thursday, march 18, 2004

BY STEWART DEARINGDespite a certain degree of corruption inRhode Island and Providence government,Brown students should eagerly involvethemselves in politics, according to theProvidence Journal’s senior politicalcolumnist M. Charles Bakst ’66.

Bakst reflected on the state of local pol-itics and his experience as a journalist in alecture cosponsored by the Brown CollegeDemocrats and The Herald on Wednesdaynight in the Chancellor’s Dining Room atthe Sharpe Refectory.

Bakst cited the state’s history of politicalcorruption as a central problem with localgovernance. Former Providence MayorVincent Cianci, whose corrupt politicaltactics were exposed in detail in a 2002 fed-eral trial, is part of this legacy, he said.

In the past few years, two chief justicesof the state’s Supreme Court have resigned,and both Cianci and the former mayor ofPawtucket have been imprisoned due toethical issues.

“Whatever the specific merit of a case,whenever there is an ethical case in RhodeIsland, it adds to a legacy and rekindlespublic cynicism about politics,” Bakst said.

Bakst said losing Cianci as a dynamiclocal personality was a small price to pay

for reducing corruption.“He used to say to me, ‘You’re going to

miss me when I’m gone,’ and I neverthought I would,” Bakst said. “And I don’t.”

Current Mayor David Cicilline ’83 sets atone completely different from Cianci’s,pushing Providence towards a new era,Bakst said. “He has a more hands-on andhonest approach. He visits schools to get ahandle on what is actually going on there.There is a sense of excitement still but nosuggestion of corruption,” he said.

Bakst also noted that the diversity ofCicilline’s staff and advisors shows anoticeable change in government policyand outlook since Cianci left office.

Recently, voters have been especiallyconcerned with the political ramificationsof legalizing gambling, Bakst said. Thestate legislature is currently examining abill that would allow the Narragansett tribeto run a casino in Rhode Island.

Bakst said he believes tighter disclosurerequirements and a more effective EthicsCommission could assuage voter skepti-cism and weed out political corruption.

Bakst also urged Brown students to getinvolved in any issues they feel stronglyabout. “There is a terrific opportunity hereto get involved in politics with much moreeffectiveness than in other states,” he said.He particularly encouraged liberal stu-dents to speak out in face of a conservativemajority.

For instance, Bakst highlighted theheated debate about legalizing single-sexmarriages as an issue that particularlyneeds more liberal support. The majorityof Rhode Island voters and democraticleaders, as well as Gov. Don Carcieri ’65, alloppose same-sex marriage, he said.

Bakst urged politicians to make them-selves more accessible to the public andpraised the few he said try to do so.

Bakst also discussed the role journalismplays in exposing political truths to thepublic but advised muckraking journaliststo keep their readers in mind. "You wantto give people a variety of issues and tones.If every column is angry, people won’twant to read it," he said.

Paul Levande / Herald

At a lecture co-sponsored by The Brown Daily Herald and the Brown College DemocratsWednesday evening,M.Charles Bakst ’66 told students to be interested in politics,despitepossible corruption.

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

M A R C H 1 8 , 2 0 0 4

Volume CXXXIX, No. 35 www.browndailyherald.com

T H U R S D A Y

I N S I D E T H U R S D AY, M A RC H 1 8 , 2 0 0 4THURSDAY

snowhigh 32low 26

W E AT H E R F O R E C A S T

FRIDAY

snow / windhigh 36low 25

Polish animationfestival gives viewerstaste of EasternEuropean filmrisd news, page 3

Tejumola KomalafeRISD ’05 wins grant forwork with signlanguagerisd news, page 3

Jonathan Liu ’07 saysmore is wrong with theNew York Times thanJayson Blaircolumn, page 7

The ghosts of slaverystill haunt the campus,according to WillTucker ’04column, page 7

W. water polo losesweekend Ivy Leaguetournament toHarvard Universitysports, page 8

U. EXAMINING TWTP’SMISSION, LEGALITY

BY KRISTA HACHEYThe Third World Transition Program shouldbe open to all students who want to attend,said President Ruth Simmons atWednesday’s Undergraduate Council ofStudents meeting.

Simmons said that the most urgent prior-ity is to make sure the program’s admittancepractices are not illegal and do not bar stu-dents with legitimate interest from attend-ing.

“We must not segregate, we must fightwith everything we have to prevent segrega-tion, and the program should be open toanyone who wants to participate in it,”Simmons said, when asked whether TWTPunifies or segregates first-year students.

Simmons also said that if a program likeTWTP were to only allow white students toattend, the program would be illegal. TWTPis a pre-orientation program “primarily forstudents of color,” according to its Web site.

At the UCS meeting, Class of 2007 repre-sentative Johnny Lin ’07 asked Simmonswhether opening the program to all stu-dents would “jeopardize the notion of ‘com-fort zone’ that TWTP is known for.”

“Everything is suitable to investigationand modernization,” Simmons responded.“The name ‘Third World’ is puzzling and weneed to decide on whether it is the appro-priate term and what groups we are trying toserve.”

During the meeting, Simmons alsoacknowledged problems with theUniversity’s response to hate crimes, sayingthat current University processes forresponding to hate crimes are “formalistic,opaque and time-consuming.” But sheadded that student concerns about the dis-cipline system are often the result of the sys-tem’s attempts at fairness.

“The victim feels like people don’t careand are minimizing the importance of theincident and its effects,” Simmons said,whereas administrators are simply trying toadhere to objective practices.

UCS President Rahim Kurji ’05 proposeda campus climate committee to support vic-tims of hate crimes, an idea Kurji said theUCS executive board had discussed withSimmons at a meeting last week. The pur-pose of the committee would be to helpBrown “move from a culture of reaction to aproactive culture of embrace and plural-ism.”

Bakst ’66 urges students not to bedisillusioned by corrupt politicians

BY ROBBIE COREY-BOULETThough white first-years are not formallyexcluded from attending Brown’s ThirdWorld Transition Program, organizers saythey will continue to invite only studentsof color, despite other universities’ recentannouncements that white students areeligible to attend orientation programspreviously limited to students of color.

TWTP is primarily intended for stu-dents of color, according to the program’sWeb site, although organizers say all first-years are technically permitted to attend.

“No student is forbidden from becom-ing a participant,” said Associate Provostand Director of Institutional DiversityBrenda Allen. “The program does notlimit participation based upon ethnicity.”

If a white student were to call andrequest to participate in the program, “Ican’t say (that student) can’t come,” saidThird World Center Director andAssociate Dean of the College KarenMcLaurin-Chesson.

