Daily Herald the Brown
vol. cxliv, no. 107 | Monday, November 16, 2009 | Serving the community daily since 1891
Jimmy Develin ’10 and Buddy Farnham ’10 made big plays to lead Brown past Dartmouth on Saturday. The
Bears rushed the field after the 14-7 overtime win at Brown Stadium.
Football gets OT win in last home game
By Dan Alexander
Senior Staff Writer
For co-captain Jimmy Develin ’10,
Saturday’s game was a fitting end to
four years in Brown Stadium. Dart-
mouth, trailing 14-7 in overtime,
dropped back on fourth-and-one.
Whitehouse: Time not on
Congress’ side for change
By Alicia Dang
Staf f Writer
Time is running out when it comes
to reforming health care and passing
legislation to curb damage to the
environment, Sen. Sheldon White-
house, D-R.I., told a crowd of about
100 in Salomon 101 Friday.
The talk was the second of a
two-part series organized by the
Brown Democrats.
One of the biggest challenges
facing health care reform is a
filibuster by Senate Republicans,
Whitehouse said. By demanding
300 amendments to the bill, each of
which requires a vote, Republicans
are burning the floor time remaining
“to get things done,” he added.
Whitehouse noted a “new and
different level of vitriol” directed
at President Obama since he was
elected, which he said negatively
affects the policies he tries to bring
forward.
“What it boils down to is the petty
procedural obstruction in one insti-
tution,” Whitehouse said. “It’s im-
portant for us to call the Republicans
out on that.”
The main objectives of the public
option, Whitehouse explained, are to
establish an electronic health record
system, create a national integrated
platform to foster transparency and
to pay doctors and hospitals for re-
inside
News.....1-3
Arts..........4
Sports......5
Editorial.....6
Opinion......7
Today..........8
www.browndailyherald.com
Develin, a defensive end, rushed into
the backfield — unblocked — and
sacked the quarterback. The entire
Brown team rushed onto the field
in celebration.
“I couldn’t imagine it any better,”
Develin said. “I mean, Senior Day,
last game, just going out like that,
sults, not for procedures.
“The only way we turn this health
care mess around is to change the
business model for health care in-
surance,” Whitehouse said. A public
option needs to be competitive with
the private plans and “responsive
to each state’s circumstances,” he
added.
“One thing to promise is that
the public option will have no ef-
fect whatsoever on the deficit,” he
said.
Along with health care reform,
climate change must be addressed
for the sake of the country’s fiscal
future as well as its “ability to take
care of the people,” Whitehouse
said.
He discussed the major conse-
quences that climate change will
have, such as the intoxication of
the atmosphere and the loss of
natural habitats.
“We are in the stage where
the evidence (regarding climate
change) is blindingly clear,” White-
house said.
To move bills that address cli-
mate change through Congress,
the economic ramifications must
be clear, he said. Lawmakers should
be able to “assure any of our people
that economic consequences (of
such bills) will be beneficial rather
continued on page 2
Arts, 4
Love it or...
Small-town charm comes
to Stuart Theater with
“Leavittsburg, Ohio”
195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island
Jesse Morgan / Herald
making a play, it’s just — it’s every-
thing I dreamed for at Brown.”
Develin wasn’t the only senior
who went out on a high note.
On Buddy Farnham’s ’10 last
play on home turf, the standout
continued on page 3
Taking (pole) dance to another level
By Emily Kirkland
Staff Writer
For three years, the Brown Poler
Bears — the Ivy League’s first pole
dancing club — have been practic-
ing moves like “The Fireman” and
“The Martini” on two poles in the Art
House lounge in Harkness House.
But this weekend, the club gave
other students a chance to participate
for the first time, offering hour-long
workshops on Saturday afternoon.
Gandhi explains a confluence of ideas
By Sydney Ember
Senior Staff Writer
“The non-violence of King and
Gandhi had a strong element of
courtesy and forgiveness,” Rajmo-
han Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma
Gandhi, told a packed Salomon 101
Sunday.
The former member of India’s
Upper House of Parliament, current
president of Initiatives of Change
International and renowned au-
thor and biographer examined his
grandfather’s view on non-violence
and the influence those views had
on Martin Luther King, Jr.’s ap-
proach to civil disobedience.
“With Gandhi as with King,
non-violence was a fight for equal-
ity — it was the opposite of meek
4 arrested at sorority party
By Alexandra Ulmer
Senior Staff Writer
Four men who were “harassing”
Department of Public Safety officers
outside a party in Alumnae Hall were
arrested Saturday night by Provi-
dence police officers for disorderly
conduct, according to Lt. John Ryan,
commander of PPD Dist. 9.
A student who attended the Delta
Sigma Theta party, called “Scandal-
ous,” said the arrests followed fights
that escalated among partygoers on
the dance floor.
“Some people got into an argu-
ment outside and started harassing
the Brown police, so they called the
Providence police,” Ryan said, add-
ing that he did not know if the four
people arrested were Brown students.
A poster for the event informed par-
tygoers they would need “R.I. college
I.D.” to be admitted, and non-students
were instructed to contact the sorority
in advance of the party.
Evangeline McDonald ’13, who
attended the party, said two fights
initially erupted between attendees
in Alumnae Hall, and DPS officers
entered the venue to apprehend them.
The Poler Bears charged $5 for the
workshops, hoping to raise money to
cover the costs of their new pole.
Members of the group, which
FEATURE
meets twice a week, teach them-
selves from pole dancing videos
posted on YouTube. They’re not
afraid to showcase their skills, ei-
ther — they perform regularly at
Art House parties and two or three
Rajmohan Gandhi praised Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi.
surrender,” Gandhi said. “Violence
was not merely cruel, it was folly
as well.”
The concept of non-violence
dates back to Henry David Tho-
reau and Abraham Lincoln, Gandhi
said, both of whom significantly
Sports, 5
Big East, BiG Problem
W. basketball falls to cross-
town rival Providence
College, 83-50
Shortly after the second scuffle was
quelled, “there was a kind of powder in
the air and everybody started cough-
ing,” said McDonald, who added that
she did not know the source or iden-
tity of the powder.
Soon afterwards, McDonald said,
she “saw blood on a kid’s shirt.”
“It had several blood splashes —
you could see handprints on the shirt,”
she said.
But the commotion made it dif-
ficult for McDonald to discern what
else occurred. The powder appeared
about 15 minutes after the first fight
began, McDonald said, and partygo-
ers dispersed quickly. “The whole
thing escalated and went down really
quickly,” she said.
Ryan, speaking away from his
station without access to the official
report of the incident, said he could
not confirm details of the surround-
ing incidents.
Delta Sigma Theta Chapter Presi-
dent Dami Olatunji ’11 said there was
“rowdiness” at the party, but declined
to elaborate. “There are different per-
spectives,” she said. “We’re still look-
ing at the facts. We’re trying to handle
the situation internally.”
times a year at venues like Produc-
tion Workshop.
“It’s a great conversation starter,”
said Julianne Fenn ’11, the club’s
president.
Last year, the Poler Bears were in
danger of extinction — there were
only six members. But this year,
30 people arrived to audition, and
now the club boasts 16 perform-
ers, including two men. The club’s
continued on page 2
Nick Sinnott-Armstrong / Herald
shaped his grandfather’s ideas
about civil disobedience and
passive resistance. Though his
grandfather initially was a “propo-
nent of violence,” Gandhi said the
continued on page 3
Opinions, 7
pressing matters
The media can affect key
political outcomes, says
Kate Fritzsche ’10
herald@browndailyherald.com
Page 2 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Monday, November 16, 2009

