wednesday, december 4, 2002

12
Arming police could take up to two years once a decision is reached page 3 It might not be such slim pickings for the Dems in 2004, says Joshua Skolnick ’04 column, page 11 Cate Oswald ’04 says the U.S. should reevaluate its AIDS strategy column, page 11 Disco inferno captures championship and brings home a large trophy sports, page 12 Big Ten surprises with the strongest confer- ence in college football, says Luke Meier ’04 sports column, page 12 mostly sunny high 31 low 23 INSIDE WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2002 TODAY’S FORECAST THE BROWN DAILY HERALD An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891 DECEMBER 4, 2002 Volume CXXXVII, No. 124 www.browndailyherald.com WEDNESDAY Seth Kerschner / Herald LONELY MR.SNOWMAN The Main Green was empty Tuesday as temperatures hit the teens. Students stayed indoors leaving one lonely snowman out in the cold. Administrators’ lottery reform plan draws criticism from ResCouncil BY MOMOKO HIROSE AND AMY RUDDLE Disregarding a Residential Council proposal to reform the housing lottery, administrators proposed their own plan to reform the lottery Tuesday despite unanimous oppositon by ResCouncil. ResCouncil members contend the proposal proposed by administrators in the Office of Campus Life inadequately responds to students’ problems with the lottery system, inconveniences underclassmen and limits housing options. “We feel that this process would seriously alter the lottery system for the worse, especially for rising sophomores,” said Evan Metcalfe ’03, a ResCouncil member. The Office of Campus Life plan would combine the last two segments of the lottery—segment 5, which consists of mostly doubles and singles, and the 5/7 person lottery, which is mostly suites in Grad Center. This proposal is tentative and is subject to review by ResCouncil and administrators in the Office of Residential Life, said Dean for Campus Life Margaret Jablonski. She said the plan aims to shorten the lottery process and alleviate administrative stress. “The general idea is to finish the process before spring break,” she said. ResCouncil member Jesse Goodman ’04 said the plan removes much of the flexibility in housing choices, making it riskier for sophomores to enter as a suite. “It’s adding a lot of sophomore stress for what I see is a very limited gain of not knowing what house you’re going to be in over one week of spring break,” he said. Metcalfe said he conducted an informal survey of soph- omores at the beginning of the 2002 school year. When sophomores were asked to list their concerns with the hous- ing lottery, the length of time the lottery took ranked least important, behind other problems like having to restructure groups from one segment to the next. Of the 95 students who responded, most said they like the current length of the housing lottery because it allowed time to fully research housing options, said Michael Blitstein ’03, also a ResCouncil member. Goodman said the Campus Life’s new proposal seems Students raise concerns over Brown Police accountability BY ELENA LESLEY As the debate over arming the Brown Police continues, some students are raising questions about the University’s current regulations governing police accountability. Because the Department of Security is technically an office of the University, it is not required to release police reports to the public, said Director of the Brown News Service Mark Nickel. Municipal forces like the Providence Police Department are required by state law to make such information public, he said. “The Brown police force is a private security force, but it’s trying to defend public safety,” said Doreen Wang ’05, a member of Third World ACTION who works on the cam- paign against arming DPS officers. “This seems like a con- tradiction to me. How can they defend public safety if not everything is open to the public?” Members of twA discussed this issue in detail and expressed their concerns to President Ruth Simmons, Wang said. Although DPS doesn’t have to release records, it is required by federal law to report crime statistics because the University receives federal funding, Nickel said. Each year, the University files a campus crime report that is available on the Internet. DPS also releases summaries of incidents. “If there’s a situation where members of the campus should know,” Nickel said. BY JULIETTE WALLACK A large number of empty beds this semester left the Office of Residential Life facing a budget shortage and is forcing administrators to restrict off-campus permission in an effort to make up for the shortfall. Director of Residential Life Donald Desrochers said ResLife is short approximately $600,000 to $800,000 of its $23.5 million budget. A high rate of vacancies caused the shortage, said both Desrochers and Margaret Jablonski, dean for campus life. Each year, about 1.5 percent of beds in University resi- dence halls are vacant. This year, more than that were unoc- cupied for several reasons: the decision to open Minden Hall, a change to how the University counts overflow space and the move to grant more than 300 rising juniors off-cam- pus privileges, Desrochers said. Every vacancy leaves ResLife short about $5,000, so an unexpectedly high number of unoccupied beds can result in a sizeable amount of lost income, he said. Desrochers and Jablonski said the problem can be allevi- ated for the next academic year by not granting as many ris- ing juniors permission to live off campus. “We need to go back to being extremely conservative in terms of allowing (rising) juniors to go off campus,” Jablonski said. During this academic year, “those students returning from study abroad or leaves” will not be granted off-campus permission, she said. Students affected by this will receive letters this week. Desrochers said a large part of the empty bed quandary resulted from his office granting off-campus permission to about 300 juniors. In previous years, only 100 to 200 juniors received permission to live off campus. In an effort to allevi- ate the problem, decisions to allow rising juniors to live off campus will now be made later in the year when the University has a better idea of how many empty beds to expect, he said. “We will notify juniors as soon as possible” whether they were granted permission to live off campus, but that will likely be later in the spring than it has been in recent years, Desrochers said. The office also will be “tightening our procedures, time- lines,” Jablonski said. “Deadlines will be adhered to in the future.” But Desrochers said attempts to alleviate the budget shortage are not related to possible cutbacks in the numbers of students working each shift at Residential Life. He said right now, two or three students cover each shift in the office, but it is a common practice to reevaluate the need for stu- dent workers at this point in the year. His office often hires extra workers at the beginning of the semester and then must examine its needs later in the year. Often, as many hours from student employees may not be as needed later in the semester, Desrochers said. Instead of using workforce cutbacks to alleviate the short- age, the Office of Campus Life and Student Services will pro- vide funds to make up for ResLife’s deficit. Plans to cover ResLife’s budget shortage include asking the offices overseen by Campus Life and Student Services to “try to contribute as much as they can to the central campus life” budget, said Vice President of Campus Life and Student ResLife restricts off-campus permission to make up for impending budget shortfall URC considers budget requests The University Resources Committee entered into deliber- ations over the 2003-04 budget Monday. The committee will consider the budget requests that it received over the semester, as well as student fees and tuition. The meeting was closed to the media and to members of the Brown community. Committee members and adminis- trators declined to release information regarding URC’s meeting. The specifics of the deliberations are confidential, Associate Professor of Community Health Kay Dickersin, a URC member, told The Herald. The URC’s recommendations will be posted on the Provost Web site when the committee releases the recom- mendations to President Ruth Simmons, Assistant Provost Brian Casey told The Herald. He said he expects the com- mittee’s report to be finished in mid-January. Deliberations will continue through December and into see RESCOUNCIL, page 4 see DPS, page 4 see URC, page 4 see BUDGET, page 9 Juniors returning next semester from leave, study abroad, will be most affected in ResLife’s effort to fill beds and recoup losses

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The December 4, 2002 issue of the Brown Daily Herald

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Wednesday, December 4, 2002

Arming police couldtake up to two yearsonce a decision isreachedpage 3

It might not be suchslim pickings for theDems in 2004, saysJoshua Skolnick ’04column, page 11

Cate Oswald ’04 saysthe U.S. shouldreevaluate its AIDSstrategycolumn, page 11

Disco inferno captureschampionship andbrings home a largetrophysports, page 12

Big Ten surprises withthe strongest confer-ence in college football,says Luke Meier ’04sports column, page 12

mostly sunnyhigh 31

low 23

I N S I D E W E D N E S D AY, D E C E M B E R 4 , 2 0 0 2 TO D AY ’ S F O R E C A S T

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

D E C E M B E R 4 , 2 0 0 2

Volume CXXXVII, No. 124 www.browndailyherald.com

W E D N E S D A Y

Seth Kerschner / Herald

LONELY MR. SNOWMANThe Main Green was empty Tuesday as temperatureshit the teens. Students stayed indoors leaving onelonely snowman out in the cold.

Administrators’lottery reformplan drawscriticism fromResCouncilBY MOMOKO HIROSE AND AMY RUDDLEDisregarding a Residential Council proposal to reform thehousing lottery, administrators proposed their own plan toreform the lottery Tuesday despite unanimous oppositonby ResCouncil.

ResCouncil members contend the proposal proposed byadministrators in the Office of Campus Life inadequatelyresponds to students’ problems with the lottery system,inconveniences underclassmen and limits housing options.

“We feel that this process would seriously alter the lotterysystem for the worse, especially for rising sophomores,” saidEvan Metcalfe ’03, a ResCouncil member.

The Office of Campus Life plan would combine the lasttwo segments of the lottery—segment 5, which consists ofmostly doubles and singles, and the 5/7 person lottery,which is mostly suites in Grad Center.

This proposal is tentative and is subject to review byResCouncil and administrators in the Office of ResidentialLife, said Dean for Campus Life Margaret Jablonski.

She said the plan aims to shorten the lottery process andalleviate administrative stress.

“The general idea is to finish the process before springbreak,” she said.

ResCouncil member Jesse Goodman ’04 said the planremoves much of the flexibility in housing choices, makingit riskier for sophomores to enter as a suite.

“It’s adding a lot of sophomore stress for what I see is avery limited gain of not knowing what house you’re going tobe in over one week of spring break,” he said.

Metcalfe said he conducted an informal survey of soph-omores at the beginning of the 2002 school year. Whensophomores were asked to list their concerns with the hous-ing lottery, the length of time the lottery took ranked leastimportant, behind other problems like having to restructuregroups from one segment to the next.

Of the 95 students who responded, most said they likethe current length of the housing lottery because it allowedtime to fully research housing options, said MichaelBlitstein ’03, also a ResCouncil member.

Goodman said the Campus Life’s new proposal seems

Students raiseconcerns overBrown PoliceaccountabilityBY ELENA LESLEYAs the debate over arming the Brown Police continues,some students are raising questions about theUniversity’s current regulations governing policeaccountability.

Because the Department of Security is technically anoffice of the University, it is not required to release policereports to the public, said Director of the Brown NewsService Mark Nickel. Municipal forces like the ProvidencePolice Department are required by state law to make suchinformation public, he said.

“The Brown police force is a private security force, butit’s trying to defend public safety,” said Doreen Wang ’05,a member of Third World ACTION who works on the cam-paign against arming DPS officers. “This seems like a con-tradiction to me. How can they defend public safety if noteverything is open to the public?”

Members of twA discussed this issue in detail andexpressed their concerns to President Ruth Simmons,Wang said.

Although DPS doesn’t have to release records, it isrequired by federal law to report crime statistics becausethe University receives federal funding, Nickel said. Eachyear, the University files a campus crime report that isavailable on the Internet.

DPS also releases summaries of incidents. “If there’s asituation where members of the campus should know,”Nickel said.

BY JULIETTE WALLACKA large number of empty beds this semester left the Office ofResidential Life facing a budget shortage and is forcingadministrators to restrict off-campus permission in an effortto make up for the shortfall.

Director of Residential Life Donald Desrochers saidResLife is short approximately $600,000 to $800,000 of its$23.5 million budget.

A high rate of vacancies caused the shortage, said bothDesrochers and Margaret Jablonski, dean for campus life.

Each year, about 1.5 percent of beds in University resi-dence halls are vacant. This year, more than that were unoc-cupied for several reasons: the decision to open MindenHall, a change to how the University counts overflow spaceand the move to grant more than 300 rising juniors off-cam-pus privileges, Desrochers said.

Every vacancy leaves ResLife short about $5,000, so anunexpectedly high number of unoccupied beds can result ina sizeable amount of lost income, he said.

Desrochers and Jablonski said the problem can be allevi-ated for the next academic year by not granting as many ris-ing juniors permission to live off campus.

“We need to go back to being extremely conservative interms of allowing (rising) juniors to go off campus,” Jablonskisaid.

