Wednesday, March 16, 2011Daily Heraldthe Brown

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News, 8

Pre-nat’lU. recruits pregnant women for national study

Finding fascism in American politics

OpiNiONs, 7 wea

therTea Power

By Shefali luThraSenior Staff Writer

Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron presented on behalf of the committee examining the Univer-sity’s policy on the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps at yesterday’s Brown University Community Council meeting. Following her presentation, other representatives of the com-mittee and various student groups discussed arguments for and against reinstating the program.

Bergeron presented an update on the committee’s activity since early last month, when it was established by President Ruth Simmons. So far, the committee has discussed pos-sible pros and cons of reestablishing an ROTC program at the University. “We have been educating ourselves,” Bergeron said.

She noted that the University will not need to offer academic credit for ROTC classes. When the University initially eliminated the program in 1969, one of the main concerns was that ROTC classes could bypass the University accreditation process.

If the University were to rein-state ROTC, it would probably be a Navy-specific program, Bergeron said. The University would maintain its current exchange program with Providence College, which offers an Army-specific program.

Committee on ROTC updates community

By Mark rayMondSenior Staff Writer

The University is looking to strengthen its relationship with China in an effort to expand its presence and appeal to a grow-ing base of potential donors. In the past year, the University has actively increased its outreach ef-forts by developing its partnership with the Chinese University of Hong Kong and planning for the upcoming Year of China.

“We have a growing number of Chinese alumni, non-Chinese alumni living in China and ap-plicants from the country,” wrote President Ruth Simmons in an e-mail to The Herald. “In that re-gard, our presence in China will certainly grow, and demands from

our alumni to have meaningful programs and relationships in China will continue.”

While fundraising is not the primary goal of partnering with China, it is a positive consequence of the University’s outreach, Sim-mons wrote.

“A strong alumni presence in China will naturally mean that our alumni club activities and fund-raising efforts there will increase,” she wrote.

Professor of Physics Chung-I Tan, who is leading the Year of China effort, said he hopes the Year of China engages both students and alums to a greater degree than previous yearlong efforts. He said past initiatives, such as the years of Africa, Latin America and India, failed to reach

a large portion of the student body.Tan also acknowledged the

influence the Year of China will have on the ability to foster inter-est beyond Brown’s campus.

“Next year we will be focus-ing on campus activities, but it will be a stepping stone for our future goals with China,” he said. “It will make Brown better known and will help us reach out to our alums.”

“Alums and parents and the broader Brown community ex-ist in that part of the world, and the more we can engage them, the greater the opportunity we will have to ask them to appreciate what Brown is doing and contrib-ute to Brown,” he added.

To fundraise and to educate, U. looks East

By kaTherine SolaSenior Staff Writer

In one continuous shot, the camera follows a car painted with the Pal-estinian flag blaring Arabic songs down the main thoroughfare. As

the camera passes through the local cafe, the cafe’s owner pulls a child inside. She slams the door shut as military trucks and armed soldiers arrive, shots ringing out. The sud-den descent from song — provoca-tive but nonviolent nationalism — into gunfire is shocking.

This scene is from Najwa Naj-jar’s “Pomegranates and Myrrh,” the opening film in this year’s Pal-

estinian Film Festival screened last night at the Avon Cinema.

Yasmine Elmasri displays an impressive emotional range as Ka-mar, an independent Palestinian Christian dancer who marries a man named Zaid at the beginning of the film. Shortly after, Israeli soldiers arrive in the middle of the night to confiscate his olive farm, and Zaid is accused of punching a soldier during a confrontation. He is beaten and imprisoned, and Kamar faces a daunting legal struggle to free her husband and save the land. As Zaid falls into a depression, she turns to her dance troupe for solace and forms a bond with the handsome choreographer

Palestinian film festival opens with dance, violence

By aParna BanSalSenior Staff Writer

Former U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., accepted a two-year ap-pointment yesterday as a visiting fellow in the Brown Institute of Brain Science through 2013.

He will have an office in the in-stitute’s headquarters and will give two annual lectures, according to a University press release.

Kennedy has had a long-stand-ing relationship with the Univer-sity and has “been a tremendous supporter” of its research in the neurosciences, said Edward Wing, dean of medicine and biological sciences.

Kennedy “is committed to re-search and care for people with medical illnesses,” Wing said, add-ing that he is “very excited” about the appointment.

“Millions of people live with disorders of the brain and central nervous system, and hundreds of thousands of American soldiers and veterans have suffered trau-matic brain injuries,” Kennedy said in the press release. “Finding treatments and cures for their suf-fering is a national emergency with a scientific challenge akin to our efforts to go to the moon that gal-vanized the country half a century ago. I can imagine no better place to pursue this mission than from within the thriving community of

Kennedy appointed visiting fellow

By elizaBeTh carr and reBecca BallhauS

Staff Writer and City & State editor

Delsa Marfeo answered the phone Monday night to unwelcome news. Her son’s school would likely close at the end of the year, a representative

of the Providence School Depart-ment told her — and it remains to be seen where he will end up.

Providence Mayor Angel Taveras and Public School District Super-intendent Tom Brady announced their recommendations for the clos-ings of four city elementary schools

Monday. Though their choices have not yet been approved by the Provi-dence School Board, communities are already reacting to the news.

Flynn Elementary School, Asa Messer Elementary School, Asa Messer Annex Elementary School and Windmill Elementary School were chosen for closure on the basis of physical quality of facilities, stu-dent performance, potential costs of school renovations and ease of transferring students.

