BY MELANIE WOLFGANG A recent graduate student strike at the University of Pennsylvania has had a mixed impact on graduate student union- ization efforts at Brown. Implemented by Graduate Employees Together-University of Pennsylvania, the strike occurred Feb. 26 and Feb. 27. Close to 300 members of GET-UP voted Feb. 23 in an 83 percent majority to strike. Small groups of protestors picketed at six areas around campus, and at the end of the day, approximately 85 people gathered to hear speeches from GET-UP leadership, the Daily Pennsylvanian reported. “This is not a small, vocal minority. This is a large, pissed-off majority,” GET-UP Chairman David Faris told the Daily Pennsylvanian. Penn administrators told the Daily Pennsylvanian the strike was minimally disruptive, although several classes were canceled. The strike rekindled campus dialogue on the unionization issue. In a statement issued Feb. 25, Penn Vice President of Communications Lori Doyle wrote, “Penn and the other private univer- sities (including Brown, Columbia and Tufts universities) have maintained that graduate students are students, not employees, and that teaching, as a long- standing requirement for doctoral pro- grams, is an essential component of grad- uate students’ educational experience.” The Penn administration also holds that students’ financial aid packages should preclude their status as university employees. Supporters saw the strike as the next step in GET-UP’s effort to have the National Labor Relations Board count graduate student votes from one year ago regarding the ability of grad students to unionize. Initially, the NLRB classified graduate students strictly as students, but it later reversed its decision, stating that many grad students could actually also be con- sidered university employees, given their role as teaching assistants, teaching fel- lows and graduate student proctors. As such, they had the right to organize and bargain collectively with the university administration. In December 2002, the Penn adminis- tration appealed the NLRB decision, though the board has not yet announced its evaluation of this appeal. Brown issued a similar appeal to the NLRB in December 2001, requesting that the board outlaw graduate student union- ization. The board is still considering the appeal. Like GET-UP, the Brown Graduate Employee Organization, which has been campaigning for unionization under the United Auto Workers since 2001, is also waiting for votes to be counted from their own unionization vote. Unlike GET-UP, however, BGEO/UAW has not indicated that a strike would be appropriate at this time. THE BROWN DAILY HERALD An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891 MARCH 8, 2004 Volume CXXXIX, No. 27 www.browndailyherald.com MONDAY INSIDE MONDAY, MARCH 8, 2004 MONDAY snow high 37 low 20 Orchestra’s elaborate performance of “Ellis Island” pleases crowd downtown arts & culture, page 3 AS220 exhibit features work of incarcerated teens from the Rhode Island Training School arts & culture, page 3 Tikkun co-chair advocates tolerance of opposing views on Middle East conflict campus news, page 5 Emir Senturk ’05 says Brown must offer students on-campus summer storage column, page 11 W. basketball has big weekend, defeating Columbia and Cornell universities sports, page 12 WEATHER FORECAST TUESDAY cloudy high 38 low 26 Cornel West stresses critical thinking in Tikkun conference speech Cornel West, renowned public intellectu- al and Princeton University professor of religion and African American studies, spoke Friday night to a packed Salomon 101 as part of the Tikkun Community’s National Student Conference. West, the co-chair of national Tikkun, gave an animated speech, arguing that Judaism is a religion with an inherently revolutionary ideology and positing that people of all religious faiths need to reclaim spirituality from the right wing in order to advance a worldview of peace and justice, as opposed to one of preemption and exploitation. Progressive American activists need not be afraid of embracing spirituality, West said, but should not forget “secular footnotes” in history, such as “the best of Marxism” and liberalism. During the question-and-answer ses- sion, West cautioned against a “color- blind” world and said that because of the history of U.S. slavery and the Jim Crow era, which persisted until 1967 when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down laws prohibiting racial intermarriage, he would rather be seen as a black man than just as a man. When a student asked during the question-and-answer period if affirma- tive action contributed to resentment between people of different races, West said it would not if it were implemented in such a way that race was not used to boost up unqualified applicants but only to differentiate within large pools of qualified applicants. In response to a student who asked about a “no state” solution in Israel- Palestine, West said there was much to be learned from anarchist thinkers but cau- tioned against underestimating the ten- dency throughout human history for Strike at Penn keeps grad student unionization in spotlight Nick Neely / Herald Cornel West, the co-chair of the national Tikkun Community, which advocates a middle path in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, gave the keynote address at Tikkun’s National Student Conference this weekend.The conference also featured workshops on peace and spirituality and an address by co-chair Rabbi Michael Lerner (page 5). BY AMY RUDDLE Against the backdrop of a city skyline at sunset, arms branch out from a pillar of brick, remnants of chains clinging to wrists. Fists clutch the weapons used to break free — paintbrushes, pencils, microphones and a self-created maga- zine. Surrounding the pillar are freed people taking pictures, painting and rapping. This is the Broad Street Studio. Created three years ago by AS220 as a program to employ Providence youth for working with the arts, the BSS has come to be an oasis of creativity and ideas for teenagers in South Providence. The studio has seven different youth- run programs, each tailored to fit a dif- ferent creative niche. While BSS was designed for use by all city youth, there is a special emphasis on teenagers guided by the Department of Children, Youth and Families and individuals at the Rhode Island Training School, the state’s juvenile detention facility. “We have workshops in the training schools on Fridays that mimic all the programs that are going on here, so the kids start building relationships with the programs and also the instructors,” said BSS Performance Director David Gonzalez, an adult staff member. People at the training school can write for a publication called the Hidden T.R.E.W.T.H., and students on the outside can contribute to Muzine, both of which are published by the Broad Street Press. “These workshops also have per- formances every eight weeks that show- case kid’s art, so they start getting a feel of sharing and really putting something together and working towards some- thing as a project,” Gonzalez said. Since students at the training school are already familiar with the instructors, Arts and community bloom at Broad Street Studios see BROAD STREET, page 4 see UNIONS, page 4 see WEST, page 8
Transcript
BY MELANIE WOLFGANGA recent graduate student strike at theUniversity of Pennsylvania has had amixed impact on graduate student union-ization efforts at Brown.
Implemented by Graduate EmployeesTogether-University of Pennsylvania, thestrike occurred Feb. 26 and Feb. 27. Closeto 300 members of GET-UP voted Feb. 23in an 83 percent majority to strike.
Small groups of protestors picketed atsix areas around campus, and at the end ofthe day, approximately 85 people gatheredto hear speeches from GET-UP leadership,the Daily Pennsylvanian reported.
“This is not a small, vocal minority. Thisis a large, pissed-off majority,” GET-UPChairman David Faris told the Daily
Pennsylvanian. Penn administrators told the Daily
Pennsylvanian the strike was minimallydisruptive, although several classes werecanceled. The strike rekindled campusdialogue on the unionization issue.
In a statement issued Feb. 25, Penn VicePresident of Communications Lori Doylewrote, “Penn and the other private univer-sities (including Brown, Columbia andTufts universities) have maintained thatgraduate students are students, notemployees, and that teaching, as a long-standing requirement for doctoral pro-grams, is an essential component of grad-uate students’ educational experience.”
The Penn administration also holdsthat students’ financial aid packages
should preclude their status as universityemployees.
Supporters saw the strike as the nextstep in GET-UP’s effort to have theNational Labor Relations Board countgraduate student votes from one year agoregarding the ability of grad students tounionize.
Initially, the NLRB classified graduatestudents strictly as students, but it laterreversed its decision, stating that manygrad students could actually also be con-sidered university employees, given theirrole as teaching assistants, teaching fel-lows and graduate student proctors. Assuch, they had the right to organize andbargain collectively with the universityadministration.
In December 2002, the Penn adminis-tration appealed the NLRB decision,though the board has not yet announcedits evaluation of this appeal.
Brown issued a similar appeal to theNLRB in December 2001, requesting thatthe board outlaw graduate student union-ization. The board is still considering theappeal.
Like GET-UP, the Brown GraduateEmployee Organization, which has beencampaigning for unionization under theUnited Auto Workers since 2001, is alsowaiting for votes to be counted from theirown unionization vote. Unlike GET-UP,however, BGEO/UAW has not indicatedthat a strike would be appropriate at thistime.
THE BROWN DAILY HERALDAn independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891
M A R C H 8 , 2 0 0 4
Volume CXXXIX, No. 27 www.browndailyherald.com
M O N D A Y
I N S I D E M O N D AY, M A RC H 8 , 2 0 0 4MONDAY
snowhigh 37low 20
Orchestra’s elaborateperformance of “EllisIsland” pleases crowddowntownarts & culture, page 3
AS220 exhibit featureswork of incarceratedteens from the RhodeIsland Training Schoolarts & culture, page 3
Emir Senturk ’05 saysBrown must offerstudents on-campussummer storagecolumn, page 11
W. basketball has bigweekend, defeatingColumbia and Cornelluniversities sports, page 12
W E AT H E R F O R E C A S T
TUESDAY
cloudyhigh 38low 26
Cornel Weststresses criticalthinking inTikkunconferencespeechCornel West, renowned public intellectu-al and Princeton University professor ofreligion and African American studies,spoke Friday night to a packed Salomon101 as part of the Tikkun Community’sNational Student Conference.
West, the co-chair of national Tikkun,gave an animated speech, arguing thatJudaism is a religion with an inherentlyrevolutionary ideology and positing thatpeople of all religious faiths need toreclaim spirituality from the right wing inorder to advance a worldview of peace andjustice, as opposed to one of preemptionand exploitation.
Progressive American activists neednot be afraid of embracing spirituality,West said, but should not forget “secularfootnotes” in history, such as “the best ofMarxism” and liberalism.
During the question-and-answer ses-sion, West cautioned against a “color-blind” world and said that because of thehistory of U.S. slavery and the Jim Crowera, which persisted until 1967 when theU.S. Supreme Court struck down lawsprohibiting racial intermarriage, hewould rather be seen as a black man thanjust as a man.
When a student asked during thequestion-and-answer period if affirma-tive action contributed to resentmentbetween people of different races, Westsaid it would not if it were implementedin such a way that race was not used toboost up unqualified applicants but onlyto differentiate within large pools ofqualified applicants.
In response to a student who askedabout a “no state” solution in Israel-Palestine, West said there was much to belearned from anarchist thinkers but cau-tioned against underestimating the ten-dency throughout human history for
Strike at Penn keeps grad studentunionization in spotlight
Nick Neely / Herald
Cornel West, the co-chair of the national Tikkun Community, which advocates a middle path in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, gave thekeynote address at Tikkun’s National Student Conference this weekend.The conference also featured workshops on peace andspirituality and an address by co-chair Rabbi Michael Lerner (page 5).
