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THURSDAY

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALDAn independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891

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Volume CXXXIX, No. 107 www.browndailyherald.com

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BY STEVE MOILANENSome transfer students will be forced tomove into vacant dorm rooms at the endof the semester, despite having theimpression that they could stay in theirtemporary housing locations for theentire year.

Originally, the University told 31 trans-fer students they would have to move, butafter many students expressed dissatisfac-tion about the plan, administrators areworking to minimize the number andimpact of the moves.

Because there was insufficient perma-nent housing for all the transfer studentsat the beginning of the year, the 31 trans-fer students were placed in temporaryhousing in converted lounges.

According to Richard Bova, director ofresidential life, transfer students in tem-porary housing were given a letter whenthey came to campus that said that theywould be asked to move at the end of thefirst semester.

But Rebecca Neipris ’06 said she doesnot remember the letter suggesting thatthe housing was temporary. “Our lettersaid nothing about the short term,” shesaid. As a result, Neipris said, she wasunder the impression that she couldremain in converted housing for theentire year.

And at a meeting during orientation,Interim Dean for Campus Life MargaretKlawunn again gave students the impres-sion that they could remain in temporaryhousing all year, students said.

Klawunn said that at that meeting, shetried to explain the distinction betweentemporary housing and converted hous-ing. She recalls that she said temporaryhousing would be used for just a shortperiod of time and anyone in temporaryhousing would be obligated to move in

Some transferstudents asked toswitch rooms,despite U.’s efforts

Student unhurt inmugging on WilliamsStreet Monday night

BY LESLIE KAUFMANNRedoubled efforts by the Departmentof Public Safety and Providence PoliceDepartment are bringing an increasedpolice presence to campus, accordingto a campus-wide e-mail sent Tuesdaynight by Vice President of Campus Lifeand Student Services David Greeneand Vice President for AdministrationWalter Hunter.

Both the number of patrols and thelevel of support from plainclothes offi-cers and detectives will be upped as aresult of a meeting between DPS and

PPD leaders Tuesday.These efforts come after weeks of

increased police presence in responseto a rash of muggings and assaults onand near campus.

In the most recent assault, a femaleBrown student was mugged onWilliams Street at approximately 7:05p.m. Monday night, according to an e-mail sent by the Department of PublicSafety. The victim was not injured andher attacker was not apprehended.

The robber approached the victimnear the intersection of Williams andGovernor streets, carrying whatappeared to be a long-barreledweapon tucked under his right arm.

Police step up on-campus presence inresponse to crime wave

BY JANE PORTERIn response to the strict enforcement offire code regulations that went into effectthis year, the University is taking steps toexpand options for program house par-ties.

Facilities throughout campus arebeing evaluated for their potential use asClass F party spaces, said Ricky Gresh,director of student activities. The searchfor new party spaces is one of the alter-natives to holding Class F parties in largeUniversity facilities.

Gresh met with members of the GreekCouncil, Undergraduate Council ofStudents and a program house last weekto discuss alternate party spaces. “Wewent through the whole campus andlooked through every building,” he saidof last week’s meeting. “We brainstormedall the spaces on campus and which onesmight lend themselves to be social orevent spaces.” Gresh would not specify

which spaces are being considered.The ideal space would have a capacity

of about 200 people and would be closeto the center of campus, he said. No newvenues have yet been approved asacceptable spaces for such events.

Spaces like the ballroom in AlumnaeHall, with its low-hanging chandeliers,and Sayles Hall, with its extensive collec-tion of oil paintings, are not conducive tolarge student parties, Gresh said.

Holding events in these buildings isexpensive and takes a great deal of plan-ning and management, said Phil O’Hara,assistant director of student activities.Groups must pay for equipment, addi-tional security and cleanup costs and areliable for any damage done to the facili-ties.

“We know our house top to bottom,”said Xander Boutelle ’05, president of Phi

University considers additionallocations for Class F parties

BY STEPHANIE CLARKNew York Times “ethicist” Randy Cohen isnot qualified for his job — or so he insist-ed to a large audience at Brown HillelTuesday night. Identifying himself as an“accidental ethicist,” Cohen said that in ademocracy, ethics should be questionsthat every ordinary citizen can answer.Every member of a community has anobligation to make that community bet-

ter, he said. Cohen is the author of a column in the

New York Times Magazine titled “TheEthicist,” which features his responses tovarious ethical dilemmas sent to him byreaders. He began as a writer on “LateNight with David Letterman” and has alsowritten a book called “The Good, the Badand the Difference,” which is based on hiscolumn. Cohen led a lecture and ques-

tion-and-answer period titled “AnEvening with the Ethicist,” co-sponsoredby Brown Hillel, the Department ofPhilosophy, the chaplain’s office and TheHerald.

Although Cohen deals with a serioussubject, he takes a lighthearted approachin his column that was also apparent in

‘Ethicist’ emphasizes individuals’ andcommunity’s responsibility to uphold morals

Matt Lent / HeraldRichard Moss ’06 has a book signed by Randy Cohen, the New York Times Magazine’s ‘Ethicist,’ Tuesday night at Brown Hillel.

Rob Sand ’05.5thinks it’s time forDemocrats tomake politics aboutmorals, toocolumn, page 11

Religious valuesaren’t only forRepublicans,according to JacobIzenberg ’08column, page 11

Fokion Burgess ’07says the candidatesdidn’t talk about issuesthat affect those whoneed the most helpcolumn, page 11

Chris Hatfield ’06thinks the NFL’sPittsburgh Steelersjust might havewhat it takessports column, page 12

Zak DeOssie ’07 issimply following hisfather’s example asthe Bears’ rising starquarterbacksports, page 12

see TRANSFERS, page 7 see ETHICIST, page 4

see PARTIES, page 4see CRIME, page 3

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C R O S S W O R D

THIS MORNINGTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2004 · PAGE 2

M E N U

ACROSS1 LP player5 CEOs and

CFOs9 Beginning of a

prayer14 Ice cream

thickener15 Greenspan’s

subj.16 Forty-__17 “Livin’ La Vida

__”: RickyMartin hit

18 Mork word19 Key material20 Marketing rep,

perhaps23 Strains24 Plummeted25 Former body-

slamming gp.27 Gridiron

enthusiast32 Fling with effort34 School dance35 Seine feeder36 Curved37 ’80s-’90s

Honda sportscar

38 Goes over 21,in blackjack

39 Soaks, as flax40 Tint41 Strike while the

iron __42 Remote

function46 Old Eur. coins47 Grain grinder48 “__ say more?”50 Media

exploitation,slangily

54 Lowly workers56 Colombian city57 “A Death in the

Family” author58 Patton

portrayer59 Abreast of60 Fast season61 City west of

Fayetteville62 Abate63 Deanna in “Star

Trek: T.N.G.”

DOWN 1 The 50 in 50-502 Operatic prince3 Dealt with reality4 Baghdad native5 Rome’s Via __6 Kid’s retort7 Brest bridge8 Old-fashioned

tobacco holder9 “The Iceman

Cometh”playwright

10 Defamatory, inDover

11 __ about12 Stimpy’s pal13 Like deadpan

humor21 Hungry,

probably22 Quantum

event?25 Harbor structure26 “If I __ rich

man...”28 Tossed29 Fried seafood

morsel30 Fur trader John

Jacob

31 Bird houses33 Priestly garb37 Signer’s flourish38 Patient waiter40 Keep43 Celebration44 Americans in

Paris, e.g.45 Purify49 Did business

(with)50 April honoree

51 Valley ofvintners

52 Greekphilosopherknown for aparadox

53 Sherpa’ssighting, maybe

54 S.F. clocksetting

55 Euro forerunner

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16

17 18 19

20 21 22

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N I M B I P R I M P T V ST R O I S L A N A I A A UH E C K L E A N D J E C K L E

E A R T O R E I DT H E L M A A N D L O U I S EB O X A U K N E SS P I R O H A N G A R

S T E V E A N D E Y D I EF I N N E Y S A B L E

C S I N O N E K EH A N S E L A N D G R E T E LO L G A E A S E LS I E G F R I E D A N D R O YE N S L I N D A T E A S EN E T O B E Y S E R N S T

By Karen M. Tracey(c)2004 Tribune Media Services Inc

11/10/04

11/10/04

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

xwordeditor@aol.com

SHARPE REFECTORYLUNCH — Brown Rice GardenCasserole, Kale and Linguica Soup,Cheese Pizza, White Pesto Pizza,Pancakes, Grilled Breakfast Sausage,Buffalo Chicken Wings, Magic Bars,Apple Turnovers.

DINNER — Sundried TomatoCalzone, Asparagus Spears,Hamburgers, Cavatini, TalapiaProvencale, Hawaiian Pizza, GrilledChicken, Italian Vegetable Saute,Italian Meatballs, Orange DelightCake.

VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALLLUNCH — Vegetarian CornChowder, Country Wedding Soup,Chicken Andouille, ShrimpJambalaya, Vegetable Strudel withCheese, Magic Bars.

DINNER — Vegetarian CornChowder, Country Wedding Soup,Roast Turkey with Sauce, SpinachStuffed Squash, Mashed Potatoes,Bread Stuffing, Italian Bread, OrangeDelight Cake.

A Donkey’s Tale Yu-Ting Liu

Hopeless Edwin Chang

Jero Matt Vascellaro

Coreacracy Eddie Ahn

Hope Street Barron Youngsmith

Raw Prawn Kea Johnston

T O D A Y ’ S E V E N T S“PROTECT YOURSELF, PROTECTYOUR COMMUNITY AGAINSTCRIME”1 p.m. (MacMillan 115) —This safety presentation by theDepartment of Public Safety will pro-vide information on crime preven-tion and risk-awareness educationfor all community members.