During this academic year, “those students returningfrom study abroad or leaves” will not be granted off-campuspermission, she said. Students affected by this will receive

letters this week.Desrochers said a large part of the empty bed quandary

resulted from his office granting off-campus permission toabout 300 juniors. In previous years, only 100 to 200 juniorsreceived permission to live off campus. In an effort to allevi-ate the problem, decisions to allow rising juniors to live offcampus will now be made later in the year when theUniversity has a better idea of how many empty beds toexpect, he said.

“We will notify juniors as soon as possible” whether theywere granted permission to live off campus, but that willlikely be later in the spring than it has been in recent years,Desrochers said.

The office also will be “tightening our procedures, time-lines,” Jablonski said. “Deadlines will be adhered to in thefuture.”

But Desrochers said attempts to alleviate the budgetshortage are not related to possible cutbacks in the numbersof students working each shift at Residential Life. He saidright now, two or three students cover each shift in the office,but it is a common practice to reevaluate the need for stu-dent workers at this point in the year.

His office often hires extra workers at the beginning of thesemester and then must examine its needs later in the year.Often, as many hours from student employees may not be asneeded later in the semester, Desrochers said.

Instead of using workforce cutbacks to alleviate the short-age, the Office of Campus Life and Student Services will pro-vide funds to make up for ResLife’s deficit.

Plans to cover ResLife’s budget shortage include askingthe offices overseen by Campus Life and Student Services to“try to contribute as much as they can to the central campuslife” budget, said Vice President of Campus Life and Student

ResLife restricts off-campus permission tomake up for impending budget shortfall

URC considersbudget requestsThe University Resources Committee entered into deliber-ations over the 2003-04 budget Monday. The committeewill consider the budget requests that it received over thesemester, as well as student fees and tuition.

The meeting was closed to the media and to members ofthe Brown community. Committee members and adminis-trators declined to release information regarding URC’smeeting.

The specifics of the deliberations are confidential,Associate Professor of Community Health Kay Dickersin, aURC member, told The Herald.

The URC’s recommendations will be posted on theProvost Web site when the committee releases the recom-mendations to President Ruth Simmons, Assistant ProvostBrian Casey told The Herald. He said he expects the com-mittee’s report to be finished in mid-January.

Deliberations will continue through December and into

see RESCOUNCIL, page 4

see DPS, page 4

see URC, page 4see BUDGET, page 9

Juniors returning next semester fromleave, study abroad, will be mostaffected in ResLife’s effort to fill bedsand recoup losses

Page 2: Wednesday, December 4, 2002

Editorial Phone: 401.351.3372

Business Phone: 401.351.3260

David Rivello, President

Beth Farnstrom, Vice President

Seth Kerschner, Vice President

Stacey Doynow, Treasurer

Jamie Wolosky, 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

2538, Providence, RI 02906. Periodicals postage paid at Providence, R.I. Offices are located at 195

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

http://www.browndailyherald.com. Subscription prices: $135 first class daily, $85 first class

weekly. Copyright 2002 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD, INC.

THIS MORNINGTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2002 · PAGE 2

My Best Effort Andy Hull and William Newman

A Story Of Eddie Ahn

Hopeless Edwin Chang

M E N U S

For the Love Keely Tharp and Dominique Bosa-Edwards

Pornucopia Eli Swiney

BLOOD DRIVE — Faunce House, starts 11 a.m.

FORUM— “The Future of the Brown Campus: Learn about the CampusMaster Planning Process,” Frances Halsband, architect; Richard Spies, andMichael McCormick. Room 120, List Art Center, Noon.

SEMINAR — “Light, Circadian Disruption and Risk of Breast Cancer,”Richard Stevens. Room 291, Bio-Medical Center, 4 p.m.

LECTURE — “Overlapping Alternatives: Identity Discourse in the MuslimPeriodical Press of Russia, 1905-1911,” James Meyer. McKinney ConferenceRoom, Watson Institute, 4 p.m.

WORKSHOP — “Brown Humanities Collections and Creating the DigitalLibrary,” Hecker Center, Rockefeller Library. 4 p.m.

C A L E N D A R

G R A P H I C S B Y T E D W U

W E A T H E R

High 34Low 20

partly cloudy

High 38Low 26

partly cloudy

TODAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

High 30Low 20

snow

High 31Low 23

mostly sunny

ACROSS1 Like some diner

orders5 Stylish10 Athenian

meeting place14 Saudi, probably15 Copier need16 Photos17 Follow, as a

suspect18 Unaware20 Body opening?21 __ Major22 Have words23 Big container25 Mugs27 John of “The

Addams Family”30 Many Britney

Spears fans32 Cough

medicineamount

34 They keep tothemselves

39 “Swan Lake”costume

40 City nearSyracuse

42 Pass over43 “__ Fidelis”45 It may follow a

crash47 Bygone49 Baby hooter50 Purify54 Fleischer of the

White Housepressroom

55 Broom-__:comics witch

56 Urge59 As opposed to63 Unaware65 Kind of fries66 Consider67 Rhode Island’s

is “Hope”68 Skeptical

response69 Sea eagles70 Mike in the

ring71 Lots

DOWN 1 “Bye”

2 Algerian port3 Canter or trot4 Unaware5 Portly6 Happy __7 Picnic pests8 Scene being

done over9 In favor of10 Urges on11 Trace, as of

color12 Happen13 “Angela’s __”19 Dogie catcher24 Cape in

northernMassachusetts

26 Mike, to Archieand Edith

27 “The Thin Man”terrier

28 Tater29 Lug30 Boy king31 Fail to

pronounce33 Stimulates35 Unaware36 Actor Jannings37 Frosty coating

38 Proofreader’snotation

41 Against44 Like Romantic

music46 Postal creed

conjunction48 Arrange

strategically, astroops

50 Admonish51 QE2, for one

52 Sitcom starDeGeneres

53 First U.S. vicepresident

54 Extra charge57 Charlie Brown

expletive58 Aware of60 Drifter61 Grace ending62 Court fixtures64 Qty.

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 67 68

69 70 71

S P A M S S H E M E T SP U T A C E T A T E G A RA L T C O R O N A T I O N SS P I N E T I N G L E RM I R E S A G R E B E LS T E W S L U A U D E L I

E T A E L L A A D ZB R A I N T E A S E R

A S A B R E W N I XM A L L S A I D S T R A PS M E A R S E T R A R E

H E A R T B R E A K E RO V E R S T E E R E D E N TN E V T E A R I N G R A EA X E S N L S T Y S S R

12/04/02

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Stumped? Call 1-900-226-4413. 99 cents a minute

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C R O S S W O R D

THE RATTYLUNCH — vegetarian mushroom barley soup, split peaand ham soup, beef enchiladas,vegan burritos, veganrefried beans, corn and sweet pepper saute, chocolatebrownies

DINNER — vegetarian mushroom barley soup, split peaand ham soup, lemon broiled chicken, steak and pepperfajitas, vegan stuffed peppers, spanish rice, broccoli cuts,polynesian ratatouille,ricotta pepper bread, chocolatecherry upside down cake

V-DUBLUNCH — vegetarian mushroom barley soup, split peaand ham soup, beef enchiladas, vegan burritos, veganrefried beans, corn and sweet pepper saute, chocolatebrownies

DINNER —vegetarian mushroom barley soup,split peaand ham soup, lemon broiled chicken, pizza rustica, redpotatoes with fresh dill, broccoli cuts, polynesian rata-touille, ricotta pepper bread, chocolate cherry upsidedown cake

Page 3: Wednesday, December 4, 2002

CAMPUS NEWSTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2002 · PAGE 3

DPS reports bicycle theft, break-insBetween Nov. 19 and 30, the Department of Public Safetyreported two vehicle break-ins, four larcenies and twobreaking and entries.

A complainant reported she parked her vehicle at noonon Nov. 19 on Cushing Street. Upon returning at 7:20p.m.,she discovered the driver’s side door had been smashed,and her stereo was missing.

On Nov. 26, a complainant reported his vehicle was bro-ken into in a parking lot at 160 Irving Avenue. A wallet wastaken from the vehicle.

A complainant reported that a Panasonic TV/VCR unitwas taken from a Hope College lounge sometime on Nov.19.The estimated value of the unit is $200.

On Nov. 23 in Faunce House, a complainant reportedthat between 1:30 and 2:25 p.m., someone took her unat-tended purse from underneath her coat in a hallway.

On Nov. 26, a Perkins Hall complainant reported his bicy-cle had been stolen.The estimated value of bicycle is $300.

At approximately 9 p.m. on Nov. 29, a complainantreported that he discovered a package delivered to theporch area of Plantation House had been opened and thecontents taken.

At Jameson House, a student reported that her Fendicarrying bag was missing on Nov. 18. She last saw it on Nov.24 in her dorm room. After a thorough search for her bag,she concluded that someone had taken her bag from herroom.

On Nov. 25, an Everett House student reported thatapproximately two months ago she began noticing some ofher personal belongings disappearing from her room. Shealso reported that cash was illegally debited from herchecking account, and a Microsoft Word document wasmissing from her computer.There was no evidence offorced entry.

— Herald staff reports

BY AKSHAY KRISHNANIf President Ruth Simmons decides to arm campus police,the process could take up to two years, Vice President forAdministration Walter Hunter told The Herald.

The University will deliberately move slowly to ensurethat all safeguards are in place before authorizing such anorder, he said.

Chief of Police Col. Paul Verrecchia said a tentative planto arm campus police has already been drafted.

“We haven’t decided the formal process yet because thepresident hasn’t made a decision,” he said.

Hunter said the University would proceed in a phasedprogram that would arm campus police officers over a oneto two-year period. Among other things, all current officerswould be required to go through a renewed backgroundcheck and psychological testing.

The ultimate decision to issue firearms, which lies withHunter and Simmons, will not be made until both are con-vinced that the Department of Public Safety is ready, Huntersaid.

Verrecchia said it would take a minimum of one year andmore realistically two years for any decision made bySimmons to be implemented.

“I’m not going to go to my superiors and say let’s startissuing firearms until I’m satisfied that my department isready, and they are not going to go to the president and askher to issue arms until they themselves believe that we areready,” he said.

Verrecchia said he believes any decision to delay armingthe police is one that lies with the University, and is notrequired by law.

The University will write formal guidelines governingfirearm withdrawal and discharge before arming the police,Hunter said. Officers would also be trained to respond to a

variety of situations.“Although our officers have already been trained at the

police academy, all officers would be subject to additionalintensive training on deadly force policies, shoot/don’tshoot scenarios, weapons retention and firearm storage,”he said.

The Providence Police Department will also help traincampus police to carry firearms, Hunter said, by allowingDPS to train on their video simulator range, Hunter said.

Hunter said that campus police are undergoing continu-ous training regardless of whether they are going to bearmed or not.

“Officers will continue to be extensively trained on theuse-of-force continuum, and techniques of persuasionsuch as verbal judo.

“Additionally, we will be implementing an improvedtraining program to enhance officer sensitivity on diversityissues,” Hunter said.

Herald staff writer Akshay Krishnan ’04 can be reached [email protected]

Process of armingcampus police couldtake year or more

Zach Frechette / Herald

Officer Paul Ruscito and Sgt. Stephen St. Jean engage indebate at the Brown Department of Public Safety.

I N B R I E F

Page 4: Wednesday, December 4, 2002

PAGE 4 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2002

unrealistic administratively, with only oneweek allotted to deal with the two combinedsegments. Thomas Forsberg, associatedirector of residential life, said in the pastResLife has taken about a week to conducteach segment and file through the paper-work.

ResCouncil already recommended a newpolicy for a shorter lottery system that doesnot hurt sophomores, Goodman said. InResCouncil’s proposal, Harkness socialdorm would be eliminated, and substance-free dorms would be taken out of the lotteryand administered similar to program hous-ing. Quiet dorm would be moved to the lastsegment of the lottery.