BY AMY RUDDLEAgainst the backdrop of a city skyline atsunset, arms branch out from a pillar ofbrick, remnants of chains clinging towrists. Fists clutch the weapons used tobreak free — paintbrushes, pencils,microphones and a self-created maga-zine. Surrounding the pillar are freedpeople taking pictures, painting andrapping. This is the Broad Street Studio.
Created three years ago by AS220 as aprogram to employ Providence youthfor working with the arts, the BSS hascome to be an oasis of creativity andideas for teenagers in SouthProvidence.
The studio has seven different youth-run programs, each tailored to fit a dif-ferent creative niche. While BSS wasdesigned for use by all city youth, thereis a special emphasis on teenagersguided by the Department of Children,Youth and Families and individuals atthe Rhode Island Training School, thestate’s juvenile detention facility.
“We have workshops in the trainingschools on Fridays that mimic all theprograms that are going on here, so thekids start building relationships withthe programs and also the instructors,”said BSS Performance Director DavidGonzalez, an adult staff member.
People at the training school canwrite for a publication called theHidden T.R.E.W.T.H., and students onthe outside can contribute to Muzine,both of which are published by theBroad Street Press.
“These workshops also have per-formances every eight weeks that show-case kid’s art, so they start getting a feelof sharing and really putting somethingtogether and working towards some-thing as a project,” Gonzalez said. Sincestudents at the training school arealready familiar with the instructors,
Arts and community bloom at Broad Street Studios
see BROAD STREET, page 4 see UNIONS, page 4
see WEST, page 8
T O D A Y ’ S E V E N T S
THIS MORNINGTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD
MONDAY, MARCH 8, 2004 · PAGE 2
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Porkchop Sandwiches Nate Saunders
Four Years Eddie Ahn
Last Minute Michael Chua
Coup de Grace Grace Farris
Penguiener Haan Lee
Hopeless Edwin Chang
M E N U
ACROSS1 Eminem’s genre4 Appeals to one’s
deity9 Taxi driver14 “Born in the __”15 Home run king
Hank16 La Scala offering17 Pigpen18 Twisted one, in
slang19 Half note20 Chat23 Strive to be as
good as24 L.A.-based oil
company25 Jacques of
“Parade”26 Rabbit’s tail29 Roof overhang32 By way of35 Actor Tamiroff37 Box office
supply, briefly38 Nixon anti-
inflationaryproposal
43 “Bobby Hockey”44 Leave out45 Fashion
monogram46 Online periodical,
for short48 “Don’t you wish!”50 “Dancing
Queen” group54 College head56 Smoking area
receptacle59 Risky baseball
bunt play62 Go after63 Pianist
Rubinstein64 Small battery
size65 Prefix with
sphere meaning“depth”
66 Campaignnastiness
67 Small island68 Bundle of papers69 Good at repairs70 Realm from 800-
O F F C H A N C E S A P I DC A M E O R O L E P L A N ET U R N S I T O N L I N D AA V A S O U P I T T E DV I D S E N D O U T L P SO S I R I S C A T P E T ES T O O L J U S T R I G H T
B O D A C I O U SW O O L S O C K S I T S M EE I R E R K O O N E T O NI L O D I S O W N S E L MG L U T E S L A H L I AH I R E E B A D A P P L E SI N K E D O N I N Y E A R SN E E D S D D S D E G R E E
By Allan E. Parrish(c)2004 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
SHARPE REFECTORYLUNCH —Vegetarian AutumnBisque, Bavarian Lentil Soup, ChickenParmesan Sandwich, Pasta y Fagioli,Sauteed Green Beans withMushrooms, Butter Cookies, RicottaCheese Cake, Chocolate Pie.
DINNER — Vegetarian AutumnBisque, Bavarian Lentil Soup,VealGoulash, Orange Glazed Chicken,Macaroni and Cheese, Herb Rice,Glazed Baby Carrots with Shallots,Zucchini, Five Grain Bread, ButterCookies, Ricotta Cheese Cake,Chocolate Pie.
VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALLLUNCH — Vegetarian Black BeanSoup, Beef Barley Soup,VealParmesan Grinder, Baked Macaroniand Cheese, Cut Green Beans, ButterCookies
DINNER — Vegetarian Black BeanSoup, Beef Barley Soup, ItalianMeatballs with Spaghetti, PizzaRustica, Barley Pilaf, Italian VegetableSaute, Brussels Sprouts, Five GrainBread, Chocolate Pie.
TRACY SHARPLEY-WHITING,BEAUTY AND THE “HOTTENTOT”6 p.m. (Smith-Buonanno, 106) —This event is part of “Beauty 2004: ALecture Series,”which has receivedsupport from the Offices of thePresident, Provost and Director ofInstitutional Diversity, the WaylandCollegium for Liberal Learning andAfricana Studies 114/122.
“VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN INCONFLICT / POST CONFLICTSETTINGS: SIERRA LEONEEXPERIENCE”7:30 p.m. (Salomon 001) — OnyekaObasi from Boston University willlook at sexual violence againstwomen and girls during the civil warand recommendations to differentnational and international bodies.
P U Z Z L E SGift of Augustus, made of metal, enshrines Cicero’s wisdom, symbol ofimprisonment or liberation depending on your personality. What am I?
(Solution at bottom of page)BY VEER BHAVNAGRI
Answer:Van Wickle Gates
ARTS & CULTURETHE BROWN DAILY HERALD
MONDAY, MARCH 8, 2004 · PAGE 3
Youths’ artwork intended toraise community awarenessBY LESLIE KAUFMANNMagazine cut-outs, cardboard and bottlecaps seemed particularly endowed withmeaning at the Thursday opening recep-tion of “Exhibit A: Recent Work fromArtists at the Training School,” a collec-tion displaying the work of incarceratedyouths from the Rhode Island TrainingSchool. As part of collaboration betweenRITS and CityArts, their work will be ondisplay at AS220 through March.
CityArts, a non-profit organizationwith a focus on the arts, hosts exhibitionsintended to facilitate community aware-ness.
The exhibit features prints on recycledcardboard, magazine cut-out collages,books, a quilt and a mural constructedentirely of bottle caps. “The recycledproducts came from a need to encouragethem to recycle and be a part of the envi-ronment and take respect for everythingthat’s happening,” said Sue Sullivan, aspecial education teacher at RITS. “We’vebeen saving bottle caps for a year.”
The largest piece, “Harlem,” is a muralof painted bottle caps based on RomareBearden’s jazz piece “Last of the BlueDevils.”
The mural depicts two men, one play-ing a saxophone and one bent intentlyover a piano. This particular piece drewspecial attention from the younger mem-bers of the audience, who were especial-
ly taken by the quantity of caps in thepiece.
While the artists themselves were notpermitted to attend the opening, theirpresence was felt in their photographsand quotations displayed on the walls.
One student, identified only as AngelV., seemed to capture the prevailing sen-timent apparent in most of the pieces.
“I like different kinds of art — not onlydrawing — also music, words — themeaning behind the words, the power inthe words, the emotions and feelings,”she wrote in a statement displayed nextto her piece.
For the artists’ benefit, a video cameradocumented the scene, and a commentbook was available by the front door.“There’s a huge boost for them to knowthat people want to know what they haveto say,” said event organizer MeghanMacNeil.
MacNeil stressed that the artists are“really are more than the stereotype ofwhat a criminal is — they each have areally unique take on life.”
“(These are) people with voices andminds and a lot to say and a lot going onin their future,” said Marie Popko, anoth-er event organizer. “These kids are reallytalented, and their work should be in agallery.”
The exhibit runs from March 4 to 31.Admission is free.
Large-scale performance of“Ellis Island” delights audienceBY LELA SPIELBERG Not one person in the Veteran’sMemorial Auditorium remained in hisseat at the end of Saturday’s perform-ance of Peter Boyer’s “Ellis Island, theAmerican Dream,” in a truly outstand-ing standing ovation.
The Brown University Orchestra, withthe help of actors Kate Burton ’79 andBarry Bostwick, who played MayorWinston on “Spin City,” performed the42-minute multimedia work.
While Paul Phillips conducted hisorchestra to play “Ellis Island,” a videoprojection portrayed several images ofthe immigrant experience.
First-person narratives read byBurton and Bostwick, taken from theEllis Island Oral History Project, punctu-ated the orchestra’s music. These narra-tives recounted the experiences of vari-ous immigrants who had traveledthrough Ellis Island.
The actors did an excellent job ofbringing a personal feel to this piece —Burton even cried during her narrativeportrayal of a four-year-old girl emigrat-ing from Italy.
Bostwick did not shed any tears, buthis heartfelt and comic narrativesmoved the audience to ponder theimmigrant experience.
“After watching this, I felt very proud
to be American,” said ElizabethBalassone ’07.
Boyer composed the piece in 2002. “I believe there is a deep, important
connection between history andmusic,” the Providence native told theaudience Saturday night.
The performance was presented bythe Brown University Creative ArtsCouncil along with the BrownDepartment of Music.
The VMA, where the orchestra per-formed Saturday, is home to the RhodeIsland Philharmonic. This weekend’sperformance was only the fourth timethat the orchestra had played at thevenue during Philips’ 15-year tenure atBrown.
In addition to the multimedia titlepiece, the Brown University Orchestraplayed two additional selections: anoth-er Peter Boyer piece, “Titanic,” and aViolin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47.
The talented Juliana Pereira ’04, the2003 Concerto Competition winner,performed the concerto.
Pereira has won the competitionthree times, a Brown University record,Phillips announced to the audience.
PAGE 4 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD MONDAY, MARCH 8, 2004
their transition is easier.“The moment they leave the
training schools, they can comehere,” Gonzalez said.
At BSS, students learn how topaint and draw with BroadStreet Visuals, a program thatdesigns logos and flyers and iscommissioned to paint muralssuch as the one depicting all ofthe branches of BSS breakingfree from the bonds of the city.For musical creativity, they turnto the Broad Street Orchestra,and girls can be creative in anall-female space with BroadStreet Sisters.
The Product Design Teamhelps individuals turn works ofart into marketable products,including posters and T-shirts.Part of the learning experienceat BSS is discovering “how to puttogether a finished product,whether it’s performance,whether it’s putting a T-shirttogether, whether it’s documen-tation,” Gonzalez said.
