germany to the war; surveys show that a majority of German voters favor a withdrawal of their soldiers. Last week, German officials disclosed that a 10-member cell from Hamburg had left for Pakistan earlier this year. The cell is allegedly led by a German of Syrian descent but also includes ethnic Turks, German converts to Islam and one member with Afghan roots. Other European countries are also struggling to keep their citizens from going to Pakistan for paramilitary training. In August, Pakistani officials arrested a group of 12 foreigners

headed to North Waziristan, a tribal region near the Afghan border where many of the camps are located. Among those arrested were four Swedes, including Mehdi Ghezali, a former inmate of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Meanwhile, three Belgians and a French citizen are facing trial in their respective home countries after they were arrested upon their return from Pakistani camps last year. The suspects deny they were part of a terrorist conspiracy or plotting attacks in Europe. But one defendant has admitted to French investigators that the group received explosives training while in Waziristan. Three other Belgian and French members of the alleged cell are still believed to be at large in Pakistan or Afghanistan. European security officials have warned for many years of the threat posed by homegrown radicals who have gone to Afghanistan and Pakistan to wage jihad. Officials in some countries, such as Britain, said they have successfully cracked down on the number of would-be fighters going to South Asia. But others, such as Germany, are seeing a significant increase and struggling to contain it. In the past, such volunteers were largely self-motivated and had to find their own way to South Asia. Today, however, al-Qaida and its affiliates have developed extensive recruiting networks with agents on the ground in Europe, counterterrorism officials said. The agents provide guidance, money, travel routes and even letters of recommendation so the recruits can join up more easily. In a recent report, the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service said there were a “growing number of indications” that more Europeans were attending camps in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Obama administration has said that al-Qaida’s command structure and operations wing have become weaker in the past year because many of its leaders have been killed in drone missile attacks. But in its report, the Dutch intelligence agency offered a different assessment, saying that al-Qaida’s ability to carry out attacks has generally improved in recent years largely because it has successfully bolstered its alliances with other terrorist groups. “With the jihadist agenda of those allies becoming more international, at least at the propaganda level, the threat to the West and its interests has intensified,” the Dutch report found. German officials said they have discovered multiple recruitment networks that work for al-Qaida, the Taliban and other groups, such as the Islamic Jihad Union, which has been issuing many of the online threats against the German government. But they said the recruiting networks often operate independently, making it difficult for the security services to detect or disrupt them.

Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times Don Foley, center, joins the start of the AIDS fund-raising walk in West Hollywood on Sunday. Foley, 79, has participated in all 25 of the West Hollywood walks.

At 79, raising funds and awareness By Gerrick Kennedy Los Angeles T imes

LOS ANGELES — Don Foley made his first AIDS Walk Los Angeles 25 years ago, when the event started. And he hasn’t missed one since. On Sunday, Foley, 79, joined 30,000 others who walked the 6.2-mile route to raise money and awareness to fight AIDS. While some marchers hoisted signs and others chanted, Foley, moving with the others along Melrose Avenue, reflected on how much has changed. In the early years of AIDS Walk, “It wasn’t much to do those days except watch your friends die,” Foley said. “It’s sad. One day, your friends would tell you they were HIV positive, and the next day you’re at their funeral.” But with progress being made in treating those with the virus and with better understanding among the general population, Foley sees reason for optimism. “It’s nice seeing all these people. I think the first year there was maybe 4,000 people -- mostly all gay,” said Foley, who is gay. “No one wanted to be associated with us back then. But this is a good mix of people.” He remembers taking his nephew, who was in the late stages of AIDS, in a wheelchair to the

Aids Walk before he died in 1998. He and his sister took turns pushing. Foley wanted his nephew to experience the walk. Foley said watching the disease spread in the 1980s was scary and eye-opening. He lost at least 30 friends, including a former partner. For the past six years Foley has been a “star walker” -- a participant who raises more than $1,000; he collected $1,400 from family and friends this year. He wore all the pins he has earned from walks through the years, and throughout the day people wanted to pose for pictures with him and applaud him. Foley, long active in the gay community, keeps a folder safely tucked away in his nightstand with his memories. The clippings and other memorabilia include items about his running for a seat on the Los Angeles County Democratic Central Committee in the 1970s, registering voters at gay clubs and being named volunteer of the year by the Stonewall Democratic Club. Craig Miller, founder and producer of the walk, praised Foley’s dedication. “For Don as an individual to walk with us in 1985 took courage,” Miller said. “To go around to his friends and co-workers and

