www.browndailyherald.com 195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island herald@browndailyherald.com

News.....1-5Sports...6-7Nation....8-9 Editorial..10Opinion...11Today........12

hoops for haiti Women’s basketball team raised thousands of dollars for Haitian relief

Sports, 6EnginEEring changEA proposal for a school of engineering at Brown is slated to be passed

News, 3Eco-friEndly apathySarah Yu ’11 calls out students for their environmental laziness

Opinions, 11

insi

deDaily Heraldthe Brown

vol. cxlv, no. 19 | Wednesday, February 24, 2010 | Serving the community daily since 1891

Corp. stayed out of Goldman decisionBy 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

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-

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

Recent grads seriously injured in hit-and-runPhelan ’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

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

Students weigh in on budgetBy 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;

M. hoops shocks PrincetonBy 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,

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

Jonathan Bateman / HeraldSteve 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.

F— their lives: Students find outlet on Brown FMLBy 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 nervous tension.

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

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 part of the larger College FML project, which was initiated by Harvard 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 4 continued on page 5

continued on page 6

continued on page 2 continued on page 2

C O m E BAC k k I d S

Jonathan Bateman / Heraldmen’s hockey achieved two major comebacks back-to-back.

fEaturE

sports

sudoku

George Miller, PresidentClaire Kiely, Vice President

Katie Koh, TreasurerChaz Kelsh, Secretary

The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is an independent newspaper serv-ing the Brown University community daily since 1891. It is published Monday through Friday during the academic year, excluding vacations, once during Commencement, once during Orientation and once in July by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. Single copy free for each members of the community. 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 herald@browndailyherald.com. World Wide Web: http://www.browndailyherald.com. Subscription prices: $319 one year daily, $139 one semester daily. Copyright 2010 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.

Editorial phone: 401.351.3372 | Business phone: 401.351.3260Daily Heraldthe Brown

WEdNESdAY, FEBRuARY 24, 2010THE BROWN dAILY HERALdPAGE 2

CaMPuS newS “It builds camaraderie… like eff our lives together.”— Anna Hsu ’10 on BrownFmL

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.”

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 “misery loves company.”

“There is some comfort 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

semester. People responded tell-ing her to hang in there.

Brown FML focuses on prob-lems particular 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 perfect,” 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 Harry 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.”

‘Misery loves company’ on procrastination site

Students impact u. budget on urCcontinued from page 1

continued from page 1

Biotech firm gets grant for ulcer cureBy BriEllE friEdMan

Contributing Writer

CytoSolv Inc., a biotech startup in Providence, received $500,000 in seed-stage funding from the Slater Technology Fund, a Rhode Island capital fund committed to supporting technology-based businesses. Cyto-Solv is in the process of testing an acellular treatment for healing diabetic ulcers. The product aims to improve the appearance and potential function-ality of skin that would otherwise be critically scarred.

CytoSolv’s product regenerates skin and results in hair regrowth. “Regeneration of the multiple layers and skin cell types means that the

tissue would have all its normal func-tions, including feeling and sweating,” said Christopher Thanos ’97 PhD’01, one of the company’s founders. In addition to diabetic ulcer wounds, the product could eventually be used to treat injuries from burns, cardiovas-cular disease and bone degeneration, Thanos said.

The company, founded in October by Thanos and Associate Professor for Research of Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology and Biotechnology Moses Goddard, uses the choroid plexuses from a herd of pigs that live on an island off the southern coast of New Zealand for its product.

The choroid plexuses of the pigs — which were left on the island by

sailors centuries ago and discovered in the 1980s — secrete the proteins that CytoSolv uses to produce the treatment. While Living Cell Tech-nologies, for which Thanos used to serve as the director of research and development, has exclusive rights to the herd, it has agreed to let Cyto-Solv use the pigs’ organs in exchange for part of the anticipated product’s profits.

The U.S. Food and Drug Ad-ministration has fewer regulations for acellular products, Thanos said. Because CytoSolv’s product does not actually contain any of the pigs’ cells, the process of receiving approval for the drug’s clinical use will be easier, according to Thanos.

CaMPuS newSWEdNESdAY, FEBRuARY 24, 2010 THE BROWN dAILY HERALd PAGE 3

“All the sciences could benefit.”— Provost david kertzer on the creation of a school of engineering

Seeking two-state solution, peace org joins nat’l mov’tBy 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

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

engineering school approved by aPCBy 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,

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

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 expansionProfessor 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

India tie strengthened through new councilBy 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 Advisory 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

schools.Another key goal of the advi-

sory 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

Nick Sinnott-Armstrong / HeraldBuilt in 1965, Barus and Holley is the most recent construction project devoted solely to the division of Engineering.

continued on page 4

continued on page 5

continued on page 5

WEdNESdAY, FEBRuARY 24, 2010THE BROWN dAILY HERALdPAGE 4

CaMPuS newS “She is very well-loved.”— Rob Warner ’10.5 on Erinn Phelan ’09

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

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

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 forwardOne 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.

