12
Volume CXLII, No. 23 Since 1866, Daily Since 1891 T UESDAY T UESDAY 27, 200 27, 200 7 7 T HE B ROWN D AILY H ERALD Simmons’ fundraising, empathy win over students Eighty-one percent of students ap- prove of President Ruth Simmons, a recent Herald poll found. This year Simmons has maintained her overwhelming popularity, with a small decrease from her 87 per- cent approval rating in a similar poll last year. The poll, conducted from Jan. 29 to Feb. 2, has a mar- gin of error of 4.7 percent with 95 percent confidence. Though most of the 30 stu- dents interviewed by The Herald were not familiar with all of Sim- mons’ duties, they pointed to her genuinely welcoming demeanor and her success in fundraising as reasons for their approval of her presidency. “She is an empathetic leader — she makes people feel empow- ered,” said David Beckoff ’08. BY TSVETINA KAMENOVA STAFF WRITER S&J response directs millions to Providence schools A $10-million endowment for public education in Providence is the centerpiece of the Uni- versity’s official response to the University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice’s report, issued last year. The response, crafted by President Ruth Sim- mons, was released Saturday fol- lowing approval by the Corpo- ration, the University’s highest governing body. The response also calls for up to 10 students a year to receive free tuition towards a master’s degree in exchange for serving Providence-area public schools after graduating. In addition, the University will undertake a teaching and research initiative related to slavery and justice, in- vestigate the creation of a memo- rial to commemorate the slave trade and further publicize the committee’s findings. Originally appointed by Pres- ident Ruth Simmons in 2003 to examine the University’s histor- ic ties to slavery and the slave trade, the committee completed its charge and released a report BY MICHAEL SKOCPOL SENIOR STAFF WRITER New doctorate paves way for public health school A doctoral program in health services research which would expand the Department of Community Health and bring the University one step closer to establishing a full-fledged school of public health — has been ap- proved by the faculty. The program was approved by a unanimous faculty vote Feb. 6 following a presentation by As- sociate Professor of Communi- ty Health Kate Lapane PhD’95, who largely designed the cur- riculum. The program must be approved by the Corporation be- fore it can admit doctoral candi- dates. There are currently two doc- toral programs in the Depart- ment of Community Health — biostatistics and epidemiology. Health services research was selected as the next doctoral program “because we already have a critical mass of faculty in place,” said Vincent Mor, profes- sor of medical science and chair of the Department of Communi- ty Health. “The Department of Com- munity Health has had a strong group of researchers doing work that is generally thought of as health services research com- ing from multiple disciplines,” he said. Mor emphasized that such interdisciplinary work will be an integral component of the new doctoral program and said he anticipates doctoral candidates will collaborate with different University departments, includ- ing economics and sociology. Adding a third doctoral pro- gram in the department satisfies a key criterion for the establish- ment of an accredited school of public health at the Universi- ty. Both Mor and Terrie “Fox” BY MATT VARLEY CONTRIBUTING WRITER Simmons: Fund could have lasting impact President Ruth Simmons and Providence education officials ex- pect the Universitys $10-million endowment to support local public schools will provide a much-need- ed boost to the citys struggling schools and serve as a model for other institutionsengagement with their communities. Yet the city awaits further details on how and when the funds will be used. The Corporation also approved on Saturday an initiative to waive tuition, beginning in the 2008-2009 academic year, for ten fellows in the Urban Education Policy and Master of Arts in Teaching pro- grams who commit to serving area public schools for a minimum of three years. The proposals come in re- sponse to the University Steer- ing Committee on Slavery and Justices report, released last No- vember, which recommended Brown enhance its outreach to Providence public schools by, for example, providing more profes- sional support for teachers, fur- ther funding the Urban Education Policy Program and coordinating efforts with other universities in Rhode Island. Simmons, who crafted the Uni- versitys response after discussing the report with several academ- ic departments and committees, BY SIMMI AUJLA METRO EDITOR News tips: [email protected] 195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island www.browndailyherald.com SNOWY SAYLES Chris Bennett / Herald College Hill received several inches of snow on Tuesday, which was the 290th anniversary of the beginning of the Great Snow of 1717. Chris Bennett / Herald File Photo Students indicate strong support for President Ruth Simmons, pictured here at the dedication of the Sidney Frank Hall for Life Sciences. continued on page 7 continued on page 8 continued on page 7 THE HERALD POLL MORE BUCKS FOR BEER? A proposed bill would hike up the current Rhode Is- land tax on beer in order to finance substance abuse treatment programs THE BANNER DEMO Students and faculty were y y briefed with demonstration of Banner’s online registra- tion in anticipation of an upcoming debugging IVY LEAGUE SNOBBERY Sean Quigley ’10 sharply criti- cizes Ivy-League smugness — especially the Brown pre- tensions demonstrated at the Nonie Darwish lecture Feb. 1 3 METRO 5 CAMPUS NEWS 11 OPINIONS INSIDE: M. TENNIS DOMINATES The men’s tennis team over- whelmed both the U.S. Naval Academy and SUNY-Buffalo with scores of 7-0 and 6-1, respectively 12 SPORTS continued on page 4 METRO

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

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The February 27, 2007 issue of the Brown Daily Herald

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Page 1: Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Volume CXLII, No. 23 Since 1866, Daily Since 1891TUESDAYTUESDAY 27, 200 27, 20077

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Simmons’ fundraising, empathy win over students

Eighty-one percent of students ap-prove of President Ruth Simmons, a recent Herald poll found. This year Simmons has maintained her overwhelming popularity, with a small decrease from her 87 per-cent approval rating in a similar poll last year. The poll, conducted from Jan. 29 to Feb. 2, has a mar-gin of error of 4.7 percent with 95 percent confi dence.

Though most of the 30 stu-dents interviewed by The Herald were not familiar with all of Sim-mons’ duties, they pointed to her genuinely welcoming demeanor and her success in fundraising as reasons for their approval of her presidency.

“She is an empathetic leader — she makes people feel empow-ered,” said David Beckoff ’08.

BY TSVETINA KAMENOVA

STAFF WRITER

S&J response directs millions to Providence schools

A $10-million endowment for public education in Providence is the centerpiece of the Uni-versity’s offi cial response to the University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice’s report,

issued last year. The response, crafted by President Ruth Sim-mons, was released Saturday fol-lowing approval by the Corpo-ration, the University’s highest governing body.

The response also calls for up to 10 students a year to receive free tuition towards a master’s

degree in exchange for serving Providence-area public schools after graduating. In addition, the University will undertake a teaching and research initiative related to slavery and justice, in-vestigate the creation of a memo-rial to commemorate the slave trade and further publicize the

committee’s fi ndings.Originally appointed by Pres-

ident Ruth Simmons in 2003 to examine the University’s histor-ic ties to slavery and the slave trade, the committee completed its charge and released a report

BY MICHAEL SKOCPOLSENIOR STAFF WRITER

New doctorate paves way for public health school

A doctoral program in health services research — which would expand the Department of Community Health and bring the University one step closer to establishing a full-fl edged school of public health — has been ap-proved by the faculty.

The program was approved by a unanimous faculty vote Feb. 6 following a presentation by As-sociate Professor of Communi-ty Health Kate Lapane PhD’95, who largely designed the cur-riculum. The program must be approved by the Corporation be-fore it can admit doctoral candi-dates.

There are currently two doc-toral programs in the Depart-ment of Community Health — biostatistics and epidemiology. Health services research was selected as the next doctoral program “because we already

have a critical mass of faculty in place,” said Vincent Mor, profes-sor of medical science and chair of the Department of Communi-ty Health.

“The Department of Com-munity Health has had a strong group of researchers doing work that is generally thought of as health services research com-ing from multiple disciplines,” he said.

Mor emphasized that such interdisciplinary work will be an integral component of the new doctoral program and said he anticipates doctoral candidates will collaborate with different University departments, includ-ing economics and sociology.

Adding a third doctoral pro-gram in the department satisfi es a key criterion for the establish-ment of an accredited school of public health at the Universi-ty. Both Mor and Terrie “Fox”

BY MATT VARLEYCONTRIBUTING WRITER

Simmons: Fund could have lasting impact

President Ruth Simmons and Providence education offi cials ex-pect the University’s $10-million endowment to support local public schools will provide a much-need-ed boost to the city’s struggling schools and serve as a model for other institutions’ engagement with their communities. Yet the city awaits further details on how and when the funds will be used.

The Corporation also approved

on Saturday an initiative to waive tuition, beginning in the 2008-2009 academic year, for ten fellows in the Urban Education Policy and Master of Arts in Teaching pro-grams who commit to serving area public schools for a minimum of three years.

The proposals come in re-sponse to the University Steer-ing Committee on Slavery and Justice’s report, released last No-vember, which recommended Brown enhance its outreach to Providence public schools by, for example, providing more profes-sional support for teachers, fur-ther funding the Urban Education Policy Program and coordinating efforts with other universities in Rhode Island.

Simmons, who crafted the Uni-versity’s response after discussing the report with several academ-ic departments and committees,

BY SIMMI AUJLAMETRO EDITOR

News tips: [email protected] Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Islandwww.browndailyherald.com

S N O W Y S AY L E S

Chris Bennett / HeraldCollege Hill received several inches of snow on Tuesday, which was the 290th anniversary of the beginning of the Great Snow of 1717.

Chris Bennett / Herald File PhotoStudents indicate strong support for President Ruth Simmons, pictured here at the dedication of the Sidney Frank Hall for Life Sciences.continued on page 7 continued on page 8

continued on page 7

THE HERALD POLL

MORE BUCKS FOR BEER?A proposed bill would hike up the current Rhode Is-land tax on beer in order to fi nance substance abuse treatment programs

THE BANNER DEMOStudents and faculty were tudents and faculty were tudents and facultybriefed with demonstration of Banner’s online registra-tion in anticipation of an upcoming debugging

IVY LEAGUE SNOBBERYSean Quigley ’10 sharply criti-cizes Ivy-League smugness — especially the Brown pre-tensions demonstrated at the Nonie Darwish lecture Feb. 1

3METRO

5 CAMPUS NEWS

11OPINIONS

INSIDE:

M. TENNIS DOMINATESThe men’s tennis team over-whelmed both the U.S. Naval Academy and SUNY-Buffalo with scores of 7-0 and 6-1, respectively

12SPORTS

continued on page 4

METRO

Page 2: Tuesday, February 27, 2007

WBF | Matt Vascellaro

How to Get Down | Nate Saunders

Deo | Daniel Perez

Deep Fried Kittens | Cara FitzGibbon

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Editorial Phone: 401.351.3372Business Phone: 401.351.3260

Eric Beck, President

Mary-Catherine Lader, Vice President

Ally Ouh, Treasurer

Mandeep Gill, Secretary

The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is an independent newspaper serving the Brown

University community since 1891. It is published Monday through Friday during the aca-

demic year, excluding vacations, once during Commencement, once during Orientation and

once in July by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. POSTMASTER please send corrections to POSTMASTER please send corrections to POSTMASTERP.O. Box 2538, Providence, RI 02906. Periodicals postage paid at Providence, R.I. Offi ces are

located at 195 Angell St., Providence, R.I. E-mail [email protected]. World Wide

Web: http://www.browndailyherald.com. Subscription prices: $319 one year daily, $139 one

