Friday, February 14, 2014

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BROWN DAILY HERALD vol. cxlix, no. 18

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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2014

U. to add 15 SciLi to convert three floors into centers, labs renovations sophomore $7willmillion feature new languagesocial science-focused seminars to and research laboratories curriculum By BRITTANY NIEVES SENIOR STAFF WRITER

By JOSEPH ZAPPA SENIOR STAFF WRITER

inside

Approximately 15 sophomore seminars will run next year as part of a revision to the Diversity Perspectives course designation, which has been updated to Diverse Perspectives in Liberal Learning, said Interim Dean of the College Margaret Klawunn. Sophomore seminars are an effective way to incorporate more DPLL courses into Brown’s curriculum, Klawunn said, because sophomores have already adjusted to life at Brown and many have thoroughly considered issues of identity in previous courses. The seminars will make up a small percentage of the University’s total count of DPLL courses, which are expected to number about 200 next year. Seminars will be offered in a wide variety of disciplines. The 15 currently in the proposal stage for next year are spread across 12 departments. Three sophomore seminars under the program’s umbrella are already being offered this semester. Klawunn said she was surprised by the extensive applicability of the DPLL designation to certain fields, which she attributed to “cutting-edge research” that has shed light on the multidisciplinary nature of issues related to diversity. Chair of the Department of Economics Roberto Serrano “had no issue giving me a range of topics that … are a very clear fit” for DPLL, said Kathleen McSharry, associate dean of the College for writing and curriculum. “I’m not aware that we had any econ courses before in Diversity Perspectives.” President Christina Paxson will teach a sophomore seminar in the economics department next spring titled “Disparities in Wealth and Health.” Klawunn said Paxson, whose strategic plan listed the sophomore seminars as an initiative, has been very supportive of the sophomore seminar program. And as chair of the University Resources Committee, Provost Mark Schlissel ’15 made an investment in the program, McSharry said. » See SOPHOMORE, page 2

The 11th, 12th and 13th floors of the Sciences Library will be renovated this year to create space for the Language Resource Center and the new Laboratory for Educational Innovation and Social Sciences Research Lab, said Provost Mark Schlissel P’15. The $7 million project aims to revitalize current shelf space to accomodate these new endeavors, he added. The three floors slated for renovation are currently home to medicine and engineering journals and masters’ theses. These materials will be moved to the Library Collections Annex, a facility off campus that contains millions

ASHWINI NATARAJAN / HERALD

In light of the increased popularity of online resources, 150,000 items will be removed from the Sciences Library stacks to make way for renovations.

Sex, love and dating: the Brown alternatives Despite taboos, some students delve into kink, group sex, polyamory or open relationships By EMILY WOOLDRIDGE SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Lynne could not decide what color to wear to the stoplight party. An open relationship doesn’t come in colors red, yellow or green. “Do I wear green because I can hook up with people or yellow because maybe I can’t?” she asked herself. Lynne is a female undergraduate whose name, like

FEATURE

those of several other students interviewed for this story, has been changed to maintain confidentiality. For the multitudes of alternative relationships and sexual practices on campus — including group sex, kink, open relationships and polyamory — there is no cruise control. These practices can be difficult to navigate or understand, because every experience is different. “There is no such thing as normal sex,” said Anica Green ’17. Instead of worrying about what color to wear, “why don’t you ask him?” Lynne’s friend suggested. Great sexpectations “Gossip Girl” warns, “Inside every threesome there is a twosome and a

onesome,” but what about a fivesome? In a dorm room, there are 10 condoms on the floor. When first-years walk by, they ask, “Is this the room where the orgy happened?” For Dominic, a male undergraduate, that threesome was “the climax of a term where everyone is having meaningless sex,” he said. For others, group sex is “the best thing that has happened in their lives,” said Andrew, a male undergraduate, or “their two favorite things at once — boobs and penis,” said Emma, a female undergraduate. Dominic said the threesome was more relaxed than having sex one-onone. When the responsibility of pleasure is shared by multiple people, there is not

as much individual pressure to perform, he said. For Emma, the threesome turned into a text message that made its way around campus. By daylight, everyone knew. Andrew’s date and his friend’s date hit it off at the formal, he said. After the party, the pair of couples took a cab back to Andrew’s room — jazz, flameless candles and an L-shaped futon next to the bed. “Sometimes you couldn’t tell whose lips were whose,” he said. “We didn’t know how much we could get away with.” “There was no penetration involved,” Andrew added. “During one-on-one sex there is » See ALTERNATIVE, page 3

On and off stage, Olneyville kids write their own stories Manton Avenue Project empowers disadvantaged youth through playwriting mentorship program SENIOR STAFF WRITER

directed and performed by professionals in the Providence area. Past productions have addressed such themes as the plight of endangered animal species and the role of music in facilitating social change in American history, said Meg Sullivan, MAP’s executive artistic director.

While standardized testing and data benchmarks dominate national discourse around public education, the Manton Avenue Project places creativity center stage. MAP, modeled after the 52nd Street Project in New York City, aims to improve quality of life for children in Providence’s Olneyville neighborhood through engagement with theater. Under the mentorship of professional theater artists, children write and develop original plays to be

Exposition MAP founder Jenny Peek worked as a stage manager in New York City for over 10 years. But she said her involvement with MAP was more valuable than any of her other work in theater. “There are children who don’t understand how powerful they are and can be,” Peek said, adding that her experience with the program sharpened her perspective on how her achievements were influenced by her own background. » See WRITING, page 4

By EMMAJEAN HOLLEY

ARTS & CULTURE

COURTESY OF THE MANTON AVENUE PROJECT

Executive artistic director Meg Sullivan works with Olneyville students, stimulating creativity through theater with the Manton Avenue Project.

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Part of Diversity Perspectives in Liberal Learning, seminars will span 12 departments

of University-owned books, journals and other materials, said David Banush, associate University librarian for access services. As of now, 150,000 items will be removed from the three floors, Banush said. Decisions on what materials will remain in the SciLi depend on what the faculty considers “essential,” he added. Documents from floors other than the 11th, 12th and 13th may be removed to make space for printed materials from the renovated floors. As a result, current collections may be shifted, he said, adding that items selected for relocation to the annex can still be shipped to campus upon student request. “We believe that there is a shift in the way that libraries are used,” said Harriette Hemmasi, University librarian. “It doesn’t mean that libraries aren’t valuable, but they’re used » See SCILI, page 2

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2014

» SCILI, from page 1 differently.” The renovation project is part of a long-term effort to repurpose space in University libraries, Schlissel said. As more journals and books become available online, the areas that contain these documents will be better utilized for other projects. Similar renovations, like the creation of the SciLi’s third-floor Science Center, have been completed in the past to replace unnecessary shelf space with student study spaces, Hemmasi said. “The Rockefeller Library, particularly, and the Sciences Library were made primarily to house a lot of books, and we don’t have the same use for those books as we did fifty years ago,” Banush said. “Moving them off-site and opening these spaces for other uses is critical.” The Laboratory for Educational Innovation, supervised by the Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning, will be a space for multimediaoriented collaboration, Schlissel said. The laboratory will be used to create more online and media content for teaching purposes. The new facility will have “experts in structural design and the production of digital content,” Schlissel said. The laboratory will facilitate professors’ engagement with digital media and its integration into the classroom experience. Members of Computing and Information Services will be relocated from the Center for Information Technology to the SciLi to assist professors with technology in the laboratory and in the Language Resource Center. The move will free up space in the CIT for computer science programs, Schlissel said. The new LRC location — previously only an online service — will provide faculty and students with a space for performing research in language studies, said Ravi Pendse, vice president for CIS. The space will

HERALD FILE PHOTO

As fewer students and faculty members utilize physical resources, the Sciences Library will renovate three floors of stacks, replacing them with facilities for digital social science research as well as new student study centers. provide one-on-one facilities for professors to engage with students. The technology and pedagogy staff from the CIT will assist professors and students, Pendse said. “The Language Resource Center will create an amazing learning, sharing, collaborative space for faculty and students,” he said, adding that the space will include computers where

students will be able to communicate with foreign language speakers abroad. The Social Sciences Research Lab, which will focus on economics, psychology and political science programs, will contain computers for research testing purposes, Schlissel said. The space will be geared toward professors and graduate students, he

said. The renovation will cause no temporary closures, Schlissel added. The project, the timeline of which has not been established, is currently in the planning stages, with efforts being made to avoid interrupting the academic year, Banush said. Further expansion of the project to other floors of the SciLi as well as other libraries

remains possible. The renovation will be funded mostly through alum donations and gifts, said Beppie Huidekoper, executive vice president for finance and administration. The Corporation, the University’s highest governing body, “is hoping to move things as quickly as possible,” she said, adding that renovations could start as early as the fall.

» SOPHOMORE, from page 1

over last semester when student and community protesters interrupted a lecture by New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. The Kelly episode “told us that there are lots of things that our students and our faculty want to talk about,” Schlissel said. The seminars and other DPLL courses offer an opportunity to “regularize” the types of conversations the Kelly lecture sparked, he added. In considering how to incorporate courses on diversity into the curriculum, administrators relied on records of courses on diversity, academic literature on effective teaching methods and current faculty and staff members’ perspectives on making Brown more inclusive, wrote Kendra Cornejo ’15, a research assistant to the committee tasked with reforming the Diversity Perspectives program, in an email to The Herald. “While Brown has many people and centers dedicated to creating a campus that is more engaged in discussions of race, class, gender, etc.,” Cornejo wrote. “There is still a lot

of work to be done institutionalizing these practices to create a meaningful change for all students on this campus.” Sophomore seminars will provide an effective path for students to learn more about the world, Cornejo said, adding that the second year of an undergraduate’s study is a timely moment to reflect on DPLL topics. Of the three seminars offered this semester, one — HIST 0980: “Becoming French” — is also open to students from other class years. Though most of the students in the course are sophomores, life experience matters more than experience at Brown, said Harin Lee ’17, a student in the course. He added that classmates often reference their personal experiences with issues related to diversity outside of life at the University. Though sophomore seminars are not geared toward first-years, Lee said the seminar has been a positive experience and has fulfilled the goal of educating students about diversity.

