vol. cxxii, no.

18

Daily

the Brown

Friday, February 17, 2012

Herald
Since 1891
and ensure its continued growth. This year, Registration Chair Ben Gellman 14 said a limited number of registration slots were allotted to non-Ivy League students. The slots have been filled mostly by students from Rhode Island universities, but also a few from Vanderbilt University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The conference includes a series of workshop sessions in which participants can attend different panels and lectures on topics such as enthusiastic consent, the way gay male physique magazines invented 1950s masculinity, high school anti-gay bullying and more. In each workshop block, atcontinued on page 3

IvyQ conference to Slavery explore queer identity memorial

By Katrina PHilliPs featureS editor

Jonathan Bateman / Herald

Born into baseball, starter JJ Franco 14 spent time with the Mets as a young boy. See page 5 for the full story.

Students from across the Ivy League arrived on campus yesterday to participate in IvyQ, an annual weekend-long conference that tackles issues of queer identity first held two years ago at Penn. Brown is hosting the conference for the first time and expects 500 students to participate in the weekends jam-packed schedule of lectures, panel discussions and socializing. Conference Co-Chairs Alp Ozcelik 13 and Drew Heckman 13 said they are excited the conference is at Brown this year and hope their planning of this years event will help form a framework for future hosts of the conference

designer chosen
By elizaBetH KoH Staff Writer

Criss Cross Med School prof arrested for coin theft crosses genres at AS220
By euniCe Kim Contributing Writer By KatHerine long Senior Staff Writer

What happens if no one shows up? That was the question I couldnt bring myself to ask Obuamah Laud Addy, lead singer and drummer of the AS220 Criss Cross Orchestra, or Liam Sullivan, the groups manager and guitarist.

Professor of Orthopaedics ArnoldPeter Weiss was arrested in New York City last month for allegedly possessing an ancient coin stolen from Italy. The coin remains the property of the Italian government, according to Italian law. Weiss faces second-degree felony charges for knowingly acquiring and attempting to sell a looted coin called Tetradrachm, which is

valued at over $50,000, according to the criminal complaint provided by Diem Tran, senior press officer of New York County District Attorneys Office. The criminal court set bail at $200,000, and Weiss is expected to appear in court March 21 for possible grand jury action, Tran wrote in an email to The Herald. Tetradrachm is a 4th century B.C. Italian silver coin. The deponent in the case stated that he observed Weiss attempting to sell the same

(coin) for approximately $300,000 in an auction, according to the criminal complaint. An Italian law the Code of the Cultural and Landscape Heritage states that all antiquities found in Italy after 1909 are subject to the absolute ownership of the Italian government. An informant notified the court that the Italian government never gave (the) defendant or anyone continued on page 2

Graceful metal skeletons, ash wood ladders stretching skyward, woven rattan curved into elegant silhouettes the work of sculptor Martin Puryear, who has been selected to design a memorial to acknowledge the Universitys links to the transatlantic slave trade, evokes a sense of minimalism even though he reportedly rejects the movement. The Yale-trained artist, who has received numerous accolades for his work, including a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Award, has been showcased in galleries from the Guggenheim to the Museum of Modern Art. After its February meeting, the Corporation, the Universitys highest governing body, announced Puryears commission to design a memorial in a campus-wide email. The announcement follows the University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justices 2006 recommendation to erect a memorial inviting reection and fresh discovery without provoking paralysis or shame. The memorial should be continued on page 2

Nobel Prize-winning physicist enthralls first-years

By HannaH Kerman Senior Staff Writer

Arts & Culture

But it was nearly an hour after last Thursdays show was supposed to start, and there were only four distinctly uncomfortable people in AS220s performance space, despite the fact that the Criss Cross Orchestra has performed in this space the second Thursday of every month for over a year. Half an hour may be acceptable lag time but an hour is disconcerting. Two band members changed their shirts. The backup percussionists girlfriend, wedged behind a tiny table, crossed and recrossed her legs. The keyboardists girlfriend mirrored her. Sullivan shifted his weight and frowned. Beers were bought, downed and refilled. Trumpet and French horn player Gerard Heroux, a former Brown adjunct continued on page 3

Hes sassy, said Hannah Benenson 15 as she climbed over another student to get to the middle of the row, a few seats closer to Professor of Physics Leon Cooper, Nobel Prize winner and instructor of the first-year seminar, PHYS 0100: Flat Earth to Quantum Uncertainty: On the Nature and Meaning of Scientific Explanation.

sCienCe
Its my favorite class, said Alex Bok 15, another student happy with his choice to spend an hour and a half every Tuesday and Thursday listening to Cooper passionately expound on some of historys great scientific discoveries. Discussing Isaac Newton and the writing of Principia, Cooper

could not contain his excitement. It seems logical when you view the ideas in the textbook, but really as it is being created, the science is just inspired conjecture, he said in a voice both raspy and melodious. Looking exactly like a stereotypical physicist pink shirt beneath a green corduroy jacket, flyaway white hair he is dapper and witty. Inspired conjecture after inspired conjecture leads to a new way of looking at the world, he said. In this way, science is almost closer to art than logic. This is a man who understands scientific discovery. After graduating with a PhD from Columbia, Cooper began a quest to develop the theory of superconductivity. Superconductivity, a phenomenon occurring at extremely cold temperatures, allows metals to continued on page 5
Corrine Szczesny / Herald Nobel Prize winner Professor Leon Cooper lectures first-years in a physics seminar.

weather

news....................2 Arts & Culture.....3 sPOrts................4-5 editOriAl...........6 OPiniOns.............7

inside

Ping pong

Alum founds dance group that transcends cultures

Arts & culture, 3

Moffat 13 calls for drug reclassification

OpiniOns, 7

Class act

t o d ay

tomorrow

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2 Campus news
C aLENDaR
TODAY 6:30 P.m. IvyQ 2012: Juanita Diaz-Cotto, Salomon 001 9 P.m. The Brown Barrel Show! Salomon 001 4 P.m. IvyQ 2012: Kate Bornstein, Salomon 001 FEbRUARY 17 TOmORROW 1 P.m. Joss Whedon Marathon, Tech House Lounge, Harkness FEbRUARY 18

