Daily Herald the Brown
vol. cxlv, no. 19 | Wednesday, February 24, 2010 | Serving the community daily since 1891
Recent grads seriously
injured in hit-and-run
Phelan ’09 pushed
roommate out of
car’s path
By Goda Thangada
Senior Staff Writer
Erinn Phelan ’09 and Alma Guer-
rero ’09 MD’13 were struck by a
car and seriously injured in a hit-
and-run accident in Brooklyn at
4:30 Sunday morning.
Phelan pushed Guerrero out of
the way of the car, Alma’s father
Fidel Guerrero P’09 told the New
York Daily News, and is currently
in critical condition. Guerrero is
stable, with non-life-threatening in-
juries, said Lt. John Grimpel of the
New York Police Department.
Since the accident, Phelan has
been surrounded by friends and
family at her bedside in Kings
County Hospital, according to
friend Rob Warner ’10.5.
Warner said Guerrero had a
broken collarbone and may be re-
leased soon.
Phelan and Guerrero were
crossing the intersection of Flat-
bush Avenue and Prospect Place
when a northbound 1993 green
Acura Legend struck the two, ac-
cording to the police report. The
vehicle was found abandoned after
the accident, according to police
reports. The front windshield was
Students
weigh in on
budget
By Max Godnick
Senior Staff Writer
Most college students rarely have the
opportunity to help craft nine-figure
institutional budgets. But five Brown
students — the student representatives
to the University Resources Commit-
tee — do just that as they advise senior
administrators on the University’s an-
nual budget.
The committee, chaired by Pro-
vost David Kertzer ’69 P’95 P’98, is
responsible for drawing up budget
recommendations for the president
to present to the Corporation, Brown’s
highest governing body. The URC
consists of six elected faculty mem-
bers, two staff members, five senior
administrators — including Kertzer;
Rajiv Vohra P’07, dean of the faculty;
continued on page 2
inside
News.....1-5
Spor ts...6-7
Nation....8-9
Editorial..10
Opinion...11
Today........12
www.browndailyherald.com
smashed.
A cab driver, whom the Daily
News identified as Muhammad,
witnessed the incident and called
the police, Grimpel said. Muham-
mad told the Daily News, “I heard
a big boom. Then she took off. She
started driving faster and (passed)
me. It was a young woman driv-
ing.”
Police sources searched for
Cindy Jasmin, 31, the registered
owner of the car, for more than two
days before she agreed to speak
with the NYPD. Detective John
Sweeney of the NYPD confirmed
to The Herald on Tuesday night
that police had made contact with
Jasmin, who hired a lawyer before
meeting with detectives. Sweeney
said Jasmin claims her sister was
driving the vehicle when it struck
Phelan and Guerrero. The case
remains under investigation, with
the warrant for the arrest of the
perpetrator still outstanding.
“We can’t assume anything,”
Sweeney said.
A large digital signboard has
been placed at the scene of the
accident, broadcasting a plea for
tips.
Guerrero, who attends Alpert
Medical School, was visiting Phel-
an, her roommate of three years,
for the long weekend.
Phelan has been working as
continued on page 4
C o m e BAC k K I d s
Men’s hockey achieved two major comebacks back-to-back.
News, 3
Engineering change
A proposal for a school of
engineering at Brown is
slated to be passed
195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island
Steve Gruber ’10 came off the bench against Princeton and made all six of
his free throw attempts, helping the basketball team go 2-0 last weekend.
Corp. stayed out of Goldman decision
By Alex Bell
Senior Staff Writer
President Ruth Simmons’ decision
to leave Goldman Sachs’ Board of
Directors earlier this month was
not influenced by the Corporation,
members of Brown’s highest govern-
ing body told The Herald.
“I want to make it as clear as I
can that, as she has noted, President
Simmons kept the senior leadership
Jonathan Bateman / Herald
Jonathan Bateman / Herald
apprised of her thinking and solicited
our views,” said Chancellor Thomas
Tisch ’76 P’07, the Corporation’s
leader and the University’s highest
officer. But the senior leadership’s
view, he said, “was that this really
was a decision for her to make.”
When asked what thoughts Sim-
mons expressed in such discussions,
Tisch said this sort of conversation
from within the leadership of the
Corporation would not be “well-
F— their lives: Students
find outlet on Brown FML
By Nicole Boucher
Staf f Writer
During reading period, with the
inevitability of finals mounting,
stressed and anxious students cling
desperately to their last moments of
freedom, and humiliating moments
have a way of accompanying this
ner vous tension.
FEATURE
But beginning Dec. 8, students
were able to relieve their stress
through Brown FML — a Web site
where students can anonymously
post stressful or embarrassing ex-
periences, usually with a touch of
humor mixed in.
The use of the phrase “FML”
(F— My Life) to denote a particu-
larly negative or embarrassing
experience skyrocketed after the
Sports, 6
hoops for haiti
Women’s basketball team
raised thousands of dollars
for Haitian relief
M. hoops
shocks
Princeton
By Tony Bakshi
Sports Staff Writer
Steve Gruber ’10 is a backup point guard
who averages just four points a game.
But in the waning seconds against Princ-
eton on Saturday night, his record was
irrelevant. Gruber sunk two clutch free
throws with eight seconds remaining,
SPORTS
helping the Bears (10-17, 4-6 Ivy) grab
an upset victory over the title-contending
Tigers (16-7, 7-2). The night before,
Brown avenged a heartbreaking home
continued on page 6
served” by being made public.
In an interview with The Herald
earlier this month, Simmons said she
felt strongly that she doesn’t “know
enough as an individual” to make the
decision to leave Goldman’s board
without others’ input, so she dis-
cusses the matter with a committee
of the Corporation periodically.
Before Simmons chose to leave
Goldman’s board, she discussed the
continued on page 5
debut of the original site, FM-
yLife.com. As the phrase became
integrated into teenage popular
culture, more forums appeared
documenting unfortunate but hu-
morous events in the lives of young
adults.
Brown FML is a school-specific
Web site following this trend. The
Brown site is par t of the larger
College FML project, which was
initiated by Har vard freshman Jo-
nah Varon and now includes over
50 colleges. Varon said he hopes
that the forums serve not only as a
place for students to complain but
also as opportunities for contact
between fellow students. Varon
said he envisions the individual
college FML site as “an anonymous
forum where students can com-
municate.”
continued on page 2
Opinions, 11
Eco-Friendly apathy
Sarah Yu ’11 calls
out students for their
environmental laziness
herald@browndailyherald.com
Page 2 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Wednesday, February 24, 2010

C ampus N EWS “It builds camaraderie… like eff our lives together.”
— Anna Hsu ’10 on BrownFML

‘Misery loves company’ Students impact U. budget on URC

on procrastination site
continued from page 1
Varon said he deals primarily
with the technical aspects of the
site, making sure everything runs
smoothly on all of the different
college FML sites. The modera-
tor for Brown’s site, who asked
to remain anonymous because
she has received an increasing
number of threatening comments
in recent weeks, is responsible
for choosing to approve or reject
comments based on their level
of appropriateness and to edit
offensive posts. The individual
moderator for each school’s site
is responsible for giving the site
“the flavor of the school,” Varon
said.
Diana Ohrt ’13 said she can
see dif ferences between the
Brown site and the original FM-
yLife.com. “I feel like it is a little
more sophisticated,” she said,
adding a mock example of the
regular site versus the Brown
specific site — “ ‘I slammed my
hand because I was drunk’ versus
‘I overslept and missed my orgo
exam.’ ”
The FML site plays of f the
idea, as the saying goes, that
“miser y loves company.”
“There is some comfor t to
know that people are going
through the same thing in one
way or another,” said Jeanne
Tong ’10, noting that the site’s
use was highest during finals.
She said she posted a comment
on the site when she was stressed
out from writing her thesis last
sudoku
semester. People responded tell-
ing her to hang in there.
Brown FML focuses on prob-
lems par ticular to Brown stu-
dents, allowing shared or com-
parable experiences to build
connections between members
of the same community.
“It builds camaraderie … like
eff our lives together,” said Anna
Hsu ’10.
The anonymity puts the indi-
vidual at ease and makes them
more willing to share, Ohr t
said.
The site “lets me know that
not all these perfect ‘Ivy-League’
students are so per fect,” she
added.
Despite this community build-
ing, the site still serves mainly as
a form of entertainment, where
embarrassing or stressful experi-
ences are combined with a dash
of absurdity. One anonymous
poster wrote on Dec. 12, “I live
in Caswell, and I was awoken
at 4 a.m., five hours before my
exam, by kids on Lincoln shoot-
ing roman candles at each other
whilst shouting Harr y Potter
spells. This went on for half an
hour. FML.”
The comments “are usually
pretty entertaining,” Ohrt said.
“I’m not gonna lie, though, it’s a
source of procrastination.”
The combination of anxiety
and humor may explain the site’s
continued success. If nothing
else, Jane Chen ’13 added, it
“makes me feel better about my
own life.”
continued from page 1
Dick Spies, executive vice president
for planning and senior adviser to the
president; Beppie Huidekoper, ex-
ecutive vice president for finance and
administration; and Lindsay Graham,
executive dean for administration for
the Division of Medicine and Biological
Sciences — and five student represen-
tatives, consisting of two undergradu-
ate students, two graduate students
and one medical student.
Starting in April of each year and
continuing through January, the URC
holds two-hour meetings during which
University department heads present
their priorities and requests for the
following year’s budget, Kertzer said.
The committee then holds private ses-
sions in which members discuss the
suggestions and requests of Univer-
sity administrators and department
heads.
“We look at how the things they are
asking for match up with the funding
we have available,” said Chaney Har-
rison ’11, whose term as URC student
representative ended last month. “It’s
like a puzzle. We just try to put the
pieces together in a way that is most
beneficial to the institution.”
In late January, the committee gives
its recommendations to President Ruth
Simmons. She then examines them
and makes any changes she sees fit
before presenting the budget to the
Corporation at its February meeting.
“Usually she sticks pretty closely
to our recommendations,” Kertzer
said.
Undergraduates apply to serve on
the committee at the beginning of the
spring semester and are appointed
by the Undergraduate Council of Stu-
dents, according to UCS Appointments
Chair Kening Tan ’12. The council
interviews applicants, and decisions
are approved by both the council’s
executive board and its general body,
Tan said. The URC plays no role in the
appointment of its members.
Committee members said appli-
cants must be thoughtful, outspoken
and able to analyze the University’s
budget as a whole.
“You want someone who is con-
scientious, because there’s a lot of
work and it’s a big time commitment,”
Kertzer said.
“We want someone who is not
afraid to speak up despite the fact that
they are surrounded by faculty, the
provost and various vice presidents,”
he said. “Our members have to take
a broader view of both the student
interests and the University’s overall
welfare. We don’t want someone who
is interested in theater, and all they
can think about is how theater needs
more resources.”
Arthur Matuszewski ’11, a former
Post- magazine editor-in-chief who
is currently serving two terms as an
undergraduate representative on the
committee, also spoke of the unselfish
qualities representatives must share.
“You are not just here for your inter-
est group,” he said. “You are here for
the University.”
Tan agreed. “We definitely want
people who have a very good sense
of campus issues and who are willing
to learn about the whole allocation of
University resources,” she said. “We
need very motivated people who will
give valuable advice to the commit-
tee.”
Committee members said students’
input is valued just as much as the
input of any other URC member.
“Students’ perspectives are always
highly valued by the Committee,”
Kertzer said.
“You really have a voice,” Harrison
said. “People listen to you.”
He added that students are includ-
ed in every aspect of the budget delib-
eration process, from the presentations
by senior administrators to the private
sessions to the drafting process.
Both Harrison and Matuszewski
noted the uniqueness of serving on
the URC and said it had added value to
their overall involvement at Brown.
“For me, it was an absolutely incred-
ible experience in gaining a perspective
on how an institution like Brown runs
and functions,” Harrison said.
“A lot of the questions raised by
the URC allow you to think about the
whole of Brown rather than taking
a microcosmal look,” Matuszewski
said.
“There’s a lot of ‘who are we’ and
‘who do we want to be’ type questions
that you don’t see raised elsewhere
in the University,” he said. “We have
to decide what really makes sense
for Brown.”
Matuszewski and Harrison both
expressed disappointment in the lack
of interest and participation of other
students and faculty in the URC and
similar committees.
“It’s an exciting moment when
faculty are interested in what I’m do-
ing on the committee, and sometimes
it’s a little disappointing to not see a
certain level of curiosity about what
I’m doing,” Matuszewski said.
The URC holds two public forums
each fall where students and faculty
can ask committee members about
“what they are doing and what we are
in for,” Matuszewski said. He noted
that last fall the first forum had five
people in attendance and the second
had only two.
“Seeing them unattended, seeing
a general disinterest for them, was
perhaps emblematic of a disconnect
between the impact of the work we
are doing and the consciousness of
the University at large,” he said.
Harrison had similar com-
plaints.
“At Brown we talk about being
involved, we talk about participating
in community, but it bothers me how
few people apply to these positions,”
he said. ”It is important that the stu-
dent voice is listened to.”
But Matuszewski said his expe-
rience on the URC has given him
new perspective on Brown and his
education.
“You realize how complicated an
institution the University actually is,”
he said. “We see the many different
processes at work, the questions
about what is the University’s main
function, not just to itself but for so-
ciety at large.”
“I’ve become more conscious of
the value of my education and what
has been put into it by all these par-
ties on campus,” he said.
UCS approved the appointment
of Evan Schwartz ’13 as Harrison’s
successor on the committee at their
Feb. 17 general body meeting.
“It is one thing to discuss philoso-
phy but another to figure out where
you’re going to put your money,
because that is what will ultimately
determine the University’s priorities
and direction,” Schwartz wrote in an
e-mail to The Herald.
“I don’t have strong opinions as of
yet as to what our priorities should
be,” he wrote. “But I was and am very
much looking forward to being part
of the discussion and learning more
about Brown’s history and current
issues.”