Klawunn and McSharry said they were not yet sure if students would register for sophomore seminars like they do for most classes or if a lottery system like that used for firstyear seminar registration would be implemented. Though she expects sophomore seminar registration, particularly for next fall, to be carried out by regular means, McSharry said she is “concerned that when we have people like President Paxson offering a section, students would want some way to throw their hat in the ring.” There has been widespread interest in the program among sophomores for several years, Klawunn said, adding that sophomores often want to take upper-level small classes or first-year seminars. The sophomore seminars program will fulfill those needs, she said. As DPLL courses, the seminars will provide a consistent setting in which students can discuss social justice and equity — issues that boiled

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2014

NE WS IN BRIEF Phi Beta Kappa elects 33 juniors Thirty-three juniors were elected Wednesday to the Rhode Island Alpha chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, Chapter Administrator Mary Jo Foley wrote in an email to The Herald. Phi Beta Kappa is the oldest academic honors organization in the country. The award is widely recognized as one of the nation’s most prestigious academic honors. Brown’s chapter is the seventh-oldest of the 283 eligible to elect students to Phi Beta Kappa. The members of the class of 2015 who were selected are: • • • • • • • •

• • • • • • • • • • •

• • •

• • • • • • • • • • •

Meher Siddique Ali, a former Herald staff writer Brett Joseph Anders Tara Avril-Tucker Rudy Wu Chen Beatrix Ping Chu Mara Amelia Freilich Hannah Rose Gribetz Mathias Fitzgibbons Heller, a Herald managing editor Elaine Yi-Ning Hsiang Abishek Kumar Kulshreshtha Matthew Dongwoo Lee Roderick Davis Macfarlane Patrick Keenan Maiden Alexander Philip Mechanick Adam Mitchell Morris Alexander Gray Moskowitz Dieu Hoa Thi Nguyen Kate Ilana Nussenbaum, a Herald senior editor Eli Madison Okun, the Herald editor-in-chief and president Sora Myong Park, a former Herald contributing writer Sabin Hana Ray Caroline Augusta Saine, a former Herald senior staff writer Stephen Michael Sarno Jr. Eleanor Gorsuch Siden Sarah Elizabeth Tropp Alexandra Downs Urban, a Herald staff photographer Aaron Dobrow Vale Jing Wang Alexander Scott Warstadt Adam Nathan Waters Jacob Philip Weber Christopher Timothy Wong Bartosz Zerebecki — Gabrielle Dee

» ALTERNATIVE, from page 1 clear intention,” Andrew said. During the foursome, “there was neither intention nor destination — you could be more present.” When Oliver, a male undergraduate, opened a door at a party, he found three girls making out. One of them was his girlfriend. Oliver and his male friend, whose girlfriend was also participating in the makeout session, decided to join. While the friend performed cunnilingus on Oliver’s girlfriend, “it was difficult to wrap my head around it,” he said. But having the fivesome did not ruin the chemistry between Oliver and his girlfriend. “It made our relationship more official, because we were part of (the fivesome) together,” he said. “We can laugh about it.” Kinks and high jinks In 2012, Harvard recognized Harvard College Munch as an official student organization. Members of the group gather weekly in dining halls to discuss kink, consent and safe practices over lunch. There are around 70 students on the group’s mailing list and around 25 regular attendees. “There are no trolls in our dungeon,” said group president Cleo, whose name has been changed for confidentiality. For the most part, the “liberal utopia” of Harvard Square offers students interested in kink “a positive and respectful environment,” she said. Columbia’s Conversio Virium, which means “exchange of forces” in Latin, was the first kink organization for students recognized by a university. College Hill Kink — a subgroup of Queer Alliance comprised of Brown and Rhode Island School of Design undergraduates — also offers a safe space for students interested in kink. Other colleges in New England and across the country — including Tufts University, Iowa State University and Reed College — have similar organizations. The New England Leather Alliance was established in 1991 under a different name, according to the organization’s website. This nonprofit organization strives to raise awareness and create a safe space for those interested in leather, fetish and BDSM, which Cleo defined generally as “bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, sadism and masochism.” After a leather dungeon operated out of a private home in Boston was raided by police and wrongly charged with prostitution, the organization formed to support and unite a leather community that was scattered and persecuted, its website states. Today, the NELA sponsors the Fetish Flea Market, which features vendors and kink courses. The 42nd market will take place in Warwick March 7-9 and offer

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a variety of courses, including “Rope 101: The Knots and Bolts of Bondage,” “Intro to Rough Body Play,” “Kink and Disability” and “The Fine Art of Prostate Massage.” With the mention of whips and handcuffs, many people assume kink is violent or dangerous for those involved, Cleo said. But those in the kink community value “safe practices” and have “a wider range of interests than BDSM,” Cleo said, such as hair pulling, rubber and role playing. Kink involves “people who are excited by things that are complicated, not easy or straightforward,” said Jordan, a female graduate student from Brown. “My biggest kink is public places,” said Andrew. “We snuck up to Metcalf roof and had full-blown sex bent over the railing.” Kink doesn’t necessarily involve sex, the Munch president added. “Some of our members are virgins and want to remain abstinent until marriage.” Despite the acceptance of kink interest groups on college campuses, the kink community faces discrimination in the classroom and the workplace. Some people call this community “disgusting, mentally ill or handicapped,” Cleo said. Many students feel that being open about their involvement in kink could jeopardize their job prospects, especially if they are pursuing careers in education or health care, she said. “There have been scare tactics against these communities for decades — conservatives linking gay or kink culture to pedophilia,” Jordan said. Jordan’s future husband revealed his interest in kink after dating for five years. “I was the first person he came out to,” she said. “He didn’t know about kink communities.” Jordan has embraced her partner’s interest. They are developing skills slowly, taking classes and exploring kink literature and websites together, she said. Opening up “Dan Savage (a relationship and sex advice columnist for “The Stranger”) saved my marriage. I called him and he tweeted back at me,” Jordan said. Jordan knew she wasn’t good at monogamy. “You are taught to believe that you are some crazy monster, that there is something wrong with you if you want to have a lot of sex,” she said. “I didn’t know how to talk about it.” After listening to around 300 episodes of Savage’s podcast “Savage Love,” Jordan developed a vocabulary for discussing these issues, she said. The podcast

helped her gain the courage and confidence to tell her partner, “I’m interested in exploring sexual connections with other people.” Jordan is not emotionally available to partners outside of her marriage, but she is open to sexual encounters outside of wedlock, she said. Because people are socialized to believe monogamy is the only valid form of relationships, “most people think open relationships are doomed to failure,” she said. “They only hear about it when it fails.” Successful open relationships are built on communication, Jordan said. Participants in the relationship must negotiate terms, use protection to prevent STIs and frequently check in with each other, said some students involved in open relationships. Jordan’s husband meets each candidate in person, without her in the room, she said. He has the right to veto any one of her sexual partners, no questions asked, if he feels uncomfortable. “Part of the adventure for me is sharing the experiences with him,” Jordan said. Even though he is not physically involved in the sexual encounter, “he can participate in the adventure and excitement,” she said. For Emma, an open relationship helped her transition from high school to college. “He was my rock,” Emma said, of her high school sweetheart. “I couldn’t imagine coming to college and not having him to share it with.” Having sex with new people in college did not change her love for her high school boyfriend, Emma said. The relationship saw its demise due to fights about communication. An open relationship gave Lynne the freedom to seize sexual opportunities without the complications of commitment, she said. But being in an open relationship “doesn’t necessarily mean I hook up with all these people all the time,” she said. After being in an open relationship with the same partner for most of her first year, Lynne wanted to make it exclusive. Increased communication would have raised her self-awareness and brought forth this realization sooner, she said. “In the process of being in an open relationship, we hurt each other,” Lynne said. “That was the sacrifice we were going to make.” But at the end of the day, being in an open relationship “proved that we can be honest with each other,” Lynne said. Lynne and her boyfriend from her first year are now exclusive.

More to love “I found myself diving into it without knowing what I was doing, without even knowing the word,” Andrew said. Polyamory — the practice of having more than one intimate relationship at a time with the consent of everyone involved — “was something every movie and book told me was wrong,” Andrew said. “How can I be in love with more than one person at once?” Andrew’s girlfriend is drawn to monogamy, a notion that he believes is is destructive and “the root of a lot of problems in relationships.” Andrew has fallen in love with people outside of their relationship, flirting on the boundaries of polyamory, but is afraid to tell his girlfriend. “She would think I’m crazy,” he said, even though falling in love with other people “doesn’t mean my feelings for her are any different or less real.” If people in relationships were honest and open about their feelings for other people, instead of keeping secrets and hating themselves for their emotions, there wouldn’t be as much cheating and divorce, Andrew said. In an Italian cafe, crowded with young people by night and old men playing cards by day, James, a male first-year, kissed his girlfriend on the dance floor. James left to get a glass of grappa, a grape-based brandy. When he returned, she was kissing another girl. “Everyone was talking about it,” said James. “Even the bartender asked me about it.” But this did not bother James, because he had been in a triad with these two girls for a little over a month. One of the partners was Maria, his former girlfriend — “a hippie from Canada who smelled like cigarettes and always had leaves in her long brown hair,” he said. The other partner was Maria’s friend, a girl James knew but rarely interacted with. Though James and the girl were not sexually or emotionally involved with each other, “we were aware of each other and okay with the relationship,” he said. But Maria felt guilty about the relationship. “She felt as if she was using us or not giving us all of herself, but I felt like what she was giving was enough,” he said. Though at times James wanted the relationship to be more defined, he did not want to put anyone in boxes. “When you love someone, you have to adjust your way of thinking and accept the way they are,” he said. “When you love someone, none of the little things matter.”

