Daily Herald the Brown

vol. cxlv, no. 99 | Wednesday, October 27, 2010 | Serving the community daily since 1891

M. soccer Pop icon speaks about

wins Tues. gay Israeli experience
night game
By Zack Bahr
Sports Editor
With fog thick in the air, the weather
may have been a little reminiscent of
home for defender David Walls ’11,
who hails from England, at the No.
13 men’s soccer game Tuesday night.
Brown (10-1-3) battled through the
thick air to pick up a 2-0 victory over
Holy Cross (3-10-3).
SPORTS
“We’re used to training in the
rain, and we’re used to training in
the wind,” Walls said. “We have fun
whenever we play.”
Bruno welcomed back forward
Jon Okafor ’11 from a hamstring
injury. He stayed in the game just
By Katherine Sola
Contributing Writer
“When I’m performing, I love to
see a gay couple, next to a straight
couple, next to a religious couple —
all experiencing the same energy,”
Ivri Lider told an audience of about
40 Israelis, students and community
members at Brown/RISD Hillel last
night.
The gay pop star, one of the most
popular musicians in Israel, told The
Herald that he does not consider
himself an “official gay activist.”
Rather, when people from different
backgrounds listen to his music
and “experience (their) emotions
in those lyrics, that’s my activism,”
he said.
Lider spoke about becoming fa-
mous and coming out publicly after
the release of his second album. He
also sang three songs in Hebrew
and English.
Lider stressed that “Israel is a
very liberal country” and the leader
of gay rights in the Middle East.
Only religious marriage ceremonies
can be performed in Israel. But gay
couples who are married abroad
are granted a marriage certificate,
which gives them the same rights
and benefits as a heterosexual mar-
ried couples. Gay Israelis serve in
the military and adopt the biologi-
cal children of their partners. Lider
said that he had no trouble getting
an extended visa for his American
boyfriend.
When asked about coming out,
Lider said he “was the first major Rachel Kaplan / Herald
Israeli pop star Ivri Lider performed and spoke about religion and
continued on page 3 sexuality in his home country.

1,700 students receive free flu vaccines on campus

long enough to score the first goal
at the 28:12 mark. After Walls drilled
the ball at the net from the top of
the box, midfielder Evan Coleman
’12 finessed the ball to Okafor, who
put it away.
“Tonight Brown made things dif-
ficult for us, especially early in the
game,” said Holy Cross Head Coach
Ted Priestly. “Getting used to the
speed and level that Brown plays at
was hard for us.”
Brown dominated the attack on
the field throughout the entire game.
The Bears took an astounding 28
shots on goal, compared to a mere six
by the Crusaders. But an almost un-
believable showing by the Holy Cross
continued on page 5
By Hannah Abelow
Contributing Writer
During the past two weeks, University
Health Services held 12 free walk-in
flu shot clinics at Josiah’s.
According to Lynn Dupont, assis-
tant director of Health Services, em-
ployees administered approximately
1,700 vaccines at the Jo’s clinics. This
number is significantly lower than
the number administered last year,
but is in line with the number of flu
shots administered in 2007 and 2008,
she added.
In previous years, the clinics aver-
aged between 1,600 and 1,800 student
flu shots, but in 2009, they provided
2,675 seasonal flu shots and 2,816
H1N1 vaccines. This year’s vaccine
protects against the H1N1 flu and two
other strains of influenza.
The gap between this year and
last year can be attributed to last
year’s H1N1 pandemic and the
massive attention the media paid to
influenza and flu vaccines, Dupont
said. She emphasized that last year,
not this year, was the anomaly.
“This was really on course with
what we’ve done,” she said. “I’ve been
doing these clinics for years. If you
take last year out of it, we’re abso-
lutely consistent with prior years.”
When asked whether they got
the flu shot, many students who re-
sponded that they had not also said
they simply do not like vaccines.
“I don’t like the idea of not know-
ing what they are putting into my
body. I’m just against it,” said Chris-
topher Schiesser ’13.
Others worried that side effects of
the vaccine could interfere with their
commitments on campus. “I’ve been
told that sometimes if you get the flu
shot, there are repercussions of get-
ting flu symptoms,” Sami Horneff ’12
said. “I’m in a show right now, and I
don’t have time to be sick.”
Daniel McGill ’14 was one of the
students who received a flu shot at
Jo’s during this year’s clinics. He said
he got the flu shot because “who
wants to get sick? Sickness spreads
so easily on a campus like this.” Mc-
Gill also said that he had been more
inclined to get the flu shot because
it was available for free.
“I knew that the flu shot clinics
were going on because I got an e-
mail. I was going to do it but I just
totally forgot,” said Grace Dunham
’14, adding that she would be inter-
ested in getting a flu shot if more
clinics were offered in the future.
continued on page 3