C ampus N EWS “Friends ask me, ‘Do you give lap dances?’”
— Britney Katz ’12, member of the Poler Bears

Poler bears offer more than just sex appeal

continued from page 1
members, few of whom had previous
experience in pole dancing, all learn
together, Fenn said.
“I’ve never met an actual pole
dancer,” she said. “We thought about a
strip club road trip last year, but none
of us have a car.”
While the Poler Bears have survived
without experience, poles are an indis-
pensable element of their routine.
“You can’t really practice with-
out a pole,” said Brittany Katz ’12, a
Claire Huang / Herald
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., spoke about the need for health-care Poler Bear.
reform and speedy action on climate change. Purchasing and maintaining the
poles has been a constant struggle.
including Taylor Swift’s “Love Story.”
Participants also practiced dancing
with ladders, chairs, platforms and
even a Swiffer.
The name “Poler Bears” helped to
draw in participants.
“I thought it was really witty
and clever,” said Ebony Enab-
ulele ’13, who attended one of the
Saturday workshops.
Fenn said the name had been
Hellquist’s from the start. “She was
really into puns,” Fenn said.
The group’s members said it was
sometimes hard to explain exactly
what the Poler Bears entailed, espe-
cially to their parents.
in dance.
The group’s dances aren’t always
overtly sexual. “It depends on the per-
son,” Katz said. “Mine are silly.”
Emily Winterrowd ’12 said hers
were “graceful.”
“It’s not just grinding,” Fenn said,
adding that each dancer tries to in-
corporate athletic, acrobatic moves
into their routines, such as spinning
around the pole with one leg hooked
over it or sliding down the pole up-
side down before finishing in a
handstand.
“You don’t realize how difficult it
really is,” Reardon said.
But the Poler Bears do more than

Whitehouse: Investigation The first was purchased by club

founder Alexandra Hellquist ’08,
“My mom is minimally aware” of
what the group does, Katz said, add-
perform at parties. Last year, they
did a carefully choreographed show

into torture practices to who installed a pole in her off-campus

house after learning how to pole dance
ing that her dad had no idea she was
in the group.
in Salomon with theme music and
a plot.

return ‘constitutional order’

continued from page 1
than harmful.”
The long-term effects of legisla-
tion that makes companies pay for
the harmful waste they release,
for instance, will improve quality
of life, he said.
Students’ questions for White-
house ranged from health care
reform and climate change to the
current investigation of “inter-
rogation techniques” conducted
under the Bush administration.
One question focused on a bill
aimed at preventing employers
from discriminating on the basis of
sexual orientation.
Whitehouse said he has “reas-
suring feelings” that things will be
put “back in constitutional order”
with the investigation on torture.
“I don’t think Obama will veto
it,” he said. Rather, “it’s a matter of
getting to it,” because priorities of
floor space at the moment are “get-
ting health care fixed” and “getting
the economy going,” he said.
Students said they were satis-
fied with what they learned from
Whitehouse’s speech.
Austen Mack-Crane ’13 said he
enjoyed hearing the “perspective
of a politician.”
“It’s nice to see the realities
of decision-making even though
it’s not always a sunny outlook,”
he added.
from online videos. Soon after, she
got permission from the president
of Art House to move the pole to the
program house’s lounge and the Poler
Bears were born.
“We’d just play around on it,” said
Fenn, who has been a Poler Bear since
the group’s founding.
Hellquist wrote a proposal for a
$500 grant to purchase a second pole,
Fenn said. But when she graduated,
she took one of the poles with her, and
the remaining dancers had to pool
their funds to buy another.
But that pole broke earlier this
year. “This isn’t supposed to happen,”
Katz said, “but the metal just split.”
The Poler Bears ordered another
online and hope to have raised enough
this weekend to cover their costs.
At the workshops, Fenn, Katz and
other Poler Bears taught basic moves
such as “backspin” to popular songs,
Fenn said her parents were fine
with the idea of her pole dancing,
but she added she would never invite
them to a show.
“My parents think it’s just another
quirky thing I’m doing at college, like
rock climbing!” said Kat Reardon ’12,
another Poler Bear.
Many Poler Bears said their
friends, on the other hand, don’t pass
up the chance to tease them.
“Friends ask me, ‘Do you give lap
dances?’” Katz said.
Katz and Reardon said paying with
dollar bills takes on a whole new sig-
nificance for members of the club.
“People go, ‘Oh, is that from Poler
Bears?’” Reardon said.
But lewd comments and unwanted
advances from men are rare, Fenn
said. Even dancing at off-campus par-
ties, she said, was “much less sketchy
than anticipated.”
Fenn said the audience at perfor-
mances usually consists of the danc-
ers’ friends and people with an interest
“It was set in fairyland,” Fenn said.
Katz played Cinderella, she said, and
Reardon said she was Little Red Rid-
ing Hood, dressed in a gingham cos-
tume made of vinyl.
Of course, pole dancing is
never entirely innocent. Fenn
sometimes dances in lingerie from
Victoria’s Secret.
“My dance was kind of slut-
ty,” Fenn said of her role in the
show. “Then again, I was playing
a stripper.”
Because of the demands of differ-
ent moves, performers in costume
must have bare shoulders and almost
entirely bare thighs.
“You have to grip with your inner
thigh,” Katz explained.
“It’s fun to be sexy,” Reardon
pointed out. “Ever yone wants
that avenue.”
But the Poler Bears said they pole
danced for other reasons, too.
“I do it because it’s an amazing
workout,” Katz said.