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Cloudy Side Up | Mike Lauritano

Chocolate Covered Cotton | Mark Brinker

ACROSS1 Bounce on one

leg4 Blood bank

supply10 Avian crop14 Catchphrase in

the kitchen15 Capital of the

CaribbeanrepublicDominica

16 “Pipe down!”17 With 37-Across,

Gladys Knightclassic

20 Not hollow21 The Dixie Chicks,

e.g.22 “Gotcha!”23 Count Basie

classic27 Spike, as punch29 Bank security30 SFO posting31 Bugling beast32 Tantrums33 Sentry’s word35 With 57-Across,

Jackson/Buffettsaloon song

37 See 17-Across41 Poet Prior’s

“prior”42 Pamplona runner43 Inc. in the U.K.44 Pebble Beach’s

72, e.g.46 Injure47 Web location48 1933 song (and

Barrymore film)52 QB’s mistake53 New York City’s

__ River54 Like some

cereals57 See 35-Across61 Thoughtful62 Plaza Hotel imp63 Brazil’s capital

before Brasília64 Goofs65 One relaxing66 Itch

DOWN1 Overactors2 Bit of this, bit of

that3 Students’

security devices4 “__ and

Prejudice”

5 Roleocompetitor’sneed

6 Fire proof7 Colonizes8 __ of honor9 James’s Fort

Knox adversary10 The Bears, on

scoreboards11 Need renewing12 Bronchial

disorder13 __ it up:

celebrate noisily18 Happy cloud

number19 Copacetic24 Popeye’s gal25 Quote with

authority26 Raspberry, e.g.27 Wahine’s gift28 PC key near

Ctrl32 Needle dropper33 Physicist Enrico34 Tic-tac-toe

winner36 Plant with

fronds37 1990s veep38 Sparkling39 Addams family

cousin

40 Lemonattachment

42 Parlor artwork44 Lobster feature45 It tops the

buck46 Fuss47 Ayatollah’s

predecessor48 Part of LED49 Common Market

inits.50 Fall figure in

suburbia

51 ChoreographerChampion

55 Pennsylvaniaport

56 Light on the Vegas strip

58 Covert __:militaryassignments

59 Charles Riv.school

60 Dubuque-to-Chicago dir.

By Edgar Fontaine(c)2007 Tribune Media Services, Inc. 2/27/07

2/27/07

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

[email protected]

Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.

M E N U

C R O S S W O R D

S U D O K U

TODAYW E A T H E R

snow showers39 / 27

mostly cloudy 41 / 26

TODAY TOMORROW

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2007PAGE 2

SHARPE REFECTORY

LUNCH — Grilled Tuna Sandwich with Cheese, Honey Mustard Chicken, Pasta Spinach Casserole, Corn Cobbets, Chocolate Frosted Brownies, Sugar Cookies

DINNER — Sesame Chicken Strips with Mustard Sauce, Lamb Stir Fry, Sticky Rice with Endamame Beans, Vegetables in Honey Ginger Sauce, Sugar Snap Peas, Honey Wheat Bread, Boston Cream Pie

VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALL

LUNCH H — Shaved Steak Sandwhich, Chicken Gumbo Soup, Vegan Stuffed Peppers, Mohegan Succotash, Sugar Cookies

DINNER —Roast Pork Jour OuvertPastito, Baked Potatoes, Broccoli Cuts with Cheese Sauce, Beets in Orange Sauce, Honey Wheat Bread, Boston Cream Pie

Puzzles by PappocomPuzzles by Pappocom

Page 3: Tuesday, February 27, 2007

METROTHE BROWN DAILY HERALDTUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2007 PAGE 3

Illegal immigrants will face more diffi culty living and working in Rhode Island if the General As-sembly approves several bills in-troduced this month.

One of these bills would re-quire all companies with employ-ees in Rhode Island to verify em-ployees’ legal immigration using a federal database. Additionally, State Rep. Richard Singleton, R-Dist. 52, has announced plans to introduce 16 more bills that would cut back on social services provid-ed to illegal immigrants.

Singleton’s proposed laws in-clude measures to prohibit the children of illegal immigrants from attending public schools and deny welfare to illegal immi-grants, according to the Web site of Rhode Islanders for Immigra-tion Law Enforcement, an anti-il-legal immigration group.

Singleton has also drafted a bill banning bilingual education. “English is the language of busi-ness and the language of culture and that is what we should be de-manding that people speak wheth-er they’re legal or illegal,” he told The Herald.

“American culture is at stake,” he said. “Any country with two cultures is in trouble, long-term.”

Earlier this month, Sen. Marc Cote, D-Dist. 24, and Rep. Jon Brien, D-Dist. 50, introduced a pair of bills in the General Assem-bly that would require all compa-nies hiring in Rhode Island to use the Federal Basic Employment Verifi cation Pilot Program, a sys-tem that submits an employee’s information to a federal database to verify their immigration status, according to a Feb. 12 press re-lease.

Results from the database are available within fi ve seconds in 87 percent of cases, according to the press release. If the legal status of an immigrant cannot be verifi ed, the employer would have to fi re them within eight days.

“It is clear that the federal gov-ernment is not effectively address-ing illegal immigration, and that the individual states must take ac-tion,” Cote said in the release.

The bills have met some oppo-sition.

Ellen Gallagher, outreach co-ordinator at the International In-stitute of Rhode Island, said the Basic Pilot program “has been shown to be fl awed” and often in-correctly labels legal immigrants as undocumented.

Gallagher said the program would only lead to racial profi ling and discrimination, since employ-ers won’t want to go through the hassle involved in hiring some-one who might be an immigrant. She said it should not be the job of business owners to enforce immi-gration laws.

Bills such as these are “a symp-tom of greater anti-immigrant sen-timent and just the fact that it has been introduced is of concern,” Gallagher said.

Grace Cornell ’07, a volunteer with English for Action — a lo-cal nonprofi t that teaches English and arts to Latino immigrant fam-ilies — said she found the bills “frightening.”

She said laws excluding immi-grants from public school and wel-fare are “simply unconstitutional.”

Cornell said even though it may not seem that these bills “af-fect someone who’s a citizen and who’s white … it really refl ects badly on everyone if we’re living in a country that’s violating peo-ple’s human rights.”

BY SUSANA AHOSTAFF WRITER

Anti-illegal immigration bills introduced at State House

New R.I. bill could raise the price of beer

A game of quarters may soon cost a few more pennies.

Rep. Edwin Pacheco, D-Dist. 47, introduced a bill Feb. 1 in the Rhode Island General Assembly that would raise the state beer tax to fi nance substance abuse treat-ment programs.

Supporters of the proposal say it would help the state’s fi nancially strapped rehab centers, while crit-ics argue the legislation would do nothing more than drive beer-drink-ing Rhode Islanders to Massachu-setts, where alcohol is already less expensive.

Pacheco said Rhode Island’s substance abuse treatment pro-grams need help.

“If we want (substance abuse) services to be available, we have to fund them in some way, shape or form,” he said. “Unfortunately in Rhode Island, they’re lacking.”

His bill would raise the pre-sales

tax price of beer and stipulate that revenue generated by the price hike go toward combating sub-stance abuse.

Currently Rhode Island beer consumers pay an excise tax — which is added to the price before the sales tax is calculated — of $3 per 31 gallons (roughly 30 cents for a case of 30 beers), but the money goes toward the state’s general ex-penditure fund, not toward combat-ing substance abuse, Pacheco said. The proposed bill would double that tax, making it $6 per 31 gallons (roughly 60 cents for a case of 30), and mandate that substance abuse rehabilitation centers and programs receive the additional income.

Though the House Finance Committee has not analyzed how much revenue the proposal could generate, Pacheco said it could yield roughly $2.3 million dollars per year. However, he said would be open to stripping the tax increase from the bill if lawmakers would agree to allocate money from the

existing beer tax toward alcoholism treatment programs.

“I think that would be great,” he said. “The ultimate goal here is to provide suffi cient services for sub-stance abuse treatment and preven-tion.”

The Providence Journal report-ed Feb. 9 that the measure was in-tended to curb underage drinking, but Pacheco said this is not a goal of the bill because the price increase is not large enough to act as a de-terrent.

Pacheco said the bill targets spe-cifi cally beer because beer taxes have remained stagnant since 1989 and because research indicates that most alcoholics abuse beer more than hard liquor or wine.

He contended that the addition-al cost to consumers would not be large enough to spark a change in beer purchasing habits.

“I don’t think there are many people that actually would go out of

BY ABE LUBETKINSTAFF WRITER

Austin Freeman / HeraldA recently introduced bill would double the state beer tax, raising prices at R.I. stores like Spiritus Fermenti on Meeting Street.

New legislation proposed in the Rhode Island General Assembly could eliminate the power of the Electoral College in the Ocean State.

The legislation is part of an interstate compact, the National Popular Vote Plan, through which states promise to give their elec-toral votes to the presidential can-didate who receives the majority of the nationwide popular vote.

The compact would go into ef-

fect when states with a majority of the electoral votes in the collegepass appropriate legislation enact-ing the compact. The bill current-ly has 233 sponsors in 47 states, according to the Web site of Na-tional Popular Vote Inc., the non-profi t group backing the national movement. Legislation has al-ready passed in the Colorado Sen-ate and the Hawaii Senate.

Rhode Island has four elector-al votes. A presidential candidate must have 270 votes in the college to be elected.

“The best reason to pass the

bill is to put Rhode Island back on the map for the general election,” said Rep. Arthur Handy, D-Dist. 18, who is co-sponsoring the bill with Rep. David Segal, D-Dist. 2, in the House of Representatives.

“In this day and age, it’s easy to target ads and efforts to the big states where there are (a) lot more electoral votes in play,” Han-dy said. “This way, our state will have more opportunities to hear from candidates during election time.”

“Rhode Island does not get its share of the primary dollars, cam-

paign dollars — this translates later into grants and federal aid dollars,” said Sen. Daniel Issa, D-Dist. 16, the measure’s sponsor in the Senate.

Additionally, Issa said, mem-bers of the Electoral College from Rhode Island are not currently re-quired to vote for the candidate who won the popular vote in the state, allowing them to theoreti-cally vote for another candidate. That “quirk in the law” should be changed, he said.

Issa cited the 2000 race be-tween Al Gore and George W.

Bush as an example of fl aws in the current Electoral College system. Though Gore won the national popular vote, Bush won a majori-ty in the Electoral College and the presidency.

“I think the Electoral College is really antiquated,” Handy said, adding that the bill is “a logical, smart step” toward changing the current system of electing the president.

Issa said the bill’s introduction is timely. “It’s an appropriate time

BY JESSICA ROTONDISTAFF WRITER

Proposed legislation would tie R.I.’s electoral votes to nat’l popular vote

continued on page 6

continued on page 6

Page 4: Tuesday, February 27, 2007

told The Herald she expects the $10-million endowment will effect change in Providence and attract donors. The Corporation will mon-itor use of the funds, which will be managed as part of the Universi-ty’s endowment.