Med student sisters earn Peace Prize nod

By Sarah Mancone
Senior Staff Writer
Anyone who watched the shootings at
Columbine on the news likely looked
on in shock at how something so hor-
rible could have happened in a school.
FEATURE
It was out of this shock that two teen-
age sisters decided to use their voices
and take action.
Jessica Marrero ’07 MD’11 and
Shannon Marrero ’10 MD’14, of
Gainesville, Fla., decided there was
“urgency for something to change,”
Jessica said, and they took it on them-
selves to make that happen.
“We had been watching all of the
school shootings on the news,” Jessica
Courtesy of Jessica Marrero
said. It was “a constant conversation at
Sisters Jessica Marrero ’07 MD’11 and Shannon Marrero ’10 MD’14 the dinner table. We didn’t want to live
created a nationally acclaimed program for teens as teens themselves. like that in fear and anger anymore.”
inside
Now, the Marreros’ efforts to re-
verse this negative trend in schools
have grown from a dinner table con-
versation in Gainesville to a nomina-
tion for a Nobel Peace Prize.
Getting started
Jessica and Shannon made that
change by starting the Partners in Ad-
olescent Lifestyle Support, or PALS,
program when they were 15 and 13
years old, while attending Buchholz
High School and Fort Clarke Middle
School, respectively.
The fact that the sisters went to
different schools enhanced the pro-
gram’s development. “With our joint
efforts we were really able to expand
this program,” Jessica said.
The process of getting the pro-
grams integrated into the different
schools varied for the two sisters
because of different school climates.
“I went to an unusual school,”
Shannon said, of her high school. It
was a public school that had an In-
ternational Baccalaureate program
within it, which led to a “very segre-
gated dual education,” she said.
The student population was 94
percent African American, yet the stu-
dents in the IB program were almost
all white. “I wanted to unite the com-
munity,” Shannon said. As a person
of Hispanic heritage, Shannon found
the separation of these two spheres
“a little bit uncomfortable.”
Despite the separation, there
never was any outward animosity
between the two groups, which made
people more hesitant in accepting this
program. It brought out a lot of race
issues and caused a lot of controversy,
Shannon said, when convincing the
two groups that they were part of one
community.
continued on page 2

News.......1–3 Primary care Lost weekend Failed system?

Sports........5 Medical School M. Water Polo Stephen Wicken GS
Editorial......6 department receives headed west and explores the problems
Opinions.....7 family care grants lost all five games of “great expectations”
Today..........8 Campus news, 3 SPORTS, 5 Opinions, 7

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

Page 2 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Wednesday, October 27, 2010