“I just make sure that every-one has something to walk awaywith, so that at the end of thetwo-year commitment … theyleave with certain skills in theirback pocket,” he said.
One of BSS’s most popularprograms is Hip Hop 220, whichallows youth to hone their skillsas lyricists and gives them achance to create their ownmusic by working at the studio’srecording facility.
“Kids work so hard — one ofthe jewel, prize possessions for alot of these youths is being ableto take something home thatthey created,” said Tek, an adultstaff member and foundingfather of Hip Hop 220, whodeclined to give his last name.
“They can come into the stu-
dio and drop a track. … They’lltreasure that — this is theirs,this is their property now,” Teksaid.
Tek became involved inAS220 early on and was one ofthe part of the group that helpedAS220 create the Broad StreetStudio.
“Academically, I was an A to Bstudent, but I was doing stupidstuff in the streets,” Tek said.“We took a lot of the kids thatwere downtown, doing all thestreet nonsense and put theminto our program.”
Hip Hop 220 was built as “achannel to reach youth and get amessage across,” Tek said.
“When I first started workingat AS220, I never knew that Iwould be doing conferencesacross the country. I never knewthat I would be teaching work-shops and classes — I neverexpected that. Doors areopened to me, and now I get topass this down to the next gen-eration of youth,” he said.
Anjel, a 15-year-old staffmember, is part of this next gen-eration.
“When I came to this pro-gram, I had the worst attitudeever. I came from a really, reallyviolent past — the money situa-tion was always a big probleminside the house, and I hadnowhere to put my anger,” Anjelsaid. “I had bad grades inschool, so I couldn’t do dancingin school — I couldn’t do any-thing like that. They just exclud-ed me from everything becausethey said I was an angry per-son.”
“(BSS) gave me a chance toput my anger on the dance floorand in my lyrics so I wouldn’ttake it out on people, and Ilearned how to control myself alot better than I would havebefore,” Anjel said.
Anjel first became involved
with BSS through the RhodeShow, an anti-corporate per-formance program. The RhodeShow brings Broad Street’s mes-sage to the masses, performingat local schools, non-profityouth forums and even NewYork City’s Bowery Ballroom.
lllwon, a 19-year-old lyricist,emcee and artist, also connect-ed with BSS through the RhodeShow.
Illwon said the studios haveenabled him to branch out anddevelop his talents further,enriching his life and giving hima forum for spreading his mes-sage to others.
The message of the RhodeShow troupe is to “educate theyouth,” Anjel said. “We don’t tellthem not to smoke — we givethem knowledge and then theycan make their decisions basedon that.”
“That’s basically what BroadStreet’s taught me to do. Theydon’t tell you to think a certainway — they give you a wholeworld of ideas and you get tochoose what’s best for you,” sheadded.
Anjel hopes some day to beable to have her own recordingstudio, where people will beallowed to record any kind ofmusic they want — “my ownBroad Street Studios.”
“My main goal is to changepeople’s lives and to really helpthem,” Anjel said.
Hip Hop 220 and BSS havegone a long way towards doingthis, by letting youth who wouldnever have had an opportunityto touch a studio be able to takehome music that they created,Tek said.
The Blue Room Gallery inFaunce House is currently hold-ing an exhibition of works doneby youth in BSS’s PhotographicMemory program.
continued from page 1
Broad Street
“As for us, we are not at theposition that we would (strike). Wesupport their right and whatthey’re trying to do,” said SheydaJahanbani GS, a BGEO/UAWspokeswoman and fourth-yeargrad student in history. She notedthat the strike was “a really solidindication that this issue is notgoing away for the people who livethis every day.”
Many Brown graduate stu-dents, especially those in their firstyear, are straddling the fenceregarding unionization and werelooking to the outcome of thePenn strike for direction, saidAdam Ringguth GS.
“I would like to see how thingsplay out there,” Ringguth said.
Brown graduate students onboth sides of the unionizationdebate said they would like to hearthe NLRB’s decision.
“I would definitely like to seeBrown’s own appeal heard andtaken care of as quickly as possi-ble,” said Kristin Bishop GS. “Thishas definitely been dragging outfor a very long time.”
Bishop is a member, though nota spokesperson, for At What Cost,an anti-unionization group thatasserts that Brown grad studentsreceive very generous support ascompared with those at other uni-versities.
It is “totally anti-democratic”that votes from an election that
happened two and a half years agohave not been counted, Jahanbanisaid, adding that “stalling is ananti-union tactic” that links gradstudents with factory workers.
“The greatest irony is that all ofthese universities are paragons ofliberal virtue as far as their reputa-tions around the country,”Jahanbani said.
Many newer Brown grad stu-dents are relatively unaware of theunionization movement as awhole, which is not surprisinggiven the recent standstill,Ringguth said.
“We haven’t had a ton of infor-mation unless we’ve sought itout,” he said.
Health insurance coverage anda streamlined process for obtain-ing summer funding, two centralgraduate student demands, have“been resolved to a large extent,”said Bethany Bradley GS, whoopposes graduate student union-ization.
The NLRB has three optionswith regard to graduate studentunionization at Brown. The boardcan throw out the appeals fromBrown and from the BGEO/UAW,allowing the votes from theDecember 2001 election to settleon whether a union, largely com-prised of TAs, could exist at Brown.
If the board accepts Brown’sappeal, grad students at privateuniversities will not be officiallyrecognized as employees and willnot be allowed to unionize.Alternatively, the board can refuse
Brown’s appeal but accept theBGEO/UAW’s appeal, allowing anew vote for unionization thatwould expand the union toinclude research assistants andproctors, in addition to teachingassistants.
Until that decision is made,however, grad students are leftwaiting.
“It’s kind of a dead issue fornow,” Bishop said.
continued from page 1
Unions Initially, the NLRB
classified graduate
students strictly as
students, but it later
reversed its decision,
stating that many
grad students could
actually also be con-
sidered university
employees, given
their role as teaching
assistants, teaching
fellows and graduate
student proctors.
CAMPUS NEWSTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD
MONDAY, MARCH 8, 2004 · PAGE 5
Nick Neely / Herald
Rabbi Michael Lerner leads a discussion on Anti-semitism during a workshop Saturday afternoon in Salomon.The workshop was part ofTikkun’s National Student Conference for Middle East Peaceh, which drew students to Brown from many other schools.
Mutual distrustunderminesMiddle East peaceprocess, speakersaysBY BEN GRINRabbi Michael Lerner called on studentsto look beyond traditional pro-Israeliand pro-Palestinian labels in a lecture,titled “Healing Israel-Palestine,” heldSaturday in the Hillel chapel.
Lerner took a middle-of-the-roadapproach to the Middle East conflict,telling the audience that Israelis andPalestinians both have legitimate griev-ances but that the two sides have oftenbeen unwilling to listen to each other.This unwillingness breeds suspicion andhatred of the “Other,” attitudes that are atthe heart of the conflict, he said.
The lecture, which focused on the pos-sibility for grassroots change in theIsraeli-Palestinian conflict, was part ofthe National Student Conference forMiddle East Peace, a weekend-long seriesof events held by the Tikkun CampusNetwork. Lerner is co-chair of the TikkunCommunity, a progressive group workingtowards a pro-Israeli, pro-Palestiniansolution to the Middle East conflict, andis editor of Tikkun Magazine.
The attitudes underlying the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can largely beexplained by the existence of two con-tending worldviews, Lerner said.
The first view says the world is com-posed of competing individuals, eachmotivated by the goal of maximizing hisor her own self-interest. This cynically
w w w. b r o w n d a i l y h e r a l d . c o m
see LERNER, page 6
realistic philosophy assumesthat “the way to protect oneselfis to dominate and control theOther,” he said.
The second worldview isfounded on the principles ofloving, caring and mutualrespect. Under this assumption,“the way to get safety and secu-rity is not to dominate the Otherbut to work out loving and car-ing relationships with theOther,” he said.
Lerner said the world’s majorreligions all were founded onthe optimistic beliefs of the sec-ond worldview, although thehypocrisy of religious leadershas led many to become disillu-sioned with spirituality and ide-alism.
“Religious communitiescame to be dominated by peo-ple who used language of love
but who were actually seekingpower and control,” Lerner said.This disillusionment has led tothe dominance of the first para-digm in modern politics, hesaid.
The Israeli-Palestinian con-
flict exists primarily because thetwo sides have failed to under-stand that the “Other” has thecapacity to be loving and com-passionate, Lerner said. Bothsides have legitimate histories ofsuffering, he said, but at thesame time both have committedwrongs.
When the Jews first immigrat-ed to Palestine after a long exilefrom their homeland, they werea “powerless, penniless people”trying to escape oppression andanti-Semitism in Europe, Lernersaid. They purchased landthrough legal means fromabsentee Arab landlords livingabroad.
The immigrants expectedPalestine to be “a land without apeople for a people without aland,” and they were surprisedto find a people and a societyliving on the land they had pur-chased, he said.
Mutual misunderstandingsonly bred distrust between theJews and the Arabs in Palestine,
he said. The Arabs didn’t under-stand the nature of propertyrights because they lived in afeudal society, not a capitalistone. Consequently, the deed theJews brought with them weremeaningless to the Arabs livingon the land.
Rather than try to understandthe Jews, the Arabs assumed theimmigrants were coming to hurtthem as “part of the colonialenterprise,” while the Jews toldthemselves that the Arabs hatedthe Jewish immigrants becausepeople have always irrationallyhated the Jews, he said.
In order to build transforma-tion in Israel, both sides must“break through the dichoto-mous way of thinking that oneside is the righteous victim andthe other side is the evil oppres-sor,” affirming the goodness ofboth Palestinians and Israelis,Lerner said.
He discussed the possibilityfor change manifested by theGeneva Accord, an unofficialpeace agreement negotiated lastyear by Palestinian and Israelirepresentatives.
The Geneva Accord shows,“in concrete terms, how bothsides could live together,” hesaid.
Lerner also emphasized the
possibility of change at a grass-roots level. He said many peoplehave a vision for a better worldbut don’t know how to carry outthat vision. Organizations suchas Tikkun can unite people witha common vision, he said.
Lerner told the audience thatindividuals can make a differ-ence. “We all think we’re theonly ones who want a worldbased on kindness and generos-ity,” he said.