But the program encourages studentsof color to attend and was designed toserve all non-white domestic and inter-national students, she said.

Promotional materials about the pro-gram are not sent to all incoming first-years, Allen said.

“What (TWTP) has historically done isdealt with the minority experience,” shesaid. “We’ve targeted our advertisementto individuals who likely have that con-cern.”

This year, 175 first-years participatedin TWTP, which has been in existence fornearly 30 years.

McLaurin-Chesson said she could notrecall a white student participating in theprogram.

Last June’s Supreme Court decisionupholding colleges’ legal right to practiceaffirmative action in admissions heldthat the schools must accept and reject

BY STEPHANIE CLARKHip-shaking, hand-clapping and the tra-ditional call of "Fu-fu" "Sion!" all markFusion Dance Company’s 21st annualspring show, which the group is perform-ing in Ashamu Dance Studio this week.

The 18-piece show is a celebration ofdiversity and a rejection of societal labels.Infused with energy, passion and creativi-ty, each piece is different from the next,highlighting different cultures and dancestyles.

One minute the Fusion dancers aredressed in black dresses and sequinedgarter belts and performing a jazz danceto Amy Irving’s "Why Don't You Get It

Right?" in a sensual exploration of femi-ninity by Sarah Burns ’04 and Audrey LanMcIntyre ’05. The next they are dressed inred and black, performing "Let It Bump!"choreographed by Clifford Voigt ’04, to amedley of hip-hop music.

The celebration of cultures continueswith "Beware of Qetesh," choreographedby Laura Nave ’06, a Middle East-inspiredpiece complete with gold belly chains andbelly dancing. "Doundounba," by KaniRomain ’04, presents dancers in Africandress in a traditional dance from Guinea."Stomp the Pain" by Adriana Lopez ’04

Fusion’s cultural blend hits themark again with annual show

see FUSION, page 5

Simmons tells UCS thatTWTP must be open to all

TWTP open to whitestudents, but onlystudents of color invited

Spring Weekendlineup Thursday, April 22BlackaliciousReel Big FishBela Fleck and the Flecktones

Saturday, April 24Jurassic 5Sleater-KinneySui Generis

see UCS, page 5

see TWTP, page 4

see BAKST, page 4

T O D A Y ’ S E V E N T S

THIS MORNINGTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD

THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2004 · PAGE 2

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Blocks Charlie Beresford

Four Years Eddie Ahn

My Best Effort Will Newman & Nate Goralnik

Coup de Grace Grace Farris

Jero Matt Vascellaro

Hopeless Edwin Chang

M E N U

ACROSS1 Get in the box,

maybe4 “If __ broke...”10 Kids’ questions14 A Perón15 Fox of the old

White Sox16 Stud alternative17 Popular ISP18 Revolutionary

military site20 Removes, as a

necklace22 Architectural

order23 River bordering

Lusatia24 January 19th,

e.g.,astrologically

26 Fanatical trendfollower

32 Less polluted33 Actress Judith34 Printemps period36 Butts37 Turned white39 Take __: rest40 Before now41 Deli choice42 Hardly fast reads43 Fit as can be47 Chase of film48 Griddle-baked

Indian bread49 Classic

toothpaste name52 Burgess who

played ThePenguin in TV’s“Batman”

56 It has all thebells andwhistles

59 Bill’s partner60 Doing mil.

penance, in away

61 Unskilled62 Pollution-rating

gp.63 RR stops64 Missouri tributary65 Animator Avery

DOWN 1 Regular fellow2 Romance

publisher

3 Barber’s powder4 Conqueror, often5 Mad Hatter’s

service6 Elite, in sports7 Problems8 Never, to

Nietzsche9 “Miss Pym

Disposes” author10 Self-titled 2003

sitcom11 Telephone,

slangily12 Quotable Hall of

Famer13 Build on __19 Dubious21 Is mad about24 Give in25 Pre-owned26 Pet adoption org.27 “Super Mario”

brother28 Inert gas29 Girl of Grasse30 __ vincit amor31 Civil rights org.35 __ dixit37 Politically

motivatedappropriations

38 Code word for A39 Garden pest41 “Chill!”42 Parsons of

“Bonnie andClyde”

44 Hot shots?45 Cash

alternative46 Clawed49 Binding words?50 Cooped (up)

51 __-Seltzer52 Pulitzer poet Van

Duyn53 Refreshing

rapper?54 Overdo the

Dewar’s55 Put-on57 Victoria’s realm:

Abbr.58 Gibson or

Brooks

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P E A C E C O P A O S I SA L B A N L A I T C A R EC H E S T P A T C H C Y A NS I D E A R M S E D A T E D

D I E N O S HW E T L A S T P A T I E N TA L A W C H A R S O W E RS I K H H U R O N N O W II D E A S N O N E S R T AT E S T P A T T E R N D S L

A G E R V I DR A D I C A L G E N E T I CU N I V F O R E S T P A T HS E V E A C H E H O R S EE W E S T K O S S T P A T

By Paula Gamache(c)2004 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

03/18/04

03/18/04

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

[email protected]

SHARPE REFECTORYLUNCH — Vegetarian CurriedApple Pumpkin Soup, Egg Dropand Chicken Soup, Chicken Fingers,Cheese Souffle, Zucchini Yiachni,Raspberry Sticks, Yellow Cake with

Chocolate Icing, Apple Crisp.

DINNER — Vegetarian CurriedApple Pumpkin Soup, Egg Drop andChicken Soup, Chicken in theRough, Cheese Tortellini with Meator Meatless Sauce, Cajun Potatoes,Sugar Snap Peas, Cauliflower in DillMustard Sauce, Multigrain Bread,Raspberry Sticks, Yellow Cake withChocolate Icing, Apple Crisp.

VERNEY-WOOLLEY DINING HALLLUNCH — Vegetarian EggplantVegetable Soup, ChickenMulligatawny Soup, Hot TurkeySandwich, Stuffed Shells withSauce, Mashed Potatoes, CaliforniaBlend Vegetables, Raspberry Sticks.

DINNER — Vegetarian EggplantVegetable Soup , ChickenMulligatawny Soup, Roast Loin ofPork, Vegan Paella, Italian RoastedPotatoes, Belgian Carrots,FrenchStyle Green Beans with Tomatoes,Multigrain Bread, Yellow Cake withChocolate Icing.

WATSON INSTITUTE PANEL: IRANAND CENTRAL ASIA 7 p.m. (McKinney Conference Room,Watson Institute) — with Professor ofAnthropology William Beeman, onIran; Douglas Blum, ProvidenceCollege, on Azerbaijan; and PaulineJones-Luong,Yale University, onKazakhstan,Tajikistan, andUzbekistan.

