wednesday, april 7, 2004

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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891 APRIL 7, 2004 Volume CXXXIX, No. 43 www.browndailyherald.com WEDNESDAY INSIDE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 2004 WEDNESDAY partly cloudy high 53 low 35 WEATHER FORECAST THURSDAY mostly sunny high 54 low 36 Study claims college students make religion part of lives, contrary to popular belief campus watch, page 3 Natalie Smolenski ’07 says Providence isn’t a renaissance city for everyone column, page 11 Forget differences; vote President George W. Bush out of office, Alex Schulman ’03 writes column, page 11 M. tennis team ready for Ivy League play after losing to Virginia Tech sports, page 12 W. tennis splits up for two competitions while training in North Carolina over break sports, page 12 BY SARAH LABRIE A plan to provide students with alterna- tive transportation after cutbacks to stu- dent parking this fall has been approved by the University and will include new shuttle routes to Kennedy Plaza and the Jewelry district and possibly off-site parking, said Vice President for Administration Walter Hunter. The plan, designed to reduce the num- ber of cars on campus, was developed by the Ad Hoc Transportation Management Committee, composed of students and faculty and chaired by Director of Real Estate and Administrative Services Abigail Rider. “We provide parking as a convenience for students and faculty,” Rider said. “We just do not have the flexibility to encour- age additional cars to come to College Hill.” Due to complaints from neighborhood residents, overnight student parking in the stadium lot will not be available to students next year, reducing the number of on-campus spots from 640 to 500. Parking will still be offered to graduate students and medical students and to seniors and juniors; parking will be avail- able to students on the basis of seniority. The cost of parking on campus for one year will rise from $320 to $450, an amount still “much, much cheaper” than what the city would charge, according to Hunter. Employee parking rates will rise from $200 to $330 as a pre-tax payroll deduction. The Initiatives for Academic Enrichment call for extensive construc- tion, another factor that motivated attempts to reduce on-campus parking, Hunter said. Hunter said he hopes the plan will promote a sense of community among students by encouraging carpooling and shuttle use. The University plans to pro- mote ride-sharing by allowing carpoolers to split the cost of a parking spot and by giving groups higher priority than indi- viduals on the parking-spot waiting list. “The plan will make for a better envi- Some endowed seats vacant, but U. says most are filled BY AMY RUDDLE Anime Brunonia, Brown’s anime club, says it tries to follow copyright law to the letter, but complying with the laws can be difficult considering the com- plex legislation and array of download- able anime material. “All the things we do are for fan exposure and sharing — we’re not try- ing to flout the law,” said Cisco Dilg ’04, president of Anime Brunonia. Anime Brunonia sponsors free week- ly screenings of films from the club’s library in Barus and Holley, but the society does not have a license to show the movies to a public audience like the Brown Film Society does, Dilg said. Since the society’s library consists mainly of commercial DVDs, the screenings could violate copyright law preventing the showing of movies in a public forum. But according to Yolanda Lamboy, associate counsel to the University, a license is not always needed in order to show a film in a public forum. What is essential to understanding copyright legislation and the dissemi- nation of media from a licensed source is that in order to avoid illegal activity, “you need the consent of the copyright holder,” Lamboy said. Anime Brunonia writes letters to obtain this consent from companies whose licensed films they want to show, asking permission to show the anime in a public forum, Dilg said. Dilg said he has been more lax in this process than previous society presi- dents and has, on a few occasions, BY JONATHAN ELLIS Before he began an unpaid leave from the University last fall, Sumit Guha was the St. Purandara Das Distinguished Professor of South Asian History. But now, with Guha living in New Jersey to complete an outside fellowship, the money for the endowed Das position isn’t going anywhere. Guha’s endowed chair is one of Brown’s more than 120 endowed profes- sorships, according to Associate Provost Nancy Dunbar, who called empty endowed chairs the exception to the rule. Empty endowed professorships drew attention in February when the Levinger Family Trust filed suit against the University for waiting too long — over nine years — to fill an endowed professorship in the Levinger name. Just three weeks after the lawsuit was filed in Providence Superior Court, the University awarded the position to Professor of Medicine Alfred Buxton. Vice President and General Counsel for the University Beverly Ledbetter told The Herald the timing was “coinciden- tal.” The exact number of chairs that still remain unfilled depends on “what you count as unfilled,” Dunbar said. Guha technically still holds the Das position, though he currently resides in New Jersey. Other endowed professors often take sabbatical leave. And when junior faculty members earn tenure, they give up any endowed titles they occupy, $222 million raised so far in campaign quiet phase BY JONATHAN ELLIS The University has raised $222 million in the quiet phase of its capital campaign, but it must raise “considerably more” before the official launch of the campaign, President Ruth Simmons said at the April faculty meeting, held Tuesday. Also at the meeting, Provost Robert Zimmer said he is disappointed that femi- nist theorist Judith Butler has declined Brown’s offer to lead its new Humanities Center. Butler is currently a professor at the University of California-Berkeley. Zimmer noted that the University is try- ing to establish a relationship with Oak Ridge (Tenn.) National Laboratory. That institution — which is not a weapons lab — owns instrumentation that can’t be replicated at any university, no matter how wealthy, he said. In her report, Simmons recapped diver- sity issues facing the University in what she called a “post-Michigan decision world,” referring to last summer’s Supreme Court decisions upholding but restricting affirmative action. She said her experience has shown that programs like the Third World Transition Program lead to better experiences for and higher retention rates of minorities. “I do remain persuaded that none of our programs should exclude based on race,” she added. “TWTP addresses transi- tion issues for students of color. There may be students from many backgrounds interested in (these issues).” Simmons also addressed the media frenzy surrounding the University’s Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice. “It is unfortunate that many reports have mischaracterized the work of the committee,” she said. The committee is examining many issues and is not intended to solely answer a “yes-or-no question on reparations,” she said. Simmons said the University will dis- tribute clarifying materials to alumni, many of whom have shown interest in the “parameters” of the committee’s work. Simmons also delivered and reflected on University news. The search committee seeking a vice president for campus life and student services has compiled a shortlist of candi- dates to be interviewed, Simmons said. One of those candidates was on campus Tuesday, she added. The committee to find a new vice presi- dent for public affairs and University rela- tions has also established a list of finalists, she said. Commenting on acceptance letters recently mailed to potential members of the Class of 2008, Simmons said under- graduate applications rose from last year, although the acceptance rate is currently higher than it was at this time last year. Fifty-one percent of accepted students are University to raise parking fees, plans alternative transportation see PARKING, page 4 Fan-subtitled anime complicates Brown club’s legality see ANIME, page 4 Weeks after Levinger chair is filled and lawsuit is filed, Brown administrator says unfilled endowed seats are the exception to the rule see CHAIRS, page 6 see FACULTY, page 5 Nick Neely / Herald Warm weather brought students to Pembroke Field for a late afternoon game of ultimate frisbee.

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The April 7, 2004 issue of the Brown Daily Herald

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Wednesday, April 7, 2004

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

A P R I L 7 , 2 0 0 4

Volume CXXXIX, No. 43 www.browndailyherald.com

W E D N E S D A Y

I N S I D E W E D N E S D AY, A P R I L 7 , 2 0 0 4WEDNESDAY

partly cloudyhigh 53low 35

W E AT H E R F O R E C A S T

THURSDAY

mostly sunnyhigh 54low 36

Study claims collegestudents make religionpart of lives, contraryto popular beliefcampus watch, page 3

Natalie Smolenski ’07says Providence isn’t arenaissance city foreveryonecolumn, page 11

Forget differences; votePresident George W.Bush out of office, AlexSchulman ’03 writescolumn, page 11

M. tennis team readyfor Ivy League playafter losing to VirginiaTechsports, page 12

W. tennis splits up fortwo competitionswhile training in NorthCarolina over breaksports, page 12

BY SARAH LABRIEA plan to provide students with alterna-tive transportation after cutbacks to stu-dent parking this fall has been approvedby the University and will include newshuttle routes to Kennedy Plaza and theJewelry district and possibly off-siteparking, said Vice President forAdministration Walter Hunter.

The plan, designed to reduce the num-ber of cars on campus, was developed bythe Ad Hoc Transportation ManagementCommittee, composed of students andfaculty and chaired by Director of RealEstate and Administrative ServicesAbigail Rider.

“We provide parking as a conveniencefor students and faculty,” Rider said. “Wejust do not have the flexibility to encour-age additional cars to come to CollegeHill.”