Simmons said she hopes other communities will follow Brown’s lead and set up similar endowment funds for public schools. As citi-zens do not vote to increase their own taxes to fund public schools, Simmons said she hopes the en-dowment, called the Fund for the Education of the Children of Prov-idence, will serve as an alternative for school funding.

“I would vote tomorrow to in-crease my taxes so the schools would be better,” she said. “In part, I can afford to do that. Some families can’t.”

Americans may be interested in helping out public schools, but don’t know how, she said. “There “There “is no way to manage (money) in a way that is consistent with the way (donors) think the funds should be managed, and therefore we miss a huge opportunity in the country to do for public schools what we do for universities,” Sim-mons said.

Supporting local public schools will also help the University attract employees and faculty. “When we go to recruit someone, the fi rst question parents ask is, ‘How are the schools?’ ” Simmons said.

Despite her enthusiasm for the proposals’ impact, Simmons ac-knowledged their implementation had yet to be determined. “There “There “are many things that have to be worked out,” she said. “It’s not a fi nding that we should do an x, y or z. It’s a fi nding that there’s an opportunity here, and we should do the further work on it to deter-mine how it should be done.”

Though the proposals did not address some of the committee’s recommendations, the response refl ects the spirit of the commit-tee’s report, she said.

The report made a compelling case that the legacy of slavery can be seen in income and education disparities among black Ameri-cans — disparities that can be ad-dressed in part through public ed-ucation in urban areas, she said.

“We didn’t make an effort to answer the recommendations one-for-one,” she said. “We got lots of recommendations from other peo-ple that … were frankly better than the committee’s ideas,” she added.

Of the response’s various pro-posals — including a memorial to commemorate the slave trade and several academic initiatives — Simmons said the Corporation discussed support for Providence public schools the most.

Alums across the country care about local schools, Simmons said, as she recalled fi elding ques-tions from Brown alums in Phoe-nix about aiding Providence pub-lic schools.

“I think that’s because (alums) had a memorable experience with the city when they were here and they continue to care about what happens here,” she said. “This “This “gives them a concrete way to help.”

“It’s very hard to fi nd people who disagree on the importance of the schools, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we raised it very quickly and if we went over 10 mil-lion, frankly,” Simmons said. “One person could come in and do the

whole thing.”She added that recent news of

unreliable or unethical spending behavior in charities will make people even more likely to donate to a fund they believe they can trust. “There are very few organi-“There are very few organi-“zations that have that track record for the use of funds,” she said.

“One day Brown will be 800 years old. And when it’s 800 years old, the money that you gave to help with teaching will still be used for teaching,” she said.

But the most important lesson of the University’s response to its ties to slavery can’t be expressed through a fund or fellowship pro-gram, Simmons said. She urged students to confront the conten-tious issues of their generation.

“What you’re obligated to do in your time is to engage with the is-sues. Don’t take a pass, don’t say, ‘Yes there’s genocide going on in the world, but that has no impact on me,’” Simmons said. “Don’t take a pass because the people who took a pass in the 1700s prob-ably prolonged for an incredibly long period of time the unjust en-slavement of people. Not only did they do that but the legacy of the unjust enslavement continued for centuries.”

Providence reactsDonnie Evans, superintendent

of the Providence Public School District, called the proposed $10-million endowment “a big sur-prise.”

“I knew that we would benefi t in some way because I had had conversations with President Sim-mons and members of her staff,”he said. But, he added, “This is “This is “much more than we dreamed of.”

The commitment to raise $10 million and also support MAT and UEP students who agree to serve Providence schools — equally im-portant to supporting the school distrct, Evans said — will take Brown’s relationship with the school district “to a higher level.”

Jose Gonzalez, director of spe-cial projects and university rela-tions at the school district, said he hopes Brown’s engagement in the public schools will “change the city of Providence for good.”

“There“There“ ’s been a lot of efforts from different (Brown) depart-ments, but this is major,” Gonza-lez said. “This is very big in com-“This is very big in com-“parison.”

He expects his colleagues and the superintendent will be asked to propose strategies for the funds’use.

Offi cials at Brown understand how to effectively collaborate with the school district, “rather than throwing money at us,” Gonzalez said. “There“There“ ’s a lot of well-intend-ed organizations, (but) it’s really different when an organization thinks they know what they want to do for a community rather than asking the community what they think they need from us,” he said.

The endowment gives the Uni-versity “the fl exibility to think stra-tegically at a given point in time to prioritize what are the highest needs at the moment,” said Profes-sor of Education Kenneth Wong.

Mayor David Cicilline ’83 praised the response in a state-ment Saturday. “This initiative “This initiative “establishes Brown University as among the foremost community leaders in Providence and a na-tional pioneer in developing inno-vative approaches to strengthen-ing the relationship between uni-versities and their host communi-ties,” he said.

Ward 2 Councilman Cliff Wood said the creation of the endowment fund surprised him, even though he knew of Simmons’ interest in Providence schools. “I suspected (Brown) would do something with the schools but what a wonderful thing to do,” he said.

Though Rhode Island Depart-ment of Elementary and Second-ary Education Commissioner Pe-ter McWalters has met with offi -cials from Simmons’ offi ce, he is not fully aware of what steps the University will take next.

“The commissioner is waiting “The commissioner is waiting “eagerly to receive more details about this grant,” said department spokesman Elliot Krieger. “Provi-dence certainly needs the help and it’s the larger urban district, but if (support is) available in a wider sphere, he’d be interested in knowing that.”

Mark Kravatz, facilitator of school support and community/family engagement at the Hope High School complex, praised the proposal to hire an outside evalua-tor to monitor the initiatives’ prog-ress. It shows that “Brown is go-ing to be in it in for the long haul and that means a lot,” he said.

Funding the fellowsThough Wong praised the en-

dowment as “a welcoming sur-prise,” he said he expected the response would support the UEP program, which he directs, and the MAT program.

There are currently eight stu-dents in the UEP program and 40 in the MAT program, Wong said, but he expects those num-bers will grow to 20 to 25 for the UEP program and 50 for the MAT program by the 2008-09 academic year. Though Simmons said she had wanted to provide fee waiv-ers for more fellows, Wong said 10 was a manageable number to be-gin with.

“We have every intention to make sure that we are going to grow this fellowship program,”Wong said, adding that fellows could number 20 to 25 in three or four years, he said.

Josh Marland GS, a master’s candidate in the UEP program, said placing graduates in Provi-dence schools may prove diffi cult because of union regulations and budget constraints.

“They have the right idea,“They have the right idea,“ ” Mar-land said. He added that university partnerships with local schools are currently in vogue, and “Brown is at the forefront of it.”

Clara Webb GS, a master’s candidate in the MAT program, said she hoped the tuition waiver would not come at the expense of fi nancial aid for other students in the two programs. Financial aid for students in the MAT program has shrunk over the past two years and the tuition waivers will help attract more students, said Asso-ciate Professor of Education John Tyler, who chairs the department. Tyler said the department submit-ted a proposal to Simmons that included the recommendation to waive tuition fees.

“The fellowships will make the “The fellowships will make the “program more competitive with our peers out there,” such as Duke and Yale universities, he said. “We know we have lost some students to these programs.”

But the University’s proposals could eventually yield more than the initial announcement sug-gests.

“If you look maybe toward the end of the response, it says this is the beginning,” Simmons said.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2007PAGE 4

Simmons hopes fund will serve as a modelcontinued from page 1

Page 5: Tuesday, February 27, 2007

CAMPUS NEWSTHE BROWN DAILY HERALDTUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2007 PAGE 5

In an effort to encourage medi-cal students to give back to their school, Daniel Medeiros MD’86, president of the Brown Medi-cal Alumni Association, recently made a pledge to match all dona-tions made by current medical students to the Brown Medical School Annual Fund.

Medeiros and Bethany Solo-mon, interim director of alum-ni and parent programs for the Alpert Medical School, both told The Herald that the pledge was made to encourage med students to start donating while they are still in school, in hopes that they will continue to give after they graduate.

“It’s a way to educate the stu-dents about the annual fund so that they understand the impor-tance of giving back,” Solomon said. Medeiros said he believes the students will be building a sense of community by donating.

Rather than emphasizing the amount of money raised, both Medeiros and Solomon said they are stressing the amount of stu-dent participation. “We’re re-ally asking people to give what they can give,” Medeiros said, “I would prefer to have each person give a dollar and have everyone give than have one person give $2,000.”

Donations and the matching

amount would be made to the 10-year-old Brown Medical School Annual Fund, which “is set up to support the highest needs of the Medical School,” said Larry Zeiber, senior associate dean for biomedical advancement.

Zeiber said 45 percent of the fund is set aside for scholarship support, though Medeiros said the percentage would increase to 55 percent “to ensure that we get a diverse range of medical stu-dents.”

Money from the fund also sup-ports a curricular redesign for the Med School as well as travel expenses for students who are presenting papers around the world, Solomon said.

Letters informing med stu-dents of the match gift were sent out Feb. 12, and they will be fol-lowed up with e-mails from fellow students, Solomon said.

“For student donations, so far we haven’t seen the result yet,” Solomon said. But she said she is hopeful that students will re-spond once they become more aware of the gift.

Student awareness is also a goal of a student committee com-prising nine med students who are working with Johanna Corco-ran, assistant director for student programs for the Brown Annual Fund.

Beverly Young ’05 MD’09 said, though she plans to donate, she doesn’t know specifi cally what

the donations would be used for — a feeling she said she said other med students shared. Still, she said she understood the im-portance of donating. “It gives us a chance to show that we sup-port the future of the medical school.”

Michael Wang ’04 MD’08 said he thinks Medeiros’ pledge was generous but remained doubtful that students would be able to contribute signifi cantly.

“I think it’s great that he’s will-ing to match whatever the med students are able to contribute,” Wang said. “Granted, a lot of us aren’t really able to contribute that much because we’re in debt up to our eyeballs.” He pointed to next year’s increase in Med School tu-ition as a factor that he felt might limit student donations.

Last year, students were also encouraged to contribute to the fund, though their donations were not matched. Of the rough-ly 300 students in the Med School last year, 76 students made dona-tions, which amounted to about $1,500, Solomon said. This year, “we think it would be great to have 100 percent participation,” she said.

Asked if he is worried that he won’t have enough money to match all of the student do-nations, Medeiros said, “I don’t think it’s going to be a problem. If it is, I’m going to have to take out my own loans.”

Med alum matches student donations to Med SchoolBY CAMERON LEECONTRIBUTING WRITER

Students and faculty were given a live demonstration of Banner’s online registration feature last night as part of a briefi ng for the upcoming mock registration, slated to begin next Monday.

Lisa Mather, associate reg-istrar for registration services, demonstrated the registration and override processes on the Banner interface for the audience of six students and one professor. Her presentation was intended to prepare participants — Meikle-john advisers, members of the Undergraduate Council of Stu-dents and faculty members — for mock registration, a debugging program meant to detect fl aws in the online registration system by having students and faculty pur-posely mis-enter data or try to gain access to restricted pages.