UNEARTHING THE PAST: BROWNUNIVERSITY,THE BROWN FAMILY,AND THE RHODE ISLAND SLAVETRADE7 p.m. (Salomon 101) — a sympo-sium and discussion sponsored bythe University Steering Committeeon Slavery and Justice.

P U Z Z L E S

Answer:20 inches:The rectangles touch at opposite corners,so each spans5 centimeters across its diagonal length.

Draw four rectangles, each three centimeters wide and four centimetershigh, and arrange them so that each is always touching another. What isthe longest distance the rectangles can span without separating?

By Veer Bhavnagri

RISD NEWSTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD


Polish animation tochallenge viewersthis weekendBY STEFAN TALMANThe screening of “A Short History of Polish Animation” thisweekend at the RISD Auditorium promises to peel fromviewers’ eyes the rose-colored glasses of Hollywood with thespectacle of Eastern European film.

The festival, which includes 39 short films, is a distillationof a half-century of Polish animation. Selected films toy withavant-garde and experimental, the subversive and creative.

Polish animation has a long history of playing with theintegration of visual art and moving image for over 50 years,and today the genre is at the forefront of "new media." Edgyanimations flicker along with scores by celebrated Polishcomposers Krzysztof Penderecki, Krzysztof Komeda andZygmunt Konieczny.

The event is a collaborative effort representing the workof Joshua Siegel, assistant curator of the Museum of ModernArt’s Film and Media Department alongside RISD AdjunctProfessor of Art History Marcin Gizycki, a Polish expert onthe history of animation and author of “Nie tylko Disney”(Disney Was Not the Only One).

Siegel and Gizycki developed the festival by distilling anastounding collection of 82 Polish films presented last yearat the Museum of Modern Art and the Polish CulturalInstitute in New York City.

RISD’s festival has received national attention. Describedby the Polish Cultural Institute’s Web site as "technicallysophisticated, darkly satirical and fantastical," the films cuta swath across form and media. From oil paint to computeranimation, comedy to music video, the animations sparklefrom under their grey veneer of life under communism.

"A Short History" shows at the RISD AuditoriumSaturday and Sunday at 5 p.m. The screenings are free andopen to the public.

Grant winner Komolafe RISD ’05 to teachsign language through filmBY DANA GOLDSTEIN

Over the past year, Tejumola Komolafe RISD ’05 hasexperienced first-hand how skills he learned in hismajor, film and video, can be used to change the lives ofchildren. As one of two student winners of RISD

Community ServiceLearning Grants,Komolafe will draw fromhis prior community workto create a professional-

quality film instructing deaf children in sign language. Komolafe, who was born in Nigeria and attended

high school in Australia and the United States, beganhis community service work at RISD when he enrolledin "Catalyst Arts: A RISD Community Art Project."Through the class, Komolafe worked with children atthe Boys and Girls Club of Pawtucket to create a filmabout interactions between a teacher and inner-citystudents.

Then last spring, Julia Lee, a friend of Komolafe, sug-gested that he visit the Rhode Island School for theDeaf, where teachers were using theatrical performanc-es to help deaf students, mostly under the age of five,learn sign language. During the performances, narra-tion was given in sign, Komolafe said.

Lee, who is a behavior specialist at RISDeaf, arrangedfor Komolafe to meet with teachers, who liked his ideas.The result was “a quick little project,” Komolafe said —a film version of "The Tortoise and the Hare" featuringRISDeaf students as actors.

“It was well received at the school. The teachers real-ly liked it, and the kids liked it,” Komolafe said. “Basedon that experience, when I heard about the grant, Ibecame really interested.”

Komolafe applied for the RISD Community ServiceLearning Grant before winter session and was selectedlast month to receive a $2,500 grant. The money will beused to create a film of a higher quality than projects hehas worked on in the past, Komolafe said.

The major costs of producing his new film, a retellingof the tale “The Three Little Pigs,” will be $500 "bluescreen" software used to simulate realistic back-grounds, construction materials for both life-size andminiature sets, costumes, prosthetics and makeup,Komolafe said.

The film will be shot after spring break in the RISDblue screen studio and at the Tillinghast Farm, a RISDproperty in Barrington, Komolafe said. Actors will beRISDeaf students and teachers.

Because Komolafe does not know sign language, hewill be working with an interpreter to finalize the film’snarration and to interact with RISDeaf students.

Film is a good medium for teaching sign language tochildren because it is as visual as signing itself,Komolafe said. “You’re going to hold their attention. It’sfun, almost like Sesame Street.”

Komolafe said another one of his influences is the2003 film “City of God,” filmed on location in Rio deJaneiro, Brazil, by director Fernando Meirelles.

“The director got real-life kids to act from Brazil,”Komolafe said. "He’s really interested in encouragingkids to use the moviemaking process as a whole experi-ence. I’m interested in that — working with kids, bring-ing something different into their lives."

Herald staff writer Dana Goldstein ’06 edits the RISDNews section. She can be reached [email protected].

COMMUNITY SERVICEAT RISD:the second of two profiles

you’re the one

“We’re doing what we can toensure that next week againstHartwick, we are putting up a bet-ter performance,” Clapper said.“We don’t want what happened lastweekend to ever happen again.”

Herald staff writer Eric Perlmutter’06 is an assistant sports editor andcovers women’s water polo. He canbe reached at [email protected].

PAGE 4 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2004

continued from page 8

Water Polo

To that end, Bakst cautionedstudents to remain critical ofpoliticians and maintain their ownopinions. “Don’t invest too muchemotional energy in any of them,”he said. “These people havestrengths and weaknesses. Choosethe ones with strength, but keepyour eyes open and keep their per-sonal characters in mind.”

Herald staff writer Stewart Dearingcan be reached [email protected].


Bakst

students not as members of anyethnicity but as individuals, theChronicle of Higher Educationreported this week. The articledescribed a “widespread retreatfrom race-exclusivity” at collegesand universities.

Citing concerns about compli-ance with the Supreme Court deci-sion, administrators at YaleUniversity announced last monththat Cultural Connections, Yale’ssummer pre-orientation programfor incoming minority students,will be opened to white studentsthis fall, according to a Feb. 23 YaleDaily News article.

Because TWTP is not designedto accommodate white students,their participation would compro-mise the program’s integrity andmission, said Student DirectorEldridge Gilbert ’05.

Dwight Vidale ’05, the pro-gram’s second student director,said he agrees.