FELLOWSHIPS: WRITING A SUC-CESSFUL FELLOWSHP PROPOSAL6:30 p.m. (Swearer Center for PublicService, 25 George St.) —This workshop will cover the ele-ments of strong fellowship proposalsand various strategies for approach-ing proposals. Participants will lookat examples of other successful pro-posals.

“GOODBYE GREEN PASTURES”8 p.m. (Smith-Buonanno 106) —National People for the EthicalTreatment of Animals spokespersonLoring Harkness will present this lec-ture on the history and environmen-tal impacts of animal agriculture.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2004 · PAGE 3

CAMPUS NEWSTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD

BY ELIZABETH MAPLESChallenging the conventional wisdom that history is allin the past, Spencer Crew ’71 outlined the debated his-tory of the Underground Railroad, the myth surround-ing it and the necessity of understanding its enduringrelevance Tuesday night.

Crew’s speech, this year’s George Morgan lecture, wastitled “The Struggle Against Slavery: The Story of theUnderground Railroad” and was the latest installmentin the lecture series sponsored by the SteeringCommittee on Slavery and Justice.

The Wayland Collegium cosponsored the event,which brought Crew to campus from the NationalUnderground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati,where he is the executive director and CEO. On Monday,Crew led a discussion after the screening of the PBSdocumentary, “Unchained Memories,” an event alsosupported by the committee.

Characterizing the Underground Railroad as a “suc-cessful interracial movement” that should serve as aninspiration to those who are not free today, Crew toldThe Herald on Tuesday that most contemporary issuesspring out of history.

“The question is, are (historical injustices) really inthe past?” Crew said. “The legacy of race continues toplague us.”

During his lecture, he focused on the sometimes-uncertain history of the Underground Railroad and itslegacy, rather than overtly discussing their implications.He characterized the United States as entangled in slav-ery well before the Civil War, pointing out that the coun-try produced seven-eighths of the world’s cotton andthat the White House was occupied by someone sympa-thetic to slavery for 50 out of the 72 years between the

Washington and Lincoln presidencies.“Slavery was probably the most dominant economic

and political force of that century,” Crew said. “We werethe OPEC of cotton in the 19th century.”

After covering the historical background, Crew spentmost of his lecture talking about the most valiant andoften most overlooked participants in the UndergroundRailroad — the slaves themselves. Historically, Crewsaid slaves “were seen as a sidebar,” but he said theytook proactive roles and faced simultaneously losingand gaining the most from their choice to pursue free-dom.

“For each person, you were going against the laws ofthe land, you were going against the majority of thepopulation,” Crew said.

He presented several stories — some that werepassed down orally, others that were later documented— of courageous slaves who escaped enslavementthrough the Underground Railroad’s network. HenryBox Brown, a slave from Virginia, mailed himself in abox with the help of abolitionists and arrived inPhiladelphia as a free man. The fabled Aunt Betsy hidher family under piles of vegetables to be delivered fromKentucky to the free Ohio and then set them loose aftercrossing the Ohio River. In all of Crew’s stories, theslaves reached freedom through the complicated andoften unorganized network of people that composedthe Underground Railroad.

Crew also highlighted the importance of free blackcommunities in the North that protected escapedslaves, citing Boston, New York, Philadelphia andCincinnati as the hubs of these communities. Crew said

Underground Railroad experthighlights importance of trail

see SLAVERY, page 7

After taking the student’s handbag and cell phone,the robber was seen entering the passenger side ofa beige vehicle with unknown plates, according tothe e-mail. The police were unable to confirmwhether the object was actually a weapon, and atno point was it actually pointed at the victim.

The e-mail described the perpetrator as “possi-bly a light skinned Hispanic male” who was wear-ing a light-colored T-shirt, baggy pants and hoopearrings. He was 5’5” with black hair slicked backand had long sideburns.

Though the Monday crime has not been solved,PPD has arrested several suspects in conjunctionwith earlier crimes and through interrogation hasdetermined that the crimes are unrelated, accord-ing to a campus-wide e-mail sent by Hunter onFriday. In that e-mail, Hunter also wrote that DPSand PPD have both taken steps to increase thenumber of officers patrolling the campus and sur-rounding area, and that DPS is currently workingwith the Department of Facilities Management todiscuss improving the lighting in certain areas.

Crimecontinued from page 1

his lecture.After a disclaimer about his

lack of official credentials — “I’dfeel better about the job if I didhave a Ph.D. and a bigger apart-ment,” he joked — Cohenfocused his talk on the concept ofethics as civic duty. “Ethics arenot just what we do in crisis,” hesaid, saying that one mustaddress the conditions that leadto a dilemma, not just the deci-sion itself.

As an example, Cohen dis-cussed the decision of whether togive money to a homeless personon the street. The ethical dilem-ma does not only take place inthe moment of decision aboutwhether to give the personmoney, Cohen said — an ethicalperson goes home and takesaction to fix the conditions thatcause homelessness in the firstplace.

Cohen emphasized the recip-rocal responsibility between asociety and the individuals wholive in that society. He said peo-ple’s behavior can be changed ifthe conditions and expectationsof the society are changed, callingit the “transforming power wehave over society.”

He used the example of crowdsvying for cabs outside MadisonSquare Garden in New York City.Once a line and the words “cabline” were painted on the side-walk, people voluntarily waitedtheir turn instead of fighting.

Without outside intervention,individuals in a closed societycan sometimes lose their sense ofwhat is right if their surroundings

or their peers are corrupt, Cohensaid, giving the prisoner abuse atIraq’s Abu Ghraib prison as anexample.

Cohen said emphasizing indi-vidual responsibility is notenough. “Hold people responsi-ble for their actions, but don’tstop there. You have to createconditions in which people willbe inclined to behave better,” hesaid. On the other hand, he saidpeople must consider the effectthat their individual actions willhave on the greater community.

Cohen discussed three meth-ods that have traditionally beenused as guidelines when makingethical decisions. The first istransparency, which is the ideathat the way for a person to beethical is to behave as if his or heractions can be seen by everyone.However, Cohen said this methodis flawed because there are someacts that, while not unethical,require privacy — such as show-ering. “The desire for privacy isnot a confession of wrongdoing,”he said.

The second method Cohenmentioned is that of categoricalimperative. This is the idea thatbefore engaging in an action, oneshould ask oneself, “What ifeveryone did this?” The problemwith this theory lies in the factthat there are some situations forwhich a variety of responses isnecessary — for instance, creditcard companies would go out ofbusiness if everyone paid theirbills on time, he said.

The last and most widely usedmethod to test the morality ofone’s actions is the application ofreligious standards. Cohen saidthis method is a problem becausethe beliefs of a particular religioncannot be universally applied,and because many people whouse this method hold selectiveviews of their religion’s conceptof morality.

“I rely on none of these,”Cohen said.

He was then left to explain hisown standards of ethics and themethod he uses to solve the pre-ponderance of ethical dilemmas

people pose to him. “I am in favorof anything that will increase thesupply of human happiness,”Cohen said. He favors kindness,compassion, fairness and gen-erosity, as well as individual liber-ty and freedom of expression.The challenge of making ethicaldecision is in reconciling all ofthese principles, he said.

As for the specifics of his job,Cohen joked that it only madehim more aware of his own short-comings. “Writing this columnhasn’t made me the slightest bitbetter,” he said.

The most common questionshe receives are “duty to report”questions — whether a personhas an obligation to reportanother’s wrongdoings. Cohenbelieves it depends on the situa-tion. “You must come forwardwhen not doing so will result indirect imminent harm to a specif-ic person,” but not simply societyat large, he said.

Another frequent type of ques-tion Cohen is presented with isthe “cheap rationalization” ques-tion. These are essentially ques-tions that ask Cohen to justifyobviously bad behavior, he said.

“All of us want to think we’reessentially a good person,” hesaid. “Even the axe murderer, ashe’s about to sink the axe into hisvictim, is thinking ‘Yeah, I havemy reasons.’”

When trying to decide on anethical course of action, law is an“interesting” place to start,Cohen said. But it must be kept inmind that “what’s legal andwhat’s ethical are not necessarilythe same thing.”

“Law is simply an official ros-ter of what is and is not permittedin a society,” he said.

For Cohen, the attempt tobuild a better society is the bot-tom line. “We are not isolatedindividuals but members of acommunity, and our ethics mustreflect that,” he said.

Herald senior staff writerStephanie Clark ’07 can bereached at herald@browndaily-herald.com.

PAGE 4 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2004

Kappa Psi. “We know all the insand outs and all the liabilities.”

Understanding such liabili-ties becomes trickier when stu-dent groups are using facilitiesthey are much less familiarwith, he said.

The Office of ResidentialLife provides groups with a$500 subsidy for each partyheld in these larger facilities.But the crucial issue lies not inthe financial difficulties ofholding such events but in the“flavorless social scene” theyoffer to students, Boutelle said.

He is concerned that such“flavorless” events are pushingstudents away from the on-campus social scene. “There isa loss on campus that I don’tthink is being paid enoughattention to,” he said.

In response to such studentfeedback, the StudentActivities Office andDepartment of Public Safetyhave been looking for safe andmore appealing alternatives,Gresh said.

Occupancy limits in pro-gram houses were recentlyrevised to include the spacesavailable in house libraries. Asa result, the capacity wasincreased to 125. This addition-al space enables houses toincrease the size of their partiesby about 15, O’Hara said.

Libraries were not includedwhen space capacities wereoriginally calculated becausethey were not considered areasof assembly, according to

Stephen Morin, director of envi-ronmental health and safety.According to fire code stan-dards, assembly areas generallyhold 50 or more people. “Theywere added at the request of thegreeks,” Morin explained.