the Brown Daily herald Friday, February 17, 2012

Committee picks artist for slavery memorial

continued from page 1 complete and installed in the Quiet Green by 2014, the Universitys 250th anniversary. I know people have been a little concerned, said Jo-Ann Conklin, director of the David Winton Bell Art Gallery and member of the Public Art Committee, of the delay. Weve been working on (the selection process) in earnest for a couple of years. The Public Art Committee began deliberations in fall 2009 after the Commission on Memorials approved the slavery and justice committees recommendation for a memorial. Unlike the selection process for other public art installations, the committee overseeing the slavery memorial did not accept submissions for memorial designs. We began by looking at a lot of different artists who we thought might be able to do something, Conklin said. Some of them were fine artists, some of them were landscape artists, some of them were more architects. The committee examined 65 different artists of all ethnicities, Conklin said. A lot of time in the group was spent trying to hone down and decide what this should be, because the memorial can take many different types of forms. After the initial screening, the committee narrowed down the pool to five artists, whom they invited to campus to talk about what their approach would be to the commission, Conklin said. The committee sent the artists the Report on Slavery and Justice and images of possible sites for the memorial on campus before inviting the artists to campus to share their ideas. At that stage, the committee began to seriously consider Puryear, Conklin said. We just felt like his work would appeal to a lot of different people, she said. Puryears previous work was also a draw for the committee, which
a stroke of luck

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voted unanimously to award him the commission. To find someone whos a very fine artist but also willing to think about the memorial is a wonderful stroke of luck for Brown, said committee member Steven Lubar, director of the John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage and director of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology. The memorials location was chosen for its proximity to both University Hall and the Van Wickle Gates, which students march through during Convocation and Commencement. Puryear is slated to begin work on the memorial in a month, Conklin said. The announcement follows a nine-year gap since the slavery and justice committee was first appointed to investigate the Universitys historic ties to the slave trade. That is a history that most people in the West have contrived to forget, said James Campbell, a former professor of Africana studies and chair of the slavery and justice committee. Part of what we tried to do in that report, as you know, was carve out some space for thoughtful reflection about an issue that has been dealt with, if at all, in a very polarized way. The reaction to a March 2001 advertisement placed in The Herald by conservative writer-activist David Horowitz illustrated the controversial nature of the issue, said Campbell, who now teaches history at Stanford. The advertisement, which attacked the idea of reparations for slavery, was designed to provoke a response, he said. After the advertisement appeared, students protested by condemning the papers actions and stealing one days press run. Two years later, President Ruth Simmons appointed the slavery and justice committee to examine the Universitys ties to the transatlantic
a long journey

SuDoKu

slave trade. The committees work eventually drew media attention, with coverage in national publications like the New York Times. The slavery and justice committee released its findings, which detailed the Universitys formative ties to the slave trade, in October 2006. The report recommended the construction of both a memorial and a center for continuing research on slavery and justice. The Herald has reported that the University plans to name a director for the center this spring. The wheels of academia grind really slowly, Campbell said, adding that he never doubted the University would follow through with the recommendation for a memorial. I still think almost 10 years later it was an incredibly visionary thing to have done, Campbell said. Since the slavery and justice committees report, more than 30 other universities, including Emory University, the University of Maryland and the College of William and Mary, have launched similar investigations into their own histories. The hope for the memorial is that it will add dimensions to the history of Brown, Lubar said. Universities are full of memorials, he said. If you look around the Brown campus, there are probably 100 or 200. The challenge is most of them have faded into the woodwork. Lubar suggested that the University might hold lecture talks to keep the memorial relevant to the campus community. Campbell pointed out that because universities tend to put up memorials and plaques that celebrate the accomplishments of their students and their community, this memorial is atypical. Brown was one of the few institutions in the world and one of the first universities to face its own role in the transatlantic slave trade and memorialize its own role on its campus, he said. I think its such a tribute to the institution.
acknowledging history

CR oSSWoRD

Prof charged with felony

continued from page 1 permission consent or authority to remove said coin from the ground or to remove it from Italy, according to the criminal complaint. There is no paperwork, I know this is a fresh coin, Weiss allegedly said in a recorded conversation with the confidential informant. This was dug up two years ago. I know where this came from. Since Weiss said he knew that the coin was freshly dug, he is being charged with purposefully possessing property of the Italian government. Weiss was planning to sell the coin through Nomos AG, an auction house for valuable coins where Weiss is a partner, according to Coin World. Nomos AG Director Alan Walker said, All the coins are in the U.S. legally. All of the coins left Europe legally. It was all handled 100 percent by the law, as far as we know. Walker also told Coin World that he has very good counsel and is 100 percent innocent. Weiss is a world-renowned hand surgeon. He obtained his bachelors and medical degrees from Johns Hopkins University. He is also the associate dean of medicine for admission at Alpert Medical School. Mark Nickel, senior editor and writer at the office of public affairs and University relations, wrote in an email to The Herald that Weiss continues to serve as a professor, but due to the pending resolution of the legal matter he has been temporarily relieved of his administrative duties.

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the Brown Daily herald Friday, February 17, 2012

Arts & Culture 3

they have studied, rather than the department simply sponsoring unrelated writers, Wright said. Bitsui, a Navajo of the Bitter Water Clan, began with poetry from his first work Shapeshift. His performance started out softspoken, reserved and slightly fumbled, but by the second part of his poem he grew louder with a steady cadence of harder, syllabic sounds from his native Navajo language. Bitsuis poetry, which he also read in English, juxtaposes the ideas of nature and industrys intrusion into native lands. With imagery like gas-soaked doves and multiple references to electrical cords, he focuses heavily on environmental factors such as gas and electricity. Its more of a sensation and less about the literal interpretation of an image, Bitsui said of his poetry. Im more interested in how a unit comes out and if language can house a certain energy. Unlike many poets, Bitsui said he primarily uses the computer to compose. I like the sonic quality and how it pops up on the screen, he said. Bitsui cited Whitman and Ginsberg as influences in his writing, but he said he mostly draws from his Navajo tradition. The metaphors are very connected to nature, he said of the influence of Navajo language. Bitsui said he keeps a sense of both English and Navajo language in mind when he composes and has learned more about the translating process since the publication of his first book. Instead of an anthology, Bitsui said he saw his book as a mosaic, with him trying to put the pieces together like the broken shards of pottery he saw around his house growing up. Im always political, Bitsui said. Everywhere I go, Im representing something. He cited the extermination of native languages and land and water rights issues for the Navajo and other Native American tribes in Arizona as political issues reflected in his work. While the book did not quite work out like the mosaic he planned, he said, he noticed a theme of flooding and fluidity in his poetry. This appears in lines like, The waters of my clans flashflooded / I fell from the white of its eyes. The next reading in the series will feature poet Forrest Gander, professor of literary arts, Feb. 23.