Other ResCouncil recommendationsinclude changing all the suites in GradTower C to five-person suites, allowingsophomores greater housing opportunities,he added.

“The rationale was to make the lotteryprocess as painless as possible for sopho-mores specifically,” Goodman said.

continued from page 1

ResCouncil

“We do, as a public safety office, abide byfederal guidelines to disclose the nature ofcrimes and to do a report on that,”Simmons told The Herald. But DPS doesn’tdisclose more specific details about inci-dents involving students, she said.

But not all students are satisfied withonly getting part of the story.

“I feel like certain things are beingallowed to be released and others aren’t,”Wang said. “I think people are unaware ofhow police might harm the community.”

“Now things are pretty much in house,”said Peter Asen ’04. “People are concernedthat things will get swept under the rug.Personally, I’m not confident of the police’sability to police themselves.”

Wang said before the University couldeven consider arming the police, it shouldimplement measures that would improveofficers’ accountability.

Brian Rainey ‘04 echoed this sentiment,adding that “more accountability is alwaysa good thing, whether the police are armed

or not.”Along with making all records open to

the public, the University should look intoestablishing a community review boardwhere members “can make sure police aremaking the community more safe, notmore destructive,” Wang said.

She also suggested that the Universityconsult community groups such as DirectAction for Rights and Equality, whichhelped set up the community review boardfor the Providence Police Department.

Rainey said that sensitivity training forofficers “should be increased andimproved.”

Simmons said she has had preliminarydiscussions with the DPS Chief of Police Col.Paul Verrecchia about improving communi-ty oversight, but no concrete plans havebeen made because the University still hasto decide whether or not to arm officers.

“Certainly, in my own thinking, I see anumber of measures that one would wantto take to ensure that our police has, fromthe perspective of its mission and its man-date, the sensibilities of the campus inmind as it conducts its police work,”Simmons said.

For some students, one such measure

includes making records public.“I think (the police) are less accountable

to the general community because theirrecords aren’t public,” Wang said. “They’llgain our trust a lot more if they releaserecords.”

Verrecchia refused to comment for thisstory.

Herald staff writer Elena Lesley ’04 is a newseditor. She can be reached [email protected]

continued from page 1

DPS

January if necessary, Casey said.Formerly known as the Advisory

Committee on University Planning, URChas held closed-door meetings since thebeginning of the semester. In September,the committee announced plans to com-municate its progress and deliberationsthrough briefings and open forums. Thecommittee did not hold a briefing or forum.

— Lisa Mandle

continued from page 1

URC

Page 5: Wednesday, December 4, 2002

WORLD & NATIONTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2002 · PAGE 5

I N B R I E F

Sun’s case against Microsoft begins

(Washington Post) — Yet another round of courtroom battlesopened Tuesday for Microsoft Corp., as the software giantcontinues to face repercussions from its violations of U.S.antitrust laws.

Sun Microsystems Inc., one of Microsoft’s most bitterrivals, asked a federal judge in Baltimore to temporarilyforce Microsoft to include Sun’s Java software code in allcopies of Microsoft’s dominant Windows operating system.Sun is suing Microsoft for antitrust damages in a case thatcould take years, and Sun wants the judge to require theJava distribution until the case is resolved.

Although Microsoft won a major victory a month agowhen a federal judge in Washington approved a settlementbetween the company and the Justice Department, thecompany must now shift gears to fight antitrust lawsuitsfiled by corporate competitors and consumers who claimthey were damaged by Microsoft’s illegal conduct.

Those suits, combined with a pending decision byEuropean regulators on similar antitrust issues, are slowingMicrosoft’s efforts to put its legal woes behind it and turn anew chapter in its corporate history.Two states,Massachusetts and West Virginia, also are appealing theapproval of the Justice Department settlement.

In addition to the Sun lawsuit, Microsoft is being sued byAOL Time Warner Inc. and Be Inc., a small operating systemmanufacturer. All are hoping that a federal appeals courtruling last year — which affirmed that Microsoft illegallyprotected its operating system monopoly — will lead to sig-nificant monetary awards.

At least in their early stages, the corporate suits are beingheard by District Court Judge J. Frederick Motz, who alreadyhas rejected a proposed settlement in one set of class-action cases. A larger class-action case is scheduled for trialin California early next year.

Sun’s is the first corporate suit to reach the courtroom,with Motz opening a three-day hearing to consider thecompany’s request for the temporary order forcing the dis-tribution of Java. Java code enables certain Internet-basedapplications, such as charts that update with new data auto-matically, to operate regardless of which operating system isin use.

More broadly, Java is a set of programming tools thatallows software developers to write applications for anycomputing systems, including those that run servers, thatpower handheld organizers or operate cell phones that domore than make phone calls.

In Sun’s view, Microsoft is preparing an assault to domi-nate the brains of these devices, just as it does personalcomputers. Microsoft’s new .Net collection of applications,which enables a variety of Internet-based interactions but islinked closely with Windows, is designed to compete withJava.

But Sun charges that once .Net is bundled with Windows,which will put it on roughly 90 percent of the world’s per-sonal computers, software developers will naturally chooseit over Java.

Harkening back to the federal government’s case againstMicrosoft, Sun attorney Lloyd R. Day Jr. said that Microsoftoriginally sought to neutralize Java by introducing its ownversion that was not compatible with Java and by deceivingdevelopers about its capabilities.

Microsoft’s actions to undermine Netscape, the firstInternet browser to carry Java, cut off Sun’s distribution sys-tem, Day said. And this bought Microsoft time to develop acompetitive product, he argued.

“It’s one thing to compete on the merits and earn thegold medal,” Day said.“It’s another to take out a competi-tor’s knee.”

Microsoft attorney David Tulchin countered that Sun wasseeking to take “a free ride on the back of Microsoft” bydemanding Java distribution.

He noted that a similar proposal by state attorneys gen-eral was rejected by the judge who approved the settle-ment agreement with the Justice Department. And he saidthat Sun is free to cut deals with computer manufacturersto have them pre-install Java on new computers.

Users of computers that do not have Java can downloadit from the Internet.

As for other devices,Tulchin argued that since .Net is notyet deployed with Windows, Java rules the non-personal-computing landscape and thus cannot demonstrate imme-diate harm that would occur if Java is not distributed via theoperating system.

U.N. weapons inspectors gainaccess to Iraqi presidential palaceBAGHDAD, Iraq (Washington Post) — International expertssearching for weapons of mass destruction barged intoone of President Saddam Hussein’s opulent, forbiddenpalaces from two directions Tuesday, conducting a sur-prise visit that tested Iraq’s promise to comply with a U.N.Security Council resolution permitting unannouncedinspections of any site in the country.

When the inspectors drove up to the front and rearentrances of Saddam’s Sijood Palace in central Baghdad, asite usually off-limits to all but a few of Saddam’s top lieu-tenants, flustered guards initially blocked the convoy. Butafter about eight minutes, as Iraqi officials who’d been fol-lowing the inspectors barked into their radios and shout-ed at the palace guards, the black metal gates were pulledopen, allowing the inspectors to drive up a palm-lineddriveway toward a three-story, turquoise-domed brickbuilding at the center of the vast compound.

U.N. officials didn’t say why they chose to visit SijoodTuesday, what the inspectors were looking for there orwhether they found any evidence of Iraq’s possession ofchemical, biological and nuclear weapons. Western intel-ligence officials and analysts have long believed Saddamhas hidden evidence of a program to develop prohibitedweapons in some of his secretive and garish palaces.

A U.N. spokesman here said “access to the entire sitewas provided without any difficulty” and that inspectorswere able to search “every room, every corner” of thecomplex. Gen. Hossam Mohammed Amin, the chief Iraqiliaison with the inspectors, said “the inspectors werehappy” with their visit.

Occurring just one day after President Bush said hisinitial reading of Iraq’s cooperation with the SecurityCouncil resolution was “not encouraging,” diplomats heresaid the visit could have been an effort by U.N. inspectionleaders to send a signal to the U.S. government aboutIraq’s compliance so far with the inspections process.Iraq’s acquiescence to a spontaneous search such as theone Tuesday would have been unthinkable during earlierrounds of inspections, the diplomats said.

For most of the 1990s, Saddam’s government refused to

allow inspectors into Sijood and other presidentialpalaces on the grounds that it would violate Iraq’s sover-eignty. But in February 1998, after former president BillClinton threatened to launch military strikes against Iraq,U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan hammered out a com-prise that allowed inspectors to visit the palaces and othersensitive sites if they provided advance notice and wereaccompanied by a team of diplomats.

The inspectors eventually searched Sijood and sevenother presidential palaces in April 1998, although theyreported that most of the 1,058 buildings they saw inthose compounds were largely empty. On Tuesday theinspectors had to go through none of the earlier formali-ties. They simply got in their white Toyota Land Rovers atthe U.N. headquarters here and drove to Sijood. “Openthe gate,” one inspector told the guards at the front gate.“We want to come in.”

The inspection Tuesday morning was at one of themore sensitive of the sites that have been previously visit-ed, but there are still others that have never been inspect-ed, and which might provoke a confrontation if the U.N.officials demand entry.

Under a Security Council resolution approved unani-mously last month, Iraq could face unspecified “seriousconsequences” if inspectors are denied access to any per-son or place in Iraq, without having to seek permission orprovide advance notice.

Iraq has insisted that it doesn’t possess and isn’t devel-oping weapons of mass destruction. Amin said Iraq wouldreaffirm that position in a long-awaited declaration of itsweapons programs it must submit to the Security Councilby Sunday. Amin said the declaration, which is expectedto be voluminous, “will include new elements, but thosenew elements don’t mean that Iraq has weapons of massdestruction.”

On Monday, Bush demanded that Iraq include everydetail of its weapons and missile programs in the declara-tion, warning that “any act of delay, deception or defiancewill prove that Saddam Hussein has not accepted the pathof compliance and has rejected the path of peace.”

Sen. John Kerry proposes changes to Bushadministration’s $1.35 trillion tax cuts WASHINGTON (L.A. Times) — Likely Democratic presidentialcandidate John Kerry offered an economic plan Tuesdaythat urges a sweeping retrenchment of President Bush’s$1.35 trillion tax cut but also relies heavily on short-termnew tax breaks to stimulate the economy.

The plan by Kerry, who last month won a fourth Senateterm from Massachusetts, seemed designed to bothsharpen his differences with Bush and position him in thecenter of the emerging Democratic field.

Rather than emphasizing new spending, Kerry pro-posed to pump additional purchasing power into theeconomy by cutting taxes on businesses that create jobsand temporarily eliminating the Social Security tax on thefirst $10,000 in earnings for workers. He also promised aspresident to “take a hard look” at waste in the federalbudget.

But he denounced the further cuts in income tax ratesdue in 2004 under the Bush tax plan — reductions theadministration may try to accelerate into next year as partof its own stimulus package.

“The new Bush tax cuts are unfair, unaffordable andunquestionably ineffective in growing our economy,”Kerry charged in an address to the City Club of Cleveland.

Kerry’s speech illustrated that the Bush tax cut shouldprove a key point of division between the parties in 2004— and among Democrats next year.

While Democratic congressional leaders have opposedefforts to challenge the tax cut — primarily because manyof their members from conservative states support it —virtually every Democrat exploring the 2004 presidentialrace has now called for rolling back parts of the law.

A White House spokesman, previewing a GOP responselikely to be heard often as the ‘04 campaign gears up, saidKerry’s proposal amounted to raising taxes by denyingAmericans future tax breaks they now expect.

“There appear to be differences within the DemocraticParty about how they want to go about raising taxes,” saidWhite House spokesman Scott McClellan. “Once theyresolve those differences, there will be plenty of time tocontrast the Democratic approach with the president’s

view that tax cuts encourage job creation and economicgrowth.”

