BY ERIC BECKSENIOR STAFF WRITER

Diversity in RhodeIsland law enforce-ment passed a newmilestone Fridaywith the Univer-sity’s appointmentof Mark Porter asBrown’s chief ofpolice and directorof public safety. When Porter begins hisduties in April, he will become the firstblack police chief at Brown — and thefirst in Rhode Island.

“He is the first black police chief thisstate has ever seen. … This is a pivotalpoint for the entire Rhode Island policecommunity. It is history in the making,”said Lt. Charles Wilson of the RhodeIsland College Campus Police. Wilson isthe president of the Rhode IslandMinority Police Association and vicepresident of the National Association ofBlack Law Enforcement Officers.

Upon hearing of the University’sselection of Porter, Wilson informednational minority law enforcement lead-ers. Officers from around the Northeastare planning to travel to Brown forPorter’s swearing-in, he said.

Wilson said Rhode Island law enforce-ment agencies have fewer minoritiesthan those of other states, but Brown’sforce is unusually diverse.

Of the 75 Department of Public Safetyemployees, 21 are minorities, including18 who are black. Four of the 10 swornline supervisory officers — holding therank of sergeant, lieutenant, captain orcolonel — are minorities, according toDPS.

By comparison, Wilson said, he is theonly racial minority on RIC’s 22-personforce. The Community College of RhodeIsland has two black officers, and theUniversity of Rhode Island has none.Statewide, about 300 of Rhode Island’s6,500 law enforcement officers are racialminorities, and only 11 are in leadershippositions above the rank of sergeant, hesaid.

“It is most important that the policedepartment be reflective of the commu-nity it serves,” said Capt. EmilFioravanti, DPS interim chief. “Where ithas not been reflective, it has causedproblems.”

The diversity at DPS “has typicallybeen above the mainstream,” Wilson said.

Porter said he sees the makeup of theDPS force as evidence of the University’seffort to improve diversity in the depart-ment.

“Diversity is always an issue. It is achallenge to recruit law enforcementminorities — especially women and offi-cers of color,” he said.

“Brown really works hard to ensurethat they have a diverse pool” for hiringDPS employees, Porter said. “ClearlyBrown is doing something right, and thenumbers reflect this.”

“(Having a diverse police department)lends credibility with the minority com-munity if there were issues of bias,”Fioravanti said.

Wilson stressed the importance ofhaving minorities in police forces, espe-cially in administrative positions.

“Every agency will benefit from hiringofficers of color. … When you have peo-ple who look like you, come from thesame places as you and have the sameexperiences as you, the community as awhole is well-served,” he said.

“We look for honesty and commit-ment to professionalism and communi-ty,” Wilson added. “In law enforcementleaders of color, we look for their com-mitment not only to professionalism butfor their commitment in making law

BY STEPHEN NARAINSTAFF WRITER

Art Street, a Boston-based organizationaimed at using art to bring communitiestogether and inspire social change, held arecruiting meeting Monday night in theLower Blue Room.

Although there were only about adozen attendees — most women —Robert “Sidewalk Sam” Guillemin said hewas impressed by their creativity andenthusiasm.

Guillemin, a graduate of BostonUniversity who also attended BostonCollege, became “Sidewalk Sam” afterbeing a copyist at the Louvre, where hesaid reproducing “Mona Lisa” made himfeel like he “climbed Everest.” Since then,he has traded the world of the studio forthe sidewalk so he can use art to connectwith ordinary people.

“Something is wrong when artistsbecome egomaniacs. Art needs to bethere in order to serve others. … Artistshave to sink down to day-to-day meetingswith people and let art become a way to

find solutions for society’s ills. I’m here tohelp kids launch their own careers (bydoing) astonishing things with art,”Guillemin said.

Guillemin hopes students at Brownwill be involved with Art Street’s summerprograms in Boston, and possibly imple-ment similar community initiatives inProvidence.

Art Street’s projects range from envi-ronmental advocacy and promotingracial harmony to simply making artmore accessible to local communities,Guillemin said.

During the third week of August, ArtStreet holds “Chalk One Up,” an eventwhere various corporations get togetherwith Boston non profit organizations andcreate chalk drawings together on thesidewalk.

“We give hundreds of corporations themost gorgeous box of pastels and have(their) accountants, lawyers, secretaries,CEOs and interns get down and draw onthe sidewalks. These are the quiet peoplewho do not get to express themselves, but

they get a chance to just create. The side-walks just ruminate with energy,”Guillemin said.

This is just one of the projects thissummer for which Guillemin was recruit-ing Brown students. With help from thecity of Boston and sponsorships from var-ious companies, Gullemin hopes to seethis project spread to cities outside NewEngland.

“The city of Boston helps to get theseordinary persons to celebrate their owncreative genius. That’s what we need. Weneed to shift art’s focus from a few highpriests as creators to where everyone cancreate,” Guillemin said.

Guillemin, whose work has been fea-tured on the “Today” show and “GoodMorning America,” has also gained inter-national attention. Art Street Warszawa inPoland was inspired by the Boston-basedprogram and “creates multilingual com-munity art and music projects to bringtogether our growing global world,”

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Porter will be first black chief in R.I. Brown, R.I.volunteerismdown, surveyssayBY HANNAH MILLERCONTRIBUTING WRITER

The Princeton Review characterizes theBrown University population as a“Birkenstock-wearing, crunchy, granola-eating, non-flushing, tree-hugging crowd,”and calls Brown “an ‘activist’ place where‘everyone wants to change the world.’” Buthas Brown been living up to its reputation?

A survey of recent graduates conductedby the Career Development Center indi-cates that participation in volunteerism atBrown has decreased, according to PeterHocking, an assistant dean of the collegeand director of the Swearer Center forPublic Service. Only 51 percent of respon-dents from the Class of 2003 indicatedthey participated in community servicewhile at Brown, compared to 65 percent ofthe Class of 2002.

Hocking suggested that any declinereported by the CDC might simply reflectthe conservative mood of the country. “Isuspect it’s a national trend,” he said.

“President Clinton really pushed publicservice,” said Hocking — there was a spikein volunteerism under Clinton, who in1994 became involved in the developmentof AmeriCorps, a network of national serv-ice programs that engage more than50,000 Americans each year in intensiveservice to meet critical needs in education,public safety, health and the environment.According to the Chronicle of HigherEducation, the Bush administration hasproposed cutting funding for AmeriCorpsnext year.

Hocking also said that in his 17 years atthe University, he has never noticed adecline in student volunteerism, empha-sizing that students are continually ener-getic and motivated to help the communi-ty. Participation in Swearer Center pro-grams has been consistent for the last 10years, with about 900 to 1,000 studentsactively involved in community serviceinitiatives through the Center everysemester, he said. The Swearer Centermaintains ongoing relationships withapproximately 200 community organiza-tions.

Hocking noted that the data collectionmethods used by the CDC have changedover the years, perhaps influencing theirfigures.

Allison Lombardo ’05, who coordinatesa mentoring program called Citygirlsthrough the Swearer Center, said she hasnot felt a change in students’ willingnessto volunteer their time, and added that asCitygirls has developed, the coordinatorshave become even better at recruiting vol-unteers. Other student coordinators ofSwearer Center programs noted similarexperiences.

While Hocking believes the conserva-tive politics of the 21st century may havedampened volunteer efforts, others saythey feel the opposite — that if anything,President Bush’s reelection has brought ona surge of community involvement, inspir-ing people to get on their feet and help thedisenfranchised. Associate Director of theSwearer Center Claudia Decesare said she

Art Street organization hopes to democratize art

see VOLUNTEER, page 4

see POLICE, page 4

see ART STREET, page 7

THE LITTLEST STUDIO CITYRhode Island offering come-hithertax credits to TV and filmmakers toconsider production in Lil’ Rhody

M E T R O 3

THE CASE FOR THE FACE(BOOK)Adam Nelson ’06: Thefacebook.comis the new lifestyle accessory, andyou are not too cool to use it

O P I N I O N S 11

EQUINE-AMITYRiders looking ahead despite badhorses, judging at disastrous showloss to rival UConn

S P O R T S 12

Gabriella Doob / Herald

Ariane Helou GS gave a solo performance on the recorder with the Brown ChamberChorus Monday night as part of Henry Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas.”

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C R O S S W O R D

THIS MORNINGTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD

TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2005 · PAGE 2

How to Get Down Nate Saunders

Jero Matt Vascellaro

Chocolate Covered Cotton Mark Brinker

Coreacracy Eddie Ahn

Homebodies Mirele Davis

Raw Prawn Kea Johnston

ACROSS 1 Dummy, in bridge

columns6 Isinglass10 Ottawa-based

law enforcementgp.

14 Love to pieces15 Bell-ringing

company16 Skin soother17 Oscar nominee

for the 1947 film“Crossfire”

19 Tall tale20 Like many thick

soups21 Found out23 More desperate26 Ruckus27 Donkey30 Big, heavy book31 Hedy of “Algiers”35 Bryn __ College37 Immediately

following39 Ike’s wife40 Pennsylvania

port41 Spooky43 Kind of tide44 Church notice of

a marriage46 Tear to bits47 Not fooled by48 Lansbury or

Bassett50 Breakfast staple52 “Can’t Help

Lovin’ __ Man”53 Was on the ballot54 God56 Take unfair

advantage of60 Beethoven’s

Third64 Big poem65 Comedian who

said, “When Ieventually metMr. Right, I hadno idea that hisfirst name wasAlways”

68 Elevator man69 Once again70 39.37 inches, in

England71 Agnew’s plea,

briefly

72 Ship stabilizer73 Vegas machines

DOWN 1 Catcher of

pushers2 Smell3 Post-shower wear4 Tire pattern5 Recluse6 Disfigure7 __ League8 Christmas

stockingpunishment

9 Toughen byheating, as glass

10 Comic whom“everybodyloves”

11 Highlands family12 Additional13 Remain

undecided18 Actor Power22 Alan Arkin’s son24 Middle East

bigwig25 Longtime New

York Observerfilm critic

27 Tiny life form

28 It’s a wrap29 Try to hit the ball32 Change, as a law33 Lasso34 Move a fern, e.g.36 “Tin Cup” actress38 Hint of color42 More nervous45 Starter for happy

or dash49 Arctic jacket51 Plays lightly

55 Tyrolean refrain56 Peasant worker57 __-the-minute58 “Bubble, bubble,

__ and trouble ...”59 Largest digit61 Division word62 Part of CPA:

Abbr.63 War god66 Golf ball holder67 Piercing tool

By Jack McInturff(c)2005 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

03/22/05

03/22/05

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

xwordeditor@aol.com

T O D A Y ’ S E V E N T S

M E N U

SHARPE REFECTORYLUNCH — Minestrone Soup, SpinachPie, Chicken Fajitas, Paprika Potatoes,Kielbasa, Vegan Rice and Jalapenos,M&M Cookies, Liberty Chocolate Cake

DINNER — Porkloin with Green AppleDressing, Wild and White Rice Pilaf, StirFry Carrots with Lemon and Dill, BrusselsSprouts, Tortellini Angelica

VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALLLUNCH — Vegetarian Corn and TomatoSoup, Bean and Bacon Soup, ShavedSteak Sandwich, Linguini with Tomatoesand Basil, Sunny Sprouts, Magic Bars

DINNER — Vegetarian Corn and TomatoSoup, Bean and Bacon Soup, Pot RoastJardiniere, Vegan Rice and Beans,Roasted Yukon Potatoes with Shallots,Oregon Blend Vegetables, AsparagusCuts with Lemon, French Bread, CarrotCake with Cream Cheese Frosting

A’LELIA BUNDLES LECTURE4 p.m.(Salomon 001) —Lecture by journalist and authorA’Lelia Bundles, the great-great-granddaughter and biographer ofMadame C. J. Walker, America’s firstblack female millionaire.