Parents were alerted in different ways to closings, some receiving direct notice from administrators and others hearing second-hand

Community reacts to closing of four elementary schools

Rebecca Ballhaus / HeraldFlynn Elementary (above) is one of four Providence public schools that would be closed as part of emergency budget cuts made in response to the city’s fiscal crisis. continued on page 4

Ta s T e T h e m a g i c

Freddy Lu / HeraldJohn Stein, senior lecturer in neuroscience, showed off a miracle berry — which enhances perceived sweetness — at a celebration yesterday evening for the Science Center’s one-year anniversary.

continued on page 2continued on page 3

city & state

arts & culture

continued on page 3 continued on page 3

Marriage equality is not enough

OpiNiONs, 7

lGBTQuestion

Ben Schreckinger, PresidentSydney Ember, Vice President

Matthew Burrows, TreasurerIsha Gulati, Secretary

The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is an independent newspaper serving the Brown University community daily since 1891. It is published Monday through Fri-day during the academic year, excluding vacations, once during Commencement, once during Orientation and once in July by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Single copy free for each member of the community. POSTMASTER please send corrections to P.O. Box 2538, Providence, RI 02906. Periodicals postage paid at Providence, R.I. Subscription prices: $280 one year daily, $140 one semester daily. Copyright 2011 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Campus news2 the Brown Daily heraldwednesday, March 16, 2011

12 P.m.

Raunchy Bake Sale

Main Green

8 P.m.

Palestinean Film Festival:

Series of Shorts

Hunter Lab Auditorium

11:45 A.m.

Flash Rally for Marriage Equality

J. Walter Wilson

7:30 P.m.

A Reading by Novelist Geoff Ryman

Granoff Center,

Martinos Auditorium

SHARPE REFECTORY VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALL

LUNCH

DINNER

Oven Roasted Tofu Triangles, Sustainable Seafood Cavatelli,

Roasted Red Potatoes with Herbs

Tequila Lime Chicken, Vegan Ratatouille, Roasted Herb Potatoes,

Frosted Brownies

Bruschetta Mozzarella, Vegetarian Cajun Pasta, Seasoned Fries,

Sauteed Peppers

Beef Pot Pie, Vegan Chili, Parslied Rice, Hot and Spicy Vegetable

Saute, Krinkle Cut Fries

TODAY mARCH 16 TOmORROW mARCH 17

C R O S S W O R d

S u d O K u

M E N u

C A L E N d A R

The University’s expanded rela-tionship with the Chinese Univer-sity of Hong Kong is another part of this greater effort to strengthen ties in the country.

The university “is one of the top schools in greater China,” said Matthew Gutmann, vice president for international affairs.

The collaboration began in 2006 and was bolstered by the signing of two memoranda of un-derstanding in March 2009. Under the memoranda, a recent master’s program graduate from the Hong Kong school will come to Brown to help teach Mandarin each year,

and Brown students will be pro-vided new study abroad options.

The University has received the help of one master’s program grad-uate — who serves as a teaching associate while at Brown — each of the past two years.

“It helps Brown students to know more about not only China mainland, but also Hong Kong,” wrote Weisi Cai, the current teach-ing associate, in an e-mail to The Herald.

“The relationship allows us to provide each other with opportu-nities to know more about Chinese and American cultures,” he added.

Lung-Hua Hu, senior lecturer in East Asian studies, said the

teaching associates have allowed for “increased student contact time” and that “they’ve been very good in helping us teach courses.”

A revised memorandum of understanding for next year will allow the language program to continue, said Kerry Smith, chair of the Department of East Asian Studies.

The University is extending an invitation to the school’s president, Joseph Sung, to visit and give a talk. Sung is “quite an impressive man,” Gutmann said.

The partnership not only helps the University reach out to alums and potential donors, but it is also an opportunity for the University to learn more about China as it gears up for the upcoming Year of China, he said.

“The Year of China is an op-portunity for the campus to learn about the history of the country as well as about the many issues and opportunities facing China today,” Simmons wrote.

“I don’t think you can be an educated person in China with-out knowing something about the language, culture and history of the United States,” Gutmann said. “And I don’t think you can be an educated person in the United States without knowing something about the language, culture and history of China.”

U. grows presence in Chinacontinued from page 1

Campus news 3the Brown Daily heraldwednesday, March 16, 2011

The University’s ROTC com-mittee, which consists of Bergeron, seven faculty members, two under-graduates, one graduate student and one staff member, is charged with four tasks. It aims to review the initial resolutions that removed ROTC, gauge student interest in the program, examine what would need to be done to reinstate it and determine what specific steps the University would have to take to change its ROTC policy.

The committee has discussed the possibility of reinstating ROTC with various student groups, including the Queer Alliance, Students for ROTC, the Coalition Against Special Privileges for ROTC and the Gradu-ate Student Council. The committee will also present at tonight’s meeting of the Undergraduate Council of Students and at an April 13 faculty forum. UCS will host a lunch forum March 22 for students to discuss reinstating ROTC.

Bergeron also discussed her attendance at the Ivy Plus confer-ence — a consortium of universi-ties, including members of the Ivy League as well as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Uni-versity of Chicago and Stanford — where deans from the universities discussed their respective plans to offer or not offer ROTC programs.

Of those universities, MIT, Cor-nell, Dartmouth, Princeton and Penn already offer ROTC programs. Harvard announced its intention to reinstate its ROTC program earlier this month, and Bergeron said it looks likely that Columbia, Yale and Stanford will do the same. If this were the case, Brown would be the only Ivy League university not to have a ROTC program on campus.

Bergeron also said she has been impressed with the “community en-gagement” in the University’s ROTC

discussion. Students can access in-formation from the committee on ROTC on a campus-wide website using a tab on their Brown Gmail accounts.