Kerry, a Vietnam veteran who turns 59 next week,quickened the pace of the 2004 Democratic race lastSunday when he announced that he would form hisexploratory committee this week to begin organizing sup-port for a presidential candidacy.

Outgoing Vermont Gov. Howard Dean has also saidthat he will seek the nomination. Former Vice PresidentAl Gore and Rep. Richard A. Gephardt, D-Mo., have indi-cated they will make their plans clear by early nextmonth.

Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., has begun organizing acampaign staff, and Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, D-Conn.,the Democrats’ vice presidential nominee in 2000, hassaid he will run if Gore does not. Outgoing SenateMajority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., also is a prospec-tive candidate.

Kerry’s speech continued a flurry of policy addressesfrom the likely 2004 Democratic contenders. In part, theearly start reflects the acceleration of the Democratic pri-mary calendar. Under the party’s new rules, Iowa and NewHampshire hold the first nominating contests in January2004, with other states following as early as Feb. 3.

With his speech, Kerry joined Gore, Lieberman, Deanand Edwards in urging a freeze on aspects of the Bush taxcut. Kerry argued that the tax cut would benefit mostly thewealthy and could be financed only by diverting taxes col-lected for Social Security and Medicare.

The Bush tax plan, which Kerry voted against last year,cut income tax rates across the board in 2001, and provid-ed for further rate reductions in 2004 and 2006.

Though Kerry did not specify which elements of theBush tax cut he would block, press secretary David Wadesaid the senator would repeal the ‘04 and ‘06 reductionsscheduled for the top three income tax brackets. Through2006, the top rate paid by the highest earners is scheduledto fall from 38.6 percent to 35 percent, the next rate from35 percent to 33 percent and the third from 30 percent to28 percent.

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PAGE 6 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2002

ANKARA, Turkey (Washington Post)— Turkish Foreign Minister YasarYakis said Tuesday his govern-ment is prepared to cooperatewith U.S. military forces andallow American warplanes tobomb Iraq from bases in Turkeyif war is necessary to disarmPresident Saddam Hussein’sgovernment.

But Yakis stressed that Turkeywouldn’t support war againstIraq until every peaceful meansof disarming the neighboringcountry has been exhausted. Inaddition, he said the Turkishgovernment strongly believes asecond U.N. Security Councilresolution would be necessarybefore military action couldbegin.

The minister’s statements, ata news conference outside hisresidence, represented Turkey’spublic response to DeputyDefense Secretary PaulWolfowitz, who came hereTuesday seeking a commitmentfor military cooperation shouldPresident Bush decide to launcha war against Iraq. Judging fromwhat Yakis said, the responsewas yes, with conditions.

After meeting with Wolfowitzhere in the Turkish capital, Yakissaid his government would havedifficulty allowing "tens ofthou-sands" of U.S. ground troops toinvade Iraq from bases in Turkeybecause of public opposition.But he left the door open to bas-ing smaller units in Turkey andcalled military cooperation a"priority" for Turkey if warbecomes necessary.

"We believe there should not

be left any stone unturnedbefore resorting to militaryforce," Yakis told reporters. "Butif it comes to that, of course wewill cooperate with the UnitedStates."

Wolfowitz declined todescribe the extent to whichTurkey has pledged militarycooperation or the amount offoreign aid the U.S. is willing toprovide in return for assistancein any future war and to com-pensate for economic lossesTurkey has sustained because ofsanctions imposed on Iraq afterthe 1991 Persian Gulf War.Wolfowitz left little doubt, how-ever, that he was pleased by hismeetings with Turkey’s new gov-ernment, which took office onlylast week.

Pentagon officials considerTurkish bases important for exe-cution of war plans that call forSpecial Operations and airborneforces to launch simultaneousinvasions of northern, southernand western Iraq. Without basesfor aircraft and troops in Turkey,which is just north of Iraq,invading northern Iraq andbombing targets north ofBaghdad would be problematic,since the Pentagon’s other near-by bases are in Persian Gulfstates, south of Iraq.

"It’s important that he seethat he’s surrounded by theinternational community, notonly in the political sense, but ina real practical military sense,"Wolfowitz said, "and Turkey hasa very important role to play inthe regard."

A senior U.S. official said

Tuesday’s talks with Turkish offi-cials involved a discussion ofhow many U.S. forces would beinvolved in an invasion of north-ern Iraq, or how many Turkishtroops might be necessary topolice refugees or guard prison-ers of war along the border. Hediscounted reports in theTurkish press that the Bushadministration wants to stage120,000 combat troops in Turkeyand has requested 35,000Turkish troops to police refugeesalong the Turkish-Iraqi border.

"There have been a lot of dis-cussions in military channels, ofall kinds of hypothetical possi-bilities," the official said. "Iimagine the numbers you readin the (Turkish) press start fromthat."

The United States already hasa substantial military presencein Turkey, centered at the Incirlikair base in the southeastern partof the country. For 11 years U.S.forces have used Incirlik as thejumping-off point for patrolflights over northern Iraq. Thebase also has been a major hubin the past year for C-17 cargoflights to and from Afghanistan.

U.S. aircraft also are posi-tioned at a smaller, much-less-publicized base farther to theeast for use in search-and-res-cue missions if any aircrewsshould crash in Iraq.

In the event of war with Iraq,U.S. authorities hope not only toexpand operations at Incirlik butalso to use another half-dozenother Turkish bases for variousaircraft, according to Americanofficials.

Turkish minister pledges cooperationif Iraq war becomes necessary

CARACAS, Venezuela (L.A. Times) — Anationwide strike againstPresident Hugo Chavez will beprolonged into a third day afterviolence erupted between gov-ernment forces and protestersTuesday.

National Guard troopslaunched tear gas and fired shot-guns pellets at demonstratorsduring a rolling protest aroundthe financial center of the stateoil company, PDVSA.

The troops’ action came as thestrike seemed to be losing force,providing new energy to theprotest. Opposition leaderscalled for a massive march onWednesday to force Chavez toagree to a referendum on hisrule.

“The repression againstVenezuelans who were protestingpacifically ... proves the unpopu-lar, anti-democratic and repres-sive nature of this regime,” saidCarlos Ortega, the head of thecountry’s largest union. “Today,more than ever, the strike goeson.”

But Chavez said the opposi-tion was trying to provoke a con-frontation similar to the one inApril when he was brieflydeposed.

Venezuela’s crisis pits Chavezagainst a coalition that includesunions, businesses and themedia, who accuse the contro-versial president of leading thecountry into social chaos andfinancial ruin.

“There is no strike. The coun-try is working,” Chavez said,speaking to reporters outside thepresidential palace. “They havedecided to extend what they calla strike because they’re lookingfor destabilization. ... They havebegun to provoke acts of vio-lence.”

The call to continue theprotest raised fears that the strikecould begin to affect oil produc-tion, which in the past has proveda touchstone to violence.Venezuela is the third-largestsupplier of oil to the UnitedStates and petroleum accountsfor more than half the govern-ment revenue.

A prolonged strike backed bypetroleum workers in April led toa coup that overthrew Chavez. Hewas returned to power 48 hourslater by loyal troops and support-ers.

There were conflicting reportsof how oil had been affected.PDVSA executives said that asmany as 90 percent of white col-lar workers and 65 percent ofblue collars workers were onstrike.

But government officials saidthat contingency plans wereallowing normal functioning atmost production sites. They said89 percent of workers showed upfor their jobs on Tuesday.

Oil prices rose 41 cents to26.03 a barrel on Tuesday, thoughthey fell in after-hours trading.

“There have been no problemswith gas or (oil) production,” saidMaria Cristina Iglesia, the laborminister.

The opposition said 75 percentof the country heeded the call tostrike, acknowledging a dip insupport from the 80 percent par-ticipation they claimed onMonday.

But on the streets Tuesday,traffic was still light, but therewere far more cars on the roadsand shops open than on Monday.In the poorer, western parts andcentral parts of Caracas, whereChavez draws much of his sup-port, business seemed to havereturned almost to normal.

Even in the heart of the oppo-sition, shops opened.

“I don’t see as there is anysense or logic in a strike,” saidJuan Carlos Nino, 28, who wasrunning a small restaurant ablock from a plaza in a wealthyeastern neighborhood that hasformed a center of oppositionprotests.

Oil is a source of national prideand wealth, and it played a keyrole in Tuesday’s protests.

Early Tuesday morning,PDVSA’s director of planning,Juan Fernandez, called police toreport that his home had beenbroken into and that maskedmen had held a gun to his headand threatened to kill him.

Strike against Pres. Chavezextends to third day

Anxiety over war is not diminished by Iraq’sapparent compliance with weapons insepctions(L.A.Times) — Iraqi officials allowedU.N. weapons inspectors immedi-ate access to a presidential palaceTuesday, but Baghdad’s apparentcompliance with a tough newSecurity Council resolution hasdone little to lower regional anxi-ety over the prospect of war.

When weapons inspectors werein Iraq nearly four years ago, theregime balked at unannouncedinspections of President SaddamHussein’s many lavish com-pounds. This time, there had beena great deal of uncertainty overwhether Iraq would let inspectorsin, or would defy the UnitedNations and risk attack.

But even after the gates to the AlSajoud palace swung openTuesday, there was little sense thatthe prospect of military conflicthad diminished. As the deadlinefor Iraq to turn over a statementoutlining all of its bannedweapons programs looms thisweekend, too many other signssuggest that war is inevitable,observers said.

“I have to say, I am pessimistic,but I am hoping for the best,” saidHesham Yousef, spokesman forthe 22-member Arab League.

In recent days, President Bushhas said Iraq’s efforts at disarmingare “not encouraging,” andDefense Secretary Donald H.Rumsfield said Tuesday that ifinspectors don’t find anything, itmerely means that Iraq has hiddenits weapons very well.

The United States and its alliesare trying to counter any sympa-

thy that Iraq’s compliance mightengender, especially in the Arabworld, with a multifaceted cam-paign showcasing Iraq as an “evil-doer.” Britain released a dossierMonday outlining multiplehuman rights violations in Iraq;the United States continues tobomb suspected military targets insouthern Iraq’s “no-fly” zone; andon Tuesday, Kuwait’s InteriorMinistry said an Iraqi boat fired ontwo Kuwaiti coast guard vessels innorthern Kuwaiti waters.

Even U.N. Secretary-GeneralKofi Annan praised Iraq’s coopera-tion so far but had trouble muster-ing a great deal of optimism. “Thisis only the beginning,” he saidTuesday at the U.N. headquartersin New York.

Weapons inspectors resumedtheir work in Iraq last week armedwith a Security Council mandatethat gives them the right to go any-where, any time with no advancewarning. Should Iraq fail to com-ply, Resolution 1441 threatens“severe consequences,” which canbe taken to mean a U.S.-led inva-sion.

But as their first week of workended without incident, Bushtried to downplay the importanceof inspections. The issue in Iraq “isnot the inspectors,” he said in aspeech at the Louisiana state fair-grounds in Shreveport on Tuesday.

“The issue is whether or not Mr.Saddam Hussein will disarm likehe said he would,” he said. “We’renot interested in a hide-and-seekinside Iraq.”

From the moment the inspec-tors arrived in Baghdad, the Iraqiregime and the teams searchingfor nuclear, biological and chemi-cal weapons have tried to demon-strate a willingness to work togeth-er and to cooperate. Iraq appearedto readily comply with alldemands, allowing inspectors freeand immediate access.

But the Security Council resolu-tion is studded with trip wires. Oneincluded demands for access topresidential sites, and Iraq seemedto step over that one successfullyTuesday.

The most sensitive, however, ispegged to Sunday, when Iraq mustturn over the statement listingeverything in its arsenal. TheUnited States and Britain saybanned weapons programs exist,while Iraq insists they do not. Iraqiofficials have reaffirmed that posi-tion in recent days, and if Iraqsticks to that line — which is not atall certain given its history of say-ing one thing and doing another— it could be a trigger for war.