just ask to be sponsored really was an act of courage. They very well may have had the reaction of, `Oh, do you have AIDS? Maybe I shouldn’t be working with you.’” This year’s walk, which benefits Aids Project of Los Angeles, raised $3,146,206, funds that Craig E. Thompson, executive director for the organization, said are crucial. The organization lost $1.6 million as the result of California cutting money for AIDS/HIV programs. Darr yl Stephens, 35, best known for his role on the television show “Noah’s Arc,” said that with events such as the November passage of Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage, and budget cuts in AIDS/HIV related funding, the state has taken a step back. “We’re in an interesting point in history. ... It’s important to stay visible,” Stephens said. “We have to work that much harder.” As Foley crossed the finish line, he dabbed a bit of sweat from his brow. He said he was tired yet exuberant. “Hopefully I don’t have to do this for another 25 years,” Foley said. “They need to find a cure for this thing.” When the walk came to a close, Foley went home, opting to skip the celebration that went on afterward. He had done his part.

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Editorial & Letters The Brown Daily Herald

Page 10 | Monday, October 19, 2009

chris jesu lee

You never call, you never write. Come home, darling. letters@browndailyherald.com t h e b r o w n d a i ly h e r a l d Editor-in-Chief Steve DeLucia

Managing Editors Michael Bechek Chaz Firestone

Deputy Managing Editors Nandini Jayakrishna Franklin Kanin Michael Skocpol

editorial Arts & Culture Editor Ben Hyman Features Editor Sophia Li Metro Editor George Miller Metro Editor Joanna Wohlmuth News Editor Seth Motel News Editor Jenna Stark Sports Editor Andrew Braca Asst. Sports Editor Han Cui Asst. Sports Editor Alex Mazerov Asst. Sports Editor Katie Wood Graphics & Photos Chris Jesu Lee Graphics Editor Stephen Lichenstein Graphics Editor Photo Editor Kim Perley Max Monn Asst. Photo Editor Jesse Morgan Sports Photo Editor production Ayelet Brinn Copy Desk Chief Rachel Isaacs Copy Desk Chief Marlee Bruning Design Editor Jessica Calihan Design Editor Asst. Design Editor Anna Migliaccio Asst. Design Editor Julien Ouellet Neal Poole Web Editor Post- magazine Arthur Matuszewski Editor-in-Chief Kelly McKowen Editor-in-Chief

Senior Editors Rachel Arndt Isabel Gottlieb Scott Lowenstein

Business General Managers Office Manager Shawn Reilly Alexander Hughes Jonathan Spector Directors Ellen DaSilva Sales Claire Kiely Sales Katie Koh Finance Jilyn Chao Asst. Finance Christiana Stephenson Alumni Relations Managers Kelly Wess Kathy Bui Alex Carrere Matt Burrows

Local Sales National Sales University Sales Credit and Collections Opinions

Alyssa Ratledge Sarah Rosenthal

Opinions Editor Opinions Editor

Editorial Page Board James Shapiro Editorial Page Editor Matt Aks Board member Nick Bakshi Board member Zack Beauchamp Board member Debbie Lehmann Board member William Martin Board member

Jessica Calihan, Gili Kliger, Julien Ouellet, Designers Ayelet Brinn, Sarah Forman, Nick Sinnott-Armstrong, William Tomasko, Copy Editors Ellen Cushing, Alexandra Ulmer, Night Editors Senior Staff Writers Dan Alexander, Mitra Anoushiravani, Ellen Cushing, Sydney Ember, Lauren Fedor, Nicole Friedman, Brigitta Greene, Sarah Husk, Brian Mastroianni, Hannah Moser, Ben Schreckinger, Anne Simons, Anne Speyer, Sara Sunshine, Alex Ulmer, Suzannah Weiss, Kyla Wilkes Staff Writers Shara Azad, Emma Berry, Alicia Chen, Zunaira Choudhary, Alicia Dang, Juliana Friend, Anish Gonchigar, Sarah Julian, Christian Martell, Heeyoung Min, Jyotsna Mullur, Lauren Pischel, Kevin Pratt, Leslie Primack, Luisa Robledo, Dana Teppert, Gaurie Tilak, Caitlin Trujillo, Monique Vernon, Senior Business Associates Max Barrows, Jackie Goldman, Margaret Watson, Ben Xiong Business Associates Stassia Chyzhykova, Marco deLeon, Katherine Galvin, Bonnie Kim, Cathy Li, Allen McGonagill, Liana Nisimova, Thanases Plestis, Corey Schwartz, William Schweitzer, Kenneth So, Evan Sumortin, Haydar Taygun, Webber Xu, Lyndse Yess Design Staff Gili Kliger, Jessica Kirschner, John Walsh, Kate Wilson Photo Staff Qidong Chen, Janine Cheng, Alex DePaoli, Frederic Lu, Quinn Savit Copy Editors Sara Chimene-Weiss, Miranda Forman, Casey Gaham, Anna Jouravleva, Geoffrey Kyi, Frederic Lu, Jordan Mainzer, Madeleine Rosenberg