Occupancy limits are calcu-lated based on the amount ofavailable space within a givenfacility, allotting 7 square feetper person, Morin said.

O’Hara said he hopes thechange will encourage groupsto have more in-house partiesthat abide by fire code restric-tions.

“I think that was helpfulbecause I see more functionsbeing held in those areas,”Morin said. “That’s our legallimit, so that is what we are ableto do.”

After capacities wereincreased, Boutelle’s fraternityheld the first in-house Class Fparty of the year two weeks ago.The party did not exceed occu-pancy limits, and Boutelle saidit was a success.

Party managers were at thedoor throughout the night con-trolling the number of peopleentering, said Chris Talbot ’06,Phi Psi social chair.

Notes from last week’s meet-ing regarding potential partyspaces will be reviewed, andpossibilities will be presented toDavid Greene, vice president forcampus life and student servic-es.

“This will hopefully trigger amore intense look at some spe-cific possibilities,” Gresh said.

Herald staff writer Jane Porter’06 can be reached atherald@browndailyherald.com

Partiescontinued from page 1

Ethicistcontinued from page 1

is safe in light of his efforts toclarify his remarks and pledgehis loyalty to Bush.

But other influentialRepublicans have asked thatSpecter meet behind closeddoors with the Judiciary paneland with his fellow Republicansenators, and later appear pub-licly, to state that as chairman,he would do whatever was nec-essary to give Bush’s nomineesyes-or-no votes on the Senate

floor.Liberal groups who have

opposed Bush’s nominees viewthe tactic with alarm. ElliotMincberg, the vice president ofthe People for the American WayFoundation, said Tuesday anyeffort to exact a pledge fromSpecter to support such a move“would be an astonishing exam-ple of almost senatorial black-mail.”

Those groups and mostDemocrats say it is up to Bush toset a bipartisan tone with hisSupreme Court nomination,negating the need for a filibusterfight.

Filibustercontinued from page 5

WASHINGTON (Baltimore Sun) — The ragingfight over the federal judiciary that haslong divided the two parties has nowsparked a heated Republican tussle onCapitol Hill, as conservatives and moder-ates feud over how much powerPresident Bush should have to advance anew Supreme Court nominee.

Sen. Arlen Specter, the moderatePennsylvania Republican in line to chairthe Judiciary Committee, is under strongpressure from conservatives in his partyto promise he would support a move togive Bush’s nominees an up-or-downvote in the Senate, by helping Republicanleaders force a change in a nearly centu-ry-old rule to prevent judges from beingblocked by a filibuster.

It is highly unlikely that the changewill occur, say senior aides on both sides,but an intensive push for it was reawak-ened last week when Specter, a supporterof abortion rights, touched off afirestorm in his party’s ranks by sayingBush would have trouble winning confir-mation of an anti-abortion rightsSupreme Court nominee.

The issue has taken on greater urgencyin recent days, after Chief Justice WilliamH. Rehnquist, 80, revealed that he hadbeen diagnosed with thyroid cancer anddelayed his return to the court, indicat-ing that his retirement could be immi-nent.

A promise to help alter long-standingSenate rules is part of the penance someRepublican conservatives are demandingfrom Specter, whose comments werewidely interpreted as a veiled warning toBush against nominating conservativeswho oppose abortion rights.

The strong reaction — which hasreverberated around the country,prompting a flood of phone calls toCapitol Hill and a “pray-in” Tuesday toblock Specter from the chairmanship —made it clear that conservatives see thejudicial fight as a gauge of Bush’s powerin his new term, and that they plan to useit to stretch the limits of the president’sclout as he sets out to achieve his goals.

“It’s one of the key issues on whichthey voted for President Bush — those 59million people who did so,” said Sen.John Cornyn, R-Texas, who is among theconservatives pressing Specter toendorse the filibuster rule-change.“People expect, and they regard it as afair process, where nominees go throughthe (Judiciary) committee, and then go tothe floor, and then people get an up ordown vote.”

Specter has said his comments lastweek were taken out of context. He saidhe simply meant to acknowledge themathematical reality of the Senate; evenafter their gains on Election Day,Republicans still have only 55 votes inthe Senate — short of the 60-vote major-ity they need to overcome Democratic fil-ibusters. Democrats used filibuster tac-tics last year to block five of Bush’s lower-court judicial picks.

“What I was saying was that when youhave to have 60 votes in order to cut offdebate. . . and you have 55 Republicans,that’s an issue we have to face,” Spectertold CNN this week, “and it is just a polit-ical fact of life.”

But the fifth-term Pennsylvanian hasnonetheless had to spend the past weekmending fences with his colleagues —especially conservatives — and pledgingthat as chairman, he would work to winapproval of Bush’s nominees in theJudiciary panel.

Specter did not respond Tuesday to

repeated requests to his Senate office foran interview.

Specter has long advocated changingSenate rules to ensure that judicial nom-inees could get through the Senate com-mittee process and to the floor within aset time — a revision that would denysenators the right they have now to blockany nominee from the floor. He has reit-erated his support for such a procedurein private conversations with colleaguesin recent days, senators and aides said.

Conservatives, however, want Specterto go further, and endorse a move thatwould effectively end the right of sena-tors to use a filibuster to block a presi-dential nominee.

Changing Senate rules can take asmany as 67 votes, so Republicans wouldlikely have to resort to essentially short-circuiting regular Senate procedures toset a new precedent — to alter the fili-buster rules.

Under that scenario, Republicanscould ask their presiding officer — mostlikely Vice President Dick Cheney — torule that it was unconstitutional torequire more than 51 votes to confirm anominee. Republicans would have tomuster only a simple majority to sustainthat ruling — thus setting a new prece-dent that judicial nominees could not befilibustered. The rule-change tactic waslast used by Democrats in 1975.

Most regard the move as highly unlike-ly in a chamber that prizes precedentabove virtually everything else, andextremely dangerous in an institutionthat depends on compromise to operate.

Senate leaders, who have long regard-ed the filibuster rule-change as a lastresort in the judicial fight, have not askedSpecter to sign onto it, senior Republicanaides said Tuesday. A week beforeRepublicans will meet on Capitol Hill toelect new committee chairmen, mostsaid that they believe that Specter’s post

WORLD & NATIONTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2004 · PAGE 5

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Los Angeles Times)— Ambulance driver Talal Eideh has amessage for officials who may soonconfront the question of how toreplace Yasser Arafat as Palestinianpresident: Follow the law and put it toa vote.

“There should be elections. Thepeople ought to decide who takes hisplace,” said Eideh, 43, who added thathe was not politically involved. “Wedon’t want others to choose for us. Wewant to be the ones to make a choice.”

Arafat’s deteriorating condition —and the fact that his death wouldremove Palestinian society’s dominantfigure —is prompting reformers andordinary residents to press for fillingthe vacuum through open electionsrather than backroom bargaining.

The so-called Basic Law, whichserves as a constitution for thePalestinian Authority, spells out howpresidential succession is to be han-dled. Under that law, the speaker ofthe Palestinian parliament, RawhiFattouh, takes over as caretaker for 60days, when an election would be heldto select a new president.

Despite the law, there is no guaran-tee that a presidential election wouldoccur if Arafat dies, analysts say,because elections have been scrappedin the past.

Supporters of a presidential vote,which would be the first in the WestBank and Gaza Strip since 1996, say itmay be the only way to make certainthat a new leader can boast enoughpublic support to govern after thepassing of a chief as popular, if oftenineffective, as Arafat.

“There is a great opportunity tohave free, democratic elections, andthis is the only way to ensure that youhave a legitimate leadership,” saidMustafa Barghouthi, head of thereformist Palestinian National

Initiative.But several factors may make a swift

election unlikely. For one thing, Arafatwould also be succeeded in his sepa-rate role as chairman of thePalestinian Liberation Organization,the internationally recognized bodyfrom which the Palestinian Authoritydraws its power. That post, in manyways more powerful and prestigiousthan president, seems likely to beassumed by Arafat’s PLO deputy,Mahmoud Abbas, a former PalestinianAuthority prime minister seen as hav-ing a weak public following.

Moreover, some Palestinian officialssay they aren’t sure that an electioncampaign is feasible when Israeliroadblocks, checkpoints and closuresseverely limit movement in the WestBank and Gaza Strip. If candidatescan’t move freely to campaign, theysay, elections would be pointless.

Palestinian leaders say they are notfocusing on succession arrangementsas long as Arafat is alive. But a high-ranking Palestinian official, NationalCouncil head Selim Zaanoun, suggest-ed Saturday that the parliament mighthave to revise the succession law iflimitations make an election unwork-able.

Under such a change, Zaanounsaid, the new PLO chairman wouldbecome president of the PalestinianAuthority until elections could beheld. Justice Minister Nahid Rayyasagreed, saying that a change in the lawmight be needed “to fill the gap” in theevent Arafat died.

Such talk does not comfort electionsupporters. While the prime ministerruns the government from day to day,the president holds important powers,such as signing or vetoing legislation,overseeing Palestinian emissaries

Arafat’s death could promptfirst election since 1996

see ARAFAT, page 9

Specter is pressuredto back filibuster ban

see FILIBUSTER, page 4

WASHINGTON (Washington Post) —John Ashcroft, the combativeattorney general whose anti-ter-rorism policies made him thefocus of a fierce national debateover civil liberties, resignedTuesday along with CommerceSecretary Don Evans, one ofPresident Bush’s closest friends.