Gabriel Schwartz ’13, co-direc-tor of the Queer Political Action Committee, spoke after Bergeron’s presentation, calling the idea of re-instating ROTC “potentially very problematic.”

Students are “insured protection by Brown’s anti-discrimination pol-icy,” Schwartz said. He specifically cited military discrimination against transgenders as a reason to oppose bringing ROTC to the University.

But Martin Bell ’11.5, who was discharged from the military un-der “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” recom-mended reinstating ROTC, though he questioned if there would be enough student interest in the pro-gram. “The leadership training they do offer you is relevant across the board,” he said.

Students can currently partici-pate in Officer Candidate School, a program that tracks students to join the Marines. But Bell said par-ticipation in ROTC has advantages over Officer Candidate School, like increasing opportunities to get ad-vanced officer positions.

Students from the Coalition Against Special Privileges for ROTC also spoke at the meeting, critiqu-ing military discrimination against transgenders and potential lack of academic merit to ROTC classes.

Several arguments have been presented to the committee on ROTC in favor of reinstating the program, said Ken Miller ’70 P’02, professor of biology and a mem-ber of the committee. Specifically, ROTC creates an opportunity for students to pursue a military career, and prospective students might not consider Brown because of the lack of an ROTC program on campus, es-pecially if more peer institutions re-instate the program. Some argue the University risks “insulating itself ” from military realities in America if there is no ROTC program, Miller said. He called attention to the fi-nancial scholarship associated with the program and the potential ben-efit the military could derive from Brown students’ involvement.

The ROTC scholarship is not a “moot point” even in the context of need-blind admissions, Miller said. Such scholarships could give the Of-fice of Financial Aid more flexibility.

Bergeron will present an updated report at the April 26 BUCC meet-ing. The faculty is also scheduled to address the question of reinstating ROTC at its May 3 meeting, she said.

The meeting also included a pre-sentation on LGBTQ resources at the University. Students from the Queer Alliance spoke about trying to increase transgender resources, including trying to partner with the admissions office in reaching out to prospective and admitted LGBTQ students.

BUCC plays host to ROTC discussioncontinued from page 1

brain science researchers and clini-cians at Brown.”

Kennedy retired from Congress last year after his eighth term in office. During his tenure, he was active in advocating for veterans with mental illnesses to receive the same health insurance coverage as veterans with other illnesses. After his retirement, he helped create the One Mind for Brain Research campaign. He is also organizing the Next Frontier Conference, which will bring together scientists, politi-cians, academics, philanthropists

and patients to discuss neurologi-cal disorders in Boston May 23-25, on the 50th anniversary of his uncle John F. Kennedy’s “moon-shot” address.

Kennedy continues mental illness advocacy as fellow

continued from page 1

Kais, a Palestinian returned from Lebanon.

Perhaps appropriately, the film ends without a clear resolution. But Najjar’s cinematography pres-ents a compelling vision of the dif-ficulties of everyday Palestinian life.

After Zaid’s arrest, images of the concrete walls and barbed wire separating Israeli and Palestinian land feature prominently. During Kamar’s first drive to see her hus-band in prison, a scene of the wall segues into one of the prison walls. Kamar is separated from Zaid by a wire screen, its pattern imposed on their faces. One of the most touch-ing moments is a kiss through the screen, which ends with an abrupt command of “Move back!”

Also moving are the scenes of the family’s farm being taken over by Israeli settlers. They fence off the land and slowly establish signs of ownership — pitching a tent, planting a flag and threatening Kamar with guns. They break her windows and, later, invade and vandalize her home, smashing all of her belongings and graffitiing the Star of David on the walls.

But the film is not wholly de-pressing. The oversexed, gossipy cafe proprietress, whose forceful

personality even intimidates the soldiers patrolling the Ramallah streets, provides comic relief.

In this setting, the symbolic val-ue of dance becomes clear. Scenes of imprisonment and checkpoints are contrasted with Kamar and her troupe’s free, expressive move-ments. Kamar cannot go to Jerusa-lem without a permit, go onto her own farmland or free her husband from jail. Through dance, she reas-serts control over her movements and future.

The Palestinian Film Festival is run by the student group Com-mon Ground: Equality and Justice in Palestine/Israel. Group leader Henry Peck ’11 told The Herald it was the only student-run Palestin-ian film festival in the country. It emphasizes “film as a medium for looking at the conflict,” he added.

“I’ve never watched a movie quite like this” said Nathan Elder ’13, an audience member. He said that although he found the plot dif-ficult to follow, he appreciated the “subtleties of Palestinian culture” that appear in the film. Ahmed No-fao, a sophomore at St. Lawrence University, said the film resonated with his own experiences as a Ra-mallah native. He said it was “very rich” and showed how “the occu-pation is attacking people’s lives constantly in many ways.”

Opening film looks at conflict in Palestine

continued from page 1

City & State4 the Brown Daily heraldwednesday, March 16, 2011

through media outlets or by word-of-mouth.

Marfeo’s son Anthony attends Asa Messer Elementary. “I really didn’t think that this one was go-ing to be one of them,” she said yesterday afternoon, as she waited to pick up her son outside the red brick school building. The school department will hold meetings for parents to decide where the stu-dents will be transferred, she said. Bridgham Middle School — which, according to the city’s recommen-

dations, would be converted to an elementary school — would be a convenient option, she added, be-cause of its proximity to Asa Messer.

Marfeo said she worries about how the changes would affect An-thony’s relationships with his teach-ers and administrators. “When I told him last night, he was really upset,” she said. The first thing he asked was, “Am I going to get to see Ms. Calabro again?”