Navajo poet draws on heritage

By tonya riley Staff Writer

LGBTQ conference strives for more diversity this year

continued from page 1 tendees can choose from six events that fall under one of six themes relating to queer identity and activism. The themes are Internationality and Culture; Queer Histories; Identity; Sex and Body Positivity; Health and Sexual Assault and Practical Applications. Gellman said the workshops represent a collection of very diverse perspectives on queer identity to allow for the interests of as many participants as possible, but he acknowledged that some views will always be excluded. (It is) important to recognize that not everybody will necessarily feel like their identity niche is supported by this conference, he said. Heckman and Ozcelik said they attempted to include more perspectives in this years conference using feedback from previous conferences expressed in the postconference survey. Ozcelik said the group tried to increase representation from people of color and female-identifying people in its programming. This year, each student was assigned to a family group, bringing together 20 to 25 participants in an attempt to mix and mingle school groups, Ozcelik said. Each group has a conference coordinator serving as the parent of the group. The family groups met last night after students arrived for their initial group meetings to open discussions. Heckman said the goal of bringing together groups from different schools was to create discussions they wouldnt have just with their friends. Heckman and Ozcelik said the family groups are also meant to help participants branch out socially, since socialization and networking are a large part of the conference. The conference includes a talent showcase, Sex Power Queer dance, banquet, club night and movie screening to allow participants to socialize. Ozcelik and Heckman expressed possible concern over participant safety while partying, but they also expressed confidence that the participants will be responsible. Heckman said he hoped the conference will empower its participants to make a change not necessarily on a global scale although that would be great but even in their own lives.

The poem is in my body, so in the process of reading it I try to draw it out, said Native American poet Sherwin Bitsui to a crowd of about 50 at the McCormack Family Theater Thursday. The poetry reading and question and answer session that followed were part of the second installment of the Writers on Writing series sponsored by the Department of Literary Arts. Bitsui has published two books of poetry, and his list of accolades includes the 2011 Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Artist Fellowship for Literature and a 2010 PEN Open Book Award. He is very in tune with international concerns and has a strong commitment to his native culture, said Carolyn Wright, professor of literary arts, who teaches LITR 1200: Writers on Writing this semester. She said the department does not often bring writers from the Southwest and cited Bitsuis unique origins and its influence on his work as part of the decision to invite him to speak in the series. The Writers on Writing series and the class allow students to interact with writers whose work

Modern orchestra brings Alum uses dance as artistic ambassador reggae-jazz to AS220
continued from page 1 professor of music, made anxious small talk. Shirts were changed again. Ive never been to a show without an audience. What will they do, I wondered, if another 30 minutes pass without anyone coming through the door? Pack up and go home? Addy was something of a child star in his home country of Ghana, has toured with jazz musician Wynton Marsalis and has played at two presidential inaugurations. Was he regretting moving to Rhode Island which he said he did for the quiet and the beaches? Arrayed nervously on the stage, the Criss Cross Orchestra looked more like a group of tired men in various stages of mid-life crises than anything else. All of its members, except for Addy, have day jobs. Seven of the nine official members of the orchestra were at Thursdays performance, while the other two had family commitments. I had to wonder if this orchestra was doomed from the start. Providence is not exactly a Mecca for world music, and the orchestras Afro-reggae-highlife-jazz fusion isnt comparable to anything that has come out of the city before. And talking with Addy who founded the group in 2010 with the help of AS220 artistic director Bert Crenca I got the feeling that he is a man who has more vision than sense. When I founded (the orchestra), he said, I wanted a group that doesnt discriminate and is about learning everything that is necessary. He spoke of a major recording session in the bands future though Sullivan had never heard about it. He mentioned a European tour again, everyone in the band has a day job. And he promoted an upcoming documentary he is directing but for which he has no crew about the variety of uses for drum rhythms. He compared the Criss Cross Orchestra to Nigerian musician Fela Kuti. Every Afro-fusion band since before Fela Kuti was born has compared themselves to Fela Kuti. Addy winks a lot when he talks. But the guy is inescapably charming. Paul! he called to bass guitarist Paul Caraher in the middle of our interview. That woman is naked! Put a skirt on her! Caraher grinned guiltily and fumbled to tie a skirt around the drum. Addy has a wide, gap-toothed smile and an infectious laugh. He explained that the name of the band comes from the phrase futu futu, which in Ghana means criss cross but has connotations of having fun, mixing cultures without a lot of pressure. All that winking suggested that he had a secret plot maybe a plan to trick the rest of the band into thinking that no one was coming to the show and then surprise! At the stroke of 9:30 p.m., exactly one hour after the Criss Cross Orchestra was slated to perform, an entire extended family aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, toddlers waltzed through the door. Addy laughed like that was the plan all along. The orchestra started to play. They sound a lot like Fela Kuti.
By louisa CHafee Contributing Writer

The performing arts are an almost universal language that can build a bridge between China and the rest of the world, Alison Friedman 02 told a small audience in Petteruti Lounge in the Stephen Robert 62 Campus Center Wednesday. In 2009, Friedman created Ping Pong Productions which celebrated its three-year anniversary this past Thursday as a way to encourage cultural exchange. She said she noticed few people were working to facilitate relationships between Chinese artists and other performing artists. Drawing on a decade of experience in management and dance, as well as significant time spent in China, she decided to create the company. Friedman said the name is a nod to ping-pong diplomacy from the Nixon era and is pronounced the same in Chinese and English. She added that since life is supposed to be fun, she did not want a serious name for her business. Calling themselves artistic ambassadors, members of this company work to create lasting relationships between Chinese artists and others, she said. Friedman said a lot of her work is putting out fires and building bridges. People do things differently, and her company works to soothe tempers and help performers understand other cultures. Friedman said she believes the arts are uniquely suited to bridging the gap between China and the world, even though not all cultures agree on the definition of modern

dance. Choosing to study Chinese was almost happenstance for Friedman, she said. Her Washington, D.C. high school offered Chinese, and at 14, she decided to study the language. Friedman stuck with it through Brown, she said, but still was not sure how she could combine her love of dance with her love of Chinese. What am I doing taking Chinese? she recalled thinking. An internship in 2001 for CNN in Beijing opened her eyes to how she could combine her two interests. When she was not working, Friedman performed with a dance company, the Living Dance Studio, and found they had a shared culture of modern dance. I felt like I found family, she told the audience. After that revelation, Friedman applied for the Fulbright Fellowship to study modern dance in China. She wanted to know if other dance studios were like the Living Dance studio, or if it was unique. After her Fulbright funding ran out, Friedman opted to continue her work in China. One of her jobs was to help traveling companies interact with local performers, she said, to facilitate a relationship between the companies, the

performers and the audience. The performers wanted to help the audience understand what was going on so they could truly appreciate the beauty of the show, Friedman said. In 2005, Friedman was the production coordinator for the John F. Kennedy Center Festival of China in Washington, D.C., the largest festival of Chinese performers in American history. She said even crew members backstage traded ideas and tips on how to make a show run smoothly. Friedman drew on those experiences to help her in this company, she said. Ping Pong Productions has been so successful that Friedmans main problem is not finding more projects, but hiring the support staff to work on them. As a woman operating a company in China, Friedman said while she was often deemed non-threatening and treated less aggressively by male colleagues, it could also be difficult to be taken seriously. Friedman added that her age was more of a barrier than her gender. She said she sometimes forgets that she has to play a role namely the young, naive, female foreigner when dealing with some people in China.