Plan for engineering school moves forward

Community visits hospitalized alums

continued from page 3

continued from page 1

WEdNESdAY, FEBRuARY 24, 2010THE BROWN dAILY HERALdPAGE 5

CaMPuS newS “I think we have succeeded.”— Noa Nessim ’12, Puzzle Peace co-chair

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

very active but did not address the Israeli occupation of Palestine, the war in Gaza and the conflict over East Jerusalem. “I felt that having dialogue and pretending that you are coming from all directions is hiding from the real issues,” she said.

The group’s other members also realized that this position was contradictory though for different reasons.

“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, though the group was exclusively a space for progressive Jews, it expanded because of a desire to include all of those in support of Puzzle Peace’s position.

The polarizing tendency of 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.”

Puzzle Peace works to educate, advocate

today on Blogdailyheralddow Travers ’12 beats Bode miller, blorgchiving and more!

blogdailyherald.com

continued from page 3 decision with the committee, Tisch said. “She came and expressed what she was thinking, and given what she was thinking, we said it’s a de-cision for her,” Tisch said, adding that he “respects her decision not to stand for reelection.”

Simmons’ decision, officially an-nounced Feb. 12, was not caused by a conflict of interest, Tisch said.

Matthew Mallow ’64 P’02, the Corporation fellow responsible for

acting on Simmons’ behalf in the event of a conflict of interest, said such situations are “very occasion-al.” Mallow also said he was not in-volved in discussions leading up to Simmons’ decision not to stand for reelection to Goldman’s board.

Regarding Simmons’ motiva-tion for the decision, Mallow said he knows only what has been made public through a Goldman press release, which cites “increasing time requirements associated with her position as President of Brown

University” as the reason for her departure.

According to Tisch, recent discussions regarding Simmons’ involvement on Goldman’s board have been limited to the Corpora-tion’s four-member Committee on Senior Administration, composed of Tisch and the Corporation’s vice chancellor, secretary and treasurer. He said the rest of the Corporation would be briefed on the discussions that occurred with Simmons at this weekend’s meeting.

tisch: no conflict of interest for Simmonscontinued from page 1

goals, including “where we should be in terms of admissions, faculty collaborations and working with the government,” he added.

Further meetings will most likely take place annually and be chaired by a council member from India as well as faculty and admin-istrative officials, Gutmann said.

While no concrete plans have

been made for the formation of ad-ditional regional advisory councils, the University is potentially inter-ested in expanding in key areas such as Latin America, Gutmann said.

continued from page 3

u. generates further India outreach

SportswednesdayWEdNESdAY, FEBRuARY 24, 2010 | PAGE 6

The Brown daily Herald

Icers snap 10-game losing streak with Princeton winBy andrEw Braca

aSSiStant SportS 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 victory 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 afternoon, 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 victory last January 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 victory. “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

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,” Landry 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.”

tumblers lose to tough competitionBy 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.

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-

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.

Stepping up to the line for haitiBy 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

’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

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.”

w. hockEy

gyMnastics

loss to the Penn Quakers (5-18, 4-5) with an 80-73 away victory at the Palestra.

Brown 80, penn 73Despite 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

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 54Bruno 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

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.”

M. basketball beats Penn, PrincetonNick Sinnott-Armstrong / Herald

The women’s hockey team scored its first ECAC victory Friday night.

continued from page 1

Henry Bruce / HeraldWomen’s basketball players blew away their free-throw average to raise $5,000 for uNICEF.

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 2Heading 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 goalie Michael Clemente ’12 made the kicksave in time to prevent an-other Saints goal.

But by the end of the second, St. Lawrence (14-12-7, 8-7-5) had a 2-0 lead.

Maclellan got a penalty shot op-portunity for Brown and beat the St. Lawrence goalie, five-hole, to make it a 2-1 game.

“I haven’t had a penalty shot in I don’t know how many years, so it was a little nerve-wracking,” Maclellan said. “I just tried to kind of settle my-

self down and do what I do in practice on one of the goalies.”

Timberlake’s last-minute goal tied the score, 2-2, and neither team could score in overtime.

The game ended in a tie, giving Brown one more point in the ECAC standings. The Bears are now tied with Princeton for ninth place in the league with one more weekend left before the postseason. If the team can move up to eighth place or better,

it will get a home series in the first round of the ECAC Tournament.