“The dynamics of having thetwo groups together would greatlychange the workshops,” he said.

“It would change the level ofcomfort that’s established,” saidCassandra Coulter ’07, whoattended the program in 2003. “I’mnot so sure it would be a goodthing.”

But Coulter added that thepresence of white students wouldbring “a different perspective” tothe program.

Both students and faculty direc-tors said misinformation regard-ing TWTP’s mission leads to con-troversy about its relevance tocampus life.

“TWTP is not a separatist kindof program,” Gilbert said. “It is notabout blaming anyone for soci-ety’s ills.”

McLaurin-Chseeon said thedirectors try to avoid an “intimi-dating setting” and insteadattempt to help students “be moreaware of how race issues play out”at Brown.

“This is not an environmentthat knocks non-minority people,”she said.

Programs similar to TWTP havebeen changed as institutions striveto comply with the court rulingsand face pressure from advocacygroups demanding an end to allrace-exclusive programs on col-lege campuses. For example, apre-orientation program jointlyoffered by Haverford, Swarthmoreand Bryn Mawr colleges couldaccept white students for the firsttime this fall, according to theChronicle.

But Allen said Brown’s program,as it currently functions, serves animportant role in helping first-yearstudents of color adjust to thecommunity.

“The only reason we wouldchange the mission of TWTP is ifwe found out it doesn’t speak tocurrent concerns that studentshave,” she said. “So far, that doesnot seem to be the general under-standing.”

McLaurin-Chesson saidBrown’s unique attention to issuesof diversity makes the program animportant part of campus life.

Schools that are altering theirprograms “don’t value the need forprograms such as TWTP” to theextent that Brown does, she said.

The academic nature of otherschools’ programs could also con-tribute to higher levels of scrutiny,which in turn leads to reevaluationand changes, said Interim VicePresident for Campus Life andStudent Services David Greene.

“Our program doesn’t providethe type of academic support andresources that were only availableto one group,” Greene said. “Thoseprograms were the first ones to typ-ically come under very close scruti-ny and to be opened entirely.”

Greene, who sat in on some ofthis year’s TWTP orientation, saidhe noticed many students ques-tioned how white participantswould benefit the program.

“Because many people havehad such positive experienceswith TWTP, that’s caused someconcern for people,” he said.

McLaurin said she does notunderstand why TWTP comesunder annual scrutiny from Brownstudents, while other pre-orienta-tion programs go unchallenged.

“I don’t hear conversationsabout athletes coming early,”McLaurin said.

Herald staff writer Robbie Corey-Boulet can be reached at [email protected]@browndailyherald.com.


TWTP

THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2004 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD PAGE 5

Billy Goat Curse, as long as theBombers don’t stop them first.

NL WestChris: It’s all about the Giants

out West. Barry Bonds remainsthe most dangerous hitter of hisday, and Jason Schmidt is a work-horse of a number-one starter.And frankly, they’re not playing inthe strongest division.

Bernie: I’d like to pick againstthe Giants — and given some oftheir gaps, I could. But I cannot ingood conscience say theDiamondbacks can win withoutCurt Schilling. They can’t.

NL WildcardChris: As good as the Cubs are

this year, I think that the Marlinsare in the weaker division andhave the capacity to win moregames. And, don’t forget, theirpitching rotation isn’t too shabby,either.

Bernie: The Astros have a killerrotation and would win any otherdivision in the NL — just notagainst the Cubs. The wild card isin the bag, though.

See you April 4.

Assistant sports editors BernieGordon ’07 and Chris Mahr ’07wrote this column with the help ofa ouija board and a dart-wieldingmonkey.


Baseball

features fast-paced flamencodancing set to Latin music.

A memorable piece is "This isfor Women" by Lauren Linder ’04,set to "Four Women" by NinaSimone. The piece tells the story offour black women searching fortheir identities, each encounteringhardships and suffering andsearching for her internal strength.The piece reflects sadness, anger,resilience and wisdom — not onlyof the characters, but also of thedancers themselves.

The mood changes with Burns’piece "Done With ... On To ..." setto Radiohead’s "Talk Show Host."The piece features five femaledancers, all wearing black, finger-less gloves. The movements areslow but purposeful and charged,creating a tone of power and dis-tance. The piece, meant to repre-

sent Burns’ transition into thefuture while still respecting thepast, is beautiful and melancholy.

Two of Fusion’s traditions arethe all-senior piece and the"bring-back" piece, in which a pre-vious year’s choreography isbrought back and performed. Thisyear’s bring-back piece, set toMichael and Janet Jackson’s"Scream," is a blend of jazz andmodern and tells the story ofevolving relationships, ending inthe dancers’ collapse on theground.

The senior piece, entitled "It’sAbout Time," is choreographedand performed by all seven seniormembers of Fusion. The piece isset to "Turn Your Lights DownLow" by Lauryn Hill and BobMarley, and, to the cheers ofdancers backstage, celebrates thepast four years for the departingseniors.

But the show isn’t only dancing.With humor and even some poet-

ry interjected into the transitions,the company entertains the audi-ence even between pieces.

Fusion puts on an amazingshow full of originality and innova-tion. It is a night of energy, humorand celebration that leaves theaudience enthusiastic. The show isfull of surprises and variation,promising to satisfy even the mostunusual tastes.

The dance concert, which runsabout an hour and a half, will beperformed through Sunday. Allshows are already sold out, but awaitlist will be compiled atAshamu beginning at 7:15 p.m.each night of the show.


Fusion

The campus climate group, stillin the early stages of planning,would be accessible to all studentsand provide them with informa-tion, help and support, Simmonssaid. Simmons implemented simi-lar programs while at SmithCollege and Princeton University.

Representative Natalie Schmid’06 asked Simmons how safetymechanisms could be improved tobring offenders to justice. Schmidsaid she was “very concerned withthe fact that no one has beenbrought in for the hate crime thatoccurred earlier this year.”

In the incident, a male assailantyelled homophobic slurs at thefemale victim. The Department ofPublic Safety has not identified asuspect, although a sketch of theassailant has been released.

Simmons said students have an

obligation to put duty to theBrown community before loyaltiesto individuals who violate otherstudents’ rights and safety.

“Once you are accepted as amember of this community, youare forthrightly responsible forcommunity member, and there isnecessity to make it clear thatyou’re doing that,” she said.

“When there is bigotry, the restof the community is silent,”Simmons said. “And the worstthing about that is the silence.”

Kurji told The Herald that inprevious discussions withSimmons, UCS developed plans todesignate “safe zones,” where stu-dents can have confidential dis-cussions with faculty.