sudoku

Daily Herald
the Brown

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Monday, November 16, 2009
C ampus N EWS
Scholar: Gandhi, King believed
in non-violence, not submission
continued from page 1
famous Indian leader’s experience
as a student in England, coupled
with a series of events in which
he experienced physical violence
when he moved to South Africa in
his early twenties, made him real-
ize the power of non-violent forms
of protest.
“The temperature of violence left
Gandhi’s system,” he said. “A fight to
uphold the equal wealth of all human
souls, whether the body encasing
the soul was white-, black- or yellow-
skinned would be a spiritual as well
as a political exercise.”
Gandhi came to Brown as part
of the University’s Year of India cel-
ebration, which includes a series
of lectures, conferences and other
events to promote a better under-
standing of Indian culture.
The University of Illinois at Urba-
na-Champaign professor and author
of the biography “Mohandas: A True
Story of a Man, His People and an
Empire,” also headed the Indian
delegation to the United Nations
Human Rights Commission held in
Geneva in 1990.
Though King was influenced by
Gandhi’s message of love and truth,
Gandhi’s grandson said King en-
countered different circumstances
in promoting his ideas.
“There was an obvious but critical
difference between Gandhi’s India
and King’s America,” he said. “Indi-
ans were a great majority fighting
a small if powerful and well-armed
minority of British rulers. American
blacks were a defenseless minority
with living memories of slavery in a
predominantly white society.”
Despite this difference, Gandhi
said the two leaders shared the be-
lief that non-violence had an element
of “toughness” that detracted from
any connotations of passivity.
Both leaders shied away from
softer characterizations of their
views, emphasizing the strength em-
bodied in civil disobedience rather
than the more negative aspect of
Brown seniors star in Senior Day OT win at Brown Stadium
continued from page 1
wide receiver scored the winning
touchdown. With the Bears’ offense
facing a third-and-three in overtime,
quarterback
Dartmouth 7 Kyle Newa-
Brown 14 hall-Caballero
’11 dropped
back in the pocket. Farnham ran a
flag route, and Dartmouth’s safety
stayed to the inside, allowing him to
break to the sideline a step ahead of
the defensive back.
Newhall-Caballero hit Farnham
for the touchdown, giving the Bears
a 14-7 lead in overtime.
“The game came down to a Buddy
Farnham touchdown in overtime
and a Jimmy Develin stop on fourth
down,” said Brown Head Coach Phil
Estes. “What a way to end your ca-
reers at home. Pretty damn good for
two — not just great seniors — but
two of probably the best that I’ve
non-violent submission, Gandhi
said.
“There had to be a better way
of fighting — a way of non-vio-
lence,” he said. “Gandhi also re-
vealed a wish to claim the moral
high-ground.”
Though terrorist attacks by
extremist groups have riddled the
South Asian region that includes
India, Pakistan and Afghanistan,
Gandhi said his grandfather’s leg-
acy continues to have a worldwide
impact.
“Not all the sad experience of
conflict in all the countries, not all
the efforts that we make to make
ourselves high and others low, can
destroy either the necessity or the
beauty of Gandhi’s 1908 vision,”
he said.
But he urged the audience to
consider the plight of many mem-
bers of South Asian minority groups,
especially in light of the Fort Hood
shooting that occurred in Texas
earlier this month.
“Every single day, many more
Pakistanis have passed, died from
extremist attacks, and they too have
loved ones,” he said. “But their death
is unrecognized.”
In a question-and-answer session
following the lecture, Gandhi ad-
dressed the treatment of prisoners at
Guantanamo Bay and the effective-
ness of non-violent protests against
oppressive regimes.
One questioner asked how Guan-
tanamo Bay detainees ought to be
treated, to which Gandhi replied,
“with tremendous seriousness.”
“I think he kind of avoided some
of the questions,” said Julieta Carde-
nas ’13. “I wanted him to give his
own opinions.”
Despite his hope that cultural
divides can be bridged, Gandhi
stressed the importance of main-
taining his grandfather’s — and that
of his predecessors — messages
of peace.
“For their sakes,” Gandhi said,
“let them continue to stir all honest
persons everywhere.”
ever coached.”
On a sloppy day with rainy skies,
the Bears’ defense kept the Big
Green offense stuck in the mud for
most of the game. Other than a lone
screen pass that went 77 yards for a
touchdown, Dartmouth gained only
144 yards and no additional points
on the day.
Brown’s defense was anchored
by its four senior linemen. Defensive
end Brian Neff ’10 led the Bears with
six tackles, including three tackles-
for-loss.
The Big Green managed only 60
rushing yards on 32 carries. Dart-
mouth quarterback Greg Patton, who
had 243 rushing yards last week in
his first varsity game, was held to just
35 yards on 19 carries.
The Big Green’s offense spent
most of the day in a wildcat forma-
tion, with Patton under center. Last
week against Cornell, Dartmouth
ran out of a two-quarterback system,
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
“There had to be a better way of fighting — a way of non-violence.”
Q&A with Rajmohan Gandhi
Rajmohan Gandhi, grandson of the
Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi,
sat down with The Herald before
his lecture Sunday to discuss his
grandfather’s legacy and his views
on East-West relations.
The Herald: Both of your grand-
fathers were ver y prominent
freedom fighters in the Indian
independence movement. How
have you been influenced by
their thinking?
Rajmohan Gandhi: Gandhi’s
life from my childhood impacted
me. I was aware how Indian people
loved him and of course, the final
phase of his life when he was as-
sassinated. So that had the pro-
foundest impact on me as I grew
up, and I understood, among other
things, that if you believe in cer-
tain things deeply, then sometimes
you pay for your beliefs with your
life. So that was a sobering and yet
moving and in some ways inspir-
ing impact.
During your research for your
latest book, did you find any-
thing interesting or surpris-
ing about Mahatma Gandhi’s
life?
Not in the sense of new facts,
but new perspectives, new insights,
new understandings — yes, a good
deal. One of them was his family
relationship with his wife and his
sons — a very important part of his
life. I understood that much better
as a result of this research.
How have you seen the rela-
tionship between the United
States and India evolve, where
does it stand now and where do
you think it should go?
I think the feature of our mod-
ern world is the U.S.-India relation-
ship, the two largest democracies
in the world. And a growing rela-
tionship, with a real understand-
ing, real friendship and a great
stake in each other — so many
people of Indian origin now live
with Patton rushing and Conner
Kempe passing.
Dartmouth Head Coach Buddy
Teevens said he didn’t plan to use
Patton as much as he did on Saturday,
but given the low-scoring game and
the wet field conditions, he decided
to keep the rushing quarterback in
the game. In addition to his rushing,
SPORTS
Patton was 7-of-10 passing for 145
yards and one touchdown.
Kempe had only one pass in the
first half but got more snaps in the
third quarter. Patton took a hard hit
and needed some time to recover,
prompting Teevens to put in Kempe,
the coach said.
Brown’s quarterback Newhall-
Caballero was off target early in the
game, completing just one pass in
seven attempts for a seven yard gain
in the first quarter.
— Rajmohan Gandhi, on his grandfather’s legacy
here, work here. So it’s unthink-
able for people in India to imag-
ine some kind of conflict between
India and the United States. But
then, what these two very large
countries, one extremely power-
ful, the other also potentially quite
powerful, what these two countries
will together do for human kind is
a great question.
This year, Brown is promoting
a better understanding of In-
dia through our Year of India.
Why do you think this is im-
portant today?
Well, for better or for worse,
the one billion-plus Indian popula-
tion is going to impact the world.
Remember, too, that the median
age in India is quite small. In the
years to come, active, energetic,
educated Indians will be quite a
factor in the world, so their think-
ing is important to all corners
of the planet, and therefore, for
young Americans, who I imagine
will have a leading role in the fu-
ture of the world.
Later this month, the Prime
Minister of India is visiting the
White House. What do you ex-
pect from the visit?
The election of Barack Obama
was quite an exciting thing for In-
dians. We didn’t expect that all of
America would vote for an African
American. So likewise, although
it’s not fully realized in the United
States, the Indian Prime Minister
is a Sikh. So in India also, the fact
that we have a Sikh Prime Minister
is a very noteworthy event. So that
will result in some very interest-
ing exchange I think. This is an
extremely important session.
You’ve spoken a lot about bridg-
ing cultural divides, especially
between the Western culture
and the Islamic culture. Do
you see hope for bridging this
divide, and how we can help
bridge this divide?
The Bears kept a balanced attack
throughout the game, and — after
a scoreless first half — the offense
found more of a rhythm in the sec-
ond.
Running back Spiro Theodhosi ’12
scored the Bears’ lone touchdown in
regulation with 5:05 left in the third
quarter, capping a 17-play drive of
short runs and passes.
“Kyle played better in the sec-
ond half,” Estes said. “It was a little
bit drier in the second half. The
rain wasn’t coming down nearly as
hard, and we tried to make sure
that we had dry balls in there. So I
thought he threw a better ball in the
second half.”
The Bears had a chance to win
it in regulation, but Drew Plichta’s
’10 field goal attempt from 33 yards
was blocked with just five seconds
remaining, and the game went
into overtime.
Dartmouth won the coin toss and
Page 3
There is need for stereotypes
to be resisted and replaced with
a more realistic picture on both
sides of this divide. I would urge
Americans not to fall into the trap
of thinking some countries are
impossible, and hopeless cases,
failed societies, failed states. Those
are completely incorrect readings
of the situation. There is hope in
all those places, and there are just
some very real wonderful human
beings there who need our under-
standing.
Do you see the U.S. playing
any sort of role in promoting
peace between Pakistan and
India?
Yes, very much so. I know that
people in that part of the world, in
India and Pakistan don’t necessar-
ily want others to tell us how to
sort out our disputes. That said,
I would say that if Americans can
form really good relationships with
Pakistanis, individual Americans
with individual Pakistanis, likewise
individual Americans strengthen
their relations with individual In-
