the stony brook press - volume 31, issue 15

8/9/2019 The Stony Brook Press - Volume 31, Issue 15

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newsVol. XXX, Issue 9 | Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Stony Brook Sued Over First

Amendment

Stony Brook University was servedwith a lawsuit from graduate studentteaching assistants on June 7, due to theschool barring them from the October2009 inauguration of Stony Brook Pres-ident Samuel L. Stanley, stating a viola-tion of their constitutional rights.

At the inauguration in October,Stony Brook University police hadbanned graduate student teaching assis-tants Kira Schuman, Kevin Young,Katarzyna Sawicka and JacquelineWoods from the path of President Stan-leys inaugurations academic proces-sion.

The reason they were given was dueto the shirts they were wearing, whichdisplayed the union they were part of,and the tagline SUNY Works BecauseWe Do. The event had no dress code.

According to Jim McAsey, Organ-izing Director for the RA Union, Com-munication Workers of America(CWA) 1104, the assistants went to theceremony to show support for presidentStanley. We were there to welcomehim, he said, and not to protest.

The union planned on delivering agroup letter to the new head of the Uni-

versity, explaining to him their top is-

sues, including increased wages.McAsey believes they were targetedpurposely. We can be very aggressivewhen our rights arent being respected,he said.

According to a press release by theGraduate Student Employees Union,the lawsuit is part of CWAs defense ofthe basic constitutional right of free ex-pression for graduate student union

members to identify with their union, afoundation for a working relationshipbetween administrators and representa-tives of graduate student employees.

Although teaching assistants are in-volved in the lawsuit, they are not beingsuspended or being prevented fromworking once the fall semester arrives

in late August.

The lawsuit is still in the filingstages, and can be drawn out for yearsto come.

Hotel Lawsuit

The Stony Brook EnvironmentalCommittee (SEBC) filed a lawsuitagainst Stony Brook University in De-cember 2009 in an attempt to preventthe university from constructing a longsought-after hotel at the main entrance

of the school.According to George Locker, the

SBECs attorney heading the lawsuit, thejudge has filed an injunction (a tempo-

rary restraining order) preventing any-one from starting any project on thegrounds until a decision by the courthas been made.

The SBEC is filing suit mainly be-

cause of the publics rejection to theplanned location of the hotel, alongNicolls Road. I think people were dis-mayed that the greenbelt along NicollsRoad will be destroyed in order to put aHilton Garden Inn, said Locker.

Locker also states it is tasteless forthe university to put up a hotel signalongside the schools entrance sign.What would people think of putting ahotel in Harvard Yard? he asked.

In interviews, Barbara Chernow,vice president for Facilities and Servicesat Stony Brook, has stated that there re-ally are no other options for locations

for the desired hotel on campus. Locker,however, disagrees.Stony Brook acquired 245 acres of

land from the Flowerfield company in2005, and Locker believes this is anideal location for a hotel. Where inthose 245 acres is there no room for ahotel?

Locker also believes the possibilityof converting the Student Union build-ing into part of the hotel or a locationcloser to the railroad station would bemore ideal, eliminating more conges-tion on the roads.

Maybe Barbara doesnt know there

is a railroad station on campus.Several requests for comment fromStony Brook University were not re-turned.

Law & Order: Go. Fight. Win!

By Matt Calamia

The future is coming to Stony

Brook and it should be here next year.The university announced this

week that its been awarded a $1.4 mil-lion grant from the National ScienceFoundation to build a virtual realitytheater. Next year, the school plans toconstruct a 30-foot by 40-foot by 11-foot tall room in the Center for Excel-lence in Wireless and InformationTechnology (CEWIT), its walls com-pletely tiled with 308 LCD screens.

With the capacity to display 1.25billion pixels of information, the roomhas been dubbed the Reality Deck, anerdy throwback to the holodeck on

Star Trek. (They didnt get the grant forthe transporter, thoughdrat.) The deckwill incorporate sensors, computer vi-sion and human-computer interaction

technology to create a virtual environ-ment around all who enter.