e d i to r i a l

A day off, not a day on Last Monday, a motley crew of kooks and food vendors, watched by a handful of bemused students, gathered on the Main Green to protest the University’s renaming of Columbus Day as Fall Weekend. The congregation was heralded by an ingeniously postmodern flier campaign that omitted outmoded, deterministic details such as the time the event would take place. At stake, apparently, was the very foundation of the United States of America. President of the Brown Republicans Keith Dellagrotta ’10 put it worst: “American Indians knew not Christianity, and thus lacked the bedrock to construct a great United States of America as we know it today. Columbus, however, was their saving grace.” Obviously, Dellagrotta knew not that he was putting his foot in his mouth. Last we checked, the establishment clause was still on the books. And “saving grace” is a bit off the mark for the fellow whose ships inadvertently brought the first of the European microbes that would decimate the population of the Americas; most of the dead never saw a crucifix. Certainly, the champions of Fall Weekend have made equally clueless statements. Take Reiko Koyama ’11, who led the charge against Columbus Day at Brown and told The Herald last week that the holiday “has nothing to do with Italian-American pride.” In fact, Italian-Americans have long rallied to the Genoese Columbus — celebrated here widely since before the birth of the United States — to fight anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic persecution by groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. Even in Providence, many citizens of Italian heritage turned to Columbus to counter the prejudices of the pre-existing Irish and Anglo-Saxon communities. But the advent of Fall Weekend was no ethnic insult. Brown’s students would much, much sooner strip naked in public than don white robes. Columbus lost his place on the University’s academic calendar because

he launched the enslavement and devastation of the peaceful native peoples of Hispaniola, and because the holiday has served its purpose — bigotry is no longer a serious threat to Italian-Americans. Maybe another name change is in order. Our deepblue faculty would be happy to rechristen Fall Weekend as Cuomo Day. We’re sure that the University’s morally upright dons could even scrape together enough cynicism to get behind Cicilline Day, if it finally buries the student tax. What say you, wingnuts? Will you leave us alone then? Probably not. Whatever their motivations, the crowd’s rabidly anti-Brown sentiment is obviously deep-seated. Among the crackpots was Chris Young, a man whose major achievement is failing in more than one electoral contest in a single year; he recently volunteered to be Mayor Cicilline’s punching bag in the Democratic primary. The Herald reported that Young made the risible claim that “Brown should pay property taxes if they’re going to become politically active by removing a national holiday.” Young wasn’t alone: Several other Columbus enthusiasts also embraced the most misconceived justification yet for taxing one of Providence’s biggest assets. In fact, the name change bears no resemblance to the types of consequential political advocacy — such as endorsing and campaigning for candidates and legislation — that would actually endanger the University’s tax exemption. As far as the law is concerned, we could consecrate our academic calendar’s second Monday in October to the Flying Spaghetti Monster as long as we don’t officially admit that all Brunonians — even Dellagrotta — accept Obama as their lord and savior. Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.

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 editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial page 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 clarity 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.