The departure of Ashcroft, 62,marks the exit of one of the mostcontroversial and influential fig-ures of Bush’s first term, a manwho provided reliable fodder forDemocrats on the campaign trailand served as a visible represen-tative of the evangelicalChristians who played a crucialrole in re-electing the president.

In a five-page handwrittenresignation letter to Bush—dated Election Day but releasedTuesday—Ashcroft took creditfor declining crime rates andpreventing additional terroristattacks during his tenure. “Theobjective of securing the safetyof Americans from crime andterror has been achieved,” hewrote.

But Ashcroft, who had hisgallbladder removed in Marchafter he was hospitalized for

pancreatitis, also wrote that the“demands of justice are bothrewarding and depleting” andthat “the Department of Justicewould be well served by newleadership and fresh inspira-tion.”

Bush said in a statementTuesday night that Ashcroft “hasworked tirelessly to help makeour country safer” and has“transformed the department tomake combating terrorism thetop priority.”

The resignations were the firstdepartures from Bush’s Cabinetsince the re-election, andadministration officials said theycame for very different reasons.Ashcroft—aware of the contro-versy he provoked and, accord-ing to friends, exhausted afterhis illness—pre-emptivelyoffered his letter before theWhite House initiated a formaldiscussion about his future.

Evans, 58, often described asBush’s best friend, was eager toreturn to Texas to rejoin familymembers, who had alreadymoved back.

A White House official saidBush considered Ashcroft’s res-

ignation at Camp David over theweekend and decided to acceptit this week. Ashcroft said in hisletter that it was handwritten “soits confidentiality can be main-tained.”

Many administration officialshave said they would likeAshcroft’s former deputy, LarryThompson, to succeed him. ButThompson, who would be thenation’s first African Americanattorney general, recentlybecame a senior executive atPepsiCo in Purchase, N.Y., andhas indicated he is not interest-ed, officials said.

Among other contenders areWhite House Counsel AlbertoGonzales, who would be the firstHispanic attorney general, andMarc Racicot, a former Montanagovernor who was chairman ofBush’s re-election effort, admin-istration officials said. Ashcroft’sdeputy, James Comey, would beconsidered, but administrationofficials said they did not foreseehim getting the nod. FormerNew York mayor RudolphGiuliani and New York Gov.George Pataki also are on thehandicap lists of administration

insiders. Most are consideredmore moderate than Ashcroft.

Ashcroft’s own nominationwas the subject of a pitched bat-tle in the Senate, which con-firmed his appointment inFebruary 2001 by a modest mar-gin along partisan lines. In amessage to Justice employeesTuesday, Ashcroft said he wouldcontinue to serve as attorneygeneral until his successor isconfirmed.

Ashcroft, the son and grand-son of Assemblies of God minis-ters, spent most of his politicalcareer as an attorney general,governor and U.S. senator inMissouri. He explored a run forpresident in 1998 as the candi-date of the religious right.

But Ashcroft became thenominee for U.S. attorney gener-al after losing his re-election bidin November 2000 to anotherformer Missouri governor, MelCarnahan. Carnahan had died inan airplane crash several weeksbefore the election; his wifeserved in his stead.

Ashcroft was thrust into a

PAGE 6 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2004

Ashcroft, Evans resign from Cabinet

see ASHCROFT, page 7

NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq (WashingtonPost)—U.S. forces pushed into theheart of Fallujah on Tuesday,encountering roadside bombs,rockets and gunfire on the secondday of a battle to wrest control ofthe city from insurgents.

Army and Marine units thatentered Fallujah from the north-east and northwest on Mondaynight had fought their way to thecity center and beyond by Tuesdaynight, U.S. commanders said.

Soldiers with the Army’s 1stInfantry Division made their wayto the southeastern part of the city,a neighborhood of factories andwarehouses where they expectedto find guerrillas waiting for them.Instead, the district was relativelyquiet, though the units reportedbeing fired on by women and chil-dren armed with assault rifles.

“There were multiple groupsrunning around shooting at us,”said Air Force Senior AirmanMichael Smyre, 26, of Hickory,N.C., an airstrike spotter attachedto the 1st Infantry who waswounded when a rocket hit hisarmored vehicle. “You could see alot of rubble, trash everywhere. Itwas real nasty-looking.”

Marines fighting to the west ofthe Army units advanced to themain east-west highway thatdivides Fallujah and reported per-sistent resistance from insurgentsfiring from mosques.

The U.S. military said 10 U.S.troops and two members of Iraq’ssecurity forces were killed in thefirst two days of the battle, thelargest military operation since theU.S.-led invasion last year. U.S.and Iraqi leaders hope the assaultwill break the grip of insurgentswho have held Fallujah for nearlyseven months.

Some Iraqi political and reli-gious groups condemned the pushinto Fallujah, a stronghold of Iraq’sSunni Muslim minority. A leadingSunni organization, the IraqiIslamic Party, quit the country’sinterim government, and Sunniclerics on Tuesday made good onthreats to call for a boycott ofJanuary elections. Harith Dhari,head of the pro-insurgencyAssociation of Muslim Scholars,said balloting would occur “overthe corpses of those killed inFallujah.”

Insurgents elsewhere in Iraq,meanwhile, continued a strategyof mounting attacks. In Baqouba,a restive city northeast ofBaghdad, armed bands attackedtwo police stations. Police officialsand the U.S. military said theattacks were beaten back. A carbomb at an Iraqi National Guardcamp outside the northern city ofKirkuk killed three people andwounded two. And two U.S. serv-ice members were killed in a mor-tar attack on a base in Mosul, alsoin the north.

In Baghdad, where insurgentson Monday night detonated a carbomb outside a hospital treatingvictims of two car bombs outsidechurches, interim Prime MinisterAyad Allawi imposed a curfewfrom 10:30 p.m. to 4 a.m. U.S.fighter jets made low passes overthe capital, a show of strengthrarely seen since the 2003 inva-sion.

U.S.continuespush intoFallujah

see FALLUJAH, page 8

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2004 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 7

the near future. Implied in thatstatement, Klawunn said, wasthat those in converted housingcould stay there indefinitely.

Transfer Counselor MichaelThompson ’06.5 said Klawunn’sstatements assured him and hisadvisees that they could remainin converted housing the entireyear.

Laura Healy ’07, who is beingforced to move from her WoolleyHall room, said she was underthe wrong impression from both“the letter we received during thesummer and also from the dis-cussion we had during orienta-tion.”

The lack of communicationpersisted until Nov. 1, whenChad Mank, director of housing,sent an e-mail to the students intemporary housing remindingthem that they were obligated tomove by the end of the semester.

“As was explained at the timeof your assignment this assign-ment will end in December if youhave not already moved by thattime,” the e-mail read.

Students said the e-mail cameas a surprise, and it wasn’t untilthey expressed their dissatisfac-tion to administrators that itbecame clear that there was con-fusion about the policy.

“I wasn’t expecting the e-mail,” Healy said. Thompsonsaid that the e-mail came as ashock to everyone that he knew.

Bova and Klawunn said theUniversity is working to rectifythe situation. Originally, all 31 ofthe students in converted hous-ing were told they had to move atthe end of the semester, but afteradministrators worked to allowas many as possible to stay,about nine of the 31 students arebeing obligated to move, Bovasaid.

The other 22 will be allowed tostay for the rest of the year, hesaid.

According to Bova, the ninestudents that are being forced to

move are those who occupy theonly lounge space in a residencehall. Many of these loungesinclude the buildings’ onlykitchens, situations where Bovasaid other residents needed tohave their lounges back.

Bova said the administrationis working closely with the ninestudents who will have to moveto make the transition as easy aspossible. “We’re not going tothrow them into the abyss,” hesaid.

According to Klawunn, thestudents will receive their choiceof available housing, and everyeffort will be made to insure thatroommates are kept together in agroup. Additionally, Bova saidthe University has hired a mov-ing company to help the stu-dents, should they want the serv-ice.

Even with efforts to make thetransition as smooth as possible,students say being forced tomove will be difficult. “Having tomove is hard; having to moveafter being told you could stay isharder,” Thompson said.

Transferscontinued from page 1

central role in the wake of theSept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.He presided over an expansivefederal dragnet that apprehend-ed and deported hundreds ofArab and South Asian foreignnationals on immigration viola-tions, but resulted in relativelyfew convictions for terrorism.

Ashcroft helped shepherd apackage of stringent anti-terror-ism measures, the USA PatriotAct, through Congress, and usedthe new powers to dramaticallyrestructure the mission of the FBIand Justice Department, whichbecame primarily focused onthwarting another attack.

Ashcroft came under persist-ent assault from Democrats, civillibertarians and even someRepublicans, who questioned theJustice Department’s use ofsecretive court proceedings andaggressive surveillance andsearch techniques. The SupremeCourt also rebuffed one of theJustice Department’s central anti-terrorism strategies, ruling inJune that men detained indefi-nitely without charges as enemycombatants by the U.S. militarywere entitled to lawyers andaccess to U.S. courts.

Anthony Romero, executivedirector of the American CivilLiberties Union, comparedAshcroft to A. Mitchell Palmer,who oversaw raids targetingthousands of alleged radicals as

attorney general in the WoodrowWilson administration.

“This attorney general hasbeen one of the most divisiveforces in the Bush administra-tion,” Romero said. “His legacywill show that he was one of theworst attorney generals inAmerican history, with an out-right hostility for civil libertiesand overt disdain for critics. ... IfPresident Bush wants to makegood on his promise to unite thecountry, he can do no better thanto start with the attorney gener-al.”

But leading Republicans arguethat Ashcroft helped transformthe Justice Department and FBIat a time when the United Statesis under persistent threat ofattack from al-Qaida and otherterrorist groups.