4 arts & culture

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2014

At AS220, local songwriters take on creative challenges Monthly event with local musicians fosters original performances, novel exchanges By MICHELLE MEHRTENS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

A guitarist plucks out a rapid staccato. People wander the room with salty snacks and cold drinks. Songs about lost love and adventure. Songwriters in the Round, founded by guitarist and singer Ryan Fitzsimmons, is a monthly event held at AS220 that features a diverse collection of talented musicians performing original pieces. The group celebrated its 10th anniversary last week with a fundraising performance for the Rhode Island Songwriters Association. Root of the chord Fitzsimmons, who moved to Providence in 2004, performed at the Newport Folk Festival in 2008. He soon became involved with RISA, an organization that aids artists by working with them on albums and by hosting songwriting workshops. He also worked with AS220, a nonprofit that helps artists and musicians exhibit their work. He was inspired by a music series that his friend created in Syracuse, New York, Fitzsimmons said. Performer Jim Tata said RISA now comprises 145 members from Rhode

» WRITING, from page 1 “I was raised by people who pushed me and who believed in my future success, and I was lucky enough to be a part of an economic demographic where people expected me to be successful,” she said. “But so many people don’t have that, and I think that’s ridiculous.” Each year, MAP admits 10 new third-graders from the Olneyville neighborhood. Students learn “the basics of dialogue and monologue, conflict and resolution” in small, often volunteertaught classes and through one-onone playwriting mentorship, Sullivan said. The playwriting sessions are especially intensive — five hours a day for two days — but mentors work hard to keep children motivated, asking questions to prompt plot and character development, she added.

Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts and other regions . Songwriters in the Round meets once a month. Three locals and one traveling musician perform their works. Fitzsimmons was the host for many years but eventually passed the torch to other coordinators, like Joanne Lurgio, who is also in charge of booking artists. During the event, there are four rounds of songs — each performer plays one original composition for every round, Fitzsimmons explained. Three of the songs are the musician’s choice, but the song performed during the third round must be inspired by the theme that was chosen the month before, he added. Throughout the night, notecards are scattered on tables and chairs. Audience members are tasked with writing down possible themes for songs on these pieces of paper. The host selects four notecards at random and the audience votes for the best theme. The next month, each musician must play an original song pertaining to the theme in some way. Fitzsimmons said there are no hard and fast rules, but the chosen concept should work as inspiration. The themes tend to be random— “we’ve had ‘Running in Circles,’ ‘Broken Fences’ and ‘Darth Vader,’” he said. The primary enjoyment stems from watching how the musicians choose to handle the theme. “People will take it

Rising action Sullivan said she strongly believes in playwriting’s power to cultivate the imagination both inside and outside of the script — from peacefully resolving a conflict to “finding creative alternatives” to obstacles. “I think that communicating how much we value their imagination is the most important thing we can do for kids now,” Sullivan added, citing increasingly standardized school curricula as a reason students may believe “creativity is not valued in our culture.” Peek emphasized the importance of instilling the virtues of industry and determination in the children. “We don’t just pat them on the back. If they want to take that bow at the end of their play, they have to work at it. They have to earn the accolades,” she said, adding that the idea

in completely different ways,” he said. Instead of Fitzsimmons soliciting performers, most musicians reach out to Songwriters in the Round, he said. Tata met Fitzsimmons after his children left home. Feeling the effects of an “empty nest,” he joined RISA and began attending Songwriters in the Round, he said. He was eventually asked to participate and then host. Jacob Haller ’00 also originally arrived as a member of the audience to support his friend, performer Chris Monti. “That night it was a theme I suggested — ‘Robots’ — that got picked, so that was also a nice introduction to the series,” he wrote in an email to The Herald. Contested sounds Songwriters in the Round normally focuses solely on acoustic performances — but the anniversary event was “plugged in.” Fitzsimmons said he prefers playing acoustic to electric, because it is a “more intimate experience,” adding that amplification tends to only be necessary when performing in larger or more crowded spaces. Tata said he also favors the acoustic guitar, because he enjoys “the richness of the harmonics, which is so different from electric guitar,” adding that he considers playing plugged in a “necessary evil.” Some musicians use microphones instead of amps to try to keep the original acoustic sound, he added.

is to spark a sense of self-worth in all areas of life. Students exhibit measurable growth in self-esteem over the course of the program, wrote Kelly Seigh, MAP chair of the board, in an email to The Herald. “Many of the older kids have come back to help the younger kids, and time and time again, I notice their poise and confidence, and I can’t help but think that MAP has played a very important role in their lives,” she wrote. Conflict Over its decade-long history, MAP has encountered many challenges, often due to its limited budget, Peek said. MAP can currently afford to pay only one full-time staff member — Sullivan. As a result, she is responsible for a number of duties, including

For Jan Luby, another frequent contributor to Songwriters in the Round, the choice between acoustic and electric “completely depends on the venue,” she wrote, adding that she enjoys performing without amplification while “playing the streets in Europe and out on the west coast, small cafes…or the old vaudeville theatres.” But she wrote that she finds it necessary to have a decent sound system in bars, restaurants and outdoors. Tata said he draws on the Beatles, Paul Simon, James Taylor and Joni Mitchell for inspiration — people he considers “strong foundations for songwriting.” “I don’t know if I ever would have written my first song ... if I didn’t know some talented songwriters who were friends of mine growing up in Brooklyn, NY,” Luby wrote. “So I started putting poetry to music.” A balancing act Both Fitzsimmons and Tata mentioned an infamous song written and performed by Haller during his first performance for Songwriters in the Round in 2007. The song was based on the theme “Childhood Photographs” and titled “Photo Album,” Haller wrote. “He wrote about a family going through an album,” Fitzsimmons said, laughing. “Their daughter was a demon. It was a comedic take.” “The song came together pretty

teaching classes, producing shows, writing grants and recruiting volunteers who “keep everything going,” she said. For nine years, a major logistical obstacle was having no official headquarters. But last year, the Olneyville Housing Corporation donated an abandoned building on Putnam Street, which was renovated into the “Clubhouse,” the program’s offices and performing space. Sullivan said the building has drastically improved MAP’s ability to meet its goals. “Before, I was literally working out of my dining room and carting everything around in my car,” she said. “Now, all of our props and costumes are here on site. We have classrooms. We can hold rehearsals and workshops. We’ve become a hub in the community.” The additional space has also allowed her to begin pursuing a teen program, which would continue the mentorship MAP provides to younger children throughout high school, Sullivan added. Resolution Logistics aside, a major challenge remains in debunking misconceptions surrounding the plays, Peek said, explaining that people often automatically dismiss the quality of each show

quickly, and as the day of the show approached, I became more and more concerned that one or more of the other songwriters would have had the same idea I had, and would have written essentially the same song (only better),” Haller wrote. “But that didn’t happen, and I’ve learned not to worry about that any more.” For Tata, composing music for Songwriters in the Round has pushed him out of his comfort zone in the best way possible, he said, adding that he considers himself musically, but not lyrically, oriented. “I didn’t think I could write songs. I didn’t try,” he said, adding that songwriting is a “balancing act,” because there are so many components that need consideration. But Tata finds following a theme a “liberating” experience, because it becomes more about “problem-solving” and less about the “entire universe, which is a fearful thing.” He added that some of his best songs were written with the most mystifying themes, including “Velcro and Leather.” Luby expressed a similar sentiment. “I loved the challenge of writing on a theme, one I may never have written on otherwise,” she wrote in an email to The Herald. “Most of the time the songs are so new we’re reading them off of the page, and that’s when they’re the most exciting.”

before they’ve seen it on the basis that it was written by a child. But the quality of the performance is surprising for those who don’t expect it, Sullivan said. “I’m moved by how they really understand the characters they’re writing — how much empathy and creativity and passion they show,” she said, especially when a child addresses painful or uncomfortable issues. Volunteers echoed this sentiment. “I can honestly say that some of my favorite lines ever spoken on stage have been written by a seven-year-old. There is a certain humor, honesty and life perspective that the kids are able to capture in their writing,” wrote Seigh. Melissa Bowler, a local actor, estimates that she has volunteered for roughly 20 MAP shows in seven years. And the material in the shows is “refreshing and exciting to create,” she wrote in an email to The Herald. “The best part is the magical moment that happens every opening night when you get to watch the kids watch their plays come to life for the first time,” she wrote. “Be my ally: the upstander play” opens tonight at 7 p.m. in the Media and Performing Arts Center at the Met School at 325 Public Street. The show will also run Saturday and Sunday at 3 p.m. Tickets, according to the MAP website, are “pay-what-you-can.”

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

SPORTS BULLETIN

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2014

M. ICE HOCKEY

Bruno hosts Tigers and Bobcats in crucial home series

Bears need strong play this weekend to retain home ice in opening round of conference tournament By ANDREW FLAX SENIOR STAFF WRITER

After tough losses to No. 3 Union and Rensselaer last weekend, the men’s hockey team is in need of good showings Friday and Saturday at home against Princeton and No. 4 Quinnipiac. Last weekend’s losses pushed the Bears behind RPI and into a tie with St. Lawrence for eighth in the ECAC, a precarious position. Bruno must stay ahead of the Saints in order to earn home ice in the first-round of the conference tournament. The Bears are unlikely to improve their position much this weekend as they would need two wins and some help to move past RPI, which is two points ahead of them in the standings. But they may have an opportunity to pull ahead of St. Lawrence if the Saints struggle against Dartmouth and Harvard. Friday: Princeton (4-19-0, 3-13-0 ECAC) This game, as much as any this season, is a must-win for Bruno. There is no better opportunity for

points than when the last-place team comes to your house, and the Tigers, losers of five straight, are as toothless as they come. Princeton has just one road win all season, though it did come against Quinnipiac. Regardless, the Bears will have much bigger issues to worry about than home-ice advantage if they fall to Princeton at Meehan. Arguably the Tigers’ biggest problem is their last-place offense, which averages an anemic 1.90 goals per game. For reference, 11th-place Dartmouth scores over half a goal per game more than Princeton, and the Bears average 2.70 — nearly a full goal more per game. Princeton’s leading scorer, senior Andrew Ammon, has fewer overall points, 12, than Mark Naclerio ’16 has goals, 15. Suffice it to say, life should be relatively easy Friday night for goalie Tyler Steel ’17. The Tigers are also last in the conference in goals allowed per game, with 3.75, though they only trail the 11th-place team ­— also Dartmouth — by 0.10 total. Senior goalie Sean Bonar has a .885 save percentage, while his freshman backup Colton Phinney checks in at .896. Bonar has started just over half of Princeton’s games. The Bears beat Princeton 6-3 at Hobey Baker Arena in November, and anything less than a resounding win this weekend will be a disappointment.