Opinions The Brown Daily Herald

Monday, October 19, 2009 | Page 11

If I had two million dollars…

SIMON LIEBLING Opinions Columnist …I’d improve financial aid in a recession. Or mitigate next year’s tuition hike. Or avoid firing University employees. Or pay Dining Services workers what they deserve. Or I’d give it back to the students I overcharged to get it in the first place. But I would not waste it on speeding up the construction of a building that’s going to get done anyway. Not when students are struggling to stay at Brown, forced to take on hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt to continue with their education. Not when the administration fires 30 employees to save money. Not when it’s trying to deprive dining workers of their health care and a living wage. It takes ruthless callousness to wield the language of hard times to demand sacrifices of all of us before turning around and wasting found money. But these are administrators’ clear priorities. Their first thought after stumbling upon an unexpected windfall is not to alleviate the burden they have mercilessly levied on students and staff but to pour still more money into their dear pet projects. The Faunce House construction project does not need two million more dollars. It will be completed with or without the extra money because it has remained entirely immune to the budget cuts extracted from students and staff. Speeding up the construction of Faunce

— with money extorted from students — is precisely the kind of financial extravagance that the administration says the rest of us must learn to live without. In better times, in the absence of more pressing needs, we could understand using a surplus to fast-track a construction project. But today, while students desperately need tuition relief and staff need steady jobs and fair wages, spending two million scarce and

We are the furthest thing from a priority. In these circumstances, the allocation of still more money to regal construction projects is cruel regardless of the provenance of the cash, but what makes this impossibly outrageous situation still worse is that the administration is doing this with our money. They have two million unbudgeted dollars because they shamelessly overcharged us in the middle of a recession. Every student paid $340 more

It takes ruthless callousness to wield the language of hard times to demand sacrifices of all of us before turning around and wasting found money.

precious dollars to finish a building faster is an affront to basic human decency and any sense of community this administration pretends it promotes. For students and staff, there can no longer be any doubt. When the administration would sooner spend its money on speeding up a building than looking out for living, breathing people, there can be only one conclusion: the administration does not care about us. When it can placate us without compromising its initiatives, it is happy to do so, but next to Building Brown we are insignificant, even problematic.

in tuition than the University needed. The ethical thing to do would be to grant every student a $340 refund or credit towards future tuition, because this is a recession and families need that money more than the administration. But instead the administration put even more money to its glam projects, as if trying to see just how much bull it could manage to pull on us before anyone objected. And the $two million may not be enough to speed up construction. University officials warn that more money may have to be taken from somewhere else.

At the very least, the administration could have asked us how we wanted our money to be spent. Beppie Huidekoper, the executive vice president for finance and administration and the University’s acting Marie Antoinette, told the Brown University Community Council that the administration allocated the money to Faunce because it wanted to choose a project that would benefit the students who provided the funds. But this is the administration putting words in students’ mouths. The University didn’t ask students what they thought because, as a matter of policy, this University doesn’t ask students what they think. If it had, it would have heard about refunds and credits, better financial aid and respect for the humanity of employees. But the administration doesn’t want to hear about any of those things. It wants to hear about glitzy buildings and high-profile projects that attract donor dollars and promote prestige — the metric administrators use to measure their success. The waste of our money, the unfeeling disregard for human needs, the giddy eagerness to sink more resources into buildings — we must use the Faunce farce to finally dispense with the myth that the administration is concerned with our welfare. We must remember that we attend a university that would sooner spend other people’s money on buildings that don’t need it than on people who do.

Simon Liebling ’12 is from New Jersey. He can be reached at simon.liebling@gmail.com.

Crude justice BY WILL WRAY Opinions Columnist Beware: you are being recruited for a war — a deeply unjust war. It isn’t fought with guns or bombs, but the consequences are no less dire. What is at stake is nothing less than the well-being of the nascent seed of international justice and the future of sustainable development in impoverished countries worldwide. In 1964, Texpet entered into an “oil concession” with the government of Ecuador, in which Texpet was the minority shareholder and operator. Upon termination of the concession in 1992, Texpet conducted a $40 million environmental remediation campaign that was validated by independent laboratories and approved by Ecuador’s government. The government then granted Texpet release from any remaining liability related to the consortium’s operations. Chevron (which acquired Texpet in 2001) is now being sued for $27 billion — 60 times Texpet’s total earnings from the concession — for alleged environmental damage and illnesses resulting from the drilling operations. “Crude” is a documentary which attempts to reframe the story as a David vs. Goliath battle of indigenous tribal Amazonians versus a greedy, ruthless multinational corporation. It was showcased at Brown on Oct. 3 by the Amazon Defense Coalition and Esperanza International, two non-governmental organizations who hope to cash in on damages attributed to Chevron. Why do they bother trying to win over Brown students’ hearts and minds? Because they know their case has no

chance in a court of law. For starters, the case is not fought by the indigenous people of the area, but by a contingency-fee attorney from the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The case was unapologetically filed ex post facto, under a law passed seven years after the concession was lawfully terminated. The NGOs propagating “Crude” would have us indefinitely delay the rule of law in underdeveloped countries in favor of knee-jerk reactions to transfer money from successful corporations to the poor.