It is an engineering feat, boastedchief CEWIT scientist Dr. Arie Kauf-man, director of the project. He said

that once constructed, the Reality Deckwill be able to analyze tons of data andprovide a life-like, realistic immersioninto the data to be explored and rea-soned with.

So with its impressive LCD wallpa-per, what will this Immersive GigapexelDisplay theater do, exactly? The Uni-versity says it will be used to take an in-credibly detailed look at high-rescolonoscopies performed at the medicalcenter. Soon, we will able to virtuallycrawl right up someones butt, unfetButthe Reality Deck wont be solely limitedto cavity exploration, Stony Brook as-

sures us. Its mind-blowing pixelationmay be used for analyzing climate or as-tronomical models, exploring satelliteimaging, or even detecting suspicious

individuals within acrowd. Because thisroom sounds like itwill be indeed quitebitchin, several gov-

ernment agencies havealready signed up touse and fund applica-tions, including theDepartment of De-fense, NASA, the AirForce and BrookhavenNational Lab.

A d d i t i o n a l l y ,Kaufman says theproject will probablyrevolutionize Holly-wood. But he didntsay how, so heres myspeculation: People across America will

start getting TV Rooms of the Future intheir homes, just coated with screens,and Hollywood will make virtual filmsso it will be like youre really on the

movie set. It will be a simulation of re-

ality within a simulation of reality! Onlyyou wont have to deal with the whiny,coked up actors.

Virtual Reality Star Killed the Internet Star

By Colleen Harrington

Stony Brook University Public Relations

We are, we are VR!


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The Stony Brook Press 3News

Why I ResignedIn April of

2009, I fought andwon an election tobecome a Senatorof the Undergrad-uate Student Gov-ernment. Fast

forward to De-cember 2009, I wasappointed (by then

President Jasper Wilson) and unani-mously confirmed as Treasurer of theUSG. From December to May, I spentapproximately sixty hours a week at theUSG Office, preparing and managingthe 3.1 million dollar budget. I setaround twenty hours aside a week tosimply meet with clubs, and surelyenough all of that time, if not more, wasspent meeting with one or another club.e USG Constitution makes the sug-gestion that perhaps fieen hours is

enough to handle all of the tasks of theTreasurer, but such a number was agross underestimation by the framers ofthe USG Constitution. ough I spentfar too much time there (to which mygrades can testify), I enjoyed every mo-ment of it.

Prior to my appointment, nearlyevery single Treasurer of the USG waseither immeasurably incompetent orobviously biased (oen both). For ex-ample, if one takes a look at the previ-ous USG Treasurers and then at the clubthat they were a member or officer ofprior to becoming Treasurer, one can

notice increases of those budgets oenmeasuring around $10,000 or more. Imade it my mission to root out this sortof favoritism in favor of simple andplain metrics that could be applied uni- versally. Of course, my opponentswould accuse me of the same sort of fa-voritism that I accuse my predecessorsof, but I suppose I will let the Under-graduate Student Body be the judge ofthat. Another one of my goals was takea look at each and every line of the USGAdministrative budget and ensure we

were doing everything to save as muchas possible. Even things as small as thecopier lease were restructured in orderto give more money to the clubs andstudent life in general. I can confidentlysay that the 2010-2011 USG budget isdistinct from any that came before it, in

that it does not reward those who hap-pen to be friends of the Treasurer or theSenate Budget Committee but rather

those who legitimately improve campuslife. Aer spending well over thousandsof hours at the USG Suite this past year,I feel content with my achievements andeven my failures.

My greatest failure was not doingenough to ease the social (and perhapsracial) divide within USG. is is atopic most wish to avoid, but those whoavoid conflict simply postpone the in-evitable. In my term as both Senatorand Treasurer, complaints regarding theStudent Activities Board (SAB) wereperhaps the most frequent, but ap-proaching such a large problem (stu-dent life) was certainly not going to beeasy, and so to some extent, it was lefor last. Beginning in February, serious

discussion had begun amongst Senatorsto rework and perhaps recreate the so-cial programming arm of the USG, theSAB. By April there were two pieces oflegislation aimed at reforming SAB, onthe one hand you had the small reform,which merely created more job func-