“We are going to deliver thisdeclaration in the proper time onthe 7th of this month,”Mohammed Amin, the head of theIraqi National MonitoringDirectorate, said Tuesday. “Ofcourse the declaration will havenew elements. But these new ele-ments will not, shall we say, neces-sarily include a declaration of thepresence of weapons of massdestruction. We are a countrydevoid of weapons of massdestruction.”

Postal Service buys pills toprotect workers against attackWASHINGTON (L.A. Times) — TheU.S. Postal Service is purchasing1.6 million doses of potassiumiodide pills to protect its employ-ees against thyroid cancer in theevent of a nuclear explosion ormeltdown.

Taking a cue from the anthraxscare a year ago, the postal serv-ice is spending nearly $293,000 togive its 750,000 employees theopportunity to have two days’worth of potassium iodide tabletswaiting for them at work.

The cost of buying the medica-tion breaks down to 18.3 centsper tablet, bringing the cost oftwo days of protection to 37 centsper employee, the same as a first-class stamp.

The money is coming from theagency’s $70 billion budget,which is expected to have a $600million surplus next year.

“It’s an infinitesimal fraction ofa percent,” postal servicespokesman Gerry Kreienkampsaid Tuesday. “It sounds like a lotof money, but in postal budgetterms it’s pocket change.”

The recommendation to pur-chase the tablets came from thepostal service’s mail security taskforce, created in the month afterthe anthrax scare. The postalservice says the decision is notrelated to the agency’s responseto the anthrax scare, nor is itrelated to a threat of nuclear ter-ror specific to the postal service.

The FBI issued a general terroralert last month, but maintainsthat the aviation, petroleum andnuclear sectors are the likeliesttargets.

“We want to be proactiveabout the health and safety of ouremployees,” said postal servicespokeswoman Sue Brennan. “Wewill be able to give protection inthe event of an emergency.”

The president of Anbex Inc.,the New York-based companysupplying the postal service withthe tablets, said he sees a connec-tion.

“The postal service got hurt bythe anthrax scare and becamemore sensitized to national secu-rity,” Alan Morris said Tuesday.

Page 7: Wednesday, December 4, 2002

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2002 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 7

LOS ANGELES (L.A. Times) — LosAngeles County prosecutorsare recommending that filmstar Winona Ryder do 60 daysof community service, under-go drug and psychiatric coun-seling, and pay more than$26,000 in fines and restitu-tion as a result of her convic-tion for shoplifting from SaksFifth Avenue.

Ryder, who had faced a pos-sible three-year prison term,is due to be sentenced Fridayin a Beverly Hills courtroomfor felony grand theft and van-dalism. The district attorney’soffice previously announced itwould seek to place her onfelony probation rather thandemand jail time.

Ryder’s attorney, MarkGeragos, said Tuesday he doesnot plan to file a motion for anew trial — a contrast fromhis reaction last month afterRyder was convicted forshoplifting $5,560 in designermerchandise from Saks inBeverly Hills. Ryder wasacquitted of burglary.

“I’m certainly happy they’renot asking for jail time,” saidGeragos. “I would imagine(Ryder) is pleased too.”

Prosecutors issued the sen-tencing memorandum with-out comment.

According to the five-pagememo, the recommendedsentence is meant to punishRyder “for her criminal con-duct, deterring others bydemonstrating the conse-quences of such conduct andrequiring the defendant tocooperate in (a) plan for psy-chiatric and/or drug counsel-ing so her actions onDecember 12, 2001 will not be

repeated.” Ryder, the 31-year-old star

of such movies as “Girl,Interrupted,” “Little Women”and “The Age of Innocence,”has no prior convictions.

Court transcripts madepublic after the trial disclosedthat Ryder was suspected ofshoplifting on three previousoccasions at Neiman Marcusand Barneys stores. SuperiorCourt Judge Elden S. Fox ruledthat such evidence could notbe presented to the jury.

When Ryder was arrestedoutside Saks, she was foundwith 20 unpaid-for designeritems valued at $5,560.

At trial, much of the prose-cution’s case focused onlengthy videotapes from Sakssecurity cameras showingRyder walking through thestore laden with merchandiseand shopping bags. At times,Ryder, who is free on $20,000bail, stuffed socks and hairbows into a hat.

In the sentencing memo,District Attorney SteveCooley and Deputy DistrictAttorney Ann Rundle recom-mended that Ryder pay Saks$6,355.40 for stolen and dam-aged merchandise as well as$20,000 in restitution andpenal fines.

They also stated that theyoppose allowing Ryder todesign her own communityservice program. The D.A.’soffice believes “that the puni-tive aspect of communityservice will serve as a deter-rent for the defendant anddemonstrate to her that crim-inal conduct results in seriousconsequences for the offend-er.”

Punishment but no jail timeare recommended for Ryder

WASHINGTON (Washington Post) —The Bush administrationacknowledges that global warm-ing poses serious problems, butsenior officials speaking at a cli-mate-change policy conferenceTuesday said there still arenumerous uncertainties aboutglobal warming’s cause andeffects. They urged caution incommitting the country to long-term solutions that might hurtthe economy.

The three-day, administra-tion-sponsored conferencetakes place in a year that hasseen several global warmingscares. An Antarctic ice shelf thesize of Rhode Island shatteredand collapsed into the sea inMarch, and Bolivian Andes gla-ciers are melting at an alarmingpace.

Administration officials saythe nation shouldn’t panic andmake unwise decisions.President Bush has called for adecade of research before thegovernment commits to any-thing more than voluntarymeasures to stem carbon diox-ide and other greenhouse gasemissions from industry andvehicles that have been closelytied to global warming.

“I don’t think there’s any dis-agreement that human activityhas substantially contributed tothe amount of CO2 (carbondioxide) in the environment,”said John Marburger, the White

House science and technologyadviser. “What we are arguing isthat we need more informationto have a clearly articulated reg-ulatory policy that is practical,that’s affordable and doesn’t putthe economy at risk.”

Samuel Bodman, DeputySecretary of Commerce, said aprimary goal of the conferenceis to “do our best to clear up oreliminate the uncertainties” inthe mountains of existing scien-tific research, including a reportto the president last year fromthe National Academy ofSciences.

More than 1,200 scientists,experts, environmentalists andothers are taking part in theworkshops. CommerceSecretary Don Evans said thesessions were designed to “jumpstart” a presidentially requestedreview of updated research andproposals for combating globalwarming.

But some environmentalistssay there is more than enoughscientific data from a variety ofcredible panels to makeinformed policy decisions. Theyquestioned whether the confer-ence was simply window dress-ing for an administration thathas decided to oppose anymandatory limits on industrialgreenhouse gas emissions, suchas those contained in the KyotoProtocol, an international globalwarming treaty.

“This would have been a goodprogram if it were still 1990,”said Jennifer Morgan, a climatechange expert with the WorldWildlife Fund. “Over a decade ofresearch has been done in theUnited States and international-ly to make the case for climatechange action, so we don’t needto wait for further science totake action. The U.S. is workingin a time warp.”

Over the past decade, the UN-sponsored IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change hasproduced three comprehensivestudies on the cause and effectof global warming, warning ofthe potential for large-scale andirreversible changes. Theyinclude reductions in theGreenland and West Antarcticice sheets and a substantialslowing of the circulation ofwarm water in the NorthAtlantic.

The Clinton administrationprepared a National Assessmenton Climate Change that provid-ed a region-by-region assess-ment of the potential impact ofglobal warming on the UnitedStates. In June 2001 the NationalAcademy of Sciences concludedin a review of existing data thatglobal warming was a real prob-lem caused, at least in part, byman-made pollution that couldwell have a “serious adverse”impact by the end of the centu-ry.

WASHINGTON (L.A. Times) —Although President Bush hasrepeatedly promised to boost fed-eral aid to firefighters and otheremergency workers, the JusticeDepartment this week temporarilysuspended awarding grants to aidthese first responders to terroristattacks.

Administration officials said thedelay in the program, which hadbeen expected to get a big budgethike in the aftermath of the Sept.11 attacks, stemmed from the fail-ure of Congress to finish the budg-et for domestic programs beforeadjourning last month. Instead,lawmakers postponed final spend-ing decisions until mid-January atthe earliest.

“At this point, we can only spec-ulate on the availability ofresources for the balance of the fis-cal year,” said Assistant AttorneyGeneral Deborah J. Daniels in amemo Monday explaining why avariety of programs and initiativeswere being postponed.

At issue is a program, whichtook on new visibility and impor-tance after the terrorist attacks,that provides grants to state andlocal governments to provideequipment and training for firedepartments, police departmentsand other agencies that are likelyto be among the first to respond toa terrorist attack.

Democrats on the HouseAppropriations Committee, whoreleased a copy of Daniels’ memo,upbraided the department for notcontinuing to award grants withthe money included in the interimfunding bill Congress passed tofinance programs through Jan. 11.

The Justice Department grantfreeze “follows a pattern of Bush

holding highly trumped-up photoops with first responders and thensubsequently rejecting money forthem,” committee Democrats saidTuesday.

The grant program for the firstresponders is just one of manyhomeland security programsthrown into limbo becauseCongress passed none of the 11appropriations bills needed tofinance domestic programs for thebudget year that began Oct. 1.Instead, Congress provided onlyshort-term funding at 2002 levels— delaying expected increases forprograms that emerged as priori-ties after the terrorist attacks, suchas the Coast Guard, the CustomsService and the FBI.

John Scofield, spokesman forthe Republicans on the HouseAppropriations Committee, saidthe Justice Department’s delay indispensing grants was “prudent,”and that its effects would be onlytemporary. But he said it was a

prime example of the adverseeffects of Congress and the WhiteHouse not reaching timely agree-ment on a budget.

“Punting the budget untilJanuary is not the best way to gov-ern,” Scofield said. “There will besome real consequences, albeittemporary.”

Funding for the program lastyear was $651 million; Bush pro-posed increasing it to $3.5 billion.Congress is expected to follow suitwith a big increase, but it has notyet finished work on the JusticeDepartment’s appropriation.Under the stopgap spending bill,the department continued tomake grants — until this week.

Faced with uncertainty aboutthe department’s final budget forthe year, Daniels said in her memothat the agency would postponeimplementation of new policies,including a restructuring of sever-al juvenile justice programs, aswell as the distribution of grantsuntil after the full-year budget isset.

David Sirota, spokesman for theDemocrats on the HouseAppropriations Committee,argued that the administration’sresponse “shows a fundamentallack of a sense of urgency.”

It is particularly galling toDemocrats because Bush hasappeared at many rallies withemergency workers, lavishingpraise on their efforts and promis-ing to pour resources into the pro-gram. But in August 2002, afterCongress sent Bush a bill provid-ing supplemental funding for avariety of homeland security pro-grams, he refused to spend $150million included for first-respon-der grants.

Bush administration concedesglobal warming a serious threat

Justice department halts grants toterror-response agencies

“Punting the budget

until January is not

the best way to gov-

ern. There will be

some real conse-

quences, albeit tem-

porary.”

John ScofieldSpokesman for the Republicanson the House AppropriationsCommittee

KABUL, Afghanistan (L.A. Times) —When the Bush administrationconceived the U.S. military mis-sion in Afghanistan after thedefeat of the Taliban regime ayear ago, it promoted visions ofAmerican forces as frontier law-men rooting out al-Qaeda andpreventing terrorist cells from re-forming.

What the administration did-n’t want, officials repeatedly said,was for U.S. troops to becomeinvolved in nation-building inthis shattered country.

But amid persistent violencehere, the U.S. military is nowplanning to redeploy large num-bers of soldiers to help rebuildAfghanistan.

The new program reflectswhat Gen. Tommy Franks, thehead of U.S. Central Command,described here over the weekendas the U.S. military’s “evolving”role in Afghanistan. That roleapparently will shift from mainlycombating terrorism to a greaterresponsibility for undertakingand safeguarding reconstructionin a land devastated by decadesof war.