Biotech firm gets grant for ulcer cure

By Brielle Friedman tissue would have all its normal func- sailors centuries ago and discovered
Contributing Writer tions, including feeling and sweating,” in the 1980s — secrete the proteins
said Christopher Thanos ’97 PhD’01, that CytoSolv uses to produce the

Daily Herald
CytoSolv Inc., a biotech startup in one of the company’s founders. In treatment. While Living Cell Tech-
the Brown
Providence, received $500,000 in addition to diabetic ulcer wounds, the nologies, for which Thanos used to
seed-stage funding from the Slater product could eventually be used to serve as the director of research and
Editorial Phone: 401.351.3372 | Business Phone: 401.351.3260 Technology Fund, a Rhode Island treat injuries from burns, cardiovas- development, has exclusive rights to
George Miller, President Katie Koh, Treasurer capital fund committed to supporting cular disease and bone degeneration, the herd, it has agreed to let Cyto-
Claire Kiely, Vice President Chaz Kelsh, Secretary technology-based businesses. Cyto- Thanos said. Solv use the pigs’ organs in exchange
The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is an independent newspaper serv- Solv is in the process of testing an The company, founded in October for part of the anticipated product’s
ing the Brown University community daily since 1891. It is published Monday acellular treatment for healing diabetic by Thanos and Associate Professor for profits.
through Friday during the academic year, excluding vacations, once during ulcers. The product aims to improve Research of Molecular Pharmacology, The U.S. Food and Drug Ad-
Commencement, once during Orientation and once in July by The Brown Daily
Herald, Inc. Single copy free for each members of the community.
the appearance and potential function- Physiology and Biotechnology Moses ministration has fewer regulations
POSTMASTER please send corrections to P.O. Box 2538, Providence, RI ality of skin that would otherwise be Goddard, uses the choroid plexuses for acellular products, Thanos said.
02906. Periodicals postage paid at Providence, R.I. Offices are located at 195 critically scarred. from a herd of pigs that live on an Because CytoSolv’s product does not
Angell St., Providence, R.I. E-mail herald@browndailyherald.com. CytoSolv’s product regenerates island off the southern coast of New actually contain any of the pigs’ cells,
World Wide Web: http://www.browndailyherald.com.
Subscription prices: $319 one year daily, $139 one semester daily.
skin and results in hair regrowth. Zealand for its product. the process of receiving approval for
Copyright 2010 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved. “Regeneration of the multiple layers The choroid plexuses of the pigs the drug’s clinical use will be easier,
and skin cell types means that the — which were left on the island by according to Thanos.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
C ampus N EWS
Engineering school approved by APC Seeking two-state solution,
By Goda Thangada
Senior Staff Writer
The proposal to create a school of
engineering at Brown is about to
pass through the final stages of ap-
proval, nearly two years since the
first version was written before sum-
mer 2008. Provost David Kertzer ’69
P’95 P’98 said the Academic Priori-
ties Committee, on which he serves,
gave a “thumbs up to this proposal”
at a Feb. 2 meeting. Following a fac-
ulty forum on March 9 and pending
approval at a faculty vote on April 6,
the Corporation will make the final
decision in May.
There is no national accrediting
body for engineering schools, ac-
cording to Kertzer. Steps outlined
in the proposal, including the hiring
of new faculty and the construction
of a building, would be carried out as
funding becomes available, he said.
Catching up
In 2008, the engineering program
at Brown ranked 43rd in the nation,
according to U.S. News and World
Report. The decision to propose a
school comes on the heels of the
formation of Schools of Engineering
and Applied Sciences at Yale in 2007
and Harvard in 2008. Though it has
the oldest engineering program in
the Ivy League, Brown is now the
only university in the league without
a school of engineering.
The school would be an expan-
sion of the Division of Engineering
rather than a separate entity with an
independent admissions process.
Requirements for the bachelor of
science degree, now 21 courses,
would be consistent as the transi-
tion occurs. The school would “not
disturb full integration of engineer-
ing with the arts and sciences,”
Kertzer said.
In particular, the proposal in-
cludes initiatives to foster collabo-
ration between engineering and
other sciences, both physical and
biological. “All the sciences could
benefit,” Kertzer said.
Though 100,000 square feet of
new space for the sciences is part of
the proposal, a school of engineer-
ing would occupy only 35 percent
of a renovated or newly constructed
building. The remainder would likely
be occupied by the other sciences,
Built in 1965, Barus and Holley is the most recent construction project
devoted solely to the Division of Engineering.
Kertzer said.
In addition to highlighting the
potential for practical interdisciplin-
ary research, the proposal touts the
Division’s research relationships
with several businesses. “With no
business school at Brown, the Di-
vision serves as the seat of entre-
preneurship, business leadership
and technology management at the
University,” the proposal states. For
instance, it is the Division that main-
tains the “largest corporate partner-
ship on campus,” a 10-year, $5-mil-
lion research contract with General
Motors. The proposal cites the tech-
nology track in the Commerce, Or-
ganization, and Entrepreneurship
concentration as one that may be
improved by a stronger engineering
department.
The cost of the school would
total $100 million, with $35 million
allotted for space, $50 million for
faculty and staff and $15 million for
program development. Twelve ad-
ditional faculty members would be
hired over five years in the areas of
micro- and nano-technologies, bio-
medical engineering, and in energy,
environment and infrastructure. Six
staff members would be hired for
administration.
The bulk of the cost is likely to
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
— Provost David Kertzer on the creation of a school of engineering
Nick Sinnott-Armstrong / Herald
be achieved through gifts, Kertzer
said.
The proposal serves the dual
goals of offering more courses and
improving the research capacity of
the University, according to Kertzer,
who said those objectives were
linked. “The more research, the
more excitement for undergradu-
ates to get involved as a part of their
education,” he said.
Combining research capacity
and education is also reflected in the
projected rise in graduate student
enrollment, one of the key fundrais-
ing strategies of the proposal. The
financial projection accounts for 36
new doctoral candidates and 40 new
master’s students.
An overdue expansion
Professor of Engineering Rodney
Clifton, interim dean of the division
of engineering, said growth at this
point would be vital to retaining fac-
ulty, attracting students and winning
research grants. To conduct exciting
research, “you need to have a cer-
tain critical mass,” he said. “We’re
so small that it’s hard.”
The lack of the title of “school”
also diminishes the engineering
continued on page 4
“All the sciences could benefit.”
peace org joins nat’l mov’t
By Crys Guerra
Contributing Writer
Puzzle Peace, a student organiza-
tion that focuses on education and
advocacy about the current Israeli-
Palestinian conflict, is affiliating
itself with the national “pro-Israel,
pro-peace” movement J-Street,
which is connected to Brown
through its Rhode Island branch,
slated to start up operations this
week. The four co-chairs, Sophia
Manuel ’11, Noa Nessim ’12, Kara
Segal ’10 and Jenna Zeigen ’12, said
the group has gone through several
changes since its 2008 founding.
Nessim said the motivation to
India tie strengthened
through new council
By Anna Andreeva
Contributing Writer
The University will launch an In-
dia Advisory Council in March to
increase outreach and generate
alumni support in the region, said
Vice President for International
Affairs Matthew Gutmann.
The council’s purposes in-
clude attracting alumni support,
establishing new faculty research
collaborations, raising Brown’s
visibility and encouraging col-
laboration with foundations and
institutions abroad, Gutmann
said. The University has already
formed China, Asia and East Asia
Advisor y Councils.
The council will also make
suggestions to the University
on admissions, Gutmann said,
adding that council members will
be able to advise the University
on how to better attract incom-
ing international students from
different regions, countries and
Page 3
become an affiliate was largely due
to the increased access to resourc-
es and the ability to bring speakers
to campus.
“It’s useful for us and them to
be part of this national campaign,”
Nessim said.
Puzzle Peace supports a two-
state solution to the Israeli-Pales-
tinian conflict, loosely based on
Israel’s 1967 boundaries, accord-
ing to Manuel. They advocate for
a divided Jerusalem, placing East
Jerusalem in Palestinian territory,
and supporting a change in U.S.
foreign policy to actively pressure
continued on page 5
schools.
Another key goal of the advi-
sor y council will be to publicize
Brown’s work in areas such as
global health, the environment
and liberal education for under-
graduate students, Gutmann
said.
The new council will be
comprised primarily of leaders
in their fields who are Brown
alumni or parents of Brown stu-
dents, Gutmann said. These are
“people who know the country or
region,” he said, adding that they
will be able to “put us in touch
with people in government, busi-
ness and academics.”
The inaugural meeting of the
India Advisory Council, for which
President Ruth Simmons will be
traveling to India, will take place
during spring break, according
to Gutmann. This first meeting
will address the council’s general
continued on page 5
Page 4
C ampus N EWS
Community visits hospitalized alums Plan for engineering
continued from page 1
one of six coordinators for Mayor
Michael Bloomberg’s NYC Civic
Corps, a volunteer initiative mod-
eled on the Peace Corps.
Before she graduated last spring,
Phelan explained her career choice
to The Herald, saying, “As long as
you do something you learn from
and are passionate about, that’s
enough. It’s a very freeing idea.”
The women have received visits
from prominent New York City fig-
ures, including Police Commission-
er Raymond Kelly and Bloomberg.
Grimpel said, explaining that Kelly
visited the family “out of respect for
a city employee.”
Bloomberg, who was at Phelan’s
bedside Sunday evening, said in a
statement, “When I spoke to Er-
inn’s parents earlier today, I told
them that as a father I can’t begin
to imagine what they are going
through, but all of our prayers are
with their dedicated and idealis-
tic young daughter who’s helping
New York City answer President
Obama’s historic call to service.”
The accident has drawn a flurry
of media attention, but Grimpel said