JAZZ COMBO CONCERT8 p.m.(Grant Recital Hall) —The Department of Music presentsa free jazz concert includingSanfillipo, Tomassi, Mason andZinno combos.

W O R L D A T A G L A N C E

Sudanese VP calls for more world pressure on rebels in Darfurpage 5

New EPA mercury rule omits conflicting studypage 5

Despite congressional intervention, Schiavois parentsunlikely to win, lawyers say

page 9Gunman kills 9, himself in Minn.

page 9

METROTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD

TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2005 · PAGE 3

BY PHILLIP GARACONTRIBUTING WRITER

In conjunction with local politi-cians and public interest groupslike Common Cause RhodeIsland, Brown’s chapter ofDemocracy Matters continues toactively support the recentlyproposed Clean Elections Bill, ameasure that promotes the pub-lic financing of political cam-paigns.

District 3 State Sen. RhodaPerry P’91 sponsored the bill inthe Senate, and District 3 StateRep. Edith Ajello introduced thesame measure in the House. Thebill is awaiting hearings in bothchambers.

Clean Elections is a campaignfinance reform bill that pro-motes government-fundedcampaigns instead of cam-paigns funded privately. Similarversions of the bill have beenintroduced in Arizona andMaine.

Herald Opinions Editor Te-Ping Chen ’07 has been a driv-ing force behind these efforts.Chen, an Oakland, Calif., nativewho worked in support of pub-licly financed elections inBerkeley last summer, said themovement is centered on theidea that privately funded elec-tions distort the Democraticprocess.

“It is an issue of equity. Yearsago, we had a poll tax for voting,”Chen said. “What you see now incampaign fundraising is that itprevents a lot of people fromrunning for office.”

Because of privately fundedcampaigns, elected officials havebecome increasingly homoge-nous as minorities and women

are underrepresented, Chensaid.

Phil West, executive directorof Common Cause RhodeIsland, was contacted by Chenlast February and has worked inconjunction with DemocracyMatters ever since. “What typi-cally happens now is that cam-paigns are largely funded by lob-byists who want something fromthe government,” West said.“There is enormous pressurewith officials to cooperate withthose who give to their cam-paign.”

A proposal for the bill —drafted by the Brennan Centerfor Justice at New York UniversitySchool of Law and reworked tofit the language of Rhode Islandlaw by West and Common Cause— received sponsorship fromPerry and Ajello as a result of thecombined efforts of Chen andDemocracy Matters.

The bill allows those runningfor office to decide whetherthey want to fund their cam-paigns with private or publicmoney. If they choose to acceptpublic funding, candidatesneed to receive a certain num-ber of $5 donations in order toprove their candidacy is legiti-mate and worthy of publicfunding.

“Currently candidates need toget signatures in order to run.This (clean elections) makes youhave a higher degree of credibil-ity,” West said. “Five dollars,while it is not a lot of money, is areasonable enough amount ofmoney so that people wouldn’tflippantly give it away.”

If the Clean Elections bill waspassed, a politician’s decision to

forgo public financing in favor ofprivate funds might garner anegative reception from thepublic, West said.

Different positions require adifferent number of $5 dona-tions to receive funding: fiftydonations are necessary to runas a state representative, 100 as astate senator, 2,500 for governorand 1,000 for lieutenant gover-nor, attorney general, secretaryof state or general treasurer.According to the plan, politi-cians who receive public fund-ing only have a certain amountof time to fundraise for largeramounts, rather than a wholeelection cycle. They must stillcomply with rules restricting theamount one can donate.

The money given by the gov-ernment to campaigns — esti-mated to total about $7 million,according to Ajello — would bedistributed as follows:Candidates for the House ofRepresentatives would receivebetween $8,000 and $12,000,prospective state senators wouldreceive between $16,000 and$24,000, candidates for governorwould receive between $1.5 and$2.25 million and other generalofficers would receive between$600,000 and $900,000.

According to Ajello, the CleanElections bill benefits the publicby relieving the legislature ofpressure from special interestgroups. In addition, politiciansthemselves do not have to spendas much time fundraising andcampaigning.

“The thing I least like to do israise money for my campaign,”

Bill promotes publicly financed elections

R.I. House and Senate to hearmedical marijuana billsBY MARY-CATHERINE LADERSENIOR STAFF WRITER

As two bills in support of medicalmarijuana use approach hearingsin the state legislature, sponsorssay the current incarnation of theRhode Island Medical MarijuanaAct has garnered greater supportthan in any previous year.

The bill’s stated purpose is “toprotect patients with debilitatingmedical conditions, and theirphysicians and primary care-givers, from arrest and prosecu-tion, criminal and other penal-ties.” Qualifying medical condi-tions include cancer, multiplesclerosis, AIDS and illnesses thatcause severe symptoms alleviatedby marijuana use, such as nauseaor seizures. Sufferers and theircaregivers would be allowed toacquire and cultivate the drug aswell as possess relevant parapher-nalia.

District 3 State Sen. RhodaPerry P’91, a Democrat who hasbeen a continual proponent of themeasure, introduced the bill in theSenate Feb. 17 along with fourother sponsors. It will be heardbefore the Judiciary Committee,on which she sits, in mid-April.

Nine states — Alaska,California, Colorado, Hawaii,Maine, Nevada, Oregon, Vermontand Washington — currentlyallow the use of medical marijua-na. If the legislation passes, RhodeIsland will join Vermont andHawaii as the only states tochange the law legislatively ratherthan through voter initiative.

Although marijuana useremains illegal under federal law,according to the U.S. SentencingCommission, 99 out of 100 mari-juana arrests are made under statelaw. The bill states that for this rea-son, “changing state law will havethe practical effect of protectingfrom arrest the vast majority ofseriously ill people who have amedical need to use marijuana.”

Similar bills sponsored last yearfailed to pass in either chamber of

the state legislature.This year, Perry said she is

“somewhat sanguine of its pass-ing our committee with more than50 percent” of the votes, but shewas reluctant to explicitly predictits ultimate success.

In the House, District 10 StateRep. Tom Slater, a cancer survivorhimself, is the lead sponsor of anidentical bill. Introduced March 1,the House bill has the support of50 of 75 assembly members.

Slater and Perry said increasedlegislative support was partly dueto a 2004 Zogby poll that found 69percent of Rhode Islanders infavor of the legal use of marijuanafor medicinal purposes.

“The majority of people inRhode Island feel medical mari-juana should be up to individualpatients and his or her physicianand the Department of Health,”Perry said.

Trevor Stutz ’07, president ofStudents for Sensible Drug Policy,said evidence of overwhelmingsupport in Rhode Island warrantsthe bill’s passage.

If a voter initiative is required topass the bill in Rhode Island,“then it would be an utter failureof the political system to carry outthe wishes of its people,” Stutzsaid.

No legislators have publiclyspoken against the measure sinceits introduction, but the opposi-tion of a few legislators is knownwithin the capitol, Slater said,adding that most of those againstmedical marijuana are lawenforcement officials. “They thinkit will open up the market (fordrugs) to everyone,” Slater said.

But Perry said there is evidencethat the tides of opposition in theSenate may be changing.

“In past years, we have hadsome opposition from … (two)former members of public safety,”Perry said. “It’s interesting thatthis year I have both those people

R.I. lawmakers working to pass tax incentivesto help put Lil’ Rhody on the big screenBY PHILLIP GARACONTRIBUTING WRITER

In an ongoing effort to bringfilm and television projects toRhode Island, local govern-ment officials have been work-ing to pass legislation thatwould give outside productioncompanies and in-stateinvestors tax credits for pro-ducing films and televisionshows in the Ocean State.

The announcement of thebill — sponsored by HouseSpeaker William Murphy andSenate President JosephMontalbano — came at arecent gathering involvingmembers of the Rhode IslandGeneral Assembly along withfilm and television luminaries.At the function, local talentsBobby Farrelly and MichaelCorrente welcomed TV creatorBlake Masters and hisShowtime series “Brotherhood”to the state. Speakers at theevent cited the series as evi-dence of the state’s renewedcommitment to the on-screenarts.

Farrelly is known for hiswork on hit films including“Dumb and Dumber,” “There’sSomething About Mary” and“Me, Myself & Irene.” Correntedirected “American Buffalo”

and collaborated with Farrellyon “Outside Providence.”

Recently, “Brotherhood”received what the ProvidenceJournal labeled a “clandestine”$300,000 donation frommunicipal officials. Masters,who shot the series’ pilot lastyear, will film the series entirelywithin the city.

According to StevenFeinberg, director of the RhodeIsland Film and TelevisionOffice, “The plan is to createincentives for film producersfrom outside the state to cometo Rhode Island and forinvestors from within the stateto invest on films made inRhode Island.”

The incentives include a 20percent labor employment taxrebate that gives productioncompanies 20 cents for everydollar spent on certain expen-ditures. These include rebatesfor in-state hires, hotel taxcredits and sales and use taxexemptions that waive taxes onmoney spent in Rhode Islandfor a production that spendsover $300,000.

However, the biggest incen-tive may be a tax credit aimedat investors and motion picturecompanies. The credit gives upto a 25 percent rebate for pri-

vate investors in Rhode Islandfilms as well as a credit againstthe business corporate tax formotion picture companiescoming into the state.

Ultimately, the tax incentiveplan aims to make RhodeIsland more competitive withthe other 27 states that havepassed similar legislation, aswell as Canadian markets likeVancouver, Montreal andToronto that offer similarrebates.

According to Feinberg,becoming more competitive forfilm and television productionis quite lucrative and is in thestate’s best interest.

“The federal formula is (amultiplier of three) so that amillion dollars spent has a $3million impact on the econo-my,” he said.

Feinberg added that, evenwith the large tax credits,increased film and televisionproduction will ultimately bol-ster the economy.

“Millions of dollars are goingto be coming into the state thatotherwise wouldn’t have,” hesaid.