4 Sports Friday
WRESTLING
By sam wiCKHam SportS Staff Writer

the Brown Daily herald Friday, February 17, 2012

Wrestlers pin down Crimson, fall to Lehigh

The mens wrestling team earned three big home wins this past weekend, putting the squad in contention for second place in the Ivy League standings. Bruno defeated Boston University 19-16 and Roger Williams 41-9 Saturday and took down Ivy rival Harvard 22-17 Sunday before falling to Lehigh 35-3. The victories give the Bears momentum heading into the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association Championships in early March. Bruno got off to a slow start in 2012, falling to Rutgers and Rider in early January. But decisive wins against Franklin & Marshall and Sacred Heart, as well as an upset victory against Princeton, have put Bruno in a position to finish the season strong despite injuries. Were kind of depleted, said Head Coach Dave Amato. Were missing two or three starters, but the people that are wrestling are stepping up and have done a great job. They have bonded as a team, and they wrestle hard every match. Billy Watterson 14 and Ophir Bernstein 15 won both of their matches Saturday to help Bruno to two wins on the day. Ricky Baily 12 also wrestled well, beating both his opponents. But Brunos biggest win of the weekend was against Harvard, Watterson said. Everyone was saying they would beat us, he said. It came down to the last two matches, and one of our guys who has been hurt, Sterling Hecox (15) came out and pinned (his) guy, basically with one arm. That was huge. All of these wins have been team efforts, Amato said. Our guys battled tremendously. Despite success against the Crimson, Bruno could not muster enough strength to topple No. 15 Lehigh. Watterson was the lone Bear to post an individual victory

Tom Sullivan / Herald

The mens wrestling team upset Harvard last Sunday 22-17 and will face Columbia at home this Saturday.

in the loss, taking his match 10-6 in the 125-pound weight class. Bruno will welcome Columbia Saturday before travelling to the EIWA championships to close out the season. A win against the Lions

would give Bruno sole possession of second place in the Ivy League standings. Im very proud of the whole team for being unselfish, Amato said. Guys have been asked

to wrestle out of weight classes, theyve been asked to wrestle when injured. Our team has been through a lot the last year, and these guys have hung in there. Im really proud of them.

Killer Linstinct: The onslaught of Linsanity

By sam sHeeHan SportS ColumniSt

As a sports columnist, I try to write stories about people or events in the sports world that have slipped under the radar. I set out this week to write about Brandon Roy, what he meant to the Trail Blazers, and how his genuinely sad retirement didnt get the attention it deserved because we were in the middle of one of the craziest free-agent periods of all time. Thanks, lockout. But theres really only one story in the sports world right now. Randy Moss is coming out of retirement! Just kidding. I mean, he is, but thats not the big story. Jeremy Lin. The Linsane asylum. The man keeping the Knicks

Lintact. The player performing Linception on me. The dude who Lincludes everyone in the offense. The guy who gave Jose Calderon Spanish Linfluenza. The point guard making Carmelo Anthony feel a little Linferior. Most people who even remotely pay attention to sports feel pretty Linformed about the sensation, but the fact is that he is one of the most polarizing figures in sports right now. Hes become the Tim Tebow of basketball. Hes probably even bigger than that. Hes Linstigated a large debate about his skills as a basketball player and whether or not he can keep this pace up. Jeremy Linhabits a special place in my heart that I never thought any Knick would find. New York basketball fans are a bit Linfamous for overly hyping their players and making a big deal about guys who are ultimately average. This is not one of those Linstances. You cant say enough about

how Linteresting he is. First of all, Lin is tearing down walls as one of the most impactful stars of Asian heritage since Yao Ming. Lin fact, famous boxer Floyd Mayweather is in hot water after tweeting that Lin is a good player but all the hype is because hes Asian. Black players do what he does every night and dont get the same praise. We are a country that has a truly awful history when it comes to issues of race, and its a hot-button topic, to say the least. Which is maybe why its so amazing that Lins race isnt even the most Lintensely scrutinized aspect of everyones favorite player. Hes a Harvard graduate who went undrafted and spent time in the D-League. Its a pretty Linspiring story. The NBA is unique because the rosters are so small, and with only 450 spots in the whole league, even draftees arent Linsured a spot. In fact, pretty much the only way to get Linserted into an NBA roster out of the D-League is for your team to

be ravaged by Linjuries okay, thats enough Lin wordplay. Luckily for us, thats exactly what happened with this Knicks team and now we are being treated to the best sports story in several years. Naysayers are going to point out that Lin is going to come crashing back to Earth, and to a certain extent, yes, it is likely that he will regress from his current blistering pace. Jeremy has some trouble going to his left and his high turnover ratio is troubling. But rest assured this guy is the real deal. A guy who could certainly be and maybe already is an NBA star and, at the very worst, will end up a solid sixth man for many years to come. With the skills, basketball IQ, unflappability and gritty determination hes shown thus far, thats the absolute worst I see him doing. Now, time for the elephant in the room about Lins meteoric rise. This seven-game winning streak that the Knicks are currently on happened with alpha dog Carmelo on the bench. They were also without Amare Stoudemire for much of this win-streak. Those two players command nearly a third of the teams salary each. If the two return to the court with Lin, and things go poorly, some conclusions are going to be drawn about the future of this club and whether the stars are needed. In each game where Lin has played more than 30 minutes, hes scored at least 20 points and tallied seven assists. In Wednesdays win over the Kings, he averaged an assist every two minutes. Is it really that crazy to say that Carmelo has to figure out how to play with Lin more than Lin needs to include Carmelo? Yeah, probably. We are still dealing with a seven-game sample here, but you can at least make