tions for SAB and its officers, and on theother hand you had a piece of legislationthat restructured SAB to its core. e

latter eventually surpassed the former.But prior to that, many of those activewithin the former SAB attended theSenate meetings in order to heckle theofficials of USG. ey made very little

attempt to perhaps promote an alterna-tive, instead they favored the status quo.Quite a few officials were heckled abouttheir appearance (including yours truly)rather than their ideas. Along with acouple Senators and the President, wemade an attempt to propose the legisla-tion to the active general body of SAB(approximately 60 or so out of 15,000students). is was met by more heck-ling and personal insults. It became ap-parent that compromise was no longeran option, as the other side desired the

status quo, and we desired anything but.On the day of the vote, quite a few

members of SAB attended the meeting,but most le without uttering a wordimmediately aer the overwhelmingvote in favor of restructuring SAB. Aerthe vote (which essentially was a vote of

no confidence in the leadership andstructure of SAB) I have been heckledmany times by individuals whom I donot know. All I do know is that theywere members of the former SAB. Dur-ing and aer the debate, I was paintedas a racist. I was simply an elected offi-cial doing what I (and most other stu-dents) thought was best for the campusand yet the divide became defined moreby race than ideas. is sort of conflictshould have no place in student gov-ernment, and yet it is at all times pres-ent. My goal was never to further apolitical or racial divide, rather, I hoped

to unite students for one objective (tomake this campus a bit more tolerable)and yet my time in USG created a largerdivide than ever before. I look back andthink I did not do enough to work withthe other side, but perhaps the only de-sire more overwhelming than that I didnot do enough to work with the otherside, was my desire for there to actuallybe another side willing to work to-gether.

To the surprise of most (perhapseveryone), on the first day of my secondterm as Treasurer, I resigned effectiveimmediately. My initiatives have either

been completed or are in capable hands.Most have told me that my resignationcame too soon, but for me it came atjust the right time. My last goal for USGis to firmly establish the Judiciary as afair and competent third branch of gov-ernment. And to that end, current Pres-ident Matthew Graham has recentlyappointed me to the Judiciary (cur-rently pending confirmation by theSenate). I look forward to the new posi-tion and the work that lies ahead.

By MoizKhan

Stony Brook Independent


4/16

The Stony Brook Press is published fortnightly duringthe academic year and twice during summer sessionby The Stony Brook Press, a student run non-profit or-ganization funded by the Student Activity Fee. The opin-ions expressed in letters, articles and viewpoints do notnecessarily reflect those of The Stony Brook Press as awhole. Advertising policy does not necessarily reflecteditorial policy. For more information on advertising anddeadlines call (631)632-6451. Staff meetings are heldWednesdays at 1:00 pm. First copy free. Additionalcopies cost fifty cents.

The Stony Brook PressSuites 060 & 061

Student UnionSUNY at Stony Brook

Stony Brook, NY 11794-3200(631) 632-6451 Voice(631) 632-4137 Fax

Email: [email protected]

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editorialsVol. XXX, Issue 9 | Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Editorial Board

Executive EditorNajib Aminy

Managing EditorsRoss Barkan

Natalie Crnosija

Associate EditorKelly Yu

Business ManagerRoman Sheydvasser

Production ManagerNick Statt

News EditorsMatt Calamia

Bobby Holt

Features EditorJosh Ginsberg

Arts EditorLiz Kaempf

Photo EditorCarolina HidalgoEvan Goldaper

Copy EditorsZach Knowlton

WebmasterInquire Within

AudiomasterKenny Mahoney

OmbudsmanTia Mansouri

Layout Design byJowy Romano

Staff

Vincent BaroneRaina Bedford

Michelle BylickyAlex Cardozo

Lionel ChanLaura CooperMike CusanelliEric DiGiovanniBrett Donnelly

Lauren DubinskyNick Eaton

Andrew FraleyRob Gilheany

David Knockout GinnColleen Harrington

Samuel Katz

James LaudanoIris LinChris Mellides

Steve McLindenCarol MoranFrank Myles

Alex H. NaglerTim Paules

Kelly PivarnikHenry Schiller

Jonathan SingerMatt WillemainJason Wirchin

Hedge-fund manager James Si-mons hints of a potential $150 millionpledge to Stony Brook University is justthe latest ploy by supporters of the Pub-lic Higher Education Empowermentand Innovation Act encouraging law-makers to enact the bill. Simons, who isestimated byForbes to be worth around$8.5 billion, once headed the Math de-partment at SBU and recently donated$60 million for the construction and en-dowment of a math and physics center.