But Mather’s presentation also offered a quick glance at some areas of the user interface not previously seen publicly, in-cluding the system intended to replace the Brown Online Course Announcement and several error screens. She also displayed the

main student and faculty pages, which had only been seen in a re-corded tutorial but not previous-ly with live interaction.

Mather demonstrated that students would be able to regis-ter for a course or change grade options and other course prefer-ences with only three clicks of the mouse once they are logged in.

“It’s pretty simple once you get in there,” Mather said.

But faculty members don’t have it quite as easy. In order to grant an override to a student restricted from registering for a course — the most hotly de-bated procedural issue — a fac-ulty member must make a mini-mum of eight clicks of the mouse and more if the student’s Ban-ner identifi cation number isn’t readily available and must be searched.

“The system is pretty intuitive, especially from the student’s per-spective,” said Don Thibault, a representative of SunGard High-er Education, the company that produces Banner. “It gets a lit-tle more complicated for profes-sors.”

Brian Becker ’09, UCS cam-

pus life committee chair, asked if there would be an e-mail alert system built into Banner so that students would be informed im-mediately if they were granted a course override instead of hav-ing to repeatedly click the re-fresh button on their Internet browsers.

Mather answered that the fea-ture was not currently available, but she said the Banner team has been working hard to ensure that overrides and other transactions would be handled smoothly by both students and professors.

Thibault said an auto-alert fea-ture could and probably would be added as part of a “second phase” of Banner’s implementation.

“Auto-notifi es and in-system transactions may be present in the future,” he said, adding that the University had purchased other SunGard software products to allow for additional features.

Many of the issues raised at the meeting will be discussed further today at 5:30 p.m., when Associate Provost Nancy Dun-bar, the Banner project owner, gives a public demonstration of online registration at a forum in Salomon 001.

Students, prof get glimpse of Banner course registrationStudents, prof get glimpse of Banner course registrationStudents, profBY CHAZ FIRESTONESENIOR STAFF WRITER

no taxation without representation

Page 6: Tuesday, February 27, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2007PAGE 6

their way to go to Massachusetts to save pennies,” he said.

Opponents argue more than a few pennies are at stake and that the proposed legislation would send more beer business out of Rhode Island and into Massachusetts.

Rep. Jan Malik, D-Dist. 67, who owns Malik’s Liquors in Warren, said Rhode Island alcohol vendors are already hard-pressed to com-pete with their Bay State counter-parts. To avoid a possible confl ict of interest, Malik will not vote on the measure.

“In this day and age, you have to be competitive,” he said. “Why are we looking at another disadvantage for the (alcohol) industry? We’re trying to cut spending, not raise taxes.”

Jim McCarthy, who owns Spiri-tus Fermenti on Meeting Street, said liquor store parking lots in Massachusetts are already fi lled with cars bearing Rhode Island plates. He said the proposed tax in-crease would “of course” send more people across the state line.

“You’re not going to run out there to save a dollar, but if you were going to have a big party in your home, you might,” McCarthy said.

Driving from the Brown campus

to Seekonk, Mass., for 15 cases of beer would save about $15, after subtracting the cost of gas for two cars, based on last week’s average price of regular unleaded fuel in Rhode Island. Under the proposed tax hike, that same trip would save approximately $20.

But some students told The Her-ald they wouldn’t mind a slight in-crease in the price of beer if money from the tax went toward alcohol-ism treatment programs.

Mark Connolly ’07, chair of Greek Council and a member of Delta Phi, said he would be will-ing to pay a little more for beer if it meant better funding for substance abuse treatment.

“Being able to meet the need for alcohol treatment programs should be a priority for Rhode Island. I wouldn’t mind spending the extra money,” Connolly said. But he add-money,” Connolly said. But he add-moneyed that he could understand why some people would go to Massa-chusetts. “I could see how, if you’re buying large quantities, going to Seekonk might make sense.”

Shane Whittet ’08 echoed that sentiment.

“I’d be willing to pay an extra 60 cents if it’s going toward a good cause,” he said.

Alper Celik ’08 said he ques-tioned just how much money the beer tax increase would generate.

“The tax is small enough that it wouldn’t affect my beer-buying decisions,” he said. “But I doubt it would raise $2 million.”

Pacheco said the House of Rep-resentatives will likely vote on the measure in late May or June.

continued from page 3

Beer prices could rise if R.I. bill passes

in light of the upcoming presi-dential primaries — a good time to review without an election im-mediately at hand,” he said.

Associate Professor of Politi-cal Science Wendy Schiller said she is less enthusiastic about the legislation. “If you want to elimi-nate all of your clout as an indi-vidual state, that is the way to do it,” she said.

Schiller said if states give their electoral votes to the win-ners of the national popular vote, it dilutes the infl uence of states with smaller populations. “That is not necessarily what a coun-try as geographically diverse as ours should want,” she said. The recent visits of presidential hope-fuls Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., former New York City Mayor Rudy Giu-liani and Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., to Rhode Island indicate that they will return again to woo Rhode Is-land voters, she said.

Darrell West, professor of po-litical science and director of the Taubman Center for Public Poli-cy, said the legislation may have diffi culty becoming law.

“Generally we don’t have major changes in the electoral process

unless there is a constitutional cri-sis,” West said. “I am not sure that this approach would withstand le-gal scrutiny. They are essentially trying to amend the constitution without going through the amend-ment process.”

But supporters of the bill cite its avoidance of the amendment process as a draw. “Constitution-al amendments are so diffi cult to pass. I mean, look at the Equal Rights Amendment — years and years of work never came to frui-tion,” Handy said. “(The National Popular Vote Plan) leaves it up to individual states to make their choices.”

Issa said though a constitu-tional amendment “would be the better way to do it … it’s a very laborious, diffi cult process. The bill is a logical, simpler way to achieve the end — one man, one vote.”

Tor Tarantola ’08, president of the Brown Democrats, said he thinks the National Popular Vote Plan is a good idea. “The elec-toral college system is an anach-ronism from the days when the president was considered an offi -cer of the federation of sovereign states rather than a representa-tive of the people,” he said.

“The actions and politics of the president have a direct impact

on people’s lives and everyone’s vote should therefore be count-ed equally. A vote in Montana shouldn’t count more than a vote in California,” Tarantola said.

David McNamee ’07 said he thinks it is absurd that presi-dential campaigns focus on bat-tleground states like Ohio and Florida instead of major urban centers such as New York or Los Angeles. “Although the out-come runs counter to what the founders of the Constitution envi-sioned as the ideal electoral pro-cedure, there is merit in the fact that these states are undergoing this process in a way that is com-patible with the system that the founders valued so much,” Mc-Namee said.

Although undermining the Electoral College might run counter to the original vision of the framers, McNamee said the usage of states’ rights in this process is in the spirit of the sys-tem of government the founders valued.

“There is something about de-mocracy that requires its partici-pants to think beyond their own, immediate self-interest. I think that is what Rhode Island is do-ing and other states that consider the bill are going to do,” McNa-mee said.

continued from page 3

R.I. bill would support Nat’l Popular Vote Plan

Page 7: Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Ministry bombing kills 5

W O R L D I N B R I E F

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Los Angeles Times) — In an assassination attempt apparently plotted from inside the government, a bomb planted at an Iraqi ministry where one of the nation’s vice presidents was mak-ing an offi cial appearance Monday killed fi ve people and injured dozens.

The bombing targeted Adil Abdul Mehdi, one of two Iraqi vice presidents and a top leader in parliament’s largest Shiite voting bloc. It was detonated as he attended a morning ceremony honoring em-ployees of the Ministry of Labor and Municipalities.

Brutal slaying raises questions

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (Los Angeles Times) — For more than a week, Guatemalans and Salvadorans have been in the grip of a murky and gruesome mystery born of Central America’s criminal un-derworld.

It began on the night of Feb. 19, with an SUV burning on a rural road outside Guatemala City. The charred bodies of three Salvador-an legislators and their driver were found inside or nearby. Among them were Eduardo Jose D’Aubuisson, the son of one of El Salvador’s most notorious right-wing leaders.

On Sunday night the latest chapter played out at a Guatemalan prison, when four offi cers from a top Guatemalan police unit were slain in their cells just three days after they had been arrested and charged with killing the legislators.

Police and government offi cials in El Salvador and Guatemala have issued public and private statements admitting the case may have exposed an unsettling link between the security and political elite in both countries and drug traffi cking.

On Friday, Guatemalan President Oscar Berger said drug traffi ck-ers were behind the killings of the legislators and promised a “thor-ough purge” of corrupt elements in the Guatemalan police force.

U.S. again links Iran to roadside bombs in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Los Angeles Times) — In the latest attempt to link the deadliest form of roadside bombs in Iraq to components manu-factured in Iran, U.S. Army offi cers Monday displayed plastic explo-sives they said were made in Iran and recovered during a raid Satur-day in violence-racked Diyala Province.

An Army explosives expert said the C-4 plastic explosives were used to make lethal bombs which the military calls EFPs — explo-sively formed projectiles. The explosives were found alongside enough bomb-making materials to build 150 EFPs capable of pen-etrating heavily armored vehicles, according to the expert, Maj. Mar-tin Weber.

Mortars and rockets found in the same cache also were manu-factured in Iran, Weber said. The cache included 150 machine-milled copper plates that form a shaped, concave lid on the projectile. When the weapons explode, those lids form balls of molten metal that can punch through the armor on vehicles.

The cache was believed to be the fi rst EFP manufacturing site found inside Iraq, offi cers said. They had previously assumed that most EFPs were assembled outside the country and brought in near-ly whole.

U.N. says Serbia not responsible for war crimes

BERLIN (Los Angeles Times) — The United Nations’ highest court ruled Monday that Serbia failed to prevent the massacre of Mus-lims during the Bosnian war but was not directly responsible for the atrocities, ending a landmark case in which an entire nation was tried for committing genocide.

The decision, closely watched by countries facing allegations of war crimes, was viewed by Serbia as a vindication for its role in the 1992-95 war. The ruling angered Bosnian leaders and ended their ef-forts to win reparations over the killing of about 7,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica.

The court did fi nd that the army of Bosnian Serbs had committed genocide and that Serbia had “known infl uence” over them. The 13-2 ruling by the International Court of Justice in The Hague blamed Serbia for not taking “any initiative to prevent what happened or any action on its part to avert the atrocities.”

Propel, propel, propel your craft slowly down the liquid

solution.

Ecstatically, ecstatically, ecstatically, ecstatically,

existence is simply illusion.

on its fi ndings last October.The report detailed how

Brown’s early benefactors profi t-ed from the slave trade and rec-ommended steps the University could take to acknowledge and atone for its past, such as creat-ing an academic center to study slavery, building a memorial and attracting more students from the West Indies and Africa.

“I’m very pleased with the re-sponse, which I think takes the recommendations of the commit-tee very seriously and in some sense goes beyond them,” said Associate Professor of History James Campbell, the committee’s chair.