DAVID DECKEY / HERALD

Defenders Joey de Concilys ’15 and Matt Wahl ’14 will anchor Bruno’s backline against Princeton and No. 4 Quinnipiac, the best offensive squad in the ECAC. Saturday: No. 4 Quinnipiac (205-5, 10-3-3) The second game of the homestand will be a significantly tougher

matchup than the first. The Bobcats are the opposite of the Tigers in every way. Despite being in second place in the conference, they lead the ECAC

M. BASKETBALL

W. ICE HOCKEY

defense against potent Tigers and Quakers

Squad celebrates Valentine’s Day with date at Princeton before facing Quinnipiac

in goals per game at a healthy 3.70. Quinnipiac is also atop the league in goals against average, conceding a mere 1.87 per game. Additionally, the » See M. HOCKEY, page S3

Bears face must-win weekend at home Bruno pushes for eighth Bruno will rely on young and final playoff spot talent to play lock-down By ALEX WAINGER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

At the midpoint of the Ivy League schedule, the third-place Bears find themselves in the midst of a highly competitive race for the conference title. This weekend they play host to Penn and Princeton, two teams fighting to stay afloat. Last weekend, Bruno (12-8, 4-2 Ivy) fought for the full 40 minutes, but ultimately fell to Harvard (18-4, 5-1), before squashing Dartmouth (9-11, 2-4) the next day. Princeton (13-6, 1-4) picked up their first Ivy win last weekend, while Penn (6-13, 3-2) swept their pair of home games against Cornell and Columbia. The Quakers and Tigers enter the weekend ranked number one and two in assists per game. Princeton’s T.J. Bray consistently sets his teammates up, averaging 5.5 dimes a game — the best mark in the conference. Bray is also the league’s second highest scorer, behind Bruno’s own Sean McGonagill ’14. “We know (Bray) is one of the better players in the league,” said co-captain Cedric Kuakumensah ’16. “But they have a lot of weapons on offense. We need whoever is guarding (Bray) to stay with him, because the other guys on the floor can’t leave their men — (Bray) will find a way to get the ball to them.” The Bears’ defense will be put to the

By LAINIE ROWLAND SPORT STAFF WRITER

TOM SULLIVAN / HERALD

Senior Sean McGonagill ’14 maneuvers the Bears around the competition and toward a shot at their first Ivy League title since the 1985-86 season. test against the Tigers, which boast the highest scoring offense in the Ancient Eight. Bray, along with forwards Hans Brase and Will Barrett, each average over ten points per game. Princeton’s top five scorers all net at least seven points per game. Penn can also hold its own on the offensive end. Big men Fran Dougherty — reigning co-Ivy Player of the Week — and Darien Nelson-Henry have posted the first and third highest field goal percentages in the league,

contributing to the Quakers’ overall 45.3 percent from the field, the second best mark in the conference. Tony Hicks leads Penn with 15.3 points per game, while Miles Jackson-Cartwright provides consistency and potency from beyond the arc. Jackson-Cartwright is third all-time among active Ivy players in three-pointers made, trailing McGonagill and Harvard’s Laurent Rivard. With both teams brimming with offensive talent, the Bears cannot afford to » See BASKETBALL, page S3

The women’s ice hockey team will take on Princeton and Quinnipiac this weekend in its last two road matchups of the regular season. Riding a twogame winning streak, Bruno will face tough opponents — the Tigers rank sixth and the Bobcats rank fourth in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference. Brown, by comparison, holds the tenth spot. The top eight teams compete in championship quarterfinals, so the Bears can’t afford to let these four points escape their grasp. Bruno has faced stiff competition throughout the season and has often lost games by small margins. “They have been close in every game, and we are finally starting to get some more bounces our way,” wrote Assistant Coach Jillian Kirchner in an email to The Herald. “The girls realize that we still have a chance at playoffs, so I think they will come into these games with a lot of energy.” As the hockey season draws toward a close, the team has increasingly capitalized on its hard work and

finally secured some crucial wins. The seniors, as they don their jerseys for the last few times, are looking to cash in on their momentum and hard work for end of season victories. “The team is really building energy around (the seniors) as their playing careers at Brown start winding down,” Kirchner wrote. With increased offensive production and a stingy defense anchored by co-captain Aubree Moore ’14, who leads the ECAC in saves and holds an impressive .929 save percentage, the Bears head into the weekend with a winning mentality. Friday: Princeton (12-9-4, 8-7-3 ECAC) On Valentine’s Day, the squad will skate against a competitive Tigers team that has proven its ability to break down defenses and put the puck in the net. When the two teams faced off in November, the Tigers triumphed 5-2. Brown has not beaten Princeton since February of 2010, when they captured a 4-3 overtime victory. The Tigers will enter the game having won nine of their last 12, most recently tying No. 5 Clarkson. But Brown’s two most recent victories over RPI and Union are both teams that have stumped the Tigers this season, handing Princeton a tie and a loss, » See W. HOCKEY, page S3

S2 sports commentary

THE SPORTS BULLETIN FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2014

What Space Jam could Judge grudge: a slippery slope teach All-Star Weekend MIKE FIRN

JAMES COHAN sports columnist

Calling it one of my favorite childhood movies would be an understatement. I once watched it so many times my brother told me I was starting to talk like Daffy Duck — self-consciously exaggerating every “s” for the next two weeks out of genuine fear. How could it be as good as I remembered? I checked Rotten Tomatoes before it started, and it had a 35 percent rating. Thirty-five percent?! Children’s movies always have inflated Rotten Tomatoes scores. “Toy Story,” “Toy Story 2” and “Toy Story 3” are rated 100, 100 and 99 percent, respectively. “The Graduate,” meanwhile, has a score of 88 percent. “Space Jam” couldn’t be that awful, could it? Granted, I told people “I, Robot” was my favorite movie until I was 10, but could my judgment have been that far off? Nope. It’s amazing. The acting is hilariously awkward, and the whole thing feels like one long advertisement for Michael Jordan, but that’s exactly what “Space Jam” is supposed to be. In sports, we talk about how important it is for teams to know their identities. This movie knows its identity. Michael Jordan is not an actor, but he’s definitely an entertainer. In 90 minutes, Jordan crams in around a thousand dunks. Fellow NBA players Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Shawn Bradley, Larry Johnson and Muggsy Bogues all make fools of themselves every time they step in front of the camera, and they embrace every second of it in such a good-natured way you can’t help but smile. And just when you think about checking your phone, B-Real, Coolio, Method Man, LL Cool J and Busta Ryhmes team up to deliver “Hit ’Em High (The Monstars’ Anthem)” and suck you back in. Now, you might be asking why I just devoted 300 words to a halfanimated children’s movie that was released in 1996. Or maybe you just assumed I had no idea what I was doing, which might have been very astute. But I do have a point here. Watching “Space Jam,” I realized something. This is what All-Star Weekend is supposed to be. Dunks, stars and downright absurdity coming at you from all angles until you just shake your head and try to take in as much as you can. Athletes who don’t care about looking stupid and are willing to have fun. Bugs Bunny and his posse. And more dunks. Athletes are so heavily scrutinized these days, so carefully managed, so focused on maintaining their brands, that the idea of just relaxing and putting on a show seems almost naive. No one wants to slip up, make a mistake and be on SportsCenter nonstop. Just look at Marcus Smart — who, by the way, is a week younger than I am. Take LeBron. Every year he declines to participate in the Slam Dunk

Contest. Apparently, he’s worried about protecting his image. (I’m still trying to figure out the link between starring in a beloved event and damaging your image.) This stuff has prevented All-Star Weekend from being the spectacle it could have been the past few years, though absolutely nothing has changed. And yet, despite this, I’ve irrationally decided that this year, we’re going to get one hell of a show. For starters, we’ve got the Celebrity Game. Kevin Hart is going for his third straight MVP. His third straight. The only other basketball players to ever win three straight MVPs? Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Larry Bird. And none of those guys were 5-foot-2 and terrible at basketball. (Of interest to no one but myself: Bill Simmons and Jalen Rose will coach the Celebrity Game. These are two of my favorite people in sports media. I can already see Simmons getting overly competitive and steaming as he watches Hart try to dunk — while at the same time struggling to play it off like he’s having a good time.) Then there are the Slam Dunk Contest and Three-Point Contest, the conference championships of All-Star Weekend. In the Slam Dunk Contest we’ve got Paul George, John Wall, Damian Lillard and three other guys. It’s not LeBron but still. George is an MVP candidate, Wall is arguably the quickest, most athletic player in the NBA, and Lillard has that little-kid look that makes everything he does seem 10 times as impressive. Stephen Curry and Bradley Beal are part of the field in the ThreePoint Contest, which is enough for me. With Curry, there’s the chance he does not miss a single shot, causing my friend Lewis (a Georgetown fan) to flash back to the 2008 GeorgetownDavidson NCAA Tournament Game. “Wait, you guys were the two seed? And you lost in the second round?” And Beal plays for my Wizards, so I can get way too invested and be legitimately upset when he loses to Curry by 15 shots. (Then again, it’s always someone random that wins this event. Why not Beal? I may or may not have already put money on this.) I’m still not totally sure what “Skills Challenge” and “Shooting Stars” are, so I’ll skip those. The “Rising Stars Challenge” is not good. So that just leaves the weekend’s headline event, the All-Star Game. Look, nothing’s going to top Michael Jordan’s buzzer-beating dunk from half court to lead the Tune Squad over the Monstars. You just don’t get players with the ability to stretch their arms 15 feet with two aliens simultaneously tackling them anymore. But if this game, and this weekend, can capture an ounce of that atmosphere — the cartoonish plays, the star power and the sheer sense of fun — well, I’ll take it.