the police will handle the case like
any other.
Though Fidel Guerrero told the
Daily News that Phelan pushed his
daughter “in order to save her,”
Phelan’s immediate family has not
yet spoken to the media.
The Office of the Chaplains
and Religious Life confirmed that
Reverend Janet Cooper Nelson has
traveled to New York to be with
the families.
“The Brown community is pro-
foundly saddened by this tragedy,”
President Ruth Simmons said in a
statement. “We embrace Erinn and
Alma’s families and extend to them
our heartfelt concern and offers of
assistance during this painful and
challenging time.”
“She is very well-loved,” War-
ner said of Phelan. “We ask that
people keep her in their thoughts
and prayers.”
The University learned of the
accident Sunday afternoon, wrote
Vice President for Public Affairs
and University Relations Marisa
Quinn in an e-mail to The Herald.
A community-wide message has not
yet been released due to “a num-
ber of factors, including issues of
safety and security; rights, rules
and regulations with regard to pri-
vacy; the availability of facts; and
the interests of students and family
members,” she wrote.
The accident comes fewer than
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
10 days after the death of freshman
Avi Schaefer ’13, who was killed in
an alleged drunk driving incident
near campus Feb. 12.
“This kind of senseless tragedy
is always painful, but it is particu-
larly jarring to our community
coming on the heels of the recent
heartbreaking incident,” Quinn
wrote.
At Brown, both Phelan and
Guerrero were highly involved in
student life. Phelan was an active
member of the Undergraduate
Council of Students, while both
Phelan and Guerrero served as
Secretaries General of Brown Uni-
versity Simulation of the United Na-
tions, a high-school Model UN con-
ference. They were both “strong,
independent, luminous women,”
said Amelia Plant ’10, who worked
closely with them on Model UN.
“These are awful moments,”
said Margaret Klawunn, vice presi-
dent for campus life and student
services, who taught both women
in a freshman seminar. “They are
moments when the strength of the
Brown community shows, but not
moments you want to be tested
by.”
— With additional reporting by
Brigitta Greene
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
“She is very well-loved.”
— Rob Warner ’10.5 on Erinn Phelan ’09
school moves forward
continued from page 3
program’s visibility, Clifton said.
“Graduate students look up schools
of engineering. Brown is not on that
list.”
But the program is well-poised
for expansion. Clifton said there are
many engineering graduates, parents
and companies with an engineering
focus that might be interested in
giving to a new school. The financial
boost that the school could generate
could further improvements that the
Division has been keen on since a
self-study in 1999, he said.
Since Barus and Holley was built
in 1965, no new space has been
specially allotted to engineering at
Brown, though satellite labs exist in
Metcalf Research Laboratory, Way-
land Square and 2 Stimson St.
“This space is just not appropri-
ate space for the kind of work that
people do now,” Clifton said. Engi-
neers now increasingly work with
nanoscale materials, which require
technologies that the current labo-
ratories are not equipped for. The
building is also at capacity for the
installation of fume hoods and lasers.
“The building has been pushed to its
limits,” Clifton said.
When asked why engineering
had been relatively neglected at
Brown, Clifton, who arrived at the
University in 1964, replied, “It’s
a historical thing.” Princeton, for
example, has traditionally empha-
sized engineering. About 18 to 20
percent of the Princeton student
body is composed of engineering
students, compared to 5 to 7 percent
at Brown, he said.
Clifton, who was here when the
New Curriculum was instituted,
speculated that engineering may
have been sidelined because ad-
ministrators perceived the field as
too professional.
“We were larger then than we
are now,” he said. In the 1960s,
there was a larger faculty that
could bring in sufficient grants to
support salaries and research. As
the federal government began to
reduce the proportion of grants al-
lotted to academic salaries and the
University did not compensate, the
division was compelled to reduce
many 11-month appointments to
nine-month appointments, thereby
losing faculty members.
Clifton said he believes engineer-
ing is not contradictory to the idea of
a liberal arts education. “Engineer-
ing is a good foundation education,”
he said, noting that graduates can
go on to work in a variety of fields
because they learn to solve problems
and think inventively.
Though the establishment of en-
gineering schools at Harvard and
Yale “added the impetus” to the
proposal, Clifton said, “that’s not
sufficient reason.”
“We kind of stand out as not
showing the world that Brown is
committed to engineering,” he said.
“It helps the overall impression of
the University to have a full-fledged
program.”
Clifton said he’s visited a number
of universities, including Dartmouth
and Yale, that recently founded en-
gineering schools for ideas.
Clifton said it has been difficult
to convince the administration over
the years that engineering merits ex-
pansion. The original proposal, from
the summer of 2008, was “bigger,
less specific” — notably requesting
that 23 additional faculty be hired,
he said. The current proposal has
been scaled back by half.
Pushing the proposal forward
One of the major steps toward in-
troducing the proposal has been the
creation of the Engineering Advisory
Council. President Ruth Simmons
appoints engineering graduates to
the council, which itself “took a while
to get approved,” Clifton said. The
EAC reports to the Provost annually
about the state of engineering.
The strategy team that wrote the
proposal includes selected members
of the faculty and EAC.
After the struggle to get the pro-
posal to this point, Clifton said he is
feeling positive about the proposal’s
success. “I’m sure there is opposi-
tion” among the faculty, he said. “But
generally, they were supportive. The
biggest concern that people have is
that we might take away resources
that could be used for their pro-
grams.” But because collaboration
between other sciences and engi-
neering is part of the proposal, other
sciences stand to benefit.
Clifton added that the Corpora-
tion members he had spoken to were
also supportive of the proposal, espe-
cially because the school is expected
to generate much of its own budget
through gifts and grants.
It would be unfortunate if the pro-
posal weren’t passed in its current
form, Clifton said. The proposal itself
cautions that the University risks
being set further back if nothing
changes in the division.
“It needs to be done,” Clifton said.
“Brown would have been more out
in front had we done it earlier,” but
the creation of a school is better late
than never, he added.
The first step would be a search
process for a new dean who could
serve for “an appreciable period of
time” and “help establish the charac-
ter of the school,” Clifton said.
Richard Spies, executive vice
president for planning and senior
adviser to the president, who would
begin dealing with the proposal if the
Corporation passes it, said phasing
will be an important part of imple-
menting the proposal. Portions of the
proposal must be realized in “mean-
ingful bites,” he said. The authors of
the proposal are moving in “a very
good direction,” he added.
Gov. Donald Carcieri ’65 has writ-
ten a letter to Simmons expressing
his support for the proposal. He
wrote, “Innovative graduates and
faculty members have created local
companies that have employed hun-
dreds of Rhode Islanders,” with the
implication that a school of engineer-
ing would assist the state economy
by turning the city into a hub for
technology.
Page 5
C ampus N EWS
Puzzle Peace works to
educate, advocate
continued from page 3
Israel in this direction. Their work
primarily brings together speakers
from different perspectives to advo-
cate for this position, said Manuel,
who is the president of the student
board of J-Street U, the college stu-
dent branch of the J-Street national
organization.
The J-Street national organiza-
tion identifies itself on its Web site
as “the political arm of the pro-Isra-
el, pro-peace movement.” It focuses
on expressing a progressive Jewish
voice to “broaden the debate on
these issues nationally and in the
Jewish community” and its mission
“is to promote meaningful Ameri-
can leadership to achieve peace
and security in the Middle East,”
according to the organization’s
Web site. As an affiliate, Manuel
said, Puzzle Peace has maintained
its own mission statement.
Puzzle Peace began under
the name of “M’kol ha’ Kivunim,”
which means “from all directions”
in Hebrew, according to Manuel.
She and the group’s other founders
— Segal and Rosi Greenberg ’10 —
shared a common story in wanting
to express their voices as members
of the Jewish community who dis-
agree with Israel’s actions.
Greenberg said the group was
Dow Travers ’12 beats Bode Miller, blorgchiving and more!
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Wednesday, February 24, 2010
“I think we have succeeded.”
— Noa Nessim ’12, Puzzle Peace co-chair
Tisch: No conflict of interest for Simmons
continued from page 1 acting on Simmons’ behalf in the
event of a conflict of interest, said
University” as the reason for her
departure.
very active but did not address the decision with the committee, Tisch such situations are “very occasion- According to Tisch, recent
Israeli occupation of Palestine, the said. “She came and expressed what al.” Mallow also said he was not in- discussions regarding Simmons’
war in Gaza and the conflict over she was thinking, and given what volved in discussions leading up to involvement on Goldman’s board
East Jerusalem. “I felt that having she was thinking, we said it’s a de- Simmons’ decision not to stand for have been limited to the Corpora-
dialogue and pretending that you cision for her,” Tisch said, adding reelection to Goldman’s board. tion’s four-member Committee on
are coming from all directions is that he “respects her decision not Regarding Simmons’ motiva- Senior Administration, composed
hiding from the real issues,” she to stand for reelection.” tion for the decision, Mallow said of Tisch and the Corporation’s vice
said. Simmons’ decision, officially an- he knows only what has been made chancellor, secretary and treasurer.
The group’s other members nounced Feb. 12, was not caused by public through a Goldman press He said the rest of the Corporation
also realized that this position was a conflict of interest, Tisch said. release, which cites “increasing would be briefed on the discussions
contradictory though for different Matthew Mallow ’64 P’02, the time requirements associated with that occurred with Simmons at this
reasons. Corporation fellow responsible for her position as President of Brown weekend’s meeting.
“We felt that it was sort of
hypocritical to advocate for a spe-
cific line and try to be open to all
voices,” Manuel said.
At the same time, Segal said,
U. generates further India outreach
though the group was exclusively continued from page 3 Fur ther meetings will most been made for the formation of ad-