“His service came at a chal-lenging time in our history,”Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist,R-Tenn., said in a statement. “Hisdedication and commitment tofighting the war on terror hasbeen critical to ensuring the safe-ty of all Americans in our home-land.”

A longtime friend of Ashcroft’sexpressed bitterness that theWhite House had originally wel-comed him as a lightning rodwho drew criticism away fromBush, then decided not to standby him. “He was something tooffer to evangelicals,” said thefriend, who declined to be iden-tified. “They used him and nowthey’re done with him and he’sbeing tossed aside.”

In his letters to Bush and

Justice employees, Ashcroftfocused in part on accomplish-ments other than fighting terror-ism, including increased prose-cutions for gun crimes, a crack-down on drug trafficking and theconvictions of top executives atEnron, Worldcom and othercompanies for corporate crimes.

Ashcroft pushed the legalenvelope on many hot-buttonissues. His department endorsedan expansive interpretation ofthe second amendment right tobear arms and sought to gainaccess to edited records of abor-tion patients from the PlannedParenthood Federation ofAmerica as it defended thePartial Birth Abortion Act in alawsuit.

On many issues, Ashcroft’sresponses to criticism were oftenconfrontational. He told astunned Senate JudiciaryCommittee in December 2001that criticism of government tac-tics “only aids terrorists,” andsaid two years later that librari-ans worried about FBI surveil-lance powers were “hysterics.”

This April, Ashcroft, testifyingbefore the Sept. 11 commission,characterized a legal memo writ-ten by one of the panel’sDemocratic members as the“single greatest structural causefor the September 11th prob-lem.” The bipartisan commissionand many legal experts disputedthe claim.

Ashcroft plans to give speech-es, join corporate boards andperhaps work with universities,administration officials said.

Ashcroftcontinued from page 6

he hoped that the “cooperation,bravery and courage” of the par-ticipants in the UndergroundRailroad would serve as anexample of how individuals canmake a difference. This senti-ment is echoed in the mission ofthe National UndergroundRailroad Freedom Center, whichopened its doors in August 2004.

Appointed in 2003 byPresident Ruth Simmons, thecommittee is sponsoring aseries of events surrounding thequestions of slavery, reparationsand the University’s past andfuture involvement in both, par-ticularly regarding theUniversity’s ties to the slavetrade.

“The objective was not onlyto examine the institution’s his-tory but also to try to enrich aconversation that too oftenunfolds in a point-counterpoint

kind of way. Americans don’tknow how to talk about race andslavery,” said James Campbell,associate professor of historyand chair of the committee.

Events sponsored by thecommittee will continuethrough next fall, whenCampbell said the committeehopes to figure out what it is“supposed to think, concludeand do.” The committee willsubmit a report to the Browncommunity by the spring of2006.

Slaverycontinued from page 3

www.browndailyherald.com

PAGE 8 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2004

filling holes like a linebacker,”Estes said. “He was 210 pounds,but it was obvious he was goingto fill out.”

Linebackers are typically themost active players on defense,and DeOssie is not an exception.His team-leading 77 tacklesattest to the fact that DeOssie isalways around the ball, but it ishis four sacks and the five passdeflections that show how muchDeOssie does for the Bears.

“I’ve been blitzing a lot,”DeOssie said. “I love coming offthe edge, which of the three line-backers is usually my job.”

The ability to rush the passeron some plays and drop backinto coverage on others is one ofthe things DeOssie said hashelped him become a morecomplete linebacker this season.

“The transition from blitzing

to covering receivers is some-thing that has become easier forme now that I’m more comfort-able in the defense,” DeOssiesaid.

It was apparent at last week’sgame against Yale how muchDeOssie’s comfort level isincreasing; he made one inter-ception and tipped a pass thatled to another interception. Theformer quarterback had Yalequarterback Alvin Cowan wish-ing DeOssie was still playingunder center.

The Bears’ playbook for theYale game also featured a newway to use DeOssie’s talent.DeOssie lined up at wideout onthird and goal early in the thirdquarter and barely missed mak-ing a touchdown grab.

When asked whether DeOssiemight be making a regularappearance on the offensive sideof the ball in goal line situationsEstes laughed and said, “If(opponents) keep lining up 5’5”corners against him, then yes.

We haven’t gotten too manyopportunities to run it before,but it’s something we haveworked on.”

The versatility that DeOssiehas displayed so far this seasonhas combined with his knowl-edge of the game to make himone of the Ivy League’s top line-backers.

“Zak could play any positionwe put him at and (playing) a lotof snaps (doesn’t) wear him out,”Estes said. “He’s an intelligentfootball player. He sees some-thing before it happens andmakes a break before anyoneelse.”

Given his familiarity with theNFL, the possibility of followinghis father into the pros hascrossed DeOssie’s mind.

“It’s always a possibility in theback of my mind,” DeOssie said.“If it happens it happens, butright now it’s too far down theroad to worry about. I’m con-cerned about finishing out theseason strong.”

DeOssiecontinued from page 12

At a news conference inBaghdad, Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz,the commander of foreign militaryoperations in Iraq, said the assaulton Fallujah had so far “achievedour objectives on or ahead ofschedule.” He added, “I think we’relooking at several more days oftough urban fighting.”

The general said the battle planas a whole was on course. “We feltlike the enemy would form anouter crust in defense of Fallujah.We broke through that prettyquickly and easily,” Metz said. “Wealso then anticipated him break-ing up into small three- to six-per-son detachments or squads, whichwe’ve seen throughout the day,today especially.”

Witnesses said that byTuesday night, U.S. and Iraqiforces controlled the Jolan,Mualimeen and Askali neigh-borhoods in the north ofFallujah. They also held theRawdha Muhammediyamosque, headquarters of theinsurgent fighters and the muja-heddin shura, the city’s self-appointed government.

The assault pushed insur-gents into Shuhada and otherneighborhoods in the southern-most part of the city, where theyare fighting and hiding behindbuildings and houses, witnessessaid.

Metz said that because U.S.forces formed a “very tight” cor-don around the city Sundaynight, the enemy “doesn’t havean escape route” and eventuallywould be cornered.

But Sheik Abdul-SattarEdatha, the spokesman for theshura council, said most foreignfighters had already left the city.The U.S. military had estimatedthat there were 2,000 to 3,000foreign fighters in the city, manyof them part of a network linkedto Jordanian-born guerrillaleader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

“Militarily speaking, the cityfalls under the U.S. forces’ con-trol,” Edatha said. “The foreignfighters won’t stay here and die.They lost the battle. They spreadin other places.”

On Tuesday night, Fallujah’seerily empty streets were lit-tered with shattered concreteand dead bodies, said a residentshaken by a missile strike on thesecond story of his family home.

Insurgents cloaked in checkeredhead scarves carried woundedfellow fighters to mosques.

Civilians caught in the cross-fire were gathered in a hospitaldonated by the United ArabEmirates and flying a blue andwhite UNICEF banner. There,medical workers low on bandag-es and antiseptic bound woundsin ripped sheets and cleanedtorn skin with hot water.

The Jolan and Askali neigh-borhoods seemed particularlyhard hit, with more than half ofthe houses destroyed. Deadbodies were scattered on thestreets and narrow alleys ofJolan, one of Fallujah’s oldestneighborhoods. Blood and fleshwere splattered on the walls ofsome of the houses, witnessessaid, and the streets were full ofholes.

Some of the heaviest damageapparently was incurredMonday night by air andartillery attacks that coincidedwith the entry of ground troopsinto the city. U.S. warplanesdropped eight 2,000-poundbombs on the city overnight,and artillery boomed through-out the night and into the morn-ing.

“Usually we keep the gloveson,” said Army Capt. ErikKrivda, of Gaithersburg, Md.,the senior officer in charge ofthe 1st Infantry Division’s TaskForce 2-2 tactical operationscommand center. “For thisoperation, we took the glovesoff.”

Some artillery guns fired whitephosphorous rounds that create ascreen of fire that cannot be extin-guished with water. Insurgentsreported being attacked with asubstance that melted their skin, areaction consistent with whitephosphorous burns.

Kamal Hadeethi, a physician ata regional hospital, said, “Thecorpses of the mujaheddin whichwe received were burned, andsome corpses were melted.”

In addition to ripping openentire neighborhoods, the armorassault also brought into the openan insurgent command that untilthis week remained shadowy evento Fallujah residents. Ex-generalsfrom the former Iraqi army’sRepublican Guard passed writtenorders, complete with officialstamp, to subordinates whosnapped salutes, witnesses said.

Iraq’s new army, formed afteroccupation authorities disman-tled the armed forces that had

served during the rule of SaddamHussein, is taking part in the fightagainst insurgents in Fallujah, pri-marily as a rear element to helpclear areas once U.S. forces havemoved through. Marine com-manders have declined to com-ment on the offensive, deferringto Iraqi officers. On Tuesday, Brig.Gen. Abdul-Qadir MuhammedJasim characterized the offensiveas “a holy task to fight for Fallujahpeople.”

“We will fight to the last drop ofour blood to free our people,” hesaid at a news conference just out-side the city. “We will fulfill thetasks we’ve been asked to do, withthe cooperation of our friends.”

Jasim said that resistance hadbeen lighter than expected andthat the Iraqi soldiers were in goodspirits and eager to finish theoperation.

“The operation is going veryprecise and with a very smallnumber of casualties,” he said. “Inevery place, we finish an opera-tion, our forces start to distributeaid, food, clothes, blankets andeven money. ... We are very surethat we are moving in the rightway and will do the tasks we areasked to do very precisely.”

Metz repeatedly praised Iraqiforces, saying they have “acquittedthemselves very well in this fight.”Metz said the Iraqi soldiers havebeen used especially to search thecity’s 77 mosques. “In severalmosques today, lots of munitionsand weapons were found, andthey were found by those Iraqi sol-diers,” he said.