“By involving all the faculty andstudents in these projects, we cancreate a climate in which it is clearthat hate, assault and harassmentare just not accepted at Brown,”Kurji said.

Toward the end of the meeting,

Herald opinions columnistChristopher McAuliffe ’05 broughtup intellectual diversity in light ofthe recently establishedCommittee on Slavery andReparations, which has madenational headlines.

“Many people appointed to thiscommittee seem to be ideologuesof the left,” McAuliffe said toSimmons. “What safeguards are inplace to make sure contrarianviews are represented?”

Simmons said she was “sur-prised” by McAuliffe’s statementand “wouldn’t have characterized(the committee) that way.”

Simmons asked McAuliffe toname members of the committeewhom he considers “ideologues ofthe left,” and ultimately invitedhim to discuss the committee withher following the meeting.

Herald staff writer Krista Hachey’07 can be reached [email protected].


UCS

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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, ZacharyBarter, Hannah Bascom, Danielle Cerny, Robbie Corey-Boulet, Lexi Costello, Ian Cropp, Sam Culver,Stewart Dearing, Gabriella Doob, Jonathan Ellis, Justin Elliott, Amy Hall Goins, Dana Goldstein,Bernard Gordon, Kate Gorman, Aron Gyuris, Krista Hachey, Chris Hatfield, Jonathan Herman, MilesHovis, 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, Brooke Wolfe, 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, Jennifer Resch, Asad Reyaz, Amy Ruddle, BrianSchmalzbach, Melanie Wolfgang

S H A N E W I L K E R S O N

L E T T E R S

Justice on Brown’s termsAfter years of debate, the announcement was anticlimactic.

By announcing publicly that she believes the Third WorldTransition Program should be open to all students who wish toparticipate, President Ruth Simmons lent a great deal ofmomentum to the argument, long expressed by some in theBrown community, that excluding white students from the pre-orientation program reflects an outdated and hurtful principleof segregation.

What Simmons didn’t mention at the meeting was that TWTPis already open to white students, as administrators told TheHerald before Simmons’ announcement. Karen McLaurin-Chesson, director of the Third World Center, told The Heraldthat if an incoming white student requests to attend TWTP, heor she will be admitted.

But incoming white students are not invited to the program,and program organizers maintain that they should not attend.Before today, no one, other than a few administrators, seems tohave known that white students are not prohibited from attend-ing.

It probably was inevitable that TWTP would open to whitestudents this year. Over the past eight months, universitiesacross the country have opened similar programs to all studentsin order to comply with last summer’s U.S. Supreme Court rul-ing that colleges may not accept or reject students from pro-grams solely because of race.

Brown has never been an institution that required diversity tobe forced upon it by outsiders. Historically, the school has beena model of inclusiveness, and since its establishment the ThirdWorld Center has been a force behind this progress. Admittingwhite students to the program embodies Brown’s principles ofdiversity and inclusion.

There are loftier reasons to open the program than simplyavoiding a lawsuit. If the program is open only quietly andreluctantly, Brown will not own its diversity. And while whitestudents will be able to attend, they will not be welcomed. TheBrown we know — so driven by the spirit of justice — cannotoperate only by the letter of the law.

It would be shameful for the longstanding debate aboutTWTP to end on a legal technicality. The University tonightbegins a two-year-long discussion of its past. Brown’s concernsfor pluralism and justice motivate that discussion, and thesesame principles must shape the school’s present and future.

A drug education forthe rest of usTo the Editor:

I want to thank Frances Mantak for her concernover frivolous use of psychedelics. Her letter(“Contrary to Herald reports, LSD is bad,” March 16)raises the important issue of the need for realisticdrug education. The need, however, is not for anacross the board “drugs are bad and will ruin every-thing important to you” message, but for an educa-tion suitable to help the D.A.R.E. generation recoverfrom the admittedly faulty information we receivedas youths.

It was in this spirit that Students for SensibleDrug Policy held a week of events devoted to open-ing discussion about all aspects of psychedelic druguse. The Art Extravaganza was only one of manymeans through which Psychedelics Week addressedboth the benefits and harms of psychedelics.

Because the goal of this past week was to developopen and honest discussion, and to create respectfor powerful psychoactive substances, I appreciateMantak for bringing up valid concerns about psy-chedelic use. It should be stated, however, that thePsychedelic Art Extravaganza by no means promot-ed the idea that drugs are the only means of inspi-ration for artists, nor did it equate drug use withgood art. It would be unfair to the artists represent-ed at the event to suggest that their creations werenot a result of the same hard work, talent and cre-ativity of other great artists.

Diana Tamir ’06Media Director, Brown SSDP

March 16

Errors in column onBoy ScoutsTo the Editor:

In her March 16 op-ed (“The Persecution of theBoy Scouts”), Herald columnist Laura Martin'sshocking misunderstanding of the issue she writesof is betrayed by a serious factual error in the first

paragraph of her piece. Boy Scouts v. Wyden is actu-ally Boy Scouts v. Wyman, and concerns a case inConnecticut, not San Diego. It seems likely that thiserror resulted from a poor reading of a March 7Washington Times article entitled “Boy Scouts FightBack,” from which Martin appears to draw themajority of her arguments.

Furthermore, Martin's claim that the ACLU ofSan Diego's intent in challenging the Boy Scouts’Balboa Park lease was to “overturn” BSA v. Dale israther spurious. In fact, the ACLU's lawsuit wasbased on the discrepancy between the Scouts’ right,as a private organization, to lawfully discriminate(as established by BSA v. Dale) and the seeminglypreferential treatment granted to them by the Cityof San Diego’s $1-a-year lease on prime public land.As Judge Napoleon Jones wrote in his ruling on pre-liminary elements of the case in question, “it is clearthat the Boy Scouts of America's strongly held pri-vate, discriminatory beliefs are at odds with valuesrequiring tolerance and inclusion in the publicrealm.”

Chris Hu ’06March 16

Gay marriage debatenot exactly balancedTo the Editor:

The Brown Democrats and their cosponsors aredrawing a “diversity of campus groups” to sparkdebate on gay marriage. Yet I was struck by both thecampus groups that were represented (BrownCollege Democrats, College Republicans, ACLU,Students for Liberty) and the speakers who partici-pated (an all-white, all-male panel). Where weremembers of the Queer Alliance or its affiliategroups? Where were members of the Third WorldCenter-sponsored organizations, especially giventhe TWC’s co-sponsorship of the event? The issue ofgay marriage is not one or two-sided and deserves awider array of opinions and experiences. The scopeof the debate was limited before it even began.