James Cohan ’17 still watches “I, Robot” every weekend. Send movie suggestions to james_cohan@brown.edu.

sports columnist

No matter who you are or where you’re from, the Olympic Games are a pretty big deal. Placed perfectly at the intersection of sports, nationalism and geopolitics, the Games are one of those rare events that capture the attention of the entire world. Even if you are not captivated by the incredible athletic feats, national pride is at stake. Strong allegiances produce fierce competition. But amidst all the storylines that accompany such a globally prestigious event, one age-old debate always emerges at the forefront of discussion: Which “sports” actually belong in the Olympics? Sometimes it’s ice dancing that sparks the conversation. Sometimes shooting or curling. Regardless of the event, some viewer will invariably roll his or her eyes every time NBC switches coverage. Given the patriotic significance assigned to the Games, it’s a topic worthy of discussion. I’m tempted to start by defining a sport. Predictably, any dictionary definition includes vague references to competition and physical exertion. Yes, these elements are crucial common denominators, but they do nothing to reconcile or explain the dramatic differences between, say, baseball and billiards. Colloquially, “sport” may be a general umbrella category for athletic contests, but distinctions can clearly be drawn along multiple dimensions. How do we assign weight to different levels of athleticism, strategy, teamwork and subjectivity? Okay, so clearly there’s a lot to consider here if we want to define a sport. But, perception aside, do the Olympics necessarily imply sport? Defining an athlete is a fundamentally different task than defining a sport. One could viably claim that sport is inherently team-oriented, so most Olympic events are actually just “athletic competitions.” But this argument misses the point. Rather than trying to disentangle a vague definition, we should try to categorize activities based on their relevance to the spirit of Olympic competition. Simply put, what belongs and what doesn’t? As originally intended, the ancient Olympics were meant to isolate pure

physical talent and applaud those who showcased it. Today, the modern Olympic Movement broadly aims to promote athletic competition as a means to achieve global harmony and “link sport with culture.” But its criteria for inclusion are extremely weak: Any event that is widely practiced, is regulated for doping and does not rely on mechanical propulsion can be considered. This definition determines eligibility based on popularity and fairness, not any sort of athletic standard. History, though, gives us some context. The first modern games in 1896 featured nine events: athletics — essentially the modern decathalon plus a marathon — cycling, fencing, gymnastics, weightlifting, wrestling, swimming, tennis and shooting. All nine are individual events that require elite physical abilities, but each event stresses a different combination of skill and athleticism. Shooting’s inclusion shows that the modern Olympic athletic requirement is a bit more lenient than the traditional definition of sport. Suspiciously regarded events like luge and curling thus pass through the filter. But that’s not to say any activity involving athletic ability makes the cut. An event’s physical component, regardless of how strenuous, must serve as the primary competitive index. Sure, knitting may require precision as a criterion for participation, but its results don’t depend chiefly on these attributes. Beyond a minimum threshold, I doubt you’d find a strong correlation between hand-eye coordination and knitting prowess. The intensity of physical activity may not be at the center of the Olympic spirit, but the role of such activity in the competitive process is crucial. No one would dispute that cheerleading can be physically demanding and highly skilled, but it’s easy to see that artistic expression — not athleticism — is its main component. This is the benchmark that should flunk events like ice dancing, slopestyle and figure skating. The original Olympic motto was “Faster, Higher, Stronger.” The games are supposed to reveal the best athletes in the world. If judgment reflects opinion, it becomes impossible to determine a clearly defined winner. There’s just no way to objectively compare the athletic quality of one ski jump to another. The International Olympic Committee needs to draw a line between athletics and

performance art. Yes, there are elements of bias in many sports. A referee is no machine, but his job is to minimize subjectivity and enforce designated rules. When subjectivity is targeted as the primary means of evaluation, though, the athletic components — no matter how impressive — take a backseat. The boundary between art and sport is definitively crossed when competitors aim to cater to the subjective preferences of a judge rather than simply trying to achieve an objective physical end. Take American snowboarder Sage Kotsenburg, for instance. Last week, Kotsenburg wowed slopestyle judges with the “Holy Crail,” a brand new trick he invented on the spot. Kotsenburg’s run was original, gutsy and downright awesome, and he was rewarded with a gold medal. From an athletic perspective, though, Kotsenberg was undeniably outperformed. In the same final, Canadian Mark McMorris pulled off a triple cork 1440, widely considered snowboarding’s most complicated and difficult trick. The Sochi judges chose creativity and style over snowboarding prowess. But how can Kotsenburg rightfully be considered the best snowboarder in the world? Look, figure skating is damn impressive. Slopestyle snowboarding is easily one of the most entertaining Olympic events. But there’s just no room in objective competition for judgment of glittery costumes and creativity. It’s tough to draw lines, but ultimately what’s the difference between ice dancing and ballet? Why is one a “sport” and the other an “art”? Every Olympic event is fun to watch. Each has its own devoted following. But if the Olympics charter is to be upheld, the IOC has to be more scientific in its measurement of supremacy. If it must include the likes of ice dancing in the Olympics, fine. I certainly won’t complain about the preservation of slopestyle. Just acknowledge that the Olympic Games are now more about entertainment than about identifying true athletic excellence. International competition brings the world together every two years. Let’s raise the bar and finally start comparing apples to apples.

Mike Firn ’16 belonged in ancient Greece. Contact him at michael_firn@brown.edu.

What do you think of our new Sports Bulletin? Send feedback, comments and criticism to herald@browndailyherald.com.

schedule S3

THE SPORTS BULLETIN FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2014

» W. HOCKEY, from page S1 respectively. Princeton is fifth in the league in total goals and goals-per-game. Brown, on the other hand, ranks last in both categories. Bruno’s defense — led by Moore — has remained a force to be reckoned with. If the Bears continue to be outshot in the vast majority of games and struggle to put points on the board, their defensive strength may prove moot. On the season, Bruno has taken 511 shots to its opponents’ 893. “They have a well-coached team who is relentless all over the ice,” Kirchner wrote. “They have had some big wins, and they have some players that can put the puck in the net, so we have to capitalize on the opportunities we get.” Saturday: Quinnipiac (17-5-8, 8-4-6) Bruno will head to Hamden, CT to face an offensively threatening Bobcat squad Saturday. Quinnipiac’s starting forwards Kelly Babstock and Shiann Darkangelo are second and third in the conference in shots taken, with a total of 275 shots between the two. The Quinnipiac athletics website bio of Babstock calls her “the greatest

» BASKETBALL, from page S1 give up second-chance opportunities. Against Harvard, Bruno was outscored 18-6 in second-chance points, a difference that cost them the game. “We just have to be more aggressive on the boards,” Kuakumensah said. “Both teams have a lot of length. They’re big teams, and they have guys that crash the boards hard. We have to put a body on every single player, from point guard to center, because they can all attack the glass.” Kuakumensah reiterated Head Coach Mike Martin’s ’04 mantras of finishing possessions, quick rotations and help defense. He also stressed the importance of every player commitming on the defensive end, no matter their defensive assignment. Three-time Ivy Rookie of the Week Steven Spieth ’17 draws the most intriguing matchup, as he assumes

TOM SULLIVAN / HERALD

Junior forward Janice Yang ’15 has amassed 12 points this season and leads the women’s ice hockey team with seven goals. If the Bears have any hopes of staying in the playoff hunt, they will need a solid performance from Yang this weekend. women’s hockey player in Quinnipiac history.” “They have some dangerous forwards ... and they have a very fast team,” Kirchner said. “Quinnipiac is a team that can score on the power

play and five-on-five.” When the two teams battled earlier this season, Quinnipiac emerged victorious 3-1 and outshot the Bears by the staggering margin of 36. But the Bobcats recently dropped both

a 3-0 decision against St. Lawrence, a team that the Bears defeated 4-2 over winter break, and a 3-2 decision against RPI, a team that Bruno shut out 3-0 last weekend. The Brown offense has stepped up, improving on

its ability to connect passes and match opponents’ offensive efforts. The Bears will need to be strong defensively and capitalize on scoring opportunities in order to be successful on Saturday, Kirchner wrote.

responsibility for keeping Bray in check. Spieth held Crimson star Wesley Saunders to six points on 2-13 shooting last weekend. “Spieth has been playing really well,” Kuakumensah said. “He does a little bit of everything for us — he rebounds, scores, plays really solid defense. He does it all.” But when Spieth exits the game due to rest or foul trouble, Matty Madigan ’17 often steps up to fill the role of “lockdown defender.” “(Madigan) is one of our best perimeter defenders,” Kuakumensah said. Against Harvard, Madigan replaced Spieth for much of the first half, after Spieth picked up two quick fouls. In the 12 minutes that Madigan played in the half, Saunders missed all three of his shot attempts and committed two turnovers. If Spieth gets into more foul trouble this weekend, expect to see Madigan come off the bench and match up

with the opponent’s best player. If Madigan or Spieth ever lose track of their men, they have the league’s premier rim-protector in Kuakumensah, who can always bail the Bears out with a block. The sophomore is already the 20th most prolific shot-swatter in league history and is on pace to break the alltime Ivy record by his senior year. “I just try to back my teammates up,” Kuakumensah said. “If they get beat, they know I’m going to be there to help them out in the paint, the same way I know that if I get beat, someone is going to be there to cover me.” The Bears will need Madigan, Spieth and Kuakumensah to be in top form against these two high-octane offenses. Bruno has yet to drop a conference game at home, and to remain in contention with Harvard and Yale (11-9, 5-1), the Bears will have to sweep their doubleheader in the Pizzitola Center this weekend.

» M. HOCKEY, from page S1

In fact, sophomore Michael Garteig has a middling .907 save percentage that places him 10th in the ECAC among qualifying goalies. Instead, the Bobcats do a great job of preventing opponents’ shots, allowing a ludicrously low 20.7 per game. The Bobcats’ strategy of outshooting their opponents by wide margins worked well against Bruno in the teams’ first meeting as Brown took only 20 shots, including just one in the second period, while Quinnipiac peppered Marco De Filippo ’14 with 48 en route to a 3-0 hometown victory. Beating a true national contender is always a challenge, but the Bears have shown they can hang with the best, nearly beating No. 3 Union on the road. If the Bears can learn from its first matchup against Quinnipiac, they could give the Bobcats a real battle.

Bobcats are first in penalty kill percentage at 89.6 percent, which is bad news for a Brown squad that scores on only 18 percent of power plays, good for ninth in the ECAC. This team is one of the most complete in the country, and its loss to Princeton at home is an utter mystery. Quinnipiac’s potent offense does not run through just one player. Both freshman Sam Anas and senior Kellen Jones have 35 points apiece. Naclerio’s team-leading 30 points falls well short. The Bobcats generate 34.3 shots per game, second in the ECAC behind Yale. Steel should enjoy the lowintensity Princeton offense while he can, because he will be under a great deal of pressure Saturday. The strength of Quinnipiac’s defense does not depend on its goalie.

SCHEDULE

Home

Away

Meehan - Friday 7 p.m.

Meehan - Saturday 4 p.m.

Princeton - Friday 7 p.m.

Quinnipiac - Saturday 4 p.m.