Lerner also suggested thatpeople move beyond looking atpolitics in terms of left versusright and look instead in termsof “hope versus fear.” Drawing adistinction between organizedreligion and spirituality, he saidsocial change is only possible ifpeople are willing to “come outof the closet as spiritual beings.”
Lerner asked the audience,“Do we have the depressivebelief that the world is screwedup and always will be … or dowe have the hopeful belief thatthe world can be another way?”
After the lecture, MichaellaMatt ’06, the student organizerof the conference, said, “Thereare more Brown students herethan we expected.
“The potential for somethinggrassroots and authentic toform is very palpable right now.”
PAGE 6 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD MONDAY, MARCH 8, 2004
Native Alaskans get a break inawarding Iraqi contracts WASHINGTON (L.A. Times) — Snow-covered Alaska is a longway from the deserts of Iraq, but that doesn’t worryJanet Reiser, the president of an Anchorage-based com-pany planning to help rebuild the war-torn country.
Thanks to Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), Alaska Native-owned businesses such as Reiser’s are allowed to receivegovernment contracts of unlimited size without goingthrough the normal bidding process. Pentagon officialsare turning to them to speed up the rebuilding of Iraq.
“If you exchange snow for sand, work in Iraq is simi-lar to the work we’ve done in Alaska,” said Reiser, whoseNana Pacific engineering company is in the final stagesof negotiating a multimillion dollar contract to beawarded without competitive bidding. “We know howto do logistics in remote areas.”
Over the years, Stevens, the powerful AlaskaRepublican who chairs the Senate’s AppropriationsCommittee, has made sure that Nana Pacific and othersmall businesses owned by Alaska Native corporationsand Native Americans enjoy special benefits in govern-ment contracting.
Their unique ability to land government contracts ofany size free of the bidding process — which no otherminority — or female-owned small business enjoys —was a largely unknown part of contracting law until thefall, when Congress passed an $18.6 billion aid packagefor Iraq that contained restrictions calling for full andopen competition.
Stevens, however, made sure the final bill containedlanguage to protect the Alaska Native corporations’ability to win sole source contracts under federal law,according to Republican and Democratic budget ana-
lysts familiar with the process. At the same time, Alaska Native officials and their
lobbyists frequented industry conferences, theDepartment of Defense and Capitol Hill in an effort todrum up business in Iraq.
Some Pentagon officials have responded by pushingthe Alaska Native corporations as a way to quickly getwork done without going through the lengthy biddingprocess, which can take months.
Although only a handful of Alaskan and tribal smallbusiness have sought contracts to date, Pentagon offi-cials said they hope the number will increase. So far,many contracting officers have been skeptical of thecompanies’ abilities to win no-bid contracts.
“Everybody was looking at this as though it weresome sort of scam,”’ said John Shaw, the deputy under-secretary of defense for international technology secu-rity, who has been pushing contracting officials to takea close look at Alaska Native corporations. “In point offact, it was all above board, and, indeed, mandated.”
Unions and government watchdogs, however, ques-tion whether the Alaska native small businesses’ abilityto win no-bid contracts — designed to help them incompetition against bigger companies — is beingabused.
“The rationale behind the exceptions is that they’lllead to an automatic trickle down (for the natives),” saidGerry Swanke, the national vice president for theAmerican Federation of Government Employees dis-trict, which covers Alaska. “But nobody ever talks about
LOS ANGELES (L.A.Times) — The trade in human body partsis a seller’s market.
Pharmaceutical companies buy everything from fin-gernails to tendons to use for research.
Medical instrument companies conduct training sem-inars for doctors, filling anatomy laboratories — or hotelevent rooms — with trays of knees or heads that surgeonscan use to acquaint themselves with new devices andtechniques.
Then there are at least 50 surgical products made fromhuman skin, bones and heart valves that are used in pro-cedures ranging from lip enhancements to fracturerepairs.
Bodies also end up as crash-test dummies and areused in other product-safety research.
In all, the human-tissue industry is thought to beworth $500 million a year — and growing. The trade issupposedly nonprofit, since it is illegal to earn moneyfrom the sale of human body parts. But the law allowsmiddlemen to cover their costs by charging “reasonable”fees. Reasonable has become a matter of interpretation.As demand has expanded, so have prices — and theopportunities for fraud.
The alleged theft of body parts by employees at theUniversity of California-Los Angeles’ medical school isthe latest in a series of local scandals involving cadavers.The program’s director, Henry Reid, was arrestedSaturday at his home in Anaheim, Calif., on suspicion ofgrand theft, but little is known about what transactionsoccurred.
This much, however, is clear: Reid had easy access tobodies.
There are three main, legitimate sources of bodies andparts.
The first are medical schools. In 1950, UCLA startedthe world’s first willed body program, pioneering theconvention of donating one’s body to science. There arenow 154 such programs nationwide.
The vast majority of bodies — by one report up to8,000 a year — are collected this way. The process isstraightforward. A donor signs a consent agreement, andupon death, the school arranges to pick up the body.Schools often cover the cost of burial, or more often cre-mation, when they are finished.
Most cadavers are dissected by first-year medical stu-dents. But surplus bodies and parts can be sent to otherscientific institutions, including for-profit biomedicalcorporations. The schools are allowed to charge fees to
cover administrative costs, salaries, preservation andstorage. Such deals provide an important source of rev-enue for some anatomy departments.
In principle, all parts that go out must come back — inorder that the ashes from the complete body can eventu-ally be returned to the donor’s family.
The second primary legal source of bodies has beenmore controversial.
Over the last decade, the tissue and organ bank indus-tries have boomed. These institutions are considerednonprofit, and donors envision their parts being usedonly in altruistic endeavors. But many such banks, close-ly tied to for-profit companies, essentially sell body partsfor commercial research and products.
Only after the Orange County, Calif., Register recentlyproduced a series of stories in 2000 detailing the practice,has there been an effort by legislators to force the indus-try to disclose all the ways a donated body could be used.
The families of donors are not paid. The final source of bodies is a tiny number of compa-
nies that set up their own willed body programs in statesthat do not restrict such activities to medical schools.Such companies often work as contractors, setting upsurgical training seminars or product tests and providingwell-paid experts to prepare the specimens.
Some university anatomists question the recruitingmethods of such companies.
“They go in and raid retirement communities with theidea that people are donating their body to science in ahumane act,” said Arthur Dalley, who heads the anatomydepartment at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.“It’s turned around and used for profit.”
Like stolen cars that are chopped up and sold inpieces, bodies are worth much less than the sum of theirparts.
“The prices have been escalating,” said Arthur Caplan,a professor of medical ethics at the University ofPennsylvania. “There is more demand.”
Vidal Herrera, a former medical technician who runs aforensic services businesssaid: “I get calls all the timefrom medical researchers, corporations. They want topurchase bodies or they want to purchase tissue.”
He said he always refuses such offers. But as prices have risen, some people who work close-
ly with the dead have been unable to resist the tempta-tion to skim off parts and sell them. By some estimates, a
Profit drives illegal trade in body parts
Human rightsgroup accusesU.S. military ofabusesNEW DELHI, India (L.A. Times) — U.S. forces in Afghanistan useexcessive force during arrests, mistreat prisoners in deten-tion and commit other human rights abuses, Human RightsWatch charged in a report to be released Monday.
“In doing so, the United States is endangering the lives ofAfghan civilians, undermining efforts to restore the rule oflaw in Afghanistan, and calling into question its commit-ment to upholding basic rights,” the New York-basedhuman rights group said in its report.
The group also said the U.S. Defense Department has notadequately explained at least three deaths of prisoners inU.S. custody, two of which were declared homicides by U.S.military doctors.
The report focuses on eastern and southeasternAfghanistan, where U.S.-led coalition forces continue tobattle the ousted Taliban militia, members of al-Qaeda andsupporters of renegade warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
The U.S. military said it was aware of Human RightsWatch’s accusations and had already addressed some of theproblems cited in the report, entitled “Enduring Freedom:Abuses by U.S. Forces in Afghanistan.”
“We do take them seriously,” Lt.-Col. Bryan Hilferty,spokesman for U.S. troops in Afghanistan, said from Kabul.He said U.S. troops follow the law during operations inAfghanistan.
“Our combat operations comply with the Law of ArmedConflict and are conducted with appropriate, and strict,rules of engagement,” Hilferty said.
The spokesman acknowledged that the U.S. militarychanged its procedures at the Bagram airbase following thedeaths of two Afghan prisoners last December.
The two prisoners were declared homicide victims byU.S. military doctors who performed autopsies. Their deathcertificates cited “blunt force injuries” to the legs. U.S. offi-cials have refused to provide any details about the June 2003death of a man in a detention facility near the eastern townof Asadabad, Human Rights Watch said.
“We investigate all credible reports and there is an ongo-ing investigation into the deaths of persons under custody,”said Hilferty, the U.S. military spokesman. “But HumanRights Watch said its investigations, and those of the AfghanIndependent Human Rights Commission, have found apattern of abuses at Bagram and at least two other deten-tion centers, and it believes U.S. authorities have failed tostop the mistreatment of prisoners.
“There is credible evidence of beatings and other physi-cal assaults of detainees, as well as evidence that the UnitedStates has used prolonged shackling, exposure to cold, andsleep deprivation amounting to torture or other mistreat-ment in violation of international law,” the group said.
Militant groups in Afghanistan routinely attack civiliansand aid workers, and bomb non-military targets such asmarkets. Five aid workers have been murdered in the pastthree weeks. On Saturday, armed men on motorcycles killeda senior Afghan aid worker in southeastern Zabul provinceas he was driving home from work in the provincial capital,Qalat.
Human Rights Watch said militants responsible forattacks on civilians should be investigated and prosecuted.“But the activities of these groups are no excuse for U.S. vio-lations,” the report added.
The group estimates that U.S.-led forces have detainedabout 1,000 people in Afghanistan since 2002. While someof the captives were involved in combat, others were “civil-ians with no apparent connection to ongoing hostilities,”the report said.
U.S. troops have killed Afghan civilians unnecessarily byrepeatedly using deadly force, including attacks from heli-copter gunships, in areas under the control of their Afghanallies, the report charged. In some cases, the attacks mayamount to violations of humanitarian law, the report stated.
“U.S. forces regularly use military means and methodsduring arrest operations in residential areas where lawenforcement techniques would be more appropriate,” thegroup said.
Hilferty responded that U.S. troops are in Afghanistan tofight a war, not for law enforcement.