Reconstruction is crucial toAfghanistan’s recovery, becausethe jobs it generates will giveAfghans an economic alternative

to fighting. But the reconstruc-tion process, officials hereacknowledge, has been jeopard-ized by ongoing insecurity andthe chilling effect that has had onpublic aid projects as well as pri-vate investment.

Still, the realization has sunkin here that the U.S. militarypresence is likely to last yearsand that the “creation of econo-my,” to use one official’s phrase,is the best way to shorten thatperiod. Such a creation dependson the reconstruction ofAfghanistan’s devastated infra-structure and shattered politicalinstitutions and on an influx ofprivate investment, both domes-tic and foreign.

The new program, sourcessaid, probably will not entail anincrease in the U.S. uniformedpersonnel here — now roughly8,000 troops.

Although details of the newrole are scarce, sources said itwill be an expanded version of anexisting program in which smallteams of fewer than a dozencivil-assistance troops, typicallyreservists, are building bridges,schools and hospitals and dis-pensing medical aid in 11 Afghanlocales under the protection of afew U.S. combat troops.

U.S. plans expandedmission in AfghanistanSoldiers to help rebuild in the wake of Taliban

Page 8: Wednesday, December 4, 2002

PAGE 8 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2002

NEW YORK (Newsday) — Advertisingsales at AOL Time Warner’s onlineunit could tumble by as much as50 percent next year, the compa-ny said Tuesday during a meetingwith analysts in which the mediagiant outlined ways to combatthose losses.

America Online, the world’slargest Internet provider, said thatoverall revenues, projected to bebetween $8.8 billion and $9 bil-lion this year, would be flat in2003 compared with this year.

“If the question is, Has AOLbottomed out as a business,’ theanswer, we think, is yes,” AOLTime Warner chairman SteveCase said.

Calling 2003 a transition year,the company gave an overview ofhow it plans to turn around itsAmerica Online division during a4 1/2-hour presentation thatbegan with AOL Time Warnerchief executive Richard Parsonsdeclaring that its online unit “isnot a wasting business.”

AOL executives reiterated thatthe company, which has 27 mil-lion U.S. users, has no plans ofabandoning its dial-up focus, but

that it will try to push users tomigrate to its high-speed services.It plans to push its broadbandservice by partnering with cablesystem operators. It recentlysigned a deal with Comcast forsuch an arrangement, as well asoffering it through Time WarnerCable, an AOL Time Warner prop-erty.

America Online chairman andchief executive Jon Miller alsosaid the company is consideringoffering varying pricing tiers forits dial-up service rather than theall-encompassing $23.90 stan-dard plan it has now. Otherchanges AOL has in store for nextyear are:

“AOL Call Alert,” an extra serv-ice that will signal logged-onusers when a caller is trying to getthrough and allow them to divertthe caller to AOL’s voicemail serv-ice or send a pre-recorded mes-sage.

A deal with NetworkAssociates, the maker of anti-virus software McAfee, to providefree e-mail protection, with theoption of paying to upgrade to afull version of the product.

AOL expects moread sales decline

Page 9: Wednesday, December 4, 2002

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2002 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 9

Services Janina Montero. Thoseoffices include Health Services, theSarah Doyle Women’s Center,University Food Services and theThird World Center.

But the ResLife shortage is size-able enough that savings fromwithin ResLife and other officeswill not cover the entire deficit,Montero said.

Remaining shortages will becovered by reserves, which “arethere to respond to some routineissues that we have to deal with,”like small construction projects or,on occasion, budget shortages,Montero said.

“You hope that that’s not whatyou use them for,” as they are there

“primarily to take care of the needsfor the operation,” she said. It’sunusual to have a deficit, but“things do happen.

“So on occasion, you’ll have cer-tain developments” that mightlead to a shortage and the use ofreserves, Montero said.

But both Jablonski and Monterosaid students will not see a reduc-tion in services as a result of thesevere shortage, and Jablonski saidany increase in student fees willnot be due to this problem. Thecost of room and board for the2003-04 academic year will bedecided during the FebruaryCorporation meetings, Jablonskisaid.

Herald staff writer Juliette Wallack’05 covers faculty and administra-tion. She can be reached at [email protected].

continued from page 1

Budget

best team is playing for thenational title. Let me explain.

Iowa has clearly been the topteam in the conference this sea-son, while Ohio State, Penn Stateand Michigan have played almostdead even behind them. Anyonewho’s watched the games thisseason knows that Iowa wouldhave beaten any of the other topfour conference teams in any sta-dium in the United States. Thenext three are close enough thatthe home team likely would haveprevailed in any contest betweenthem. This is, in fact, exactly what

happened this season, with OhioState playing both of these gamesat home, Michigan playing one atthe Big House and one inColumbus and Penn State play-ing both on the road. Eachearned zero, one and two lossesrespectively, and each game wasdecided by less than a touch-down.

I say this as a preliminaryreminder to those who will tellme I’m wrong about the Big Tenafter Ohio State gets clobbered inthe Fiesta Bowl. They’re therebecause of their conferenceschedule. And Iowa would havewon.

Luke Meier ’04 hails fromChampaign, Ill.

continued from page 12

Meier

close throughout the first half,with both teams throwing lots ofcrisp, break mark throws andplaying hard man defense. But inthe second half the Brown womenpulled out their solid zone defenseand forced a number of turnovers.Williams didn’t quite know whatto do, and Disco pulled ahead,winning the game 10-5 and earn-ing a spot in the finals.

By then Brown was in fullstride, riding on the energy andexcitement of the day and readyfor a competitive final againstregional-rival Yale Ramona. Bothteams came out fired up from thestart, handling the disc well, huck-ing long, and laying out all overthe place. Yale took half 8-7 and

didn’t let up at start of the secondhalf. Ramona gave Disco troublewith their effective force middledefense and went on a scoringfrenzy to put Disco behind 7-11.But Disco showed a lot of determi-nation and heart and battled backfrom behind to tie it up at 14.

As Yale’s starting seven werebeginning to tire, Disco was prov-ing the importance of a deep side-line. But Ramona kept fightinghard and pulled ahead to 14-15.Nevertheless, the game was winby two, so Brown still had achance. With the sidelinesscreaming, Disco scored threehard-fought points in a row, andthe Brown women defeated Yale17-15 to take the Purple Valleychampionship.

Rachel Weston ’03 is a member ofthe women’s ultimate Frisbeeteam.

continued from page 12

W. Ultimate

intentional wrongdoing. Peopleapologize for accidents all thetime.

It is Sapp’s stubbornness, morethan the actual hit that has creat-ed most of the controversy andbad feelings. It’s a shame,because the situation didn’t haveto be this bad. I know that Sappthinks he is not in the wrong, buthe should be able to conceivethat maybe, just maybe, hisactions could possibly haveoffended people.

I have an idea Warren — onethat will finally get rid of thismedia attention: apologize. VisitClifton.

Reach out from your cocoon ofinfinite wisdom for once andmaintain your dignity. Maybethat would tarnish your legacy ofbeing the league’s most bullying,merciless player. If that’s themost important thing to you,then I suppose you shouldn’tcare.

In the post-game coverageafter Maddox went down,Steelers punter Josh Miller saidsomething that applies to theSapp situation. “It reminds youquickly it’s just a game,” Millersaid. Warren Sapp is just a personplaying the game of football, afact that, sadly, he seems to haveforgotten.

Eric Perlmutter ’06 is willing totake on Warren Sapp any time,anywhere.

continued from page 12

Perlmutter

Page 10: Wednesday, December 4, 2002

EDITORIAL/LETTERSTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2002 · PAGE 10

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

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 and letters 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 in its discretion.

Marion Billings, Night EditorAnastasia Ali, Copy Editors

Staff Writers Kathy Babcock, Zach Barter, Brian Baskin, Jonathan Bloom, Carla Blumenkranz,Oliver Bowers, Danielle Cerny, Jinhee Chung, Maria Di Mento, Jonathan Ellis, Nicholas Foley, DanaGoldstein, Alan Gordon, Nick Gourevitch, Joanna Grossman, Stephanie Harris, Victoria Harris,Shara Hegde, Brian Herman, Momoko Hirose, Akshay Krishnan, Brent Lang, Elena Lesley, JamayLiu, Lisa Mandle, Jermaine Matheson, Monique Meneses, Kerry Miller, Alicia Mullin, Crystal Z.Y. Ng,Juan Nunez, Joanne Park, Sara Perkins, Melissa Perlman, Cassie Ramirez, Amy Ruddle, EmirSenturk, Jen Sopchockchai, Adam Stella, Anna Stubblefield, Stefan Talman, Jonathon Thompson,Joshua Troy, Juliette Wallack, Jessica Weisberg, Ellen Wernecke, Julia ZuckermanPagination Staff Bronwyn Bryant, Jessica Chan, Melissa Epstein, Joshua Gootzeit, CarolineHealy, Hana Kwan, Erika Litvin, Stacy WongStaff Photographers Josh Apte, Nick Mark, Makini Chisolm-Straker, Allison Lauterbach,Maria Schriber, Allie SilvermanCopy Editors Anastasia Ali, Lanie Davis, Marc Debush, Yafang Deng, Hanne Eisenfeld, EmilyFlier, George Haws, Daniel Jacobson, Eliza Katz, Blair Nelsen, Amy Ruddle, Janis Sethness

E D I T O R I A L

Seth Kerschner, Editor-in-Chief

David Rivello, Editor-in-Chief

Will Hurwitz, Executive Editor

Sheryl Shapiro, Executive Editor

Beth Farnstrom, Senior Editor

Elena Lesley, News Editor

Brian Baskin, Campus Watch Editor

Carla Blumenkranz, Arts & Culture Editor

Stephanie Harris, Academic Watch Editor

Juliette Wallack, Metro Editor

Victoria Harris, Opinions Editor

Sanders Kleinfeld, Opinions Editor

P R O D U C T I O N

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Bronwyn Bryant, Asst. Design Editor

Ilena Frangista, Listings Editor

Julia Zuckerman, Copy Desk Chief

Jonathan Skolnick, Copy Desk Chief

Andrew Sheets, Graphics Editor

Kimberly Insel, Photography Editor

Jason White, Asst.Photography Editor

Brett Cohen, Systems Manager

B U S I N E S SStacey Doynow, General ManagerJamie Wolosky, Executive ManagerJoe Laganas, Senior Accounts ManagerMoon-Suk Oh, Marketing ManagerDavid Zehngut, National Accounts ManagerLawrence Hester, University Accounts ManagerBill Louis, University Accounts ManagerHyebin Joo, Local Accounts ManagerJungdo Yu, Local Accounts ManagerTugba Erem, Local Accounts ManagerJack Carrere, Noncomm Accounts ManagerLaurie-Ann Paliotti, Sr. Advertising Rep.Genia Gould, Advertising Rep.Kate Sparaco, Office Manager

P O S T- M A G A Z I N EKerry Miller, Editor-in-ChiefZach Frechette, Executive EditorMorgan Clendaniel, Film EditorDan Poulson, Calendar EditorAlex Carnevale, Features EditorTheo Schell-Lambert, Music Editor

S P O R T SJoshua Troy, Sports EditorNick Gourevitch, Asst. Sports EditorJermaine Matheson, Asst. Sports EditorAlicia Mullin, Asst. Sports Editor

L E T T E R S T O T H E E D I T O R

R Y A N L E V E S Q U E

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

Grade inflation debateneeds clarificationTo the Editor:I heartily applaud The Herald for its coverage of theUndergraduate Council of Students meeting lastnight, in which the College Curriculum Councilrepresentatives (Dean of the College PaulArmstrong, Beth Goldman ’03.5, and myself )engaged in a vibrant discussion about issues inBrown’s grading system (“UCS representatives tellArmstrong they oppose adding pluses, minuses,”12/3).