a space for progressive Jews, it likely take place annually and be ditional regional advisory councils,
expanded because of a desire to goals, including “where we should chaired by a council member from the University is potentially inter-
include all of those in support of be in terms of admissions, faculty India as well as faculty and admin- ested in expanding in key areas
Puzzle Peace’s position. collaborations and working with istrative officials, Gutmann said. such as Latin America, Gutmann
The polarizing tendency of the government,” he added. While no concrete plans have said.
dialogue also influenced this
change, Segal said, emphasizing
the group’s focus on education as
aimed at parsing the complexity
of the issue.
Puzzle Peace’s education and
advocacy approach has yielded
change, its members said.
“Even though we can’t influence
foreign policy, I think changing the
temperature on campus is impor-
tant,” Nessim said. “I think we have
succeeded.”
Today on BlogDailyHerald
blogdailyherald.com
SportsWednesday
The Brown Daily Herald
The women’s hockey team scored its first ECAC victory Friday night.
W. Hockey
Icers snap 10-game losing
streak with Princeton win
By Andrew Braca
Assistant Spor ts Editor
Laurie Jolin ’13 scored with 19
seconds left in overtime to stun
Princeton Friday night on the Ti-
gers’ home ice. The 4-3 victor y
gave the women’s hockey team
its first ECAC Hockey win on the
final weekend of the season.
“We came together as a team,
and we finally played a complete
game,” said Head Coach Digit
Murphy. “I think that’s a tribute
to their never-give-up spirit.”
Murphy said the Bears’ tenac-
ity in rallying from a 2-0 deficit
to topple the Tigers, who were
playing for home ice in the playoff
quarterfinals, was reminiscent of
the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey
upset of Canada two nights later,
but on a smaller scale.
“It was a similar game in that
they were the better, more tal-
ented team, and we kept com-
ing at them,” Murphy said. “We
played with a lot of energy and
enthusiasm, and we had great
goaltending.”
The following after noon,
Brown (3-21-4, 1-18-3 ECAC
Hockey) closed out the season
with an 8-1 loss to Quinnipiac in
Hamden, Conn., with Jolin scor-
ing the lone goal for Brown.
Brown 4, Princeton 3 (OT)
The Bears won in eerily similar
fashion the last time they traveled
down to Baker Rink, securing a
2-1 victor y last Januar y when
Jenna Dancewicz ’11 scored with
54 seconds left in overtime. They
believed they could do it again.
“I just had a feeling we would
win when we skated in the morn-
ing,” said Vika Mykolenko ’12,
citing the previous victor y. “It’s
kind of a pattern or a tradition.”
But the game did not start well
for Brown. Princeton scored in
the first two minutes and again
2:30 into the second period to take
a 2-0 lead.
Ninety seconds later Sasha
Van Muyen ’10 scored her team-
high seventh goal, and the Bears
surged back into the game.
“The whole game, we were
Nick Sinnott-Armstrong / Herald
playing with a lot of enthusiasm,
and we were all around the net,
and initially it wasn’t going in,”
Murphy said. “When the puck
actually started to bounce for us,
our team started to believe.”
Mykolenko tied the score on
a two-on-one breakaway with Ni-
cole Brown ’10, who assisted on
the goal, less than four minutes
before the second intermission.
“I don’t think they expected
it, because usually we don’t have
many breakaways,” Mykolenko
said.
Katelyn Landry ’12 gave Brown
a 3-2 lead five minutes into the
third, but it took Princeton only
a minute to tie the game. Mur-
phy said she considered calling a
timeout but saw that her players
remained undaunted.
“We knew we were playing
well, and we were in the game,
even if it was tied, so we knew we
just had to stick to the game plan,
and we’d get some more bounces
our way,” Landry said.
Neither team could score
in the remaining 14 minutes of
the third. In the huddle before
overtime, Murphy said that her
team was loose and confident.
Squaring off against a tense Princ-
eton squad that needed to win to
have a chance for home ice in the
opening round of the playoffs,
the Bears decided to play for the
victory.
“Everyone was really focused
and excited,” Landr y said. “We
always play Princeton well, and
we knew that if we kept skating
hard, we had a chance at getting
our first win.”
Katie Jamieson ’13 made four
of her 30 total saves to keep the
Tigers at bay in the opening
minutes of the extra period, giv-
ing Jolin the chance to score the
game-winner. Murphy said the
Brown players were elated after
a season of hard work that had
not paid off with any conference
victories.
“They were all jumping up and
down,” she said. “It was almost
like we won a championship. It
was fun, and it was something
that they deserved.”
Gymnastics
Tumblers lose to tough competition
By Tory Elmore
Contributing Writer
“If you like peeling pieces of skin the
size of quarters off of your hands, bars
are for you,” says Haley Graham, the
bad-ass gymnast in the film “Stick It,”
pleasantly describing the appeal of
the uneven parallel bars in women’s
gymnastics. Brown has its own bad-ass
on bars: Julia Meyer ’13.
She took first place on the bars in
both of Brown’s meets with the Univer-
sity of Alaska over the long weekend,
posting a season-high 9.800 on Sunday.
M. basketball beats Penn, Princeton
continued from page 1
loss to the Penn Quakers (5-18, 4-5) with
an 80-73 away victory at the Palestra.
Brown 80, Penn 73
Despite falling behind early, 18-15,
Bruno’s hot shooting propelled them to
a dominating 26-7 run to close out the
half and give the Bears a 41-25 halftime
advantage.
Penn’s competition shot up in the
second half. A 7-0 Quaker run cut the
Bears’ lead to 51-44 in the opening min-
utes, but Bruno responded with a 9-2
run of their own to push the score to
60-46.
But just like they did in the matchup
between Brown and Penn at the Piz-
zitola Center earlier this season, the
Quakers kept hanging around. A press
defense disrupted the Bears’ rhythm
and got the Quakers right back in the
game. A three-pointer by Penn forward
Jack Eggleston — the man who scored
the controversial game-winner in the
first meeting — brought Penn within
Stepping up to the line for Haiti
By Zack Bahr
Sports Staff Writer
The women’s basketball team ex-
pected to hit roughly 70 percent of
its shots — its season average — in a
free throw fundraiser named Hoops
for Haiti on Feb. 17. But with more
than just a game on the line, the Bears
made 85 percent of their attempts and
raised $5,000 for UNICEF.
“It’s the right thing to do that we
help our fellow man,” said Aileen
Daniels ’12. “If we can take some-
thing that we do well at and help
people, then it’s our duty.”
The charity pledged to donate 100
percent of the money to Haiti.
The team members, coaches in-
cluded, each shot 300 free throws
in sets of ten. Donors contributed a
certain amount of money per made
free throw, usually 10 or 25 cents.
The Bears said they were happy
with the amount of pledges they re-
ceived. “People are donating to other
organizations, so we do the best we
can,” said Caroline King ’13. Each
player received about 10 pledges.
With a goal of $3,000 in mind,
the team collected pledges from the
community, students and professors.
Even Professor of Biology Ken Miller
Wednesday, February 24, 2010 | Page 6
But the team couldn’t score when they
needed the points most. The Bears
were edged out by the Seawolves by
a mere two-tenths of a point.
They didn’t win either meet against
the University of Alaska at Anchorage,
Head Coach Sara Carver-Milne’s alma
mater, but the fact that the Bears held
the scholarship-offering UAA squad
to such a tight margin was a victory
in itself.
Going into the weekend, the girls
acknowledged the tough competi-
tion.
“Even though they are a schol-
four points, 73-69, with just over a minute
remaining.
On this night, though, the Bears did
not relinquish their late-game lead.
“I think we just didn’t break down
mentally this time,” said Garrett Leffel-
man ’11, who scored a career-high 18
points on the night. “We hit more free
throws down the stretch, which really
closed the door.”
Brown 57, Princeton 54
Bruno got off to a sluggish start in-
side Jadwin Gymnasium on Saturday
night. Three quick turnovers resulted in
a 7-0 Princeton lead only three minutes
into play. The Tigers dominated inside
throughout the half and scored 14 points
in the paint to Brown’s six on their way
to a 30-24 halftime lead.
“We felt like we didn’t play our best
half against Princeton,” Leffelman
said. “We knew that we could win the
game.”
The teams battled neck-and-neck
from the start of the second half. A
three-pointer from Peter Sullivan ’11
Women’s basketball players blew away their free-throw average to raise
$5,000 for UNICEF.
’70 P’02 placed money on the team’s
shooting ability.
“It was great to see all the support
we received for a great cause,” said
Assistant Coach Colleen Kelly.
The top five shooters on the team
hit at least 258 of 300. Hannah Passa-
fuime ’12 led Bruno, making 283 out
of her 300 attempts, or 94 percent.
“I don’t like missing free throws,”
she said.
It was a fun atmosphere with
music blaring and shooters shout-
ing “ten” when they made all 10 free
arship school, we have a very good
chance of beating them,” Chelsey Bin-
kley ’11 said as the team departed.
But even a team season-high score
of 189.325 wasn’t enough to knock off
the talented Alaska team. The Sea-
wolves, led by vault and beam standout
Lauren Agostino, swept the first three
spots on vault and secured first on
beam and floor.
Meyer kept the Bears alive with
first on bars and a close second on
the beam. A recent ECAC Rookie of
the Week, she’ll be a key player at this
weekend’s Ivy Classic Competition.
broke one of 12 tie scores, and gave
the Bears their first lead of the half, 42-
39, with 11:35 remaining. But the lead
was short-lived, as Princeton guard Dan
Mavraides connected on his own trey
to tie the score again, 42-42.
Bruno grabbed the lead for good on
a Sullivan lay-up with 3:30 remaining. In
the final sixty seconds, Brown relied on
steady free throw shooting to seize the
victory, highlighted by Gruber’s clutch
pair of shots with under ten seconds
to go.
“Two big shots for Steve,” Leffelman
said. “It’s big for a senior to step up like
that. Those free throws were two of the
biggest of the season.”
Princeton guard Douglas Davis
missed a jumper after Gruber’s foul
shots, sealing the Bears’ impressive
away victory.
“We definitely have more momen-
tum after this good weekend,” Leffel-
man said. “We’re looking forward to
playing both Harvard and Dartmouth
and hopefully keeping our momentum
going.”
Henry Bruce / Herald
throws in a set. The loudest may
have been Head Coach Jean Marie
Burr, who was able to collect several
dollar-per-make pledges.
This isn’t the first time that the
women have participated in events
to help a greater cause. Every year,
Bruno partakes in breast cancer
awareness activities where every-
one sports pink shoelaces and head-
bands.
“We like doing these events,” Pas-
safuime said. “They bring us closer
as a team.”
Page 7 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Wednesday, February 24, 2010