C ampus N EWS “Everyone goes through times as they’re growing up where

they feel isolated or alone.” — Jessica Marrero ’07 MD’11

Sisters give a voice to troubled teens through school-based program

continued from page 1
Shannon said that Jessica’s school
was a more typical high school with
more social problems than racial ones.
According to Jessica, there had not
been too much trouble getting the pro-
gram into her high school, and “the
school was surprisingly supportive.”
The Sapphire Award
In order to fund the program, the
Marreros wrote a grant proposal to
receive the Sapphire Award from the
Blue Foundation for a Healthy Florida,
a philanthropic affiliate of Blue Cross
and Blue Shield of Florida. This is
an “awards program that recognizes
excellence in community health in
Florida,” said Susan Wildes, assistant
director of the Blue Foundation.
PALS received the three nomina-
tions required for consideration for
this award, and the health care profes-
sionals chose PALS as the winner. The
$100,000 award was given to help the
program “expand into other schools
in the county” as well as “develop a
manual to share with other schools” to
start their own programs, Wildes said.
The PALS program stood out by
demonstrating excellence, Wildes
said. The grant had extensive data
supporting it and good analysis of
that data, as well as having partner-
ships with local schools, colleges and
businesses, she added.
“They identified what they needed
and went out and got those resourc-
es,” Wildes said.
Program expansion
Since its creation, the program
has grown significantly by expand-
ing into more schools. Involved
sudoku
schools include A-Quinn Jones
Center, Buchholz High School,
Eastside High School, Fort Clarke
Middle School and Gainesville High
School. It is overseen by health care
professionals from Shands Vista Be-
havioral Health, associated with the
University of Florida Health Science
Center.
“It started out as a teen violence
and suicide peer group,” Jessica said,
but now it also includes groups for
students with chronic illnesses and
those that have experienced abuse.
There are three main compo-
nents to the program, said Susan
Garcia, PALS program director. One
includes intervention services such
as crisis inter vention, individual
counseling and group counseling.
Another component is the edu-
cational prevention piece, which in-
volves going into the classrooms and
discussing topics such as suicides
and violence with the students, as
well as eating disorders and sub-
stance abuse. After the shooting
at Virginia Tech, PALS counselors
went to the classrooms and involved
the students in a discussion that
served as “kind of like a debriefing,”
Garcia said.
Leadership is the third compo-
nent, with the program specifically
focusing on altruistic leadership in
the community. The program does
“whatever we can do to promote a
sense of community, of inclusive-
ness,” Garcia said. They often look
to the “popular” students to provide
an altruistic stance, which other stu-
dents are likely to follow, she said.
Specific programs cater to the
differences between school climates,
she added.
Seeing the effects
So far, the program has made “a
great difference in children’s lives,”
Garcia said.
It is a “tremendous support sys-
tem for all the students,” said Barbara
TenBieg, a PALS counselor at Fort
Clarke Middle School. “It permeates
the entire campus,” she said, add-
ing that one can see the students us-
ing the tools that they have learned
through PALS within the school set-
ting.
A program for students with dia-
betes has led to significant improve-
ments in the health of students. Prior
to the existence of the program, 12
students with diabetes had each
missed around half of the school
year due to illness-related absences.
After learning how to manage their
diabetes, not one of those students
missed any school days related to
their illness, Wildes said.
There have also been “no suicides
or school shootings” in any of the
PALS schools since the beginning
of the program, Wildes said.
“The whole climate of the school
is more positive,” TenBieg said. Each
student has “learned how to be a
friend,” she added.
“Instead of silencing the teen and
reprimanding them,” Jessica said, the
program gives the student “a voice
to explain what the real issue was
behind the behavior.”
By meeting weekly with students
who are in crisis and are in danger of
harming themselves or other people,
PALS gives the support the students
need, Garcia said.
Students are educated by the
schools on how to be mentally and
physically healthy, Wildes said.
“Everyone goes through times
as they’re growing up where they
feel isolated or alone,” Jessica said.
“I definitely felt that way,” but also
“felt in a strong position personally
to address the need I was seeing,”
she added.
From Nikki to Nobel
Since its development, the pro-
gram has been gaining publicity as
it has expanded. Notable supporters
of PALS include Rep. Cliff Stearns,
Sen. William Nelson and the lead in
the movie adaptation of Hairspray,
Nikki Blonsky.
“She’s become a huge advocate for
PALS,” Jessica said, and has “taken on
herself as the kind of really amazing
face for PALS.”
Blonsky “has experienced mar-
ginalization,” Shannon said, and as
a result felt an “immediate draw to
the program.”
“The more attention we can draw,
the better,” Shannon added.
This publicity is certainly taking
off, which was made most apparent
in the program’s nomination for the
2010 Nobel Peace Prize, ultimately
awarded to Chinese dissident Liu
Xiaobo. The nomination came from
the Blue Foundation but had a large
number of supporting nominators
including Stearns and Nelson.
“My initial reaction was a kind of
disbelief and shock,” Jessica said.
When she was able to wrap her
head around it, Jessica said she felt
extreme pride in the program and
was really excited that the idea she
and Shannon came up with is being
recognized by a wider audience. Jes-
sica added that she hopes it spurs
other teens to start similar programs.
“It really should be given to a
whole group of people,” Shannon said,
acknowledging that the program is
able to run because of the school,
the donors, the hospital and people
involved like Blonsky.
The members of the program felt
very honored by the nomination, Gar-
cia said, adding that the award could
not be given to one or two people. “We
did this as a community,” she said.
Garcia said that she hopes it
brings these issues to the forefront.
“When you look at some of the trag-
edies in the news right now, kids are
hurting,” she said, and “act out in
desperate ways which can lead to very
tragic results.”
Going national
When asked if they would like to
see programs like PALS go national,
the Marreros, Wildes and TenBieg
all emphatically responded in the af-
firmative.
“It is hugely important and incred-
ibly timely,” Jessica said. Many teens
are still not being reached out to, she
said, and programs like PALS provide
“outlets that can lead to positivity and
self exploration that don’t need to lead
to violence, suicide and anger and
fear.”
“Growing up is hard to do,” Wil-
des said. “If you can get that one kid
healthy… they’ll take some of that
home and share some of those skills
with their family.”
With the recent economic down-
turn, families are less able to take care
of their children’s needs, Garcia said.
This can lead to students being no
longer able to do programs like cheer-
leading or soccer that enable them to
make social connections and keep
busy. Without activities like these, it
can be very isolating and depressing,
she said.
Often adolescents do not talk to
their parents about their problems,
Garcia said. PALS provides trained
counselors who are separate from a
student’s friends, families and teach-
ers.
“Our goal locally is to have this
program in all schools in our county,”
Garcia said.
This is definitely a problem that
is not confined to only Gainesville,
Jessica said. In terms of nationalizing
PALS, Jessica said she “would do any-
thing… in order to be involved and
get that started.”
The sisters also encourage other
students to start programs like PALS.
“People have so many interesting and
exciting ideas,” Jessica said, adding
that students “would be surprised
how many people have been waiting
for an idea like this.”
Jessica’s advice for students is that
they should believe in their ideas and
vocalize them. Shannon added that
students need the direct involvement
of the community and have to explain
to people how they are affected by
problems in their schools in order
for this to work.
Currently, both of the Marreros
are attending Alpert Medical School.
This does not allow the sisters to be as
directly involved as they once were.
“I get updates,” Jessica said, but now
she is more an “enthusiastic fan.”
“I am so impressed at how expan-
sive it’s continued to be,” she said,
adding that she gives “all the credit
recently to those who are running
the program now.”
“I check up on it,” Shannon said,
but “it’s really self-sufficient.”
Their input has not been forgotten,
though. Wildes said that the sisters
are “what every parent wants their
child to be,” adding that they are in-
credibly selfless and “just amazing.”