Some parents, like Karen Diaz, did not find out about the an-nouncement until yesterday. “They just told me now,” she said, after

picking up her son from Asa Messer.“I was just surprised,” said Terri

Wright, who has two children en-rolled at Flynn Elementary and also received no notification.

Wright said one of her sons, a fourth grader, would have gradu-ated from the school next year. “It’s just hard,” she said. “All this hard work he’s put in at this school is going to waste. Now he’s going somewhere totally different.”

Wright added she hoped her children would be sent to the same school. If they were separated, she said, “I don’t know what we would do.”

“It will be hard to leave,” said Yahaira Veoez, the parent of a stu-dent at Asa Messer Annex. “I love this school. My daughter has been here since kindergarten.”

As school let out around 3 p.m. yesterday, Dan — the husband of a teacher at Flynn Elementary — sat quietly in his car, waiting for his wife to emerge from school. Teach-ers “aren’t happy” about the school closings, he said, because most are not eligible for retirement. Though he learned of the school closings on Channel 10 News, he said he believed the school sent a letter to parents following the announce-ment.

He did not want his last name published because he did not want his comments to be identified with his wife.

A school department official visited Flynn Elementary Monday and told a “teacher in charge” — the principal was not present — that the school would be closed, Dan said.

Both he and his wife remain hopeful, he said. “If they get enough people retiring over the summer, maybe they’ll rehire. … The teach-ers here do a good job.”

He said he was confused as to why the school — which, with 600 students, is the biggest on the city’s

list — had been chosen. He said that while the building is old and needs a new heating system, he saw no rea-son to target it over others, he said.

“We’re totally devastated,” said Mary-Ann Cullen, a teacher at Fly-nn Elementary. “We’re more than just a school. We’re a community.” She added that the school’s students are “extremely upset” by the an-nouncement.

Cullen said she is unsure how the closure will affect her job, since the city has already fired all teachers in the district.

Administrators at Flynn El-ementary said teachers had been instructed not to comment on the situation.

Norma Thomas, a crossing guard at Flynn Elementary for over 20 years, learned about the announce-ment on the news. “I don’t like it at all because it means I’ll have to be transferred,” she said. “But I don’t know where.”

Nicole Soares, who works at the Allen Berry Health Center, a community health center next to Flynn Elementary, said many of the

school’s students come to the cen-ter as patients. The closure would “affect the whole neighborhood,” she said.

Yesterday afternoon, Jo-Ann Martin — fondly known as “Jo-Jo” by community members — was guiding students as usual across the parking lot behind Flynn El-ementary. As a security official for the Rhode Island Bureau of Inves-tigation, she talks to parents as they pick up their children every day. “They’re very nervous, they’re full of worries and concerns,” she said. “They don’t know what the next step is going to be.”

Martin called the situation “un-fortunate.” Flynn Elementary is “so convenient,” she said. “The capacity is always full. All the schools are full. Where are they going to put the kids? How is that going to affect (their) education?”

“Right now the quality of learn-ing is below average,” she said, cit-ing the low test scores in several Providence public schools. “What’s

School closures baffle communitycontinued from page 1

continued on page 5

Morgan Johnson / HeraldAs a consequence of the four school closings, some bus drivers’ routes may change.

City & State 5the Brown Daily heraldwednesday, March 16, 2011

BB & Z | Cole Pruitt, Andrew Seiden, Valerie Hsiung and dan Ricker

Cloud Buddies! | david Emanuel

Dot Comic | Eshan Mitra and Brendan Hainline

CO M i C S

going to happen when you have more kids?” She added that the adjustment period — as students adapt to their new schools after they are transferred — will be a difficult process.

Brown’s Swearer Center for Pub-lic Service runs several programs in the four schools recommended for closing. Because the recommenda-tions have not yet been finalized, the “specific implications will take a little time to discern,” said Roger Nozaki MAT’89, the center’s direc-tor. He said the center will continue to focus on “supporting the students

and families” involved in its pro-grams.

Hannah Miles ’13, coordinator of the Swearer Classroom Program — which works in both Asa Messer and William D’Abate elementary schools — said the volunteer tutors “form really close relationships with the teachers.”

She said the changes would definitely have an impact on the program’s work. “We’ve put so much energy into these schools,” she said. “It’s like we’re going to have to start from scratch at a new school.”

— with additional reporting by Amy rasmussen and Morgan Johnson

Rebecca Ballhaus / HeraldJo-Ann Martin (above), a security official for the Rhode island Bureau of investigation, said she does not know where she will work next year.

continued from page 4

editorial & Letter6 the Brown Daily heraldwednesday, March 16, 2011

L E T T E R TO T H E E d i TO R

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. Corrections may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication.

C O M M E N TA R Y P O L I C YThe editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial page board of The Brown Daily Herald. The editorial viewpoint does not necessarily reflect the views of The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Columns, letters and comics reflect the opinions of their authors only.

L E T T E R S T O T H E E D I T O R P O L I C YSend letters to letters@browndailyherald.com. Include a telephone number with all letters. The Herald reserves the right to edit all letters for length and clarity and cannot assure the publication of any letter. Please limit letters to 250 words. Under special circumstances writers may request anonymity, but no letter will be printed if the author’s identity is unknown to the editors. Announcements of events will not be printed.

A D V E R T I S I N G P O L I C YThe Brown Daily Herald, Inc. reserves the right to accept or decline any advertisement at its discretion.

More reaction to full-page advertisementTo the Editor:

I sit here in shock upon reading the full-page ad-vertisement that you allowed to be displayed in your newspaper. It is one of the most opinionated, slanderous things I have ever read, and I was incredibly disappointed in The Herald for allowing something like that to see the light of day.