Film and television produc-tion inherently creates a trick-

see MARIJUANA, page 4

see ENTERTAINMENT, page 9

see ELECTIONS, page 4

could see both sides. “I can seethat students might feel like theproblems are so big that theydon’t know how to get involved,”she said, “but I can also see thatthey might be inspired to takeaction.”

According to Decesare, stu-dents these days are interestedin literacy and school-based vol-unteer work. Students also seem

to prefer work that has a begin-ning and an end, providing atangible sense of completion.

According to a 2004 study bythe Points of Light Foundationand Indiana University, RhodeIsland ranks 47th among U.S.states for rate of volunteerism —in 2003, 23.2 percent of thestate’s population participatedin volunteer activities, below thenational average of 28.8 percent.

“I’m not surprised to hearthat statistic,” Decesare said,“There are a lot of poor peoplehere, and when you’re struggling

to satisfy your own basic needs,it becomes difficult to donateyour time.”

Despite Rhode Island’s lowvolunteer rate, a study pub-lished by the Volunteer Center ofRhode Island indicates that col-lege-age students in RhodeIsland “volunteer at a rate equalto the national norm.”

Hocking pointed out that vol-unteerism is virtually impossi-ble to measure accurately —people do not always reporttheir community work, and def-initions of volunteer activity dif-fer from place to place.According to Decesare,“Everyone’s interpretation ofeffective volunteerism varies.I’ve come to regard every levelof civic participation with highesteem. It’s all important.”

While the Swearer Centeroffers students a variety of pro-grams to choose from, manystudents prefer to make theirown arrangements, or work withprofessors on individual proj-ects in and around the commu-nity. Community service atBrown, once seen as purelyextracurricular, has even madeits way into the classroom. Onegroup independent study proj-ect, spearheaded by Professor ofAmerican Civilization MatthewGarcia, encompasses a servicecomponent through which stu-dents spend afternoons volun-teering at local schools.

While some statistics suggesta drop in volunteerism, theSwearer Center has noticed nochange in Brown students’ inter-est in volunteering their time tothe community.

PAGE 4 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2005

Volunteercontinued from page 1

not only on board the bill butsigned on as sponsors.”

Perry said permitting medicaluse of marijuana is not part of alarger agenda. “I don’t agree withlegalizing marijuana,” Perry said.“When you’re smoking that sub-stance for pain, it’s very different.You don’t become an addict.”

The Department of Healthwould evaluate patients’ eligibili-ty based on medical records andsubsequently issue them a “reg-istry identification card,” therebyprotecting them from arrest formarijuana use.

Neither Perry nor Slater wouldspeculate on what action theyexpect Republican GovernorDonald Carcieri ’65 to take. Whenthe bill was last presented to thelegislature, Carcieri said he wouldneither veto nor sign the bill.Perry hopes this year’s bill willpass with three-fifths supportfrom the legislature — the totalnecessary to override a possibleveto.

Support for the bill extendsbeyond the Statehouse, thanks inpart to the effort of Brown stu-dents. Nathaniel Lepp ’06, execu-tive director of the Rhode IslandPatient Advocacy Coalition, hasbeen gathering support amongthe state’s medical communityand patient advocacy organiza-tions. The resulting RIPAC coali-tion now includes the R.I. StateNurses Association, R.I. MedicalSociety, AIDS Project R.I. and theAmerican Association for FamilyPhysicians.

“One of the main purposes ofRIPAC is to rally supporters whoare willing to testify,” Lepp said.Testimony may come frompatients who would benefit from

the drug, doctors in support ofprescribing it and an administra-tor from Oregon involved in theimplementation of similar legisla-tion.

SSDP has supplied RIPAC withvolunteers and assisted in solicit-ing this testimony, Stutz said,adding he has called Rhode Islanddoctors and asked them to sup-port the bill.

Both Perry and Slater said thegreatest public response to thebill has come not from their con-stituents, but in e-mails sent inopposition from out of state.These e-mails, which follow a sin-gle format and contain the samelanguage, argue the act willincrease use among adolescents.

To address the concern ofincreased adolescent use of thedrug, a subsection of the bill spec-ifies that patients under 18 canonly qualify for use if their par-ents consent and then serve ascaregivers, monitoring dosageand frequency.

For many of its sponsors, thelegislation has personal signifi-cance.

“(This bill) means relief,” Slatersaid. “I have cancer myself. Iknow the effects, and when peo-ple say there’s not much pain,well, they don’t know what they’retalking about.”

Perry said her advocacy ofmedical marijuana was largelytriggered by her nephew’s strug-gle with AIDS. Perry said both sheand her sister suggested he usemarijuana, but that her nephewrefused.

“When you are dying like mynephew was, to be released fromhorrible throes of nausea allows aperson to interact with his envi-ronment, to interact with lovedones and to take part in life,”Perry said.

Marijuanacontinued from page 3

enforcement responsive andresponsible to the community.”

According to Wilson, diversi-ty is especially important forthe success of communitypolicing — a program theUniversity intends to imple-ment under Porter’s leadership.

Under the proposed com-munity policing program, offi-cers are assigned to specificregions of the campus andencouraged to interact withpeople who live or work in theirregion.

“Diversity and communitypolicing go hand-in-hand,”Wilson said.

As the highest-ranking blackpolice officer in the state,

Porter will be catapulted into aleadership role for minoritiesin Rhode Island law enforce-ment, Wilson said.

“Whether he wanted to be ornot, Chief Porter is going to bethe senior statesman for minoritypolice in Rhode Island,” he said.

Wilson added in an e-mail toThe Herald, “Not only must heprovide leadership for (his)own agency and the communi-ty it serves, he will also becalled upon, and indeedexpected, to be a leader in thecommunity outside the envi-rons of the campus. … As thesenior law enforcement officerof color, we will look to him forstrength and guidance, know-ing that if he is allowed to failthen we all will fail in our pur-pose.”

Porter’s colleagues are quickto point out that Porter is a

capable leader ready to handleany challenges that face him.

“I think it is a wonderfulappointment. I think Brown isfortunate and Providence isfortunate,” said Col. DeanEsserman, chief of theProvidence Police Department.

Esserman said the PPD andDPS have increasingly workedtogether and forged a success-ful partnership over the lasttwo years — a trend he looksforward to continuing withPorter, he said.

Wilson said of Porter, “I havefound him professionally andpersonally to be very person-able, down to earth andapproachable. … He is going tobe an excellent chief, a goodfriend to the community andsomeone the Brown communi-ty will be exceptionally proudof.”

Policecontinued from page 1

Ajello said. “I would much rathertalk about problems and solu-tions. Time spent on fundraisingcould be much better spent.”

Ajello also notes that many ofRhode Island’s elected officialswork multiple jobs and that thelegislature is citizen-based, so itis even harder to fund campaignsbecause of time and economicrestrictions.

Opponents of Clean Electionspoint to its socialist qualities andthe tax burden it may create,according to the ProvidencePhoenix.

Ajello said the bill wouldrequire an extra $7 million of gov-ernment revenue to finance. Butfor Chen, Democracy Mattersand many of Rhode Island’s pub-

lic interest groups, the priceseems well worth it.

The biggest hurdle Chen andDemocracy Matters face is tryingto convince legislators to pass thebill, a formidable task consider-ing Rhode Island does not havevoter initiatives. The bill essen-tially increases the competitionfor office by leveling the cam-paign finance playing field.

Ajello says her support forthe bill is based on a “largerresponsibility to look out for thegood of the state and not tomaintain my position in thelegislature. It is about having alegislature that truly representsits constituency.”

Ajello, West and DemocracyMatters are looking for the reformto be passed eventually andunderstand it is unrealistic for thebill to pass in the next year.

“We are in the phase of reach-ing out to other groups. We are in

the process now of building thecoalition that will win this thing.We will not win in one year, wewill win in a few years,” West said.

In efforts to build support,Caroline Colesworthy GS hastaken on the responsibility totry to get other public interestgroups to support the bill. Herlogic is that “any group workingin the public interest for indi-viduals will benefit by this billpassing.”

After Arizona and Mainepassed the similar bills, the gov-ernments have become increas-ingly diverse and more represen-tative of the population, accord-ing to the Road to Victory Report,an executive summary reportdistributed by the CleanElections Institute.

Arizona elected its first pub-licly financed governor alongwith 38 other publicly fundedofficials in 2002.

Electionscontinued from page 3

WORLD & NATIONTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD

TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2005 · PAGE 5

Sudanese VP calls formore world pressure onrebels in DarfurBY EMILY WAXTHE WASHINGTON POST

KHARTOUM, Sudan — Sudan’sFirst Vice President said the inter-national community must putmore political pressure onSudanese rebel groups to laydown their guns before lastingpeace can be achieved in the war-shattered western region ofDarfur.

In a two-hour interview withThe Washington Post, Ali UthmanMohammed Taha said his govern-ment had received an unfair bal-ance of the blame for the war inDarfur, which has displaced twomillion villagers and killed tens ofthousands in the past two years,mostly through hunger and dis-ease.

“We need a strong, unequivocalmessage that the rebels have tohonor the cease-fire,” said Taha,57, who heads a government taskforce aimed at ending the Darfurcrisis and who is considered themost powerful man in Sudan.“They started this war by attackingpolice stations and the airport. ...What is needed at the moment isfor them to have pressure fromEurope and the U.S. to stop.”

Taha reiterated earlier state-ments by Sudanese authoritiesdenying international allegationsof genocide in Darfur. The Bushadministration has said the wide-spread deaths there amounted togenocide. A U.N. commissionstopped short of using the termbut found that war crimes andcrimes against humanity had beencommitted.

“We do understand and appre-ciate people having sympathywith the victims of Darfur,” saidTaha, who called the situation a“sad chapter” in Sudan’s history.But he added, “this was not geno-cide, but an unfortunate internalconflict … that has nothing to do

with ethnic cleansing. We urgepeople to see the differencebetween the innocents caught inthe middle and the rebels who areescalating their claims to gainsympathy.”

Taha’s comments came threemonths after a peace accord wassigned in a separate civil conflictbetween the Khartoum govern-ment, represented by Taha, andthe Sudan People’s LiberationArmy, a rebel group in southernSudan led by John Garang. Thatagreement gave religious andpolitical autonomy to the south-ern region.

Taha said he was optimisticabout peace lasting in the south.He called the pact “a real land-mark” in Sudan’s recent historyand said it “paves the way for anew horizon for the Sudanesepeople.”

The two-decade long civil war,which pitted the Islamic govern-ment against rebels based in themostly animist and Christiansouth, left 2 million people dead,primarily from famine and dis-ease. Under the accord, which wasbacked by the Bush administra-tion, the south will have a six-yearperiod of self-rule, then vote onwhether to remain part of Sudanor secede. The agreement alsocalls for Garang to replace Taha asfirst vice president.