Men’s Hockey vs. Princeton

Men’s Hockey vs. #4 Quinnipiac

Women’s Hockey vs. Princeton

Women’s Hockey vs. Quinnipiac

Previous Matchup Brown 6, Princeton 3

Previous Matchup Brown 0, Quinnipiac 3

Previous Matchup Brown 2, Princeton 5

Previous Matchup Brown 1, Quinnipiac 3

Pizzitola - Friday 7pm

Pizzitola - Saturday 6 p.m.

Princeton - Friday 7 p.m.

Penn - Saturday 7 p.m.

Men’s Basketball vs. Princeton

Men’s Basketball vs. Penn

W. Basketball vs. Princeton

W. Basketball vs. Penn

Previous Matchup Brown 80, Princeton 67

Previous Matchup Brown 64, Penn 66

Previous Matchup Brown 51, Datmouth 80

Previous Matchup Brown 48, Penn 60

OMAC - Saturday

Pizzitola - Saturday 12 p.m./2 p.m.

Dartmouth - Saturday/Sunday

New Hampshire - Saturday 4 p.m.

Track and Field @ Brown Invitational

Wrestling vs. Harvard / BU

(3-7, 2-6 EIWA) || (EIWA 2-6) / (EIWA 1-8)

Men’s Tennis @ ECAC Championships

Gymnastics vs. New Hampshire and Centenary

Previous Meet BU Valentine’s Invitational

Previous Matchups Brown 11, Harvard 21 / Brown 19, BU 19

Previous Match Brown, 5th place (2013)

Previous Meet Brown 192.825, 1st (@ Springfield)

(9-11-3, 6-9-1 ECAC) || (4-19-0, 3-13-0 ECAC) (9-11-3, 6-9-1 ECAC) || (20-5-5, 10-3-3 ECAC) (4-16-5, 3-12-3 ECAC) || (12-9-4, 8-7-3 ECAC) (4-16-5, 3-12-3 ECAC) || (17-5-8, 8-4-6 ECAC)

(12-8, 4-2 Ivy) || (13-6, 1-4 Ivy)

(12-8, 4-2 Ivy) || (6-13, 3-2 Ivy)

(8-12, 2-4 Ivy) || (13-6, 4-1 Ivy)

(8-12, 2-4 Ivy) || (14-5, 4-1 Ivy)

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2014

SPORTS BULLETIN men’s basketball

Rookies bolster Bruno’s lineup, promise bright future Newest crop of players to light up Pizzitola Center has invigorated Bruno with 42 percent of scoring By CALEB MILLER SPORTS EDITOR

It started with Tavon Blackmon ’17, a point guard from the nation’s capital who committed in the summer of 2012 to play basketball at Brown. Leland King ’17, the 6-foot-7 forward from California, wasn’t far behind him. So began the men’s basketball class of 2017. By early 2013, guards Norman Hobbie ’17 and Matty Madigan ’17 had joined the ranks. The group began to take shape but remained under the radar. A little later in the midst of the 2012-13 Bears’ battle to a modest 7-7 Ivy season, the class was finalized when Steven Spieth ’17 and Aram Martin ’17 signed on. The six-man group — the biggest first-year class in the Ivy League — was tasked with replacing three seniors and filling out a roster of only six returning players. “We knew we needed help. We needed guys that could be impact players,” said Head Coach Mike Martin ’04. “They’ve had good opportunity because of what our roster was leading into the season.” Almost halfway through the Ivy schedule, the Bruno rookies have proven themselves a formidable unit, lifting the Bears (12-8, 4-2 Ivy) into contention for an Ivy title. Numbers don’t lie Bruno’s seven Ivy opponents collect

an average 9.5 percent of their total scoring from first-years. But the Bears are a different story. Spieth and Blackmon each individually contribute more than 10 percent, while the first-year class as a whole accounts for 42 percent. How have the young Bears been able to quadruple the production of their Ivy counterparts? In part, out of necessity — the Bears have less experience than any team in the Ancient Eight. “Other programs have more established upperclassmen, so that’s not as much opportunity” for first-years, Mike Martin said. “But with that opportunity, our guys have produced.” Providing more than just boots on the ground, the first-years have combined their unique talents to create a unit that excels in all facets of the game. Blackmon runs the point. The guard’s 67 assists lead the team, but he’s not afraid to call his own number on the fast break, leading the first-years with 8.1 points per game. This multi-dimensionality has made him a focal point of the offense. “If you need me to score, I’ll score some game. If you need me to pass, I’ll have assists,” Blackmon said. “But I usually try to get everyone else the ball.” Hobbie is the sharp-shooter. J.R., as his teammates call him, gets a lot of attention off the bench for his ability to knock down any shot — from anywhere. The specialist has buried 44 percent of treys this season and has earned Ivy Rookie of the Week three times. “I rely on (teammates) to get me the ball, and they expect me to make the shot,” Hobbie said. King provides an interior presence but complements his size with athleticism. Anyone who has watched

the forward take the ball coast-to-coast for a bucket or rack up old-fashioned three-point plays has seen the speed and strength that make King a weapon. With experienced front-courters Rafael Maia ’15 and Cedric Kuakumensah ’16 often battling foul trouble, King’s minutes have been crucial. Madigan is often called upon to defend late in game, and opponents have paid the price for leaving him alone on the perimeter. The 6-foot-10 Aram Martin hasn’t been able to showcase his long frame because of an injury. Spieth, the do-it-all, lock-down defender, is in the middle of the Ivy Rookie of the Year conversation. Spieth’s average 7.3 points, 5.5 boards and 2.5 assists per game have steadily climbed as the forward has found his stride in conference play. The totals are all the more impressive given that Spieth is responsible for guarding the best opposing player each game. Spieth has won two consecutive Ivy Rookie of the Week awards and may earn a lot more hardware by the time the season is over. Building the foundation The chemistry that continues to show on the court started long before the class converged on College Hill. As Mike Martin collected commitments from his first recruiting class, the signees quickly struck up a bond. Spieth had met Blackmon and Hobbie on the recruiting trail and visited Madigan in North Carolina. All six set up a group text and exchanged news and messages throughout the summer before their first year. “The first thing I noticed was that we

TOM SULLIVAN / HERALD

Tavon Blackmon ’17 is one of six first-years on the varsity basketball team. The newcomers quickly gelled, propelling the team’s success. were a really good group of guys,” Hobbie said. “All the (first-years) hung out together and really clicked immediately.” “You’ll probably always see a group of us together — we’re really close,” Blackmon said. As the squad entered preseason, the guidance of upperclassmen, particularly co-captain Sean McGonagill ’14, molded the unit into an impressive force. “They have been mentors on and off the court, especially Sean. I really give him credit for all the success I’ve had,” Blackmon said. “He’s been in my position. He started as point guard” as a first-year. The group isn’t without problems, though. The team has seen some

inconsistencies due to their inexperience. Blackmon is prone to turnovers at times, and King’s three-point shot has been ice-cold. “We’ve had some growing pains,” Mike Martin said. “But we thought early on that all these guys would have a chance to play. They’ve earned it.” Together, the class of 2017 has turned a .500-team losing key scorers into a title contender. With four weekends remaining in the 14-game Ivy League tournament, look for a group of rookies to provide the foundation for a Bruno title run. Success would confirm what Hobbie saw when he first met his classmates: “There was a lot of talent — I knew we could do something special.”

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Walters ’16 smokes competition, sets new personal record Sophomore captures first place in vault, uneven bars, beam and allaround in Springfield By CALEB MILLER SPORTS EDITOR

The Springfield College gymnasium belonged to Diana Walters ’16 Sunday. The talented sophomore topped all competitors in three of the meet’s four events to run away with first place in the all-around competition. Walter’s career-high 39.050 all-around score lifted the Bears to their highest team score of the season, 192.825. Walters has made her presence known across the Ivy League since earning second place in her first collegiate meet last season. Her impact contributed to Brown’s Ivy League gymnastics championship in 2013. For her stellar acrobatics and team leadership in the win at Springfield, The Herald has named Walters Athlete of the Week. The Herald: How did you get started in gymnastics? Walters: I’ve been doing it since I was three. It’s pretty much been the only thing I’ve known. COURTESY OF ED PEPIN

Diana Walters ’16 flies high at a Springfield College meet Sunday as Brown vaults its way toward a potential championship repeat.

You are from Texas, so how did you decide to come to Brown? My coach came to a recruiting

clinic in Texas, and that’s how I met her and heard about Brown.

learn to get over it and just do it anyway.

What’s your favorite part about competing? My favorite part in college is the team aspect of it. It’s a lot of fun when everybody hits their routines, and it gets very loud and exciting.

Have you ever had a terrible wipeout or bad gymnastics story? Yeah, I have plenty of those from my high school years and even last year. Anytime you fall in competition it can be pretty embarrassing, because the whole audience will say, “Ohhh,” then stop and get silent until you get up. You don’t really want all eyes on you at that point.