“Afghanistan is currently a combat zone and forces hereare engaged in combat operations against determinedenemy forces,” he said. “Al Qaeda and (the) Taliban havestated repeatedly that they are at war.” see BODY PARTS, page 9
see IRAQ, page 8
PAGE 8 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD MONDAY, MARCH 8, 2004
the corporate greed side ofthings that inevitably raises itsugly head.”
Stevens’ support for AlaskaNative corporations also hasraised concerns about whetherhe might benefit from contractsthey receive.
The Los Angeles Times report-ed last fall that the largest AlaskaNative corporation, Arctic SlopeRegional Corp., pays $6 millionper year as part of a 20-year leaseto rent space in an office tower inAnchorage in which Stevens is apartner.
Officials for Arctic Slope, acompany with $1 billion a year insales, did not respond to calls forcomment, but there is no indica-tion they have sought or receivedcontracts in Iraq.
Stevens did not respond torequests for comment on thisarticle. In the fall, he told theTimes that he would “continue towork with all Alaska Native cor-porations — both individuallyand collectively — in my officialcapacity.”
The result has been a tremen-dous, largely unnoticed boom forAlaska native corporations. In2002, the last year for whichcomplete figures are availablefrom the U.S. Small BusinessAdministration, Alaska Native
companies made up less than 2percent of all small businesses,but won 12 percent of the $5.6billion in government contractsawarded to small businesses.
Some of the awards have beenmassive. In December 2001, forinstance, a joint venture of twoAlaska Native small businesseswon a 15-year, $2.2 billion no-bid contract to revamp technol-ogy operations for the NationalImagery and Mapping Agency.
While the companies must beat least 51 percent owned byAlaska natives to enjoy the bid-ding advantages, there are norequirements that they employAlaska natives.
As a result, many of them mayhire workers from anywhere inspecialized fields such as sci-ence and engineering to do thework.
“It’s become such a big ele-phant,” said Steve Colt, an econ-omist with the University ofAlaska in Anchorage who hasstudied the corporations. “Tenyears ago, I had a complete pic-ture of (the corporations’ activi-ties) in my head, and now that’simpossible.”
The companies’ record ofimproving life for Alaska nativesis mixed. Many of them payannual dividends to their share-holders, often a few thousanddollars per year. They employmore than 12,000 Alaska natives.And many offer benefits such as
scholarships and healthcare. Still, while the percentage of
Alaska natives living in povertyhas dropped by half since 1970,they continue economically tolag other groups. For example,the per capita income of Alaskanatives in the 2000 census was$12,500, compared to $26,418 forwhites.
Critics say that is because thecorporations, while doing goodwork, are not required to focusdirectly on improving tribal well-being.
“Essentially the native corpo-rations are no different than anyother corporations,” said EvonPeter, the former chief of anAlaskan tribe that chose not toform a corporation. “They’relooking for ways to profit theircorporation.”
The latest frontier for theAlaska Native companies is Iraq.
Half a dozen Alaska Nativecompanies showed up for thefirst major industry conferenceon Iraq reconstruction held inNovember, and several compa-nies have registered with lobby-ists this year.
Nana Pacific was among themost aggressive. Reiser said thatNana visited several members ofthe Alaska delegation, includingStevens, to make sure the repre-sentatives were aware of thecompany’s interests in biddingin Iraq.
In its final form, the Iraq
rebuilding bill contained toughmeasures requiring full andopen competition on contracts.But Stevens, congressionalsources said, made sure that thebill also specifically exemptedsmall businesses from thoserequirements — includingAlaska Native corporations.
“We helped make sure therewas language (in the bill),”Reiser said. “We wanted to makesure that the sole sourcing waspreserved, so we worked withSen. Stevens’ staff and theCongressional delegations.”
A Nana lobbyist thenapproached Shaw, who washelping plan the rebuilding ofcommunications and trans-portation in Iraq. At first, Shawwas skeptical that an Alaskacompany could help out. Butwhen he learned of their exemp-tion from competitive bidding,he realized that they could beused to let contracts quickly.
Speed was most important inthe dredging of Umm Qasr, Iraq’sonly port. Nana had paired upwith SSA Marine, a family-runSeattle company that is one ofthe largest port-operations com-panies in the world.
SSA was one of the first com-panies to win one of the contro-versial, limited bid contractsfrom the U.S. Agency forInternational Development afterPresident Bush declared an endto major hostilities in May.
Shaw said that using Nana’sno-bid abilities seemed idealgiven the pressing need for moredredging at the port before con-trol of Iraq is handed over onJuly 1.
Nana also is expected to joinwith other companies to buildan emergency communicationsnetwork in Baghdad, the capital.
“We wanted to light a fireunder Umm Qasr, and this was away to do it,” Shaw said.
“The key question will be,looking back on July 1st, howmuch will Nana have put inplace? My suspicion is we’ll see avery impressive array of things inplace.”
Nana said that negotiationsbetween the contracting officerat the U.S.-led CoalitionProvisional Authority and thecompany were tough, and thatthe final price would be fair.
Still, critics wonder why thebid was not put out to competi-tion. And they question how thegovernment can be sure that ithas received the best price.
“This represents a real prob-lem,” said Bill Allison, aspokesman for the Center forPublic Integrity. “When a compa-ny can get a contract withoutgoing through the competitivebidding process, where is thepublic accountability? Do tax-payers really know that they’regetting the most building for thebuck?”
continued from page 7
Iraq
people to revert to war andbloodshed.
He also spoke briefly aboutthe upcoming presidential elec-tion, saying that although Sen.John Kerry (D-Mass.) has notaddressed issues as race and themilitary-industrial complex, it isimperative in 2004 for the left topresent a unified front againstPresident George W. Bush.
West received several stand-ing ovations from the enthusias-tic crowd.
Some students who attendedWest’s lecture said that althoughit did not focus on the Israel-Palestine conflict, many of hiscomments reflected ideas nec-essary for healing the region.
Rahim Kurji ’05, president ofthe Undergraduate Council ofStudents, called West’s ability toaddress many different topics —from Judaism to sociology —“impressive.”
“Everything came back tocritical thinking and using criti-cal analysis,” Kurji said. Westquestioned “even gender stereo-types, and he touched on almostall kinds of discrimination,”Kurji said.
“The general idea was theimportance of being a criticalthinker and paying attention towhat’s going on, and being anactive citizen and using yourthoughts and your knowledge togain wisdom,” said Tikkunmember Jackie Herold ’07.
West is a national co-chair ofthe Tikkun Community, alongwith Rabbi Michael Lerner —who gave a presentation at theconference on Saturday — andSusannah Heschel, who holdsthe Eli Black Chair in JewishStudies at Dartmouth College.West and Lerner co-authoredthe 1996 book “Jews and Blacks:A Dialogue on Race, Religion
and Culture in America.”Currently the Class of 1943
University Professor of Religionand African American Studies atPrinceton, West previouslytaught at Harvard University
and served as director ofPrinceton’s Program in AfricanAmerican Studies. His booksinclude the bestseller “RaceMatters” and his most recentwork, “The Cornel West Reader.”He recently released a spoken-word album titled “Sketches ofMy Culture.” He has received theAmerican Book Award and morethan 20 honorary degrees.
“I think the general reactionhas been that people have beeninspired by what (West) said,”said Steve Aussenberg ’04, whocoordinated housing for confer-ence attendees.
Aussenberg said nothing Westsaid was “out of the ordinary,”but Aussenberg found it inspir-ing that West “had the guts tosay some things that other peo-ple may not say.”
Leora Abelson, a first-year atWesleyan University who trav-
eled to Brown for the Tikkunconference, said she knew verylittle about West before sheheard him speak and found himan energetic speaker.
“I definitely felt him talkingabout critical thinking, about acommitment to what he called‘deep democracy’ and intellec-tual integrity,” Abelson said. “Iguess it was the mindset andattitude we need to have whenwe’re approaching this issue.”
West was preceded by MedeaBenjamin, the founding directorof Global Exchange, an interna-tional human rights organiza-tion.
She described her involve-ment in activism surroundingwomen’s issues and inAfghanistan and Iraq after U.S.military intervention there.
Benjamin emphasized theneed for active protest as a
means for social change, citinglast March’s nationwide protestagainst the war in Iraq as anexample of a powerful activiststatement and calling for 1 mil-lion people to protest at theRepublican NationalConvention in July.
In addition to lectures byRabbi Michael Lerner and West,the conference also includedsmaller-scale discussions andworkshops throughout theweekend.
Following the opening ses-sion Friday, conference atten-dees took part in Shabbat serv-ices, while on Saturday they hadthe option of participating inworkshops on the GenevaAccord and Spirituality andAmerican Jewish PeaceMovements, among other top-ics.
— Herald staff reports
continued from page 1
West
Nick Neely / Herald
Medea Benjamin, human rights activist and founder of Global Exchange, discussed the value of activismduring a speech at the Tikkun Conference Friday night.
Some students who
attended West’s lec-
ture said that
although it did not
focus on the Israel-
Palestine conflict,
many of his com-
ments reflected ideas
necessary for healing
the region.
“He was speaking at
the much more basic
level (about how)
there’s an obligation
(and a) necessity to
critically look at how
the world is working
and to understand it
and make initiative to
change it in all areas,”
said Benj Kamm ’06,
who helped organize
the conference.
MONDAY, MARCH 8, 2004 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 9
he was dissatisfied, but still han-dled his biz. But last year, likeChinese water torture, it just gotto him — he lost it on the side-lines more frequently, was lessproductive and reportedly wasn’tputting as much work into hisgame.
More than ever, Owens’ psy-che is fragile, and the Ravenssomehow missed that point —chalk it up to Head Coach BrianBillick’s cockiness. There are peo-ple who think that Billick andRay Lewis can make Owensignore his own dissatisfaction, orat least suppress its effects. Still,this messy aftermath is whateveryone needs in order to real-ize how childish and difficultOwens truly is.
Perhaps the most ridiculouspart of this episode is that T.O.got himself into this mess, plainand simple. He missed the dead-
line. If he wanted so badly to goto Philly or at least to control hisown destiny, he should have fol-lowed the rules. All he had to dowas tell his agent to get on it. It’samazing to me that this is really aparagraph in an article about anNFL player — we tell these thingsto kids, not 30-somethings.
And Terrell, don’t whine abouthow you weren’t told about thenew deadline (it was moved upslightly in recent years), becausemost of the rest of the league gotit. If you want to control your life,do it.