The act, if passed, would allowUniversity Centerssuch as SBU, to set

and raise their tu-itions independ-ently, on top ofregular fixed in-creases, which ad-ministrators saywould prevent asudden double-digit increase in tu-ition and allowfamilies to planahead when payingfor school.

It would essen-tially normalize the

states failure to ad-equately fund thestate university. ThePHEEIA is ad-vanced in the con-text of a bogusbudget crisis manufactured by decadesof tax breaks for the rich.

Simons rare interview with TheNew York Times has further proven thatthe current administration will use anymeans necessary to see the passage ofthe proposed legislation. Sure, $150million would go a long way in aiding acorroding university suffering from

state budgetary cuts, but at what cost?In just the past year we have seenthe closure of a Stony Brook Southamp-ton, a sister campus with a growing en-rollment and unique focus on energyand sustainability. With so many mil-

lions of dollars slashed from our budget,and with the passage of PHEEIA uncer-tain, we have to be extremely diligentand prudent, said Stony Brook Presi-dent Samuel J. Stanley in op-ed titled,Why We Were Forced to StreamlineSouthampton Operations.

However, the closure of Southamp-ton only saves roughly $6.7 million overa two to three year span, while SBUcontinues to operate on an annual $1.9billion operating budget. SUNYs clo-sure of Southampton was a political

message to put pressure on Albany to jump on board with PHEEIA at thehigh cost to the students that were en-rolled there.

Another expense of the administra-tions adamant support for PHEEIAcompletely goes against what makes at-tending SBU so attractive and ideal formany of its students: cost. The pure af-

fordability allows for thousands of stu-dents (whether from the far-flungcorners of this Empire state or else-where in the nation) an educational op-portunity that wont keep them asindebted with years of loan payments or

financial concerns when compared toother universities.Rather than looking to raise fund-

ing for SBU through a systematic-in-crease in tuition and calling it rational,the SBU administration and SUNYshould be putting pressure on Albanyfor more funding not power. Thats thebeauty of a public institution, its for thepublic and made available by the pub-lic.

That is, unless you are James Si-mons. His pledge of $150 million has

simply threatenedwhatever remain-

ing integrity SBUhas left from itsprevious dealingsand wide supportof PHEEIA. Whilejust a little short ofa direct bribe, Si-mons pledge looksto have a tremen-dous short term fi-nancial benefit, buta long-lasting im-pact on SUNY andmore importantlyStony Brook. It

would open theflood-gates of pri- vatization, as partof PHEEIA alsoempowers stateuniversities to facil-

itate public-private land-leases.This is what is so depraved about

Simons suggestions. SUNY is starvedfor funds by a government which fordecades has put catering to the selfishcaprice of the super-wealthy ahead ofthe public good. This creates the condi-tions for Simons to exploit thegrotesque economic inequality of our

society and to dictate SUNYs direction.He would abuse his wealth to under-mine SUNYs effectiveness as an engineto create a more just societyfurtherentrenching the inequality itself.

Affordable Education...

Wait, I Didnt Say Simons Says

Write fo e P!

Meetings Every Wednesday at 1PM, Union Building 060


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lettersThe Stony Brook Press

Dear Mr. Simons, feel free to send us money by getting in touch with us at [email protected]

An article published in Issue 13 of this year stated that Nobel Laureate Dr, Chen Ning Yang was born in 1992. Yang,who is world-renowned physicist will have his name beared on one of the two new dormitory buildings. While wetried to argue that Yang has undergone spacetravel and is the reason why we mistakingly stated he was born a littleless than 20 years ago, we have come to learn that this is not the case. Yang was born in 1922. For the mistake, the

writer is being forced to take an Advanced Online Physics course using a dial-up connection.