Next weekend, Brown faces Quin-nipiac (15-15-2, 9-11-0), whom Brown beat earlier this season, and Princ-eton (11-13-3, 7-11-2), which split its series with Brown this year.

“We are going to be ready to battle,” Whittet said. “We want to be at home. We’re 6-1-3 in the last 10 at home, and this is a good place to play.”

WEdNESdAY, FEBRuARY 24, 2010THE BROWN dAILY HERALdPAGE 7

SPortSwedneSday “We are going to be ready to battle.”— Brendan Whittet ’94, men’s hockey head coach

wrEstling

Brown 6cornell 46

Brown 12columbia 25

M. tEnnis

Brown 3xavier 4

Brown 2louisville 5

w. tEnnis

no. 66 Brown 4No. 32 William & mary 3

w. BaskEtBall

Brown 54Penn 42

Brown 38princeton 64

Jonathan Bateman / Heraldmeehan Auditorium was packed last weekend to see the men’s hockey team pull out a come-from-behind win and a tie.

M. hockEy

skiing

5th out of 13(qualifying team for Nationals)

world & nationThe Brown daily Herald

WEdNESdAY, FEBRuARY 24, 2010 | PAGE 8

dalai Lama urges u.S. to spread democracy

College financial aid form: an e for easierBy 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

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

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.”

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 Julian BarnEs

tribune 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 serve 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 serve 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 service chiefs stand on the issue of gays in the military 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,

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 reservations 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 surveys 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.

“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 military thinking on the is-sue, Odierno, like Casey, said his primary concern was for troops serving in war.

“We’re in two wars right now. So I want to see it done properly,” Odierno said.

Military chiefs guarded on ‘don’t ask’ changes

WEdNESdAY, FEBRuARY 24, 2010THE BROWN dAILY HERALdPAGE 9

worLd & natIon “They seek peaceful solutions to conflict.”— david Cole, professor at Georgetown Law School

Justices seek to weigh anti-terrorism law, free-speech rightsBy david savagE

tribune WaShington bureau

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court 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 Party, or PKK, as a foreign ter-rorist group, which meant that Fertig could go to prison for giv-ing “expert advice or assistance”

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 Fertig 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.

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 “furthers 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.

“That was about philosophy. People joined (the Communist Party) for philosophical reasons. I think it’s very unrelated to com-pare these terrorist cases to com-munism,” he said.

But Justices Ruth Bader Gins-burg, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor said Fertig and his al-lies are not seeking to aid terror-ists or terrorism.

“All they want to do is speak about lawful activities,” Ginsburg said.

“What’s the government’s in-terest ... in forbidding training in international law?” Breyer asked.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, of-ten the swing vote in close cases, quizzed both lawyers but said he was troubled the case itself was vague and abstract. Fertig had not been prosecuted or convicted, so it was hard to decide whether the government had gone too far, he said.

At one point, Kennedy pressed Cole to cite a case in which the court had ruled on a free-speech challenge to a federal law before anyone in the case had been pros-ecuted.

Cole quickly cited a recent cam-paign finance case, FEC vs. Wis-consin Right to Life, in which the court’s conservative bloc struck down part of the McCain-Feingold Act before anyone in this group had been charged with violating the law.

The justices will meet behind closed doors later this week to vote on whether to uphold the ter-rorism law as it stands or carve out an exception for free-speech claims involving peaceful advo-cacy.

A ruling in Holder vs. Humani-tarian Law Project will be handed down by late June.

Gary Friedman / Los Angeles TimesRalph 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.

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”

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 military’s policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” A handful of states allow gay mar-riage, with fervent 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-

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 everyone 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 everyone 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

in August 2008. Parker’s mother is music producer Jaymes Foster, 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 North 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.

Clay aiken says gay rights speech will be ‘hopeful’

Juniors elected to phi Beta kappa

news in brief

Forty juniors were elected to the Rhode Island Alpha of Phi Beta kappa on Feb. 17. The honors society, founded in 1776 at the College of William and mary, “encourages intellectual distinction among undergraduates by recognizing outstanding academic accomplishment in the course of a broad liberal education,” according to the dean of the College’s Web site.