The conflict in Darfur, in con-trast, has resisted solution. It brokeout in early 2003 when two largelyAfrican rebel groups attackedpolice stations and military out-posts to protest what they calleddiscrimination by the mostly Arabgoverning elite. The U.N. andhuman rights groups accuse thegovernment of arming and sup-porting a militia, called theJanjaweed, to crush the rebellion,

New EPA mercury rule omits conflicting studyBY SHANKAR VEDANTAMTHE WASHINGTON POST

WASHINGTON — When theEnvironmental ProtectionAgency unveiled a rule lastweek to limit mercury emis-sions from U.S. power plants,officials emphasized that thecontrols could not be moreaggressive because the cost toindustry already far exceededthe public health payoff.

What they did not reveal isthat a Harvard University studypaid for by the EPA, co-authored by an EPA scientistand peer-reviewed by two otherEPA scientists had reached theopposite conclusion.

That analysis estimatedhealth benefits 100 times asgreat as the EPA did, but topagency officials ordered thefinding stripped from publicdocuments, said a staff mem-ber who helped develop therule. Acknowledging theHarvard study would haveforced the agency to considermore stringent controls, saidenvironmentalists and thestudy’s author.

The mercury issue has longbeen the focus of heated argu-ment between utilities andenvironmental advocates.Health advocates say mercury

is so harmful to fetuses andpregnant women that steps areneeded to sharply controlemissions; industry groups andthe Bush administration havewarned that overly aggressivemeasures would impose heavycosts.

Announcing the new rulelast Tuesday, officials usedcharts to emphasize that mostmercury toxicity in the UnitedStates comes from foreignsources, and they used theircost-benefit analysis to showdomestic controls had minimalimpact.

Asked about the Harvardanalysis, Al McGartland, direc-tor of the EPA’s National Centerfor Environmental Economics,said it was submitted too late tobe factored into the agency’scalculations. He added thatcrucial elements of the analysiswere flawed.

Interviews and documents,however, show the EPAreceived the study results bythe Jan. 3 deadline, and thatofficials had been briefedabout its methodology as earlyas last August. EPA officialsreferred to some aspects of theHarvard study in a briefing forThe Washington Post on Feb. 2.

The Harvard study conclud-

ed that mercury controls simi-lar to those the EPA proposedcould save nearly $5 billion ayear through reduced neuro-logical and cardiac harm. LastTuesday, however, officials saidthe health benefits were worthno more than $50 million a yearwhile the cost to industrywould be $750 million a year.

“They are saying if they failto regulate mercury frompower plants at all, it reallywouldn’t make a difference,”said John Walke, clean air direc-tor with the Natural ResourcesDefense Council, an environ-mental advocacy group. “Toacknowledge the real benefitswould be to raise the next ques-tion: Why didn’t you go fur-ther?”

James Hammitt, director ofthe Harvard Center for RiskAnalysis and co-author of thestudy, agreed: “If you have alarger effect of the benefits,that would suggest moreaggressive controls were justi-fied.”

Mercury is a toxic metalemitted by industrial sources.U.S. power plants emit 48 tonsa year, and the new rule estab-lishes an emissions-trading

see DARFUR, page 6

see MERCURY, page 7

point riders of the day. Since thisprocess occurs before anybodyhas been given her individualhorse assignment, the success ofthe final decisions depends large-ly on luck.

“It is sort of a crapshoot. Imean, somebody can look reallycute on a simple horse and endup doing really well. If the horse isstrong though — well, then itsrider can start falling apart even ifshe’s pretty skilled,” Gilbard said.

Brown’s team appears to havemade some unlucky point riderselections Saturday.

After the first fiasco on herassigned bronco, Gilbard wasgranted a re-ride by the judgesand show staff. Unfortunately, shewas placed in the same class —albeit on her new, better-behavedmount — in which Peddy wassupposed to compete. Gilbardultimately placed ahead of Peddywith a third-place finish, but hersuccess did not help the teambecause Peddy had been selectedto serve as the point-rider forBrown in the Open division. OnlyPeddy’s points would contributeto Brown’s total tally for the day.

“Peddy’s horse was tough, too,and it was giving her a really hardtime. The horses were just nothaving a good day,” Gilbard said,laughing. “I think the Johnsonand Wales horses are predomi-nantly dressage horses, so theywere a bit perplexed by the jump-ing element, and just by the dif-ferent style of riding, in general,”Gilbard said.

“We had some people do reallyfantastic, but they weren’t ourpoint riders,” Gilbard said. “Theteam is very consistent, but thisweekend seemed like it was justnot meant to turn out in ourfavor.”

In addition to troublesomehorses and unlucky point riderdecisions, co-captain GalynBurke ’05, an Intermediate divi-sion rider, attributed the Bears’substandard performance to poorjudging. Peddy and Gilbard both

described the judging onSaturday as suspect.

“What was really unfortunateabout the weekend is that every-body rode really well, despitesome difficult circumstances, andthere were some really — how doI say this? — interesting judgingchoices,” Gilbard said.

With an additional year ofexperience, Jennifer John ’06, aconsistent winner in the Walk-Trot division, has been unstop-pable. Yet, this past weekend,John’s horse was unfriendly andskittish, forcing John to circlerepeatedly during the class. “Eventhough she looked the best, shestill ended up sixth,” Gilbard said.

Overall, the show was an unex-pected disappointment.

“We’ve had a really, really greatseason, and this past show wasreally the only show we’ve hadthat has been a disaster,” Gilbardsaid. “All of our other shows —especially those during thissemester — have been great. Thisweekend was unfortunate, buthopefully we’ll be able to make acomeback.”

To make up for the pointdeficit, Brown will have to changeits routine a bit.

“This next weekend we’re like-ly to change our strategy, mainlyin terms of who we choose toshow,” Peddy said. “Normally wekeep people from pointing up —that is, accruing enough points inthe last shows of the season toqualify for a spot in the next high-est division — so that we can usethem in Zones and Nationals inthe division they are used to andmore likely to win.”

But given the circumstances,Peddy said, “This weekend we’llprobably throw some people intheir usual division, no matterhow many points they havetotaled during the season — peo-ple that we would have otherwisesaved for the Zone Championshipand Nationals in order to try towin the region.”

Also, the team members havesome additional practices sched-uled in one last attempt to per-fect their already strong ridingskills and make any last adjust-ments to their techniques before

the upcoming show decidingtheir fate.

“I feel like we have consistent-ly shown that our team is themost talented one in the region,and it was just heartbreaking towatch the events that unfoldedthis past weekend. … There was-n’t much we could have done dif-ferently — it was an unluckysequence of events,” Burke said.

“All we can do now is show upthis weekend with everything wehave and try our best to comeback from behind. I just wishthere were a few more shows tohelp us come back — because Ifeel like cream does rise to thetop — but there aren’t,” Burkeadded.

Peddy is leading the region by12 points in the Open division, amargin large enough to ensurePeddy’s invitation to compete atthe Intercollegiate Horse ShowAssociation’s National Champio-nships in Ohio May 5-8.

Peddy will contend for theprestigious Cacchione Cup, aspecial event that combines a flatand a fences phase and for whichonly the top 25 Open riders in thenation are invited to compete.

“Essentially, regardless of howthis weekend turns out for us, I’mlooking forward to watchingsome exciting rides in the post-season from my teammates,”Burke said. “I know that even ifBrown doesn’t get to go on as ateam, these individual riders willrepresent the University andprove the excellence of our eques-trian program.”

PAGE 6 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2005

State University, the Bearsfought their way through a 3-3tie at halftime and outscoredthe Spartans 3-0 in the thirdquarter for a 6-3 advantage.Michigan State would get it towithin one, but Brown held onfor a 7-6 win.

The Bears had incrediblebalance on offense, gettingtheir seven goals from six dif-ferent players. Blaxberg wasthe high-scorer with two goals,while Elizabeth Balassone ’07,Fahey, Claire Angyal ’07,Lansing and Palmer scored oneeach. The total team effort on

offense is something Brownwill look to draw upon as theseason winds down.

“People don’t have to playthe entire game for us to besuccessful,” Gall said of theadvantages of a deep offense.“If someone gets injured or infoul trouble, we have someoneon the bench that can take thatplayer’s spot and we won’t missa beat.”

The Bears suffered their onelopsided loss of the weekend intheir final game, against No. 7Loyola Marymount University.The Lions outscored Brown 11-2 in the first three quarters onthe way to a 13-4 win. Wyatt,Angyal and Lansing scored forBrown, while Sade Bonilla ’08led the team with three ejec-

tions drawn.Overall, the weekend went

just as Brown had envisionedit going in.

“That was what was expect-ed of us,” Gall said of the 2-3weekend. “We knew that beat-ing Michigan, Indiana andLMU were a stretch. We justdidn’t know what the wins andlosses were going to be like.”

With one of their higher hur-dles out of the way, the Bearshave two weeks in which tohone their game for the ECACChampionship at BucknellUniversity April 2 and 3.

“(We have to) maintain ourdefensive focus and also(improve) our offense. We hada tough time scoring goals thisweekend,” Gall said.

Water polocontinued from page 12

Equestriancontinued from page 12

and by bombing villages wherethey said rebel supporters wherehiding.

Taha, interviewed in theNational Palace, called theJanjaweed bandits and said theywere beyond the government’simmediate control. He said thosewho broke the law or committedatrocities would be punished, butthat the rebels had to stop fightingand turn in their arms before thegovernment could go after theJanjaweed.

“In Darfur there has been ahuge influx of weapons from theChad conflict, from instability inthe Central African Republic andfrom the south of Sudan,” Tahasaid. “This phenomenon of law-lessness and the habit of lootingand attacking have made condi-tions very tough.”

He said the report issued earli-er this year by a U.N. Commissionof Inquiry, which found that warcrimes and crimes againsthumanity had been committed inDarfur, was based on “weak evi-dence and political judgments,rather than legal findings.”

The U.N. Security Council isconsidering whether to imposeeconomic sanctions on Sudanbecause of the Darfur conflict.Taha said that such sanctionscould exacerbate the crisis andthat the government did not haveenough money to develop theregion.

He said the Darfur conflict hadhistorical roots and had not beenplanned by the government. Hesaid there had been tensions andperiodic violence among regionaltribes for decades over access towater and grazing areas. He saidhe plans to set up panels toaddress the root causes of theconflict.

Taha said he wants to see theDarfur issue resolved quickly. Hesaid the government is willing tobe patient in seeking peace withthe rebel groups, and is currentlypracticing a policy of “self-restraint,” when it comes to fight-ing the rebels. However, he saidSudan would not agree to U.N.appeals for a “no-fly zone” overDarfur.

Taha visited Darfur in late 2002to discuss the needs of the localpopulace. He said the visitorswere told “there was need of freshwater, health care and primaryschooling. … We agreed withthat.”

But just a few months later,Taha added, “the response wasshooting by the rebels” and “othertribes felt insecure as well.” Thegovernment had “no intent to goon a military track,” he said. “Butto a certain degree we had to com-bat rebel attacks.”