Metz’s account suggested amarked improvement among theIraqi troops in recent months. InApril, the last time U.S. com-manders tried to use Iraqi forcesin Fallujah, a battalion of freshlytrained Iraqi troops refused to go.

A senior Iraqi official said it wastoo early to tell how the Iraqiforces performed. “During theoperation you always hear they’redoing good,” said IndustryMinister Hachim Hasani. “Afterthe operations are finished, we’llfind out.”

Hasani’s political organization,the Iraqi Islamic Party, quit theinterim government Tuesday toprotest the Fallujah offensive. ButHasani, who opposed the U.S.Marine siege of the city earlier thisyear, quit the party Tuesday andretained his Cabinet post. “Iraq islarger than any party,” Hasanisaid. “Things should be donethrough the government, not out-side the government.”

Fallujahcontinued from page 6

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2004 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 9

football team, say UCLA, win-ning three games in a row andnot getting close to the confer-ence championship becausethey had a slow start,” explainedone NASCAR spokesman. “Lookat Jimmie’s start. He was 11th,10th, 37th and 32nd in his firstfour races. He’s lucky to be asclose as he is.”

Criticism of NASCAR points isnothing new. Since 1985, whenBill Elliott won 11 races and lostthe championship to DarrellWaltrip, who won only threetimes, there have been move-ments to make winning morelucrative in the standings thanconsistent finishing. The system,in which a winning driver gets asfew as 10 points more than therunner-up, stems from the pre-Winston Cup era, when drivers,notably David Pearson in theWood Brothers Ford, ran onlyselected races and often did notcontend for the championship.

Winning races, particularly thebig ones such as the Daytona 500,were considered more importantthan the championship. There

were as many as 55 races on theschedule, sometimes two on thesame date, so no one could makethem all.

One of the changes madewhen R.J. Reynolds Tobacco putits Winston stamp on the serieswas to make the championshipmore significant than individualraces. Consistency became key.

Last year, Newman won eightraces and finished sixth in points;Kenseth won one and the cham-pionship. In 1972 Terry Labontewon only two races to 10 forGordon yet won the title, and in1993 Rusty Wallace won 10 to thesenior Earnhardt’s six but lost tothe Intimidator.

When the new format wasintroduced this year, the pointssystem remained as it has been.

A driver gets 180 points forwinning and five more for lead-ing a lap. The second-place drivergets 170 points. If he also leads alap he, too, gets five bonus points.If he leads the most laps, he getsfive more bonus points and histotal of 180 points is only fivefewer than the winner’s 185.

After the 2004 champion iscrowned, there may be sometweaking of the points system toweight winning heavier beforethe 2005 season opens.

Nascarcontinued from page 12

Steelers’ success is their top-ranked running game, whichaverages 160.8 yards per game.Even with Duce Staley out lastweek, Jerome Bettis found thefountain of youth and had hisbest rushing game since 2001.When both backs are healthy,the Steelers’ game plan keepsboth fresh, making the rungame a weapon it can use evenwhen coming from behind. TheSteelers’ one loss this seasonwas the only game in whichthey did not rush for over 100yards — hardly a coincidence.

It will also be interesting tosee if quarterback BenRoethlisberger can keep up hiscurrent Rookie of the Year pace.Many have compared his sea-son to that of Tom Brady threeyears ago, when he filled in foran injured Drew Bledsoe totake the Patriots to their firstSuper Bowl. That season, thePatriots built their offensearound simple game plans thatdid not ask much of Brady,which is essentially what theSteelers have done this year.

The main difference is thatRoethlisberger has much betterweapons to work with. Staleyand Bettis are far superior tothe combo of Antowain Smithand Kevin Faulk, with whomBrady won two Super Bowls.The Steelers’ top three wide-outs — Hines Ward, PlaxicoBurress and Antwaan Randle El— are superior to any suchgroup in the league.

Then, of course, there is thedefense that held the Patriotsand Eagles to 30 combinedrushing yards the past twoweeks. Even after the losses ofPro Bowl defensive linemanCasey Hampton and Pro Bowlcornerback Chad Scott for theyear, the defense keeps improv-ing. The team’s perennially out-standing linebacker corps, ledthis year by Joey Porter andJames Farrior, with KendrellBell hurt, has been the heart ofthe defense. The maturation ofsafety Troy Polamalu is also key.The Steelers’ best hope to con-tinue their current winningstreak is to pray that opposingoffenses don’t figure out how toexploit a defense that, on paper,should not be playing as well asit is.

But all the analysis in the

world cannot point out the trueheart of the Pittsburgh Steelers:Head Coach Bill Cowher. After12 years at the team’s helm,Cowher has amassed a 122-77-1record, posting only three losingseasons and reaching the play-offs eight times. For all the pressthat Patriots Head Coach BillBelichick deservedly gets, it’stime that Cowher be recognizedas being in the same class, evenif only for putting up withKordell Stewart for all thoseyears.

While questions aboutwhether the Steelers are for realhave been answered with aresounding “yes” the last twoweeks, it remains to be seen ifthey can keep up with the teamsthey just embarrassed. IfRoethlisberger continues tomature on the job and thedefense can hold, especiallywith Bell easing back into thelineup, expect to see Cowher’sfamiliar jutting jaw and spit-rid-dled tirades well into January.

Chris Hatfield ’06 has been con-sidered for the next few spots ofthe Brown intramural totempole but at this point doesn’tstrike fear into the hearts of hisopponents.

Steelerscontinued from page 12

abroad and serving as com-mander in chief.

Hani Masri, a commentatorwho writes a column in thesemi-official Al Ayyam newspa-per, said political insiders mightview elections as a threat totheir power and resist holdingthem. This would be especiallytrue, he said, among the oldguard within Arafat’s Fatahmovement, which dominatesPalestinian politics.

“Elections will mean the endof Fatah’s hegemony,” Masrisaid.

Such a vote could toss a wildcard into Palestinian politics byproviding a route to power for anew generation of reformers ora fresh stage for militantIslamist groups, such as Hamas,which boycotted previous elec-tions.

Hamas said recently that itwould take part in municipalelections scheduled to beginnext month, and leaders havesuggested that the group wouldbe involved in future nationalelections.

Palestinians have not votedsince 1996, when Arafat won in alandslide. . Palestinian authori-ties indefinitely postponed anational election scheduled forearly last year, blaming Israelirestrictions.

The Palestinian governmentlaunched a voter-registrationdrive this fall in preparation fora future vote for president andparliament, although no datewas set. Officials said theysigned up more than 1 millionPalestinians, or about two-thirds of those eligible.

Yacoub Khattab, an unem-ployed former hotel worker inRamallah, said allowing thepublic to determine Arafat’s suc-cessor would be a “step fordemocracy.”

He was hard-pressed, howev-er, to name anyone he viewed asa suitable replacement.

“There is nobody like him,”said Khattab. “It’s going to bedifficult.”

Arafatcontinued from page 5

EDITORIAL/LETTERSTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2004 · PAGE 10

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Senior Staff Writers Stephanie Clark, Robbie Corey-Boulet, Justin Elliott, Ben Grin, Kira LesleyStaff Writers Marshall Agnew, Camden Avery, Kathy Babcock, Zaneta Balantac, Alexandra Barsk,Zachary Barter, Hannah Bascom, Eric Beck, Danielle Cerny, Christopher Chon, Lexi Costello, Ian Cropp,Stewart Dearing, Gabriella Doob, Jonathan Ellis, James Feldman, Amy Hall Goins, Dana Goldstein,Bernard Gordon, Kate Gorman, Krista Hachey, Chris Hatfield, Jonathan Herman, Leslie Kaufmann, KateKlonick, Allison Lombardo, Chris Mahr, Lisa Mandle, Ben Miller, Sara Perkins, Eric Perlmutter, MerylRothstein, Marco Santini, Jen Sopchockchai, Lela Spielberg, Stefan Talman, Jessica Weisberg, BrookeWolfe, Melanie Wolfgang, Stu Woo, Anne WoottonAccounts Managers Steven Butschi, Rob McCartney, John Nagler, David Ranken, Joel Rozen,Rukesh Samarasekera, Ryan ShewcraftProject Managers In Young Park, Libbie FritzPagination Staff Eric Demafeliz, Deepa Galaiya, Jason LeePhoto Staff Marissa Hauptman, Ashley Hess, Matthew Lent, Bill Pijewski, Kori Schulman, SorleenTrevino, Juliana WuCopy Editors Chessy Brady, Jonathan Corcoran, Eric Demafeliz, Leora Fridman, Allison Kwong,Katie Lamm, Suchi Mathur, Cristina Salvato, Sonia Saraiya, Lela Spielberg, Zachary Townsend,Jenna Young

J O S E P H N A G L E

Safe choiceWhile we like to think that we know right from wrong, we arecertainly not experts in ethics. We’re college students, notPh.D.’s in philosophy.

Randy Cohen, who writes the “Ethicist” column for the NewYork Times Magazine, doesn’t have a Ph.D. in psychology,either. As he told an audience at Hillel on Tuesday night, he’sno more qualified for his job — dispensing ethical advice toreaders — than we are.

Cohen called himself an “accidental ethicist,” an ordinarycitizen who has somehow ended up giving ethical advice toother ordinary citizens — people who, just like Brown stu-dents, have the responsibility of upholding and improvingtheir communities. According to Cohen, people who live in ademocratic society are obligated to make that society better.

Cohen mentioned an important distinction between lawand ethics. Harming another person is both illegal and uneth-ical. But failing to prevent harm, while legal in most cases, isalso unethical.