dians, that will help the Americans
become a natural bridge.
If Gandhi were still alive today,
what do you think he would
think about the way our world
is right now?
Two things would trouble him.
One is the worship of money more
and more and more. And the other
is the revenge, counter-revenge,
bomb, counter-bomb, nuclear
bomb arms race. So these two
things would disturb him pro-
foundly. He would not be shocked
by them because he knew human
nature, and people do react like
this, so he would want the world to
see the stupidity of greed let loose,
unleashed. Greed, on the one hand,
and this unthinking revenge and
counter-revenge, when actually all
of us have so much in common.
— Sydney Ember
elected to play defense first.
It took just three plays for Brown
to score in overtime. Newhall-Cabal-
lero first hit Bobby Sewall ’10 — who
finished with four catches for 37
yards — and then found Farnham
in the end zone.
Estes said he wasn’t going to
leave the game up to one of his
kickers. Plichta is 0-6 on field
goals in his career. Brown’s other
kicker, Patrick Rooney ’11, is a con-
verted wide receiver that kicked in
high school.
“We knew we had to get it in the
end zone and score seven because
we couldn’t let it come down to a field
goal,” Estes said.
The Bears got seven, and the Big
Green couldn’t match it. After Kempe
completed a nine-yard pass, Patton
went under center for Dartmouth
on a fourth-and-one. Patton dropped
back and Develin dropped him, end-
ing the game.
Arts & Culture
The Brown Daily Herald
City meets country in lovable ‘Leavittsburg’
By Kristina Fazzalaro
Staff Writer
It’s Friday night at Leavittsburg’s
small-town watering hole, Connie’s.
The local yokels are out in full force,
celebrating the end of yet another
laborious work week. Enter into this
scene Jake (Michael Williams ’10).
He’s the quintessential boy from
the big city come to steal away the
resident golden girl, Jane (Jaime
Rosenstein ’10). The Ohio boys
obviously don’t take kindly to this
intruder, pushing and prodding him
with insults big and small. “Love it or
LEAVEittsburg, Ohio!” one jibes.
Brownbrokers’ newest produc-
tion, “Leavittsburg, Ohio,” written by
Nate Sloan ’09, is sure to put a smile
on any midterm-drained Brown
student’s face, providing a rare op-
portunity to kick back and listen to
some show tunes brimming with
the propulsive energy of Stephen
Sondheim and the tonal richness of
Aaron Copland.
“Leavittsburg” tells the story of
Jane’s first trip home to the great
state of Ohio from her New York
City Ivy League school for spring
break with her boyfriend Jake. Await-
ing the young couple’s arrival are
Jane’s salt-of-the-earth father Frank
(Michael Wharton ’12), her teenage
brother Ben (Ned Risely ’12), her ex-
boyfriend Corey (Dennis Kozee ’12)
and just about every other townsper-
son in Leavittsburg, young and old.
They are a proud group, devoted to
one another in that familial way that
only comes from living in a small
town, and they are more than ready
to send Jake back to his prep school
friends and keep Jane home where
she belongs.
Jane herself is in quite the quan-
dary, torn between the opportuni-
ties New York has to offer and the
comfort of home. She’s also wor-
ried about her father and brother
who, with Jane at school on the
East Coast, are home alone for the
first time since her mother’s recent
death.
The musical is fun and entertain-
ing, even if the thematic territory of
choosing home versus choosing a
different life has been pretty over-
worked. The show is kept moving by
an excellently chosen cast portraying
relatable and realistic characters to
the beats of lively music. The script
itself is well-written, with some side-
splitting one-liners and wonderfully
created characters whose personali-
ties shine on the stage.
Rosenstein’s Jane is sweet and
charming, with a killer voice to boot.
As Jake, Williams is both hilarious
and endearing, inspiring the audi-
ence to root for this sarcastically wit-
ty prepster, despite the fact that he
can’t drive yet and he’s “20…1…ish”
(his birthday is just a day away).
Rosenstein shines throughout
the entire production, giving a strong
performance from the first notes of
her opening number to the last bars
of the finale. And she’s not all sugary
sweet either — Jane isn’t going to be
that heroine who sits and waits for
the men-folk to make up their minds.
She’s a strong-willed young woman
being portrayed by a strong actress.
Williams starts out slow, but that has
more to do with his character’s rela-
tive absence from the first act. Once
he punches out Jane’s relentless ex
during the first act’s finale, though,
there’s no stopping him.
Jane’s father and brother both
give strong performances. Whar-
ton’s Frank is fixed in his convictions
— Jake will definitely be sleeping on
the couch in the living room — but
he does everything with his family
in mind. His firm but soft-spoken
delivery is perfect and not over-the-
top, as easily could have happened to
such a character. Likewise, Ben may
be Jane’s annoying little brother, but
he is anything but annoying to audi-
ence members, who will remember
his performance in the song “Akron”
as adorably amusing.
The best part about “Leavitts-
burg” is that the quality of the leads
isn’t lost in the rest of the company.
Each character gives a memorable
performance. From the lovable
dreamer Ms. Brighton (Allison Sch-
neider ’10) to the sassy bartender
Connie (Madeleine Heil ’13), each
person has a moment to shine.
The bittersweet relationship
between Jane’s friend Evie (Beth
Berger ’10) and her husband, Todd
(Gerrit Thurston ’13), who has just
returned from combat in Iraq, pulls
at the audience’s heartstrings. The
Pastor’s (Jarrett Key ’13) lively stand-
out number “The Book of Jake” gets
the viewer’s blood pumping.
The set is also well-executed in its
simplistic malleability. By wheeling
the family’s staircase across stage,
the set is transformed and ready
to tell another part of the stor y.
When it’s front and center, we’re
in the airport; to the left, we’re in
Jane’s house; to the side, we’re up in
the attic.
The stairs themselves play an im-
portant role in the musical. They rep-
resent the need to climb past one’s
fears and prejudices. Everyone has
stereotypes — Jake can’t imagine
Jane wanting to live in a town like
Leavittsburg, while the townspeople
can’t help asking whether Jane has
seen a drive-by yet, because that
happens all the time in the big city.
Jane has to see past both of these
barriers before she can make up
her mind.
“Leavittsburg, Ohio” is a fun
dramedy, drawing audiences in
with stellar acting, upbeat mu-
sic and a witty script. Even if the
show’s themes have been seen be-
fore, “Leavittsburg” breathes new
life into them, taking the audience
on a journey that’s both poignant
and enjoyable.
“Leavittsburg, Ohio” continues
Nov. 19 through 22 in Stuart Theatre,
Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m.
with a matinee Sunday at 2 p.m.
Monday, November 16, 2009 | Page 4
Yeasayer and Javelin inspire
dance-happy audience
By Anne Speyer
Senior Staf f Writer
After an energizing opening
performance by the electrofunk-
inspired Javelin, psychedelic in-
die rock band Yeasayer played
an infectious set Friday for the
dance-happy audience in the
RISD Auditorium for the Brown
Concert Agency’s Fall Concert.
Students from Brown and the
Rhode Island School of Design
packed the 520-seat auditorium.
Despite the stadium seating, Jav-
elin’s opening song brought audi-
ence members down into the first
five rows, where an enthusiastic
dance party spilled out into the
aisles.
BCA administrative chair, Alex
Spoto ’11, said the concert went
“really well.” The fall concert was
previously held in Alumnae Hall,
but Spoto said he was pleased
with the move to the RISD
Auditorium, citing Alumnae’s
poor acoustics.
“The sound in that room
was a million times better than
Alumnae, or even Sayles, so I
think it was a pretty ideal spot,”
he said.
The auditorium was trans-
formed by a jungle of white
globe lights that flashed differ-
ent colors throughout the two
performances. The lights were
supplied by Yeasayer, whose con-
certs often feature a light show,
Spoto said.
Javelin’s Tom Van Buskirk ’04
and George Langford, dressed in
matching green T-shirts, were
visibly enjoying themselves,
jumping up and down and chat-
ting casually to audience mem-
bers.
Their hour-long set featured
upbeat songs that seemed in-
spired by ever ything from
the kitschy rhythm of a 1980s
aerobics video to the nurser y
melody “Frere Jacques,” which
they sampled over a pounding
electronic beat.
“Javelin was a little surprise
hit,” said Manvir Singh ’12.
Even though the audience
seemed to enjoy Javelin’s high-
energy per formance — even
Green Horn Management secu-
rity officers were bobbing their
heads by the last song — many
were primarily there to see
Yeasayer.
BCA Booking Chair James
Hinton ’10 said the fall concert
traditionally features a lesser-
known band like Javelin in addi-
tion to a “big-name band.”
“We really like to bring up-
and-coming bands for people to
get excited about,” he said.
Hinton said Yeasayer has of-
ten ranked highly in BCA polls
of which bands students would
like to see at Brown.
“In terms of their sound,
they have enough in common
with those popular, indie Brook-
lyn bands, but they’re distinct.
They’ve done a good job of com-
ing up with some new sounds,”
Spoto said. “It’s catchy, it’s
fun.”
Yeasayer took the stage with
barely a pause after Javelin’s
per formance and immediately
launched into their first song.
Remaining solemn-faced for the
majority of their set, the band
members seemed serious about
playing seriously good music.
Chris Keating, Yeasayer’s lead
singer and a RISD alum, told
the audience he used to sleep
through art histor y lectures in
the same auditorium.
“It’s really surreal, because no
one who goes here now knows
any of my friends. I feel like there
are ghosts sitting up there in the
back,” he said. “But you guys are
the new friends!”
Audience members joined the
band on stage during the popular
“2080,” a song about the future
and the importance of appreciat-
ing each moment.
By the end of the set, so many
students were dancing on stage
that it was impossible to tell band
members from the audience as
the globe lights flashed wildly in
time with the song.
“I loved Yeasayer,” Louis Me-
dina ’12 said. “I’ve known them
for two years and loved them for
two years. I’ve been waiting to
see this band for a long time.”
Both Spoto and Hinton said
they were happy to share the con-
cer t with RISD students, who
accounted for nearly 20 percent
of the audience.
“I think people are interested
in meeting students from down
the Hill and vice versa,” Hinton
said. “We bridged the gap, or at
least we started to.”
Spoto said he hoped to involve
RISD-based bands in future BCA
productions. “I think involving
the RISD community, both musi-
cians and people who come out
to see the shows, gives us more
diversity,” he said. “It’s a really
fun experience.”
 SportsMonday
The Brown Daily Herald