He said there had been a mis-understanding by critics who saidaccused the government of arm-ing the Janjaweed. He said offi-cials had called up the PopularDefense Forces and that volun-teers who responded “were indi-viduals from different parts, notonly the Arabs.”

Darfurcontinued from page 5

according to their Web site.The American Embassy in

Warsaw also helps to organize theAmerican Days Festival with ArtStreet Warszawa, when hundredsof people turn out to draw stars onthe city’s sidewalks.

“Students need to read thenewspaper and ask ‘What can Ido?’” Guillemin said. “We needto go to Third World countries …and troubled spots like NorthernIreland and Palestine and find aplace in the community to cre-ate artwork and show what ispossible.”

Guillemin also encouraged theuse of art in bridging the ideolog-ical gap between “red states andblue states.”

“This kind of problem hasexisted before in America in the1780s after the Revolutionary War.… We need a band of artists thatcan show the common spirit ofAmerica (through art),” he said.

Guillemin suggested going into“one-silo towns in Iowa” andinspiring people to recreateMichelangelo and Van Gogh.

“We could make videos of howpeople respond to art and proveonce again (art’s) power to justbring different parts of our coun-try together.”

A dynamic aspect of the dis-cussion centered on the role of artin our society, and the riskstoday’s artists are willing to take.

“Artists were once rebels. …They found problems in societyand disrupted the status quo. It’stime artists went into the tough-est parts of town and createdmurals that expressed positive

values, (inspiring) solutions thatpolice departments can nevercome up with.”

One student suggested the useof public art in upcoming springevents at Brown on the MainGreen.

Herald cartoonist Mirele Davis’07, Brown’s liaison for Art Street,expressed the need to expose dis-advantaged children to art.

“We need to get inner city highschool students involved withShakespeare,” Davis said.

Guillemin said he has encoun-tered “visceral responses” fromstudents in Boston-area schoolsworking with Art Street.

“So far we’ve worked with stu-dents from Boston College,Boston University, Brandeis,Emerson, Simmons, Emmanuel,and even Wellesley, Smith andHarvard,” Guillemin said. “Thepower will come by organizingnew, young, creative energy thatunderstands the viability of(using art for change). We haveto discover in ourselves thisinner voice and shout it for all tohear.”

Art streetcontinued from page 1

TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2005 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 7

improvement. Baughman fin-ished second for the Bears onthe beam with her 9.000.

“Mandi started beam off forus. She has a sprained ankle, butshe continues to gut it out. It’sextremely impressive, and shedid a great routine,” Forziat said.

Tri-captain Maya Vadiveloo’05 also performed well. Despitehaving a two-and-a-half-hourspan between her warm-up andher event, she scored an 8.925 onthe beam, good enough for thirdon the team.

Carver-Milne called Vadiveloo’sperformance a huge individualimprovement. “Maya especially(performed well). She only com-peted beam for us a few timesbefore, and she hit her routine,”she said.

The Bears head into their finalteam meet of the season, theECAC Championships at JamesMadison University, Saturday.The team aims to end this chal-lenging season with a positiveattitude.

“I am personally looking for-ward to competing with thisgroup one last time. This teamhas the most heart of any of thepast teams I’ve been on here atBrown,” Forziat said. “It will bebittersweet.”

Gymnasticscontinued from page 12

Nova was able to plate one morerun to round out the scoring.Marissa Berkes ’05 went sixinnings for the Bears, giving upfive runs (three earned) on sixhits in the loss. Over the week-end, Brown left a total of 14 run-ners on base while only amass-ing nine hits.

“We have some hitting

mechanics to work on, but the sea-son is not won or lost in the firsttwo games. These two games pro-vided a great foundation for us,and the more we play the betterwe’ll be. We just need to keep play-ing games so we can gain moreexperience, which will help us inthe long run,” McCreesh said.

The Bears will look to gettheir first win of the seasonagainst Central ConnecticutState University on Wednesdayafternoon in New Britain, Conn.

Softballcontinued from page 12

program that is expected tolower emissions to about 31tons by 2010 and to about 15tons by 2026. The Harvardanalysis was based on similartargets in President Bush’s“Clear Skies” legislative pro-posal.

In most cases, mercury toxi-city results from eating fish:Industrial emissions fall fromthe air into water and are takenup by fish. Because the metaldoes not break down, it movessteadily up the food chain tospecies people consume. Amajor reason for the dramaticdifference in the health benefitestimates was that the EPAlooked only at the effects ofreducing mercury levels infreshwater fish, but most of thefish Americans eat comes fromoceans.

“Some very large share ofmercury exposure comes fromtuna,” Hammitt said. “Andwhile it’s true that our powerplants have less effect on tunathan on (freshwater) northernpike, if you ignore the saltwaterpathway you’ll miss a lot of thebenefit.”

Even though U.S. powerplants contribute only about 1percent of the mercury in theoceans, reducing even thatsmall amount makes a differ-ence, he said. The EPA has saidocean species such as tuna,pollock, shrimp and halibutaccount for two-thirds of themercury Americans consume,

while catfish, the largest sourceof mercury among freshwaterfish, accounts for only 3 per-cent.

Hammitt’s analysis also fac-tored in recent evidence thatmercury causes heart attacksamong adults. The EPA saidother studies contradicted thatfinding and therefore it quanti-fied only the impact of mer-cury’s better-known neurologi-cal hazards. SpokeswomanCynthia Bergman calledHammitt’s cardiac analysis“flawed.”

The EPA’s McGartland, aneconomist, said the prelimi-nary Harvard results sent to theagency Jan. 3 were inadequate,and the full study did notbecome available untilFebruary. He questioned theHarvard findings about marinemercury, arguing ocean levelsof mercury do not easilychange. No EPA draft of the ruleever discussed the Harvardresults, he said.

But the EPA staff memberinvolved with developing therule said the reference deletedfrom rule-making documentswould have told the publicabout the Harvard results. “Theidea was to say Harvard Schoolof Public Health had quantifiedthese (cardiac) benefits and theamount of these benefits was— ” a blank to be filled in with afigure in the billions once thefinal report became available,said the staff member, whospoke on the condition ofanonymity for fear of retalia-tion.

EPA scientist WilliamFarland, who is the agency’s

deputy assistant administratorfor science in research anddevelopment, said he had notseen the Harvard analysis andcould not comment on its qual-ity. He said the EPA had notquantified the cardiac costs ofmercury because “the scienceis just not strong enough at thispoint.” While mercury couldwell damage the heart, he said,that harm might be offset bythe known cardiac benefits ofeating fish.

Harvard’s Hammitt, who wascautious in describing his find-ings, readily acknowledged theuncertainties in such analyses.But he questioned the EPA’sdecision to ignore a study thatthe agency had paid for andthat agency scientistsJacqueline Moya and RitaSchoeny had reviewed.

“If they think there is no sig-nificant effect of U.S. powerplants on the marine fish weeat, they ought to make thatcase as opposed to just ignor-ing it,” he said.

The Harvard study was com-missioned through EPA grantsto an independent nonprofitorganization of northeastern-state governments that workson regional environmentalissues.

Praveen Amar, director of sci-ence and policy at the NortheastStates for Coordinated Air UseManagement, said the EPA pro-vided about $270,000 in fundingfor the project. Amar said scien-tist Glenn Rice, Hammitt’s co-author, is an EPA employee whohad been given time to work ona doctoral thesis at the Harvardcenter.

Mercurycontinued from page 5

TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2005 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 9

le-down economic effect that causesincreases in tourism, patronage of localbusinesses and job creation. Everyepisode of “Brotherhood” will have anestimated $2.2 million impact on theeconomy.

Feinberg and local government offi-cials say they hope this legislation willallow Rhode Island to reclaim much ofthe business recently lost to the risingCanadian markets, which benefit fromtheir own incentive plans.

According to Montalbano, “Torontowill have no more advantages on us oncethe legislation is passed.”

Feinberg said he is seeking to “makesure that Rhode Island stories are set inRhode Island.”

Montalbano said Rhode Island’s vari-ety of settings in a small radius make thestate appealing to filmmakers.

“You have everything that you want ina small area; the ocean, the historicalbuildings in Providence and Newport,countryside, city settings and everythingis within 20 minutes of each other,” hesaid.

According to Farrelly, a Rhode Islandnative, the state continues to be anattractive location for his own produc-tions because of its cultural and naturalresources. “It’s been a tradition whereevery time we do a film we try to do atleast a little part of it in Rhode Island,”Farrelly said. “You can get great locationsto shoot at, especially if the season isright.”

But for Farrelly, Rhode Island possessesmore than just an array of diverse settings.

“There are a lot of characters in RhodeIsland that are probably really odd in otherplaces,” he said. “There is somethingabout us that lends ourselves to humor.”

Nevertheless, for Farrelly and otherlocal film producers, writers and direc-tors, Rhode Island has to do more thanprovide tax incentives for film compa-nies in order to attract productionbeyond location shooting.

“There needs to be soundstages,sophisticated editing facilities, a well-trained local crew base and all of theother things that go along with filmmak-ing,” Farrelly said.

Gary Glassman, founder of ProvidencePictures, said Rhode Island needs toencourage production companies tocome to the state permanently throughimproved tax incentive plans like rolloverand tradable tax credits, which allow pro-duction companies more flexibility inutilizing their incentives.

“What created the renaissance inProvidence is the ability to sell tax cred-its,” Glassman said. “If I were able to sellmy tax credits I would be creating a pro-duction company and media arts centerhere.”

Ultimately, Glassman hopes betterreforms will help Rhode Island build theinfrastructure needed for a self-suffi-cient, more productive and more attrac-tive film industry.

Feinberg said he hopes Rhode Islandwill be able to retain more of its local tal-ent and provide a Brown or RISD filmstudent with quality job prospects andcareer opportunities after graduation. Inaddition, Feinberg also sees film and tel-

evision as a way to promote other artists. “Why don’t we put local artists’ paint-

ings on television and movie sets, solocal artists can say my painting was onthis series? We want to keep the people,talent and jobs here.”

Increased production may improveRhode Island’s public image, Farrelly said.

“If more movies keep coming, it willdepict Rhode Island as a favorable placeto go,” he said.

When asked whether he plans to shootin Rhode Island in the future, Farrellysaid, “I’d love to be around here shootinga whole film. I’d rather be here. It’s morefun and the restaurants are better.”

Entertainmentcontinued from page 3

“There are a lot of charac-

ters in Rhode Island that

are probably really odd in

other places,” Bobby

Farrelly said. “There is

something about us that

lends ourselves to humor.”

Despite congressional intervention,Schiavo’s parents unlikely to win,lawyers sayBY DANA MILBANKTHE WASHINGTON POST

WASHINGTON — Even with the interven-tion of Congress and President Bush, TerriSchiavo’s parents have only a slim chanceof convincing federal courts that theirdaughter should be kept alive indefinitely,constitutional lawyers said Monday.