An article in Issue 14 of this year had mistakingly that Franck Joseph was a member of the previous Student ActivitesBoard E-Board. While he had attended a number of SAB events, he did not hold an executive role in SAB. The writerwill be forced into attending at least two events hosted by the newly formed Student Programming Agency.

An editorial in Issue 14 about this years poorly attended Brookfest did not include the fact that a wind advisoryhad prevented the installation of a ferris wheel and inflatable floats from being included in the Brookfest carnival. Theeditorial board will be punished by being forced to go on a ferris wheel, despite being much older than the averagechild who actually enjoys going on a ferris wheel.

Request an ad packet:[email protected]

Corrections

To whom it may concern:

I have been a loyal reader ofe Stony Brook Press since my first week as a freshmen four yearsago. Over my time at Stony Brook, e Press has helped given me a sense of community, that Iwas not the only one that felt I was always being short changed, or treated as a second class citi-

zen.

e comedy, satire, and news reporting in e Press have always been spot on, interesting,amusing, and sometimes borderline brilliant. I eagerly awaited each issue, and one of the firstthings I would do ever semester is pick up a copy ofe Press. Sometimes I found some of thearticles offensive at times, or offensive to others, but it was always in good humor, or for a spe-cific reason of satire.

However, today I picked up the May 12th issue ofe Press, and found an article by a Mr. RossBarkan that I felt transcended the line of good taste and humor. e article was entitled SomeAsshole Forgets 9/11.

I am a professional emergency medical technician, and I come from a family of volunteer fire-men. I grew up in the company of other rookie EMTs and Firemen listening to our fathers, un-cles, and other brothers telling stories of their time at the World Trade Center site. Ive heardstories of survival, stories of the guys lost, stories of good times, bad times. e emergency re-sponse community of police, firemen, and medics is a tight one, sometimes tighter than anyfamily. To this day, September 11th still represents an open wound to us. Our elders mourn theloss of the brothers and sisters they knew, and my generation mourns the loss of the brothersand sisters we would never have the pleasure to know, the stories and lessons we would not beable to receive.

Although I believe I understand the purpose of Mr. Barkans article, I also dont find any humor

in it, nor do I find any purpose beyond simple shock value. Surely Mr. Barkan realizes that manyof those at Stony Brook may have a connection to Sept. 11th? Surely he realizes the limits ofgood taste? Sept. 11th to use isnt merely a slogan or justification for war to us. Its a loss that willtake decades for our collective family to recover from. I appreciate any response or answer youmay have for the article.

ank you in advance for your time and consideration.

Joseph N. emann, EMT-CC


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featuresVol. XXX, Issue 9 | Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Right off Montauk Highway inSouthampton, past a row of smokeshops, a farmers market and a few NoTrespassing signs, is a suburban com-munity that looks much like any other.

Modest houses dot the ShinnecockIndian reservation, an 800-acre penin-sula belonging to one of the nationsoldest self-governing tribes. Residentsgather at the community center, attendmass at a quaint wood-shingled churchand honk hello to one another whiledriving home. Children play along thebeaches, which overlook some of themost expensive real estate in the coun-try.

But in this neighborhood nestledin the heart of the Hamptons wheremostly-single heads of householdsbring in an average of $14,000 a year,the Shinnecock carve out an impover-ished existence alongside their opulentneighbors.

Now, a long-anticipated transition

is on the horizon for the Shinnecock In-dian Nation. A state-recognized tribefor more than 200 years, the Shinnecocklast month became the United States565th federal tribe.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs desig-nation, which should be finalized after amonth-long comment period, put anend to a decades-long struggle forrecognition. It will create a government-to-government relationship betweenthe Shinnecock and the United Statesand make the tribe eligible for federalfunding, economic development aidand social services.

The Benefits

On a sunny spring afternoon, Eliz-abeth Thunder Bird Haile sat on anarmchair in her modest, one-storyhouse on the Shinnecock reservation.Shells, pottery and tribal knickknackscrowded the shelves around her. A por-trait of her father, the late Chief Thun-

der Bird, sat atop the mantle.Im living in a very interesting time

in my tribes life, Haile, a beloved tribalelder, said in her deliberate, measuredmanner of speaking.