Daily Herald
the Brown

Editorial Phone: 401.351.3372 | Business Phone: 401.351.3260

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Wednesday, October 27, 2010
C ampus N EWS
Grants to improve primary care medicine
By Alejandro Dauguet
Contributing Writer
The Alpert Medical School’s Depart-
ment of Family Medicine received
four federal grants totaling more
than $4.4 million in September. This
funding, spaced out in $900,000 incre-
ments over five years, will go toward
improving family medical practice
alongside further education and re-
search.
The awards, announced by the
Health Resources and Services Ad-
ministration of the Department of
Health and Human Services, will be
allocated in different ways, said Dean
of Medicine and Biological Sciences
Edward Wing. One grant will involve
research and faculty development,
another will go to the Med School
and the last two will cover residency
education.
The grants “all deal with different
Musician muses on gay life in Israel at Hillel
continued from page 1
pop artist to do something like
that in Israel” and that his record
label was “scared shitless.” His fans
were “very lovely, very accepting,”
he said.
Lider told The Herald that people
were often surprised that Israel is
“different to what they see in the
news” and that he is happy to have
“opened people’s eyes.” Israel stands
in contrast to the Palestinian terri-
tories, he said, where gay Palestin-
ians are in an “impossible situation”
because they will be persecuted at
home and can be jailed as illegal
residents in Israel.
But there are also fervent op-
ponents to gay rights within Israel,
mostly from the ultra-religious com-
munity, Lider said. Ultra-orthodox
areas based on curriculum models
within the school,” Wing said. “How-
ever, they’re all equally important.”
More specifically, the grants are
intended to change the curriculum at
the Med School for students studying
primary care, improve education for
residents, attract new teachers and
improve communication and relations
with health care providers in the area.
Wing emphasized the Med
School’s focus on primary care as
an overarching theme.
“Primary care is the future of
medicine,” he said. “We have de-em-
phasized primary care in this country.
Sixty percent of doctors in England
provide immediate care for people in
their region. The access is very good.
In this country, many people have to
go to expensive specialists that don’t
know the patients as well. Primary
care is much more cost-effective and
can pick up problems earlier.”
Jews often object to his perfor-
mances.
He performs in Jerusalem at least
once a month and described the city
as “interesting and a little scary,”
he said. He has spoken with a sup-
port group for gay, religious Jews in
Jerusalem and a friend made him a
“pride yarmulke.”
He said he hopes his music forms
part of “a world that erases a little bit
of boundaries between people and
between countries,” though he does
not consider his work to be “obvious
political writing.”
Lider drew comparisons between
the gay experience in Israel and
America, describing his home city of
Tel Aviv as “pretty gay,” on par with
New York City or San Francisco.
Israel is so small that the culture of
acceptance prevalent in Tel Aviv has
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Page 3
“Primary care is the future of medicine.”
— Edward Wing, Dean of Medicine and Biological Services
More free flu shot clinics to
The application process for the be offered in coming weeks
grants was a long process, Wing said,
and it took HRSA months to make a continued from page 1 the vaccine can have it.”
decision regarding the awards. She also said there will be more
The grants will stimulate educa- She also said she had received flu on-campus clinics during the week
tion in the Med School’s facilities as shots in past years. of Nov. 1, including a Nov. 4 clinic in
well. “The funding will help educate “This is one of the first years in the Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Cen-
more students to care in community a long time that we’ve had an ample ter. After those clinics, students who
health centers which provide primary supply of vaccines, so we want to use wish to get the flu shot will be able
care,” Wing said. This is especially it,” Dupont said. “We want to make to get it by appointment at Health
influential for many of Brown’s cur- sure that every student who wants Services.
rent and aspiring medical students,
as “PLMEs comprise 50 percent of
the medical school’s class,” he added.
Wing said he was hopeful that the
grants would improve family practice.
“These grants will help us teach bet-
ter and are more innovative in helping
us to design teaching offices.” The
Department of Family Medicine,
based at Memorial Hospital of Rhode
Island, will be able to benefit directly
from the increased funding toward
such methods, he said.
permeated the rural areas, he said.
He contrasted this with the isolation
of a gay teenager in Omaha or Iowa.
Lider said Israel’s small size and
support groups explain why there
are few incidences of gay teen sui-
cide, adding that recent suicides of
LGBTQ American youth are “mind-
blowing.”
T H E N OA H K R I E G E R ’ 9 3 M E M O R I A L L E C T U R E
An Afternoon
with Joel Klein
Chancellor of
New York City
Department of
Education
5:00 PM
Thursday
Public Schools
October 28, 2010
Education Reform
De Ciccio
Family Auditorium
(Salomon 101)
Children First
Free and Open
to the Public
Salomon Center for Teaching Sponsored by A. Alfred Taubman Center
is wheelchair accessible for Public Policy and American Institutions
401-863-2201 http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Taubman_Center/
SportsWednesday
The Brown Daily Herald

Wednesday, October 27, 2010 | Page 5

W. Golf

Team concludes season second in tourney

By Sam Rubinroit
Sports Staff Writer
The women’s golf team concluded
its fall season on Monday, earn-
ing second place in the Sacred
Heart Invitational. Bruno, with
a two-day score of 643 (330, 313)
placed behind only Yale (623) in
Jonathan Bateman / Herald the ten-team field.
Kevin Gavey ’13 battles Holy Cross players for the ball.
“We came ahead of teams that
have been ranked above us in the
Bears defeat Crusaders 2-0, past, which I think is a great way
for us to end our season,” said
the Bears finish in the top ten in
every match on its fall schedule.
The finish on Monday marked
Bruno’s second in the top two,
after capturing the title in the
Northern Illinois University Hus-
kie Classic earlier this month.
“I think this fall we showed a
lot more potential than we have
in the past, and that will set us
up for a better spring season,”
Tuohy said. “Placing in the top
ten consistently showed us that
we could beat a lot of teams that
One aspect of their game the
team needs to work on as they
break until March is improving
their per formance in opening
rounds. In all but one of their
tournaments, the Bears finished
higher than they stood after the
first day. The team would often dig
itself into a hole in the first round,
and would be forced to claw its
way out the next day.
“I think we have had a lot of
times where our first round wasn’t
as low as we wanted it to be, and

prepare for Quakers on Sat. Susan Restrepo ’11.