Paula Armstrongmaximilian BarrowsSanjay BhattJilyn ChaoVictoria ChenNoura ChoudhuryBryan ChuJacob CombsColette deJongJeremy Feigenbaummichelle FlaggAaron FooJason FreemanAndrew HorneCrystal Huangkevin HuangEric HubbleBenjamin Hymandouglas JacobsErika Jung Jessica kangHuan Leekatrina Longmichael macCombieNathan margolinEdward ParkerLeslie PrimackJason ReederSorawis SangtawesinAlexandra SchultzBenjamin SlaterEric SporkinErik Staytondaniel Sugarmichael SunshineErin Teichdaniel Van LunenChandler VillaverdeAdrian VladuJeffrey Yuan

editorial & LettersPAGE 10 | WEdNESdAY, FEBRuARY 24, 2010

The Brown daily Herald

A L E x Y U L Y

Clear cut

C O R R E C T I O N S P O L I C YThe Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible. Correc-tions may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication.

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

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

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

editorial

When the Corporation convenes this weekend for its an-nual February meeting, the conversations may be more serious than usual. With the University’s endowment down $740 million since the last fiscal year, Corporation members will gather to vote on a number of proposals aimed at trimming the University’s spending. The Organizational Review Committee, which was charged with cutting $14 million from the University’s budget for the 2010 fiscal year, has suggested everything from closing the Gate for lunch on weekdays to imposing a fee to support athletics and recreation. Budget cuts are always painful, but there is at least one cut that seems like a no-brainer. The ORC recommended in its Feb. 2 report that the University suspend overnight inpatient care at Health Services. We hope the Corporation will approve the measure.

Inpatient care allows students who are sick — but not necessarily sick enough to warrant a hospital visit — to stay in Health Services overnight under the watch of a nurse. In 2007, an outside consultant suggested that Brown discontinue inpatient services to save money. The consultant also noted that keeping students overnight with staff members who are not trained to offer certain types of care was a major liability. Instead of cutting the clinic right away, the University began to phase out inpatient services in September, closing the overnight infirmary Monday through Thursday. Health Services administrators reported that the change has not affected student access to health care. And given that administrators made this judgment during the peak H1N1 infection period, it seems even more likely that the University can get by in the long term without inpatient services.

As the University reviews its spending, it is time to complete the phase-out and end inpatient services com-

pletely. We know firsthand that it’s no fun to be sick in a college dorm room. A roommate might make it hard to fall asleep, and there are no parents around to bring you Tylenol and soup. Students may want to stay at Health Services overnight to get some more quiet time and a little extra care.

Still, the inpatient clinic is mostly a convenience and not a necessity. Under current policy, students who are seriously ill are taken to the hospital, so they would not be affected by the suspension of inpatient services. The students most likely to feel the effects of the cut are the few borderline cases — those who are too sick to go back to their rooms but not sick enough to go to the hospital. But these cases are problematic in themselves, as the nurse on duty may not be able to deliver appropriate care if the student’s condition worsens.

University officials have declined to say how much money would be saved from suspending inpatient care. However, a student on the ORC student services subcom-mittee told The Herald last week that the savings made up “a huge portion” of the $500,000 that they were charged with cutting. Health Services will still have physicians, psychotherapists and nurses on call at night, as well as a new overnight nursing triage service. As such, eliminat-ing the inpatient clinic will have little effect on students’ access to health care.

In December, President Ruth Simmons warned the Brown community that the University would face “very painful” budget cuts for the coming fiscal year. We hope the Corporation will seize this opportunity to make one cut that won’t be painful at all.

Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.

senior staff writers Ana Alvarez, Alexander Bell, Alicia Chen, max Godnick, Talia kagan, Sarah mancone, Heeyoung min, kate monks, Claire Peracchio, Goda Thangada, Caitlin Trujillostaff writers Shara Azad, Nicole Boucher, kristina Fazzalaro, miriam Furst, Anish Gonchigar, Sarah Julian, matthew klebanoff, Sara Luxenberg, Anita mathews, Luisa Robledo, Emily Rosen, Bradley Silverman, Anne Simons, Sara Sunshinesenior sales staff katie Galvin, Liana Nisimova, Isha Gulati, Alex Neff, michael Ejike, Samantha Wongdesign staff Caleigh Forbes, Jessica kirschner, Gili kliger, Leor Shtull-Leber, katie Wilsonweb staff Andrew Chen, Warren Jin, Claire kwong, Phil Park, Ethan Richmanphoto staff Qidong Chen, Janine Cheng, Alex dePaoli, Frederic Lu, Quinn Savitcopy Editors Nicole Boucher, Sarah Forman, Claire Gianotti, Christine Joyce, Sara Luxenberg, Abigail kersen, Alexandra macfarlane, Joe milner, Lindor Qunaj, Carmen Shulman, Carolina Veltri

the brown daily herald

anne speyersuzannah weissBrian Mastroiannihannah MoserBrigitta greeneBen schreckingersydney Embernicole friedmandan alexanderandrew Bracahan cui