Sam Klugman ’05March 17

OPINIONSTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD


The title of Jayson Blair’s new memoir, “Burning Down MyMasters’ House,” at first seems inspired, even incendiary. Is the dis-graced New York Times reporter offering a blistering racial critique?Is he implying that the misdeeds he committed were inevitable,built into the corporate hierarchy of American life? Is he doingsomething more than merely apologizing?

Perhaps. But the more one thinks about it, the more “BurningDown My Masters’ House,” the book and the title lose significance.Yet this does not make Blair any less of a revolutionary. It is, afterall, the continuing public crucifixion of Jayson Blair, plagiarizer andfabulist extraordinaire, that reveals the shaky foundation uponwhich all of present-day journalism rests. Because, in the end,Blair’s critics, those self-righteous editors and columnists uphold-ing the honor of the American press, implicate themselves and theircraft as they attack their fallen comrade.

Consider the interlocking charges levied here: Blair stole materi-al from Associated Press copy and local newspapers; he also invent-ed details, whole cloth, about locales and people he never visited.While these two infractions seem natural partners, they are any-thing but. Indeed, these crimes — plagiarism and “fabulism,”respectively — rely on entirely oppositional conceptions of news. IfBlair is reprehensible because he is a plagiarizer, then we mustaccept that reporting requires an original and subjective point ofcreation. If he is reprehensible because he is a fabulist, then wemust accept that journalism is all about reporting some objectivetruth, which remains absolute regardless of the observer. In short,we can’t have it both ways.

If we accept that news is objective truth, then Blair’s crime of pla-giarism can be dismissed since it involves merely the copying ofphrases (which in the realm of journalism, is fairly standard any-way). Blair did copy not the ideas or events behind them, which areconceivably objective and thus “belong” to no one in particular.

Similarly, if we accept that news reports are the result of one per-son's work — a result of one’s creativity, experience and intuition,for instance — then Blair's “fabulism” is simply an extension of whatall reporters are expected to do. His additions of such sweet falsitiesas “overlooking the tobacco fields and cattle pastures” in a storyabout Jessica Lynch become examples of the reporter’s subjectivefunction; he paints the scene, connects the dots, exposes what hefeels.

Intuitively, of course, we sense that news can and must somehowbe both subjective and objective, that it must both be substantivelyoriginal and adhere to the truth. In this regard, the Blair scandaldoes not define the disease but is merely a symptom of an era we sotriumphantly consider the Information Age. For before this currenttime — before the Web and e-mail, before cable TV and Lexis-Nexis,before cheap flights and digital photography — the question ofobjectivity versus subjectivity in journalism was irrelevant. Theoverarching requirement of reporting was simple: presence.

To be present was to be privileged and to be right. In the past,Jayson Blair would have never been able to create reports thatappeared to meet the standards of the Times without actually beingon the scene; he would have no access to the CNN broadcasts or thelocal newspaper websites or the instantly transmitted images thatwere required for both his stealing and his lying.

Moreover, with the very limited number of media sources avail-able, even if Blair would have been able to create a passable fabri-cation, it would be highly unlikely that such a crime would be dis-covered. In a time when there truly were “newspapers of record,”Jayson Blair’s subjective experience, whether real or not, wouldhave simply become his society’s objective knowledge.

Thus the central charge against Blair — his misuse and misap-propriation of the dateline — is actually insignificant. Indeed, thedateline, once a printed reflection of the means of reporting a story,has been reduced to a mere token end. It is certainly not impossibleand not uncommon for even an honest reporter to amass the bulkof a story at her office through telephone and email interviewsbefore flying out to the field to “collect” a dateline.

Blair simply took this reduction of journalistic function a stepfurther, effectively finalizing a triumph of style over substance.Unlike The New Republic’s Stephen Glass, who tried to pass off hisfalsities as exceptional stories, Blair succeeded simply because hisreports sounded so ordinary, so well-formed, so, well, New YorkTimes.

The problems with the Times do not end with Jayson Blair. Theproblems with journalism do not end with the Times. And, in a soci-ety where, for instance, one president questions the meaning of theword “is” and another openly massages “intelligence,” the problemof truth does not end with journalism. Our everyday criticisms of“the news” don’t miss the point; they reveal the point. In an agewhere information floats in the ether, beholden to no one and mul-tiplying toward infinity, style is the only substance left.

Jonathan Liu ’07 sometimes uses the 50-cent word but, alas, he is stillmerely a wankster.

Jayson Blair’s house

JONATHAN LIU ’00s versus ’80s

In 1770, Nicholas Brown and associates con-structed University Hall with the help of slavelabor. Over 200 years later, President RuthSimmons, a descendant of slaves, sits beneath por-traits of Brown’s historical legacy: portraits of peo-ple whom she described in the New York Times as“people who lived at a different time and who sawthe ownership of people in a different way.”

High school students in Rhode Island learnabout slavery as something that happened “some-where else,” on plantations in the South. But slav-ery and slave trading were common in NewEngland, and Rhode Island merchants sponsoredthe vast majority of American slaving voyages. Thelegacy of slavery is not just a Southern thing, butan American thing — and a Brown thing.

It is for this reason that Simmons establishedthe University Steering Committee on Slavery andJustice. Composed of 16 faculty members, stu-dents and administrators, its purpose is to con-front the past and the difficult and complex ques-tion of what we should do about it.

We hope to lead the University community in athoughtful investigation and discussion ofBrown’s past. In the next two years, we will organ-ize seminars, conferences and lectures about thequestion of how to rebuild societies after atroci-ties looking not only at slavery, but the Holocaust,Japanese Internment Camps, South Africa andapartheid, genocide in Rwanda and a host ofother historical problems. To promote studentinvolvement, we hope to sponsor and encouragestudent research on issues related to reparativejustice.

Our work begins tonight, as we have invitedhistorians and community members to discussthe realities of Brown’s relationship to slavery. Itwill be a chance for all of us to learn the truth

about our shared past. But it also will hopefully bethe start of campus-wide discussions: about his-tory, about restorative justice and reparations andabout the difficult issues of race relations on cam-pus and in our country. I am writing to extend anopen invitation to all students and members ofthe Brown community to be a part of our discus-sions. This is an exciting time, and Brown could betaking the lead in facilitating national discussions.The rest of the country has already started to takenotice, and some other universities are consider-ing following suit in examining their own histo-ries.

Seeking the truth and airing out the past are themost valuable contributions our university can

make to promote racial and societal healing. AsSimmons said in her inauguration speech, “Wemust not hide from the fact, for it is a part of ourpast, and in speaking its truth, we not only let thelight in, but we give it air, making it shine morebrightly.”