We have obligations to this community — to nurture it, toimprove it and to protect it. Though the Department of PublicSafety and Providence Police Department are our primarymeans of protection, we also have an obligation to do whatwe can to keep each other safe.

On Tuesday, the same day as Cohen’s lecture, members ofthe Brown community received an e-mail from administra-tors regarding the recent crime wave on College Hill. Thoughpolice are stepping up patrols and the University and city areworking together to improve lighting near campus, theadministrators appealed to students’ sense of right andwrong. It is up to us to alert police if we see something suspi-cious — even if we don’t know the person who might be introuble. It is also our responsibility to accompany friends whowould otherwise be walking alone at night, to use shuttle andSafewalk services and to encourage others to use them aswell.

Cohen would agree. If someone is hurt by our inaction, weare behaving unethically by hurting the communities inwhich we live — both Brown and College Hill. As residents ofa democracy, we are obliged to leave this place better than wefound it. There’s no better way to start than by keeping ourclassmates and fellow community members safe.

To the Editor:

I found Akiva Fleischmann’s comic “IntensiveCare Eunuch” (Nov. 9) to be highly offensive. Forsomeone who attends Brown, he doesn’t seem tohave a grasp on diversity.

If you actually look at the gender studies depart-ment, there are very few listings available for class-es. It is an under-stocked department and shouldhave a larger curriculum that can compete with the

other heteronormative departments such as history(Dead White Men).

Not only was Fleischmann’s comic offensive tome, but I have never found it funny in its entire runin The Herald. When it is not insulting minorities, itis stealing jokes from other sources.

Andrew Miklos ’08Nov. 9

Fleischmann’s comic inaccurate

Speak your mind.

letters@browndailyherald.com

OPINIONSTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2004 · PAGE 11

The presidential election has been over for a week. I'mtalking now about 2006 and beyond.

We Democrats need to redefine the “moral values”debate. Moral values was the largest issue on voters minds,and 80 percent of those voters when for Bush. Yet these “val-ues” have largely amounted to abortion and homosexualrights. The “values” vote can be swung to Democrats, how-ever, if we change the conversation to incorporate addition-al widely shared values. When I say “Republicans” in thiscolumn, I refer to their leaders, because I believe many Bushvoters hold values beyond those mentioned above and aredisappointed that he does not share them. If we show thatwe do, we can win.

For too long, Democrats have advocated positions, pro-posals and policies without relating them to the fundamen-tal values from which they are derived. This needs to end;Democrats need to start talking hearts, not minds. Many ofthese values are Christian values but are widely held outsideof religion.

Consider humility, or fairness. Humility is not 2.6 millionfull-time workers and their families living in poverty whileCEOs make 419 times as much. Increasing Social Securitytaxes for wage earners, and then cutting taxes to dispropor-tionately benefit the rich while bankrupting the SocialSecurity need by those wage earners, is not fairness.

Another winning value for Democrats is “love thy neigh-bor,” or simply the idea of helping the needy and downtrod-den. George Bush talks of compassionate conservatism, buthe cut housing aid for the urban poor. He redefined 6 mil-lion workers out of their qualification for overtime pay. Herefuses to extend unemployment benefits to those whohave recently lost their jobs.

If Republican leaders bring up values, liberals must bringup how they refuse to help the needy. They haven’t learnedto share.

What about cleaning up after yourself? Republicans seemto think it’s okay to inhabit this earth and not leave it clean-er than you found it for the next generation. Do we not,when we are a guest at someone else’s house, try to leave itcleaner than we found it? Why, then, do Republicans writeour energy bills behind locked doors, with special interests?Why have they cut Superfund cleanups? Why do they makeupgrading pollution filters on coal plants a voluntary act?

Along those same lines, do we give our kids a bill for food,shelter and clothing once they turn 18? Do we make loans tothem for college and then charge interest on them? Weshould not be bankrupting the next generation so that wecan live beyond our means. We cannot be so selfish.

And even on abortion, Republican leaders don’t walk thewalk. If someone truly, deeply wants to prevent abortion, forexample, he or she would work to provide alternatives.Republicans refuse to fund safe-sex education. Abstinence-only education doesn’t work; Bush instituted it while gover-nor of Texas, and Texas now has the fifth-highest teenagepregnancy rate.

Republicans profess valuing a “culture of life” but do notseem concerned about the quality of that life, as they con-tinually ignore the needs of those who have abortionsbecause they cannot afford a child or do not want to raiseone in the environment they live in. Look at what has hap-pened in other nations: Making abortion illegal doesn’t endit, but only makes it unsafe and undocumented. If we wantto prevent abortion, we must focus on education, raisingpeople’s incomes and rebuilding our inner cities and ruralareas so that potential parents have hope for their potentialchildren.

The point is that the left has forgotten to talk about awhole slew of values, not positions or policies, that are dearto it. Many of my friends at Brown and I share values, butnot religion, and thus rarely does it come up. But I am aChristian, and I will not sit quietly as my religion is exploit-ed and misrepresented by Republican leaders. If you sharemy values but are uncomfortable with my associating themwith religion, that’s unfortunate; remember, the Rev. MartinLuther King, Jr., framed the civil rights movement with reli-gion, while not excluding people without it. We need to worktogether.

Because my faith is private, you may have never heardme mention religion before in three years at Brown. But reli-gion has the power to create movements in the blink of aneye, and if the forces opposing us invoke it, we should aswell.

Rob Sand ’05.5 just put it on the line.

Reclaiming themoral high ground

ROB SAND

If there was one prevailing factor in the presidentialelection, it was faith. Faith brought unprecedentednumbers of voters to the polls for George W. Bush andmade it a “sin” to vote for John Kerry in the eyes of somechurch leaders, and many of their followers. Faithhanded the Republicans unprecedented control ofevery branch of government, a control likely to strengthin coming years unless the Democrats wage the faithwar on their own terms.

I have heard talk from many friends and relatives inrecent days about the hopelessnessof the current political battle beingwaged to decide where the nationalpolitical focus will be. TheDemocrats are the self-describedparty of inclusion and tolerance. Thisis something we cannot and will notabandon, something that defines usand makes us so wonderful. Still, weare a party filled with the faithful, in acountry filled with the same, and sothere is absolutely no reason why we cannot let ourfaith draw people to us.

A fear of alienating our most liberal voters has ledDemocrats to tread lightly on matters of faith. We areconstantly defending ourselves against accusationsthat we are godless, and we have let the Republicansdefine faith and use it against us. This is where we havelost, and lost huge. This is also the very territory onwhich to turn the tables and win the faith war.

Why is it that those aspects of faith that tend to workfor more traditional Republican values seem to be theonly aspects of faith and religion ever brought into pol-itics? Why is it that only those tenets of the Bible thatsingle out certain groups of people for discrimination

seem to find their way into the public policy debate?Why is it that Republicans have successfully made mar-riage and abortion the only important issues in thatfaith war? It is because the Democrats have failed mis-erably to define any other issues of religion and beliefand demonstrate how well they play into Democraticideology.

Aren’t the notions of assistance to the poor and aid tothe sick mainstays of Christianity, Judaism and Islamalike? Does not God reward those who bring peace to

the world, and punish those whowage war without just cause?And surely, if one believes thatEarth is a creation of God, thenhow can the Republicans justifytheir reckless policy regarding itsprotection?

In a time when the implica-tions of government action reachfar beyond matters that can beaddressed in a purely religious

context, the Democrats have lost control of the direc-tion of our country, and as a result, our future. In orderto regain the trust and the votes of the majority ofAmericans, Democrats can, and perhaps must, look tothose tenets of Western faith that we as party alreadyembody. We do not need to alter our ideology in theleast — we simply need to alter our message and ourcontext. In this way we can draw countless waywardreligious factions back to the Democratic party andcontinue to fight the righteous fight for rights, justice,peace, the planet and the true American way.

Jacob Izenberg ’08 has some faith in the sound. It’s theone good thing that he’s got.

Dems gotta have faith

Religious values

are also

Democratic ones.

Like many people on Brown campus, I was very dis-appointed by the outcome of the election. However, Iwas not disappointed so much with the failure of JohnKerry’s campaign; his loss in the Electoral College and hisconcession didn’t bother me in the least. My disappoint-ment is with the America that has been projected by thiselection, the apparent consent that Americans havegiven to the Bush agenda and the implications for ourcountry and for the world.

The most urgent issue in America today is not jobs,same-sex marriage, a woman’s right to choose or even thewar in Iraq. The most urgent issue is the state of ourdemocracy. The current “security over liberty” trend wehave been facing in this country is one that threatensdemocracy everywhere, and while this trend has beenprevalent for years, nobody in recent memory has betterembodied that trend than President George W. Bush.

As we have seen from the AbuGhraib scandal, along with the tor-ture and humiliation of British cit-izens recently released fromGuantánamo Bay, torture andimprisonment at the hands of theAmerican military and prison sys-tem is rampant. Under the PatriotAct, the executive branch now hasthe authority to “detain” anyonesuspected of being a terrorist,without requiring any public justi-fication or evidence. This places agreat deal of power into the handsof a select few who have no obligation to answer to thepeople. Countless psychological experiments haverevealed that these kinds of abuses happen constantlywhenever one group of people is given a tremendousamount of unchecked power over another group.

The kind of power given to military personnel in AbuGhraib is exactly what the Patriot Act has given to theBush administration and intelligence officials, and it isproducing a wealth of horrors too numerous to list. Thesystematic deportation of anyone seeking asylum in theUnited States (reminiscent of when the American gov-ernment sent a boat full of refugees from the Holocaustback to Germany to be exterminated) and the massdetention of anyone thought to be threatening (reminis-

cent of the Japanese internment camps during WorldWar II) immediately come to mind.