Those recommendations also suggested the University devote resources to Providence public schools, but Campbell said the committee had not considered creating an endowment and called that initiative “potentially one of the most enduring outcomes of this whole process.”

“It clearly refl ects (Simmons’) desire to build relationships be-tween the University and the pub-lic schools that will be substantial and lasting,” he added.

Simmons told The Herald yes-terday she is “extremely hopeful” the endowment will draw enthusi-asm from donors and could meet or exceed its $10 million goal within a few years.

Campbell said he believes the endowment could provide a new model for universities to leverage their dedicated donor bases and investment management experi-ence for community benefi t.

“Depending on how and wheth-er other universities might wish to follow Brown’s lead, it suggests new ways for building long-term relationships between universi-ties and the public school systems in the communities that are their hosts,” he said.

Lamont Gordon ’93, director

of education outreach, called the investment “a next big step” in Brown’s efforts to reach out to Providence schools, adding that the proposed endowment “shows institutional commitment to this work.”

He also said it acknowledges the slave trade’s “tragic legacy,” which is especially apparent in education.

Simmons’ response calls for the University to acknowledge its ties to the slave trade by com-missioning a revised offi cial his-tory of the University to refl ect “a more complete picture of the ori-gins of Brown” and creating a me-morial to the slave trade in Rhode Island to be developed with city and state offi cials.

The offi cial response also ad-dresses the report’s impact on current students and community members by calling for an “exec-utive summary” of the 106-page report and a free printed version of the full report, which currently costs $7.50.

In a Nov. 30 e-mail sent to the committee while she was formu-lating the response, Simmons called community reaction to the report “somewhat more muted than anticipated.” A poll conduct-ed by The Herald two weeks af-ter the report’s release found that only 17.9 percent of students planned to read most or all of the report and nearly half did not plan to read it at all.

The response also proposes a number of academic initiatives, including calling for a committee to look into the creation of a cen-ter for slavery and justice on cam-pus. That committee should pro-duce a report by the end of the Fall 2007 semester and fundrais-ing should begin before that, the response says.

The recommendation to cre-ate an academic center met was the most popular recommenda-tion of those asked about in The Herald’s poll, with 59.9 percent

in favor and only 16.4 percent op-posed. The poll of undergradu-ates was conducted between Oct. 30 and Nov. 3, 2006, and has a 3.8 percent margin of error with 95 percent confi dence.

The University’s response also calls for a commitment to strengthening the Department of Africana Studies and to expanding current programs with historical-ly black colleges and universities, such as the University’s existing exchange program with Tougaloo College. Those programs were not specifi cally included in the committee’s recommendations.

Not included in the Universi-ty’s response are initiatives spe-cifi cally aimed at increasing op-portunities at Brown for people disadvantaged by the legacies of slavery and the slave trade.

Campbell said the response Simmons crafted was both sub-stantial and realistic, and he added the committee had avoided “pie-in-the-sky” recommendations.

Associate Professor of Histo-ry Kerry Smith, a member of the committee, called the response “thoughtful” and said it “lays the foundation for a continued dia-logue on campus.”

In an e-mail to The Herald, John Gillis ’07, president of the Undergraduate Council of Stu-dents, agreed that the response provided opportunities for contin-ued discussion. “I feel that most students are proud that (Brown) has established itself as a leader on this issue,” he wrote.

Evan Pulvers ’10, who men-tors in a Providence public school through the Outdoor Leadership and Environmental Education Program, said the education fund is “especially crucial in recogniz-ing that inequality still exists to a very large and real extent, and that it’s the job of Brown and the Providence community to try and rectify that.”

But Pratik Chougule ’08, editor in chief of the Brown Spectator, a conservative campus publication, said he does not think it is the University’s role to provide such funds. “It’s basically a veiled form of reparations that they’re push-ing through,” he said.

The University also announced separately this weekend the cre-ation of a social choice fund for donors interested in environmen-tally responsible investment. The committee’s recommendations in-cluded creating opportunities for socially responsible investment.

continued from page 1

Memorial, academic initiatives feature in S&J response

THE BROWN DAILY HERALDTUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2007 PAGE 7

Wetle, associate dean of medi-cine for public health and public policy and professor of commu-nity health, stressed that several important steps remain. The de-partment is working to determine what additional academic and ad-ministrative decisions need to be made in order now, they said.

The public health school is slated to be established by 2010, according to a July 2006 article in The Herald. Mor said that goal is “still achievable,” noting that the program is “more or less on target in terms of faculty recruit-ment, growth of student body, et cetera.” But, he said, “We don’t want to a have a rush towards an artifi cial date dictate how well we do things. ”

Establishing a school of public

health gives the University “mem-bership in a club that is relatively restricted,” Mor said. Accredita-tion from the Council on Educa-tion in Public Health would place it among “the top research groups in the world of schools of public health, which would increase our visibility and stature in some im-portant ways,” Mor said.

Since its inception in the 1960s, the fi eld of health services re-search has grown to consider “the manner in which the organization of health services, how they are fi nanced and how they are regu-lated affects the experience of in-dividuals and how it affects vari-ous aspects of the economy,” Mor said.

A major goal of the fi eld is to judge “how we can make the sys-tem of care more effi cient,” We-tle said. “In order to improve the

health care system, we have to understand what works and what doesn’t work,” she added.

Researchers in the fi eld supple-ment clinical studies with the con-sideration of social factors — in-cluding differences in insurance coverage, cultural values and geo-graphic location — that infl uence how individuals interact with the health care system. Researchers in the fi eld also analyze the ways in which national and local politics infl uence public health and evalu-ate the effectiveness of different health care systems worldwide.

Students who earn a doctor-ate degree in health services re-search have “a wide array of op-portunities,” Wetle said, ranging “from academic research jobs all the way through applied practical improvement of health care deliv-ery systems on the supply side.”

Faculty approves third public health Ph.D. programcontinued from page 1

Page 8: Tuesday, February 27, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2007PAGE 8

ping 18 out of 30 shots. In front of Burke, defenseman Jake Hardy ’10 played well in his fi rst game, leading the team in ground balls picked up.

Buckley also pointed to strong play from the defensive midfi eld, which contained UM-BC’s All-American Terry Kimen-er. “Although he had six points (three goals and three assists), it was a quiet six points.”

Despite the opening loss, the Bears are optimistic about the upcoming season. With Tiffany at the helm, the team has expe-rienced transition but has come out better for it.

“It was diffi cult for the team, especially the seniors, to change terminology and get out of old schemes,” Buckley said. “But now the attitude is more posi-tive, we are more excited.”

Tri-captain Bobby Shields ’07 echoed that sentiment, call-ing the coaching change “the best thing that has happened to Brown lacrosse in the last 10 years. Lars is a great guy and a great motivator.” Shields added that Tiffany has the team “play-ing with a lot of energy and emo-

tion, trying to get Brown back to the top.”

Madeira attributed the ex-citement to a “different style of play that is more of an up-tempo, transition, fun game.”

Though the attitude change has been good for the team, it’s still early in the season, and the Bears are still working to get on the same page.

“We need to do better execut-ing the game plan and keeping possession,” Buckley said.

“Everyone played well as in-dividuals, but we need to im-prove on the team coming to-gether still,” Shields said.

The team faces a tough schedule that pits it against nine opponents who made the NCAA tournament last year. Those strong tests will be important for the squad, as it hopes to earn a bid to the NCAA tournament this year.

Madeira cited making the NCAA tournament as their pri-mary goal, along with “improv-ing every game, and doing well in Ivies.”

The next contest for the Bears will be their home-opener on March 3 against the Hofstra University Pride.

continued from page 12

Many students said they felt some affi nity to Simmons as a fe-male leader and a nurturing ma-ternal fi gure.

“She is a power woman. She is setting the standards of having women presidents,” said Vivian Ortiz ’10.

“She reminds me of my grand-ma,” said Hristo Atanasov ’10. His sentiment was echoed by other stu-dents interviewed by The Herald.

“I think of her as a relative. I feel like if you do meet her, she will hug you and make you cook-ies,” said Olga Usyk ’09.

Others said they were im-pressed Simmons seems available on campus despite her travel en-gagements. “She retains a connec-tion to the students (and) seems to genuinely care,” said Henry Freedland ’08.

As the University’s public rep-resentative, Simmons has present-ed a positive image of Brown, stu-dents said.

“She is famous — you can see her on TV. I am proud she is known around the country,” Atanasov said.

Simmons’ personal journey from childhood in a poor, rural East Texas community to the Ivy League is well-known and regular-ly featured in media coverage of her career, but only a few students mentioned it as a major reason for their affection for the president.

“She represents the perfect American dream — she has a sto-ry which inspires people,” said Al-exandra Grassian ’07.

Many fi rst-years said they could not give a substantiated opinion of the president’s job per-formance, but they share in the fascination with her public image and feel they could easily reach out to her if they needed to.

“Greatest person in the world,” said Andre Burnier ’10 of Sim-mons.

Amanda Machado ’10 agreed. “She doesn’t seem like the typical unapproachable stuffy university president. If you see her at Star-bucks, you can approach her,” she said.

Liking Simmons has become one of the ways some students forge a sense of community and pride in the University.

“I like the idea of having a pres-ident that everybody likes, of hav-ing an image that people can take pride in,” said Kirsten Lynch ’10.

Other students recounted fl eet-ing encounters with Simmons around campus, ranging from brief exchanges in the Sharpe Refectory to small nods on campus pathways, which they said confi rmed their af-fection for the president.

Even students who don’t have an idealized image of the presi-dent still had an overall positive impression of Simmons.

“A lot of University decisions get (credited) to her when they have to do with the Corporation,”

said Michael Kern ’07. “She has done a good job of raising money, though.”

Baird Aric Bream ’10 said he had some trouble meeting with Simmons for negotiations on be-half of the Student Labor Alli-ance. “We had to muscle our way into her offi ce hours, but once we brought it to her attention, she seemed like she wanted to be in-volved,” he said.

Simmons’ popularity was part of Brown’s appeal for some fi rst-years before they entered the Uni-versity.

“I admire people’s love for her. Even before coming to Brown I saw people’s Facebook groups — ‘I love Ruth!’ ” Bream said.

Among the Facebook groups in the Brown network devoted to Simmons are “Don’t Leave us for Harvard, Ruth!” “Hands off Our Ruth!” and a group criticizing Fox News personality Bill O’Reilly for his insults of Simmons. She is also insults of Simmons. She is also insults oflisted as one of the top reasons to love Brown in a 1,085-member Facebook group devoted to love for Brown.

For most students, Simmons’ favorable image is a positive force for the University, and the person-ality she conveys to students is an important part of her role as the institution’s leader.

“Her celebrity status gives her a lot of authority,” said Akri-ti Bhambi ’09. “It’s rare to be as popular as she is. She can use it more.”

continued from page 1

M. lax drops opener to UMBC Fundraising, public image account for Simmons’ popularity

www.browndailyherald.com

Page 9: Tuesday, February 27, 2007

THE BROWN DAILY HERALDTUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2007 PAGE 9

Like sports? Write sports.