I will open my comments by saying that I am certainly more pro-Palestinian then pro-Israel in my thoughts about the issue. However, even if this was an advertise-ment talking about how great Palestinians are, I would not want it to be featured in what is supposed to be an objective news source and I would be just as angry.

Do you think that publishing something with the tiny word “Advertisement” above it removes any liability that you have towards the content that the page says?

Apparently not. I am now under the belief that if I wanted to — and had enough disposable income lying around to pay for a full page ad — I could publish an article about how I think abortions are great, healthy and benefit society. I could even finish this ad with

instructions on how to give yourself an abortion and an attempt to convince you that anyone who does not get abortions is ignorant of how amazing they are.

What I just said is far from what I believe. However, I use it to illustrate the severity of what you allow to make it to print.

If you guys really need the money so badly, then you should just ask the school for it.

If you think that this advertisement was just an expres-sion of free speech, or if you are going to read this letter and say that you did no wrong because you have every legal right to do so, then you would be foolish. There is a huge difference between the ability to say whatever you want, and the carrying through of this power. The difference is that everyone understands that newspapers can say whatever they want. However, since news sources say things that are intended to be objective, people trust them. What you have lost is trust. And this is something that you will not be gaining back from me anytime soon.

Good work losing another dedicated reader.

Lucas Husted ’13

E d i TO R i A L CO M i C b y s a m r o s e n f e l d

“We’re totally devastated.”— Mary-Ann Cullen, a teacher at Flynn Elementary School

See Community on page 1.

E d i TO R i A L

Last February, the ad hoc Organizational Review Committee released its recommendations for how Brown could reduce its budget by $14 million. The committee’s charge implied a commitment to cutting out excesses, rather than eliminating services important to students’ needs.

Last week’s Herald article about the newly centralized events planning process described an excellent example of the implementation of the com-mittee’s recommendations. The Office of University Event and Conference Services, which opened last summer, consolidates the University Events Office, the Conference Services Office and the University Event Support Office and reports directly to the Department of Facilities Management. The reorganization resulted in the elimination of several staff positions, but it will ultimately facilitate event planning for students, faculty and staff.

Considering the mindset guiding the reorganization of event plan-ning — which prioritizes the improvement of the University’s operations — we were disappointed to hear the Corporation’s reasons for increasing next year’s incoming transfer class by 50 students, another of the ORC’s recommendations.

We do not oppose opening the Van Wickle Gates to more transfer stu-dents. The relatively large transfer student population at Brown means that our community includes undergraduates who have already experienced life at community colleges, single-sex institutions and public universities, for example — in short, places dramatically different from Brown. They are active members of our dance companies, political organizations, a cappella groups and student publications.

Brown is planning to increase the undergraduate student body to 6,000. Increasing the number of incoming transfers instead of first-year students achieves this without putting more pressure on resources for first-year students, Provost David Kertzer ’69 P’95 P’98 said.

Kertzer’s comment is telling. The University places a significant em-phasis on the first-year experience — on first-year seminars, first-year advising and first-year residential counseling. But we attend Brown for four years, not one, and we make important decisions about what to concentrate in, how to spend our summers and what career paths to embark on well after our first year. Spots in first-year seminars and beds in first-year housing are limited. But sophomores and upperclassmen also struggle to get into advanced courses with limited enrollment, and some live in converted kitchens and lounges.

Some see preferential treatment when officials seem to ignore up-perclassmen’s limited resources while simultaneously seeking to ease the burdens first-years face. We understand the importance of first-year-specific resources in appealing to prospective students and acclimating new students to college, and we commend the University for its dedica-tion to the first-year experience. But we remind Brown that college is not a year-long “experience.” It is multiple years of growth and learning.

What’s more, the University’s decision is necessarily related to the revenue that transfer students bring in. Admissions for transfer students is “need-aware, not need-blind,” and the financial aid budget for transfer students will not increase next year, said James Tilton, director of finan-cial aid. The University’s commitment to socioeconomic diversity in the student body seems secondary to the importance of revenue, another demonstration of where the University’s priorities lie. If Brown plans to enroll more transfers, it should do so in a way that is fair to those it accepts — by offering a quality academic and residential experience and by ensuring that no applicant’s financial situation bars him or her from being able to attend Brown.

editorials are written by The herald’s editorial page board. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com. q u OT E O F T H E dAy

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Post- maGazinekate doyle editor-in-Chief

Class conscious

opinions 7the Brown Daily heraldwednesday, March 16, 2011

I would like to look at two famous scholars’ definitions of fascism and examine them in the context of current events in the United States.

First, a quote by Robert Paxton, an emer-itus professor of history at Columbia.

“Fascism may be defined as a form of po-litical behavior marked by obsessive preoc-cupation with community decline, humili-ation or victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy and purity, in which a massed-based party of committed national-ist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites, aban-dons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion.”

In the context of this formulation of fas-cism, let us examine Tea Party and more generally right-wing treatment of American Muslims and Hispanics.

Since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, there has been a great deal of hysteria about rad-icalism among Muslims. Up until recently, this attitude has taken a strong but anecdotal place in the United States. Muslims are more often pulled out of lines in airports and sub-ject to suspicion by the general American population. In addition, a strong culture of intolerance and hate for American Muslims has been proven by numerous videos, avail-

able for viewing on YouTube, which depict crowds protesting outside Muslim gather-ings.

But this pervasive discrimination has now become structural. Rep. Peter King, R-New York, has called for a congressional hearing to determine whether or not Mus-lims in America have become radicalized. This call was answered, and this hearing is currently underway.