There are two crucial aspects of the discussion,however, that need to be mentioned. First, the arti-cle frames grading issues as if the CCC has a setagenda and is intractably determined to examinesome nebulously written reform proposal to addpluses and minuses to the grading system. Not onlydoes this overstate the situation, but also it wasmade clear at the meeting that the plus/minusgrade issue is only one of many ideas under discus-sion. Your readers should be aware that the CCCmerely voted to put grading system concerns backon the agenda, which encompasses issues beyondthe hot topic of pluses and minuses.

Second, the article misses much of the broaderdiscussion that occurred concerning grade inflationat Brown. This was a mistake. As several UCS repre-sentatives articulated at the meeting, and as I wouldalso argue, many students instinctively connect theissue of adding pluses and minuses to the gradingsystem with the wider topic of grade inflation. Theyfear that external perception of Brown as an “easyIvy” or an excessively lenient institution is pushingsome members of the academic community, particu-larly faculty, to reform the grading system in an effortto realign and improve Brown’s intellectual practices,educational values and institutional reputation.

I would urge the UCS to look at these issues inmore depth. While it remains to be seen whethergrade inflation is really as bad at Brown as it is at,say, Harvard University, it is clear that a significantsegment of the community here is worried about it.Expansive discussion of issues like the plus/minusidea would add more diversity of opinion into ourdiscourse, and I certainly would enjoy seeing moreHerald coverage about this particular topic in thefuture.

Sean L. Yom ’03Dec. 3

Whites not the onlyracists in U.S. societyTo the Editor:I found Nick Noon’s ’05 article (“Racism undercov-er but pervasive at Brown University,” 12/3) to bevery well written, and I believe it addressed animportant and relevant issue. Brown is not theideal, safe-haven of a college that the brochuresportray. In a community as large as Brown’s thereare bound to be hateful people. However, I wasoffended by Noon’s comment, “I am not sayingthat every white student at this school is racist —that would be just as foolish as my assumptionthat nobody here is. But you would be surprised. Alot of you are reading this thinking, ‘Here goesanother angry minority saying how racist theworld is.’”

I have one question: why is a racist automati-cally white? I am a white woman, and I haveencountered racism. My boyfriend is Indian, andhis parents disapprove of me solely because of myethnicity.

All too often the focus of racism is on white ver-sus everyone else. In reality, racism is a tangledweb involving all races. There are AfricanAmerican, Asian, Latin, etc. racists just as there arewhite racists.

How can Noon be so sure that all the undercov-er racists at Brown are white? It is time that soci-ety’s myopic view of racism be expanded to recog-nize that there are racist people of every ethnicity— not just white.

The term white itself is a touchy and confusingone. I have yet to understand why I am placed insuch a huge category. I am Irish and French, and Ihave my own heritage that is constantly ignoredby society.

I was not invited to the TWTP even though Ihave encountered discrimination, and TWTP itselfis a form of discrimination. What would happen ifI started my own white sorority or held aCaucasian awareness week? I would be deemed aracist.

Unfortunately, racism will always exist.However, the focus should be taken away from thepopular idea of victimization. If you are discrimi-nated against, realize that you are a better personthan the offender and rise above it.

Laura Martin ‘06Dec. 3

Last spring, campus police officers arrested two minority stu-dents who refused to show their IDs to Brown Police. Theincident took place in broad daylight on the Main Green with50 students looking on. Allegations the incident was a prod-uct of racial profiling filled campus.

But as far as the Department of Public Safety records areconcerned, the incident never occurred. For eight months,the University and DPS have denied The Herald’s requests forpolice reports detailing the arrests. The University successful-ly swept this disturbing incident under the rug. Almost a yearlater, community members do not know which officers wereinvolved, why they arrested the students or what actuallytranspired.

In fact, the University and DPS have refused The Herald’srepeated written and verbal requests for every report thissemester.

Brown Police officers can arrest students, temporarilyimprison them, ticket cars on College Hill and — what maysoon be the case — carry guns. But they have no accounta-bility to students and other community members. Officershave free reign on and patrol College Hill in anonymity. Thisunacceptable policy is well suited for an authoritarian state— not a college campus.

The University is withholding all evidence that objectivelyspeaks to whether Brown Police should be armed. DPSreports would shed light on how officers act when on dutyand whether racism played a factor in last spring’s arrests.But the University won’t allow The Herald or the communityto investigate its officers.

If DPS officers had guns last spring, they may have drawnthem. As long as the University endangers students by with-holding the kind of detailed police reports that theProvidence Police Department is legally obligated to disclose,students will never know what happened or have a chance toconsider what could have happened. This is one good reasonwhy PPD officers — not Brown Police officers — should carryguns.

Detailed DPS records must be made public. If theUniversity is concerned about safety on College Hill, it willnot arm officers until DPS opens its records and is account-able to the community.

A call for open records

Page 11: Wednesday, December 4, 2002

Lean pickings for the Democratic party in 2004?While the initial crop of candidates don’t impress, there may be a dark horse in the Democrats’ stable

SINCE THE MIDTERM ELECTIONS,political pundits have been at work hand-icapping the field of Democratic chal-lengers for president in 2004. While thismay seem a bit hasty on their partbecause the real primaries are more thana year away, this is the timewhen candidates pick upmuch of their momentum. It’sstill too early to tell, but thefield of Democratic chal-lengers is beginning to devel-op. If you’re a Bush supporter,you’re likely to see this groupas simply volunteers to besheep for the slaughter comeNovember 2004. But if you’re aDemocrat, the emerginggroup is a list of potentialheroes who can save the coun-try from the oil guzzling, big-business bozos now occupy-ing the White House.

The most likely candidate, of course,is Al Gore. On the surface, he seems likethe old Al Gore. He doesn’t speak natu-rally, he wears too much makeup beforehe goes on TV, and his smile is morefrightening than friendly. But Al Gorehas changed — or so he wants you tobelieve. He’s now moved past the jokesabout being stiff to jokes about losingthe 2000 election. While his humility issomewhat endearing, voters aren’t likelyto forget that he fumbled an electionthat a hamster with a speechwriter couldhave won. He’s no longer a populist pre-tending to be a centrist. Now he’s just apopulist, even going so far as to embracenationalized health care. But the manwho once commented, “That MichaelJackson is unbelievable isn’t he?” afterthe Bulls won a championship just does-n’t seem likely to connect with people

the way George W. Bush does. It’s thisinability that has Democrats looking fora fresh new face.

That’s where North Carolina senatorJohn Edwards comes in. His main cre-dential as far as I can tell is the fact that

he’s better looking than theother candidates. In fact,People Magazine’s “SexiestPolitician” has only been inthe Senate since 1999.However, his fairly humblebackground may work in hisfavor. His father was a millworker, and his motherworked odd jobs to help puthim through law school. Inaddition, his sixteen-year-old son’s untimely deathcertainly adds some charac-ter points in the minds ofmany. But despite this com-

pelling history, he might simply lack theexperience that Americans will be look-ing for. Sept. 11, 2001, seems to havehurt his chances for the candidacy. Withthe atmosphere of security and serious-ness surrounding the presidency, tomany Americans he may seem moresuited for “Dawson’s Creek” than for theWest Wing.

On the opposite end of the estheticspectrum is U.S. Sen. John Kerry D-Mass. Kerry’s face makes the ProvidenceRiver look positively beautiful. But hedoes have two things that are moreimportant to a campaign than looks:money and military experience. Kerryhas an extensive and heroic history ofservice in Vietnam that will give himcredibility when tackling national secu-rity issues. But, in a piece of personalhistory that will appeal to liberals, hequickly formed a group of Vietnam vet-erans who protested against the war.He’s been branded a Massachusetts lib-eral by many, but his toughness on secu-rity issues should help shield him from

this charge. To further aide his candida-cy, he’s managed to marry TheresaHeinz, heiress to the Heinz Ketchup for-tune. While he has said that he won’t useher money, in a tough fight for the nom-ination he could always change hismind. While the idea of this walkingskeleton kissing babies on the campaigntrail sends chills down my spine, if hecan make the campaign about issuesrather than image, he’s got a fightingchance.

Another odd-looking potential candi-date, former vice presidential candidateJoe Lieberman, has promised not to runif former running mate Al Gore decidesto throw his hat into the ring. Liebermanis perhaps the most conservative of anypotential Democratic candidates forpresident. He’s already angeredHollywood for his comments suggestingthat they should censor their question-able material. His supporters may arguethat this centrism will appeal to morevoters during the general election. Buthe faces some problems with the generalelectorate as well. It’s hard to envisionmany voters in the South running to thepolls to vote for an Orthodox Jew fromthe Northeast. Despite these problems,he does have more name recognitionthan any candidate besides Gore. Thebottom line: Joe’s once again got a betterchance of being a vice presidential can-didate than leading a ticket. While it

would be great to have the country’spresidency opened up to non-Christians, Lieberman just doesn’t havea big enough natural constituency to wina national race.

Vermont’s Gov. Howard Dean was thefirst Democrat to officially declare him-self a candidate for president. I don’tknow anything about him. Neither doesanyone. That’s his problem. Unless hegets his face on television or in thenewspapers soon, he won’t have donorslining up to support him. Right now, hismain achievement has been extendingmarital rights to same-sex marriages.That might win him support at a liberalbastion like Brown University, but theBible Belt might not feel the same way.

Dick Gephardt, the outgoing Houseminority leader for the Democrats, mightgive a candidacy a try. He’d appeal tounion members and some of the grass-roots base. But the House Democratsfared badly in the midterm elections, andthis could hurt him. Same goes for TomDaschle, Senate minority leader. Whilehe’s undoubtedly the most stylishlydressed potential candidate and couldappeal to a broad base of voters, itappears likely that he will stay in Congressand lead the party there.

The outlook for Democrats is clearlygrim. Republicans are facing a group thatdoesn’t have a clear star among them.Still, it’s early in the season to be rulinganything out. While Bush may seeminvincible now, one of these guys justmight emerge as the David to his Goliath.While young inexperienced senators,Massachusetts liberals and non-Protestants haven’t had the best record inpresidential politics, one man was allthree and became one of the most popu-lar presidents in modern times. Yes, thelineup looks bad now. But with someluck, there just might be another John F.Kennedy waiting in the wings for theDemocrats.

Joshua Skolnick ’04 is confident that ifelected, Sen. Joe Lieberman will opposepork-barrel legislation and cheesy jokes.

AS WORLD AIDS DAY EVENTS TOOK placeall over the world Dec. 2, over 8,200 peo-ple perished and 14,500 new peoplebecame infected with the HumanImmunodeficiency Virus that laterresults in Acquired ImmunodeficiencySyndrome. As we sat and ateturkey and counted ourblessings on Thanksgivingthousands of children inAfrica and Asia joined themillions of childrenorphaned by AIDS. As youread this column, close to 100 peoplewill have passed away as the diseaseovercame their abilities to function.

How is it, then, that many of theworld’s leaders are unable to see thedevastation? How is it that the UnitedStates, the richest nation on earth, withabout 30 percent of the world’s totalproductivity, is only donating $500 mil-lion over three years to the Global Fundto fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria,which was set up last year by U.N.Secretary-General Kofi Annan? TheUnited States should be able to easilycontribute $3 billion a year to the fund.How come instead it is pledging to

spend $9 billion a month on the war inIraq (Miami Herald, 9/30)? Thus, theUnited States will spend more per day($295 million) to fight the war in Iraqthan it will pledge to the Global Fundper year. AIDS is most likely the biggest

security issue the world isever going to face, but theefforts are being placed onthe “virtual war” — the waron terrorism.

How much does it take forBush and other world lead-

ers to realize that the AIDS virus is muchmore potent than the terrorists? It is dev-astating entire villages, ruiningeconomies, stealing teachers and doc-tors from their jobs, creating famines,and killing millions of mothers andfathers.