S ports W ednesday “We are going to be ready to battle.”

— Brendan Whittet ’94, men’s hockey head coach

W. Basketball Wrestling M. Tennis W. tennis SKIING

Brown 54 Brown 6 Brown 3 No. 66 Brown 4 5th out of 13

Penn 42 Cornell 46 Xavier 4 No. 32 William & (qualifying team for
Mary 3 Nationals)
Brown 38 Brown 12 Brown 2
Princeton 64 Columbia 25 Louisville 5

M. Hockey

Bears mount two third-period comebacks

By Dan Alexander
Sports Editor
What a way to go out on Senior Night.
With just 35 seconds remaining and
the Bears trailing St. Lawrence by
one goal, tri-captain Devin Timber-
lake ’10 came charging down the slot
and got the puck. Firing it into the
back of the net, he tied the game, 2-2,
and sent the home crowd of 1,574
into hysterics.
One night after they came back
to defeat Clarkson, 3-2, the Bears
overcame another deficit to tie St.
Lawrence, 2-2.
“We’re a relentless team,” Tim-
berlake said after Saturday’s game.
“We knew if we just kept up — just
like last night — kept at it, something
would pop in for us.”
The Bears started their comeback
Saturday night when Jack Maclellan
’12 — who assisted on Timberlake’s
equalizer — scored his second goal
of the weekend on a penalty shot.
Brown 3, Clarkson 2
Heading into the weekend, Brown
was 0-14-1 in games in which its op-
ponents scored the first goal of the
game.
“It’s one of those things that can
weigh on you,” Brown Head Coach
Brendan Whittet ’94 said of the
trend.
And with goalie Paul Karpowich
of Clarkson (7-22-3, 3-15-2 ECAC) de-
nying everything that came his way
in the first two periods, it looked like
the Bears (8-15-4, 6-10-4) might be in
for another tough loss against the
last-place team in the conference.
“We weren’t getting discouraged
after the first and second when we
were down a goal, because we knew
if we kept playing like we were play-
ing, we were going to eventually put
one behind this guy,” Timberlake
said. “Persistence paid off tonight.”
The Bears finally beat Karpow-
ich 45 seconds into the third period
when Timberlake found Chris Zaires
’13 for the Bears’ first goal.
Brown got the go-ahead goal 1:05
later when Maclellan took the puck
from the goal line and up into the
slot, deked a defender and the goalie
before burying the puck in the back
of the net.
The Bears scored an insurance
goal to give them a 3-1 lead in the
middle of the third, and Clarkson
didn’t get its second goal until the
last minute.
“When we’re up going into the
third, you just hate giving up a lead,”
Karpowich said. “That was a hard
one.”
Brown 2, St. Lawrence 2 (OT)
The Bears didn’t get a shot on
goal until more than 13 minutes into
the game on Saturday night and man-
aged only four shots on goal in the
opening period.
“They just seemed to be winning
all of the battles early,” Timberlake
said.
Brown did win one key battle,
a penalty shot opportunity for St.
Lawrence’s Kyle Flanagan. Brown Jonathan Bateman / Herald
goalie Michael Clemente ’12 made Meehan Auditorium was packed last weekend to see the men’s hockey
the kicksave in time to prevent an- team pull out a come-from-behind win and a tie.
other Saints goal. self down and do what I do in practice it will get a home series in the first
But by the end of the second, St. on one of the goalies.” round of the ECAC Tournament.
Lawrence (14-12-7, 8-7-5) had a 2-0 Timberlake’s last-minute goal tied Next weekend, Brown faces Quin-
lead. the score, 2-2, and neither team could nipiac (15-15-2, 9-11-0), whom Brown
Maclellan got a penalty shot op- score in overtime. beat earlier this season, and Princ-
portunity for Brown and beat the St. The game ended in a tie, giving eton (11-13-3, 7-11-2), which split its
Lawrence goalie, five-hole, to make Brown one more point in the ECAC series with Brown this year.
it a 2-1 game. standings. The Bears are now tied “We are going to be ready to
“I haven’t had a penalty shot in I with Princeton for ninth place in the battle,” Whittet said. “We want to
don’t know how many years, so it was league with one more weekend left be at home. We’re 6-1-3 in the last
a little nerve-wracking,” Maclellan before the postseason. If the team 10 at home, and this is a good place
said. “I just tried to kind of settle my- can move up to eighth place or better, to play.”
World & Nation
The Brown Daily Herald
Dalai Lama urges U.S. College financial aid form: An E for easier
to spread democracy
By James Davis
Sun Sentinel
DAVIE, Fla. — Voicing admiration
for American values, the Dalai Lama
on Tuesday called for the United
States to spread freedom to other
lands.
“America is a champion of de-
mocracy and liberty; you should
be proud of those values,” the ex-
iled Tibetan Buddhist leader told
more than 3,500 listeners at Nova
Southeastern University in Davie.
“When you deal with other coun-
tries, you must keep these things
very important.”
His morning talk, “Universal
Responsibility,” was delivered to
students, staff and faculty at Nova’s
Don Taft University Center. It was
the start of a two-day round of talks
in Broward and Palm Beach coun-
ties.
Believed by Tibetan Buddhists
to be an incarnation of Chenrezig,
the bodhisattva of compassion, the
Dalai Lama said education and mass
media had caused people to think in
terms of respect and cooperation,
rather than conflict.
“It is nearly 10 years since the
start of the 21st century, but already
much has changed,” he said at the
gathering, co-hosted by NSU and
Broward College. “Now, we should
consider that every part of the world
is part of me. We still need to edu-
cate people that our own interests
depend on others’ interests.”
Some listeners found the Dalai
Lama’s thick accent hard to follow.
But if the speech issues were a func-
tion of age, the 75-year-old remained
limber enough to sit cross-legged on
an easy chair for his addresses.
In his morning speech, he called
for schools to teach compassion and
responsibility, rather than just facts.
“With too much education, even a
brilliant mind can go wrong, to de-
struction,” he said. “Ultimately, inner
values are essential.”
He compared the relationship of
nations to the relationships of people
to families and communities.
“In a family, each person carries
some of the responsibility,” he said.
“The human being is basically a so-
cial animal. Each person depends on
the community.”
The Dalai Lama said China
deserves to improve its economy
and to have a place among more
powerful nations. He added that
he admired the late Chinese leader
Mao Zedong in the early years, but
was puzzled by his subsequent ag-
gressive actions in China as well
as Tibet.
In a Q&A session, he drew
laughs when he donned a visor that
matched his maroon robes. Answer-
ing one question, he said his talk
with President Barack Obama last
week dealt with Tibet and the need
to educate its young people.
He praised American news me-
dia for guarding democracy and said
reporters “should have a long nose,
like an elephant.” But he did fault
the amount of “negativity,” saying
it should be matched by positive
content.
The Buddhist leader also said
people should be given light but pro-
ductive work between the ages of 50
and 70. Retirement homes would
also benefit by letting the elderly mix
more with children, he suggested.
By Scott Travis
Sun Sentinel
Many have called the long and com-
plicated college financial aid form
“The Beast,” but this year’s format
is a bit tamer.
The online version of the stan-
dard Free Application for Federal
Student Aid, or FAFSA, is easier to
use. That’s good news for college
students, as the recession has sent
demand for financial aid skyrock-
eting.
Students must fill out the form
for federal Pell Grants, federal stu-
dent loans and many types of need-
based state aid. For students enter-
ing college this fall, the deadline
to be considered for state money
is May 15.
While the six-page, 100-question
paper version hasn’t changed much,
the online version has been rede-
signed to eliminate irrelevant ques-
tions. So if you answer that you’re
single, you won’t be asked about
your spouse’s finances. Women no
longer have to say whether they’ve
registered for Selective Service, a
requirement for men only. Students
who are older than 24 don’t have to
sort through questions about their
parents’ incomes.
The FAFSA Web site has also
been redesigned to include more
Military chiefs guarded on ‘don’t ask’ changes
By Julian Barnes
T ribune Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — In a sign of pos-
sible differences among top military
officials, Army and Air Force chiefs
voiced concern Tuesday about end-
ing a ban on gays serving openly in
the armed forces while the country
is in the midst of two wars.
Army Gen. George W. Casey and
Air Force Gen. Norton A. Schwartz
both told Congress that they sup-
port the Pentagon’s plan to spend a
year studying a change in the policy
that allows gays to ser ve only as
long as they keep their sexual ori-
entation hidden.
However, both generals were
mum about their own views on gays
in the military and neither followed
the lead of Adm. Michael G. Mullen,
the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, who earlier this month said
gays should be allowed to ser ve
openly.
The appearances by Schwartz
and Casey will be followed Wednes-
day by Adm. Gary Roughead, the
chief of naval operations, and Gen.
James Conway, the Marine com-
mandant.
Lawmakers and advocates are
carefully watching the congres-
sional testimony, trying to gauge
where the various ser vice chiefs
stand on the issue of gays in the
militar y as a barometer for the
eventual outcome of the issue.
Opponents of the ban on gays,
including President Barack Obama
and many congressional Demo-
crats, want to quickly overturn it.
However, supporters of the ban,
Wednesday, February 24, 2010 | Page 8
tips for helping students navigate
the process.
“There are some big changes,”
said Terri Roher, a college and ca-
reer adviser at College Academy, a
high school on Broward College’s
Davie campus for advanced stu-
dents. “The form is smarter than
it’s been before.”
Last year, the federal government
set a five-year timeline to reduce
the form’s questions by almost half,
said Patricia Christel, a Washington,
D.C.-based spokeswoman for Sally
Mae, which administers federal
student loans. These are the first
changes.
“The good news is it’s easier than
ever,” Christel said. “Perhaps better
news will be coming over the next
few years.”
Historically, the form has been
considered so intimidating that
many needy students would not fill
it out. About 41 percent of all under-
graduate students did not fill out the
forms in the 2007-08 school year,
according to the U.S. Department
of Education.
Last year, the Florida Board of
Governors, which oversees the
state’s public universities, estimated
that about 22,000 students with in-
comes low enough to quality for Pell
Grants during the 2005-06 year failed
to fill out the forms. As a result, they
including some congressional Re-
publicans, are looking to the mili-
tary officials for possible support
for keeping the policy in place.
Casey and Schwartz carefully
followed a middle path outlined in
recent months by Defense Secre-
tary Robert M. Gates, who supports
Obama’s call to end the ban but
wants any change to be made slowly
and studied carefully.
Obama said in his State of the
Union address in January that he
wanted the 17-year-old policy known
as “don’t ask, don’t tell” rescinded
this year. Military officials earlier
this month said they intend to spend
the year on a study to assess the ef-
fects of a policy change.
Appearing before the Senate
Armed Services Committee, Casey
said he had reser vations about
the effect of a change on deployed
troops.
“I do have serious concerns
about the impact of repeal of the law
on a force that is fully engaged in
two wars and has been at war for 8
{ years,” Casey said. “We just don’t
know the impacts on readiness and
military effectiveness.”
“Exactly,” murmured Sen. John
McCain, R-Ariz., in response.
Appearing at the same time
before the House Armed Ser-
vices Committee, Schwartz said
there were few reliable sur veys