Hispanic people as well have been sin-gled out as being a threat to America on the basis of race. But their situation is different — the discriminatory attitudes against them

are older, more pervasive and already very entrenched in American law.

One is able to see, between these two manifestations of discrimination, the real-ization of the full definition of fascism of-fered by Paxton. The energetic and cult-like Tea Party, largely defined by middle-class anger over deteriorating standards of living, has lashed out at ethnic groups and blamed them for the downfall of American soci-ety. The Tea Party, although a working-class movement, has strong advocates among right-wing elites.

This alliance has manifested itself by al-lowing these discriminations to be structur-

ally supported, as evidenced by discrimina-tory policies about Hispanic immigration and the recent push to governmentally sup-port the persecution of Muslim people — in short, the pursuit of internal cleansing with-out ethical or legal restraint.

Second, Noam Chomsky, professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said that a fascist system “has tight control at the top and strict obedience has to be established at every level — there’s little bargaining, a little give and take, but the line of authority is perfectly straightfor-ward.”

This definition is relevant in terms of the labor struggles currently occurring across the United States. In New Jersey, Wiscon-sin, Michigan, Rhode Island, Ohio and oth-ers, middle-class government workers have been singled out as public enemy number one.

Although several weeks ago the gover-nors of these states were still arguing that these cuts were simply about balancing their respective budgets, Gov. Scott Walker and his Republican harem blew the lid off of that justification with their move this week. While Wisconsin Democrats fled to the hills to avoid a vote on Walker’s budget, the Re-

publicans carefully edited out all language in the bill pertaining to funding. In doing so, by Wisconsin state law, the entire state sen-ate did not need to be present for the vote, and the Republican representatives voted it in before Democrats could rush back in to block it.

In doing so, Wisconsin Republicans in-arguably revealed their true intention — the consolidation of power.

Furthermore, with the way they sub-verted democracy to pass Walker’s budget, Wisconsin Republicans exercised oligarchi-cal power. With the passing of this bill, they have ensured their ability to retain tight, top-down control over middle-class work-ers. They have also, with the removal of unions’ collective bargaining rights, created a system where a little give and take is the most Wisconsin workers can hope for.

This is not a masturbatory case study or lofty philosophizing — it is the imminent, terrifying and real introduction of fascist policies into the United States government.

I would like to finish with one more quote from Chomsky — “I’m just old enough to have heard a number of Hitler’s speeches on the radio,” he said, “and I have a memory of the texture and the tone of the cheering mobs, and I have the dread sense of the dark clouds of fascism gathering.”

Keep your ears and eyes open for ways to show solidarity, and do not let this historical moment pass by without a fight.

Chris Norris-LeBlanc ’13 is from Rhode island. He can be contacted at

chris.norris.leblanc@gmail.com

The United States is on the brink of fascism

Same-sex marriage is one of the most prominent, defining issues in mainstream LGBTQ politics today. To oppose it is of-ten seen as being homophobic, and there are indeed many bigoted viewpoints. But it is possible to remain skeptical of mar-riage equality while fully supporting queer rights.

Marriage equality raises the question of “equality to what?” This framing attempts to set LGBTQ people as equal to straight people, thus accepting straight standards. Those committed to monogamy — and therefore supposedly of higher moral and social standing — are rewarded with spe-cial legal rights and unique benefits. Fight-ing for inclusion does not question why this type of relationship should be valued over others. Often, in response to reactionaries who make alarmist claims about the gays’ so-called destructive infiltration into tra-ditional marriage, pro-same-sex marriage groups argue that allowing two men or two women to tie the knot will not change marriage at all, preserving it as sacred. But challenging and transforming an institu-tion whose roots come from the concept of a nuclear family with normalized gender roles is in fact something to be celebrated. I am not calling marriage equality efforts as-similationist. I surely have no authority to say that, and I am sure most who fight for it do not actually aim to ape heterosexual

culture and to quash radicals. But the pri-macy of the marriage agenda might have the unintended consequence of limiting the scope of changing the status quo.

Consider the case of two elderly sisters who live together, share resources and look after each other — is their caregiving re-lationship not as valid? People live in dif-ferent family structures, such as single-parent households and extended kinship, for which marriage might not be an op-tion. But these people are just as deserv-ing of state and federal benefits. Marriage

can be a positive choice for couples for re-ligious, cultural and personal reasons. But no one should have to marry for econom-ic reasons. Marriage is a private affair that should not involve the state — being sexu-al or romantic with one person should not be linked to entitlement to medical, insur-ance, inheritance or other benefits. Family laws that value all families, including non-marital relationships, already exist in some areas and can be spread through reforms.

Moreover, there are other pressing issues such as employment discrimination, hous-ing discrimination and protection from vi-

olence that cannot be solved through mar-riage equality. For same-sex couples to be told they cannot marry must be frustrat-ing because it has the effect of delegitimiz-ing their love and relegating them to sec-ond-class citizenship. But the reality is that many LGBTQ citizens and immigrants face social and economic injustice due to systemic discrimination unrelated to mar-riage. Classism and racism negatively affect LGBTQ people at the lower end of the in-come spectrum. If a gay man — or anyone else — is mired in poverty because HIV/

AIDS stigmatization prevents him from securing a job, gaining the ability to wed his partner will not be of much help. What good does marriage equality do if an in-dividual cannot get health care benefits in the first place, much less extend them to a spouse? In addition, entrenched cultural attitudes that have hurt LGBTQ youth are not likely to be changed by same-sex cou-ples’ giving each other rings. Bullying and violence need to be dealt with more direct-ly.