Sunday’s unusual action by Congressgave the parents of Schiavo the right to suein federal court over the withdrawal of lifesupport from their severely brain-dam-aged daughter — trumping the judgmentsof Florida courts and the wishes ofSchiavo’s husband-guardian. Although themove raises a wide range of complex con-stitutional questions, and could ultimatelyrequire the Supreme Court’s involvement,Schiavo’s parents face a daunting array oflegal obstacles in convincing federalcourts to involve themselves in an area ofstate authority.

“There are so many substantial hurdlesthat the case has to get over that it’s hardfor them not to trip on one,” said MichaelDorf, a constitutional law professor atColumbia University. Alan Meisel, whodirects the University of Pittsburgh’sCenter for Bioethics and Health Law,called it “very, very unlikely” that Schiavo’sparents will prevail.

The difficulty showed itself immediate-ly Monday when lawyers for Schiavo’s par-ents, Robert and Mary Schindler, filedtheir request for an injunction in U.S. dis-trict court. They argued that the federalcourt should rule that the Florida judge’s

order to remove Schiavo’s feeding tube“violates and continues to violate” herconstitutional rights of religion and dueprocess. But that request is at odds withthe law signed early Monday by Bushdirecting the federal courts to consider thecase de novo — without taking intoaccount the state court’s findings.

The judge assigned to the case, JamesWhittemore, expressed skepticism aboutthe Schindler’s lawsuit. “I think you’d behard-pressed to convince me that youhave a substantial likelihood” of success,he said, declining to give an immediateorder to restore the feeding tube.

The lawyers for the Schindlers need toweave their way around some difficultSupreme Court precedents. The 1990Cruzan case made clear that a person in apersistent vegetative state had a constitu-tional right to be removed from a feedingtube. In a 1997 ruling, Chief Justice WilliamRehnquist affirmed that the Cruzan caseassumed that “the due process clause pro-tects the traditional right to refuseunwanted lifesaving medical treatment.”And in the 1995 Plaut ruling written byJustice Antonin Scalia, the court struckdown an effort by Congress to direct courtsto reopen final judicial judgments.

Thus, even if the case goes to theSupreme Court, some of the conservativejustices who might have the most sympa-thy for the Schindlers’ claim have in thepast sided with the states on similar cases.“I don’t think the chance is much abovezero” that this will change now, said Bruce

Fein, a constitutional lawyer and colum-nist for the Washington Times.

Article Three of the Constitution givesCongress the authority to send a case tofederal courts particularly if a person’s con-stitutional rights have been violated. But itis not clear that Congress can dictateguardianship rules to states. “I don’t thinkany power Congress has under theCommerce clause or other powers givesthem the authority to make federalguardianship laws,” said Mary Cheh, a lawprofessor at George Washington University.

As to the substance of the Schindlers’case, their lawyers cited Terri Schiavo’srights under the first and 14th amend-ments and under the Religious Land Useand Institutionalized Persons Act of 1983.They said the state trial judge denied her afair trail and did not make “reasonableaccommodations to Terri’s sincerely-heldreligious beliefs.”

Columbia’s Dorf said these claims areweak. He said due-process claims against ajudge are “very hard to win.” The claim thatthe judge violated her free exercise of reli-gion, he said, is equally difficult to estab-lish. “You have to show that the govern-ment targeted you because of your religionand did not apply a general law or principleto you,” he said. A better argument, Dorfsaid, would be to assert that Schiavo’s hus-band was wrong to claim she is in a vegeta-tive state and that removing her feedingtube violates her right to life. Even then, hesaid, “it’s very implausible that they wouldwin.”

The Schindler’s success may hinge ontheir ability to disqualify the judgment ofSchiavo’s husband, Michael. Their com-plaint Monday made some effort to dothat, noting that he “abandoned his mar-riage to Terri in 1995 by cohabiting withand having two children by a woman otherthan his wife.”

But to convince the courts that MichaelSchiavo is acting in bad faith as herguardian would require a federal court toreach a finding on the medical evidencethat is different from the state court’s. “Ifthe Florida courts are doing their jobs, it’sinconceivable the district court would findanything different,” Meisel said. “If therehad been a problem, somebody wouldhave caught it.” The case has been inFlorida courts for 12 years.

In the lawsuit filed Monday, TerriSchiavo is both the plaintiff and the defen-dant, represented by her parents as plain-tiff and by her husband as guardian. Thatcreates an unusual situation: If the federalcourts recognize Michael Schiavo asguardian, then the federal proceedingsrequested by her parents could violate herconstitutional rights.

“Can they force her to re-litigate a rightshe has won?” Cheh wondered. “That maybe a violation of her due-process rights.”Cheh said she, for one, is happy not to bethe one to answer such odd questions. “If Iwere the judge who got assigned to this bythe computer, I’d flee the country,” shesaid.

BY P.J. HUFFSTUTTER AND STEPHANIE SIMONLOS ANGELES TIMES

MINNEAPOLIS — A student on aremote Indian reservation burstthrough the metal detector at his highschool on Monday and shot dead fiveclassmates, a teacher and a securityguard before turning the gun on him-self, authorities said.

Before his rampage at the school, thestudent shot and killed his grandpar-ents at their home on the Red LakeIndian Reservation, authorities said.His grandfather, Sgt. Daryl Lussier, hadserved for more than 35 years on theRed Lake police force.

“The boy took his grandfather’s dutybelt with the guns. That’s what heused,” said Roman Stately, the Red Lakefire director.

It was the deadliest school shootingsince the carnage six years ago atColumbine High School in Littleton,Colo. In that incident, two studentskilled 12 classmates and a teacherbefore committing suicide.

Stately described a devastatingscene at the small high school in RedLake.

The security guard, who wasunarmed, was dead at the front door.The slain students and teacher werebunched in one classroom, along withseveral wounded teenagers. The gun-man, an underclassman, had shot him-self in the face. His body lay near thoseof his victims.

Authorities said as many as 15 stu-dents were injured.

“It was just so sad to see the childrenlying on the floor like that, lying on topof each other. Just a terrible sight,”Stately said. “I’ve seen a lot of badscenes in my time, but nothing likethis.”

The FBI, which is investigating theshooting with tribal police, would notspeculate on a motive.

“It will probably take the rest of thenight to put it all together,” FBI SpecialAgent Paul McCabe said. “We still havea lot of work to do.”

Though rumors swirled through theshaken reservation, few could evenattempt to explain the bloodshed.

“I don’t understand it,” said DarrellSeki Jr., a security guard at nearbyNorth County Regional Hospital,

where six of the victims were taken.Seki attended Red Lake High School;his father is the treasurer of the tribalcouncil.

“We can’t believe what’s going on,”Seki said. “I can’t think right now, I’mso shocked.”

Darrell Seki Sr. said he arrived at thehigh school shortly after the shootings.

“All I saw was kids running aroundcrying, hugging each other, parentscrying, teachers crying,” he said. “Atough, tough day.”

School officials were herding somekids onto buses to send them home.Others refused to leave, said localnewspaper editor Molly Miron, whoarrived at the school soon after theshooting. Many students were tootraumatized to talk, she said. Oneteacher told her that she had heardgunshots and shouted to her students:“Get out, run out, get out.”

Miron, editor of The BemidjiPioneer, said she then hurried to RedLake Indian Health Services Hospital.The scene there was equally chaotic.

“The lobby was jammed,” she said.“People were in a panic, not knowingwho was hurt. Everyone here knowseveryone out here, and everyone isrelated to everyone somehow.”

Miron identified the gunman as JeffWeise, a student at the school.Authorities could not be reached forconfirmation late Monday.

“I have no idea what this is going todo to that town,” Miron said. “This islike a quarter of the class that’s dead orinjured.”

Though rattled, the younger Sekisaid he had always half-expected vio-lence to break out at the high school,which has about 300 students.

“It’s just the kids up here,” he said.He paused, trying to find the words todescribe the sense of despair hethought might lead to a violent out-burst. “It’s poverty,” he finally said.“That would be part of this situation,too.”

Poverty and unemployment havelong gripped the reservation in north-ern Minnesota, about an hour’s drivefrom the Canadian border. The land isrich in natural bounty, famous for wildrice beds, peat bogs and world-classwalleye and crappie fishing.

Gunman kills 9, himself in Minn.

EDITORIAL/LETTERSTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD

TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2005 · PAGE 10

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

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

THE BROWN DAILY HERALD

Allison Kwong, Night EditorChessy Brady, Kate Worteck, Copy Editors

EDITORIALJonathan Ellis, Editor-in-Chief

Sara Perkins, Executive Editor

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PRODUCTIONPeter Henderson, Design Editor

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BUSINESSIan Halvorsen, General Manager

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POST- MAGAZINEFritz Brantley, Editor-in-Chief

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Senior Staff Writers Camden Avery, Alexandra Barsk, Eric Beck, Mary-Catherine Lader,Ben Leubsdorf, Jane Porter, Stu WooSenior Sports Writers Bernie Gordon, Jilane RodgersStaff Writers Marshall Agnew, Justin Amoah, Shawn Ban, Zachary Barter, Danielle Cerny,Christopher Chon, Stewart Dearing, Gabriella Doob, Kate Gorman, Jonathan Herman, LeslieKaufmann, Aidan Levy, Allison Lombardo, Ari Rockland-Miller, Stephen Narain, Joel Rozen,Chelsea Rudman, Jen Sopchockchai, Jonathan Sidhu, Lela Spielberg, Robin Steele, Kim Stickels,Laura Supkoff, Stefan Talman, Jane Tanimura, Anne WoottonSports Staff Writers Kathy Babcock, Zaneta Balantac, Ian Cropp, Justin Goldman,Bernie Gordon, Katie Larkin, Matt Lieber, Helen Luryi, Shaun McNamara, Chris Mahr,Madeleine Marecki, Ben Miller, Eric Perlmutter, Jilane Rodgers, Marco Santini, Charlie VallelyAccounts Managers Alexandra Annunziato, Zaneta Lei Balantac, Steven Butschi, Jennifer Kuo,Ashfia Rahman, Joel Rozen, Rukesh Samarasekera, Mitch SchwartzProject Managers In Young Park, Libbie FritzDesign Staff Geolani Dy, Deepa Galaiya, Gianna Giancarlo, Annie Koo, Allison Kwong, Jason LeePhoto Staff Marissa Hauptman, Judy He, Matthew Lent, Nick Neely, Bill Pijewski, Kori Schulman,Sorleen TrevinoCopy Editors Chessy Brady, Jonathan Corcoran, Leora Fridman, Allison Kwong, Katie Lamm,Suchi Mathur, Cristina Salvato, Sonia Saraiya, Lela Spielberg, Zachary Townsend, Jenna Young

L E T T E R S

D A N I E L L A W L O R

Some search committees fail to satisfactorily meet the needs ofthe entire community — with more candidates, more time andmore money, we could have gotten the one we really wanted.

But the search committee for the new Department of PublicSafety chief appears to have avoided any such problem, perhapsbecause no one had to compromise in selecting Mark Porter.