about what airmen and their fami-
lies think of the policy. Schwartz
acknowledged that Obama has
stated he wants the current law
to be changed, but said potential
“complications” should be exam-
ined first.
missed out on about $24 million in
federal aid.
“Many families have an aversion
to numbers,” said David Bodwell, di-
rector of financial aid at Palm Beach
State College, west of Lake Worth.
“Many people don’t feel equipped to
fill out their own tax returns, rightly
or wrongly. Definitely, the perceived
complexity of the FAFSA has been
a deterrent.”
Roshon Renaud, 19, a student at
Broward College, said he found it
confusing. He had to get a neighbor
to help him fill out the form.
“It could have been simpler from
the beginning,” Renaud said. “Every-
thing you have to put down. All the
forms you needed. It was presented
in a way that wasn’t that clear.”
In the past year, high schools, col-
leges and universities have pushed
students to fill out the forms.
Whether it’s because of these
efforts, the recession, or both, more
students are completing the forms
than in past years, several schools
said.
Roher encourages all first-time
college students to fill out the FAF-
SA form, regardless of income.
“You may never do it again and
you may only be eligible for loans,
but you don’t know that in advance,”
she said. “And it doesn’t cost you
anything.”
“This is not the time to perturb
the force that is, at the moment,
stretched by demands in Iraq and
Afghanistan and elsewhere, with-
out careful deliberation,” Schwartz
said.
As part of the 1993 law creating
the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, the
Pentagon is required to remove ser-
vice members accused of being gay
or admitting so. More than 14,000
service members have been booted
out after being accused of being gay
or having said that they were.
Sen. Carl M. Levin, D-Mich., the
chairman of the Senate Armed Ser-
vices Committee, may push for a
congressional moratorium to halt
discharges during the Pentagon’s
study.
However, McCain, the ranking
Republican on the committee, said
that the moratorium would circum-
vent the purpose of the study.
On Monday, Army Gen. Ray-
mond T. Odierno, the top command-
er in Iraq voiced his support for the
Pentagon policy study. But unlike
Casey, Odierno voiced personal
support for changing the policy.
“My opinion is everyone should
be allowed to serve, as long as we’re
still able to fight our wars and we’re
able to have forces that are capable
of doing whatever we’re asked to
do,” Odierno said.
But in a reflection of the com-
plex militar y thinking on the is-
sue, Odierno, like Casey, said his
primar y concern was for troops
serving in war.
“We’re in two wars right now.
So I want to see it done properly,”
Odierno said.
Page 9
W orld & N ation
Justices seek to weigh anti-terrorism law, free-speech rights
By David Savage
T ribune Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — The Supreme
Cour t struggled Tuesday to re-
solve a conflict between the free-
speech rights of a Los Angeles-
based advocate for international
peace and a broad anti-terrorism
law that makes it a crime to advise
a foreign terrorist group, even if
it means advising its members to
seek peace.
The justices sounded closely
split between those who saw this
as a terrorism case and those who
saw it as a free-speech case.
U.S. Solicitor General Elena
Kagan urged the court to uphold
the broad sweep of the terrorism
law and to permit prosecutions of
anyone who gives any support to
a terrorist group. She discounted
the “supposed First Amendment
claims” raised by human rights
advocates.
“When you help Hezbollah
build homes, you’re helping them
build bombs,” she said.
But Georgetown Law Professor
David Cole said the human rights
advocates he represents are not
interested in supplying bombs, but
rather in urging foreign groups to
avoid violence and to take their
disputes to the United Nations.
“They seek peaceful solutions
to conflict. And they support only
lawful activities,” he said. Cole
is representing the Humanitar-
ian Law Project in Los Angeles
and its president, Ralph Fertig, a
University of Southern California
professor of social work who has
advised the Kurds in Turkey.
In 1997, the State Department
listed the Kurdistan Workers
Par ty, or PKK, as a foreign ter-
rorist group, which meant that
Fertig could go to prison for giv-
ing “expert advice or assistance”
Clay Aiken says gay rights speech will be ‘hopeful’
By Matt Ehlers
McClatchy Newspapers
RALEIGH, N.C. — Clay Aiken will
take the stage at the convention
center Saturday night to do some-
thing he has never done before: de-
liver a speech about gay rights.
But don’t expect him to pound
his fist and scream for the right to
get married.
“There are people who are loud
and make noise, and there are peo-
ple who are deliberate and slow
and steady,” Aiken said during an
interview this week at a downtown
Raleigh, N.C., coffee shop. “Right
now, at this point in my life, I feel
like a slow and steady person.”
Aiken, a Raleigh native and
platinum-selling pop singer,
made headlines in 2008 when he
appeared on the cover of People
magazine with the headline, “Yes,
I’m gay.” This weekend, he will
speak as part of the Human Rights
Campaign Carolinas gala at the
Raleigh Convention Center. Mer-
edith Baxter, the “Family Ties”
Ralph Fertig, a University of Southern California professor of social work,
has advised the Kurds in Turkey, an action whose legality will be decided
by the Supreme Court later this week.
to Kurdish leaders.
“The government has been
arguing for more than a decade
that our clients cannot advocate
for peace,” Cole said.
When asked whether Fer tig
would be prosecuted for advis-
ing the Kurds, Kagan agreed he
could be. If he is working for and
on behalf of the PKK, he would
be subject to prosecution, she
replied.
In response to other questions
from the justices, she agreed an
American citizen could be pros-
ecuted for drafting a legal brief
or writing a newspaper article in
coordination with a banned group,
such as Hamas.
actress who recently came out of
the closet on the “Today” show,
also will deliver a speech.
Since it was announced that Ai-
ken would speak at the HRC gala,
organizers have received e-mails
from his fans. Some have said that
Aiken’s appearance has caused
them to have conversations about
sexuality they wouldn’t have had
otherwise, said Joni Madison, who
is helping to organize the gala.
“It brings a whole other side to
the conversation,” Madison said.
“It’s fun to watch.”
The visibility of gay Americans
has never been higher. More ce-
lebrities feel comfortable sharing
their sexual orientation with the
public. President Barack Obama
advocates ending the militar y’s
policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” A
handful of states allow gay mar-
riage, with fer vent opinions on
both sides of the issue.
HRC provided a speechwriter to
help Aiken, 31, with his remarks,
but he decided to write his own.
The original speech was too po-
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times
Cole urged the justices to rule
that the First Amendment protects
those who speak out or advise for-
eign terrorist organizations, so
long as they advocate only peace
and nonviolence.
Justice Antonin Scalia agreed
with the government’s lawyer and
said he saw no constitutional prob-
lems with the anti-terrorism law.
“If you provide any aid” to them,
it “fur thers their terrorist activ-
ity,” he said.
When Cole cited earlier cases
that protected American Commu-
nists from being prosecuted simply
for joining the group or attending
meetings, Scalia discounted the
threat posed by such people.
litical, Aiken said, and included a
slam aimed at George W. Bush.
“I don’t feel like this is the place
to be horribly politically charged
and bash people and talk about
the wrongs that have been done,”
he said. “My goal is to be hopeful,
that it’s time for ever yone to have
equal rights.”
For Aiken, that means inheri-
tance rights and hospital-visitation
rights and all the other rights that
heterosexual couples take for
granted, including the right to be
married.
But, he said, “I’m not going to
be the person who says it has to be
marriage or nothing else.”
The most basic need, he said,
is that ever yone have the same
rights. He believes it will happen,
although it could take decades.
“It’s more important to me, as
a parent, that my son have all the
rights -— if he’s gay — than it is
for me. I don’t want to do anything
today that’s going to inhibit, or be
a detriment to his rights.”
Aiken’s son, Parker, was born
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
“They seek peaceful solutions to conflict.”
— David Cole, professor at Georgetown Law School
news in brief
“That was about philosophy.
Juniors elected to
People joined (the Communist Phi Beta Kappa
Party) for philosophical reasons.
I think it’s ver y unrelated to com- Forty juniors were elected
pare these terrorist cases to com- to the Rhode Island
munism,” he said. Alpha of Phi Beta Kappa
But Justices Ruth Bader Gins- on Feb. 17. The honors
burg, Stephen Breyer and Sonia society, founded in 1776
Sotomayor said Fertig and his al- at the College of William
lies are not seeking to aid terror- and Mary, “encourages
ists or terrorism. intellectual distinction
“All they want to do is speak among undergraduates by
about lawful activities,” Ginsburg recognizing outstanding
said. academic accomplishment
“What’s the government’s in- in the course of a broad
terest ... in forbidding training liberal education,”
in inter national law?” Breyer according to the dean of
asked. the College’s Web site.
Justice Anthony Kennedy, of-
ten the swing vote in close cases, Paula Armstrong
quizzed both lawyers but said he Maximilian Barrows
was troubled the case itself was Sanjay Bhatt
vague and abstract. Fer tig had Jilyn Chao
not been prosecuted or convicted, Victoria Chen
so it was hard to decide whether Noura Choudhury
the government had gone too far, Bryan Chu
he said. Jacob Combs
At one point, Kennedy pressed Colette DeJong
Cole to cite a case in which the Jeremy Feigenbaum
court had ruled on a free-speech Michelle Flagg
challenge to a federal law before Aaron Foo
anyone in the case had been pros- Jason Freeman
ecuted. Andrew Horne
Cole quickly cited a recent cam- Crystal Huang
paign finance case, FEC vs. Wis- Kevin Huang
consin Right to Life, in which the Eric Hubble
court’s conser vative bloc struck Benjamin Hyman
down part of the McCain-Feingold Douglas Jacobs
Act before anyone in this group Erika Jung
had been charged with violating Jessica Kang
the law. Huan Lee
The justices will meet behind Katrina Long
closed doors later this week to Michael MacCombie
vote on whether to uphold the ter- Nathan Margolin
rorism law as it stands or car ve Edward Parker
out an exception for free-speech Leslie Primack
claims involving peaceful advo- Jason Reeder
cacy. Sorawis Sangtawesin
A ruling in Holder vs. Humani- Alexandra Schultz
tarian Law Project will be handed Benjamin Slater
down by late June. Eric Sporkin
Erik Stayton
Daniel Sugar
Michael Sunshine
Erin Teich
Daniel Van Lunen
Chandler Villaverde
in August 2008. Parker’s mother Adrian Vladu
is music producer Jaymes Foster, Jeffrey Yuan
who lives in California. Parker,
who was conceived via in vitro fer-
tilization, splits his time between
the West Coast and Aiken’s home
in the Triangle region of Nor th
Carolina, near Raleigh and Dur-
ham.
Aiken said he probably will
attend Saturday’s event with his
bodyguard. No family members
or friends were scheduled to ac-
company him. Some in his family
have handled the news about his
sexuality better than others.
“Some Southern families like
to sweep things under the rug,”
he said. “We just don’t talk about
it.”
Although Aiken has no plans to
be a rabble-rouser in the efforts
to secure equal rights, he admits
he might eventually change his
mind.
Even as he has decided to take
a measured approach, “that sure as
hell doesn’t mean I won’t be loud
one day,” he said.
Editorial & Letters
The Brown Daily Herald