Monday, November 16, 2009 | Page 5

s p o rt s i n b r i e f
W. basketball suffers big loss to Friars
M. hoops splits road-game series By Tony Bakshi
The men’s basketball team split two road games, Sports Staff Writer
beating St. Francis College, 68-64, on Friday before falling
to Virginia Tech, 69-55, on Sunday in the opening game of The women’s basketball team fell to
the Philly Hoop Group Classic. a tough Big East opponent in its sea-
On Friday, the Bears traveled to Brooklyn, N.Y., to take son opener,
on St. Francis in the season opener for both teams. Four Providence 83 losing 83-50
Bears scored in double figures, led by reserve Jean-Herbert Brown 50 to the Provi-
Harris ’12, who tallied a career-high 18 points on 7-of-7 dence Friars
shooting from the field. on Friday night.
Matt Mullery ’10 scored 16 and tied his own school record The Bears came out playing solid
with six blocked shots en route to setting another Brown- basketball in the early minutes, and
record 121 career blocks, surpassing Alai Nuualiitia’s they stuck with the Friars in front
’03 119. Adrian Williams ’11 tallied 14 points and Peter of the home crowd at the Pizzitola
Sullivan ’11 added 12. Center. Hannah Passafuime ’12 sunk
The Terriers scored eight straight points to break open a an early trey to give the Bears a 3-2
17-17 tie midway through the first half, but Brown closed lead, and two free throws by Chris-
to 32-30 at halftime on a lay-up by Mullery. St. Francis tina Johnson ’10 gave the squad a
took a 47-41 lead with 13:07 left, but the Bears battled 7-4 lead a few minutes later.
all the way back, taking the lead for good at 57-55 with But the tide turned soon after,
5:44 left on a layup by Matt Sullivan ’13, Peter Sullivan’s helped in part by the Friars’ suffo-
brother, and holding on for a 68-64 win. cating full-court press. Brown began
But the Bears did not fare as well on Sunday in having problems bringing the ball up Jesse Morgan / Herald
Blacksburg, Va., falling to Virginia Tech, 69-55. The Bears the court, and a steal by Providence Courtney Lee holds off the Friars’ defense in Friday’s game, in which full-
never led in a tough test against their ACC foe. guard Brittany Dorsey led to Provi- court press led to the Bears’ downfall.
After the Hokies raced out to a 34-23 halftime lead, dence’s first lead of the game, 8-7.
layups by Andrew McCarthy ’13 cut the deficit to 45-40 Minutes later, Dorsey struck Hurd widened the difference to 23- with 16.
with 11:37 left and 51-45 with 8:39 remaining. But the again with a beautiful sequence of 12 and silenced the Brown crowd The Bears continue their sea-
Hokies went on a 12-4 run to close out the game. Brown a steal, crossover dribble and layup. hoping for a turnover. son-opening homestand with two
committed 17 turnovers that Virginia Tech turned into 21 The move led to an eruption of The first half ended with the games this week, facing American
points. cheers from the traveling Friar fans Bears down 16 points, 43-27, after University on Wednesday afternoon
McCarthy led Bruno with 14 points, followed by Mullery and gave her squad a 14-9 lead. a missed jumper at the buzzer by and Central Connecticut State on
with 13 and Matt Sullivan with 11. Providence’s lead grew from Aileen Daniels ’12. They would not Saturday night.
Virginia Tech’s Malcolm Delaney led all scorers with 21 that point on, as Brown continued get any closer in the second half, Sheila Dixon ’13, who scored
points. turning the ball over and giving as the Friars continued their strong seven points in her first collegiate
The Bears will host intrastate rival University of Rhode the Friars extra scoring opportuni- shooting to pull away from the Bears. basketball match, was not fazed by
Island Wednesday evening at 7:30 p.m. in their opener ties. Ten first-half turnovers from The Friars shot a fantastic 48 percent the game’s outcome, instead looking
at the Pizzitola Center. The Philly Classic will continue Brown players led to 14 points for (32-67) from the field for the game, forward to the games ahead.
for Brown with a game at St. John’s on Friday before the the Friars. compared to Brown’s 32 percent “It’s tough when our shots aren’t
Bears travel to the Palestra in Philadelphia to take on the After a timeout midway through (16-50). falling not to get frustrated, but
University of the Sciences Nov. 27 and Siena Nov. 28. the first half, Bruno came out with Johnson led the Bears with 10 bouncing back is the biggest feat,”
its own version of a press, hoping points and seven rebounds and she said. “Our ability to stay in the
— Sports Staff Reports to slow down Providence’s offense. Passafuime added nine points. Mi- game, no matter what the outcome is
But the Friars maneuvered around Khida Hankins led all scorers with 17 something (Head Coach Jean Marie
it, and a three-point shot by Tiffany points, followed by Symone Roberts Burr) emphasized.”