Much has changed since the end of slavery. Butthe legacy of slavery and its aftermath is still withus, still a part of our shared history as Americans,as Rhode Islanders and as members of the Browncommunity — indeed, like the portraits inSimmons’ office, the ghosts of slavery, never fullyexposed to the light of day, still haunt us.

Will Tucker ’04 is a member of the UniversitySteering Committee on Slavery and Justice.

Unearthing the past

I love the VH1 show “I Love the ’80s.” The showpokes fun at the decade’s illogicalities and politi-cal incorrectness. Don’t look to the 1980s for lead-ership, clear thinking and values. But are we, theyoung adults of the ’00s, doing any better in theserespects than the Brunonians of the ’80s?

In the ’80s our president was a handsome,smiling actor — a man known to neglect thereading of important documents because he gotcaught up watching old movies late at night onTV. Now we have again a president who presentshimself as a happy camper and/or war leader,neglecting the reading of important documentsbecause he goes to bed early and sets aside somany hours for physical exercise.

So if we all scoff at the pretensions and hoax-es of the ’80s, isn’t it time to take an axe to theprops and persiflage of the ’00s? Isn’t it time tobe the leaders that we did not know growing upand do not see in the TV shows of 20 years ago?

A left-oriented organization called GrassrootsCommunities is currently calling college stu-dents to consciousness. While the Republicanshave built a record-breaking campaign treasurybased on many thousands of people contribut-ing the maximum allowed of $2,000 per person,Grassroots Communities aims to obtain small-ish donations from a diverse multitude of aver-age Americans. Just as the Dean campaign aver-aged less than $100 donation per person in theglory days of its fundraising, GrassrootsCommunities is happy to accept that level ofdonation — as long as it simultaneously finds

ways to build large networks of informed andpotentially active participants. The premise isthat anyone can find a way to help, without nec-essarily giving $2,000 to a professional politicaloperation.

Our generation will create its own media, justas all previous generations have done.Grassroots Communities argues we should cre-ate in this presidential election year an interac-tive media built around the imperative that weplay a role in the deciding of our country’sfuture. After all, the electorate is so closely divid-ed that even the astonishingly close election of2000 was not as close in March of that year asthis presidential contest now appears.

Even as each of us moves in a daze of preoc-cupation toward graduation weekend, weshould realize that a vote for Bush, Kerry orNader is a vote that will define national leader-ship for our generation. For me, the re-electionof Bush would be horrifying.

But worst of all would be the abdication ofany sense of responsibility on the part of ourgeneration for the outcome in this election.Particularly when the youngest voters in the year2000 in effect elected Bush by choosing in fatal-ly significant numbers to vote for Nader insteadof Gore, the lesson of this recent history is thateven small numbers of voters matter. Even smalldonations matter. Even small groups organizedon the Internet matter.

Such is the underlying premise of GrassrootsCommunities. For our generation, the questionof what political path to choose can be under-stood in this way: Do you want Brown’s Class of2024 to be horrified and mystified by us, whenthey look at the VH1 version of our youth? Orwould you like the next generation to be proudof the choices we make now?

Adam Hundt ’04 once killed a kitten that votedfor Reagan. Twice.

GUEST COLUMN BY ADAM HUNDT

GUEST COLUMN BY WILL TUCKER

Facing up to

slavery’s ugly legacy.

Are we sleepwalking

the same way we

did 20 years ago?

S P O R T S S C H E D U L E

SPORTS THURSDAYTHE BROWN DAILY HERALD

MARCH 18, 2004 · PAGE 8

BY ERIC PERLMUTTERWhen it comes to sports at Brown, thereare losses, and then there are losses toHarvard University.

In a game it expected to win, thewomen’s water polo team suffered the sec-ond kind of defeat by a score of 5-4 onSunday, at last weekend’s league tourna-ment, held at Harvard. The Bears beat theCrimson 3-1 on Saturday and trouncedConnecticut College twice, 15-2 and 12-2,but the weekend’s results were still far frompositive.

In the first game against Harvard,Brown got on the board first, only to beanswered by four consecutive Harvardgoals in the second and third periods. Aftertrading goals to make the score 5-2, Brownput in two more with 1:41 left.

But that was as close as the Bears got, asthe Harvard defense denied Brown for theremainder of the game. With 10 secondson the clock, Brown had possession at thecenter position and an opportunity to tiethe game up, but the offense stuttered andwas unable to finish.

“Pretty much all weekend … we under-achieved offensively,” said Head CoachTodd Clapper. “It’s easy to remember thelast 15 seconds of a loss, but it was reallythroughout that it was lost.”

All four goals came from seniors. JackieParente ’04 scored two goals, comple-mented by one each from co-captainsSonia Lamel ’04.5 and Jeanie Ward-Waller’04. Ward-Waller also drew four ejections,while goaltender Keira Heggie ’04 stoppedsix shots.

Among the team’s problems was itsinability to capitalize on 6-on-5 advan-tages, Clapper said. Ward-Waller and oth-ers drew a number of kick-outs, but subse-quent advantages never resulted in goals.

Clapper acknowledged that Harvard’steam has improved since last weekend,but he said his team shouldn’t have lost.

“This weekend was a wake-up call to tellus that the atmosphere needs to be a littlemore focused and a little bit more disci-plined, and the players are on board withit,” he said.

The loss lowered the Bears’ rankingfrom 18th to 20th in the nation.

On Saturday, Brown’s offensive prob-

lems were even more apparent as the teamdefeated Harvard 3-1, the three-goal effortthe lowest for the Bears all year. Parentenotched two goals, Lauren McGeoch ’04had one and Heggie stopped 10 shots innet.

In both matches against ConnecticutCollege, the Bears’ young blood did thewinning, as first-years accounted for 20 ofthe 27 goals scored. Elizabeth Balassone’07 scored five and Claire Angyal ’07 hadfour goals. Karlyanna Kopra ’07 played innet for much of the two games, tallyingnine saves total.

Clapper identified next week’s homematch against Hartwick College as anopportunity for the team to redeem itselfin front of a home crowd, after a week ofpractice.

(The Sporting News) — The NHL shouldhave acted days before Todd Bertuzzisucker-punched Steve Moore andjumped him from behind, driving Mooreto the ice. Maybe the league could haveprevented the incident. Maybe, if out-of-hand violent retribution and carrying outthreats had been met with swift and seri-ous, standings-affecting punishmentdays earlier, the Canucks would havealtered their frame of mind and sense ofpurpose and Bertuzzi would havethought first.