Page 10 | Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Have a big complaint?

No one will listen to you?
Don’t worry — we will.

letters@browndailyherald.com A le x Y uly

e d i to r i a l

Clear cut
When the Corporation convenes this weekend for its an- pletely. We know firsthand that it’s no fun to be sick in a
nual February meeting, the conversations may be more college dorm room. A roommate might make it hard to
serious than usual. With the University’s endowment fall asleep, and there are no parents around to bring you
down $740 million since the last fiscal year, Corporation Tylenol and soup. Students may want to stay at Health
members will gather to vote on a number of proposals Services overnight to get some more quiet time and a
aimed at trimming the University’s spending. The little extra care.
Organizational Review Committee, which was charged Still, the inpatient clinic is mostly a convenience and
with cutting $14 million from the University’s budget not a necessity. Under current policy, students who are
for the 2010 fiscal year, has suggested everything from seriously ill are taken to the hospital, so they would not
closing the Gate for lunch on weekdays to imposing a be affected by the suspension of inpatient services. The
fee to support athletics and recreation. Budget cuts are students most likely to feel the effects of the cut are the few
always painful, but there is at least one cut that seems borderline cases — those who are too sick to go back to
like a no-brainer. The ORC recommended in its Feb. 2 their rooms but not sick enough to go to the hospital. But
report that the University suspend overnight inpatient these cases are problematic in themselves, as the nurse
care at Health Services. We hope the Corporation will on duty may not be able to deliver appropriate care if the
approve the measure. student’s condition worsens.
Inpatient care allows students who are sick — but not University officials have declined to say how much
necessarily sick enough to warrant a hospital visit — to money would be saved from suspending inpatient care.
t h e b r o w n d a i ly h e r a l d stay in Health Services overnight under the watch of However, a student on the ORC student services subcom-
Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Deputy Managing Editors Senior Editors a nurse. In 2007, an outside consultant suggested that mittee told The Herald last week that the savings made up
George Miller Chaz Kelsh Sophia Li Ellen Cushing Brown discontinue inpatient services to save money. The “a huge portion” of the $500,000 that they were charged
Seth Motel
Emmy Liss
Joanna Wohlmuth
consultant also noted that keeping students overnight with with cutting. Health Services will still have physicians,
Business
staff members who are not trained to offer certain types psychotherapists and nurses on call at night, as well as a
editorial General Managers Office Manager of care was a major liability. Instead of cutting the clinic new overnight nursing triage service. As such, eliminat-
Anne Speyer Arts & Culture Editor Claire Kiely Shawn Reilly
Suzannah Weiss Arts & Culture Editor right away, the University began to phase out inpatient ing the inpatient clinic will have little effect on students’
Katie Koh
Brian Mastroianni Features Editor services in September, closing the overnight infirmary access to health care.
Directors
Hannah Moser Features Editor
Kelly Wess Sales Monday through Thursday. Health Services administrators In December, President Ruth Simmons warned the
Brigitta Greene Metro Editor
Matthew Burrows Finance
Ben Schreckinger Metro Editor reported that the change has not affected student access Brown community that the University would face “very
Margaret Watson Client Relations
Sydney Ember News Editor
Christiana Stephenson Alumni Relations to health care. And given that administrators made this painful” budget cuts for the coming fiscal year. We hope
Nicole Friedman News Editor
Dan Alexander Sports Editor Managers
judgment during the peak H1N1 infection period, it seems the Corporation will seize this opportunity to make one
Andrew Braca Asst. Sports Editor Arjun Vaidya Local Sales even more likely that the University can get by in the long cut that won’t be painful at all.
Han Cui Asst. Sports Editor Marco deLeon National Sales term without inpatient services.
Graphics & Photos Aditi Bhatia University Sales
Stephen Lichenstein Graphics Editor Jared Davis University Sales As the University reviews its spending, it is time to Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board.
Alex Yuly Graphics Editor Trenten Nelson-Rivers Recruiter Sales complete the phase-out and end inpatient services com- Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.
Nick Sinnott-Armstrong Photo Editor Alexander Carrere Special Projects
Max Monn Asst. Photo Editor Kathy Bui Staff
Jonathan Bateman Sports Photo Editor
production
Opinions
Michael Fitzpatrick Opinions Editor correction
Kelly Mallahan Copy Desk Chief Alyssa Ratledge Opinions Editor
Jordan Mainzer Asst. Copy Desk Chief
Marlee Bruning Design Editor Editorial Page Board
An article in Thursday’s Herald (“Class boards foster spirit, plan activities,” Feb. 18) incorrectly stated that the class
Anna Migliaccio Asst. Design Editor Matt Aks Editorial Page Editor boards raise funds for Alumni Relations. After graduation, the net funds remaining from Senior Week proceeds are
Julien Ouellet Asst. Design Editor Debbie Lehmann Board member
Neal Poole Web Editor
deposited in the senior class’ own alumni account, after disbursements to other class boards and the class’ gift to the
William Martin Board member
Melissa Shube Board member Brown Annual Fund.
Post- magazine Gaurie Tilak Board member
Marshall Katheder Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Topaz Board member
A Feb. 15 article (“Simmons ending tenure on Goldman Sachs board”) incorrectly states the date of a Goldman Sachs
Marlee Bruning, Katie Wilson, Designers press release to be Thursday, Feb. 11. In fact, the press release was published Friday, Feb. 12. The Herald regrets
Tiffany Hsu, Kelly Mallahan, Clara Kliman-Silver, Carmen Shulman, Copy Editors the errors.
Alex Bell, Sydney Ember, Sarah Mancone, Night Editors
Senior Staff Writers Ana Alvarez, Alexander Bell, Alicia Chen, Max Godnick, Talia Kagan, C O R R E C T I O N S P olicy
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Opinions
The Brown Daily Herald
Clean the mess, save the world
Sarah Yu
Opinions Columnist
During my shifts working as a cashier at
Josiah’s, my heart swells with joy every time
a customer asks for a reusable green canvas
bag or water bottle to be added to his or her
purchase of mozzarella sticks. Each student I
see getting a mug refill or drinking tap water
(especially without taking the unnecessary
soda cup lid) deserves an extra-friendly ca-
shier smile.
I’d like congratulate Brown Dining Services
for taking new and viable measures to match
up to its reputation of being environmentally
friendly. Of course, Dining Services is not the
perfect example of an environmentally friendly
institution just yet — the plastic syrup cups at
the Ratty are hardly efficient — but we have
definitely seen some changes in our dining
halls and eateries.
It is also a positive sign to see further
student group involvement in making some
sustainable changes happen. I was particularly
impressed by the Beyond the Bottle campaign
at the on-campus dining venues, initiated by
the Brown EcoReps and emPOWER, as I do
harbor a personal vendetta against the neces-
sity of bottled water.
The changes Dining Services and its ad-
ministrators, professionals and students have
been implementing are positive steps towards
that “Brown is Green” image that we would all
like to have. After all, it is an important part of
Muckraking in the Bayou and beyond
SEAN QUIGLEY
Opinions Columnist
James E. O’Keefe III is an unlikely lightning
rod in investigative journalism. Whereas I
might draw cries of reaction and looks of
astonishment for my anarchy-cum-monarchy
tendencies, O’Keefe is rather conventionally
conservative. He may have a biting take on
the bureaucratic enclave that is the Beltway,
but it is not his philosophical disposition that
gets him prime-time interviews.
No, the average liberal would expect him
to be pro-life, opposed to federal expansion
and upset by affirmative action. But his over-
arching approach to journalism, as well as
his specific tactics employed, have elicited
not-muffled reactions.
To some, his name might be unfamiliar — I
should note here that O’Keefe is a personal
friend — but his work certainly should not
be. On Sept. 10, 2009, he began the release
of a series of videos on the Association of
Community Organizations for Reform Now, in
which he persuaded workers from across the
country — New York, Baltimore, Washington
D.C., San Diego, etc. — to help him launder
money for a political campaign in which he
would be running as a Democrat.
The source of the money he would have
laundered? It was to come from his proceeds
as a pimp to hordes of prostitutes (many un-
derage), among whom was Hannah Giles, his
companion for the investigative operation.
In a manner as comical as it was brazenly