Despite crowd support, m. hockey falls to Colgate, Cornell

By Dan Alexander
Senior Staff Writer
Before the men’s hockey season
started, Head Coach Brendan Whittet
’94 said he wanted his players to
experience
Colgate 5 Meehan Au-
Brown 3 ditorium like
it was when
Cornell 6 he played for
Brown 0 the Bears.
He want-
ed them to see the Brown band in
the stands and to be surrounded by
2,000-person crowds. Most impor-
tantly, he wanted them to win. This
weekend, Whittet got everything he
wanted — except wins.
“Obviously we’re disappointed
with the outcome,” said tri-captain
Aaron Volpatti ’10. But Meehan “was
awesome. It was just an overall good
atmosphere.”
The arena filled with 2,357 people
Saturday night to see the Bears take
on No. 3 Cornell. But the Big Red left
Providence with a 6-0 win. The night
before, Colgate got ahead 5-0 but
dropped to 5-3 by the game’s end.
Volpatti knows the Bears need
to win if they want to keep Meehan
full.
“You’re going to get more fans
the more you win,” he said. “That’s
just how it is.”
Colgate 5, Brown 3
Colgate got goals from five dif-
ferent players before Brown got one
on Friday night. Tri-captain Jordan
Pietrus ’10 found the net twice for
the Bears in the third period. But
Brown couldn’t come back late, and
the game ended 5-3.
The Raiders came into the game
on a three-game winning streak, hav-
ing swept their opening weekend of
ECAC Hockey, putting them in a tie
for first in the league.
Colgate gained an early shot
advantage, but the score remained
even early in the first period. Dis-
appointed with his team’s intensity,
Whittet called a timeout 7:51 into the
game. It didn’t work.
On the faceoff immediately after
the timeout, Colgate’s Jeremy Price
got the puck to Jason Williams, who
one-timed it past Mike Clemente ’12
for the game’s first goal.
“It was a stupid timeout,” Whittet
said. “It was my fault. I called it be-
cause I was pissed off at how the guys
were playing, quite honestly. But look-
ing back at it, I probably should have
called it when it was in our offensive
zone versus the defensive zone.”
Only 1:20 after the first goal, Col-
gate’s Brian Day ripped a wrist shot
from the right faceoff circle and beat
Clemente again.
Brown spent 5:48 of the second
period on the penalty kill and couldn’t
generate any goals. But the Bears still
managed to outshoot the Raiders,
13-9, in the middle frame.
In the locker room between the
second and third period, Colgate
Head Coach Don Vaughan told his
team that their two-goal advantage
wasn’t secure. His players respond-
ed.
In the opening 3:09 of the third pe-
riod, the Raiders scored three goals,
stretching their lead to 5-0.
After the first two goals, Whittet
pulled goalie Clemente, who finished
with 20 saves, in favor of Dan Rosen
’10. On the first shot he faced all sea-
son, Rosen let the puck past through
his five-hole.
But the Bears clawed their way
back into contention, beginning with
a goal by Pietrus 5:40 into the final pe-
riod. In the next four minutes, Brown
netted another two goals, narrowing
its deficit to 5-3.
“You play 60 minutes. You can’t
quit,” said Pietrus, who had two of
the Bears’ third-period goals.
Whittet pulled Rosen, who fin-
ished with ten saves, in favor of an
extra attacker with 1:09 left in the
game. Brown possessed the puck in
Colgate’s zone for the remainder of
the game, but goalie Charles Long
turned away shot after shot, bringing
his total saves to 29.
No. 3 Cornell 6, Brown 0
Cornell came into its game against
Brown after dropping a 4-2 game the
night before to Yale, which is ranked
12th in the USCHO poll. The Big
Red gained back its confidence in
Providence.
“We were disappointed with the
way we played” at Yale, said Cornell
Head Coach Mike Schafer. “Our play-
ers tonight came ready to play.”
Blake Gallagher led the Big Red
with two goals and four others con-
tributed one. But the biggest star for
Cornell was goalie Ben Scrivens, who
had 28 saves in a shutout.
“I thought their goalie played tre-
mendous,” Whittet said. “We had op-
portunities.”
Like the previous night, the
game’s goal scoring was done in
streaks. But this time, none of them
were Brown’s. Cornell netted two
goals within 13 seconds of each other
in the first period and another three
within 2:08 in the final frame.
“We played a solid game, just
had some mental breakdowns on
everyone’s part, myself included,”
Clemente said. “Teams like Cornell,
they score whenever you make a
small mistake. That’s why they’re
so good.”
The Big Red got its first goal
11:59 after the puck dropped, when
Gallagher received a cross-ice feed
at the post and one-timed the puck
behind Clemente.
Before the loudspeaker an-
nounced the goal, Cornell got its
second, extending its lead to 2-0 12:12
into the game.
The Bears played evenly with the
Big Red in the second period, but
Scrivens’s goaltending kept the Bears
off of the scoreboard.
Gallagher scored on a power play
1:56 into the final frame, extending
Cornell’s lead to 3-0.
Cornell entered the game having
scored on 39 percent of its power
plays. But Brown’s penalty kill gave
up only one goal on five power
plays.
“Our penalty kill was awesome,”
Clemente said. “I mean, they had
one goal and it was on an odd-man
rush.”
In the last two and a half minutes
of the game, the Big Red scored three
goals, extending its lead to 6-0.
The Bears return to action at 7
p.m. on Tuesday night when they
travel across town to play Providence
College in the Mayor’s Cup.
Editorial & Letters
The Brown Daily Herald

Page 6 | Monday, November 16, 2009

l e t t e r to t h e e d i to r

PLME program
decision makes sense
To the Editor:
There has been a lot of fuss lately
about the decision to start imple-
menting a new applying-out policy
in the Program in Liberal Medical
Education immediately rather than
waiting five years for a new batch
of students to matriculate into the
Med School.
I’m a senior in the PLME pro-
gram, so this new policy doesn’t af-
fect me personally. But I still think
it’s misleading for students to claim
that this is extremely unfair or, as
Simon Liebling ’12 phrased it, a “dan-
gerous precedent for these admin-
istrative bait-and-switches” (“WTF,
PLME?” Nov. 12). The PLME pro-
gram certainly never tried to “bait”
applicants by advertising the ability
to keep Alpert as a safety school.
Those who applied to the PLME
program with the specific intention
of getting a stress-free chance to
apply to Harvard or Yale Medical
Schools were at best seriously mis-
judging the program’s purpose or,
at worst, trying to have their cake
and eat it too. The Med School and
the PLME program have enough
benefits in their own right that the
“apply out” card shouldn’t need to
be a selling point.
I sympathize with those who have
had to take CHEM 0360: “Organic
Chemistry” (if it’s any consolation,
I did, too) or pay for MCAT classes
like other pre-med students. But
those who are so reluctant about Alp-
ert Medical School really shouldn’t
have applied in the first place. The
PLME program was clearly intended
to be an eight-year continuum and
unfortunately, when you don’t use
a product as directed, the warranty
is void.
chris jesu lee
Rahul Banerjee ’10 MD ’14
Nov. 12
e d i to r i a l