Across the room, the cover of adays-old Newsday announced that Nas-sau County Executive EdwardMangano is in talks with the tribe about

a possible casino at Nassau Coliseum.With federal recognition and with

it the ability to open a casino immi-nent for months, tribal leaders havebeen looking into a host of possiblegaming sites.

Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens apossibility Gov. David Paterson recentlyshot down and Belmont Park were thefrontrunners until Mangano startedpushing Nassau Coliseum. BrookhavenCalabro Airport has emerged as an-other possibility.

A casino would give the tribe a flag-ship economic development project andgenerate money for cultural programs,education and tribal language research,tribal members said.

Thats why the casino is so big,said Dyashwa Sylvester, a Stony Brookstudent, explaining funding needs.Well have more money to put intopositive things in the community.

Haile insists that soon there will be

A casino wouldgive the tribe a flag-ship economic de-velopment project

and generate moneyfor cultural

programs...

Road to RecognitionRoad to RecognitionBy Car olina HidlagoBy Car olina Hidlago


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The Stony Brook Press 7Features

plenty of money put aside to offer col-lege scholarships.

Thats my idea of going into a well-paying business such as gaming, shesaid, adding that she wants all of thetribes youth to be able to go to colleges

of their choice. And Ill be there to seethat it does happen, she said with asharp nod. First thing.

Along with the opportunity to es-tablish a casino, federal recognition willopen the door to possibilities for hous-ing development, better healthcare andjob training.

Banks dont offer mortgages to res-idents because they cant foreclose onreservation land. As a result, manyhouses are built one room at a time,over many years, as homeowners saveup enough money for additions. Mostare not weatherized or up to code.

But as members of a federal tribe,the Shinnecock will be eligible to applyfor grants through a housing improve-ment program that helps home ownersfix substandard housing.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs willprovide other basic infrastructure assis-tance, such as road improvementthrough a joint program with the Fed-eral Highway Administration.

Haile also hopes for more fundingfor the Shinnecock Nation CulturalCenter and Museum, of which she isvice president. The museum board isplanning to construct a life-size Indian

village that will transport visitors backto the 1600s.

We have fundraisers but we stilldont have any money from the tribe,she said, because our tribe does nothave any money.

The Road to Recognition

This summers change of fortunecomes 32 years after the Shinnecocksubmitted a letter of intent to petitionfor federal tribal recognition.

The tribe was one of the first to sub-mit a letter following the 1978 creationof the Office of Federal Acknowledg-

ment, now notorious for its decades-long wait times. Only two tribes havebeen recognized through the applica-tion process over the past 10 years.More than 200 remain on hold.

There are no other processes thattake over a generation to approve, saidDante Desiderio, a policy specialist atthe National Congress of American In-dians. Its obviously more burdensomethan it needs to be.

The Shinnecock spent 25 years col-lecting historical, anthropological andgenealogical documents required tomeet the Bureau of Indian Affairs cri-

teria for recognition.The federal recognition process is

one of the most tedious, time-consum-ing, degrading processes ever in life,said Staysea Lee Hutchings, director of

the tribes enrollment office. We haveto prove that were Native American,that we have a government We justhave to prove everything.

After an unreasonable delay lawsuitlast year, a judge ordered the Bureau of

Indian Affairs to make a decision on thetribes application by December 2009,speeding up the process.

Haile recalls the judge using the

word unconscionable to describe thebureaus actions.

Because thats not what you do topeople when they have achieved thestandards that the BIA set, she ex-plained.

In December, the bureau proposedto determine that the Shinnecock are anIndian tribe under the meaning of fed-eral law. And this spring, it closed anobjection period on the tribes petition,setting the stage for the summer deter-

mination.

The Downsides

About 500 of the nations 1,200 en-

rolled members live on the reservation,making up a tight-knit neighborhood.The sovereign community elects threetribal trustees each year and is governedby oral law.

But some Shinnecock fear that gov-

ernment oversight will change their wayof life. By establishing Indian tribes asdomestic dependent nations, federalrecognition gives tribes a politicallymurky sovereignty subject to changesunder U.S. Indian policy.