bons and metals. Why, then, is ill-health so prevalent amongst the indigenous tribes? The answer is simple: 90 out of 100 water samples contain dangerous quantities of human and animal waste. The locales shown in “Crude” were filmed in areas that PetroEcuador, the government oil company, has been operating since the end of the concession. PetroEcuador has a long and well-documented history of environmental irresponsibility. Taking samples from these areas and blaming Texaco is akin to your current landlord calling you sixteen

Why do they bother trying to win over Brown students’ hearts and minds? Because they know their case has no chance in a court of law.

Why should we care? If governments allow the invalidation of contracts they were a party to, the resulting legal volatility will deter any venture from developing capital-intensive infrastructure or introducing modern services to those who desperately need them. Experts have concluded that there is no significant risk to human health at the remediated well sites. There has been no increased risk of cancer in or around the affected area and water samples met U.S. EPA and World Health Organization standards for hydrocar-

years after you moved out and demanding you pay a fine for a mess that subsequent tenants left behind. This PR war is fought with misleading photography (transport a little girl in front of PetroEcuador oil, press “record”), insidious misnomers (“The Amazon Chernobyl”) and shocking insinuations. To wit: The Ecuadorean frontman for the plaintiff, Pablo Fajardo, repeatedly implies that Chevron murdered his brother and ominously intones that the incident has “never been in-

vestigated.” In truth, Wilson Fajardo’s death was investigated by the police, and the three local men responsible were identified. The presiding judge recently recused himself after video evidence showed him soliciting bribes on the order of millions of dollars, acknowledging that the verdict has been pre-ordained and explaining how damages paid would end up in the hands of the government — which would use the cash windfall to drill more. The plaintiff’s case is hopeless. The Amazon Defense Coalition is clinging to “Crude” as a last ditch effort to embarrass Chevron into paying a handsome settlement. Why are we Brown students so willing to abandon our critical faculties and jump to their aid? Because the way this story has been packaged, as that of a successful, evil capitalist company in a legal battle with exploited “underdog” indigenous people, fits into a baseless Manichean narrative that decides the issue for most people before the facts are ever heard. When the CIA came to recruit at Brown, students writhed around in pools of fake blood to protest. When “Crude” came to do the same, students sat and imbibed two hours of contemptible propaganda. Though less visible to the naked eye, the costs of complacent sanctimony are dear. I ask that we defy the temptation to indulge in uncritical self-righteousness, and search for truth and justice in places where our political inclinations tell us not to look.

Will Wray ’10 is not (yet) employed by Big Oil.


Today The Brown Daily Herald

5

“Anna Bella Eema” is innovative and fun

Buddy Farnham ’10 catches a break

7

to day

to m o r r o w

53 / 38

64 / 44

Monday, October 19, 2009

Page 12

t h e n e w s i n i m ag e s

2

3 c a l e n da r

Today, October 19

tomorrow, October 20

11 am — Seasonal Flu Clinics, Jo’s

7:30 PM — BLAST! The Movie, List 120

5:30 Pm — A Panel Discussion with Romano Prodi: “Toward a New Federal Italy or the End of a United Italy,” Smith-Buonanno 106

comics Birdfish | Matthew Weiss

8 pm — Brown University Jazz Combos Concert, Grant Recital Hall

menu Sharpe Refectory

Verney-Woolley Dining Hall

Lunch — Pulled Pork Sandwich, Lentil Croquettes with Spicy Raita, Cheese Pizza

Lunch — Cavatini, Tomato Basil Pie, Sauteed Zucchini and Onions

Dinner — Beef Pot Pie, Vegan Garden Chili, Tomato Rice Pilaf

Cabernet Voltaire | Abe Pressman

Dinner — Chicken Pot Pie, Vegan Ratatouille, Cranberry Wild and White Rice Pilaf

crossword Dot Comic | Eshan Mitra and Brendan Hainline

Hippomaniac | Mat Becker

STW | Jingtao Huang


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