Come to 195 Angell St. on Sunday, March 4 @ 6 p.m.

for pizza and spring sports info!

“The past two years just weren’t my years,” Kelly said. “I left East-erns last season feeling really frus-trated, which motivated me to train really hard over the summer. This year I fi nally started off on the right foot.”

Michael O’Mara ’07 concluded his Brown career with a 20th-place fi nish in the 200-yard breaststroke, posting a time of 2:07.15. Ricketts recorded the Bears’ second best in-dividual performance of the meet in the 200-yard butterfl y, taking 10th place and checking in at 1:49.57.

Kai Robinson ’09 led Bruno in the diving portion of the meet, fi nishing 14th in the 3-meter dive with a score of 286.60. C.J. Kambe ’10 fi nished just behind Robinson in 16th place, recording a score of 266.75.

The Bears wrapped up the meet

with the 400-yard medley relay. The team of Hug, O’Mara, Ricketts and Kelly earned seventh in the event, posting a time of 3:21.11. The re-lay team bounced back after a dis-appointing performance in the preliminary round in the morning and returned to the pool with a vengeance that night to churn out a strong performance in the fi nal race of the season.

“Coach Brown told us, ‘You haven’t done what you are capable of yet,’ ” Kelly said. “And then we all just clicked. We got off swimming fast and everyone just started go-ing crazy. It was such a fun relay to swim.”

Kelly attributed much of the re-lay team’s success to the support they felt from the deck.

“It was a really fast, close race,” he said. “Seeing all of our friends and hearing them cheer gave us the extra drive.”

Volosin agreed. “The positivity was fl ying on the deck.”

As the 2007 season comes to a close, the Bears will turn their atten-tion to improving on this years’ per-formance at Easterns. Brown has a promising future — only two team members are graduating, only one of whom competed at Easterns.

The Bears also benefi ted from outstanding performances from its underclassmen, which bodes well for next year. Combining strong senior leadership with an experi-enced group of underclassmen and an eager class of talented incoming recruits, 2008 should be a banner year for the men’s swimming and diving team.

“We have improved greatly over this season, and we are still a very young team. All the classes will fi -nally be rounded out next year, and I have high hopes for next season,” Volosin said.

continued from page 12

adjustments and got out on their three-point shooters. We also got around their double screens, which was a big part of their offense in the fi rst half.”

Lindsay Walls ’10 made a huge impact on the game in the second half. Brown continued to work the ball to her on the blocks and she delivered, scoring 10 points in the fi rst eight minutes of the second stanza.

“Lindsay was huge,” King-Bischof said. “We kept going inside to her, and she kept converting. Hav-ing her as an inside presence opens up the offense for everyone else.”

The Bears continued to method-ically chip away at the Lion lead for the remainder of the game. With 9:04 remaining in the contest, Co-lumbia led 50-43. Brown then pro-ceeded to go on a 6-0 run over the next three minutes to cut the defi cit to one.

Brown fi nally broke through for its fi rst lead of the game with 29 seconds remaining when King-Bischof nailed a jumper from the top of the key to put Bruno up 53-52. But, the lead was short-lived. Columbia’s Becky Hogue drew a foul on Walls with just four seconds to play. Hogue had a chance to give the Lions the lead but converted just one of two free throws, sending the game to overtime.

“When (Hogue) was on the free-throw line, we were prepared for the worst,” said Co-captain Lena McAfee ’07. “We had a play ready

to run in case she made both free-throws, but luckily she missed the second.”

In the fi rst extra session, both teams traded baskets for the fi rst four minutes. McAfee put the Bears up by two 59-57 with 1:18 when she converted a layup underneath the basket off a feed from Walls.

Brown got defensive stops on the next two Lion possessions, but Columbia forced a turnover with 25 seconds remaining. With time for one more play, Columbia’s Chel-sea Frazier put in a layup with 10 seconds left on the clock to tie the game. Brown had a chance to win the game at the buzzer, but King-Bischof’s jumper was off the mark.

The Bears fi nally managed to end the pesky Lions in the second overtime. Bruno scored on seven of its nine possessions in the sec-ond extra period, and King-Bischof led the way with seven points. With the score 69-66 with 36 seconds re-maining, Brown converted three of four free throws to put the game out of reach.

King-Bischof led Brown with 25 points and 10 rebounds. Walls had a career-high 19 points, while McAfee chipped in with 14.

Saturday night’s match-up, how-ever, proved to be the opposite of Friday’s comeback contest. The Bears established themselves of-fensively after trading baskets with Cornell for the fi rst 10 minutes.

With the score tied at 14, McAfee knocked down a three to give the Bears their fi rst lead. Cath-erine Schaper ’09 then hit a jumper

to give Brown a fi ve-point cushion.Brown did not relinquish the

lead for the rest of the half. King-Bischof knocked down a jump-er with 1:13 to go to give Brown a fi ve-point lead at 25-20. Cornell scored to cut the lead to three at the break.

Unfortunately for Brown, Cor-nell methodically chipped away at Brown’s lead in the second half. The Big Red took its fi rst lead at 30-29 with 10:29 seconds remaining in the game and did not look back.

“We turned the ball over way too much,” King-Bischof said of Brown’s second-half struggles. “We also had poor shot selection in the second half.”

Brown cut the lead to four with 1:25 left on a King-Bischof layup. Brown had three other possessions to cut into the lead late, but could not convert on any of them. A ma-jor factor in the defeat was Brown’s dismal 4-of-24 shooting effort in the second half.

“We didn’t play as a team in the second half,” McAfee said. “We tried to solve the problems individ-ually instead of collectively.”

Christina Johnson ’10 led the Bears in scoring with 10 points. She was the only Bear in double fi gures.

Brown will close its season this weekend against the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton at the Pizzitola Center. Before the game on Saturday, Brown will honor the four members of the team’s se-nior class playing its last collegiate home games.

continued from page 12

urday’s doubleheader, the Bulls put them to the test. Hanegby and Ratnam took an 8-5 win over Yules Hadisubroto and Kirill Kolomyts at fi rst doubles, but Scott and Gardner dropped the third dou-bles match to Mike Rockman and Albert Alant by a score of 8-4. The second doubles match forced a tiebreak to determine which team would capture the doubles point. Thomas and Pasanen defeated Nikesh Singh Panthlia and Octa-vian Stane 9-8 (1) to give Brown the early 1-0 edge.

The Bears got off to a slow start in singles play, which began with fi rst-set losses by Hanegby and Pasanen at fi rst and third sin-gles. But Gardner won his fi rst set at fourth singles, and according to

Harris, Gardner’s strong playing motivated his senior teammates.

“Noah Gardner was unbeliev-able energy-wise throughout the day,” Harris said. “He won his fi rst set in singles against Buffa-lo, which created momentum for the team for the rest of the match. Noah was the spark.”

While Gardner went on to de-feat Stane 6-3, 6-3, Hanegby and Pasanen bounced back to win their matches as well. Hanegby trounced Rockman 6-0, 6-0 in the remaining two sets, while Pas-anen fi nished off his match 6-1, 6-2 to defeat Kolomytes. At sec-ond singles, Ratnam won another three-set match, earning a 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 victory over Panthlia.

With Brown already ahead 5-0 at 11 p.m., the fi fth and sixth singles matches were decided

by eight-game pro-sets. At fi fth singles Scott narrowly lost 9-8 to Hadisubroto, and at sixth singles Lee defeated Alant 8-6 to give Brown a 6-1 win.

“This was a tough part of our schedule,” Thomas said. “It was tough not getting too much rest af-ter our three matches on the road, but we kept our energy up, which is the most important thing.”

The Bears have no matches scheduled for next weekend, giv-ing them time to recuperate from injuries and the past week. They will compete next in a double-header on March 9 against the University of Rhode Island and Lafayette College.

“We need everyone to get healthy and get rest,” Thomas said. “Our main concern is to have some recovery time.”

continued from page 12

M. swimming fi nishes seventh at EISL Championships

W. hoops splits weekend on New York road trip

Men’s tennis takes down Navy, Buffalo in doubleheader

Page 10: Tuesday, February 27, 2007

C O R R E C T I O N S P O L I C YThe Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible. Correc-tions may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication.

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S T A F F E D I T O R I A L

EDITORIAL & LETTERSTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2007PAGE 10

To the Editor:

To the Editor:

Lydia GidwitzLindsey MeyersStephanie BernhardStu WooSimmi AujlaSara MolinaroRoss FrazierJacob SchumanMichal ZapendowskiPeter CipparoneJustin GoldmanSarah DemersErin FrauenhoferMadeleine Marecki

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

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Senior Staff Writers Rachel Arndt, Michael Bechek, Oliver Bowers, Zachary Chapman, Chaz Firestone, Kristina Kelleher, Debbie Lehmann, Scott Lowenstein, James Shapiro, Michael SkocpolStaff Writers Susana Aho, Taylor Barnes, Brianna Barzola, Evan Boggs, Irene Chen, Stewart Dearing, Nicole Dungca, Thi Ho, Rebecca Jacobson, Tsvetina Kamenova, Hannah Levintova, Abe Lubetkin, Christian Martell, Taryn Martinez, Zachary McCune, Nathalie Pierrepont, Robin Steele, Allissa Wickham, Max WinogradSports Staff Writers Amy Ehrhart, Kaitlyn Laabs, Eliza Lane, Kathleen Loughlin, Megan McCahill, Marco Santini, Tom Trudeau, Steele WestAccount Administrators Emilie Aries, Alexander HughesDesign Staff Brianna Barzola, Aurora Durfee, Sophie Elsner, Christian Martell, Matthew McCabe, Ezra Miller, Sarah RaifmanPhoto Staff Stuart Duncan-Smith, Austin Freeman, Tai Ho ShinCopy Editors Ayelet Brinn, Catherine Cullen, Erin Cummings, Karen Evans, Jacob Frank, Ted Lamm, Lauren Levitz, Cici Matheny, Alex Mazerov, Ezra Miller, Joy Neumeyer, Madeleine Rosenberg, Lucy Stark, Meha Verghese

C L A R I F I C A T I O N

An article in Monday’s Herald (“U. responds to slavery and justice report,” Feb. 26) stated that the University will waive tuition for up to 10 masters students who will teach in local public schools for three years following graduation. While some of those students will teach in the public schools, some will serve the schools in other ways.

I do not have suffi cient space or time to respond point by point to each of the mindless criticisms Justin El-liott ’07 launched in his column in Monday’s Herald (“Fact-electual diversity,” Feb. 26). But I cannot let one line go without comment. Elliott is offended that the Spectator ran “an article taking on the Red Terror … approximately 20 years after everyone stopped car-ing.” He seems to have forgotten the fact that we were in the middle of fi ghting the Cold War in 1987, hardly a time when “everyone stopped caring.” He may also want to consider that not only it is ignorant to scoff at the fact that the Soviet Union killed 20 million of its own people, but that hundreds of thousands continue

to die at the hands of communist barbarism in North Korea, China and Cuba today.