With the new DPS community policing program underwayand, more importantly, its ongoing arming preparations, theselection of DPS’s new chief was not a task to be taken lightly.Porter, who has enacted similar initiatives as chief at theUniversity of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, provides Brown with aleader who has unique experience that makes him a perfect fit.

Porter’s commitment to transparency and communicationwill be valuable in helping these initiatives succeed, but is alsonecessary if the process is to be legitimate. If the University is toosecretive about the arming process, it could be seen as occurringat the expense of the community, not for its protection. A pub-licly available arming timeline would prove just how committedPorter and DPS are to keeping the community informed.

Porter’s experience with the process may have been thesearch committee’s primary criterion given Brown’s particularcircumstances. However, Porter’s selection, which makes himthe first black police chief in Rhode Island’s history, has numer-ous other benefits. First, his selection adds credibility to thearming process. Much of the apprehension about arming DPSofficers came from concerns of racial insensitivity and profiling.While having a black chief will not suddenly make these issuesdisappear — DPS is not a one-man force — it shows that theUniversity is serious about addressing these concerns.

Porter also steps into a much larger role, as a leader amongblack and minority police in Rhode Island and the Northeast.Brown’s force is easily the most diverse in the state, but the restof Rhode Island’s police force is abysmally homogeneous — 300of the 6,500 law enforcement officers are racial minorities, withonly 11 in leadership positions. Porter will be looked to for lead-ership in increasing the minority presence in the state’s policedepartments, whether he wants the attention or not. We hopePorter will not be overburdened by this responsibility.

The departure of former Director of Public Safety Col. PaulVerrecchia for warmer climates hasn’t left the University in thecold — the search committee has turned it into a resoundingpositive. We look forward to watching Porter lead DPS through acrucial point in its history.

Search completed

To the Editor:

While the Brown ACLU recognizes that Friday’s“cubic zirconium” (“Diamonds and Coal,” March18) is a good-natured joke about the timing of theACLU’s Patriot Act Resolution, we’d like to clear upany possible misconceptions about the resolutionand its timing. The resolution was introduced thisyear because we wanted to introduce it at roughlythe same time that many parts of the Patriot Actwill come up for renewal (December 2005) andalso in part to inform Brown students about thePatriot Act so that they may take further action,such as voicing their concerns to their local repre-sentatives, well before the December 2005 “sunset”date.

Also, the implication that UCS acted slowly is false; in fact, we were all very impressed by theresponsiveness and speed of UCS after our initialproposal. The Brown ACLU would like to thank, inparticular, Joel Payne ’05, Emily Blatter ’07, andCharley Cummings ’06, as well as all of UCS andthe hundreds of students who signed our petitionseither at ACLU meetings or in the Faunce mail-room.

Tristan Freeman ’07President, Brown ACLU

March 18

Anti-Patriot Act resolution was timely

To the editor:

While I appreciate the democratic spirit of JackSweeney-Taylor’s column (“Small and separate,”March 21), his idealism falls short due to the veryideas that he himself calls “dated.” When Alexis DeTocqueville wrote his comment on the “strikingphysiognomy” of America, the telegraph had notyet been invented, and it was appropriate to viewindividual communities as distinct “laboratories ofdemocracy.” In today’s era of hysterical 24-hournews media, however, the actions of one communi-ty can immediately be known and judged through-out the rest of the country — a process the right-wing media has exploited for its own sinister pur-poses. As the recent Terri Schiavo frenzy hasdemonstrated, seemingly local decisions can havedramatic national consequences.

When formulating strategy, we liberals mustremember that there are decent Americans whobelieve that they are not bigoted or backwards forbeing uncomfortable with “gay rights” such as

adoption and equal marriage, but nonetheless stillconsider the Republican Party too reactionary. If wewant our progressive agenda to succeed, we have toinclude them in the broadest, most populist tentpossible — which means holding to a social agendathat more, rather than fewer, people can agree on.But, as the 2004 Kerry campaign demonstrated, wecannot just reluctantly and contemptuously resignourselves to “appeasing the bumpkins,” either. Wemust enthusiastically embrace a platform thatrespects the concerns and views of our diverse con-stituents, including those liberals and moderateswho do not necessarily agree on every social issue.Sweeney-Taylor says that he’d “like to think this isn’thow democracy works.” Well, so would I, but I’drather play the game and have a fighting chance ofwinning than forfeit for the moral high ground.

Jesse Adams ’07March 21

Media nullifies theory of local politics

OPINIONSTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD

TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2005 · PAGE 11

Corporate culture in the White HouseThe go-it-alone philosophy of the cur-

rent administration coupled with the self-ish rule of the business elite makes thecorrection of major world problems

almost impossible. By the end of the cur-rent presidential term, this generation willknow the effects of a large-casualty war: amassive deficit, a thinly stretched militaryand alienation from other world powers.

The rule of the business aristocracy will,by necessity, prove to be adverse to theoverall interests of the citizenry — theobjectives of business and government areincompatible. The goal of the governmentis long-term sustainability and the well-being of its citizens, but corporate headslike Vice President Cheney (Halliburton),Secretary of State Rice (Chevron),Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld (GeneralInstrument Corp.), Treasury SecretarySnow (CSX Corp.) and new CommerceSecretary Gutierrez (Kellogg Co.) weretrained to focus on near-future profitswhile the company is under their leader-ship.

Government officials tend to seek mul-tiple re-elections and pursue higheroffices, but corporate executives willspend four to seven years with a companybefore seeking leadership positions inanother. The success of the company dur-

ing an executive’s previous tenure deter-mines his next job; hence the concern withshort-range, seemingly drastic accom-plishments. It is because of this corporate-

style governance that we see the short-sighted solutions to long-term problems:taking federal funds to apply to the privateschool system instead of truly funding andrevamping the public education; drillingin arctic preserves and relying on foreignoil instead of funding and encouragingalternative energy supplies; and declaringwar on sovereign and resource-richnations instead of truly combating theexpansive problem of global terrorism.

Corporations compete with others insimilar industries, whereas in dealing withissues such as terrorism and nuclear pro-liferation, cooperation is needed.Cooperation, however, does not comefree. Dubya and Condi have been tag-teaming the world, globe-trotting to gainsupport for action and policy against Iranand North Korea because, as we learnedlast time, executing a military interventionwithout greater support can cost lives, dol-lars and political support from the rest ofthe world. Their approach, however,seems no different than what happenedbefore the invasion of Iraq. In the run up toour last war, numerous attempts were

made in front of the United Nations andworld allies to have them join a then divid-ed America in dismantling a country forpossession of weapons of mass destruc-tion that were to never surface. How canthe head of another nation justify sendingtroops and treasure to maintain peace inan Iraq now more dangerous then beforethe “end of major combat” when they areexcluded from financial benefits of thepostwar rebuilding efforts? Not only dopolicies like no-bid contracts for compa-nies with strong ties to the administrationlessen the likelihood of assistance frommajor European and Asian countries, butthey alienate the Middle Eastern nationsmost integral in dealing with terrorism.

The problems for an electorate facing

these disadvantages in leadership stylecome without the benefit of oversight tra-ditionally associated with the sharehold-ers of a public corporation. In the event ofan abysmal financial situation, sharehold-ers can convene to discuss the removal ofthe executives they deem responsible.With the government, even if there is somecatastrophic event that changes thenation’s state of affairs, no transitionwould take place, at least until the end of

the president’s term. Of course impeach-ment is a possibility, but the chances ofthat occurring are always slim, as peopleare afraid to change leadership during war.Even more, this government has theuncanny ability to deftly manipulate theweak spots of the electorate — mostnotably religion — to keep the countrydivided on enough fronts to ensure itspolitical stability. What better way to retainthe support of the biblical zealots of theMidwest and rural South than to make itseem as if the display of the TenCommandments or an official ban on gaymarriage is of the greatest national priori-ty?

If we are looking forward to a fate simi-lar to the WorldComs, Enrons and Tycos of

the world, we are on the right track. Untilthe day when the majority can dismissparticular government officials with thesmall inconvenience of a healthy sever-ance pay, the rule of the nation should beleft to politicians who are able to put thewell-being of the nation before their per-sonal stake in policy.

Wilfred U. Codrington III ’05 sells the presi-dent’s stock short.

Time for Thefacebook.com hold-outs to give inIn my last column, I mentioned that

my door lock could easily be picked witha wire hanger. Soon after, employees fromFacilities Management inspected mydoor and have subsequently ordered alldoors in my dorm (and, I’ve been told, infive other dorms on Wriston) to be exam-ined and, if necessary, replaced. I men-tion this story for two reasons: First, toacknowledge that, even though it was notmy desire to implicate FacilitiesManagement or the Office of ResidentialLife for being negligent in my last article,they certainly showed that they quicklyaddress any safety issues; and second, toexplain why I’ve since lost all of my bestfriends.

At 9 a.m. the next morning, FacilitiesManagement began examining the doorsand drilling to remove faulty ones (i.e., allof them), which meant that, even thoughthey were being very polite and trying tobe as quiet as possible, most of my friendswere awakened as a result. This has nowhappened on four different occasionsand, besides the wake-ups, four friendshave gotten locked out of their roomssince they can no longer break in.Basically, my friends now hate me.

To my chagrin, almost immediatelyafter the first 9 a.m. wake up call, the “Wehate Adam Nelson” Facebook groupappeared. This group is not for peoplewho just generally dislike me — althoughI imagine there are many — but for thosewho were my friends but were pestered

because of my previous column. Theinteresting thing is not the content of thegroup, but instead the speed with which itwas created. The whole situation mademe wonder, “Where would we be withoutThefacebook?”

It was a year ago that Thefacebook.com

first showed up at Brown. First you hadjust 10 friends and would check it once aweek, but eventually it became a 10-time-a-day obsession trying to decide whetherthat guy to whom you once gave a pencilin your physics class is worthy to becomeyour 567th friend. Now it means difficultdecisions like which Jose from the Rattyyou would like to support with your grouppreference and whether or not you shouldjoin the “Brown Students from New York

City” group if you’re from Long Island. Itmeans poking, even though you don'tquite know what that is or what it does.

But with all of those procrastination-enablers aside, Thefacebook does offer avery useful arena for Brown students torecognize each other. There was a time

when Brown students would have to lookthrough the first-year class album tolocate people they knew, hooked up with,thought were attractive or stalked. Thissystem not only took too long, but riskedthe dejection of finding the person youwere looking for with only a bear abovehis or her name. As a result ofThefacebook, the entire campus’ selfesteem has gone up because most every-one chooses to make themselves look

cooler and more attractive in their photo,so that everyone can be happier — aboutpeople they hooked up/are going out/arefriends with, and about themselves.

Of course, the rising star ofThefacebook almost immediately creat-ed a counterculture. For when many peo-ple find one thing fun and cool, there willinevitably be a group who deem it“uncool” and decide not to participate.They look down their noses at membersof Thefacebook.