Due to complaints from neighborhoodresidents, overnight student parking inthe stadium lot will not be available tostudents next year, reducing the numberof on-campus spots from 640 to 500.Parking will still be offered to graduatestudents and medical students and toseniors and juniors; parking will be avail-able to students on the basis of seniority.

The cost of parking on campus for oneyear will rise from $320 to $450, anamount still “much, much cheaper” thanwhat the city would charge, according toHunter. Employee parking rates will risefrom $200 to $330 as a pre-tax payrolldeduction.

The Initiatives for AcademicEnrichment call for extensive construc-tion, another factor that motivatedattempts to reduce on-campus parking,Hunter said.

Hunter said he hopes the plan willpromote a sense of community amongstudents by encouraging carpooling andshuttle use. The University plans to pro-mote ride-sharing by allowing carpoolersto split the cost of a parking spot and bygiving groups higher priority than indi-viduals on the parking-spot waiting list.

“The plan will make for a better envi-

Some endowed seats vacant,but U. says most are filled

BY AMY RUDDLEAnime Brunonia, Brown’s anime club,says it tries to follow copyright law tothe letter, but complying with the lawscan be difficult considering the com-plex legislation and array of download-able anime material.

“All the things we do are for fanexposure and sharing — we’re not try-ing to flout the law,” said Cisco Dilg ’04,president of Anime Brunonia.

Anime Brunonia sponsors free week-ly screenings of films from the club’slibrary in Barus and Holley, but the

society does not have a license to showthe movies to a public audience like theBrown Film Society does, Dilg said.

Since the society’s library consistsmainly of commercial DVDs, thescreenings could violate copyright lawpreventing the showing of movies in apublic forum.

But according to Yolanda Lamboy,associate counsel to the University, alicense is not always needed in order toshow a film in a public forum.

What is essential to understandingcopyright legislation and the dissemi-

nation of media from a licensed sourceis that in order to avoid illegal activity,“you need the consent of the copyrightholder,” Lamboy said.

Anime Brunonia writes letters toobtain this consent from companieswhose licensed films they want toshow, asking permission to show theanime in a public forum, Dilg said.

Dilg said he has been more lax in thisprocess than previous society presi-dents and has, on a few occasions,

BY JONATHAN ELLISBefore he began an unpaid leave fromthe University last fall, Sumit Guha wasthe St. Purandara Das DistinguishedProfessor of South Asian History. Butnow, with Guha living in New Jersey tocomplete an outside fellowship, themoney for the endowed Das positionisn’t going anywhere.

Guha’s endowed chair is one ofBrown’s more than 120 endowed profes-sorships, according to Associate ProvostNancy Dunbar, who called emptyendowed chairs the exception to therule.

Empty endowed professorships drewattention in February when theLevinger Family Trust filed suit againstthe University for waiting too long —over nine years — to fill an endowed

professorship in the Levinger name.Just three weeks after the lawsuit wasfiled in Providence Superior Court, theUniversity awarded the position toProfessor of Medicine Alfred Buxton.Vice President and General Counsel forthe University Beverly Ledbetter toldThe Herald the timing was “coinciden-tal.”

The exact number of chairs that stillremain unfilled depends on “what youcount as unfilled,” Dunbar said. Guhatechnically still holds the Das position,though he currently resides in NewJersey. Other endowed professors oftentake sabbatical leave. And when juniorfaculty members earn tenure, they giveup any endowed titles they occupy,

$222 millionraised so farin campaignquiet phaseBY JONATHAN ELLISThe University has raised $222 million inthe quiet phase of its capital campaign,but it must raise “considerably more”before the official launch of the campaign,President Ruth Simmons said at the Aprilfaculty meeting, held Tuesday.

Also at the meeting, Provost RobertZimmer said he is disappointed that femi-nist theorist Judith Butler has declinedBrown’s offer to lead its new HumanitiesCenter. Butler is currently a professor atthe University of California-Berkeley.

Zimmer noted that the University is try-ing to establish a relationship with OakRidge (Tenn.) National Laboratory. Thatinstitution — which is not a weapons lab— owns instrumentation that can’t bereplicated at any university, no matter howwealthy, he said.

In her report, Simmons recapped diver-sity issues facing the University in whatshe called a “post-Michigan decisionworld,” referring to last summer’s SupremeCourt decisions upholding but restrictingaffirmative action. She said her experiencehas shown that programs like the ThirdWorld Transition Program lead to betterexperiences for and higher retention ratesof minorities.

“I do remain persuaded that none ofour programs should exclude based onrace,” she added. “TWTP addresses transi-tion issues for students of color. There maybe students from many backgroundsinterested in (these issues).”

Simmons also addressed the mediafrenzy surrounding the University’sSteering Committee on Slavery andJustice. “It is unfortunate that manyreports have mischaracterized the work ofthe committee,” she said.

The committee is examining manyissues and is not intended to solely answera “yes-or-no question on reparations,” shesaid.

Simmons said the University will dis-tribute clarifying materials to alumni,many of whom have shown interest in the“parameters” of the committee’s work.

Simmons also delivered and reflectedon University news.

The search committee seeking a vicepresident for campus life and studentservices has compiled a shortlist of candi-dates to be interviewed, Simmons said.One of those candidates was on campusTuesday, she added.

The committee to find a new vice presi-dent for public affairs and University rela-tions has also established a list of finalists,she said.

Commenting on acceptance lettersrecently mailed to potential members ofthe Class of 2008, Simmons said under-graduate applications rose from last year,although the acceptance rate is currentlyhigher than it was at this time last year.Fifty-one percent of accepted students are

University toraise parkingfees, plansalternativetransportation

see PARKING, page 4

Fan-subtitled anime complicates Brown club’s legality

see ANIME, page 4

Weeks after Levinger chair is filled and lawsuit is filed,Brown administrator says unfilled endowed seats arethe exception to the rule

see CHAIRS, page 6

see FACULTY, page 5

Nick Neely / Herald

Warm weather brought students to Pembroke Field for a late afternoon game ofultimate frisbee.

Page 2: Wednesday, April 7, 2004

T O D A Y ’ S E V E N T S

THIS MORNINGTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 2004 · PAGE 2

Editorial Phone: 401.351.3372

Business Phone: 401.351.3260

Juliette Wallack, President

Carla Blumenkranz, Vice President

Lawrence Hester, Treasurer

John Carrere, Secretary

The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is published Monday through Friday during the aca-

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

once in July by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. POSTMASTER please send corrections to P.O. Box

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Angell St., Providence, R.I. E-mail [email protected]. World Wide Web:

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daily. Copyright 2004 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD, INC.

Greg and Todd’s Awesome Comic Greg Shilling and Todd Goldstein

Four Years Eddie Ahn

My Best Effort Will Newman and Cat Biddle

Coup de Grace Grace Farris

Jero Matt Vascellaro

Hopeless Edwin Chang

M E N U

ACROSS1 Hoover, for one4 Fort Worth sch.7 Not quite a brat

10 TornadicLooney Tunesdevil, for short

13 Brazilian hotspot

14 Alley in a cave15 Penny-holding

shoes17 Postpone, as

courtproceedings

19 Lynn of country20 Writer born Eric

Blair22 Gland that may

be overactive23 A little wet27 Streisand, in

fanzines30 Singer

Bachman31 Makeup mishap32 Prior to, in

poems33 Writer born

David Cornwell36 Ethylene __:

antifreeze38 Madness39 Writer born

Mary Ann Evans43 Suit go-with44 Brontë and Tyler45 Japanese

computer giant46 Rosary unit47 Fix up48 Closer to

vertical51 Writer born

CharlesDodgson

56 Indigenous59 Soon to be

delivered60 Cooking61 Was in front62 Gone by63 Sturm __ drang64 Actor Danson65 Ike’s initials66 Hither’s partner