President Bush is planning a Januarytrip to Africa, the continent that is host to28.5 million of the world’s 40 million peo-ple infected with HIV. This is the perfectopportunity to let our voices be heard.This is the time to take action. We must usethis day of awareness to rally our voices incalling on Bush to declare an AIDS planbefore his trip to Africa. We cannot contin-ue to be complacent while 95 percent ofthe people infected with HIV/AIDS aroundthe world do not have access to life-sus-taining treatment.

I know that it is hard to imagine whatothers are going through if you haven’texperienced it first hand, but try toimagine for a minute that Providence,R.I., has an HIV infection rate equal tothat of Zimbabwe. That would meanthat one in three adults between theages of 19 to 35 was HIV positive. Thatwould mean that hundreds of orphanswould be roaming the streets ofProvidence because of AIDS. With treat-ment unavailable, one-third of the adultpopulation of the city, the populationthat is supposed to be supporting all oftheir children and their grandparents,would be dead within the span of five toten years.

What would happen to productionand trade? Who would plant the crops toprovide food? Who would teach the chil-dren? Most of this burden would fall onthe juvenile and elderly populations,

which are oftentimes struggling to sur-vive without the added burden of AIDS.

The worst part is that drugs exist andare available in certain parts of the world.Drug companies are developing the tech-nologies, and some governments arehelping subsidize the costs or creatingtheir own generic drugs (such as Braziland India), but hundreds of other coun-tries are not so lucky. With unequalaccess, those who can afford the drugshave the chance to prolong their lives,whereas those who can’t afford to spend$15,000 a year when they make $300 ayear, are dying. We cannot let this hap-pen.

This is the opportunity to let our voicesbe heard. Don’t let apathy result in 8,200more deaths tomorrow. Write a letter toBush requesting he sanction $2.5 billion tothe Global Fund before he heads to Africa.One ripple can start a wave.

Cate Oswald ’04 is a member of the studentglobal AIDS campaign. She hails fromBarrington, R.I.

OPINIONSTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2002 · PAGE 11

More funding needed to deal with AIDS epidemicBush’s trip to Africa this winter offers an opportunity to reevaluate our AIDS strategy

CATE OSWALDGUEST COLUMN

“If you’re a Bush supporter

you’re likely to see this

group (of Democratic hope-

fuls) as simply volunteers

to be sheep for the slaugh-

ter come November 2004”

“Thus, the United States will spend more per day ... to

fight the war in Iraq than it will pledge to the Global Fund

per year. AIDS is most likely the biggest security issue the

world is ever going to face, but the efforts are being

placed on the ‘virtual war’ — the war on terrorism.”

JOSHUA SKOLNICKUNDECIDED

Page 12: Wednesday, December 4, 2002

IT’S TIME FOR MIDWESTERN FOOTBALLfans to say I told you so.

At the beginning of this college footballseason, the press had plenty of harshwords for the Big Ten conference. Thegame, they said, had passed this antiquat-

ed conference by. Aplethora of boring,defense-first footballteams had led to ageneral lack of speedacross the board.There were no offen-sive stars, no goodquarterbacks and noteam that couldcompete with thenation’s best. Theconference, as far asthe national titlerace was concerned,

had become irrelevant.The 20-20 vision of hindsight now

allows us to call each of these pronounce-ments wrong.

This season, which was supposed tohighlight the ineptitude of the Big Ten, hasinstead shown them to be the strongestconference in college football. With all ofits conference games completed, the BigTen now occupies four of the top 12 spotsin the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll.These teams — Ohio State, Iowa, PennState and Michigan — comprise one-thirdof the nation’s top teams and represent thebest elite group that any conference has tooffer.

Several offensive players have emergedas big-time performers, including BradBanks (the nation’s top-rated passer notfrom Boise State), Leon Johnson (thenation’s top rusher), Zack Mills andCharles Rodgers. ESPN.com’s unofficialHeisman poll currently has two Big Tenplayers — Banks and Johnson — rankedfirst and second.

The conference is so strong that itwould not be unfair to say that its fourth

BY RACHEL WESTONIt’s hard to be inconspicuous whenyou’re carrying a two and a half foot tro-phy. As the women’s ultimate frisbeeteam trekked through the Atlanta air-port and onto their flight home toProvidence, the women of DiscoInferno got more than a few comments,smiles and shouts of congratulations.Topping it all off was a chanceencounter in T.F. Green Airport withPresident Ruth Simmons, who offeredhugs and congratulations and posedwith the team for a celebratory picture.

Disco traveled to Atlanta on Nov. 16and 17 to play in the University ofGeorgia’s 23rd annual Classic CityClassic, the most competitive collegeultimate frisbee tournament of the fallseason. The road was long, but after sixgames played in cold, rain, and gale-force winds, Disco captured the cham-pionship — and an excessively largetrophy.

The victory in Georgia was an out-standing culmination to an unprece-dented fall season for Disco. The Ateam, led by Coach Ted Munter andCaptains Rachel Weston ’03 and ShirleyWu ’04, went undefeated this semesterand claimed first place in two of thetoughest fall college ultimate tourna-ments. The Brown women, who fin-ished last May ranked no. 7 in thenation, will now head into the officialcollege ultimate season this springlooking strong and ready to make somenoise. Disco is aiming to qualify (for the5th year in a row) to attend Ultimate’s16-team College Nationals, to be heldthis year in Austin, Texas.

The first day at Classic City Classic inGeorgia was pool play, and Disco went3-0. The Brown women came out strongfrom the start, defeating Princeton 11-1and NC State 13-7. Disco took advan-tage of the rain soaked ground to lay-out all over the field on both offenseand defense.

The third game with host and famil-iar rival University of Georgia was neck-and-neck throughout the first half. TheBrown women brought out some greatman-defense, fired up by a hot lay-outdefensive block by Cate Brown ’05, but

Georgia’s effective spread offense gaveDisco some trouble.

In the second half, Brown waspumped, and Georgia struggled againstthe Brown women’s tough zonedefense. Brown came up with severalbig turnovers thanks to some tenaciousrunning in the cup by MichelleLevinson ’06, Kate Maurer ’05, AnnMurray ’05, Lindsey Wong ’03, Jen Kim’04 and Shirley Wu ’04. Capitalizing onthese turns, Disco pulled ahead, takingthe game 12-7. The Brown women’sdeep team of 19 players and unfetteredspirit certainly helped Disco pull suc-cessfully through a long, cold andmuddy (but enjoyably competitive)day.

Sunday opened with a quick quarter-final win over Michigan 13-2. In the latemorning, the wind picked up and fromthat point on it was a day for zonedefense. The semifinal was againstColorado, a final four team at 2002College Nationals last May. Disco mayhave felt nervous inside, but the teamcame out strong, exchanging down-wind points with Colorado until 4-4.Thanks to some stellar up-wind han-dling by Jen Kim ’04, Rebecca Simon ’05and Maureen McCamley GS, the Brownwomen took off, taking the game 13-4.

Disco came out fired up for the finalsand played hard, solid ultimate withconsistent performances by returningplayers and some great grabs anddefensive-blocks by rising B teamersand rookies. The Brown womenbreezed past UC Berkeley to win thefinal, and the championship, 11-2.

Earlier in the season, on the weekendof Oct. 19 and 20, Disco traveled toWilliams College for Purple Valley, themost competitive fall tournament inNew England. Everything clicked fromthe start for Disco, and the Brownwomen defeated Dartmouth 7-5,Cornell 9-1 and Tufts 13-1 to go unde-feated in Saturday pool play.

On day two, Disco came out strongand knocked of Harvard 14-2 in thequarters. In the semi-finals, Brown metup with hosts Williams. The game was

WARREN SAPP IS REALLY PISSING ME OFF.One of the best defensive linemen in theNFL, Sapp’s physical skill has always beencomplimented by his flamboyant, intimi-dating style. I have never enjoyed hearinghim rant, but rarely has his domineering

rage been so devoidof respect and matu-rity as it has in thepast week and a half.

You may be famil-iar with Sapp’svicious hit on ChadClifton during aninterception returnin a Week 12 Bucs-Packers game. Ablindside, high-impact hit 20 yardsaway from the ball,the blow was within

the legal bounds of NFL rules. It is general-ly accepted that during an interceptionreturn, any offensive player is fair game fora block. In other words, if your team hasthrown a pick, watch your back.

My contention is not that the hit wasillegal or unnecessary. I fully understandthat a wall could have forced the corner-back to cut back across the field, whereClifton would have been waiting had Sappnot blocked him. It is important, though,to realize that an effective block need notbe a dangerous block, a distinction that isrecognized by the NFL in certain cases. Seethe rules on chop blocking and clippingbelow the waist, for instance. This blockwas unnecessarily violent and dangerousto Clifton, who is currently unable to walk,among other things. He was looking theother way, slowing to a trot, when Sappleveled him. I am aware that there is no100 percent causal relationship between ahit like Sapp’s and the injuries that arose(Clifton could have hit the ground differ-ently), but the level of recklessness and thelikelihood of damage are indeed linked.

During the post-game aftermath, inwhich Sapp and Packers coach MikeSherman had a heated exchange about thehit and Sapp’s celebration once the inter-ception return was complete, Sappspewed immature rhetoric you wouldexpect of an eighth-grader.

“If you’re so tough, why don’t you put ona uniform?” Or, better yet, “If I was 25 yearsold and didn’t have a kid and a conscience,I would have given him an ass-kickingright there at the 30-yard line.” I’m glad tosee that Sapp considers 25 years old anappropriate age for someone to fight anelder. At least he’s past that now.

Even this past weekend, after havingseen how badly Clifton was injured andhaving had time to reflect, Sapp was stub-born as ever. “How would [Sherman] knowanything about respect or what goes onwithin the game?” Sapp said in an inter-view. “Don’t talk to me unless you been inthe trenches, please.”

Give me a break Sherman is a headcoach. Of course he knows what goes onwithin the game. Sapp’s inability to articu-late how he feels without resorting tointimidation makes him seem ignorantand disrespectful.

Sapp says he didn’t apologize or visitClifton in the hospital because he didn’t doanything wrong. I fail to see the connec-tion. So do Tennessee Titans Jeff Fisherand Eddie George, who visited PittsburghSteelers quarterback Tommy Maddox inthe hospital after he was almost paralyzedin that afternoon’s game on an unluckyplay. There really is no logical connectionbetween a hospital visit or an apology and

SPORTS WEDNESDAYTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD

DECEMBER 4, 2002 · PAGE 12

Sapp’s attitudewarren-ted?

Rachel Weston

The women’s ultimate frisbee team poses with President Simmons.

Women’s ultimate winstwo tournament titles

Big Ten makesbig statement

Late comebackfalls short form. basketball

ERIC PERLMUTTERPERL MUTTERS

LUKE MEIERBOLTS AND NUTS

Ohio University senior guard SonnyJohnson scored 13 of his game-high 24points in the second half to lead Ohio to a75-71 non-league victory over Brown atthe Pizzitola Sports Center Monday night.

Brown rallied from a 45-27 half timedeficit to tie the score 62-62 on a layup byJason Forte ’05 with 4:11 remaining in thegame. The Bobcats took the lead for good,63-62, on a free throw by junior JaivonHarris with 4:07 remaining. Ohio led by asmuch as four points late in the game on athree-point play by Johnson.

With Brown trailing by three points, 74-71, Bears’ Patrick Powers ‘04 had a near -miss on a three-point jumper that wouldhave tied the game with four secondsremaining.

The Bears were led by Powers, whoscored 24 points, and Alai Nuualiitia ‘03,who netted 16 points on 6 of 6 shootingfrom the field. Forte registered a double-double with 12 points and 10 assists, whileJamie Kilburn ‘04 added 12 points forBrown.

The Bears hope to bounce back fromthis tough loss on Saturday when they hostHoly Cross at the Pizzitola Center.

— Brown Sports Information

see MEIER, page 9

see W. ULTIMATE, page 9see PERLMUTTER, page 9