continued from page 1
defense held Bruno to one point in
the first half, clearing three Brown
shots in a matter of 10 seconds.
“Give Holy Cross credit. They
must have cleared the ball off the line
six or seven times,” said Brown Head
Coach Pat Laughlin. “That really at-
tests to their never-say-die attitude.”
Midfielder Jay Hayward ’12 head-
ed the ball over the Holy Cross goalie
early in the second, giving him his
first goal of the season.
“I’ve been struggling a lot getting
in and making the team,” Hayward
said. “My teammates have really
been helping and pushing me.”
A notable addition to Brown’s
squad is former player and new as-
sistant coach Cory Gibbs ’01. Gibbs
helped the Bears to an Ivy champi-
onship and Elite Eight appearance
in 2000. He was also a First-Team
All-American selection that year.
Gibbs, who currently plays for the
New England Revolution, was a 2006
member of the FIFA World Cup team
but was replaced after being injured.
“It’s great to have a person who
is so passionate about soccer and so
passionate about Brown,” Laughlin
said. “Our team can do nothing but
learn from a guy who was a great
college player and still is a great pro-
fessional player.”
Bruno travels to Philadelphia this
Saturday for a 7:30 p.m. matchup
against the No. 14 Penn Quakers.
The game will be a major factor
in who wins this year’s Ivy crown.
Brown, 2-1-1 in the Ivy League, trails
Penn and No. 20 Princeton (both 4-0)
in the standings.
Restrepo shot the low score for
the Bears with a two-day 158 (83,
75), earning her eighth place indi-
vidually. Megan Tuohy ’12 placed
10th individually as Bruno’s sec-
ond top scorer, shooting 160 (82,
78). Sarah Guarascio ’11 had a
consistent tournament, shooting
161 (80, 81) to earn 13th individu-
ally. Carly Arison ’12 finished at
166 (87, 79) and Heather Arison
’12 carded a two-day 171 (85, 86).
“I think our team dynamic is
better than it has ever been be-
fore,” Restrepo said. “You just try
to do the best you can, and you
know that if you play well that’s
going to help the team.”
That team dynamic has helped
are out there.”
Bruno has seen strong perfor-
mances throughout the year from
a variety of golfers — three dif-
ferent players have turned in the
low score in Bruno’s five different
matches. Tuohy led the Bears in
their first two matches, but in the
third Carly Arison earned medal-
ist honors. Tuohy carded the low
score in Bruno’s fourth match
and Restrepo led the Bears on
Monday.
“Megan has been the leader
in more than half of our tourna-
ments, and that comes from her
competitive drive,” said Head
Coach Danielle Griffiths. “That
made everybody else step up and
be more consistent.”
then we came back in the second
round,” Tuohy said. “If we could
put two solid rounds together, I
think that would really improve
our finish in a tournament.”
As the Bears enter the offsea-
son, Griffiths encourages her play-
ers not to be passive and urges
them to enter college tournaments
even as the squad continues to
workout and train as a team. She
said she hopes her players do not
view the break as an endpoint, but
rather as a sort of halftime.
“I look at it as we are in the
middle of our season, not that the
fall season has ended,” Griffiths
said. “With women’s college golf,
everything counts, so our spring
is just as important as our fall.”

M. Water Polo

Bruno goes winless in

West Coast matchups
By Garret Johnson
Sports Staff Writer
It wasn’t exactly a dream vacation.
The No. 20 men’s water polo team
(14-9) dropped all five of its games
at the Santa Clara Rodeo Invitational
last weekend.
Bruno lost to No. 15 California
Baptist University (24-5) 9-3, No. 11
University of California at Davis (15-
7) 9-6, Air Force (9-13) 11-10, No. 13
Santa Clara University (17-9) 16-9,
and No. 7 University of the Pacific
(12-6) 16-9.
Despite the five losses and the
lingering jet lag, Head Coach Felix
Mercado saw the trip as a learning
experience for his squad, and said his
team was competitive in every game.
“We didn’t go out there to go un-
defeated, we went out there with no
pressure, just trying to get better,”
Mercado said. “There’s no question
that we are a better team because of
the trip, regardless of going 0-5.”
The Brown coach was hesitant to
point out individual performances, but
noted that the team as a whole “saw
how good we can be.”
“There’s 12 guys that saw playing
time out there, and every one of them
contributed,” Mercado said. “I saw a
lot of good things from a lot of people.”
With just under six weeks left in
the season, the pressure on the Bears
is not letting up. Mercado’s squad will
face the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (11-7) on Thursday for
Senior Night, held at Wheaton Col-
lege. Following the MIT game, the
Bears will compete in the Ivy League
Championships, held at Princeton this
weekend.
Mercado was cautiously optimis-
tic about his team’s chances in the
tournament. He expects to face Har-
vard (8-15) in the semifinals. If Brown
can win its first round game, No. 18
Princeton (13-8), seeded first in the
Ivy League, looms as a likely finals
opponent.
“Princeton’s going to be the team
to beat,” Mercado said.
He believes his team can handle
anyone in the Ivy League, but knows
that they have to avoid careless errors
to play with some of the best teams in
college water polo.
“We’re going to have to play solid
defense and protect the ball,” Mercado
said. “There’s eight to ten teams that
all have the same vision and can all
make it. The reality is, it’s a gauntlet.”
Even with the challenges ahead,
Mercado is sure that the Bears are
capable of victory.
“We’re going to show up to Princ-
eton looking to win a championship,”
Mercado said. “That’s why we do this.”
Editorial & Letters
The Brown Daily Herald