DOWN 1 Pull along the

ground

2 West Winghelper

3 Magic charm4 “Too bad!”5 Comic

“Professor” Irwin__

6 In Alaska, say7 Malicious intent8 Emulated Elsie9 Brit. legislative

gp.10 Hanoi holiday11 Paintings,

sculpture, etc.12 When repeated,

a Gabor16 Marty of “Young

Frankenstein”18 Scraps for Fido21 Colorful horse24 Make soda pop25 “The Brady

Bunch” sister26 Was hawkish?27 Street corner

cupholder28 Panelist

Francis29 More distant

than31 Hare’s tail

33 Nudges34 Corrida shout35 “Telephone

Line” gp.37 Louisiana

natives40 Tempted41 Vintner’s dregs42 Frozen46 “I’m frozen!”48 Contemptible

sort

49 Like somewindows

50 Weaken, asconfidence

52 Give out53 Singer Anita54 Kid’s building

toy55 Writer Hubbard56 Old French coin57 Taker of vows58 Carried out

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

13 14 15 16

17 18 19

20 21

22 23 24 25 26

27 28 29 30 31

32 33 34 35

36 37 38

39 40 41 42 43

44 45 46

47 48 49 50

51 52 53 54 55

56 57 58 59

60 61 62

63 64 65 66

A M I D F E A S T O K A YM E N U S A R A H N I N EC A L F M U S C L E E T N AS N A F U T S A R S C A R

S W E L L R E A T AR E A L L Y B A R G E

W O K S P O E C U R S O RA R I P U P T E N T O O OR E D C A P B R O E N D SP O S E R M E A T A X

I N T R O E T H E RF A S T E D I E V A L O RE T T U B U N N Y S L O P ED O E R E L C I D E P E ES P R Y L E A D S D E S K

By Stella Daily and Bruce Venzke(c)2004 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

04/07/04

04/07/04

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

[email protected]

SHARPE REFECTORYLUNCH — Vegetarian Fagoli Soup,Split Pea Soup with Ham, GarlicPepper Chicken, Squash Pie,Cauliflower, Green Beans andPeppers, Fudge Bars, PineappleUpside Down Cake, Cherry CheesePie, Garlic Pepper Chicken.DINNER — Vegetarian Fagoli Soup,Split Pea Soup with Ham, ChickenCacciatore, Baked Stuffed Pollock,Grilled Vegetable Calzone, Red Rice,Savory Spinach , Zucchini, Carrot andGarlic Medley, Pumpernickel Bread,Fudge Bars, Pineapple Upside DownCake, Cherry Cheese Pie.

VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALLLUNCH — Vegetarian Cheese Soup,Ham and Bean Soup,Tex-MexLasagna,Vegan Roasted VegetableBurritos, Mexican Corn, Fudge Bars

DINNER — Vegetarian CheeseSoup, Ham and Bean Soup, PorkLoin with Green Apple Dressing,Stuffed Shells with Meat orMeatless Sauce, Risotto Primavera,Whole Green Beans, StewedTomatoes, Pumpernickel Bread,Cherry Cheese Pie.

SUSTAINABILITY, GLOBAL HEALTHAND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE12:30 p.m. (McKinney ConferenceRoom,Watson Institute) — with BillShutkin, New Ecology Institute.Presented by the InternationalEnvironmental Health Colloquium.

THE MIDDLE EAST A YEAR FROMBAGHDAD'S FALL: IS THERE ADEMOCRACY DOMINO EFFECT?3:30 p.m. (McKinney ConferenceRoom,Watson Institute) —withSheila Carapico, University ofRichmond, on Yemen; Greg White,Smith College, on Morocco; MelaniCammett, Brown University, onTunisia; and Reda Bensmaia, BrownUniversity, on Algeria.

P U Z Z L E S

Answer:Stop.The longer the wavelength of the colored light,the morelikely that it indicates that you should go.

Driving in a new country, you notice traffic lights with many colors and aretold that they mean either stop or go. You observe that green means stop,red means go, yellow means go, violet means stop and orange means go.At the next intersection you are confronted with a blue light. What shouldyou do?

By Veer Bhavnagri

Page 3: Wednesday, April 7, 2004

CAMPUS WATCHTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 2004 · PAGE 3

UCLA studyhighlights spiritualgrowth on campusesBY KIRA LESLEYReligion and higher education are often considered ene-mies in the battle for the hearts and minds of America’syouth. But a recent study conducted at the University ofCalifornia-Los Angeles Higher Education Research Instituteshows that religion is alive and well on college campusesnationwide.

The goal of the study, which is being headed by HERIdirectors and UCLA professors Alexander Astin and HelenAstin, is to track the spiritual growth of students during theircollege years, according to the HERI Web site.

In spring of 2003, a pilot survey was administered toapproximately 12,000 undergraduates attending a repre-sentative sample of 46 schools who had participated in afreshman survey three years before. By comparing the dataof these two surveys, investigators were able to report pre-liminary findings.

According to the study, 77 percent of college juniorsagreed with the statement that all humans are spiritualbeings and 71 percent said they find religion to be personal-ly helpful to them. Seventy percent of students said they hadattended a religious service in the past year.

Brown is no exception to the high level of religiosity oncampuses, said University Chaplain Janet Cooper Nelson.Statistics compiled by the Chaplains Office in 1997 placedthe percentage of Brown students who identify with a reli-gious group at 95. The largest religions were RomanCatholicism at 25 percent, Judaism at 20 percent,Protestantism at 13 percent and “Other” – which includesBaha’i, Jainism, Sikhism, Animism, Zoroastrianism and

Applicants’“demonstrated interest” growsin importance at colleges nationwide BY KATE GORMANHigh school students hoping to gain an edge in the col-lege application process are flooding admission officeswith cards, letters, phone calls and gifts — and a recentstudy suggests many schools take notice.

The study, done by the National Association forCollege Admission Counseling, found that 55 percent ofparticipating schools said they consider “demonstratedinterest” when evaluating applicants. Thirty percent ofthe 595 schools polled said the factor was of “moderateor considerable” importance — more than said the sameof SAT II subject tests or race and ethnicity.

Brown does not consider demonstrated interest whenevaluating applicants, according to Director ofAdmission Michael Goldberger. The same is true atStanford University, Dartmouth College and many otherhighly selective schools.

But applicants who demonstrate a lack of knowledgeabout Brown in their applications or alumni interviewscould be hurting their chances of admission, Goldbergersaid.

“If the applicant did not know the Brown curriculum,we would assume that the candidate really knows littleabout Brown — and that would hurt chances for admis-sion,” he said.

Goldberger said Brown evaluates applicants strictlyon their academic and personal strengths. “The highschool course load and grades of an applicant are mostimportant, and a match to the requirements of theBrown curriculum is second most important,” he said.

Brown assumes all students who apply want to cometo Brown and are treated accordingly, Goldberger said.

Opponents of demonstrated interest say it unfairlydisadvantages low-income students who do not havethe financial resources to visit schools and advisors

encouraging them to “demonstrate interest.”But at other top-tier private schools, such as Emory

University, admission officers defend the practice. “Strong interest in Emory, as evidenced by careful

research, contacts with admission officers and a campusvisit, can certainly be a tip factor in highly selectiveadmissions,” said Daniel Walls, dean of admission.

The admission office at Emory keeps track of thenumber of contacts students make with the school andstudents’ attendance at information sessions.

Walls said the process is comparable to the preferencemost colleges and universities show for early-decisioncandidates because these applicants have identified theschool as their first choice.

At Emory, demonstrated interest is one of many fac-tors influencing admission decisions. “Other factors thatwe take into consideration when evaluating applicantsare special talents, legacy status, geography and unusu-ally strong letters of recommendation,” Walls said.

“When a prospective student lists their reason forapplying to Emory as ‘the strong reputation of yourschool of engineering,’ we question their level of Emoryresearch and we question an admission spot, sinceEmory does not have a school of engineering,” Wallssaid.

George Washington University also considers demon-strated interest when evaluating undergraduate appli-cants.

GWU Assistant Admissions Director KristenKaczynski said demonstrated interest is one of manyfactors the university considers when evaluating appli-cants.

“The most important things we look at are the appli-

see ADMISSIONS, page 9 see SPIRITUALITY, page 7

Page 4: Wednesday, April 7, 2004

PAGE 4 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 2004

www.browndailyherald.com

shown films he has not receivedpermission to screen, but“there’s never been an instancewhere a licenser has said ‘no’and we have shown a film,” hesaid.

Most companies are gratefulthat their films are getting expo-sure, Dilg said, adding that mostpeople who are introduced toanime through the club laterbuy anime because of theirinterest in the genre.

But one form of anime hasrecently come under fire fromdistributors who say it consti-tutes copyright infringement.

“Fansubbing,” the process bywhich a fan takes an animatedshow from television or film andsubtitles it, then makes it avail-able for download on theInternet before the show islicensed for distribution in theUnited States, is one of the “grayareas” in anime, Dilg said.

Dilg said the club’s librarycontains some fansubbed mate-rials, although it no longeracquires fansubbed materialsbecause the Web sites wherethey were once available havegradually disappeared.

“There are fewer shows peo-ple are able to fansub legally,”Dilg said. “It’s hard to find stuffthat isn’t commerciallylicensed.”