our liberal and progressive institution to not
only be concerned with ourselves as privileged
students, but also to take a substantial step
towards proving that we are responsible and
caring members of a sustainable world.
The requests from student customers for
paper bags and takeout containers, however,
still come in as frequently as ever. Toward the
end of the semester, students buying twelve
dollars’ worth of bottled water at each on-cam-
pus eatery, per day, is still the norm, to try to
“get rid of” all those unused meal credits. The
It is not enough to buy a reusable bag or two with
meal credits we don’t need, but it takes a much
deeper commitment to understand and adhere
to the implications and the larger scope of using
them.
condiment station at Jo’s is a mess even at its
best, with piles of unused napkins, straw wrap-
pers and paper plates lying in multicolored
pools of condiments. Just from dirtied paper
napkins, utensils, spilled condiments and the
extra equipment needed to clean things up,
the amount of unrecyclable waste that Jo’s
and other Dining Services locations produce
per day is alarming.
Brown students, for all our supposed in-
telligence and world-improvement capabili-
ties, can frankly be absolute pigs. We seem
to be simultaneously preaching the rhetoric
of greenness while perpetuating a rather irre-
sponsible practice that shouldn’t be acceptable
courageous, O’Keefe posed as a pimp circa
1977 (cane, hat, fur coat and all) and Giles as
a hooker. For the rather compliant ACORN
workers it was game, set and match.
Within a week of the first video’s release,
the Census Bureau ended its ties to ACORN.
Later, the Justice Department attempted to
freeze future funding for its community activi-
ties. O’Keefe and Giles achieved a resound-
ing success in exposing how easily ACORN
could fall off a moral cliff while entranced
by what lay across the ravine. What is par-
ticularly surprising is that the prize waiting
was ostensibly a few thousand dollars for a
Which brings the discerning critic to the
question: how radical are O’Keefe and his tactics?
small campaign.
At least Nixon thought the presidency
was at stake.
However, O’Keefe’s ascent in investigative
journalism circles hit a snag recently, and only
time will tell whether this is an end to the
ride or a test of endurance in a likely prolific
career. After all, was not the right-of-center H.
L. Mencken arrested in the “tolerant” Boston
for violating the Comstock Laws? One encoun-
ter with the badges and some steel does not
necessarily mean perdition.
However, his recent arrest and pre-ar-
raignment imprisonment in New Orleans
mean something. As many commentators
have remarked, it takes a great deal of ex-
Wednesday, February 24, 2010 | Page 11
for college-aged human beings. And I never
even got any e-mails after signing up for the
Beyond the Bottle mailing list during a visit
to Jo’s last spring.
So how do we align the good intentions
of reusable bags, mugs and bottles — the
well-meaning framework for helping the en-
vironment — with the uncaring attitude of
students toward helping this process along?
To have an effective and functional environ-
mentally friendly system in our University,
there needs to be a partnership of available
structures and resources and the attitude of
community members.
Not only do we need to have access to
things like environmentally friendly reusable
bags, recycling bins and clean, drinkable tap
water, we also have to, more importantly, take
enough care to use these resources properly.
It is not enough to buy a reusable bag or two
with meal credits we don’t need, but it takes
a much deeper commitment to understand
and adhere to the implications and the larger
scope of using them.
Brown managed to score an “A” on the
College Sustainability Report Card’s criterion
on Student Involvement, giving a thumbs up
plaining to clarify his Jan. 25 attempt — with
fellow muckrakers Joseph Basel, Stan Dai
and Robert Flanagan — to pose as a tele-
phone repairman in the office of Sen. Mary
Landrieu, D-La.
Which brings the discerning critic to this
question: How radical are O’Keefe and his
tactics? In a recent conversation, he told me
the chief lesson from this whole affair was that
the more established media do not like com-
petitors. For instance, the New York Times
barely paid attention to his ACORN videos but
put the news of his arrest on the front page.
Above the fold. On a Sunday.
Certainly the man has a point. Perhaps it
could be explained by the tendency for any
media outlet to highlight a person’s negative
aspects and bury his successes, especially
when those successes reflect poorly on an
ideological bedfellow of said outlet. Yet, does
that not say something about the deficiencies
in current media reporting?
O’Keefe thinks so. He lamented that barely
any major media figures deigned to consider
that he was, just perhaps, planning another sa-
tirical operation that was unfortunately inter-
rupted, unintentionally plunging the pundits
in medias res. As he is wont to say, he is a
guerrilla journalist, not a lapdog concerned
with sweeps.
to our initiatives and opportunities for stu-
dent participation, yet the assessment criteria
doesn’t quite mention anything about how
these ideals have filtered into the psychology
and attitudes of individual students.
The next step toward sustainability needs
to be up to Brown students. We are not lack-
ing in ideals based on the big picture, and I’d
like to believe that making positive change is
a widely accepted concept within our student
body. However, before we can have the ability
or attain the positions and influence we would
need to make a difference, we must first learn
the fundamental basics of cleaning up after
ourselves. Something as simple as intention-
ally using the condiments station at Jo’s with
responsibility can go a long way in ensuring
that our words of sustainability and action are
actually aligned. If being a part of the Brown
community means that community members
have some degree of responsibility to maintain
that our campus is sustainable, then it is first
necessary for Brown students to understand
that environmental concerns are most easily
solved when individuals make it a personal
concern to care.
On-campus dining venues are a good place
to start. Next time you’re at Jo’s, please refrain
from testing the ketchup dispenser directly
onto the counter and from placing a large wad
of paper towels on top of a puddle to make it
look like you attempted to clean it up.
Sarah Yu ’11 can be frequently
seen scrubbing down the
condiments table on weeknights.
While unpalatable to the knights of civil-
ity, O’Keefe may be the perfect remedy to
media syndicates that have lost touch with
the journalistic essentials: on-the-street beats,
creativity in eliciting information, making
the news when the reigning practice is to
observe like a cracked-out bystander and
practicing a vocation rather than a moribund
profession.
More importantly, for students ever y-
where, O’Keefe cut his teeth as a writer and
editor for (and founder of) The Centurion, a
libertarian-conservative journal at Rutgers
University. From the stories he recounted
about his time at the New Jersey school, I can
safely say that Brown has admirably remained
a school, while Rutgers has made a definite
lurch towards ideological farm.
However, even in Brunonia, there exist
tendencies towards totalitarianism that any
good journalist should seek to expose, even
ridicule. O’Keefe may be too extreme and
edgy for you, but blame that on his love for
Saul Alinsky, not the inherent toxicity of in-
vestigative journalism.
Going forward, there is much to glean from
O’Keefe’s experiences. Investigative journal-
ists must be careful in planning, resolved in
mission, expert in delivery and well-apprised
of the potential risks that face any Hermes.
The messenger, like the prophet, is still
often reviled in his own time.
Sean Quigley ’10 consorts with
some audacious cats. He can be
reached at sean.b.quigley@gmail.
com.
 Today 3
to day to m o r r o w
U. to expand outreach in India
The Brown Daily Herald

Gymnastics suffers close loss

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Page 12

t h e n e w s i n i m ag e s

6 7 9
c a l e n da r comics
Today, February 24 tomorrow, February 25
Cabernet Voltaire | Abe Pressman
5:30 p.m. — Negotiating the Faculty Job 4:00 P.M. — Janus Lecture: In God
Offer for Humanities and Social Science We Trust? Salomon 101
Grad Students, J. Walter Wilson
7:00 p.M. — Our Hands are Sore From
7:00 p.m. — Female Athlete Triad: Praying, Rites and Reason Theatre
Latest Research, Smith-Buonanno
106

menu
Sharpe Refectory Verney-Woolley Dining Hall
Dot Comic | Eshan Mitra and Brendan Hainline
Lunch — Buffalo Chicken Wings, Lunch — Saturday Night Jambalaya,
Vegetarian Reuben Sandwich, Cream Spinach Strudel, Mandarin Blend
Cheese Brownies Vegetables, Cream Cheese Brownies

Dinner — Steak Teriyaki, Couscous Dinner — Turkey Pot Pie, Shells

Croquettes with Cider Pepper Sauce, with Broccoli, Stir Fry Pork or Tofu
Orange Delight Cake Lo Mein, Orange Delight Cake

crossword

Fruitopia | Andy Kim

Island Republic | Mat Becker

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