Chenae Bullock, a student at Mary-mount Manhattan College, is skepticalabout the designation. Laws will con-tinue to be passed and theyll continueto interfere with what weve always beendoing.

She acknowledged that the benefitsrecognition offers are needed but does-nt think theyre worth the trade-off in

sovereignty.She said the federal help makes

people shortsighted. They just see thattheir children need this and they needthat. But if we continue to stick to-gether as one nation we can overcomethat.

Desiderio, of the National Congressof American Indians, admitted that thefederal government gets more involvedin tribal affairs than states.

Theres a lot more oversight, whichis one of the downsides, he said of fed-eral recognition. But relative to thebenefits you receive, there are a very

small amount of downsides.Matthew L.M. Fletcher, director of

the Indigenous Law and Policy Centerat the Michigan State University College

of Law, also recognized that there arepluses and minuses.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs mustauthorize tribal governing documentsand can sometimes hold up approval ofconstitutions or charters. It also works

with newly recognized tribes to set cri-teria for who can enroll as a member.

But Fletcher said, the way that theU.S. deals with Indian tribes is probablythe best it has ever been.

Haile acknowledged that tribalmembers have a right to be afraid. Butshe said she has been studying the reg-ulations since the application processbegan in the 70s.

I think that they will let us conductour lives a lot like weve been doing. Imnot afraid.

The tribe tries to see all change pos-itively, she said, recalling the changes

that began half a decade ago when Shin-necock shops began to spring up alongMontauk Highway.

The stores invited the public ontothe tribes home, bringing commerceand much-needed streams of revenuebut altering the reservations frontierand taking away a small measure of pri-vacy.

Now, Haile admits, the changes thatcome with federal recognition will re-quire the Shinnecock to give up somefreedoms.

But the tribe will adjust.We adjust to everything else, she

said. Because we have to.

Photos by the author

I think that they

will let us con-

duct our lives a

lot like weve

been doing. Im

not afraid.


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8 Vol. XXX, Issue 9 | Tuesday, July 20, 2010Rocks!

STONY BROOK

ROCKS!

By Roman Sheydvasser


9/16

The Stony Brook Press 9Rocks!


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arts&entertainmentVol. XXX, Issue 9 | Tuesday, July 20, 2010

New York City, thanks to its diver-sity, bureaucracy and musical nature is adifficult market to establish a music fes-tival in. All Points West died an unan-nounced death, The Pool Parties onlysurvived with federal help, and anythingworth attending seems to be either inNew Jersey or upstate. Mainstream fes-tivals like Coachella, Bonnaroo or Lol-lapalooza dont seem to be able to takeroot in New York City due to the mas-sive number of venues the five boroughscontain. But if youre a fan of anythingand everything electronic, Electric Zoohas a treat for you.

Come Labor Day weekend, Ran-dalls Island will be turned into an open-air festival. Among the guestsannounced so far: Armin Van Buuren,Major Lazer and a DJ set by Moby.Other guess includes Bassnectar, TheChemical Brothers, Steve Aoki andMarkus Schulz. Schulz, whose latestalbum, Do You Dream, was released inJune, is currently ranked as the number8 DJ in the world, among the likes ofTiesto and Deadmau5. When the op-portunity arose to interview Markus inwhat will hopefully be the first of sev-eral interviews with Electric Zoo par-ticipants, we took it.

Schulz, a German-born producer,played last years Electric Zoo. This year,he plans to play more of his own music- selections from the album and tracksthat I have been just itching to take outonto the floors and hit the festivalswith. When it comes to other peoples

music, one song vividly sticks out hismind: Perception by Cass and Slide(he has a cover of this song on his latestalbum). When I lived in London at thestart of the decade, I used to attend TheGallery nights at Turnmills as a clubberon a regular basis, and this track was ahuge, huge anthem at the time. It be-came a special record for me, to the ex-tent that I wished I had made it myself.