Fansubbed materials are con-sidered legal by many who enjoyanime, because they are notbound by U.S. copyright andbecause those distributing thesubtitled materials are notdoing so for profit.

“The main reason we’d showfansubs in the past is becausethey’re a lot cheaper,” Dilg said.

The group gets $120 inUndergraduate Finance Boardfunding per semester for pur-chasing videos, and at $20 to $25per commercial DVD, showingmore than one series is impossi-ble, Dilg said. The club oftenrelies on its members’ personalanime collections to supple-

ment the library’s collection,Dilg added.

Fansubs, in contrast, onlycost the price of a video cassetteor compact disc, plus the cost ofshipping if the fansubber dis-tributes by mail rather than theInternet. The total cost generallycomes to around $8, whichmakes adding to a library muchmore feasible, Dilg said.

An example of the disappear-ance of fansubbed films is theshow “Infinite Ryvius,” whichwas screened at the end of lastsemester by the club and hassince been copyrighted by itsdistributor Bandai, Dilg said.Any further distribution orscreening of the film withoutpermission from Bandai wouldbe a violation of U.S. copyrightlaw.

Still, many fansub organiza-tions are not aware that,whether or not they distributetranslated materials for profit,and regardless of U.S. licensingfor materials, fansubs do violateJapanese copyright law, accord-ing to the online Anime NewsNetwork.

According to an article pub-lished by the network in June2003, Japanese copyright lawprotects the originally licensedauthor’s right to distribute andtranslate the work, so fansubgroups may not necessarily belicensed to translate the works.

Japan and the United Statesare also members of an interna-tional agreement known as theBerne Convention, wherebyeach country can seek copyrightprotection for materials beyondthe borders of its own nation.Under the Berne Convention’sterms, Japanese materials holdtheir copyright within U.S. bor-ders, regardless of whether anAmerican company has beenlicensed to translate and distrib-ute them.

“Japan would be entitled tothe same rights as U.S. copyrightlaws,” Lamboy said, adding thatif Japanese distributors soughtto enforce these rights in theUnited States or intended toseek damages, they could.

In turn, she added, if a distrib-utor of materials on the Internetdoesn’t have the right to dissem-inate those materials, and some-one downloads those materialsand shows them, the down-loader “could be part of thechain of infringers” the originallicense holder’s copyright.

“Everything stems from therights of the original copyrightholder — if they want to pursueyou, that’s a different issue. Icouldn’t say if (Anime Brunonia)is breaking any laws,” Lamboysaid.

“Legally, there is no differencebetween ‘fansubs’ and‘bootlegs.’ In the eyes of the law,both could be seen as damagingto the market,” the Anime NewsNetwork reported.

Although several Japanesecompanies, including Bandai,have warned against fansubbingmaterials and have confiscatednon-licensed products, the com-panies have not yet prosecutedfansubbing organizations,according to the Anime NewsNetwork.

Lamboy said many compa-nies will not bring actionsagainst individuals infringing ontheir copyright because infringe-ment has to do with harm to thecopyright holder.

“In this instance, fansubbersmay not be pursued,” becausefansubbing spreads awarenessof anime and may actuallyencourage people to buy anime,he said.

As a result, fansubbing “maybe considered a good thing — itmay not cause damages,”Lamboy said.

The legality of fansubs hasnever been spelled out to anima-tion clubs, Dilg said. “I definite-ly took my cues from other clubsaround the country,” he added.

While he stressed that fansubswere a minor part of the club’slibrary, he said, “I’ll stop usingfansubs now that this has beenbrought to my attention.”

Herald staff writer Amy Ruddle’06 can be reached [email protected].

continued from page 1

Anime

ronment for academic enrich-ment,” Hunter said.

Other possibilities for alter-native transportation include acontract with RIPTA and anincrease in the frequency andnumber of shuttles running toand from off-campus sites.Brown is currently negotiating atrial deal with RIPTA that wouldallow students to ride for free orat reduced prices in the fall.

The University plans to buildan off-campus parking garage toaccount for future growth, butsize and location of the struc-ture and the timeline for con-struction have not been estab-lished.

Plans call for Brown to pro-vide transportation betweencampus and the site.

The plan was developed fromrecommendations made by acommittee of students and fac-ulty.

UCS President Rahim Kurji’05 said he is disappointed by

the reduction in parking spotsbut thinks the proposed alterna-tives, particularly the possibilityof RIPTA student passes, will begood for undergraduates.

Hunter said he thinks theplan will be welcomed by stu-dents and faculty. “It’s compre-hensive, the increases are verymodest and the need is com-pelling,” he said.

Herald staff writer Sarah LaBrie’07 can be reached [email protected].

continued from page 1

Parking

Page 5: Wednesday, April 7, 2004

female. Director of AdmissionMichael Goldberger expects theClass of 2008 to comprise 1,430students, Simmons said.

Accepted students had higheraverage class ranks and SAT ver-bal and math scores than theircounterparts last year, Simmonssaid. Minority acceptances alsoincreased, with 22 NativeAmericans accepted this year, 10more than last year.

Simmons said it is too early toreport on graduate admission,but noted that internationalapplications fell this year. Peerinstitutions also saw fewer appli-cants from abroad because of ter-rorism concerns, she said.

Faculty initiatives during themeeting included a successfulmotion to institute a two-yearpilot program that will acceptapplications to the MedicalSchool from students at collegesand universities other thanBrown.

Zimmer had announced theproposal to open the MedicalSchool’s application process atlast month’s faculty meeting.

At Tuesday’s meeting, InterimDean of Biology and MedicalSciences Richard Besdine saidthat, at present, the lack of a stan-dard admission process makesthe school “essentially invisible”to the outside world, he said.

Students in the Program inLiberal Medical Education makeup two-thirds of each MedicalSchool class, Besdine said. But asmaller number of PLME stu-dents completing their under-graduate degrees in 2005 and2006 opened up eight to 10 spotsfor the pilot program, he said.

Besdine told the Herald lastmonth that there are 10 to 12open spots.

The spots will also be open tonon-PLME Brown undergradu-

ates, Besdine said. Currently, hesaid, fewer non-PLME Brown stu-dents enter the Medical Schoolthan do students in its EarlyIdentification Program, whichdraws students from Tougaloo,Providence and Rhode Island col-leges and the University of RhodeIsland.

In response to a faculty mem-ber’s question, Besdine said theopen application process is notan attempt to enroll better stu-dents than PLME students,whom he called the “foundationof the Medical School class.”

The motion carried unani-mously by a voice vote.

The faculty also voted to moveCommencement to the Sundaybefore Memorial Day beginningin 2005.

An ad hoc committee on

Commencement, formed at theend of the last academic year,proposed the date change, whichwill shorten Commencementweekend to three days from four.“This model will allow for somemodest cost savings (primarily byavoiding the holiday pay necessi-tated by holdingCommencement on MemorialDay),” the committee wrote in areport to the faculty.

The model “more importantlyreduces the amount of un-pro-grammed and/or poorly pro-grammed time parents andalumni currently experience onSunday,” the committee wrote.

Interim Vice President forPublic Affairs and UniversityRelations Melanie Coon ’78 said

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 2004 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 5

continued from page 1

Faculty

see FACULTY, page 9

Page 6: Wednesday, April 7, 2004

temporarily increasing the num-ber of open positions.

“Since I’m on unpaid leave, it’snot costing them anything,”Guha said. “(The University)could have hired a substitute toteach South Asian history.”Instead, he said, a visitinginstructor is teaching HI158:“History of Modern South Asia.”

The visiting instructor, NeetiNair, is teaching one course inSouth Asian history this year, at acost presumably “way less thanwhat a $2 million endowmentyields,” Guha said. Had Guharemained at Brown this year, hewould have taught three courses,according to the Brown OnlineCourse Announcement.

If an endowed position isfilled, the University distributes4.5 to 5.5 percent of the 12-quar-ter trailing average of the marketvalue of the endowment,Elizabeth Huidekoper, vice presi-dent for finance and administra-tion, wrote in an e-mail to TheHerald.

That policy “has a way ofsmoothing for fluctuations in themarket value while ensuring thatwe maintain the purchasingpower of the endowment overtime,” Huidekoper wrote.

Guha, whose resignation willbecome effective July 1, said hewas disappointed about thefuture of the Das professorship.“What I anticipate is that theywill take years and years to fill it,”he said. The position was createdin 1994 and not permanentlyfilled until Guha’s appointmentin 2000, he said.

The Department of

Portuguese and Brazilian Studies’Vasco da Gama Chair in EarlyModern Portuguese History hasnever been filled, Guha said. Itwas endowed in March 1997.