The unfortunate thing here isthat Owens will probably get hisway in the end. The Ravens canrescind the trade or keep himand wait on the result of a griev-ance filed by Owens’ agent. If heis somehow released from theRavens’ clutches, he would likelyend up in Philly due to the factthat his days as a Niner areabsolutely over. It’s hard to rootfor a guy who doesn’t takeresponsibility, perks up only
when it’s too late and is probablygoing to whine his way to happi-ness.
Maybe our boy T.O. can catchballs and put fans in the seats. Hemight even be able to rally ateam to another level if the con-ditions were perfect, but for T.O.,it seems no conditions will everbe perfect enough.
Assistant sports editor EricPerlmutter ’06 is concentrating inphysics.
continued from page 12
Perlmutter
team the Bears’ post players. Itproved to be quite effective, asthe Big Red outscored theBears 15-5 over the last fourminutes of the half to take a31-29 lead into the break.
At halftime, Head CoachJean Marie Burr told the Bearsthey had to do a better job onthe boards.
“There were too many sec-ond looks, too many freethrows,” said Burr. “We had tomake better use of our athleti-cism.”
At first, it did not look as ifthe Bears were heeding Burr’sadvice, as Cornell built up afive-point lead, with just over15 minutes to go. But suddenly,the Bears came to life, rippingoff a 24-6 run, including aRobertson layup with nineminutes left to give the Bearstheir first lead since the firsthalf.
With a 61-48 lead and 2:09left in the game, Mitchell com-mitted her fifth foul, sendingher to the bench. She was givena standing ovation andthanked by the announcer forfour great years.
Mitchell, who scored ninepoints and added 11 rebounds,ends her career as the Bears’all-time leader in gamesplayed, with 107. She finishesher career as Brown’s seventhall-time leading scorer with1,248 points, fifth all-time
leading rebounder with 776and third all-time leadingshot-blocker with 211.
In what one radio broad-caster called “one of the classi-est moves I have seen in 22years of covering sports,” Burrtook the other three seniorsout on successive dead balls.Each was given a standing ova-tion, and hugs were exchangedas they made their way to thebench.
The last to come out wasGolston, who recorded 18points and five assists on thenight. The Ivy Leader in assistsper game with seven, Golstonends Ivy play as seventh in thenation in assists. She ends hercareer as third all-time atBrown for assists with 409.
Burr said this year’s seniorseach adding something differ-ent to the program. “You see acombination of experience,dedication and work ethic,”she said. “You have a three-year captain in Miranda,Tanara is a leader and courtgeneral, you have Nyema’sdominance and Ragan’s abilityto come in as a defensive stop-per.”
The Bears’ final standingwill depend on Tuesday night’sgame between HarvardUniversity and DartmouthCollege.
If the visiting Crimson upsetthe Big Green, Brown gets sec-ond place outright. On theother hand, a Dartmouth wincreates a two-way tie for sec-ond place.
continued from page 12
Basketball
with a time of 25.50, but failed toadvance to finals. Also missing thequalifying standard by a few spotswas Cambruzzi, with a time of5:04.50 in the mile.
Lynch, the only Brown athletecompeting in the field events,
threw for 42-11 1/2 feet in the shotput event. She placed fourth in herflight, but out of the top 10 overall.
The five women will return totraining with their teammates inpreparation for the upcomingoutdoor season. Brown will travelto North Carolina over springbreak for warmer training weatheras well as to compete at theRaleigh Relays. The Bears will be
aiming for a higher finish than lastyear’s fourth place at theHeptagonal Championships atBrown in May.
Herald staff writer MelissaPerlman ’04 is an assistant sportseditor and covers women’s trackand field. She can be reached atm p e r l m a n @ b r o w n d a i l y -herald.com.
continued from page 12
Track
It’s hard to root for a
guy who doesn’t take
responsibility, perks
up only when it’s too
late and is probably
going to whine his
way to happiness.
single body can be used to makeproducts worth more than$200,000.
At medical schools, the task ofprocuring bodies, preservingthem and keeping records oftenfalls not to professors but tononacademic technicians whotrained as morticians or workedtheir way up through the ranks.
“We don’t keep a count on bod-ies,” said Carmine Clemente, aUCLA professor and longtimeeditor of the famous anatomytext, Gray’s Anatomy. “That’s notour responsibility. We are theteachers. They are the techni-cians. We don’t check whether wehave all the cadavers, all the arms,all the heads.”
Typically the technicians havebeen at the center of the cadaverscandals, as appears to be thecase at UCLA.
At the University of California-Irvine medical school in 1999,Christopher Brown had animpressive title — director of the
willed body program. But heearned just $33,000 a year. He wasfired after it was discovered dur-ing a routine audit that he hadcharged the university for a trip toPhoenix and sold six spines to ahospital there for $5,000. Thecheck was made out to a compa-ny owned by a business associate.
UCI auditors could account foronly 121 of the 441 cadaversdonated to the Willed BodyProgram for medical and scientif-ic research from 1995 through1999, indicating that there wererecord-keeping problems beforeBrown became head of the pro-gram. UCI could not identify fourcadavers in its morgue.
In addition, families may havereceived the wrong remains orbeen improperly billed for thereturn of their relatives’ ashes.About 20 lawsuits against UCI arepending, but Brown was neverprosecuted.
Neither was Allen Tyler, whoheaded the cadaver program atthe University of Texas MedicalBranch at Galveston. He lost hisjob in 2002 and was suspected ofselling bodies. In a single transac-
tion, he made more than $4,000selling 232 fingernails and 35 toe-nails to a pharmaceutical compa-ny in Salt Lake City.
The scandal was still beinginvestigated when he died of can-cer in January.
Besides his duties at the med-ical school, Tyler also freelancedin the tissue industry. He wouldhelp companies across the UnitedStates procure body parts, pre-pare specimens for seminars or,in the case of one client in LakeElsinore, Calif., Michael FrancisBrown, cut up bodies to be sold inpieces.
Brown had achieved synergy inthe illegal body parts trade. Heran three businesses: a funeralhome, a crematory and a biotechcompany. Instead of crematingcorpses — delivered from funeralhomes and a Riverside Countycontract to cremate local indi-gents — he sold their heads, tor-sos and other parts.
In 2002, he pleaded guilty to 66counts of unlawful mutilation.Prosecutors estimated that hestole parts from 133 bodies, earn-ing $465,000 between 1999 and
2001. He was later sentenced to 20
years in prison. Some loved ones are still wait-
ing for closure. In February 2001, Ruth Storr, a
post office clerk in San Diego, losther 82-year-old mother. A localfuneral home sent the body toBrown for cremation. An urn wasreturned. “I said goodbye to mymom,” Storr said. “I thoughteverything was OK.”
But more than two years later,Storr found out that her mother’sbody had been used for parts. Sheis still trying to get everythingback.
“I have no idea what’s in mymother’s urn,” she said. “It couldbe a dead dog, cigarette ashes,burnt newspaper. Who knows? Ican’t throw it away. Whoever gotpart of my mom’s ashes, I would-n’t want her thrown away.”
Such scandals spurred calls forbetter oversight. UCI, for one,tightened its written proceduresand policies, established an advi-sory group, created a system fortracking body parts, increasedsupervision and upped the pay
for a new director. Then-Gov. Gray Davis signed a
bill in 2000 calling for better doc-umentation of willed bodies andmade it a crime to knowinglyreturn the wrong remains to fam-ily members. It says that afterbody parts are used for medicalresearch, the parts or their ashesare to be returned to relatives atno charge. The law also requirescoroners to receive consent froma representative of a dead personbefore releasing a body or bodypart for scientific purposes.
Another law that went intoeffect this year requires hospitals,organ-procurement organiza-tions and tissue banks to advisedonors of their right to prohibittheir tissues from going to for-profit companies.
Yet some aspects of the bodyparts industry remain loosely reg-ulated. It is illegal to sell bodyparts for profit. But tissue brokershave found ways to make money.
“You can be paid money forhandling fees, sterilizations,shaping the material,” Caplansaid, adding that those prices canamount to “gouging.”
continued from page 7
Body parts
EDITORIAL/LETTERSTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD
MONDAY, MARCH 8, 2004 · PAGE 10
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
C O R R E C T I O N S P O L I C YThe Brown Daily Herald is committed to providing the Brown University community with the most accurate information possible. Correctionsmay be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication.
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Curtis Joseph, Night EditorStephanie Clark, Copy Editor
EDITORIALJuliette Wallack, Editor-in-Chief
Carla Blumenkranz, Executive Editor
Philissa Cramer, Executive Editor
Julia Zuckerman, Senior Editor
Danielle Cerny, Arts & Culture Editor
Meryl Rothstein, Arts & Culture Editor
Zachary Barter, Campus Watch Editor
Monique Meneses, Features Editor
Sara Perkins, Metro Editor
Dana Goldstein, RISD News Editor
Alex Carnevale, Opinions Editor
Ben Yaster, Opinions Editor
Christopher Hatfield, Sports Editor
PRODUCTIONLisa Mandle, Design Editor
George Haws, Copy Desk Chief
Eddie Ahn, Graphics Editor
Judy He, Photo Editor
Nick Neely, Photo Editor
BUSINESSJohn Carrere, General Manager
Lawrence Hester, General Manager
Anastasia Ali, Executive Manager
Zoe Ripple, Executive Manager
Elias Vale Roman, Senior Project Manager
In Young Park, Project Manager
Peter Schermerhorn, Project Manager
Laird Bennion, Project Manager
Bill Louis, Senior Financial Officer
Laurie-Ann Paliotti, Sr. Advertising Rep.
Elyse Major, Advertising Rep.