that argument now. Its just mindboggling. Knicks fans love Carmelo. The proof exists in the fact that he was voted into the AllStar game as a starter this year despite currently shooting under .400 from the floor and .300 from downtown. Its tough to make the case that he would still be in the All-Star Game if he wasnt beloved by one of the most caring and fanatical fanbases in the NBA. Apologies to Kyrie Irving and Brandon Jennings that you both play point guard. Also, sorry to Pau Gasol and Rudy Gay for playing in the West. Seeing Roy Hibbert make the East squad must have been tough for you. The fact that the spotlight has been yanked from New Yorks go-to guy this quickly is not only improbable, but I didnt think it was possible. Linsanity is about to get a healthy dose of Carmelo added to it, and its not Jeremy who should be worried about it. Am I just a jealous Celtics fan who loves Lin and is trying to ignore his own train wreck of team? Most definitely. I also think Im right though. The facts are that the Knicks have a winning percentage of under .500 with Carmelo Anthony on the court but havent lost when Jeremy Lin starts. You gotta play nice with Jeremy, Melo. If you do, the Knicks become a tough team to out in the playoffs. If you dont, you make the fans pick between you and Lin. And you dont want that.
Sam Sheehan 12 would like to point out that when Tucker Halpern 13, Matt Sullivan 13 and andrew McCarthy 13 saw defensive minutes against Jeremy Lin in the Pitz, he was 1-6 with five points. Talks sports with him at sam_sheehan@brown. edu or follow him on Twitter @ SamSheehan.

the Brown Daily herald Friday, February 17, 2012

Sports Friday 5
bASEbALL

Prof: We live in a sea of radiation

continued from page 1 conduct electrons without any resistance. For years, scientists such as Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg and Albert Einstein attempted to explain this strange physical process and failed. Fortunately, I was unaware of these many unsuccessful attempts, Cooper wrote in his memoir, Remembrance of Superconductivity Past. In 1957, Cooper developed the first microscopic theory for explaining superconductivity, working with fellow physicists John Bardeen and Robert Schrieffer. Cooper joined the Brown faculty in 1958. I like it here, Cooper said with a satisfied nod, looking out the window of his seventh floor Barus and Holley office. After becoming a member of the faculty, Cooper was appointed the director of the Center for Neural Science. In 1981, he helped to develop BCM, a theory that models how memory is created and stored in the brain. Named in honor of its principal investigators Elie Bienenstock, Cooper and Paul Munro the theory addresses neurons and the synapses that allow them to communicate with each other. Coopers theory is that memory is a function of the relative strength or weakness of the synaptic connections. A strong postsynaptic depolarization would increase synaptic strength, while a weak depolarization would decrease synaptic strength. Ten years after BCM theory was developed, Mark Bear, then a professor at Brown, proved this hypothesis through experimentation. Bear and Coopers research continues today. They have submitted a paper for publication that details what has happened with BCM over the past 30 years. In addition, Cooper and his colleagues are currently working with scientists from New York and Geneva, attempting to tie the theories of BCM to the ideas of spike time-dependent plasticity, Cooper said, or to the idea that the brain rewires based on the strength and timing of intercellular communication. We are trying to tie the whole thing together with the underlying physiology of the cell, Cooper added. At the same time, the self-proclaimed wanderer has developed a new interest: radiation. Many scientists believe that even in small doses, radiation can be harmful, but Cooper does not think this is necessarily true. We live in a sea of radiation, Cooper said, adding that there may be a threshold below which radiation does not cause lasting damage. In pilot experiments with Drosophila fruit flies, Coopers team has found that though the flies sustain some damage after two days of low-level radiation, cellular mechanisms kick in after 10 days to repair it. We share two-thirds of the fruit fly DNA, so it allows us to think about how radiation is affecting humans, Cooper said. Cooper encourages students to challenge him and ask difficult questions. I love teaching undergraduates, he said. Graduate students already know all the theories and ideas. Its all new to undergraduates, so they still question some of the basic concepts graduate students just accept. Back in the classroom, one boy raised his hand. I was wondering why the world spins on its axis? he asked. Cooper stood there for a moment, in thought. Well, love makes the world go round, he said, unable to stop a wry smile from flitting across his face.

Franco 14 inspired by major league lineage

By lewis Pollis SportS Staff Writer

JJ Franco 14 spent much of his childhood in Shea Stadium, watching his father, John Franco P14 who will be inducted into the New York Mets Hall of Fame this summer pitch for the Mets. Though Browns Murray Stadium may not be as glamorous as the stadium he grew up in, JJ is making a name for himself here as the starting second baseman for the Bears. I was kind of born into it, said JJ, whose father had a 21-year Major League Baseball career as a relief pitcher with the Mets, the Cincinnati Reds and the Houston Astros. His 424 career saves are the fourth-most in MLB history, and the Mets announced last month that he would be enshrined in the team Hall of Fame June 3. Watching baseball was always going to be part of JJs life, but he said his father never pressured him to play the sport. My dad said I could do or be whatever I want to be, he said. But JJ loved sports from a young age, and his fathers influence instilled in him a passion for baseball. Constantly being around that atmosphere it was almost like it wasnt a choice, he said. John came to as many of his sons games as he could, and JJ said he remembers the car rides with his dad more than he recalls the games themselves. Even after

John tore his Achilles tendon in November 2011, he still threw batting practice to JJ while wearing a boot. Having a baseball player for a dad also had other perks. I basically grew up in Shea Stadium, JJ said. Until he began playing in travel leagues that required a greater time commitment, it was as though every day was bring your son to work day, JJ said. While shadowing his father, JJ was able to take batting practice on the field and field ground balls hit by Mets coaches. He got to know his fathers teammates and spent a lot of time with his fathers fellow relief pitchers. He became closest to pitcher Al Leiter, whose locker was next to Johns and also got to know several outfielders quite well, especially Cliff Floyd, Jay Payton and Mike Cameron through shagging flies with them. I definitely knew that I was in a very small group of kids to have this type of opportunity, he said. John said that his son fit right in with the team, and that his fellow players were happy to have teammates kids around. Were all family, he said. The opportunity was not wasted on JJ he took full advantage of the exposure he got to professional baseball and the advice he received from Mets coaches, John said. He was like a sponge, and to this day, hes like a sponge, he said. Hes a bright student of the game.