Dunbar said, “It’s hard toimagine that it’s difficult torecruit faculty. But in truth, manysearches are very difficult.” Theprocess is further complicatedbecause the authority to appointendowed chairs rests with theCorporation, which acts on rec-ommendations of the president,who in turn hears from theprovost, Dunbar added.

Endowed professorships inbroad areas, such as the BarnabyConrad and Mary CritchfieldKeeney Professor of History, achair currently held by Professorof History Abbott Gleason, take ashorter time to fill, Dunbar said,while specialized chairs oftenrequire longer searches.

But Guha said the Universityadministration could provide theDepartment of History with morereplacement funds in hisabsence. The department, inturn, could allocate more of thosefunds to South Asian history,rather than putting them towardsEuropean and American studies,he said.

Regardless of whether anendowed chair is unfilled or aprofessor is simply on sabbatical,the University tries to providecompensatory funds, though notalways to the complete satisfac-tion of departments and stu-dents, Dunbar said.

“The most important thing toremember is our responsibility tofollow the donor’s wishes,” sheadded. The terms of some giftsinclude backup clauses to pro-vide funding in an area when aprofessorship cannot be filled,she said, but other agreementsonly provide for faculty salaries.

“We’re quite careful that we’reusing the funds in the language ofthe gift agreement,” Dunbar said.

If an agreement does not con-tain a backup clause, “the income(from the fund) goes unspent andaccumulates in a restrictedaccount for future use once theposition is filled,” Huidekoperwrote.

Unfilled chairs do not repre-sent a systemic problem at theUniversity, Dunbar said. “In fact,we would like to have some morechairs to fill,” she said.

As part of the upcoming capi-tal campaign, “the University isstriving to encourage gifts towork in the realities of the aca-demic world,” Dunbar said. “Wewould encourage donors to givethe University some flexibility inmeeting their wishes — which isnot to say we would ever usefunds from an endowed chair forsome other purpose.”

A typical endowed professor-ship costs $3 million, Dunbarsaid, though some medical posi-tions can reach as high as $5 mil-lion.

Herald staff writer Jonathan Ellis’06 covers faculty and adminis-tration. He can be reached at [email protected].

PAGE 6 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 2004

continued from page 1

Chairs

Page 7: Wednesday, April 7, 2004

Wicca, among others – at 20 per-cent.

Forty to 60 percent of the Browncommunity is active in a religiousorganization, more than in anyother activity, Cooper Nelson said.People often hold stereotypes ofBrown as a college without astrong religious presence, butthese stereotypes do not hold upto the facts, she said.

The UCLA survey also reporteda tendency for undergraduates toview themselves as less spiritualover time and a drop in the num-ber of students who frequentlyattended religious services from 52percent freshman year to 29 per-cent junior year.

Such statistics have raisedquestions about religion’s ability tosurvive in an academic environ-ment.

Kathleen Loughlin ’07 said herparents were worried that Brown’senvironment would be hostiletoward her Roman Catholic faith.Loughlin, who has attendedchurch services since childhood,has continued attending servicesevery week at St. Joseph’s Churchon Hope Street.

Loughlin said she has not hadtrouble maintaining her faith atBrown because “at some point inyour life you have to take responsi-bility for your own faith … and Ijust did it four years earlier.”

Cooper Nelson said using reli-gious-service attendance statisticsto determine a campus’s religiousenvironment can be misleading.First-year college studentsencounter a wealth of intellectualand spiritual diversity that maycause them to reflect upon theirfaith and express their spiritualityin different ways, but that does notmean their participation in reli-gion overall has declined, CooperNelson said. Many students actu-ally become more religious duringtheir time at Brown, she said.

“Where would I expect to findspiritual growth and developmenthappening? At the table in theRatty, over pizza at The Gate,”Cooper Nelson said.

Cooper Nelson said that as stu-dents age, they often practice spir-ituality through more varied activ-ities, such as performing commu-nity service, rallying to raiseawareness of hate crimes or debat-

ing the validity of reparations.For Matt Hamilton ’05, practic-

ing his faith has meant participat-ing in faith-based organizations.Hamilton, a Roman Catholic andfounder of the Faith-BasedActivism Coalition, said hebecame more interested andactive in Catholicism after aZoroastrian friend asked himabout the Christian mystical tradi-tion. Being exposed to differentbeliefs prompted him to learnmore about his own faith, as wellas faiths that were unfamiliar tohim, he said.

As head of the Faith-BasedActivism Coalition, Hamilton saidhe aims to “build solidarity amongreligious communities with socialjustice issues in Providence,Brown and the world.”

The coalition promotes inter-faith dialogue and volunteerism,and members attended the inter-national anti-war protest in NewYork City in February 2003.

Students’ ability to practicetheir faiths through varied meansprobably contributes to thedecline in service attendance dur-ing the college years, CooperNelson said. But she said this doesnot necessarily mean that stu-dents’ spirituality declines overthese years.

For Najma Amin ’04, atten-dance at services often had moreto do with time constraints thanher level of spirituality.

“I feel like I’ve kind of followed abell curve” with respect to activeparticipation in services, saidAmin, who served as president ofthe Muslim Students Associationat Brown from spring of 2002 to fallof 2003. During her first year atBrown and again this semester, abusy schedule has kept Amin fromattending services frequently, shesaid. Amin said she attended serv-ices most frequently during hersophomore and junior years, butthat did not mean her commit-ment to her faith was deeper then.

The UCLA project is a long-term one, and the research team isplanning to administer a revisedquestionnaire to approximately90,000 students beginning schoolat 150 colleges and universitiesthis fall, the Web site said. Theresults of the survey will be distrib-uted in 2005.

Herald staff writer Kira Lesley ’07can be reached [email protected]

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 2004 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 7

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Spirituality

Page 8: Wednesday, April 7, 2004
Page 9: Wednesday, April 7, 2004

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 2004 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 9

two sets to prevail at the No. 5spot.

Despite a huge lift from theteam’s first-years, Brown wasunable to prevail in the finals,losing 4-3 to UC-Irvine. The hostteam came away with the dou-bles point, as well as the top threesingles matches, to clinch thewin.

Saiontz led the way for theBears in the bottom half of thesingles slots, posting a strong 6-4,6-4 win. Ames and Pautler fol-lowed with straight-set wins atthe No. 5 and No. 6 positions,respectively.

Taylor called the matchagainst UC-Irvine “winnable.”

“After that match, I adjustedNo. 1 and No. 2 doubles, pairingdifferent people with each other,and this seems to be an improve-ment,” she said.

Beck also said she was disap-pointed with the outcome of thefinal match, and she partlyblamed fatigue for the loss.

“Having it be the third matchin a row was definitely a factor forsome people on the team,” shesaid.

Following the tournament,

Brown fell against two high-ranked teams. Against No. 74Loyola Marymount University,the team picked up one singlesvictory in the overall 6-1 loss.Against No. 49 California StateUniversity-Long Beach, Brownlost by the same score.

Beck carried both of her sin-gles matches in straight sets inthe No. 3 slot, providing theBears’ only points.

Taylor said the California tripgave the team a strong founda-tion of match play for the intenseweeks of Ivy League competitionahead.

“Our goal for the Ivies is tohave fun competing and fighthard in each match,” she said.

Herald staff writer Robbie Corey-Boulet ’07 covers women’s tennis.He can be reached at [email protected].

continued from page 12

W. tennis

Kent Walls ’06 also hit a person-al best of 152-6 in the discus.

On the track, Matt Emond ’04raced the 5,000-meter run for thefirst time this year for a personalrecord of 14:28.40, also making hismark on the top-10 board.Emond’s time ranks seventh in theevent outdoors. Chris Burke ’07tied his own best in the event,coming in at 14:52.55. Coming offhis win at the indoor Heptagonalmeet, high-jumper RayBobrownicki ’06 remained consis-tent, even with the transition tooutdoors. His jump of 6-10 3/4keeps him undefeated in the IvyLeague this year.

Hurdling for the Bears,Christian Tabib ’06 debuted in the400-meter intermediates, clockingin at 55.29 seconds, while DaveedDiggs ’04 raced the 110-meterhighs with a time of 14.81 in thepreliminary round. The 4x400team returned to the track to closeout the weekend, eclipsing its timefrom the Raleigh Relays with a3:15.87.

“As a relay, we were able toimprove from the previous meet,which sets the stage for a strongseason,” Owen said.