The league certainly had a clear prece-dent that threats in the NHL are not hol-low. Three nights before the now-infa-mous Bertuzzi incident, the Flyers andSenators turned a rout into a riot — all inthe name of retribution. But the NHL did-n't care, because CNN didn’t care.

Flyers Coach Ken Hitchcock had saidhis team would make Senators wingerMartin Havlat "eat his lunch" after Havlathurt Mark Recchi the week before with astick to the head. The league did nothingto Hitchcock.

So the next game between the teamsgot out of hand after the Flyers took a biglead. Havlat was sent, wisely, to serve apenalty by coach Jacques Martin, whowould rather not see his players lyingmotionless in pools of blood. Martin kept

stars Daniel Alfredsson and Marian Hossaon the bench as much as he could.

Miraculously, nobody was sent to thehospital. No one left on a stretcher, sothere were no statements by the leaguedenouncing such behavior; there wereno fines or supplemental discipline (per-haps for a throat-slashing gesture by theFlyers’ Donald Brashear?). According toNHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell, theleague looked into accusations thatHitchcock ordered at least one player tobeat up another, but it couldn’t confirmit, and so Hitchcock suffered no punish-ment.

A day after the game, Flyers generalmanager Bob Clarke made this state-ment: "They come in here one more time.They won’t be able to hide Alfredsson andHossa and all the guys then."

Commissioner Gary Bettman, whoseleague fines players, coaches and G.M.sfor questioning officials, says nothing canor should be done about such a com-ment.

"When you comment on officiating,you begin to challenge the integrity of thegame," Bettman said. "That doesn’tmean that when you make threats or(have) emotional outbursts after a gamethat it's right or it should be tolerated.

“But 99.99 percent of the time, noth-

ing comes of those comments. They’reidle threats in the heat of the moment.And when they do come, we have amechanism for dealing with it,” Bettmansaid.

Open threats do not hurt the integrityof the game? That doesn’t mean theyshould be tolerated, he says. But they are.Threats of retribution — player to player,coach to player, G.M. to player — areaccepted.

Cracking down on the commentswouldn’t end incidents, but it wouldshow the league doesn’t accept the prem-ise and would come down more severelywhen retaliation occurs.

Instead, there’s nothing. The Senatorsmust consider benching two stars in animportant game because they can’t risklosing them or even jeopardizing theircareers. Bertuzzi’s suspension does noth-ing to keep Clarke’s players from goingafter the Senators. The league’s silencesays Clarke’s comments and the meaningbehind them are OK.

The NHL doesn’t act; it reacts. Oneday, someone will die. But don’t worry;the NHL then will announce a severe sus-pension, maybe even including thoseplayoff games that mean so much to thehearts and pocketbooks of NHL organi-zations. That’ll teach ’em.

dspics

Diana Livermore ‘05 looks for her teammates on the women’s water polo team duringthe Ivy League Tournament this past weekend. After defeating Harvard Universityearlier in the weekend, the Bears lost the final game against Harvard 5-4.

Harvard gives w. waterpolo a wake-up call

Wednesday, March 17

Women’s Lacrosse: vs. Boston College — postponed

Thursday, March 18

Women’s Swimming: NCAA Championships

In Bertuzzi aftermath, NHL needs tofinally crack down on violence, threats

With baseball season approaching, itseems like everyone is a prophet when itcomes to which teams are going to makethe playoffs. We are no exception. So, with-

out further ado,here are our picksfor the divisionalwinners and wildcards:

AL EastBernie: This is the division everyone is

talking about, home to sports’ most storiedand heated rivalry. This year should becloser than in the past, but I’m picking theYankees to capture their seventh straightdivision title. The Yanks have some ques-tion marks in their rotation, but the lineupis the second coming of Murderer’s Row.Pitching usually wins games, but prettygood pitching and awesome hitting works,too.

Chris: Regional biases aside, I’m pickingthe Red Sox to eke out a victory over theYanks for the AL East crown. I don’t ques-tion the Yanks’ potential for offensiveimmortality, but keep in mind that the RedSox have the pitching to shut them down.And don’t forget that the Sox have anoffense just as capable of putting up runsas their more-touted division rivals.

AL CentralBernie: No one really cares about this

division, including its teams’ fans. TheWhite Sox are the favorite to win, but Idon’t think it matters to anyone, least of allChicagoans.

Chris: The Twins have more X-factors onoffense than the White Sox, a better pitch-ing staff from top to bottom and moremoxie. But, as Bernie eloquently said, it’snot like anyone cares.

AL WestBernie: Sunny California — site of

beaches, girls and baseball’s newest rivalry.The perennial small-market playoff team,the Athletics, faces off against the last wordin big money, Disney’s Angels. Considering

the reloading the Angels have done and thelosses the A’s have suffered, I’m picking theAngels to win this one.

Chris: If the A’s have proved anything,it’s that they can come back the year afterlosing an AL MVP. It’s Eric Chavez’s turn tostep up, and with him the A’s still have theonly staff in the AL to rival that of the RedSox.

AL Wild CardWith two ridiculously talented teams in

the AL East, whichever one does not winthe division is the wild card. Even we canagree on that.

NL EastChris: They may have lost Sheffield and

Maddux, but the Braves are still goodenough to take the division for theumpteenth year in a row. With ChipperJones, Andruw Jones, Raphael Furcal andnewly arrived J.D. Drew, they have justenough offense. And, as always, theirpitching is more than enough, with 20-game winner Russ Ortiz and HoratioRamirez heading up the starting rotationand John Smoltz closing it out every night.

Bernie: I’m going to have to agree withyou on this one. The Marlins have the moxiebut lost enough talent that the Braves willcontinue their record-setting streak.

NL CentralChris: I’ll take the new-look Astros over

the reformatted Cubs. As good as the Cubs’rotation is (and believe me, it’s the best inthe majors), they don’t have enoughoffense to compete with the Astros. Justconsider the Killer Bs (Bagwell, Biggio andBerkman) and, courtesy of Aaron Levine ofESPN’s "Dream Job," the Emerging Es(Morgan Ensberg and Adam Everett). Andthen there’s Clemens and Pettitte.

Bernie: The Cubs’ rotation is just toogood — far and away the best in the majorleagues. In fact, it’s so good, I think this justmight be the year the Cubbies break the

Take me out to the ballgame:MLB’s playoff chase set to start

see WATER POLO, page 4

BERNIE GORDONCHRIS MAHR

POINT-COUNTERPOINT

see BASEBALL, page 5

thursday, march 18, 2004

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