Kate Sparaco, Office Manager
POST- MAGAZINEEllen Wernecke, Editor-in-Chief
Jason Ng, Executive Editor
Micah Salkind, Executive Editor
Abigail Newman, Theater Editor
Josh Cohen, Design Editor
Allison Lombardo, Features Editor
Jeremy Beck, Film Editor
Jessica Weisberg, Film Editor
Ray Sylvester, Music Editor
S T A F F E D I T O R I A L
Staff Writers Marshall Agnew, Kathy Babcock, Zaneta Balantac, Elise Baran, Alexandra Barsk,Zachary Barter, Hannah Bascom, Danielle Cerny, Robbie Corey-Boulet, Lexi Costello, Ian Cropp,Sam Culver, Gabriella Doob, Jonathan Ellis, Justin Elliott, Amy Hall Goins, Dana Goldstein,Bernard Gordon, Aron Gyuris, Krista Hachey, Chris Hatfield, Jonathan Herman, Miles Hovis,Masha Kirasirova, Robby Klaber, Kate Klonick, Alexis Kunsak, Sarah LaBrie, Kira Lesley, MattLieber, Allison Lombardo, Chris Mahr, Lisa Mandle, Craig McGowan, Jonathan Meachin, MoniqueMeneses, Kavita Mishra, Sara Perkins, Melissa Perlman, Eric Perlmutter, Sheela Raman, MerylRothstein, Michael Ruderman, Marco Santini, Jen Sopchockchai, Lela Spielberg, Stefan Talman,Joshua Troy, Schuyler von Oeyen, Jessica Weisberg, Melanie Wolfgang, Brett ZardaAccounts Managers Daniel Goldberg, Mark Goldberg, Victor Griffin, Matt Kozar, Natalie Ho, IanHalvorsen, Sarena SniderPagination Staff Peter Henderson, Alex Palmer, Michael RudermanPhoto Staff Gabriella Doob, Benjamin Goddard, Marissa Hauptman, Jonathan Herman, MiyakoIgari, Allison Lombardo, Elizabeth MacLennan, Michael Neff, Alex Palmer, Yun Shou Tee, SorleenTrevinoCopy Editors Stephanie Clark, Katie Lamm, Asad Reyaz, Amy Ruddle, Brian Schmalzbach, MelanieWolfgang
Extreme moderationThat the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a divisive issue is anextreme understatement. In a Herald opinion column Feb. 12,organizers of a panel discussion on the conflict lamentedwhat they viewed as a polemical debate that quickly turned“combative and emotional” while failing to accomplish thepanel’s intended aim of creating a constructive conversationbased on mutual understanding. In the context of this bitterlypolarized political conversation, the Tikkun Community,which advocates what co-chair Michael Lerner called a “pro-gressive, middle path,” is an anomaly.
Tikkun advocates a moderate solution, but most impor-tantly it advocates critical thinking and facilitates discussionand understanding between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinianvoices. It is troubling when academics, who are supposed tobe masters of critical thinking, abandon that principle infavor of sentiment. But it is all the more refreshing whenseemingly dissimilar leaders such as prominent intellectualCornel West and Rabbi Lerner can come together in supportof a common cause.
Hundreds of students from Brown and other universitiescame together this weekend to hear West, Lerner and otherspeakers articulate Tikkun’s message of tolerance. Advocacy oftolerance may seem cliché, but in the environment of extremehate and fear that pervades discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it cannot be taken for granted.
Tikkun calls for two independent, autonomous states basedon borders in place before 1967. The most forceful propo-nents of Israeli and Palestinian nationalism see this path asunacceptable, and they seem willing to settle for nothing lessthan the total disenfranchisement of their opponents. Theirreconciliation may be impossible. Nevertheless, we encouragerepresentatives of the most extreme positions to continue toengage each other at Brown.
February’s panel discussion might have been “combative”and “emotional,” but in this respect, it precisely reflects thenature of the Israeli-Palestinian debate. Taking a lesson fromTikkun — no matter how much both sides might condemn itspolitical platform — we advocate that Israeli and Palestiniannationalists at Brown take their capacity to communicatewith their ideological antitheses as a measure of their success.
To the Editor:
After reading the campus news piece about theRecycleMania Competition at Brown (“BrownDown in the Race to Recycle Against OtherUniversities,” March 3), we, Brown’s recycling coor-dinators, have received a number of questionsabout Brown’s recycling program. Here are somehelpful tips for recycling at Brown:
1. Brown can only recycle plastics that have thenumbers 1 and 2 on the bottom. Unfortunately, allother plastics must be thrown in the trash bin.
2. Please remove the caps from bottles. Place thecaps in the trash bin and the bottles in the mixedcontainers bin.
3. Milk cartons that are made of shiny paper can-not be recycled, nor can the Colombo yogurt con-
tainers.4. Plastic milk cartons, however, can be recycled.5. Mixed office paper, which includes standard
paper of all colors, goes in the blue office paperbins.
6. The red newspaper bins are for all paper otherthan standard paper. This includes newspapers,magazines, slightly thicker paper, cereal box-likecardboard containers, etc.
7. Staples and the windows in envelopes can alsogo in the paper recycling bins.
Thanks for your help and participation. Let’smake the most of the weeks to come. Show the restof the field why Brown is green!
Nadia Diamond-Smith ’06 and Chris Bennett ’07 March 4
Seven steps to recycling perfection
OPINIONSTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD
MONDAY, MARCH 8, 2004 · PAGE 11
D. David Beckman, a technical writer who lost hisjob with Microsoft in 2001, began working as a meatslicer in a Seattle suburb last year after months of try-ing to unsuccessfully find work in IT. Where he oncemade $40-45 an hour for Microsoft, his new job in thedeli of a Fred Meyer department store started at $8 anhour.
Last Sunday, Thomas Friedman wrote glowingly inthe New York Times about the heartwarming experi-ence of meeting young Indian men and women in aBangalore call center whose lives seemed on the righttrack thanks to their new $200 to $300-a-month jobsworking for American companies.
“It is inevitable in a networked world that oureconomy is going to shed certain low-wage, low-pres-tige jobs,” Friedman concluded. “To the extent thatthey go to places like India or Pakistan — where theyare viewed as high-wage, high-prestige jobs — wemake not only a more prosperous world, but a saferworld for our own 20-year-olds.”
The allusion to safety came after Friedman won-dered aloud how the presence of these sorts of jobs inthe Palestinian territories could dampen the violencein the Middle East. Of course, this sort of imaginingremains a pipe dream, because $200-$300-a-monthjobs are only available in the global South to thosewho are highly educated and speak English.
The following day, Nate Goralnik wrote in thesepages dismissing fears about offshore outsourcing (or“offshoring,” as it is known) in information technolo-gy, in which he shared not only Friedman’s argumentbut also his air of inevitability.
“True, economic progress is often terrifying forfamilies caught in the fault lines of economicchange,” Goralnik wrote, making clear that his wasnot such a family, “but it is inevitable, even withoutoutsourcing. Shall we then ban commercial aviationin order to save the jobs of railroad workers?”
Globalization’s most powerful myth is that it isfueled by an onward march that is not only unstop-pable but also all for the best. After all, who wants togive up airplanes and go back to railroads, right?Some do indeed benefit from offshoring in IT —arguably, consumers, and certainly, CEOs and stock-holders — but while these folks move from railroads
to airplanes, the workers who lose their jobs will bestruggling even to afford the bus.
And even as consumers may benefit, the ranks ofthose who are able to consume nonessential prod-ucts will slowly recede as American corporationsmake their U.S. operations ever-leaner and meaner.
When job loss was concentrated during the 1980sand 90s in manufacturing, the conventional wisdomwas that innovations in new and growing industrieslike IT would create jobs that were better than whathad been lost.
Now that IT and other service jobs are beginning toleave the country, the next line of defense for ardentglobalizers is to claim that these are “low-wage, low-prestige jobs.”
Friedman may be right that the new presence ofmany IT and other service jobs in India has had apositive impact on the lives of some Indians. But he iswrong in describing the jobs that are leaving theUnited States as low-wage and low-prestige. A studyreleased last year by Forrester Research predicts that3.3 million high-tech, financial and other white-col-lar service sector jobs will have been outsourced off-shore in the next decade, up from just under a half-million gone by 2002.
Although this wave has just begun, in WashingtonState, one of the nation’s hubs for the industry, theunemployment rate among IT workers is currently10.3 percent. And the people who are affected have
one or more degrees in computer science and are los-ing jobs that pay in the high five figures. They arethousands upon thousands of David Beckmans, andtheir ranks are only going to swell.
A March 2003 internal summit broadcast of aspeech given by IBM executives to its 2,000 humanresource managers on the company’s plans to accel-erate offshoring made national news, when it wasleaked to the Washington Alliance of TechnologyWorkers (WashTech), a union of IT workers, andreported on by the Times and others in July.
In the speech, IBM’s incoming human relationsdirector Tom Lynch cited the company’s awareness ofplans among competitors to increase offshoring aspart of IBM’s rationale. He specifically mentioned aMicrosoft presentation, also leaked earlier in theyear, which had urged human resource managers to“pick a project to offshore today.” Lynch also toldhuman resource managers at IBM to be ready for thetensions that would ensue when IBM employeeswould be asked to train their Chinese, Indian andother foreign replacements.
Figuring out how to remedy this situation is diffi-cult, largely because the current system so forcefullypits the interests of workers in the United States andthose in the global South against each other.However, it is certain that American corporationsshould not be allowed to pay college-educated Indianworkers at rates that are less than one-tenth whattheir American counterparts make.
American taxpayers should not be giving out taxsubsidies to the same corporations that move jobsout of the country to satisfy their own bottom line.
And workers in IT, including Brown students whoare about to enter the industry, should become awareof and involved with the efforts of groups likeWashTech and the Alliance@IBM, which are organiz-ing at workplaces and in the political arena to save ITjobs.
Tech workers must unite to look after their ownjobs, because no one is going to do it for them.
Peter Ian Asen ’04 is starting to think that choosingAfricana studies rather than CS was a good careermove.
Gesturing forward, marching backward
As high-paying IT jobs
continue to leave
the country,
pundits show
little concern.
It was only a year ago when Peter, a long-time friendof mine presently at the University of Rochester, satwith me over a cup of coffee to discuss our semi-annu-al gripes with one another. While my complaintsfocused largely on chemistry and the desire to changemy cologne, his were far more practical. Peter’s soleconcern was that of having to haul his entire life fromhis room at school back to his room at home or else seekout an all-hassles-included student storage service thatwould interfere with his final exam study schedule.
When I informed Peter of the storage that our dearBrunonia offered us over the summer, he shook hishead and smiled.
“That’s because you go to Brown,” he said. “You guysalways forget: Brown is not just a prestigious, Ivy Leagueuniversity that creates the leaders of tomorrow. If that’sall Brown is supposed to be, it wouldn’t have such thingsas storage. Only at Brown will the students ever be treat-ed well enough to have storage.
“Only at Brown will the administration and staffknow of the stresses of university life so as to provide aservice like that,” he said.