The men will compete next athome when they host the BrownInvitational on Saturday.

continued from page 12

Track Despite a huge lift

from the team’s first-

years, Brown was

unable to prevail in

the finals, losing 4-3

to UC-Irvine.

cant’s high school transcript, rec-ommendations and test scores.Demonstrated interest — fromsending letters to visiting theschool — is secondary,”Kaczynski said.

The required essay portion ofthe application counts asdemonstrated interest at GeorgeWashington because “it showshow interested the student is inus,” Kaczynski said.

Herald staff writer Kate Gorman’07 can be reached at [email protected].

continued from page 3

Admissions

alumni leaders were pleased withthe proposed change, although afaculty member questionedwhether the leaders’ sentimentswere representative of all alumni.

The committee recommendedthe University continue to holdreunions on Commencementweekend, an arrangement itcalled “magical.”

The motion carried by a voicevote, with about four votesagainst.

Brown has heldCommencement on MemorialDay — the last Monday in May —ever since the faculty adopted anew academic calendar in 1981.

Next year’s Commencementwill now occur Sunday, May 29,2005. Because the amendment tothe Faculty Rules does not takeeffect until July, this year’sCommencement is still sched-uled for May 31.

Herald staff writer Jonathan Ellis’06 covers faculty and administra-tion. He can be reached at [email protected].

continued from page 5

Faculty

Page 10: Wednesday, April 7, 2004

EDITORIAL/LETTERSTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 2004 · PAGE 10

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

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. Correctionsmay be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication.

C O M M E N T A R Y P O L I C YThe staff editorial is the majority opinion of the editorial board of The Brown Daily Herald. The editorial viewpoint does not necessarily reflectthe 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 [email protected]. Include a telephone number with all letters. The Herald reserves the right to edit all letters forlength and cannot assure the publication of any letter. Please limit letters to 250 words. Under special circumstances writers may requestanonymity, 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.

Ezra Flam, Night EditorKatie Lamm, Asad Reyaz, Copy Editors

EDITORIALJuliette Wallack, Editor-in-Chief

Carla Blumenkranz, Executive Editor

Philissa Cramer, Executive Editor

Julia Zuckerman, Senior Editor

Danielle Cerny, Arts & Culture Editor

Meryl Rothstein, Arts & Culture Editor

Zachary Barter, Campus Watch Editor

Monique Meneses, Features Editor

Sara Perkins, Metro Editor

Dana Goldstein, RISD News Editor

Alex Carnevale, Opinions Editor

Ben Yaster, Opinions Editor

Christopher Hatfield, Sports Editor

PRODUCTIONLisa Mandle, Design Editor

George Haws, Copy Desk Chief

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BUSINESSJohn Carrere, General Manager

Lawrence Hester, General Manager

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Bill Louis, Senior Financial Officer

Laurie-Ann Paliotti, Sr. Advertising Rep.

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POST- MAGAZINEEllen Wernecke, Editor-in-Chief

Jason Ng, Executive Editor

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Jeremy Beck, Film Editor

Jessica Weisberg, Film Editor

Ray Sylvester, Music Editor

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

Staff Writers Marshall Agnew, Kathy Babcock, Zaneta Balantac, Elise Baran, Alexandra Barsk, ZacharyBarter, Hannah Bascom, Danielle Cerny, Stephanie Clark, Robbie Corey-Boulet, Lexi Costello, IanCropp, Sam Culver, Stewart Dearing, Gabriella Doob, Jonathan Ellis, Justin Elliott, Amy Hall Goins,Dana Goldstein, Bernard Gordon, Kate Gorman, Aron Gyuris, Krista Hachey, Chris Hatfield, JonathanHerman, Miles Hovis, Masha Kirasirova, Robby Klaber, Kate Klonick, Alexis Kunsak, Sarah LaBrie, KiraLesley, Matt Lieber, Allison Lombardo, Chris Mahr, Lisa Mandle, Craig McGowan, Jonathan Meachin,Luke Meier, Monique Meneses, Kavita Mishra, Sara Perkins, Melissa Perlman, Eric Perlmutter, SheelaRaman, Meryl Rothstein, Michael Ruderman, Marco Santini, Jen Sopchockchai, Lela Spielberg, StefanTalman, Joshua Troy, Jessica Weisberg, Brooke Wolfe, Melanie Wolfgang, Brett ZardaAccounts Managers Daniel Goldberg, Mark Goldberg, Victor Griffin, Matt Kozar, Natalie Ho, IanHalvorsen, Sarena SniderPagination Staff Peter Henderson, Alex Palmer, Michael RudermanPhoto Staff Gabriella Doob, Benjamin Goddard, Marissa Hauptman, Jonathan Herman, LizHershey, Ariayne Hilliard, Miyako Igari, Alexandra Kaufman, Paul Levande, Allison Lombardo,Elizabeth MacLennan, Aditya Mohan, Michael Neff, Alex Palmer, Eric Sumberg, Yun Shou Tee,Sorleen TrevinoCopy Editors Stephanie Clark, Katie Lamm, Jennifer Resch, Asad Reyaz, Amy Ruddle, BrianSchmalzbach, Melanie Wolfgang

...write a letter.

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[email protected]

N I C K S C H A D E

L E T T E R S

Spot removalThe Ad Hoc Transportation Committee released a plan thisweek that calls for the construction of an off-campus parkinggarage to replace existing on-campus student parking overthe course of the next five years. The committee presents anumber of plausible arguments for shifting student parkingoff campus, including the alleviation of vehicle congestion onCollege Hill.

But the most compelling argument of all for moving stu-dent parking off campus is that it was mandated by the city ofProvidence. Specifically, in exchange for city approval ofarchitect Frances Halsband’s master plan for campus expan-sion, Brown agreed to eliminate overnight parking at the sta-dium, according to the committee’s report.

The elimination of stadium parking, which the Universityhas announced will be effective this fall, constitutes a reduc-tion of the number of parking spots available to students from640 to 500. Although 140 spots may not seem like very many,they comprise over 20 percent of existing, on-campus studentparking.

The committee’s plan provides a number of proposals forhow students can get around Providence next semester with-out their cars, including more frequent shuttle servicebetween campus and downtown and subsidized RIPTA pass-es. But subsidized rental car services would benefit only therelatively small population of students 21 and older. And theproposal to give groups better parking lottery numbers thanindividuals overlooks the fact that only a car’s owner canobtain insurance coverage.

More fundamentally, the plan does not provide for studentswho cannot afford not to bring their cars next fall and will bedenied on-campus parking spots. Students who bring cars tocampus drive them to jobs, medical appointments, commu-nity service projects and other commitments they could notfulfill if they did not have their own means of transportation.These students will drive their cars back to Brown next fallwhether or not the University provides them with parking,only increasing the College Hill congestion the transportationcommittee was charged with reducing.

Before the University eliminates stadium parking, it needsto figure out what to do with all those cars.

Page 11: Wednesday, April 7, 2004

OPINIONSTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 2004 · PAGE 11

The Germans have a word with no real English equivalent,zeitgeist, that points at something like a cultural “sign of thetimes.” We may now be at a moment of congealing. The progno-sis offered a few short years back about Sept. 11 banishing theculture wars of the 1980s and 1990s has proved too hasty: Thecurrent swirl of rancor about gay marriage, cultural permissive-ness and Mel Gibson’s bloody passion play show that neither sidehas given up culture politics.

In a seemingly discrete series of O’Reilly-friendly talking-headdebates — stem cell research, public funding to religious chari-ties, “partial-birth” abortion and now, gay marriage, the travailsof Christ and Janet Jackson’s indecency — I see a more seriouspattern.

Put simply, what President George W. Bush truly representsabove all else is not big oil, and not the grandiose geopolitics of a“neocon” coterie, but rather the homegrown voices of theocracy,a millenarian Bible-Belt fundamentalism that wants the values ofa minority religious sect to hold for the majority.

Being a successful wartime president does not make up forthis, morally or strategically. The Democratic Party has hardlybeen my friend on issues of, say, censorship, but in general a JohnKerry presidency will be worth the return to Clinton-era geopoli-tics if it also means stepping back from this very bleak and dan-gerous precipice.

A president who proposes the first constitutional amendmentsince Prohibition that would curtail civil rights instead of extend-ing them does not deserve to wear the mantle of a defender of thefree world.

When the same conservative movement that claims to speakthe truth against Islamic fundamentalism indulges itself deridingthe “breakdown in values” that accompanies gay marriage or thetelevised flash of a breast, all while lavishing unconditionalpraise upon the preposterous and nearly pornographically sin-gle-minded ultraviolence of Mel Gibson’s passion play, there issomething rotten in Denmark.