What’s the biggest difference between this year and last year? I think the biggest difference has been the leadership aspect. We have a really strong (first-year) class that have all stepped up and competed very well. That has helped the team a lot — having them to replace the seniors. What’s your favorite event and why? My favorite event is vault, because it’s really fun to run as fast as you can and kind of fly on it. When you are flipping through the air or performing a routine, what goes through your head? We actually practice mental cues a lot. For each skill you have certain words that you say in your head, so every time you do the skill you’ll think things like “tight” and “see my hands.” Do you get nervous when you go for a new move or skill in practice? Sometimes, certain skills can be scary. But after so many years, you

What are the goals for the season? My number one goal is to keep that Ivy title that we won last season, and … to keep consistency throughout the whole team. Everyone looks really good in practice. We just have to keep that composure when we go into meets. At Springfield, you were one event away from sweeping every event, because two of your teammates came in ahead of you. They couldn’t have let you have that last event? Honestly, I didn’t even know I had won the other events. In college, it’s much more focused on how the team does as a whole. Can you tell as you’re performing what your score will be? Yeah, you get a pretty good idea from doing it everyday in practice. You can pretty much tell when you’re going what it’s going to be like.

today 5

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2014

menu SHARPE REFECTORY

w h i t e va l e n t i n e VERNEY-WOOLLEY

LUNCH Vegan Malibu Grilled Patties, Tofu Hot Dogs, BBQ Navy Beans, Waffle Cut Fries, Mushroom Pasta Salad

Lobster Bisque, Breaded Chicken Fingers, Vegan Nuggets, Sticky Rice, Vegetarian Baked Beans

DINNER Gnocchi with Pesto, Artichoke & Red Pepper Frittata, Broccoli in Lemon Sauce, Carrot Sticks

Chicken Saltimbocca, Spinach Pie Casserole, Roasted Red Potatoes, Cauliflower, Curried Chickpeas

JOSIAH’S

THREE BURNERS

QUESADILLA OR GRILLED CHEESE

Sweet and Savory mashed tubers

Make-your-own Quesadillas

BLUE ROOM

SOUPS

DINNER ENTREES

Clam Chowder, Minestrone, and Beef with Bean Chili

Naked Burritos

RYAN WALSH / HERALD

A snow blanket hugs Providence the day before Valentine’s Day, hindering some students’ plans for the long weekend.

sudoku

comics A & B | MJ Esquivel

Class Notes | Pjilip Trammell

RELEASE DATE– Friday, February 14, 2014

Los Angeles Times Puzzle c r o sDaily s w oCrossword rd Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

ACROSS 1 Hedge row 7 Fox’s “X-Files” partner 11 Rite Aid rival 14 Cozy spot? 15 Tiny tunes player 17 Vessel storing a cash stash? 19 Earlier 20 Strong adhesive 21 Some poker tells 22 “Lady Jane Grey” playwright 24 Farm cry 25 Layered computer connections? 31 Bundle 32 Tracy/Hepburn battle-of-thesexes film 37 “You’re on!” 38 Impact sound 40 Stoic philosopher 41 Telescope sighting 43 Hunter of myth 44 Pet named for writer Sinclair? 47 Sudden blow 50 Lined up, with “in” 51 Part of one’s inheritance 52 Tend 55 Oft-bruised item 58 Tantrum that devolves into hysterical gibberish? 62 “Lead the way!”, and a phonetic hint to this puzzle’s theme 63 Actor Hugh 64 Gathered dust 65 2012 N.L. East champs 66 Had dinner DOWN 1 Handle for a chef? 2 Juno, to Homer 3 Chimed 4 On the market 5 Discontented cry 6 Scattered 7 T. Rex, e.g.

8 Summit 9 Getting into the wrong business? 10 Nav. bigwig 11 “Emperor of the Air” novelist 12 Certain tee 13 Sauces for sushi 16 Denier’s words 18 Column with a slant 23 Big galoot 24 Electrician’s unit 25 Rib-eye rating gp. 26 Witches, but not warlocks 27 Knocked out 28 Character found in kids’ books 29 Peak of Crete 30 Victim of curiosity 33 Made a mess of 34 Surprise strike 35 “__, Sing America”: Hughes 36 Low bell sound 38 Dip, as in gravy 39 Nectarine core 42 Symbol of boredom

43 “Well, looky here!” 45 “Six Feet Under” son 46 High-tech troublemakers 47 Italian port on its own gulf 48 In its original form 49 Help beneficiary, at times 51 Blokes

52 First name in the freezer section 53 Once, in days past 54 CPR specialists 56 Hiker’s supply 57 Boo-boo 59 A, in Stuttgart 60 St. Anthony’s Cross shape 61 Nancy Drew’s guy

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

calendar TODAY

FEBRUARY 14

6:30 P.M. THE NOTION OF ARAB CULTURE IN THE COLONIAL PRESENT WITH MAYSSUN SUCCARIE

Mayssun Succarie, Cogut Postdoctoral Fellow in International Humanities and Modern Arab Culture and Society, will present her paper on how the notion of “Arab Culture” is politicized. Watson Institute, McKinney Conference Room 11 A.M. CHALLAH BREAD SALE

Challah for Hunger will sell freshly baked challah bread from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Blue Room. Profits go to the Sudan Relief and Advocacy Fund and the R.I. Community Food Bank. Stephen Roberts ’62 Campus Center, Blue Room

TOMORROW xwordeditor@aol.com

02/14/14

FEBRUARY 15

12 P.M. THE VAULT MOBILE THRIFT STORE SALE

Brown’s mobile student-run thrift shop The Vault will have a sale of environmentally-friendly secondhand clothes and accessories. They also accept donations of gently used clothes and accessories. J. Walter Wilson, Lobby

4 P.M. ARTS, FAITH, LIFE: EXPLORING THE INTERSECTION OF SPIRITUALITY AND CREATIVE IDENTITY

Organized by Brown Christian Fellowship, attendees will explore the intersection of creative work and spiritual identities through the lens of a short Bible passage. Light refreshments provided. J. Walter Wilson, Room 411

DAY AFTER

FEBRUARY 16

1 P.M. FOUNDATION FOR INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL RELIEF OF CHILDREN MEETING

The first meeting of the Foundation for International Medical Relief of Children (FIMRC) will include a report on their recent trip to Huancayo, Peru as well as an introduction to their mission, goals and summer trip. Wilson Hall, Room 103 3 P.M. SILVER + AMERICAN By Xan Vongsathorn (c)2014 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

02/14/14

Want some Sunday exercise during the long weekend? Join the Brown Ballroom Dance Team’s instructor Christine Harvey in the Silver and American Smooth or Rhythm class. Sayles Hall

6 diamonds & coal

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2014

DIAMONDS & COAL Coal to President Christina Paxson, who will teach a sophomore seminar in the Department of Economics next spring titled “Disparities in Wealth and Health.” With all her free time. Coal to Professor of Archaeology Peter Van Dommelen, whose research on Mediterranean burial sites suggests Phoenicians and their Carthaginian successors performed rituals of child sacrifice. Sounds like they killed their darlings. A diamond to the philanthropist that said her “motivation is to get more fish to the ocean basically.” We’re glad to know there will actually be more fish in the sea this Valentine’s Day. Cubic zirconia to Undergraduate Council of Students Vice President, who said of UCS, “Keep it living and breathing.” That strategy didn’t work out so well for Crusty, our pet hermit crab. Coal to the RISD student and member of the class “Light, the City and the Community” for saying, “All the equipment will be kept in case it is needed again.” That’s why we still have our Beanie Baby collection.

A N G E L IA WA N G

Coal to Laia Darder Estevez, teaching associate in language studies, who said, “I don’t like my students deciding what they learn.” Sorry we’re not Columbia. Coal to Colin Kane, chairman of the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission, who said, “There’s nothing worse than looking at an empty field.” Unless the field is full of people wearing Crocs. A diamond to Warwick’s Fetish Flea Market, which features kink courses like “Rope 101: The Knots and Bolts of Bondage,” “Intro to Rough Body Play” and “The Fine Art of Prostate Massage.” We thought we saw a few of those in the Department of Modern Culture and Media course catalogue. Cubic zirconia to RH Lee ’00 who said of her work in Nick Offerman’s workshop, “I do feel like I’ve carved my own path.” Shaun White said the same thing with a single tear Wednesday night.

Q U O T E O F T H E D AY

“Do I wear green because I can hook up with people or maybe

”

yellow because I can’t?

—Lynne, a female undergraduate

See alternative on page 1.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Andrews Commons offers many benefits To the Editor: While I agree with Daniel Moraff’s ’14 assertion (“Andrews Commons: a colossal waste,” Feb. 11) that the prices at Andrews Commons are somewhat higher than I would like, I think the new eatery is a clear example of a successful and valuable university project. The new eatery serves the dining needs of the Pembroke community — staying open 13 hours a day, 7 days a week, a feat that the Verney-Woolley Dining Hall and the Gate never accomplished. It can serve over twice as many students as the Gate in addition to offering study areas and seminar rooms. The dining options are also vastly improved. I would join you in decrying the recent tuition hike. However, you link Andrews Commons to what you see as resistance to a ‘need-blind’ admission policy. You fail to remind your

readers that the University already offers need blind admission to all domestic students, and that the University raised financial aid offerings by over 5 percent for next year, a more significant raise than the tuition hike. Your assertion that “most of us don’t want this future” in reference to Andrews Commons, and the rest of your sensationalist rhetoric is far off base. The reception of the new eatery has been overwhelmingly popular, as The Herald has reported (“Andrews Commons food, decor a welcome addition, students say,” Feb. 6). But if you’d rather hang out at Jo’s, I’ll gladly take your spot in that pho line. Walker Mills ’15 UCS General Body Member

Alliegro misrepresents Founding Fathers To the Editor: The Wednesday article on Professor of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry Mark Alliegro’s nascent congressional campaign (“Prof. vies for Congressional seat,” Feb. 12) highlighted his call for a return to “citizen representatives” in Congress, rather than a “class of political elites.” He also admonished that being a legislator “doesn’t require that you be a lawyer.” If Alliegro’s “Back to the Future” campaign for a seat in Congress is successful, we can only hope that his grasp of current

political issues is better than his recollection of political history. Two of the three politicians whom he cites as examples of “citizen representatives” (Patrick Henry and John Adams) were actually highly regarded lawyers whose social and economic standing surely placed them among the political elite of their day. But Alliegro’s campaign rhetoric is useful in one respect. It reminds us that just because a campaign pitch may sound good, that doesn’t immunize it from scrutiny against real facts. Steve Lincoln ’81 Danville, Ca.

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commentary 7

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2014

Academic boycotts and condemning injustice BROWN STUDENTS FOR JUSTICE IN PALESTINE guest columnists

In December, members of the American Studies Association voted to endorse a boycott of Israeli academic institutions by a 2-1 margin. The statement noted, “The resolution is in solidarity with scholars and students deprived of their academic freedom, and it aspires to enlarge that freedom for all, including Palestinians.” Opposition to this resolution illustrates how universities refuse to oppose injustices using rhetoric of “academic freedom.” This boycott is part of a growing movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions of Israel — called for by Palestinian civil society — to exert economic and political pressure on Israel until it complies with international law. The ASA is not the first to sign on to the academic boycott of Israel. It is joining a group of organizations such as the Association for Asian American Studies and the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association in refusing to be complicit in the ideological and material defense of the occupation fostered by Israeli academic institutions. Israeli universities have direct ties to the Israeli military, play a critical role in providing research that supports the occupation and in some cases are located on illegally seized land.