We can hope that the fight for and win-ning of same-sex marriage will have ripple

effects that lead to broader social and le-gal acceptance of queer people. Granting the right to same-sex marriage might open national discourse and give hope and con-fidence to gays and lesbians. But that is not enough. Advocating for legislation such as the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would prohibit discrimination against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity would be a more efficient and effective way to address these problems. Queer issues are myriad and interrelated. They should not be pitted against each other. But marriage equality as a policy issue runs the risk of losing sight of and diverting resources from the plight of many for whom marriage is not a concern or solution.

I support measures such as the pending bill to legalize same-sex marriage in Rhode Island because I strongly oppose discrim-ination on the basis of sexual orientation, and recognition of same-sex marriage can indeed pave the way for a pluralistic soci-ety free of a hierarchy of relationships and more accepting of diverse family forms. But instead of focusing on extending het-erosexual privilege to another small part of the population, we should examine why it exists in the first place. We should look beyond formal marriage equality and into issues of substantive equality in all areas affecting quality of life for LGBTQ people and other marginalized minorities.

Tanya Nguyen ’13 is by no means an expert on family law or queer activism.

She can be contacted attanya_nguyen@brown.edu.

Skepticism of marriage equality

Marriage equality as a policy issue runs the risk of losing sight of and diverting resources from the plight of many

for whom marriage is not a concern or solution.

This is not a masturbatory case study or lofty philosophizing — it is the imminent, terrifying and real

introduction of fascist policies into the united States government.

By CHRiS NORRiS-LEBLANC

opinions Columnist

By TANyA NGuyENGuest Columnist

Daily Heraldthe Brown

Sports wednesdaywednesday, March 16, 2011

By Madeleine WenSTruPSportS Staff Writer

The women’s basketball team wrapped up the season on an up-swing, winning its last three con-ference games to catapult into the top half of the Ivy League. And the good news did not stop there. Last week, Ivy League coaches voted Sheila Dixon ’13 onto the Second Team All-Ivy and Lauren Clarke ’14 to a spot on the all-conference rookie team.

Dixon, a native of Schenectady, N.Y., exploded onto the scene this year after a difficult freshman sea-son. As a first-year, she netted only 100 points all season, averaging 3.6 points per game.

“I struggled last season,” Dixon said. “I had to relearn how Divi-sion I basketball works. It was a humbling experience.”

But Dixon put in the time and effort between seasons to improve her game.

Dixon used her disappointing rookie campaign “to work toward getting better,” she said.

“I worked out a lot over the summer,” Dixon said.

Her efforts paid off. In the 2010-2011 season, she led the team in scoring as well as rebounding, av-eraging 11 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.

Previous to the All-Ivy award, Dixon also earned Ivy League Player of the Week honors in the last week of the season. She was recognized after leading the Bears to a one-point win over Dartmouth Feb. 26. That night, she walked away with her fourth double-dou-ble of the season and a career high in both points and rebounds, with 22 and 14, respectively.

Clarke, a rookie point guard from Colts Neck, N.J., jumped into college basketball seamlessly, starting every game with the ex-ception of two she missed due to injury. As the starting point guard, she led the squad in playing time, averaging 32.5 minutes per game. She also ranked third on the team in scoring, racking up 9.3 points per game.

“It was great coming into this season,” she said. “The team had great chemistry, and my coaches and teammates helped me make it a smooth transition.”

The Bears missed Clarke during her two-game absence. In Bruno’s second league game against Yale, Clarke dove for a loose ball and tore a ligament in her left shoul-der. Brown was swept at home by Princeton and Penn during Clarke’s time on the bench.

Like Dixon, Clarke was recog-nized by the Ivy League during the season. After scoring a career-high 24 points against the University of Rhode Island, she was named the Ivy League rookie of the week. Dur-ing the state rivalry game, Clarke made her way into the Brown re-cord books. She netted 18 points on six-of-eight shooting from beyond the arc, the second-highest number of points from three-point range in Bruno history.

Both Dixon and Clarke empha-sized the entire team’s integral role in their successes.

“You have to have a great team to be able to improve and to get this honor,” Dixon said.

Clarke expressed a similar sentiment. “I have to give a lot of credit to my teammates,” she said. “I could not have accomplished this without them.”

At season’s end, Bear pair grabs Ivy honors

By ilan iSaacSContributing Writer

For the first time in school history, the baseball team defeated a top-five team, beating the University of Texas 7-3 Saturday in the third game of a four-game series in Austin. At the time, Texas (11-5) was ranked fifth in the nation.

Pitcher Anthony Galan ’14 re-placed starter Mark Gormley ’11.5 in the third inning and kept the powerful Longhorn bats silent, in-ducing 12 groundouts in six innings of one-run pitching. Galan earned Ivy co-rookie and co-pitcher of the week honors for his performance.

In the third inning, Ryan Zrenda ’11 hit a two-run home run and first-year standout Wes Van Boom ’14 scored to give the Bears a 3-1 lead. Though the Longhorns scored one run in the third and the fifth, the Bears (2-6) responded with an offensive onslaught in the top half of the seventh.

Mike DiBiase ’12, who showed a rare combination of patience and power all through the weekend on his way to Ivy League player of the week honors, started off the inning with a single. Graham Tyler ’12 and

Pete Greskoff ’11 also had hits as the Bears scored three runs in the frame. In the eighth, co-captain Matt Colantonio ’11 doubled and came home to score. Josh Feit ’11 came on in the ninth and struck out the side, ensuring a historic victory for the Bears.

The Bears dropped the other three matchups against the Long-horns 8-0, 4-3 and 11-1.