Still, I was honored to read that Elliott named the Spectator the “premier humor magazine on campus.” Given his kind words, I would like to extend an invita-tion to Elliott to start contributing to the Spectator. I’m sure his brilliant analysis would be much appreciated.

Pratik Chougule ’08Editor in Chief

The Brown SpectatorFeb. 26

In response to criticism of Brown’s recruitment of Duke lacrosse player Reade Seligmann, I would like to point out that there are no charges of rape pending in the alleged incident and that evidence has been pre-sented indicating that Seligmann was not even at the scene of the alleged crime. In fairly considering Selig-mann, the University is demonstrating an extremely high caliber of moral conscience by judging him not by public perception but by trusting our legal sys-

tem. If he ends up actually being convicted of a crime, which looks very unlikely at this point, I am sure that Brown would terminate its relationship with Selig-mann — however, until that time, we should give him the benefi t of the doubt and judge him as we would any other candidate.

Trevor Griffen ‘07Feb. 26

Elliott ’07 overlooks impact of communism

Rhode Island is a pretty unique place.It was the last of the 13 colonies to ratify the Constitution, even

though Rhode Islanders burned a British ship, the Gaspee, in pro-test a year before the folks next door in Massachusetts got around to throwing some tea into a harbor. Of course, the armed locals were mostly upset that the Gaspee had successfully shut down the lucra-tive smuggling trade in the Narragansett Bay and weren’t motivated by nascent patriotism, but still, a worthy act. In modern times, it has been the home of some of the most colorful (and corrupt) politicians in the nation, chief among them former Providence Mayor Buddy Cianci, currently serving a sentence for corruption — but, to the de-light of many, due to be released in July.

It’s the smallest state in the union — from top to bottom (or from Woonsocket to Westerly) it is less than 60 miles. It’s small enough that it sometimes seems like everyone knows everyone else, and that was the feeling at the Providence Newspaper Guild’s 2006 Fol-lies, held Friday night at the Venus de Milo in Swansea, Mass. The Guild, the union representing employees of the Providence Journal, has put on the musical comedy show for 34 years, and it has become a highlight of the Rhode Island political scene, a kind of bizarre Os-cars for local politicians and politics-watchers. The skits and songs target politicians who come anyway, and not just for the buffet — as the program explains, “It is a Rhode Island political axiom that there is only one thing worse than being lampooned on Follies Night. That, of course, is to be ignored.”

A dead-on impersonator of Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse awkwardly danced around on stage while singing about “the night we drove Linc Chafee down.” Emcee and Journal reporter Scott McKay noted that, with the new Democratic majority in the House of Representatives, Rep. Patrick Kennedy — who entered rehab after crashing his car near the Capitol last May — would fi nally be able to get something he had long desired — rubber Jersey barriers around every bar in the 1st Congressional District. Most Brown students would have been left confused by many of the jokes, which were local to the point of obscurity, but the crowd ate them up. The Harrah’s casino fi ght, the fi ring of former nun and state Attorney General Arlene Violet from her radio show and a song noting that the Big Blue Bug on Interstate 195 might be the only viable Republican candidate left in the state all left the audience in stitches.

The Follies are a hit because they embrace the oddities of the Ocean State — as the cast noted in their opening song, “we couldn’t make this stuff up if we tried.” The Providence skyline and the New-port harbor, Cranston accents and coffee milk, the wisecracking of Providence natives and the vampire legend of Mercy Brown in Exeter — the quirks of Rhode Island provide an antidote to claims the state is just an offshoot of Massachusetts. There’s a lot to see, do and be amused by in this small, unique part of America, and we know many Brown students share our love for this state — whether that manifests itself in heading downtown for a pint at the Trinity Brewhouse, volun-teering with a local nonprofi t or putting down roots here after gradu-ation. For those of you who haven’t yet fallen in love with the Ocean State, we encourage you to take a walk downtown, or head downstate on RIPTA, and see what you’ll fi nd. We bet that you’ll like it.

A night at the Follies

Give Seligmann the benefi t of the doubt

E D I T O R ’ S N O T E

Due to an internal error, The Herald published a letter to the editor Monday (“Brown shouldn’t recruit Duke’s Seligmann,” Feb. 26) that had been retracted by its author, Peter Friedman P’07. Friedman had submitted the letter to The Herald for publication but later requested to a Herald editor that his letter not be published.

Page 11: Tuesday, February 27, 2007

I grew up in Rhode Is-

land, though my family is not originally from the Northeast. Both of my parents originate from the southwestern part of Pennsylvania, having moved here when I was an infant for job-related reasons. When they were prepar-ing to move to Ivy country, common advice from friends back home ranged from “watch out for that Northeast elitism” to “prepare for some Ivy League smug.” And just as my parents received the aforementioned advice from many friends, so too would I willingly dispense it to any newcomer in the North-east.

Now, you may suggest that Northeastern-ers in general are the smug ones and that Brown students who come here from outside become unfairly characterized by this unde-sirable trait. On the contrary, I believe that the insufferably liberal Ivy League students and professors who move to the Northeast to partake in the elite academy cause North-easterners in general to be viewed as smug. In other words, Ivy League pretentiousness gives the whole region a bad name.

I do not have the time to fully explain why describing the Ivies as pretentious is an ac-curate assessment, but I feel that many peo-ple’s personal experiences will vindicate my assertions. We all know the stereotype of the whiny liberal, with a protest sign in one hand and a fair trade coffee in the other, is alive and well here at Brown. But that is not the worst form of pretentiousness that is displayed at our beloved University.

Let us return to the night of Feb. 7, when Nonie Darwish spoke in Salomon 101. I at-

tended her lecture and found it to be rather provocative, if slightly unrefi ned. But I am glad that Darwish had the courage to speak to a frequently hostile audience. Considering her view that Muslim radicals and Arab cul-ture are at odds with modernity is so politi-cally incorrect, she was especially bold.

Yet many of my fellow students did not seem to appreciate Darwish’s coming to

speak at Brown. During the question and answer session, one gentleman, in a valiant display of soundbyte bravery, took it upon himself to denounce the “way in which (Dar-wish) was brought here” and openly sought “to embarrass the people who brought (her) here.”

Although this gentleman’s beliefs were hard to discern, I concluded from the rant that his objection to Darwish’s lecture was that his objection to Darwish’s lecture was that his objection to Darwthe very fact that it took place. He seemed to make an ill-constructed parallel between the forced repression of free speech in virtu-ally the entire Muslim world and the fact that Darwish “forced” her views on the Brown population.

His objections were reminiscent of the

David Horowitz incident of March 2001, when angry students stole 5,000 copies of The Herald because Horowitz had dared to question the victimhood of blacks. On Feb. 7, a new Horowitz (Darwish) came to ques-tion the victimhood of another group (Mus-lims) and to express doubts about the asser-tion that America and its “Zionist-Jew allies” are responsible for all the Muslim world’s

problems.Drawing primarily from years of personal

experience, Darwish concluded that Islamic culture was the main culprit responsible for the troubles facing the Muslim world. But such an “insensitive” viewpoint was heresy in the eyes of many Brown students.

I suppose the value of free speech has a caveat: One can never criticize a “victim.”

Later in the night, some questioners at-tempted to seize their 15 minutes (literally) of fame by quoting obscure passages from Darwish’s book and past statements, and at-tempting to disprove them by citing informa-tion immaterial to the discussion at hand. In-variably, these students were reading what appeared to be prepared statements, which

digressed from the topics Darwish actual-ly addressed. That sort of thing makes me wonder if those students even listened to her lecture.

Other students tried to attack Darwish’s credibility, focusing on her lack of a formal doctoral degree. Repeatedly, students criti-cized Darwish for not being a “scholar of Is-lam” or for not having the paper credentials they deemed indispensable for the formation of a valid opinion. I suppose that Darwish’s having lived in Egypt for 30 years, where she received an extensive education in the despi-cability of the Americans and the Jews, was a trivial detail. Ditto to the fact that the Israeli Defense Forces killed her father in a targeted assassination. She didn’t have a Ph.D., so she knew nothing.

This is precisely the sort of elitism my family was warned against when it moved to the Northeast. The sort of snobbery that re-fuses to believe that reasonable people can disagree. The sort of snobbery that refuses to give due consideration to a fellow human’s perspective — that places little value on ac-tual experience, but limitless value on a diplo-ma under glass.

True, the night of Nonie Darwish’s lecture may have been an isolated incident, when a few liberal students vented their frustra-tions by spewing personal attacks that failed to contest the actual content of Darwish’s speech. But to me, this seemed like just an-other manifestation of Northeastern smug. Although, since I don’t have a doctorate, I probably don’t have a right to an opinion.

Mrs. Darwish, when defending herself against the attack that she was not “worthy” to speak at Brown and to offer an opinion, as-serted, “I do meet the criteria of a human be-ing.” I, for one, am willing to accept that.

Sean Quigley ’10 sometimes drinks fair-trade coffee because it’s the only type available at

As soon as the House of Representatives passed the nonbinding resolution against a troop surge in Iraq, Republicans began call-ing the vote a “moral victory” for supporters of the surge.

According to Minority Leader John Boeh-ner, R-Ohio, both Republicans and Democrats expected the number of Republicans support-ing the resolution to be much higher than it was. In the end, 17 Republicans crossed party lines to vote for the resolution, while only two Democrats voted against it.

It is true that the language of the reso-lution — expressing both support for the — expressing both support for the —troops now serving in Iraq and disapproval of the president’s plan to increase their numbers — was designed to appeal to both parties. It — was designed to appeal to both parties. It —was this that prompted Boehner to announce that while the Democrats might have won the vote, “We won the debate.“We won the debate.“ ”

Much of this is, of course, pure spin. Retro-active estimates are always hard to trust, and in this case there is a massive discrepancy be-tween the 12 or so Republican votes that Nan-cy Pelosi says she expected and the 50-odd votes that the Washington Post’s Paul Kane says Republicans were preparing to lose ear-lier in the week. Yet even if the Republicans are relieved to have lost only 17 votes, it is not at all clear that they should be.

Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., credits Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., with lowering the number of

Republican defectors by revealing his plan to limit the number of troops sent to Iraq. The plan, which Murtha unveiled on Tuesday, does not involve cutting funding to the troops already in Iraq — one of the many specters — one of the many specters —raised by Republicans opposing the House resolution. Instead, it would increase require-ments for additional troops and ensure that they had adequate training and armor before being sent overseas.

According to Cantor, Murtha’s proposal

was so radical and shocking that it alienated the many Republicans who would otherwise have supported the resolution. Of course, since the resolution opposes a troop surge, and Murtha’s plan is aimed at preventing a troop surge, it is hard to see what the big con-fl ict is. And because many of the Republicans who spoke against the resolution claimed to put the welfare of the troops fi rst, it is also hard to see what moral grounds they can

have for refusing to equip them properly.In their speeches to the House, Republi-

cans tried to dismiss the resolution as mean-ingless and unimportant. The very vehe-mence with which they also argued that pass-ing it would embolden the enemy, discourage the troops and lead to security lines in malls foiled them.