No major Israeli university has yet denounced the growing and continuous occupation of Palestinian land, which has been globally condemned for violating international law. The aim of the academic boycott is to put pressure on Israeli universities that play a central role in the maintenance of a settler-colonial project in Palestine based on ethno-racial supremacy. The ASA’s resolution is, at its very core, a statement of support for Palestinian students and scholars who face tremendous obstacles in accessing

blockade of Gaza deprives its inhabitants of access not only to food, fuel and medicines but also to textbooks and school supplies. Israeli universities’ institutional support of the occupation means that they are actively involved in producing these realities. The ASA boycott has been widely misunderstood. It is a refusal to enter formal collaborations with Israeli academic institutions and academics who are serving on behalf of the Israeli government. It is not binding for its mem-

But what kind of freedom should we be talking about? Through the academic boycott, the ASA, the AASA and the NAISA stand in support of the freedoms and rights of Palestinians living under occupation. Critics of the ASA ignore the role of boycotts in challenging Israel’s everyday suppression of education for Palestinian scholars, students and universities. To frame these actions as the silencing of scholarly exchange is to cynically and disingenuously deploy the notion of academic freedom to advance its very

Through the academic boycott, the ASA, the AASA and the NAISA stand in support of the freedoms and rights of Palestinians living under occupation. education. Schools and universities in the occupied Palestinian territories are frequently closed by Israeli military orders and have been destroyed by Israeli military strikes. Palestinian students and faculty face violations of their right to mobility due to the extensive system of checkpoints, where they face not only hours of delays but also harassment. Israel has frequently denied visas to Palestinian students to travel abroad to study or attend conferences. Students in Gaza have also been barred from studying in the West Bank since 2000. Israel’s continued

bers. It does not target any individual scholars affiliated with Israeli universities nor does it discriminate against scholars based on citizenship or political and ideological viewpoints. Yet opponents of the ASA boycott have overwhelmingly adopted a rhetoric of “academic freedom.” On Dec. 23, President Christina Paxson joined many university presidents in denouncing academic boycotts in general, stating that they were “antithetical to open scholarly exchange and would inhibit the advancement of knowledge and discovery.”

denial. Critics like Paxson illustrate that the voices of a select few are protected at universities. It should come as no surprise that those in power are consistently defending the freedoms of the oppressors. Only last fall, the president threatened disciplinary action against students who protested a public lecture by New York City Police Department Commissioner Ray Kelly, the chief architect of New York City’s unconstitutional and discriminatory stop-and-frisk policies. She denounced the action as “antithetical” to

the “free exchange of ideas.” It is ironic that the defense of academic freedom by the critics of the ASA has taken the form of the criminalization of dissent in universities. Earlier this month, the “Protect Academic Freedom Act” was introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives, seeking to deny federal funds to any academic institutions that support the BDS movement. If the bill passes, universities in the United States will be in the company of those in Israel, where support for BDS was criminalized in 2011. By supporting the academic boycott, the ASA and other associations remind all of us that the “free exchange of ideas” at universities is never separate from their political contexts. Academic institutions around the world must work to use their powerful role as privileged centers of knowledge production to reject, rather than maintain, an oppressive status quo. To shield universities, Israeli or otherwise, from the outcomes of their activities with misleading claims of “academic freedom” is to say that only the freedoms of a few actually matter. We are only free to support the status quo, even when it is the illegal and unjust colonization of an entire people. What kind of free is that?

Brown Students for Justice in Palestine can be reached at brownusjp@gmail.com.

Abolish the UCS categorization system ZACHARY INGBER opinions columnist

One of the most amazing things about Brown is the passion and energy students dedicate to extracurricular activities. Brown students use their time to achieve unbelievable heights outside the classroom. From giving back to Providence to launching technology startups to getting involved in political activism, there are few limits to what a Brown student can do. Ironically, one of our greatest limits is our own student government. The Undergraduate Council of Students categorization process for approving student groups serves as a tool for UCS members to wield power over their peers who are interested in creating something new on campus. The categorization process runs counter to the Brown ethos of creative thinking and maintaining an entrepreneurial spirit. Student government should not function to prevent students from starting a new group should they so desire. The UCS categorization process is arbitrary and cumbersome. After reading a 25-slide PowerPoint, students are required to receive the approval of a UCS representative responsible for new student groups. If they do manage to receive this approval, which is by no means guaranteed, their idea is presented to the UCS general body for them. It is unacceptable that students cannot

pitch their own student groups because there is a risk that the presentation misrepresents the nature of the group. Keep in mind that UCS also has a spring deadline of Feb. 21. So if students have any creative ideas for a new group after that date, they have to wait until next semester. This extremely bureaucratic process vests far too much power in far too few people. Why should students need the approval of UCS to start an organization? The lack of transparency is frustrating, and the fact that a group of a few students decides whether student organizations

ular events. What about groups that don’t need money from student government? For groups with outside funding, this argument for categorization falls by the wayside. Others argue that categorization exists to allow groups to use the Brown name. In theory, many believe there should be some oversight when groups purport to represent the Brown community. Yet The Herald and Brown Political Review, two of the most successful publications on campus, do not appear on the official student group list for 2014.

The categorization process runs counter to the Brown ethos of creative thinking and maintaining an entrepreneurial spirit. Student government should not function to prevent students from starting a new group should they so desire. can exist is undemocratic. What exactly is the point of categorization? According to UCS, categorization is necessary for funding student groups. The Undergraduate Finance Board allocates money to student groups, but categorization through UCS seems unnecessary. Student groups should be able to apply for funding from the UFB at any given point — either on a regular basis or for partic-

What should be done? The end goal should be to foster an environment that rewards creativity, hard work and fresh ideas for Brown’s campus. Abolishing the categorization process would create a free-market environment for student groups to thrive or fail. Before you freak out about the free-market analogy, think about it this way — any student group with substantial popularity would have a spot on campus. Con-

versely, any student group that ceased to have a following would flop. Currently, an overbearing student government and a lengthy categorization process prevent students from realizing their goals. Last semester, a friend of mine attempted to start a branch of TOMS Campus Club, a nonprofit linked to TOMS Shoes that sends shoes to the developing world. Much to her surprise, UCS denied her categorization under an arbitrary claim that the club would promote a private company’s interests on campus. My friend was extremely motivated about this cause, only to run into the brick wall that is the categorization process. TOMS Campus Club is an accredited nonprofit that would have created an important outlet for charity work on campus. UCS should not be able to determine which groups should use Morning Mail, make room reservations and take advantage of advertising mechanisms. These services should be available to all Brown students as part of our student activities fee. By abolishing a superfluous categorization process, we would release some of the chains preventing students from creating new ventures on campus. Not every group would succeed, but at least we would know it wasn’t student government that stopped them.

Zach Ingber ’15 wishes more student groups were simply given a chance. He can be contacted at zachary_ingber@brown.edu.

Got something to say? Leave a comment online! Visit www.browndailyherald.com to comment on opinion and editorial content.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2014

THE

BROWN DAILY HERALD arts & culture Scholars gather to honor Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet Day-long colloquium at Watson Insitute centers on ground-breaking Turkish poet By ZACH FREDERICKS STAFF WRITER

The life and work of Nazim Hikmet, the most prolific, influential poet of modern Turkey, were honored Tuesday in a conference hosted by the Middle East Studies Deparment at the Watson Institute for International Studies that welcomed some of the leading experts of Arabic poetry. The conference, largely the brainchild of Professor of English Mutlu Blasing, brought together some of the world’s leading experts of Arabic poetry. “We are very fortunate that Professor Blasing put this conference together, for it is the first one of its kind in the United States,” wrote Beshara Doumani, professor of modern Middle East history and director of the Department of Middle East Studies, in an email to The Herald. He described Blasing as the world’s leading authority on Hikmet. “Middle East Studies tries to focus the passions of its faculty around programming and initiatives that speak to the issues of our time,” he wrote. Hikmet, who lived from 1902 to 1963, was incredibly controversial in his time. He was imprisoned for 13 years in his native Turkey and later exiled to the Soviet Union for 13 more. But during this time “he produced a body of work whose scope and power affirm the ultimate triumph of the human spirit over the forces of tyranny,” according to the event website. Hikmet’s work was a powerful voice for self-determination in a region undergoing political transformation. His words, recorded in Turkey’s recently reformed written language, demonstrated Turkish solidarity amid national strife. Stephen Kinzer, a former foreign correspondent for the New York Times and current visiting fellow of

International Studies, was one of the speakers at the conference. Kinzer, who has written extensively on Hikmet, spoke about the ramifications of his work on Turkish nationalism. “His poems reflect a great passion for life and also fervent patriotism at a time when the Republic of Turkey was being shaped,” Kinzer wrote in an email to The Herald. “In different ways, he was comparable to Pablo Neruda, Federico Garcia Lorca or Bertolt Brecht.” Robyn Creswell, assistant professor of comparative literature, spoke of how Hikmet’s stylistic identity as a writer has reached an international scale due in part to translations of his work appearing in over 50 languages. Creswell’s talk focused on the multinational circulation of Hikmet’s texts despite censorship and political turmoil in the region. Hikmet traveled to Cuba, Beirut and Cairo, where his work was disseminated and quickly earned respect. Creswell himself translated the original Arabic texts to English for the colloquium. “He’s more of a legend than a body of texts,” Creswell told The Herald. “He represents a moment when politics and poetry were combined, back when it was possible to combine them.” Despite his international recognition, Hikmet remains relatively unknown to American audiences compared to other politically-driven writers of the same time period. “Our conference was another step toward giving this huge figure the exposure he deserves in this country,” Kinzer wrote. The conference was also presented online as a telecast, which allowed the diverse speakers to reach the wider audience of Hikmet admirers and supporters, Doumani wrote. “The questions of ‘commitment’ in literature and knowledge production is a central one to the intellectual like of Brown and the world at large,” he wrote. “Nazim Hikmet’s life and work speak to the possibilities and tragedies of commitment to art and social change.”

TOM SULLIVAN/ HERALD

Professor Stephen Kinzer, visiting fellow of international studies, gives the closing remarks at a conference on Turkish poetry, organized by members of the Department of Middle East Studies.

TOM SULLIVAN/ HERALD

Talat Sait Halman speaks to Professor Beshara Doumani, director of the Department of Middle East Studies, following a colloquium organized in honor of the famous Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet.

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