If only Peter were here now to hear the cracks of a dis-tant, yet approaching, thunder.
As the student body incurs more and more expenses,their quality of life on campus will decrease. The mostrecent examples of this upsetting phenomenon arerecent tuition hikes, the planned elimination of on-campus parking, diminishing library resources and thepotential stamping out of club sports.
Perhaps the most alarming and unspoken of lacera-
tions of campus life is the loss of any form of on-campusstorage for this and all summers to follow. The pains ofthis cutback, if not felt now, will hit hard very, very soon.
Along with the yearly cost of plane tickets and atten-dance at Brown incurred by those who live outside NewEngland and the United States, the three-month-one-week summer vacation we are granted will now have aprice tag of its own. Not only will we have to activelysearch for a storage provider, but we will also have to
pay the four-month fee and handle any ensuing affairsduring the most inopportune part of the year.
The last thing I’d want to be doing while crunchingnumbers and reviewing a semester’s worth of materialto make the last four months worthwhile is packup mylife into cardboard boxes. If I lived outside the Northeastor happened to be an international student, I mighteven take the added burden personally. Removal of on-campus storage altogether can only cannibalize thequality of life and the geographic and socioeconomicdiversity for which this fine institution has been global-
ly lauded. The deterioration of what has been referred to in
academic circles as the “Brown experience” has evengrander implications. New generations of dissatisfiedalumni will not be more willing or motivated to giveback to their alma mater. As fewer students and theirparents from around the world wish to fork out the nec-essary dough, grants to the University from organiza-tions that have repeatedly cited it as a hub of personal,intellectual and social growth will decline. A sick cycleof both fiscal and academic loss will be set in order,accomplishing precisely the opposite of that for whichthe administration hoped when they made the decisionto cut back in the wrong places.
As Brown students, the often-twisted notions ofmoney, careers and success with which U.S. News &World Report and friends associate us may lead to aneviction at some point in our lives, as most landlordsmay not want to rent a room to a tree-hugging, all-lov-ing communist. More likely, however, is that the inde-pendent, altruistic and socially conscious character thatoften defines us will contribute toward a propensity tomove our lives from one place to another. But this is noexcuse for Brown itself to evict us at the end of an indis-putably difficult academic year. The time has come tomake something of the organization and action thatcomprise the other side of that which is expected of us.We’ve done it in the past — the only way to get our stor-age back is to act on it.
Emir Senturk ’05 is a former Herald reporter.
The fleecing of BrunoniaGUEST COLUMN BY EMIR SENTURK
Brown’s decline is marked
by its soon-to-be-gone
summer storage space.
PETER IAN ASEN
SPORTS MONDAYTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD
MARCH 8, 2004 · PAGE 12
BY ERIC PERLMUTTERIf you have been following the NFL off-season lately, one that has literally been“on crack” for some players, then you areaware of the controversy involving widereceiver Terrell Owens — one that is,quite frankly, is his own stupid fault.
Let me quickly recap: Owens forgot toproperly notify the San Francisco 49ers
that he wanted tovoid the finalthree years of hiscontract and wasc o n s e q u e n t l ystuck on the
49ers with a contract that paid him mil-lions short of what he would havefetched in the open market.
Because his rights still belonged tothe Niners, Owens was then dealt to theBaltimore Ravens, a team of which heapparently wanted little part. Stayingtrue to his reputation as a man of over-whelming class, he proclaimed that hewould not show up to the Ravens’physical and demanded some sort ofreconciliation involving a trade to thePhiladelphia Eagles. Clearly, times weretough for baby Terrell.
What I want to know is this: did theRavens really think they could pull thisoff cleanly? Certainly, there is no dis-pute over the value of Owens as a foot-ball player. Aside from the obvious per-formance-related statistics, he canmake the big catch (see the 1998 play-
offs versus Green Bay), his genetic codeis free of the “Randy Moss gene” for tak-ing plays off and he hasn’t fumbled inthree years.
But what has become most clear overthe last couple years is that Owens’ hap-piness depends on more than his num-bers. If you are going to trade for Owens,you better make damn sure he wants toplay for your team, especially when he’sin talks with another team for whom hewould love to play. Earlier in his career,
BY MELISSA PERLMANFive Brown women, not yet ready to endtheir 2004 indoor track and field seasons,traveled to the Reggie Lewis Track inBoston this weekend to compete at thecompetitive Eastern College AthleticConference Championship. Lauren Linder’04, Katherine Kosub ’04, Caci Cambruzzi’04, Naja Ferjan ’07 and Jill Lynch ’05 com-peted against some of the best athletes inthe conference with hopes of ending theindoor season with a bang.
Kosub saw the meet as an opportunityto improve her time in the mile and finishher final indoor track season with a raceshe was proud of. “The last mile race I ranI was disappointed with, and I wanted toprove to myself that I could run theevent,” she said.
By placing fourth in the second prelim-inary heat in 4:55.76, Kosub not only set apersonal record for the mile, but she alsonearly surpassed her fastest time for theoutdoor 1500-meter race, an event meas-ured 109 meters shorter than the mile.Kosub’s time moves her into the eighthspot on Brown’s top-10 performances list.
“I wasn’t fully convinced that I was amiler, but after this race I am sure (that Iam), and I am looking forward to the
1500-meter during outdoor,” Kosub said.Kosub and Ferjan were the only two
Bears to qualify for finals in their respec-tive events on Sunday. While Kosub decid-ed not to return for the second day of com-petition because of Brown’s annual GalaSaturday night, Ferjan did, and it paid off.After finishing third in the preliminaryheat for the 500-meter run on Saturdaywith a time of 74:73, Ferjan came back torun a 73.70 on Sunday. Ferjan’s time wasgood enough for sixth place overall at themeet and puts her at number two onBrown’s all-time top-10 list. She hasalready put her mark on Brown’s recordbooks, as she ranks third all-time in the800-meter run with her time of 2:09.63,which she ran earlier in the season.
“One of the reasons Naja has been ableto make an impact so soon is because shecame in with some pretty high accom-plishments,” said mid-distance and dis-tance coach Rick Wemple. “The other rea-son is that she is a very aggressive racer.She’s not afraid to mix it up out there.”
Meanwhile, Linder represented thesprints squad for Brown. She placed thirdin the preliminary for the 200-meter run
Nick Neely / Herald
Tanara Golston ’04 broke the Ivy League record for assists in a season against CornellUniversity Saturday night.
Five stars represent w. indoor track atECAC Championship, set top-10 marks
BROWN SPORTS SCOREBOARD
Friday, March 5
Women’s Basketball: Brown 76, Columbia 66Gymnastics: at RIC with Springfield, cancelledMen’s Basketball: Columbia 81, Brown 74
Saturday, March 6
Women’s Ice Hockey: Princeton 6, Brown 3Women’s Basketball: Brown 68, Cornell 51Men’s Basketball: Brown 69, Cornell 66Softball: Seton Hall 11, Brown 4Softball: Towson 3, Brown 1Men’s Lacrosse: Brown 9, Vermont 8Men’s Swimming: Seventh Place, EISL Championships
Sunday, March 7
Men’s Tennis: Brown 6, New Mexico 1Women’s Ice Hockey: Brown 5, Yale 1Softball: Brown 6, Towson 3Softball: Brown 2, Seton Hall 1Wrestling: 8th place, EIWA Championship,Philadelphia, Penn.
Record-breaking Golston’04 leads Bears to season-ending home sweepBY BEN MILLERIt was a record weekend for the women’sbasketball team, and especially its fourseniors, as it completed a weekendsweep of Columbia University, 76-66,and Cornell University, 68-51.
The Bears finish the Ivy Season at 9-5(16-11 overall), having won eight of theirlast nine games, guaranteeing them atleast a share of second place.
The game against Columbia was a spe-cial night for Bears point guard TanaraGolston ’04. Golston came into that gamewith 173 assists on the year, four shy ofthe Brown record for assists in a seasonand six shy of the Ivy League record.
Golston quickly made it clear thatthese marks would not stand muchlonger, as she recorded three assists inthe first six minutes, including one spec-tacular play. With just under 16 minutesleft, Golston, driving into the lane, sawdefenders coming, spun, and flipped theball over her shoulder, hitting NyemaMitchell ’04 in stride for an uncontestedlayup. The basket was Mitchell’s 500thcareer field goal.
The assists record would fall later inthe half. With 2:11 left, Golston againdrove through the lane and dished theball off to captain Miranda Craigwell ’04for an easy layup. The basket wasCraigwell’s first in seven games, as shehad been sidelined with a knee injury.
“I could not have written the script forthat any better,” Craigwell said. “I’mgrateful that I was the one who hit therecord-breaker. (Golston) and I have ahistory, and it was nice to be able to puther into the record books.”
The game stopped for a few minutesas Golston was given a standing ovationby the crowd and was presented with theball. Her teammates gathered around heras she passed the ball around, makingsure everyone planted a kiss on theleather.
“I wanted everyone on the team toknow that (the record) was a part ofthem,” Golston said. “They consciouslytried to get in position for my passes toscore.”
Meanwhile, the Bears were in controlof the game, never trailing in the firsthalf. Despite a somewhat sloppy half, theBears took an eight-point lead into theintermission, 34-26.
After the break, it was all Golston, asshe scored 17 of the Bears’ 42 second-half points. Columbia could not stop theBears defensively, especially in the paint,as the Bears scored 44 of their 76 pointsin the lane.
Golston, who dished out 10 assists andscored 21 points on eight of 12 shooting,was one of four Bears in double figures.Robertson added 18 points and eightboards, while Mitchell and Colleen Kelly’06 added 14 and 10 points respectively.Sarah Hayes ’06 broke the double-digitmark in rebounds with 10.
The win over Columbia gives the Bearsa victory over every Ivy opponent for thefirst time since the 1992-93 season.
The next night was Senior Night forthe Bears, as they faced the Cornell team,which they had previously defeated 69-56. Before the game, all four Brown sen-iors — Craigwell, Golston, Ragan Kenner’04 and Mitchell — were brought to half-court with family members to be pre-sented with balloons, a framed montageof pictures and a flower.
The game started out as a back-and-forth contest, as both teams looked slug-gish. With the score deadlocked witheight minutes remaining, a wide-openthree from Kelly and lay-ups fromRobertson and Mitchell gave the Bears a24-16 lead.
Cornell responded by going to a zonedefense, designed to double- and triple- Crybaby T.O. and his attitude
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