True, the resolution is only symbolic. Yet as the reaction to Murtha’s plan made clear, it does not merely represent a vote of disap-

proval on a single element of the president’s strategy. It shows that 246 members of the House of Representatives not only know that the Iraq war has been botched, but are willing to do something about picking up the pieces. It shows that the Democrats are welcoming the increased responsibility that comes with control of Congress, and are more concerned with getting us out of Iraq than they are with pleasing every possible faction.

The 17 Republicans who supported the resolution did so for a number of different reasons. Some were fi scal conservatives wor-ried about the taxpayer money being poured into Iraq. Several quoted Generals John Abi-zaid and Powell, who advised against the surge. Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., had spoken to soldiers now serving in Iraq, who had told him that an increase in troops would do noth-ing to help Americans caught in the middle of an Iraqi civil war.

Some of the 17 were opposed to the war itself — Upton said he believed “the vote au-thorizing the war was based on evidence that was fl at-out wrong.” Others simply felt that it was time for military intervention to begin giving way to diplomacy. Yet they all shared one characteristic: They took the resolution seriously and viewed it as the fi rst step in an effort to bring the troops home from Iraq.

If, as Cantor claims, Murtha’s plan “ex-posed (the Democrats) for what they are,”this can only be a good thing for the Demo-crats, because it shows that there is nothing empty or meaningless about those 17 Re-publican votes. And as Saturday’s vote in the Senate demonstrated, Democrats have not stopped winning Republicans to their side.

As both parties predicted, Democrats in the Senate fell four votes short of the 60 needed to force a debate on the resolution. Yet when the Senate voted on the issue ear-lier this month, only two Republicans crossed party lines. By Saturday, the number of Re-publican votes was up to seven. Now that’s what I call a moral victory.

Katy Crane ’07 is resolute in her resolution in support of the resolution.

OPINIONSTHE BROWN DAILY HERALDTUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2007 PAGE 11

The truth about Republicans, Democrats and the anti-surge resolution

Brown forecast: Low 20s with plenty of smug

KATY CRANEOPINIONS COLUMNIST

246 members of the House of

Representatives not only know that

the Iraq war has been botched but are

willing to do something about picking

up the pieces.

Darwish concluded that Islamic culture

was the main culprit responsible for the

troubles facing the Muslim world. But

such an “insensitive” viewpoint was heresy

in the eyes of many Brown students.

SEAN QUIGLEYOPINIONS COLUMNIST

Page 12: Tuesday, February 27, 2007

The women’s lacrosse team had a tough opening to its season, drop-ping a 17-5 decision to the No. 1-ranked University of North Caro-lina Tar Heels. UNC raced out to a quick 3-0 lead in the fi rst seven min-utes of the game and never looked back.

Mimi DeTolla ’08 cut Brown’s defi cit to two when she scored an unassisted goal midway through the fi rst half. However, that was as close as the Bears ever got. The Tar Heels outscored the Bears 8-0 over the remainder of the fi rst half to establish a commanding 11-1 ad-vantage.

Despite the big defi cit, Brown continued to fi ght. The Tar Heels only outscored the Bears 7-4 in the second half. The Bears scored four goals on four shots over the next 21:35 of game. DeTolla scored her second of the game, while Lauren Vitkus ’09 and Bethany Buzzell also found the back of the net for the Bears.

Amanda Rosenberg ’10 stopped 17 shots in her fi rst collegiate game. The Bears will return to action on Friday, when they face Sacred Hear in Fairfi eld, Conn.

— Justin Goldman

EquestrianThe equestrian team offi cially

took back the reins this past Sat-urday by regaining its lead in the Region 1 conference, overtaking the University of Connecticut in the process with an outstanding perfor-mance that saw the squad score 44 out of a possible 49 points.

Marissa Geoffroy ’07 won the high-point rider ride-off while Ra-chel Griffi th took reserve in the event. Whitney Keefe ’08 won the blue ribbon for seven points and Grace Peloquin ’07 fi nished third in the class. The Bears were par-ticularly successful in Novice Fenc-es, with three of the riders winning blue ribbons: Irmak Tasindi ’08, Emily Cole ’08 and Griffi th.

Rachel Lubin ’07 continued Bruno’s winning ways by nabbing a fi rst-place fi nish in the Interme-diate Flat. In the Walk Trot Canter portion of the day, Sarah Morris ’07 also fi nished fi rst. Kiauntee Mur-ray ’09, McCall Lewis ’08 and Steph-anie Carmack ’08 all took fi rst-place ribbons home in their respective events.

The Bears smothered the Hus-kies by 15 points and will look to further their streak of success in the fi nal two shows of the regular season on March 10 at Connecticut College and March 17 at Johnson & Wales.

— Sarah Demers

SPORTS TUESDAYTHE BROWN DAILY HERALDTUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2007 PAGE 12

W. lax loses to Tar Heels, equestrian regains lead

The men’s lacrosse team lost its opening game at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County in an overtime nail-biter on Saturday. Despite a strong performance, Bruno was outlasted by the Re-trievers in Head Coach Lars Tif-fany’s ’90 fi rst game leading the Bears.

Brown played catch-up the whole game, as the team was down 4-2 after the fi rst quarter and 7-5 at halftime. UMBC stretched its lead to 10-5 with three unanswered goals in the third quarter before Brown came back with a 6-1 run started by a goal by attackman Jack Walsh ’09 and fi nished with a goal by tri-captain midfi elder Alex Buckley ’07 that tied the game at 11. But UMBC scored the game-winner 27 seconds into overtime to pull out the 12-11 victory.

“I was proud that the team came back from 10-5,” Buckley said. “We proved to ourselves that we are able to do it.”

Buckley scored three of his four goals during the comeback stretch, and Walsh scored two of his three during the 6-1 spurt as well. The other goal during the run came from midfi elder Will Davis ’07.

Tri-captain David Madeira ’07 said the team showed tremen-dous resilience. “We were down fi ve in the second half, but we didn’t give up,” Madeira said. “We stayed confi dent and stuck with each other the whole way.”

Jordan Burke ’09 put out a strong performance in his fi rst collegiate start in the cage, stop-

M. lax drops opener to UMBC CONTRIBUTING WRITER

After tough matches in Vir-ginia last week, the men’s ten-nis team returned to College Hill for a doubleheader against the United States Naval Acade-my and the State University of New York at Buffalo. The No. 57 Bears had a happy homecom-ing, overwhelming Navy 7-0 and dominating Buffalo 6-1.

“I’m really happy,” said Head Coach Jay Harris. “I thought today was going to be really tough. It was our toughest dou-bleheader of the year. We were extremely banged up, we played really short-handed and to win 7-0 and 6-1 shows how consis-tent we are.”

The Bears began their sweep of the Goats by taking the dou-bles point. At fi rst doubles, co-captain Dan Hanegby ’07 teamed up with Basu Ratnam ’09 to de-feat Nate Nelms and Jason Hill 8-5. Co-captain Eric Thomas ’07 and Chris Lee ’09 also won an 8-5 match at second doubles against Stanley Kahl and Adrian Lai. At

third doubles, Zack Pasanen ’07 and Noah Gardner ’09 earned an 8-6 victory over Ramsey Le-maich and Johnny Waters.

The Bears’ domination con-tinued in singles play as the team took fi ve of the six singles matches in straight sets. At fi rst singles, Hanegby faced Nelms for the second time that day, win-ning the match by a score of 6-3, 6-2. Thomas took on Hill at sec-ond singles, where he had a 6-1, 6-4 victory. At third singles, Rat-nam earned a 6-4, 7-6 win over Waters, and at fourth singles, Pasanen defeated Lai 6-2, 7-5. Joe Scott ‘08 captured a three-set match against Lemaich at fi fth singles, triumphing 6-4, 2-6, 1-0. At sixth singles, Gardner overpowered Kahl 6-1, 6-2.

“We played pretty well,” Hanegby said. “We’re pretty lim-ited because lots of guys are in-jured, but we fought hard.”

Last week, the Bears said their goal is to win the doubles point of every match this season, but in the second match of Sat-

M. tennis swamps Navy, BuffaloBY ERIN FRAUENHOFERASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

BY JASON HARRIS

M. swimming fi nishes seventh of nine at EISL Championships

Capping off the 2006-2007 season, the men’s swimming and diving team took seventh place in the Eastern Interscholastic Swimming League Championships this week-end in Princeton, N.J. The host Tigers captured fi rst place in the meet, followed by Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Cornell and the United States Naval Academy. The Uni-versity of Pennsylvania and Dart-

mouth fi nished in eighth and ninth places, respectively. While the Ti-gers scored 1,405 points over the three-day event, Bruno accumu-lated a total of 624 points, led by top performers Brian Kelly ’08 and Daniel Ricketts ’09.

Despite the seemingly low team placement, captain Peter Vo-losin ’08 was pleased at his team’s performance at Easterns. Volosin noted the swimmers’ outstand-ing team effort as the highlight of their fi nal meet, as many swim-

mers recorded their best times of the season and contributed to the team’s point total.

“It was an extremely positive meet for us,” he said. “Almost ev-eryone scored for the team.”

Volosin got the Bears off to a strong start, securing a spot in the consolation fi nals of the 1,650-yard freestyle. Velosin fi nished 12th in the race, clocking in at 15:46.27. Kevin Hug ’08 followed up with a 17th-place fi nish in the 200-yard backstroke, swimming a time of

1:49.71.The Bears saw the best perfor-

mance of the meet in the 100-yard freestyle event. Kelly was Brown’s highest fi nisher in the race, nab-bing fourth place with a time of 44.81. This year’s Easterns meet was a personal victory for Kelly, who overcame injuries and dis-heartening performances in his fi rst two seasons to emerge as Brown’s top competitor in 2007.

BY KAITLYN LAABSSPORTS STAFF WRITER

Jacob Melrose / Herald File PhotoZach Pasanen ’07 won four matches for the Bears in their two wins against Buffalo and Navy.

Jacob Melrose / Herald File PhotoAshley King-Bischof ’07 scored 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in Brown’s double overtime win against Columbia on Friday.

The women’s basketball team claimed its third Ivy League win of the season in thrilling fashion on Friday night with a 72-69 double overtime victory against Columbia. But the Bears could not bring the momentum they created against the Lions to the contest against Cornell on Saturday, suffering a tough 41-36 loss.

Columbia came out with fi re and emotion Friday and built a 17-6 lead over Brown in the fi rst seven minutes of the game. The Bears then started to fi nd some offensive rhythm, cutting the defi cit to six at one point. Yet the Lions outscored the Bears 15-6 over the next 7:00 and stretched their lead to 32-17 by the end of the half.

Both teams traded baskets for the remainder of the half, and Co-lumbia went to the locker room leading 38-24.

Faced with the defi cit, Brown came out roaring in the second half. Bruno outscored the Lions 10-2 over the fi rst 4:50 of the second half to cut its defi cit to six.

“In the fi rst half, we gave up way too many points,” said forward Ash-ley King-Bischof ’07. “In the sec-ond half, we made some defensive

W. hoops splits weekend on N.Y. road tripSPORTS EDITOR

BY JUSTIN GOLDMAN

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