Page 6 | Wednesday, October 27, 2010

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

Concentration DUGs
combine social interaction
with intellectual stimulation
To the Editor:
It seems like Chelsea Waite ’11
missed out on a big part of that
highly-vaunted Brown Education
(“Classrooms should create learn-
ing communities among students,”
Oct. 25). In her column, she never
acknowledges the existence nor the
efforts of the concentration DUGs,
which work hard to provide social
settings and events for concentra-
tors to mingle and experience some
extracurricular activities together.
She might have enjoyed her four-
year stretch here a bit more had
she met the communities that form
around these intellectually stimulat-
ing seminars, and I can only hope
that anyone unfamiliar with them at
least swing by a meeting or two to
see if they can find the same.
Also, it never hurts to actually
be friendly and an engaging per-
sonality regardless of whether or
not there’s an infrastructure in
place for concentration-bonding.
Smiling, memorizing the results of
the semester-starting name games
and being invested in the material
isn’t enough; friendships are made
of more than just mutual interests,
and the two may end up, depend-
ing on the people in question, being
mutually exclusive.
Nicholas Morley ’13 S am R osenfeld
Oct. 25

e d i to r i a l

Letters, please! Play it safe

Earlier this month, the Trojan Sexual Health Report To get us up to speed, Health Services’ website
letters@browndailyherald.com Card ranked the University fifth in the nation in a brown.edu/healthed is an easy first stop for detailed
study of sexual health on college campuses. information on sexual health and pleasure. Students
While Health Services Educator Naomi Ninneman can also e-mail SHAG@brown.edu for confidential
told the editorial page board she didn’t know if the answers to sex questions or make an appointment
report card was comprehensive and was unsure at Health Services to talk to a health educator. And
t h e b r o w n d a i ly h e r a l d exactly what factors Trojan took into account, we no one should feel as if he or she was supposed to
Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Deputy Managing Editors Senior Editors see the survey as a recognition of Health Services’ know the answers already. “Learning about your
George Miller Chaz Kelsh Emmy Liss Ben Hyman impressive efforts to spread sexual health awareness. sexuality and your sexual health is a lifelong process,”
Joanna Wohlmuth Seth Motel These include increased programming, distribution Ninneman said.
editorial Business of condoms and other safe-sex supplies, a detailed — We may be at an elite institution, but that doesn’t
Anne Speyer Arts & Culture Editor General Managers Office Manager website, partnerships with Residential Peer Leaders, mean we’re immune to STIs.
Suzannah Weiss Arts & Culture Editor
Claire Kiely Shawn Reilly extended Health Services hours and the brand-new We don’t believe anyone actually thinks they’re
Sara Luxenberg Features Editor
Katie Koh
Brian Mastroianni Features Editor
Directors peer-to-peer Sexual Health Awareness Group. immune, but we want to mention it just to be sure.
Brigitta Greene Metro Editor
Ben Schreckinger Metro Editor Kelly Wess Sales But we cannot rest on our laurels. There’s only Condoms and other safe-sex supplies are available in
Matthew Burrows Finance
Sydney Ember News Editor
Danielle Marshak Asst. Finance
so much that Health Services can do to improve dorms, at Health Services and in the gender-neutral
Zack Bahr Sports Editor
Tony Bakshi Sports Editor Margaret Watson Client Relations our sexual health and happiness. Ultimately it is up bathroom in Faunce House. And 10 cents per condom
Ashley McDonnell Asst. Sports Editor Christiana Stephenson Alumni Relations to us to seek out the information, care and safe-sex is a pretty good deal.
Managers
Graphics & Photos supplies that we need. Lest we become complacent Health Services also offers testing for STIs and
Stephen Lichenstein Graphics Editor Isha Gulati Local Sales
Arjun Vaidya Local Sales in the glory of Trojan’s report, here are two things will begin offering free HIV testing sessions Friday
Alex Yuly Graphics Editor
Stephanie London Photo Editor Rajiv Iyengar National Sales that we should all remember: afternoons starting Nov. 5, by appointment. Annual
Max Monn Photo Editor Aditi Bhatia University Sales
Jared Davis University Sales — We may be smart, but that doesn’t mean we HIV testing is recommended for anyone who’s sexu-
Hilary Rosenthal Photo Editor
Jonathan Bateman Sports Photo Editor Trenten Nelson-Rivers Recruiter Sales know everything about sexual health. ally active, Ninneman said.
Lauren Bosso Business Operations
Jesse Morgan Asst. Sports Photo Editor
Jilyn Chao Business Analytics Not everyone comes to Brown with extensive Brown is lucky to have such high-quality sexual
Production Margot Grinberg Credit and Collections sexual health knowledge or a background in sex health services, but unless students take advantage
Kelly Mallahan Copy Desk Chief Alexander Carrere Special Projects
Joe Milner Asst. Copy Desk Chief education. As Ninneman said, “it’s a big mix, every- of the resources, they’re almost meaningless. It’s up
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Opinions
The Brown Daily Herald
A call for investment integrity
BY Haley Kossek
Guest Columnist
This coming week, students are joining with
hotel workers across the country to declare a
national week of action against HEI Hotels and
Resorts.