What has been astonishing is how narrow the terms of these

debates are. The supposition that homosexuals deserve basiccivil rights because they are the equal citizens of a secular stateshould precede the requisite legal wrangling about federalismand constitutional inviolability, two historically elastic conceptsthat have been used for evil as well as good through the years,and should also trump all hypocritical drivel about the “sanctityof marriage” in a country with a 50 percent heterosexual divorcerate.

Regarding Mr. Gibson, the trumped up charge of anti-Semitism should not prevent conservatives from asking them-selves why fetishizing flayed skin and the most extreme bloodlustis not only defensible but praiseworthy simply because the bodyunder the knife is Jesus.

Incidentally, aside from the questions of Caiphas and PontiusPilate, there is absolutely no textual evidence in the Gospels forthe unrestrained brutality of Gibson’s film, a curiosity sedulouslyavoided by most of the film’s defenders.

The credit Gibson does to the meaning of Christ’s actual lifeand teachings is near nil. He of course has a right to make any filmabout it he likes, just as anyone is perfectly entitled to consider ita privately rhapsodic religious experience. What shall not stand,though, is a political cult that wants to erode the secular frame-work of our nation simply on the basis of this single old story.

Similarly, Janet Jackson’s brief nudity may have been in badtaste, and parents justified in claiming the Super Bowl is a familyevent that should be free of R-rated material.

However, it is a pseudo-despotic mentality that uses this rela-tively harmless event to frame a cultural pogrom: and anyonewho doubts this is going on should pay attention to HowardStern’s recent travails and the grand plans of a FederalCommunications Commission headed by Colin Powell’s son.

And the decision on stem-cell research, far from being a prag-matic weighing of contested social and moral values, was anedict of religious totalitarianism.

There is value in neoconservative as well as classically conser-vative philosophy. But the devil’s alliance between plutocracyand Judeo-Christian millenarian extremism must end, for thecommon future of all Americans. Thus, beyond even disagree-ments on the tax cuts or the Iraq adventure, we must vote GeorgeW. Bush out of office in 2004.

Alex Schulman ’03 is currently a graduate student in the politicalscience program at the University of California-Los Angeles.

Against theocracyPARIS — We’re being told again and again, as the

9/11 Commission goes about its work, that theBush administration is not the Clinton administra-tion.

In fact, the Bush administration avoids all thingsClintonian like kryptonite. Whereas Clinton sawglobal conflict in terms of civilizations, Bush sees itin terms of nations. Whereas Clinton’s weapon ofchoice was counter-intelligence, Bush’s sidearm isthe military. But there’s one important lesson thatthe Bushies have learned from the Clintonites: Keepyour secrets, and keep them good.

His tenure rife with scandal, Clinton classifiedeverything but the proverbial cocktail napkin, andit seems these days that Rove, Ashcroft andWolfowitz are determined to show him up. In thepast two years Bush has moved to classify docu-ments some 44.5 million times. It took Clinton awhole second term to rack up that figure — and hehad a former intern to contend with.

The Justice Department has also been zealouslyenforcing the “state secrets privilege” in a numberof civil, criminal, and federal cases. Referred to asthe “nuclear bomb” of legal maneuvers, the statesecrets privilege can terminate any case believed tothreaten national security or diplomatic relations.

The Supreme Court set precedent for the privilegein 1953 and, recognizing its awesome power,warned in the decision that the measure is “not tobe lightly invoked.”

But what does “lightly” mean, really? Surely,George Tenet did not act lightly when he halted thecase of Jeffrey Sterling. Sterling was a CIA agent whosued his New York branch for racial discrimination,only to be gagged by the state secrets privilege.

Later, the CIA made public the details of the Sterlingcase — all those nasty secrets that would have jea-pordized our national security. (Sterling, by the way,is still waiting for his day in court.)

William Weaver, a University of Texas-El Pasoprofessor, has written a study on the “state secrets”history and faults the Bush administration for over-using this legal poison pill. The Justice Departmentemploys the privilege “with offhanded abandon,”Weaver claims, citing a single case in which theprivilege was invoked 245 times. Lightly, indeed.

Now the administration wants to use “statesecrets” in the case of Sibel Edmonds, a former FBItranslator who last week made the shocking state-ment that U.S. intelligence knew months inadvance that al-Qaeda planned to hit a skyscraperwith a plane. Edmonds had been fired after makingformal complaints within the FBI that the transla-tion department was corrupt and inefficient.

Of course, John Ashcroft couldn’t use the statesecrets privilege to keep Edmonds from giving the9/11 Commission a three-hour debriefing session.But he does plan to use the privilege to keep herfrom obtaining any proof of her allegations — shehas repeatedly sued the FBI for access to her trans-lations under the Freedom of Information Act.

“This is not hearsay,” Edmonds insists. “Theseare things that are documented. These things canbe established very easily.”

The Bush administration is learning the hardway that every government employee they spurn isa whistleblower in the making. When one such asRichard Clarke makes the front pages, the WhiteHouse’s best defense is a quick, ugly smear cam-paign. And while they can’t get a muzzle on SibelEdmonds, they can keep her on a leash. The JusticeDepartment has informed her that her case willprobably be held up until some time after — youguessed it — November.

Doug Fretty ’05 is studying abroad in Paris this semester.

War on whistleblowers

Bush’s flaying of our

secular values must

come to an end.

GUEST COLUMN BY DOUG FRETTY

You’re walking down Thayer Street when you seehim out of the corner of your eye. Bedraggled, he’s sit-ting at the wall of a building, extending a Styrofoam cuplistlessly before him. You feel for him, yet you know thata bit of change won’t solve what he’s going through. Butwhat will? Is there any way to help a man so desperate-ly down on his luck?

In Providence, the homelessness situation is dire.The “Renaissance City” reforms introduced underMayor Vincent Cianci did wonders to polish up thecity’s image, but, if you’ll forgive me for borrowing fromShakespeare, they “but skin and film the ulcerousplace,” concealing a grim reality that most peoplewould rather ignore.

Providence has the fourth-highest child poverty ratein the entire country, with over 5,000 people enteringthe Rhode Island shelter system every year. To makematters worse, African Americans are six times morelikely than whites to enter emergency shelters. The lackof affordable housing is the main culprit.Unfortunately, Brown University has done its share toexacerbate the problem by allowing large numbers ofstudents to live off campus, thereby greatly driving uphousing rents in surrounding areas.

All these statistics translate into a massive homeless-ness problem that city administrators would prefer tokeep concealed. To this effect, they have passed numer-ous laws that basically criminalize public homeless-ness. Someone can be arrested for failure to move,vagrancy (having less than $20 on one’s person),“aggressive” panhandling and other violations. Theenforcement of these laws is arbitrary because they arenot applied to most people, but rather targeted exclu-sively at the homeless community.

But harassment of the homeless doesn’t stop withthese laws; the covert reality of police brutality andhumiliation consistently plagues their lives as well.Back-alley beatings, away from the eyes of street-goers,are commonplace. A homeless person drinking coffeeis liable to have his drink smelled and investigated to

determine its alcoholic content. An elderly homelessman recounted to me the story of one particularlynotorious policeman who instigated a physical con-frontation with him as he sat reading in a public library.When the man nearly had a heart attack, an ambulancehad to be called, and the officer demanded that themedics “hand him over” as soon as his blood pressurehad stabilized.

Recently Cathy Rhodes, the director of People to EndHomelessness, was arrested for standing near a streetand holding a sign proclaiming that she could bearrested for standing near a street and holding a sign.The charge was “failure to move,” the sentence up to 30

days in prison. Her charges were thankfully dropped,but she had the major advantage of having a place tolive.

The gentrification of Providence, while perhaps ren-dering the city more attractive for tourism and busi-ness, comes at the expense of betraying a large factionof the local population. A Brown student organizationcalled Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere,in conjunction with People to End Homelessness, isorganizing to work with Mayor David Cicilline ’83 andthe City Council to make the poor and the disenfran-chised of Providence one of their highest priorities. Weexpect it to be an uphill battle, as reform is neverachieved overnight. But perhaps together we can giveour brother on Thayer something besides a couple ofquarters.

Natalie Smolenski ’07 encourages you to fight home-lessness by contacting HOPE at [email protected].

A renaissance for some, not all

GUEST COLUMN BY ALEX SCHULMAN

Remember that whole

transparency thing?

Accused of

“failure to move.”