But I urge those nay-sayers to giveThefacebook a try — not because it'scool and not because you necessarilyneed any other way to procrastinate, butbecause it makes it that much easier tofind people at Brown and to enable peo-ple to find you. It’s like cell phones; sure,people got along fine before cell phonescame around, but they just make life eas-ier. And eventually, you’ll find thatThefacebook makes life more fun; justlike when you first got your cell phonefor “emergencies only” and then foundyourself three months later text-messag-ing in class like a maniac. So resisters,stop resisting, and give yourself thechance to become “friends” with peoplefrom your middle school whom you’dhoped you’d never see again … you'll beglad you did.

Adam Nelson ’06 dedicates this columnto people he has known, hooked up with,thought were attractive or stalked.

ADAM NELSON

WILFRED U. CODRINGTON III

First you had just 10 friends and would check it once a week, but

eventually it became a 10-time-a-dayobsession trying to decide whether

that guy to whom you once gave a pen-cil to in your physics class is worthy

enough to become your 567th friend.

In the event of an abysmal financial situation, corporate shareholders canconvene to discuss the removal of the

executives they deem responsible.

The rule of the business aristocracywill, by necessity, prove to be adverse

to the overall interests of the citizenry.

BY ELIZA LANECONTRIBUTING WRITER

Saturday, the equestrian teamcompeted at Johnson and WalesUniversity in its second-to-lastshow of the season. The horseshow featured all of Brown’s usualregional competitors, includingWesleyan University, Salve ReginaUniversity and, most importantly,the University of Connecticut —Brown’s only truly threateningopponent. This particular day,UConn was a force to be reckonedwith, significantly diminishingBrown’s likelihood of extending itscompetition into the postseason.

Entering the show, Brown wasleading the region in seasonalstandings, with UConn rankedsecond. However, Saturday’s com-petition ended with UConn takinga 7-point lead — an astounding

12-point swing in one day.The substantial spread by

which Brown was defeated leftthe team with a significant pointdeficit that the women must nowovercome in order to overturnUConn’s supremacy and gain thetitle of regional champions.

“It was just a terrible, terribleshow,” said co-captain JamiePeddy ’06. “It was just reallyunfortunate.”

UConn’s seven-point lead isnow the difference betweenthe Bears’ season ending afterthis weekend’s competitionand going on to compete in thepost-season Zone Champio-nship.

While overcoming a seven-point spread is hardly impossi-ble, it does presents a chal-lenge. Peddy and the rest of theBears remain hopeful.

“It’s definitely possible tomake up the points we lost thispast weekend, but we onlyhave one chance, because thisweekend’s show is our last ofthe season, so it will be a strug-gle,” Peddy said.

The Bears’ lack of success atJohnson and Wales was due toa number of related factors.For one, the horses assigned toBrown’s riders were less thancooperative.

“My class was apparently arodeo class, because all myhorse did was buck,” said co-captain Alexis Gilbard ’06. “Itwas a flat class, and it just gotto the point where I realizedthat it just wasn’t safe to keep

showing. So, I just stood in themiddle of the ring and waiteduntil the class was over,” Gilbardsaid.

Gilbard explained that eachmorning before the day’s showeven begins, the women and theircoach discuss who to use as the

SPORTS TUESDAYTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD

MARCH 22, 2005 · PAGE 12

BY MADELEINE MARECKISPORTS STAFF WRITER

The gymnastics team took on theUniversity of New Hampshireand Towson University inDurham, N.H. on Saturday in thefinal meet of the regular season.As has been the story all year, theteam entered the competitionwith little depth due to injury.The squad toughed it out, butfinished third with 181.250points. UNH won the meet with193.275 points, while Towsonfinished with 192.450 points.

Disaster struck Bruno evenbefore the first event began.During the warm-up period, theteam’s top all-arounder, AmberSmith ’06, severely injured her-self while practicing on theuneven bars. Smith over-flippedduring a release move on thebars and failed to catch the bar,hurting her elbow on the subse-quent fall. This apparent liga-ment injury not only took Smithout of Saturday’s competition,but also ended her season.

With Smith out, her scoringposition in all four events had tobe filled by various teammates.Furthermore, every gymnast hadto hit her routine on bars, vaultand floor exercise, since only fiveathletes were scheduled to com-pete in those events. The top fivegymnasts’ scores count towardthe final team score.

“Everyone’s minds were onwhether or not Amber wasokay,” said Head Coach SaraCarver-Milne. “The team did agood job of pulling together anddoing their performances forAmber.”

Tri-captain Melissa Forziat ’05echoed a similar sentimentabout the team’s attitude. “Thismeet was a test of our mettle.People were stepping up fromexhibitioning since we were ask-ing them to hit,” she said.

Leading the way for the Bearswas Forziat. The senior talliedthe highest score in the meet forBrown with her 9.675 effort onthe floor. She also finished firstfor the team on the beam withwhat tri-captain Kelly Moran ’05said was “one of her best beamroutines of the year.” Forziatscored a 9.375 in the event.

Moran also had a strong day.She was the Bears’ top scorer onthe bars with a 9.300, and com-peted well on the floor with a9.350.

Jess Pouchet ’06, the team’slone all-arounder, was the Bears’top competitor on the vault,scoring a 9.300.

Yet, the highlights of the meetcame from the athletes whofound themselves in the newrole as scorers, especially CarynLevanthal ’07, who scored a9.050 on the vault.

“Caryn Levanthal hit her vaultalthough she has been havingknee issues,” Forziat said. “Shehas been working so hard tomake her vault faster, strongerand better. We were all veryproud of her.”

Forziat also pointed to theperformance of MandiBaughman ’06 as an important

BY CHRIS MAHRSPORTS EDITOR

Facing some of its toughestcompetition of the season, thewomen’s water polo team tookmore away from its five gamesat the Michigan Invitational inAnn Arbor than its 2-3 recordwould indicate.

“The overall results wereexpected, but the fact that wewere able to compete wellagainst those (tough) teams wassomething I was hoping for,”said Head Coach Jason Gall.“The team realizes they’re bet-ter than they thought theywere.”

The gauntlet began Saturdaywhen the Bears took on hostUniversity of Michigan in theirfirst match. The going wastough against the No. 11Wolverines, as Brown wasoutscored in all four quarters enroute to an 8-3 defeat. Captain

Diana Livermore ’05, Ally Wyatt’08 and Caitlin Fahey ’07 foundthe net for the Bears. Livermorealso had three steals and drewthree ejections in the loss.

Brown rebounded in its nextmatch against CaliforniaLutheran University, notching a9-5 victory. As was the case lastweekend, several underclass-men stepped up to carry theoffense. Roxanne Palmer ’08was particularly impressive,leading the way with threegoals. Emily Schwartz ’08 scoredtwo goals, while Alexis Blaxberg’08, Paige Lansing ’07 and Wyattadded one each, with Livermorerounding out the scoring.Another fast-improving first-year, Anne Deggelman ’08, didthe job in net, recording eightblocks.

In their final match of theday, the Bears found themselvesup against No. 9 Indiana

University. Despite fallingbehind 4-0 early, Brown refusedto let the game get out of hand,shutting out the Hoosiers therest of the way. Livermore andWyatt recorded their third andsecond goals of the day, respec-tively, but the comeback cameup short, as the Bears fell, 4-2.Deggelman had a tremendousgame in goal, tallying ten savesand spearheading a defensethat has gained some much-needed intensity since yielding18 goals in a loss to HartwickCollege last weekend.

“We definitely played muchbetter defense,” Gall said. “Weweren’t blown out against any ofthe teams we played.”

Brown looked to keep itsmomentum going heading intoits two Sunday games. In theirfirst match against Michigan

Tumblers take third in season finale Softball loses first two gamesof season at Villanova Invite

Ashley Hess / Herald

Caryn Levanthal ’07 scored a9.050 on the vault Saturday.

Equestrian’s postseason hopes take abig hit with 12-point loss to UConn

W. polo goes 2-3 in Michiganthanks to improving defenseJudy He / Herald

Equestrian’s chances of winningthe region were greatlydiminished with a 12-point loss torival UConn on Saturday.

see GYMNASTICS, page 7

BY JUSTIN GOLDMANSPORTS STAFF WRITER

Due to New England’s unfortu-nate weather, the women’s soft-ball team was unable to playany games until this weekend.Finally gracing the field at theVillanova Invitational inNewtown Square, Pa., theBears dropped two toughgames on Saturday, first toperennial top 25 powerUniversity of Massachusetts —Amherst, and then to hostVillanova University.

There was not much rust on theBears in their first two games, asthey were able to make both con-tests competitive, especially intheir game against UMass. TheMinutewomen prevailed, 3-2, in ahard-fought contest.

“They are a top 25 team andwe were with them for seveninnings,” said Head CoachPam McCreesh.

The Bears showed incredi-ble resolve against theMinutewomen as they battledback from a 2-0 deficit to tiethe game, only to lose in thefinal inning. UMass got on theboard early when Jenna Busahit a two-out solo home runover the left field fence offUchenna Omokaro ’05 in thefirst inning. The Bears hadtheir first scoring opportunityin the fourth inning whenSarah Wilson ’06 capturedBrown’s first hit of the game.Rachel Fleitell ’06 was then hitby a pitch, putting runners onfirst and second. The threatfizzled, however, whenOmokaro grounded out to endthe inning, stranding runnerson second and third.

After Bruno put runners onbase but failed to score in thetop of the fourth, UMass wentup 2-0 in the bottom half ofthe inning when first-yearStacy Cullington hit her first

career home run. The Bearsfinally got into the scoringcolumn in the top of the sixthinning when Mary Seid ’06 ledoff with an infield single andCourtney Jenkins ’07 reachedon an error two batters later,putting runners at the cor-ners. Amy Baxter ’08 thendrew a walk to load the bases.With the bases full of Bears,Melissa Ota ’07 hit a double toright field, tying the game attwo.

UMass persevered to get thewinning run in the bottom ofthe seventh. Senior Pam Sulickhit a single and was then sacri-ficed to second. A single and awalk later, the bases wereloaded, and senior DeniseDenis drew a walk to end thegame.

“I was very happy with oureffort. The only people thatknew that this was the firstgame were the players on thefield. The spectators had noidea that this was our firstgame of the season,” McCreeshsaid.

Omokaro pitched six andtwo thirds innings, giving upthree runs on six hits.

In Brown’s second game ofthe day, the Bears found them-selves behind Villanova 4-0after five innings, a hole thatproved to be insurmountable.“We played well in our secondgame, but we struck out threetimes in the first inning, whichreally set the tone for them,”McCreesh said.

After five innings, Bruno wasfinally able to get a run homewhen Seid drew a walk andthen advanced to second andthird on wild pitches. Jenkinsthen hit a double to bring Seidhome and cut the Wildcats’lead to 4-1. In the final inning,

see SOFTBALL, page 7

see WATER POLO, page 6

see EQUESTRIAN, page 6