We are coming together to protest the un-
just working conditions at hotels managed by
HEI, the country’s seventh-largest hotel man-
agement company. Like several other universi-
ties, Brown is invested in HEI, meaning that it
is implicated in the company’s ongoing work-
ers’ rights abuses and has an obligation to act
to end them.
This is not a new revelation. Workers and
students began organizing against HEI two
years ago. After consistent pressure from stu-
dents and a recommendation by the Univer-
sity’s Advisory Committee on Corporate Re-
sponsibility in Investment Policies (ACCRIP),
in February 2010 President Ruth Simmons
publicly wrote a letter to the company’s CEO,
saying, “if there were to be any truth to the
claims of the union and others that workers at
some of your properties have been subjected
to intimidation by managers due to their pro-
union activities, this would be a matter of deep
concern and contrary to our standards for in-
vesting” (“Simmons warns HEI over rights,”
Mar. 19).
On paper, at least, the University is com-
mitted to the principle that it should not invest
in practices that violate workers’ rights to or-
ganize. In practice, in the eight months since
Simmons wrote her letter, evidence to verify
Of grade-grubbing and toe-stubbing
BY STEPHEN WICKEN
Opinions Columnist
Allow me, gentle reader, to tell you a brief
story. It happened at Yale, where I was an
MA student and first-time TA in a large lec-
ture class. My fellow TA and I had just grad-
ed and returned 100 midterms when one of
my students approached me. He radiated a
quiet fury and might have been a little intimi-
dating were he not wearing flip-flops. (It was
February.)
He half-strutted, half-waddled up to me in
a comically percussive manner, like a West-
ern gunslinger with maracas for shoes, and
thrust a blue exercise book under my nose.
“You gave me a C,” he growled.
“Yes I did,” I agreed in as even a tone as I
could manage.
“But I studied all weekend for this exam!”
“Ye-eees?”
“So I don’t understand why you gave me
a C.”
I thought about pointing out that under-
standing things didn’t appear to be one of
his stronger suits, but thought better of it.
Someone who wore flip-flops in the filthy
street-slush that passes for snow in New Ha-
ven evidently was of solid physical stock.
“Look,” I said, with that kindly authority
with which we Englishmen are born. “Let’s
sit down and go through the exam. I’ll show
you how I graded each question and you can
argue your case if you think I was unfair.”
“No, s’ok,” he muttered, before slinking
off, flip-flops beating a somber tattoo out of
the lecture hall and down the corridor.
the allegations over which she expressed con-
cern has mounted, with no corresponding Uni-
versity action to validate the integrity of her
statement.
In August, workers at the HEI-owned Em-
bassy Suites Irvine called a one-day strike in
response to management’s systematic denial
of their legal right to take breaks during their
workday. The hotel’s working conditions and
explicit orders from managers had prevented
workers from taking their daily breaks, lead-
If the University’s publicly-stated investment
standards are to be taken to have any integrity,
than it must stop funding HEI now.
ing half of the hotel’s workforce to file a com-
plaint seeking $120,000 in backpay owed as
compensation.
Since the Embassy Suites workers’ cam-
paign began, the company has threatened and
disciplined union activists. One housekeeper,
Albertina Solorio, was threatened with losing
her job for allegedly taking too long to clean a
room. Another, Teresa Lozano, was suspend-
ed after raising a question about her paycheck
with her manager. Both of these disciplinary
actions were taken after they participated
in picket lines to demand that workers be al-
lowed to take their breaks.
HEI will deny any correlation between
the company’s disciplinary actions and these
Alas, my point here is not about the atmo-
spheric dimensions of footwear choice in our
post-Havaiana age, although I suspect some-
one in a cultural studies department some-
where is writing a whole dissertation on the
topic. What concerns me is that this young
man seemed genuinely to feel that studying
material for “an entire weekend” before an
exam entitled him to a good grade. And let
me tell you this: at Brown he would have got
at least a B, no questions asked. When a stu-
dent knows he or she can turn in a piece of
When a student knows he or she can turn in
a piece of work that shows little engagement
with anything other than Wikipedia and a cup of
coffee and receive a B at the very worst, what
motivation is there to try any harder?
work that shows little engagement with any-
thing other than Wikipedia and a cup of cof-
fee and receive a B at the very worst, what
motivation is there to try any harder?
Recently the editorial board of this es-
teemed publication came out against action
on grade inflation (“Editorial: If it ain’t broke,
don’t fix it,” Oct. 18). As it happens, I agree
with the authors that the dread Princeton’s
“expectation” that no more than 35 percent
of any class should receive top grades isn’t
an ideal approach. Students deserve good
grades for different reasons and flexibility is
important.
Take a section with three students —
Wednesday, October 27, 2010 | Page 7
workers’ union activism. Brown and ACCRIP,
however, should know better than to believe
that. Last year, the committee heard evidence
regarding the firing of union leader Ferdi Lazo
at another HEI property, the Sheraton Crys-
tal City. At the time, the company adamantly