Along with the combined effects of a racist drug warand felon disenfranchisement in this country, our gov-ernment is seeking to marginalize people of color, drugusers, Muslims and political activists and prevent themfrom having any say in the political discourse of ourcountry. These acts are not only horrors in and of them-selves, but they are fundamental attacks on democracy.With the executive branch targeting political activistsand critics of the government (which I have seen first-hand), it is evident why the system of checks and bal-ances, which the Bush administration is effectively nulli-fying, were established in the first place.

All this, however, is not to imply that John Kerry wouldhave solved any of these problems. Yet the fact that theAmerican people would vote for President Bush, even

after the atrocious attacks ondemocracy committed by hisadministration, shows that theAmerican people are eithernot educated or not concernedabout these issues.

It would not resonate withmainstream discourse onAmerican politics to say thatour government approachesfascism. Nevertheless, weshould pay heed to PastorMartin Niemoller’s famouswarning: “In Germany, first

they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because Iwas not a Jew. Then they came for the Communists andI did not speak out because I was not a Communist.Then they came for me, and by that time there was noone left to speak out.”

Mainstream America is not composed of the peoplewho have seen these horrors firsthand — namely Arabs,Muslims, political activists, immigrants, drug users andthe disenfranchised. But as Niemoller warned, and aspast experience has shown, we must vigilantly defendthe rights of everyone in order to defend ourselves.

Fokion Burgess ’07 is probably a vegetarian.

America the fascist

Mainstream people

ignore drug users,

people of color and

political activists.

GUEST COLUMN BY FOKION BURGESS

GUEST COLUMN BY JACOB IZENBERG

SPORTS WEDNESDAYTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD

NOVEMBER 10, 2004 · PAGE 12

Steelers risingto the head of2004 NFL class

Nick Neely / Herald

Linebacker Zak DeOssie ’07 has been a standout this season. He was named Ivy LeagueDefensive Player of the Week for his performance in the Bears’ win at Yale on Saturday.

All-Ivy Awards

Women’s Soccer: First Team — Kim LaVere ’06Honorable Mention — Meaghan Schreck ’06, HilaryWilson ’06, Jill Mansfield ’07, Kathryn Moos ’07Field Hockey: First Team — Kristen Vincent ’06Second Team — Brooke Townsend ’06Honorable Mention — Lindsay Boris ’06

Weekly Awards

Football: Zak DeOssie ’07, Ivy League Defensive Playerof the WeekSteve Morgan ’08, Ivy League Rookie of the WeekMen’s Soccer: Kevin Davies ’08, Ivy League Rookie ofthe Week

B R O W N S P O R T S H O N O R S

(The Washington Post) — Love it or loatheit, the controversial new Nextel Cuppoints system is doing precisely whatNASCAR President Brian France said hehoped for when the Chase for theChampionship was announced.

“We need more excitement in thefall, more to talk about, more to writeabout when the season is runningdown and football is getting so muchattention,” France said shortly beforethe 2003 season began.

With two races remaining, Sunday atDarlington, S.C., and Nov. 21 atHomestead, Fla., five drivers are withinstriking distance of leader Kurt Busch,the Ford driver from Las Vegas who hasled from the start of NASCAR’s 10-raceplayoff.

More pleasing to NASCAR is that twomarquee names, Earnhardt andGordon, are in the hunt.

Jeff Gordon, the four-time champi-on, is second, and Dale Earnhardt Jr.,emotional winner of last Sunday’s over-time race at Phoenix, is third, only sixpoints behind Gordon. Their positionswould be reversed if Earnhardt had notbeen penalized 25 points for using avulgarity on national television afterwinning at Talledega, Ala., early inOctober.

Those two Chevy drivers, along with

the late Dale Earnhardt, Junior’s father,account for more than 80% ofNASCAR’s merchandise sales.

Jimmie Johnson, who won threeChase for the Championship races insuccession, is one point behindEarnhardt, with veteran Mark Martinstill in the hunt, 54 behind Johnson.The other five, Tony Stewart, RyanNewman, Elliott Sadler, Matt Kensethand Jeremy Mayfield, are too far back.

Rarely have there been more thantwo drivers with a shot at the Cupbonus with two races remaining. Lastyear, for instance, Kenseth had thechampionship clinched before theseries reached Homestead.

Kenseth had won only one of 36races and resulting criticism wasinstrumental in changes being made inthe points system, one that had beenunchanged for three decades.

The old system used cumulativepoints from all 36 races. The new sys-tem cut the season in two — the firstsegment of 26 races to determine the10 finalists, and the second one of 10races, the Chase for the Championship.The points were so structured that onlythe 10 leaders after 26 races would beeligible for the championship. Somedrivers, particularly Newman, wereagainst the change. Most, however, said

they would wait and see how it playedout.

“I like it,” Gordon said after thePhoenix race. “I think it’s a positivething. ... There is no arguing that it hascertainly added more excitement andentertainment to the season.”

Busch, who won the Chase opener atNew Hampshire and has held his lead,said, “NASCAR has implemented a newprogram that has (given us) a wholenew outlook, a different outline andformat to achieve the championship. Ibelieve this format is better becauseyour team has to be best at the end ofthe year, but on the other hand you hadto go through 26 races to get to the final10.”

When Johnson won three consecu-tive races, yet still couldn’t overtakeBusch for the lead, there were grum-bles. In the first two races Johnson won,Busch finished fourth and fifth.Johnson gained only 20 points in eachrace.

Only when Busch suffered earlyengine problems at Atlanta and fin-ished 42nd when Johnson won againdid Johnson move into a challengingposition.

“It was no different than a college

New NASCAR ‘playoff’ system is doingjust what its creators had hoped

DeOssie ’07 following family traditionin becoming elite college linebacker

BY CHRIS HATFIELDAlthough the NFL season is more thanhalf over, there are still plenty of ques-tions to be answered. In recent years,parity has reigned supreme, but nevermore so than this year. Beyond the topthree teams (the Steelers, Patriots andEagles), there is total chaos. Teams likethe Colts, Chargers, Falcons, Broncos,Jets and Vikings could all be consideredfor the next few spots on the NFL’s totempole, but none of those teams exactlystrikes fear into the hearts of opposingteams.

And what about those top threeteams? Anyone who’s spent a reasonableamount of time following the NFL thisseason would agree that these threeteams are the class of the league thisyear. However, after easily defeating boththe Pats and Eagles, the two trendy SuperBowl picks in the preseason, the Steelersmust be considered the best team in theleague right now.

As Ric Flair would say, “To be the best,you have to beat the best,” and theSteelers have done just that in the pasttwo weeks. Not only did they beat the lasttwo undefeated teams in the NFL, theytrounced them. Neither New Englandnor Philadelphia was in the game afterhalftime. Even worse for those two teamswas that Pittsburgh exposed their biggestweaknesses for the whole league to see —New England’s lack of depth at runningback and defensive back, and Philly’sundersized defense that can’t stuff therun and lackluster running offense thatcan’t convert on third downs.

Pittsburgh’s biggest challenge the restof the way will be to prove it can play itsstyle of football against any team in theleague. It is no secret that the key to the

BY STEPHEN COLELLIFootball runs in the blood of Zak DeOssie’07. The reigning Ivy League DefensivePlayer of the Week is just carrying on thefamily tradition.

DeOssie’s father, Steve, was a standoutlinebacker for Boston College in the early1980s and went on to play for the DallasCowboys, New York Jets, New York Giantsand New England Patriots in the NFL.Steve DeOssie was a member of the 1990Giants team that won Super Bowl XXV.

Having a father in the NFL might seemlike every little kid’s dream, but toDeOssie, his dad just happened to playfootball.

“It was great growing up with my dadplaying football,” DeOssie said. “But frommy point of view it wasn’t that big of adeal. He was always just my dad in myeyes. If you weren’t in my situation itmight seem pretty cool, and it was, but hewas still my dad to me.”

DeOssie’s football pedigree was onlyenhanced during the summers he spentworking as a ball boy at the New EnglandPatriots’ training camp while in highschool. At the time, DeOssie was playingquarterback at Phillips Academy, so hegot to throw to receivers during practice.

One of DeOssie’s favorite memories iswhen the coaches let him run plays dur-ing a practice.

“I actually got a few reps one day dur-ing seven-on-seven drills,” DeOssie said.“(Backup Patriots quarterback) RohanDavey had gone home to Mississippi toattend a funeral, and there were only twoquarterbacks, Tom Brady and DamonHuard, in camp. Coach (Bill) Belichicktold me to take a few snaps, so I ended upthrowing some passes with the startingoffense during one of the drills.”

Training camp taught DeOssie a lotabout football. But the most importantthing DeOssie learned did not deal withX’s and O’s. DeOssie said the best part ofworking at camp was seeing how the ath-letes focused on their jobs on a dailybasis.

“You learn how to act around thoseguys,” DeOssie said. “You learn how tocompose yourself on and off the field.”

DeOssie’s extensive background in thegame has led to his success on the fieldthis season. DeOssie played often lastseason — his first as linebacker — but hehas taken a leadership role on the fieldthis season.

“Zak is immense on defense,” saidHead Coach Phil Estes. “He can makeplays on either side of the line of scrim-mage, and he hits very well.”

DeOssie spent the off-season in theweight room and worked to get acclimat-ed to the Bears’ defense. The transitionfrom offense to defense took some get-ting used to, but it didn’t take him toolong.

“He played quarterback in high school,but he also played free safety, and he was

see NASCAR, page 9

see DEOSSIE, page 8

see STEELERS, page 9