Double-time
Letters, please! Last week The Herald reported on a Princeton
freshman who filed suit against the university
Extra time is more controversial, because
time limits are an essential component of many
in an attempt to receive extended time on her exams. While some students who are learning-
letters@browndailyherald.com exams. We believe Princeton and other schools disabled read more slowly than others who are
deser ve a tremendous amount of deference in not, an extra hour may nonetheless provide an
choosing their own testing procedures. The al- over whelming advantage. Some professors de-
ternative, having judges lift exam requirements sign their exams so well-prepared students have
on an ad hoc basis, would compromise academic exactly enough time to complete them and not a
freedom at institutions of higher learning. minute more. And in quantitative classes, time
t h e b r o w n d a i ly h e r a l d
In the case at hand, Princeton has made ef- limits force students to learn the most efficient
Editor-in-Chief Managing Editors Deputy Managing Editors Senior Editors
forts to accommodate the plaintiff’s needs by problem-solving techniques. Universities and
Steve DeLucia Michael Bechek Nandini Jayakrishna Rachel Arndt
Chaz Firestone Franklin Kanin Isabel Gottlieb placing her in a less distracting environment professors know better than judges whether
Michael Skocpol Scott Lowenstein during exams, limiting her exams to one per timed exams are essential to instruction in a
editorial Business day and giving her short breaks ever y hour. particular course.
Ben Hyman Arts & Culture Editor General Managers Office Manager
Sophia Li Features Editor Alexander Hughes Shawn Reilly Whether she also deser ves extra time is neces- If the judge in the Princeton lawsuit rules
George Miller Metro Editor Jonathan Spector sarily a subjective question, and one that judges that the plaintiff deser ves extra time, he will
Joanna Wohlmuth Metro Editor
Seth Motel News Editor
are ill-equipped to decide. On our reading of have to evaluate her learning disabilities in the
Directors
Jenna Stark News Editor Ellen DaSilva Sales the Americans with Disabilities Act, Princeton context of her course lineup. He will also have
Andrew Braca Sports Editor Claire Kiely Sales should win the case. According to the section of to determine the appropriateness of extra time
Han Cui Asst. Sports Editor Katie Koh Finance
Alex Mazerov Asst. Sports Editor Jilyn Chao Asst. Finance the ADA that deals with education, “Academic for ever y timed exam on her schedule. In addi-
Katie Wood Asst. Sports Editor Christiana Stephenson Alumni Relations requirements that the recipient (university) tion, he will make intrusive academic judgments
Graphics & Photos Managers
can demonstrate are essential to the instruction about the instructional value of deadlines in each
Chris Jesu Lee Graphics Editor Kelly Wess Local Sales
Stephen Lichenstein Graphics Editor Kathy Bui National Sales being pursued by such student … will not be course. We believe Princeton is in a much better
Kim Perley Photo Editor Alex Carrere University Sales regarded as discriminator y.” position to make these assessments.
Max Monn Asst. Photo Editor Matt Burrows Credit and Collections
Jesse Morgan Sports Photo Editor The ability to climb a flight of stairs is not es- Whatever the lawsuit’s outcome, Princeton
production Opinions sential to the instructional value of any course, and other colleges should make ever y effort
Ayelet Brinn Copy Desk Chief Alyssa Ratledge Opinions Editor nor is the ability to read small type. Accord- to ensure that admitted students learn about
Rachel Isaacs Copy Desk Chief Sarah Rosenthal Opinions Editor
ingly, universities should provide wheelchair- the accommodations available for those with
Marlee Bruning Design Editor
Jessica Calihan Design Editor Editorial Page Board accessible facilities and large-print exams for learning disabilities before the matriculation
Anna Migliaccio Asst. Design Editor James Shapiro Editorial Page Editor students who need them. More generally, judges deadline. Doing so will avoid costly litigation
Julien Ouellet Asst. Design Editor Matt Aks Board member
Neal Poole Web Editor Nick Bakshi Board member should continue to aggressively enforce anti- and give students a better idea of which school
Post- magazine Zack Beauchamp Board member discrimination laws in an academic context when is right for them.
Debbie Lehmann Board member
Arthur Matuszewski Editor-in-Chief
William Martin Board member
the obstacles in question have nothing to do
Kelly McKowen Editor-in-Chief
with the instructional value of a course. These Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page
Jessie Calihan, Gili Kliger, Leor Shtull-Leber, Designers accommodations make it possible for ever y board. Send comments to editorials@browndailyher-
Ayelet Brinn, Sarah Forman, Will Tomasko, Copy Editors student to take the exam, but they do not make ald.com.
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Senior Staff Writers Dan Alexander, Mitra Anoushiravani, Ellen Cushing, Sydney Ember,
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Opinions
The Brown Daily Herald
Good without God? A response.
ANISH MITRA
Opinions Columnist
After reading Michael Fitzpatrick’s column
(“Good without God,” Nov. 10), I was a bit
puzzled. I saw one of those “Go, Atheism!”
banners while I was in the city a few weeks
ago for interviews, and I never realized that
people actually took them seriously. After all,
if you saw a banner that said, “One million
New Yorkers are good with God. Are you?,”
how would you react?
My column has little to do with proving the
existence of God. As a matter of fact, if I could
prove the existence of God with one column,
I’d have to charge a fee. More importantly,
my concerns lie with the irony, hypocrisy
and oftentimes, peculiarity of the so called
“atheism movement.” Ultimately, these flaws
make me question exactly what these atheists
are trying to accomplish.
First off, how in the world are these athe-
ism-promoting signs even helpful? Isn’t athe-
ism supposed to be a personal conclusion
that is logically derived? Further, by embrac-
ing a recruitment strategy and establishing a
community, aren’t atheists bearing a striking
resemblance to the organization they wish to
discredit completely: the Church? Humans
have continually promoted religion due to the
spread-the-Gospel-of-God nature of religion
itself. Thus, an atheist-missionary campaign
Real news requires real analysis
KATE FRITZSCHE
Opinions Columnist
The recent gay marriage battle in Maine is
just one frustrating example of the disturb-
ing trend of the media’s irresponsible cov-
erage of political issues. In recent reports
on political events and opinions, most news
media sources in the United States have de-
veloped a dangerous habit of just repeating
what speakers have said without research-
ing the validity of their claims.
This tendency is problematic because
politicians can exaggerate facts, intentional-
ly mislead voters or even lie to their listeners,
and without responsible coverage in the news,
people don’t know who’s telling the truth.
In the same-sex marriage battle in Maine,
a vote of yes on Question 1 meant a vote to
repeal an earlier law, passed in the Maine
State Legislature and signed into law by
Democratic Governor John Baldacci on May
6, that permitted marriage between any two
consenting adults. The question’s wording
on the ballot included a statement that the
law would not permit the state government
to interfere with any religious group’s prac-
tice and definition of marriage. The law was
strictly about the legal rights of marriage.
The chairman of Stand for Marriage
Maine, a group supporting the efforts to re-
peal the same-sex law, doubles as the direc-
tor of public affairs for the Roman Catholic
Diocese of Portland. The chairman, Marc
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seems rather counterintuitive.
If atheists are so disenchanted with the
idea of organized religion, the methods and
bureaucratic qualities of these religions and
the “groupthink” mentality that often exists
among members, why are they conducting
themselves in the same way? By taking the
route that officials of the Church have tradi-
tionally taken (aggressively chasing young re-
cruits), atheism just seems like another belief
system vying for whomever it can convince, as