claimed that Lazo’s firing was entirely justified
and unrelated to his union activity. This June,
a settlement with the National Labor Relations
Board’s General Counsel re-instated him with
full seniority and back wages.
The Student Labor Alliance, in bringing
this information to representatives of ACCRIP
and the investment office, was assured that
the settlement rendered concerns about unfair
labor practices at the Sheraton Crystal City a
thing of the past — that only new reports of
such abuses going forward merited Universi-
ty attention. Alas, prior to this settlement, AC-
CRIP had instead maintained that, because the
Labor Relations Board had not yet responded
to these claims, it could not take action based
only on allegations.
Therein lies the brilliance of the Univer-
sity’s logic. It is unable to respond to claims
of mistreatment voiced directly by workers,
like Ferdi Lazo, Albertina Solorio and Teresa
don’t laugh, I’ve taught one myself. Imag-
ine that one student is diligent in undertak-
ing original research, another an innovative
thinker and still another a brilliant writer.
Each exemplifies the highest standards of
student work: Who is to say that one should
be penalized because it would look wrong to
give everyone an A?
To say, however, that “[g]rade inflation is
simply an indication that students are meet-
ing and exceeding professors’ expectations”
is nonsense. Academic teachers tend to be
observant (if poorly-dressed) types. If stu-
dents constantly were exceeding expecta-
tions, those expectations would change over
time. Are we being asked to believe that ev-
ery successive class of students produces
better work than its predecessor?
Unlike, say, “Glee,” the broad appeal of
the status quo isn’t hard to grasp. Students
are safe knowing that they’ll seldom have to
demonstrate much ingenuity to get their A
or — heaven forbid! — their B (which usual-
ly gets converted into an S in any case). Par-
ents expect that their increasingly exorbitant
outlays won’t come back to bite them in the
form of an under-performing child. Teach-
Lozano, because their assertions are “uncon-
firmed.” However, it is also unwilling to consid-
er these complaints once they are settled with
the NLRB — even if such settlements result in
the reinstatement of workers who were disci-
plined for their pro-union leadership, at which
point they should not be retroactively dwelled
upon. When the company again disciplines a
new group of workers starting to organize, the
primary evidence that initially exists regarding
their claims is direct testimony, which ACCRIP
rejects as “unverified” — and the cycle of in-
action and disrespect to workers begins anew.
If the University’s publicly-stated invest-
ment standards are to be taken to have any
integrity, then it must stop funding HEI now.
As Simmons wrote, anti-union intimidation of
workers is “contrary to our standards for in-
vesting,” and the records of workers’ rights
violations at the Sheraton Crystal City and Em-
bassy Suites Irvine leave no ambiguity about
whether or not HEI is in violation of those stan-
dards.
Maribel Duarte, a housekeeper at the Em-
bassy Suites Irvine, says that before work-
ers at the hotel began organizing, “we were
ignored and we were afraid to lose our jobs.
That’s why I want to have a union — so I feel
like we can speak up.”
Workers at HEI hotels across the coun-
try have been “speaking up” for the past two
years. It’s time that the Brown investment of-
fice starts to listen.
Haley Kossek ’13 is a member of the
Student Labor Alliance. She may be
contacted at haley_kossek@brown.edu
ers can “give ‘em an A, send ‘em away,” and
get back to their own absurd workloads as
researchers, writers and administrators.
In this age of budget-slashing, any move to
buck the trend at a personal or departmental
level would be dangerous: As recent events
at Middlesex University in the UK and the
University of Nevada at Reno attest, the de-
partment that alienates its “customers” puts
its own future in jeopardy.
The editorial concludes that there is “ab-
solutely no reason to do anything radical.”
Respectfully — and I mean that — I dis-
agree. Isn’t Brown supposed to be the radi-
cal of the Ivy League? The current mess of
a grading system is like a restaurant with a
binder-length menu of mediocre dishes. Ei-
ther Brown should take the letter system se-
riously, bringing in pluses and minuses and
allowing for more than just As and Bs, or it
should adopt the S/NC system completely.
Or — bear with me — we could honor the
New Curriculum and do away with grades
altogether. If Brown’s application system
is so faultlessly selective, why not remove
the temptation to pick and choose cynically
among classes and allow students to follow
their noses? As it is, the current system is
both a sop to those fixated on law school ap-
plications and an invitation to follow one’s
intellectual curiosity. I fear that it trips stu-
dents up on both tracks, regardless of foot-
wear.
Stephen Wicken GS, a fifth-year Ph.D.
candidate in the Department of History,
favors boat shoes year-round. He can be
reached at stephen_wicken@brown.edu.
 Today 5 Women’s golf scores second place to day to m o r r o w

The Brown Daily Herald

7
Exploring the harms of grade-inflation
68 / 53
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
68 / 43
Page 8

t h e n e w s i n i m ag e s

1 5 5
c a l e n da r
Today october 27 ToMORROW october 28

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Nigeria, McCormack Family Theater
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