GUEST COLUMN BY NATALIE SMOLENSKI

Page 12: Wednesday, April 7, 2004

BY JILANE RODGERSThe men’s track and field team traveledsouth over spring break for a week of train-ing and competition in North Carolina. TheBears’ participation in two challengingmeets was highlighted by several personalbests and two Brown top-10 performances.

The trip kicked off at the Raleigh Relayson March 27. Although only a limited squad

participated due to the long travel daysbefore the meet, several athletes performedwell, including Paul Rosiak ’07, who madehis college debut in the javelin with a markof 184-10.

The 4x400-meter team timed in at3:16.54, with co-captain David Owen ’04leading off, splitting 48.9, and DallasDissmore ’05 closing with a 47.7 split.

“I felt good,” Dissmore said. “I had aninjury bothering me, but I was able to runthrough it. I’m happy with my time, andmore importantly, with the team’s time.”The split was Dissmore’s fastest 400 ever.

The team devoted the rest of the week tointensive training at Duke University, keep-ing its focus on the bigger meets to comelater in the season. Still, the squad showedfew signs of fatigue at the Duke Invitationalon April 2 and 3, where a number of athletesopened their outdoor seasons.

Throws Coach Michelle Eisenreichdescribed the week of workouts leading upto Duke as “really strong and solid.” Thattraining showed, as Jake Golenor ’06 threwthe discus 166-7, a personal best by over twofeet that moved him to fourth on Brown’sall-time top-10 list. “Jake’s been dying tothrow the discus for half a year now,”Eisenreich said. “He really got out there andcompeted hard, which is great for how earlyit is in the season.”

SPORTS WEDNESDAYTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD

APRIL 7, 2004 · PAGE 12

BY CRAIG MCGOWANThe men’s tennis team posted two victo-ries and one loss in three extremely com-petitive matches last week.

The Bears lost to Virginia PolytechnicInstitute 5-2 at home on March 27 butsqueaked out a road win against OldDominion University 4-2 two days later. Toclose out the week, the team lost a heart-breaker to the College of William & Mary,4-3.

The matches, all against ranked teams,marked some of the toughest competitionthe 44th-ranked Bears have faced all year.Brown enters the Ivy League season with a12-4 record. The loss to William & Marymarks the first time the Bears have lost thedoubles point all season.

The Bears began spring-break play witha home match against 41st-ranked VirginiaTech. The team shuffled its normal dou-bles lineup for the match, teaming AdilShamasdin ’05 with Nick Goldberg ’05rather than with his usual partner, co-cap-tain Jamie Cerretani ’04. Cerretani playedinstead with co-captain Ben Brier ’04,while co-captain Kris Goddard ’04 andZach Pasanen ’06 comprised Brown’s thirddoubles team.

Shamasdin and Goldberg got the teamoff to a good start with an 8-5 win overStephane Rod and Soren Spanner. WhileGoddard and Pasanen dropped theirmatch 8-3, the 58th-ranked team ofCerretani and Brier clinched the doublespoint for Brown by defeating AndreasLauland and Arvid Puranen 8-6.

But in singles, Virginia Tech came backstrong. Goldberg was the lone winner forthe Bears, defeating Puranen 6-4, 6-2, asVirginia Tech earned a 5-2 victory.

“I think we ran into a very hot team thatdefinitely played as well as they can play,”said Head Coach Jay Harris. “We definitelydidn’t play our best tennis as a team.”

Following the loss to Virginia Tech, theBears went on the road, sweeping the dou-bles point against Old Dominion and win-ning the match 4-2.

The team of Cerretani and Shamasdin,

currently ranked 11th in the nation, start-ed off strong for Brown, defeating NiklasOskarsson and Izak van der Merwe 8-5.Goddard and Pasanen continued thestrong play with a 9-7 victory, and Brierteamed with Goldberg for an 8-5 victory tocomplete the sweep for Brown.

Cerretani, ranked 87th in the nation forsingles, had his hands full against 12th-ranked van der Merwe, falling 6-3, 6-1. ButGoldberg got the momentum rolling forBrown when, down two breaks in the thirdset, he came back to win his match againstZoltan Csanadi 4-6, 6-2, 7-5. Brier andPasanen also contributed wins to clinchthe match for the Bears.

“That was a really, really good win forus,” Harris said.

The Bears’ trip through Virginia con-cluded at William & Mary. The teamdropped a hard-fought match against the49th-ranked Tribe, losing the doublespoint for the first time this season.

Cerretani and Shamasdin had the onlydoubles win for the Bears, defeating 38th-ranked Geoff Russell and Steven Kane 9-8.Goddard and Pasanen fell to Sean Kelleherand Stephen Ward 8-5, while the team ofBrier and Goldberg lost 8-6 to Alex Fishand Jeff Kader.

Despite the doubles loss, Brown ralliedsomewhat in singles to split the matches.Goldberg and Cerretani switched places inthe lineup, and Goldberg subsequentlysuffered his only singles loss of the week, to47th-ranked Kader, 7-5, 6-1. Cerretani,however, recorded his only singles win ofthe week, defeating Kelleher 6-3, 6-7, 1-0(10-7). Shamasdin and Brier also recordedwins for the Bears, while Eric Thomas ’07and Pasanen both lost close matches.

Ultimately, it was the doubles point thatgave William & Mary the victory.

Brown begins Ivy League play on Fridaywhen the team travels to the University ofPennsylvania.

Herald staff writer Craig McGowan ’07covers men’s tennis. He can be reached [email protected].

Tuesday, April 6

Softball: Brown 6, Stony Brook 1Softball: Stony Brook 2, Brown 1

Wednesday, April 7

Baseball: vs. Rhode Island, 2 p.m., home (DH)

BY ROBBIE COREY-BOULETThe women’s tennis team split six match-es over a spring-break road trip thatincluded a second-place finish at theUniversity of California-IrvineInvitational.

The team improved its record to 8-6 forthe spring season, despite the loss of var-sity singles starter Kimberly Singer ’06,who left the team during the Californiastretch.

With the loss of Singer, the team’s limit-ed but experienced line-up now stands atsix healthy players. The team has the min-imum number of players needed to com-pete, which requires that everyone pro-vide singles and doubles contributions.

“We cannot afford any injuries or ill-nesses throughout our Ivy season,” saidHead Coach Norma Taylor.

The Bears kicked off the break with a 5-2 win against Boston University, winningthe top matches in both singles and dou-bles. The team showed composure andconfidence against the Terriers, pulling

out tough matches to ensure the victory.At No. 1 doubles, the team of captain

Victoria Beck ’04 and Kerry Meath ’05 ledthe way with an 8-6 victory. AlexandraArlak ’05 and Michelle Pautler ’07 followedwith another 8-6 win in the No. 2 slot.

Brown capitalized on its strength insingles, winning all but two of the sixmatches. Arlak’s endurance enabled her topull out a three-set match against LindseyDynof, claiming the No. 1 position by ascore of 6-3, 2-6, 6-2. Meath completedanother strong day for the Bears with athree-set win over Elena de Mendoza, 6-3,5-7, 6-2.

The team’s injuries forced Beck to playat the No. 4 singles position, and sheresponded with a dominating 6-1, 6-3showing. Beck had earlier planned to sitout singles for the year and focus on dou-bles competition.

Singer fell in straight sets to freshmanErin Katims, who has posted an impres-sive 13 wins at No. 3 singles for the

Terriers. Amanda Saiontz ’07 also falteredin straight sets, losing 6-4, 6-3.

At the UC-Irvine Invitational, Brownrolled over unranked Idaho State in thefirst round, winning all completed match-es and dropping only one set. Key contrib-utors included Meath, Arlak, Beck, Saiontzand Ames, who all turned in both doublesand singles victories.

The University of Portland proved to bea tougher match for the Bears in the sec-ond round, but key singles wins propelledBrown into the finals of the Invitational.Arlak and Beck continued their impres-sive play with three-set wins at No. 1 andNo. 2 singles, giving momentum back tothe Bears after the team dropped the dou-bles point.

Saiontz also turned in an impressivewin at No. 4, rebounding from a tough firstset to win her match, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. Amesadded another win, this time needing only

Nick Neely / Herald

Dallas Dissmore ’05 anchored the 4x400 relay for men’s track at the team’s meets in NorthCarolina over break. At the Raleigh Relays, his 47.7 time was a personal best.

Top-ranked oppositionprepares m. tennis forstart of Ivy League play

Playing all matches,“Sensational Six”reach finals of UC-Irvine tourney

B R O W N S P O R T S S C O R E B O A R D

Spring break in North Carolinagives men’s track a week of hardtraining, competitive meets

see W. TENNIS, page 9

see TRACK, page 9