JJ said he hopes to be drafted and to sign with an MLB team after he graduates. It would not be the first time in 2010, after he had already committed to Brown, the Mets picked him in the 47th round of the amateur draft. Though he decided to go to college, the day he found out he was drafted was a very satisfying day, he said. I think hes got a bright future, John said. Were very proud of his accomplishments, he added, pointing to his sons mental and physical development, as well as his improvements hitting and fielding. Though father and son have spent a lot of time with each other on the diamond, they have rarely been in competition. The only time John has pitched to JJ as though he was actually playing in a game was when JJ was 14. John, in his first year of retirement, was coaching his sons summer league team and one day agreed to pitch seriously to each player on the team. JJ used his knowledge of his fathers pitching style to his advantage. John was best known for throwing a circle change-up, but JJ was looking for something else. I knew his first pitch was going to be a fastball, he said. He guessed correctly and got a base hit. He knows exactly how my ball moves, John said. Today, John could probably get him out from 40 feet. If I had to go from 60 feet, Id be in trouble.

CoMICS
Dreadful Cosmology | Dario Mitchell

Fraternity of Evil | Eshan Mitra, Brendan Hainline and Hector Ramirez

6 Diamonds & Coal

DIaMoNDS & CoaL
Coal to Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services Margaret Klawunn, who said, By the time youre a junior or senior, you dont mind being in Perkins because you know its not that far away. Similarly, if you had spent two years of your life in a Soviet prison, you would find Graduate Center not that oppressive. Cubic zirconia to IvyDate, a new website that characterizes itself as the Ivy League of dating and claims to feature an admissions process similar to how Brown admits its students. Be careful, though if you join under the sites early decision option, you could end up committed for life. A diamond to Johnson and Wales University, which announced earlier this week that it will increase its voluntary contributions to $6.4 million over the next decade, with the possibility of providing the city $5 million more in coming years. Dont tell Mayor Angel Taveras, but the culinary schools additional contributions will take the form of scones. Coal to Undergraduate Council of Students President Ralanda Nelson 12, who called the failed constitutional amendment to give the council more control of its own funding an on the ground, learning oops. Sounds like you should have taken it S/NC. A diamond to Michael Clinton, a senior recruiter for the advertising agency Hill Holiday, who said that Brown students are adept at articulating why their past experiences have prepared them for a career in marketing. Similarly, POLS 1510: Great Powers and Empires has prepared us for a career in world domination. Cubic zirconia to Professor of Orthopaedics Arnold-Peter Weiss, who was arrested in New York last week for possession of a stolen Italian coin called Tetradrachm. Thanks for giving us an original explanation for when our parents ask about our possession charges too bad you had to steal from a debt-ridden European country to do it. A diamond to CareerLABs Job and Internship Board, whose fourday outage reminded us there are worse things than Banner being inaccessible for 45 minutes. Coal to one of the organizers of female comedy group the RIB for saying, Im happy that were able to create stuff that entertains even old men. In that case, we wont be surprised if the next time we hear about you is when Bill OReilly does his next segment about Brown. A diamond to students who long for more from their concentration advisers. As Associate Dean of the College for Research Besenia Rodriguez said, Concentration advisers can come and go. Heres something that will last forever.

the Brown Daily herald Friday, February 17, 2012

EDIToRIaL CaRTooN

by lo r e n f u lto n

LE T TER To THE EDIToR

Editorial misrepresents voter fraud
To the Editor: The Brown Republicans are stunned and dismayed by the inaccuracies present in Tuesdays editorial (Remnants of Jim Crow, Feb. 14). In the current system, voting requires nothing more than a signature, with absolutely no means to ensure voters are who they say they are. This allows anyone to vote while claiming to be someone else. Voter fraud is real, and it is precisely this reality that has led 30 states to consider voter identification laws this year alone. The obvious first step to eliminating voter fraud is to require identification. This upholds our democratic principle of one person, one vote protecting our identities as voters and preventing anyone from stealing our right to vote. To the apparent befuddlement of The Heralds editorial staff, this policy of voter identification is not intended to deter voters but rather to uphold the integrity of our electoral process. ID cards are distributed by state governments to their citizens regardless of race. Why, then, is it discriminatory to require ID to vote? IDs are required for driving, purchasing alcohol, air travel, taking the SAT, entering a government building and registering for school. The argument that the mere requirement of ID for any of these actions is racist is absurd. Similarly, requiring ID to vote is commonsense, not discriminatory. We are proud to say that the Republican Party is on the right side of this issue, just as we were in opposing the enactment of Jim Crow laws by Democrat-controlled state legislatures many years ago. The brown Republicans

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It was all handled 100 percent by the law, as far as we know.
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the Brown Daily herald Friday, February 17, 2012

opinions 7
Drunk people display worse judgment than normal. We can suppose that, at some point, the capacity to judge at all is gone. The task here is to specify an amount of drunkenness. This is not a special problem after drinking enough, a person cannot drive safely, even though it is difficult to specify just how drunk they must be. Information is a crucial component of consent. A doctor who has sex with patients by telling them it is the only cure for their disease is a rapist. Giving someone false or misOne might appeal to context and say that casual sex is sufficiently different from other situations such that kisses do not communicate affection. ONeill responds, if such expressions are fully decontextualized, what part are they playing in an entirely casual encounter? She believes that endearments are misleading, so consent is forgone. Without a satisfactory counterargument, we must conclude that casual sex is rape. Lastly, consent should be voluntary. A yes that is coerced is not consent. The most privilege. Depending on your conception, this is either unjust or immoral. The social benefits traditionally afforded by being an owned woman, that is, having a boyfriend or husband, can only be earned through sex. When a woman consents to sex, her lesspreferred option is not to have sex. Without substantial social change, not having sex will leave her in the lower class, which is below the baseline. Hence, the proposal is coercive, so consent has not been given. This argument can be adapted to show that nobody with a lower socioeconomic status can consent to sex with someone with a higher status. How can we avoid this consequence? There are three options. First, hold that socioeconomic inequality is not immoral truly a bankrupt approach. Second, reject the baseline account of coercion and supply another. Third, say that coercion requires injustice, and socioeconomic inequality is not unjust. If we take this last horn, then, using the conclusion of my earlier column (The aim of activism, Jan. 26), we cannot interfere with peoples lives in order to prevent them from perpetuating inequality. This means that equal opportunity programs, such as affirmative action or welfare, are themselves unjust. Why shouldnt we accept the conclusion of the Dworkin argument? Plausibly, no two people have ever been socioeconomic equals. Therefore, all sex is rape. David Hefer 12 has a non-coercive proposal that you email him at david_hefer@brown.edu.