opposed to the enlightened, intellectual aura
which it strives to exude.
This leads me to discuss another issue:
My column has little to do with proving the
existence of God. As a matter of fact, if I could
prove the existence of God with one column, I’d
have to charge a fee.
the militant behavior of atheists. Atheists do
not believe in God. Yet, despite the fact that
they have already arrived at an extremely
valuable personal conclusion, many of them
feel the additional, undying need to tell you
about why they feel the way they do and why
you should agree. I doubt Fitzpatrick can dis-
agree with that. If something does not exist,
why would anyone feel the need to militantly
preach about the entity’s non-existence? I don’t
believe in the Loch Ness monster or unicorns.
Mutty, sent an e-mail to supporters in Sep-
tember entitled, “Should children be indoc-
trinated in Maine schools?” In the message,
he claimed that if the law stood, Maine’s pub-
lic schools would include “mandatory gay
sex education” in their curricula.
Mutty’s statement is blatantly false, but
his lies were perpetuated in television and
radio commercials, as well as in Catholic
churches. Apparently, no one took the time
to read the bill, which states nothing about
education. No one read the state educational
statutes, which do not require any form of
Without proper basic investigation by the press,
misleading words can have serious consequences
towards political outcomes.
sex education in public schools, either.
Except for Bill Nemitz, a columnist for
the Portland Press Herald. In his Sept. 11
column, “Gay marriage critic’s e-mail fails
the test,” he debunked all of Mutty’s claims
about same-sex marriage being taught in
schools through a simple reading of the law.
As straightforward as it was to realize that
Mutty’s claims would never become reality,
the frequent advertisements and a 12-min-
ute video shown in lieu of a homily in all
Catholic churches in Maine in October as
mandated by Bishop Richard Malone, seem
to have scared a significant number of voters
into thinking their children would be taught
explicitly about “gay sex” in schools, which
Subsequently, I don’t waste my time writing
columns, paying for advertising campaigns
or actively “enlightening” my peers about
my thoughts.
According to Fitzpatrick, it seems as if athe-
ism has three main components: “a dedication
to science, freedom of thought and a firm trust
in humanity.” Sadly, he goes on to claim that
“religions are essentially groups of people
united by common beliefs,” and additionally
reveals how atheists, too, need to be involved
in cohesive communities.
By his own logic, are atheists not some
sort of religious group? It seems as if truly
free-thinking individuals with conclusions
rooted in science would probably not need
much assurance and hand-holding from oth-
ers, regardless of whether or not they find
themselves within the minority. After all, Re-
publicans are a huge minority here at Brown. If
I needed a large group of like-minded students
to reassure me of my beliefs from time to
time, I probably would have abandoned ship
long ago. Atheists who claim to arrive at their
conclusions through completely logical and
was motivation enough to vote yes.
Unfortunately, Nemitz is a rare example
of journalistic integrity. We have seen the me-
dia passively accept outright lies, especially
this past summer. In August, Sarah Palin be-
gan a nasty rumor that proposed health care
reform bills would create so-called “death
panels” that would “decide, based on a sub-
jective judgment of their ‘level of productiv-
ity in society,’ whether (an individual is) wor-
thy of health care.” Her words were repeat-
ed over and over again across the media and
around the country.
Now, it’s important to note that news out-
lets all followed Palin’s words with respons-
es from Democratic spokespeople attempt-
ing to set the record straight. The problem
is that the media present the two sides as
equally legitimate by not following up any of
their quotations from speakers with an anal-
ysis of the content.
If you read one article claiming, “The
health care bill will set up death panels to de-
termine when your family members stop be-
ing ‘worth’ paying for,” and another reading,
“The health care bill will not set up death pan-
els and instead will allow insurance coverage
of appointments to discuss end-of-life issues
between a patient and her doctor,” it is not im-
Monday, November 16, 2009 | Page 7
practical means should be the last organiza-
tion that actually needs a support group or
a community in order to help them digest
their decision.
My last point of contention with this grow-
ing militant atheist movement has to do with
the binary between science and God. Fitzpat-
rick mentioned that atheists are dedicated to
science. Although this statement is rather
ambiguous, is this indicating that religious
individuals are not? Isaac Newton and Galileo
happened to be very strong Christians. Were
they not also dedicated to science?
From my general understanding, it seems
as if both science and religion require sizable
leaps of faith in order for the student to truly
accept whatever it is that is being taught. In-
stead of separating them from each other, we
should research both aggressively and hope to
find ways in which both spheres can coexist.
Once again, this column has nothing to
do with why God exists and why atheists are
wrong. As a matter of fact, my own religious
beliefs are not too well-defined, and I know I
have far more research to do on the matter
before I can identify as anything. However,
the clear contradictions, ironies and almost
humorous peculiarities that exist within the
modern day atheist movement certainly do
not make me feel “good without God.”
Anish Mitra ’10 is an economics
concentrator from Queens, NY. He can be
reached at anish_mitra@brown.edu.
mediately obvious which view is more correct.
But with even a basic reading of the proposed
legislation, it is clear that no such organization
as a “death panel” was ever suggested.
Without proper basic investigation by the
press, misleading words can have serious
consequences toward political outcomes.
It’s much harder to retroactively correct the
public’s understanding of an issue than to
initially report it correctly. Rumors spread
rapidly on the Internet, and responsible re-
porting could reduce the number of those
rumors that are completely false.
Furthermore, Internet reporting can be
inaccurate for many reasons. Many of the
news sources online who claim to be cred-
ible are actually just opinionated bloggers,
and there’s no particular reason we should
take their thoughts seriously. Quotations
from politicians are often taken out of con-
text online, which is unfair to the speakers
and can lead to the spread of misinformation.
We should be hesitant to accept unqualified
quotations or statements online or in other
media forms.
The American need for instant online in-
formation has damaged journalistic integri-
ty by giving reporters the choice between a
fast story and an accurate story. We should
never be forced to accept unfounded claims
without clarifying information just so that we
can get them sooner. The consequences are
far too dangerous.
Kate Fritzsche ’10 voted no on Question 1
in Maine. She can be reached at
katherine_fritzsche@brown.edu.
 Today
The Brown Daily Herald
bears on ice
5 Birdfish | Matthew Weiss
c a l e n da r
Today, November 16
4 pm — David Rohde ’90: “The Rise
Of The New Taliban,” List 120
8 pm — “The Play About The Baby,”
T.F. Green Hall
menu
Sharpe Refectory
Lunch — Chicken Fingers with Dip-
ping Sauces, Vegetarian Submarine
Sandwich, Gyro Sandwich
Dinner — Roast Beef Au Jus, Maca-
roni and Cheese, Sauteed Green Beans
with Mushrooms
crossword
4 Yeasayer, Javelin rock RISD auditorium to day to m o r r o w
W. hoops falls to city rival Friars
5 59 / 36
Monday, November 16, 2009
52 / 33
Page 8
comics
Dot Comic | Eshan Mitra and Brendan Hainline
tuesday, November 17
4 pm — Brown University Commu-
nity Council Meeting, Brown/RISD
Hillel
6 PM — A Debate On Immigration
Reform, Barus and Holley 166
Cabernet Voltaire | Abe Pressman
Verney-Woolley Dining Hall
Lunch — Bacon Ranch Chicken
Sandwich, Baked Macaroni and
Cheese, Enchilada Bar
Dinner — Italian Meatballs with
Pasta, Pizza Rustica, Italian Cous-
cous
Fruitopia | Andy Kim
Hippomaniac | Mat Becker
STW |Jingtao Huang
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