In the series opener, Texas ace Taylor Jungman stifled Brown hit-ters through eight innings of score-less work to bring his record at the Longhorns’ home stadium in Aus-tin to a perfect 13-0. After facing Vanderbilt pitcher Sonny Gray last week, Matt Kimball ’11 was again matched up against an elite MLB pitching prospect. Kimball gave up six runs, three of which were earned, over six innings.

The Longhorns, a notoriously good bunting team, used three straight first inning bunts to take a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Texas added four more in-surance runs to bring the final score to 8-0.

The following day, Zrenda and Greskoff scored in the first inning to give the Bears an early 2-0 lead. But

despite multiple chances to increase their lead, the Bears left the door open for a Longhorns comeback.

In the fifth inning, Texas fresh-man Erich Weiss provided the firepower for that comeback with a grand slam. Though Brown pitcher Kevin Carlow ’13 pitched well throughout the game, one cru-cial mistake — a fastball down the middle — earned him the loss, as the Longhorns took the game 4-3.

After Bruno’s Saturday break-through, the team was unable to repeat its performance Sunday. Bruno pitchers struggled all day, and the Longhorns, on the strength of three hits each from Jacob Felts and Cohl Walla, cruised to a com-fortable 11-1 victory.

The Bears returned to New Eng-land Tuesday, defeating Northeast-ern University 6-4. Conor Burke ’11 pitched five innings and gave up three runs against the Huskies (2-11), and the Bears’ offense was powered by home runs from Van Boom, DiBiase and Tyler.

Brown continues its 18-game road trip to open the season with a four-game series at Santa Clara University (7-9) beginning March 26.

Bruno takes down No. 5 Longhorns Pa r T y aT T h e d i s c - o

Emily Gilbert / HeraldMatt Barnes ’13 looks to throw around an opponent on Sunday as Brownian Motion hosted MiT, Northeastern and uRi in a round robbin-style tournament, winning all three games.

By kiM clifTonContributing Writer

The University, in collaboration with Women and Infants Hospi-tal of Rhode Island, is successfully recruiting pregnant women for the Providence County chapter of the National Children’s Study, the broad-est longitudinal study on child devel-opment ever conducted in the U.S.

Melody Drnach, senior com-munity engagement and outreach coordinator, called the collaboration an “amazing opportunity for Brown University to again be a leader in the country in terms of conducting a longitudinal study that improves the health and well-being of Rhode Islanders.”

The study at Brown is led by Professor of Community Health Stephen Buka, Associate Professor of Obstetrics/Gynecology and Com-munity Health Maureen Phipps and Associate Professor of Community Health Melissa Clark. Other doc-tors and scientists in the state sit on the Providence chapter’s advi-sory board. “Our research team is truly integrated,” Phipps said. “It’s terrific.”

The study will follow children from before birth until age 21, col-lecting data on the children’s physi-cal environment, family dynam-ics, neighborhood and genetics to “improve the health and well-being of children and contribute to un-derstanding the role various factors have on health and disease,” accord-ing to the study’s website.

“Information we gain will have local relevance, but data we learn will help inform children’s health

for the nation and probably across the world,” Phipps said.

Providence County is one of the 30 study hubs nationwide involved in the pilot phase of the project. The pilot program will test the feasibil-ity of various recruitment methods before implementing them on a na-tional scale. The study will eventu-ally be conducted at 105 locations and involve 100,000 women and their children.

Brown is recruiting through pre-natal care providers, obstetricians and gynecologists, and so far the team has seen an “extremely positive response,” Phipps said. “All the pre-natal care providers in Providence County are willing to work with us,” she said. Recruitment in Provi-dence County started Nov. 30. As of March 1, the team had recruited 35 women to the study, reported that day’s Providence Journal. The ulti-mate goal is to recruit 1,000 women.

Drnach said her current role is to “work with community leaders to bring awareness to all communities across Providence County about the study. We want (women) to be aware of (the study)and think of us when they become pregnant.”

John Logan, professor of sociolo-gy and an investigator for the study, said, “I think it’s good for Brown to be recognized as a useful partner in a national project. It builds up the research capacity of the people here.” Logan said his role in the research is to determine how to draw a sam-ple of new mothers in Providence County “in a way that would really allow us eventually to understand the effects of neighborhood condi-tions on child development.”

For a study this large, Phipps said she is looking into opportunities for students to help with research so

that they can have “the best expe-rience.” Logan clarified that those involved will be graduate students, not undergraduates, due to the training and long-term commit-ment required. “It will be hard for undergrads to participate, but a lot of the issues that we learn about will make their way into the classroom,” Logan said.

Due to the length of the proj-ect, the investigators said they were concerned that families moving or dropping out would affect successful data collection. “Really making this something that the communities want to sustain is going to be criti-cal,” Drnach said.

Logan said the goal is for fami-lies to take pride in contributing to the study. “The spirit of the project helps to keep people from dropping out,” he said.

Buka and Phipps, the principal investigators, applied to the study in 2007 when the National Institute of Child Health and Human Devel-opment called for proposals. The partnership was awarded a five-year, $14.1 million contract in 2007, and the University pledged an addition-al $1 million. Women and Infants pledged $500,000 to the project. In October of 2008, the insitute awarded Brown another $12 mil-lion contract to expand the study.

While both Buka and Phipps had previous long-term research experience, Phipps said this study was “definitely a big undertaking.”

Logan said Buka deserves a “great deal of credit” for organiz-ing the project and involving Brown professors in so many facets of the research. He added, “What we all like is to do the science, but in order to do the science you have to do the project building.”

U. recruits for 21-year children’s study

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