A discussion of rape and consent

BY DaVID HEFER
opinions Columnist
Look around anywhere on campus, and you are bound to see a highlighter-colored shirt proclaiming the value of consent. We know a lot about consent. When is it required? Always. How should it be given? Enthusiastically. One question is often overlooked in these discussions. When does a yes count as consent? Note that this question is distinct from how is one to know when their partner has consented? or what should the legal definition of consent be? Ultimately, these are the issues with the most practical import and must be addressed. But we cannot hope to make progress on them without first knowing what consent is. Borrowing from medical ethics, consent must be 1) capacitated, 2) informed and 3) voluntary. I will discuss each condition in turn and point out where an account of consent might have trouble. In order for an individual to give consent, that person must have the capacity to make decisions and, specifically, decisions regarding their sexual activities. Requiring the proper decision-making capacities writes off young children and sufficiently developmentally-disabled adults as ineligible candidates for consent. Capacity also handles cases where one party is too drunk or intoxicated to consent.

Casual sex is rape. all sex is rape.

leading information robs them of the ability to consent. This forces us to delineate acceptable seduction techniques. Is it okay to lie about how much you like traditional Japanese theater? There is an active community of pickup artists who make a hobby of seduction. Do their tactics of demonstrating high value and offering backhanded compliments leave room for informed consent? Onora ONeill takes it farther, arguing that most casual sex violates informational standards. Kisses and other endearments constitute false messages about feelings, desires and even commitments they provide a feeling of intimacy where there is none.

popular theory has it that a proposal is coercive just in case the less-preferred option falls below some baseline. For example, in your money or your life cases, the less-preferred option losing ones life falls below the baseline because the consequence of keeping ones valuables should not be being killed. There are two candidates for the baseline, what is good and what is just. We can generate cases to decide between the last two, but that is not important now. Either of these accounts runs headlong into an argument attributed to Andrea Dworkin. My gloss on it is thus. In our society, it is a fact that women occupy a lower class than men do this is male

U.S. drug policies are a crime against humanity

BY JaRED MoFFaT
opinions editor
It is a very unfortunate fact that many otherwise savvy and socially aware Brunonians tend to assume that drug policy is a relatively minor issue in politics. The disturbing truth is that our drug laws, and the institutions that carry out the intent of those laws, constitute nothing less than a campaign of fear, corruption, violence and mind-control it is a war after all. With citizens tax dollars, these massive infrastructures which include prisons, police officers, propaganda programs, the military, the Drug Enforcement Administration and so on are given the task of stamping out the consumption of drugs. Yet, for more than 40 years now, the war on drugs has failed in its mission. We are currently in the longest and most destructive war in American history, and yet no one seems to want to talk about it. For those of you who arent familiar with our current federal drug policies, the basic idea is pretty simple. The government uses five schedules to classify drugs according to three properties potential for abuse, accepted medical use and potential to lead to psychological or physical dependence. Schedule I drugs, for example, are deemed by the DEA and the Food and Drug Administration to have a high potential for abuse, no accepted medical value and a high potential for dependence. This most serious category currently includes drugs like marijuana, LSD, psilocybin and MDMA. However, concerning the four drugs I just mentioned, legitimate research conducted by third-parties and the government itself has consistently shown this classification system to be utterly spurious. According to a 2010 British study published in the Lancet, these particular substances are actually some of the least harmful of all recreational drugs. Their impact on society and potential for addiction is miniscule compared with alcohol and tobacco which, of course, are entirely legal. On top of that, more evidence confirming the medical benefits of Schedule I drugs olence against its own people. According to 2011 statistics, more than half of all federal prisoners are serving sentences for drug-related offenses. This, in addition to the fact that the United States incarcerates more people per capita than any other country and that a disproportionate number of these prisoners are black or Hispanic, provides sufficient grounds for charging the U.S. with crimes against humanity. Particularly sickening is the fact that this prison-industrial complex is completely subsidized by John Q. Taxpayer. Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron estimates that state and guns and our money, have murdered thousands of innocent people and continue to destabilize the region in their quest to supply our demand for illegal drugs. To solve the problem, our government doles out more of your hard-earned cash in the form of aid that is, weaponry and combat training to these countries, enabling the U.S. to fight a proxy war, thus exporting the externalities created by this thriving industry of violence. Even if we won this war on drugs, it still demonstrates what hypocrites we really are. Think about it for a second what liberty is more fundamental than the right to explore and experiment with ones own consciousness? If, while under the influence of drugs, I steal a car or assault someone, Im going to be punished for that wrongdoing regardless. What, then, are the grounds for making drug use itself a crime? If the logic is that its the states duty to shape the moral conscious and worldview of its citizenry well then, hello, 1984. I want to support President Obama, but as long as he continues to enable these atrocities, hes a coward in my book. And on this issue Republicans really display their talent for doublespeak I thought conservatives liked individual freedom, small government and fiscal responsibility? As we listen to criticism of governments like Syria for enacting violent and persecutory campaigns against its own citizens, we ought to pause and reflect on our own crimes against humanity. Jared Moffat 13 is a philosophy concentrator from Jackson, Miss. He can be contacted at jared_moffat@brown.edu.

our drug laws, and the institutions that carry out the intent of those laws, constitute nothing less than a campaign of fear, corruption, violence and mind-control it is a war after all.
surfaces every day. The American College of Physicians recently published a paper in which they recommend further research on marijuana for the treatment of nausea, glaucoma, neurological disorders and pain. LSD and psilocybin have proven effective in treating cluster headaches, a condition that affects one in 1,000 people and is so painful it has earned the nickname suicide headache. Research has also shown that MDMA can effectively treat post-traumatic stress disorder. The real knife in the back is that this blatantly inaccurate system of classification is the legal justification for the states use of vifederal governments spend more than $48 billion a year fighting the war on drugs. And lets not forget the obvious detail that making drugs illegal doesnt get rid of drugs. Outlawing them simply creates an extremely lucrative black market, since criminal gangs derive the exclusive right to deal. The profitability of selling illegal drugs acts like a magnet that uproots hundreds of thousands of teens from their communities every year and lures them into a life of crime. And the violence created by our drug laws is certainly not entirely contained within our borders. Drug cartels in Latin America, fueled by our