Stephen LichensteinAlex YulyNick Sinnott-ArmstrongMax MonnJonathan Bateman

Graphics EditorGraphics Editor

Photo EditorAsst. Photo Editor

Sports Photo Editor

Graphics & photos

BuSinESS

Kelly MallahanJordan MainzerMarlee BruningAnna MigliaccioJulien OuelletNeal Poole

Productioncopy desk chief

Asst. copy desk chiefdesign Editor

Asst. design EditorAsst. design Editor

Web Editor

EditoriAlArts & Culture EditorArts & Culture Editor

Features EditorFeatures Editor

metro Editormetro EditorNews EditorNews Editor

Sports EditorAsst. Sports EditorAsst. Sports Editor

editor-in-chief

george Miller

senior editors

Ellen cushingseth Motel

Joanna wohlmuth

deputy ManaGinG editors

sophia liEmmy liss

ManaGinG editor

chaz kelsh

oPinionS Michael FitzpatrickAlyssa Ratledge

opinions Editoropinions Editor

editorial paGe board

Matt AksDebbie LehmannWilliam MartinMelissa ShubeGaurie TilakJonathan Topaz

Editorial Page EditorBoard memberBoard memberBoard memberBoard memberBoard member

General ManaGers

claire kielykatie koh

office ManaGer

shawn reilly

directorskelly wessMatthew BurrowsMargaret watsonchristiana stephenson

ManaGers

arjun vaidyaMarco deleonaditi BhatiaJared davistrenten nelson-riversalexander carrerekathy Bui

SalesFinance

client relationsAlumni relations

local Salesnational Sales

university Salesuniversity Salesrecruiter Sales

Special ProjectsStaff

PoSt- mAGAzinEMarshall Katheder Editor-in-chief

Marlee Bruning, Katie Wilson, designers

Tiffany Hsu, Kelly Mallahan, Clara Kliman-Silver, Carmen Shulman, copy Editors

Alex Bell, Sydney Ember, Sarah Mancone, night Editors

correction

An article in Thursday’s Herald (“Class boards foster spirit, plan activities,” Feb. 18) incorrectly stated that the class boards raise funds for Alumni Relations. After graduation, the net funds remaining from Senior Week proceeds are deposited in the senior class’ own alumni account, after disbursements to other class boards and the class’ gift to the Brown Annual Fund.

A Feb. 15 article (“Simmons ending tenure on Goldman Sachs board”) incorrectly states the date of a Goldman Sachs press release to be Thursday, Feb. 11. In fact, the press release was published Friday, Feb. 12. The Herald regrets the errors.

Have a big complaint?No one will listen to you?don’t worry — we will.

letters@browndailyherald.com

WEdNESdAY, FEBRuARY 24, 2010 | PAGE 11

opinionsThe Brown daily Herald

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

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

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

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

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.

Clean the mess, save the world

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

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

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-

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.

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 every-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.

Muckraking in the Bayou and beyond

Which brings the discerning critic to the question: how radical are O’keefe and his tactics?

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.

SARAH Yuopinions coluMnist

SEAN QuIGLEYopinions coluMnist

wEdnEsday, fEBruary 24, 2010 PAGE 12

Today 36

u. to expand outreach in India

Gymnastics suffers close loss

The Brown daily Herald

41 / 34

today, fEBruary 24

5:30 p.M. — Negotiating the Faculty Job

Offer for Humanities and Social Science

Grad Students, J. Walter Wilson

7:00 p.M. — Female Athlete Triad:

Latest Research, Smith-Buonanno

106

toMorrow, fEBruary 25

4:00 p.M. — Janus Lecture: In God

We Trust? Salomon 101

7:00 p.M. — Our Hands are Sore From

Praying, Rites and Reason Theatre

cabernet voltaire | Abe Pressman

dot comic | Eshan mitra and Brendan Hainline

fruitopia | Andy kim

sharpE rEfEctory

lunch — Buffalo Chicken Wings,

Vegetarian Reuben Sandwich, Cream

Cheese Brownies

dinnEr — Steak Teriyaki, Couscous

Croquettes with Cider Pepper Sauce,

Orange delight Cake

vErnEy-woollEy dining hall

lunch — Saturday Night Jambalaya,

Spinach Strudel, mandarin Blend

Vegetables, Cream Cheese Brownies

dinnEr — Turkey Pot Pie, Shells

with Broccoli, Stir Fry Pork or Tofu

Lo mein, Orange delight Cake

6 7 9calendar

Menu

crossword

the news in iMaGes

coMics

43 / 32

today toMorrow

island republic | mat Becker

it’s never too late to join the herald.

herald@browndailyherald.com