Daily Herald Science Friday

the Brown
By niCole graBel Contributing Writer By sanDra yan Staff Writer

Friday, February 17, 2012

Darwin Day embraced by Conference explores effects of early trauma way that is more responsive to physical techniques, such as ocskeptics and believers alike high-stress situations. cupational therapy and sensory
On a day most people remember for the birth of Abraham Lincoln, a smaller group celebrated the birth of Charles Darwin, author of the seminal 1859 work On the Origin of Species. To commemorate Darwin Day, the Brown Atheists, Skeptics and Humanists showed Creation, a film detailing Darwins struggles to write his famous book on evolution. Professor of Biology Kenneth Miller 70 P02 has been involved in this debate for decades, ever since he first debated Henry Morris the foremost creationist at the time on Browns campus in 1981. Miller said he accepts evolution and thinks there is overwhelming evidence in support of the theory. But he acknowledged that people often reject evolution because they think it challenges their religious beliefs though as a practicing Catholic, Miller said he believes faith and reason are both gifts from God. If we are to accept reason, we should accept science, Miller said. In a recent blog post for the Huffington Post, Miller wrote of his dismay over the slandering of science in the current presidential debates. Miller pointed to Jon Huntsmans quick exit from the race after publicly stating he supported science and also cited Rick Perrys speech in which he said scientists were primarily driven by greed for money to fund personal research projects. Miller has seen his fair share of criticism as well. As an author of a textbook widely used in high schools throughout the country, he said that warning labels were attached to his textbook in a school district in Georgia because of its chapter on evolution. Our textbook has been widely criticized, and I take that as a badge of pride, he said. To improve public opinion, he suggested getting better instructive material into schools and advocated political involvement by scientists. We as a scientific community ought to be more involved in public outreach, he said. Miller said he believes acceptance of evolution is very, very high among Brown students but added that he occasionally encounters students with questions about how evolution pertains to their faith. But he said if students understand the evidence, his job is not to compel belief. Instead, it is to promote understanding, he said. And that usually makes students relax. Henry Bodah, associate University chaplain for the Roman Catholic community, said most faiths today agree that there is no incompatibility between faith and science. Some Christians, especially fundamentalists, take the Bible to be the literal word of God and have decided that the only way to be loyal to the idea of Gods word is to say that it has to be literally true, and so therefore, science must be wrong. Students have differing opinions on the age-old debate. I think science and religion go hand-in-hand, and you dont need to debate one with the other, said Rebecca Mendelsohn 14. Evolution could have been a tool God used to create mankind, she said, adding I think the world is too perfect to have been created by an accidental collision of atoms. Others, such as Billy Shinevar 15, think evolution is definitely true. He said a lot of people who do not believe in evolution do not really understand the theory and oversimplify it. I know a lot of people who take (the Bible) more symbolically, he said, and theyre still fine with evolution. At a recent conference sponsored by Rhode Islands Family Court, James Greer, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior, and social worker Robert Hagberg, spoke about how trauma can affect the brains of young children. Exposure to trauma in childhood can actually influence the way in which the developing brain is wired, Greer said. Certain areas of the brain which are more related to language, rational thought and analytical thinking those areas are relatively underdeveloped in the brains of children who experienced trauma. This is because when a child is in a dangerous situation that calls for quick action, taking the time to think carefully and rationally could actually be a disadvantage. The brain instead develops in a But this means when the child is in a non-traumatic situation, the brain responds in the same reactionary way, which is often manifested as misbehavior. And while trauma is not always the cause of misbehavior in fact, there are many cases in which other factors are responsible the link between the two is irrefutable, Hagberg said. The problem with traditional treatments like psychotherapy is that young children often dont have clear memories of their experiences, so it is hard to discuss them, Greer said. And because a lot of them develop language disorders, talking will not get them very far. For this reason, psychotherapy and other methods, such as behavioral therapy and medication, can be helpful, but not a solution, to the problem, Greer said. Greer and Hagberg argued that

integration approaches, are more effective treatments. Trauma lives in the body, Hagberg said. To get to that trauma, physical intervention is required. We need to look at intervening in different ways than we have before, he said. Hagberg and Greer are both involved in the Mind and Body Project, an initiative based on the belief that the brain cannot be healed without healing the body. The project relies on techniques such as yoga to promote overall wellness. Greer and Hagberg said the effects of trauma on children cannot always be completely washed away but added that they are optimistic in believing their methods can help. The hard-wiring is never going to go away, Greer said, but we can help them change the trajectory of their lives.

Lecture tackles global uranium trade

By alissa HaDDaJi Contributing Writer

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To understand the consequences of global uranium trade in Africa, the intricate interaction between political lobbying, government and human interests must be explored, said Gabrielle Hecht, professor of history at the University of Michigan, in a lecture hosted by the science and technology studies program Thursday. The presentation held in Smith-Buonanno 106 was part of the programs lecture series Nothing Can Go Wrong: Rethinking Nuclear Energy in the 21st Century and introduced themes from Hechts forthcoming book, Being Nuclear: Africans and the Global Uranium Trade. Hecht introduced the question of what nuclear means today. There is still a tendency to refer to nuclear energy from a perspective of nuclear exceptionalism, she said, an expression that comes from World War II, when nuclear weapons were presented as the ultimate and decisive solution to ending the war. Hecht emphasized the importance of defining nuclear not only through its positive definition, but as a global concept a source of energy as well as a potential source of trafficking and health concerns. There is a popular belief that uranium in Africa is directly linked to bomb production in Iraq, Hecht said, adding that Africa is still considered the dark mysterious continent. Her research and book sheds light on the history of the uranium market. From her visits to mines in Gabon to her expertise on Niger and French activities in the region, Hecht said the consequences of

Beth Mottel / Herald

africas uranium miners get no compensation for work-related health problems, said Gabrielle Hecht in a lecture on the global uranium trade last night.

uranium extraction in mines have to be examined from a variety of angles. She said the topic should be examined from historical, geographical and political perspectives and also addressed as an epistemology question how do we know what we know? Hecht said she talked directly with miners affected by long exposure to dust from Gabon uranium mines as part of her research. One miner exhibited respiratory symptoms and fatigue from his work in the mines, she said, adding that there is no official government record documenting this problem. She has also focused part of her research on Rossing Uranium Mine in Namibia, which can be seen as the most controversial mine in this world, she said. And the problem is far from being solved, she added. The most difficult part for the victims of uranium exposure is to prove that their symptoms are

directly related to the work they were doing in those mines, Hecht said. Due to this difficulty, workers do not receive any compensation. Hecht also discussed the political implications linked to uranium extraction. Since 2004, the uranium mine number exploded in Namibia, Hecht said. Problems that stem from uranium extraction are directly related to human behaviors, industrial interests and political lobbying. Since the creation of the International Atomic Energy Agency in 1957, the definition of uranium has changed several times, leading to changes in the regulation of its production. In 1972, uranium (was) officially excluded from the list of nuclear material from the (energy agency) after South Africa actively lobbied for its exclusion, Hecht said. This change led to growing extraction of uranium due to reduced regulations.

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