Having been active in both Europeand the States since 1990, Schulz hasseen the electronic scene morph overthe past two decades. Weve hadbig evolutionary changes. Euphoric,Tech, even commercial trance Ibarely know where to begin. He feelsthat a portion of the most recentchanges can be attributed to technology [they] have become more subtle not harder to spot necessarily, but justless hard corner-turning. A lot of it isdown to new synths, new plug-ins,technology and techniques arriving onthe scene. These techniques are origi-nal only for a short period of time when

someone uses them to create somethingnew. After that, like Autotune after T-Pain, youll see that everyone elseclocked it too.

In terms of his own technology,Schulz uses a triumvirate that should be

familiar to anyone who uses a laptop forany sort of genre of music: Pro-Tools,Ableton, and Logic. In Logic I love allthe synths and plug-ins in there. Able-ton is incredible for making loops and

making and those glitchy cool effectsand of course the sound engine in Pro-Tools is amazing, I really like to mixeverything down using that system. Ofcourse, this is all done on stage bymeans of a producers best friend, a lap-top.

So whats next for someone whosalready one of the top 10 DJs in theworld? Schulz doesnt look at it like this.To him, its about other things. What Iget up thinking about every morningisnt the Top 100, its about where in theworld Ive woken up, which spot Imtravelling to next and what Im going todo to make sure it gets rocked to withinan inch of its natural born! I dont thinkIm the only one that thinks like that ei-ther.

Markus Schulz will be performingat Electric Zoo on September 4 at theHilltop Arena. If youre an electronicfan, you should probably attend. Its notlike youll have any assignments thatfirst week back.

All DJs are Good When You Are on E!

By Alex Nagler

Weve had big evolu-

tionary changes. Eu-

phoric, Tech,

even commercial

trance.


11/16

The Stony Brook Press 11Arts & Entertainment

Julian Lynch is one of the handfulof New Jersey based musicians (Liamthe Younger, Fluffy Lumbers) whohave become featured on Pitchfork in amanner inseparable from Ulysses S.Grants presidential cabinet to me. As-sociated with Underwater Peoples, alabel/collective/something or otherfrom the Garden State, Lynchs newalbumMare, a very enjoyable bedroomrock album, is one of the best the col-lective has produced. Part of what at-tracts me to Mare is the notion thatmany other albums of its kind exist,some better and some worse, on Mac-books or 4-tracks scattered among col-lege dorms all over the United States,but that this one stands out against therest for one reason or another. I dontmean to disparage Mare. In fact, it isquite good.

Apparently, Lynch is makingrecords concurrently with getting hisPh.D. Mare sounds like the work of ahighly talented music lover (especiallywhen assuming, as I am, that Lynchplays every instrument) more than amusician (which the Lynch of my mind,who is playing all these instrumentsquite well, undoubtedly is). The JulianLynch of my mind is someone who iseking out his musical ambition and tal-ent in the down time of a rigorous en-gagement. Fortunately for Lynch, he isgetting critical recognition from jugger-nauts like P4k, which must be very grat-ifying. When I checked out LynchsMyspace the day after his album wasgiven Best New Music, his tour of theSouth has a single date listed, with therest of the dates listing a city and TBAor Need Help!!!

Mare is an enjoyable listen. It is nota rich tapestry of sound per se. It isfaded and muted in ocherous tones: apale wheat blond, a distant red, a wholelot of soil. The instrumentation rangesfrom sparse, down-tuned percussion,drums that sound like canyons loosely

bound with cloth, to layers of icicle likestrands of strummed and pluckedacoustic guitar strings, to a bass clarinetthat sounds on the verge of implosion,rifts of times passage along its body af-fecting its tone and blemishing its ap-

pearance. On Mare all theinstrumentation is both cohesive and

impressive, in a way that has more withatmosphere than chops, but is not de-void of the latter.

If the Rolling Stones MoonlightMile was eviscerated of the pristinegrandeur and sweeping resolve with

which it was stuffed and was refilledwith a slinky auto-wah and intention-ally inauthentic sounding marimba viakeyboard melody, it would come closeto approximating the albums title track.Opener Just Enough establishes that

Lynch uses a similar guitar playing styleto Matt Mondanile and Martin Courte-nay, who in turn lifted it from Ira Ka-plan and Lee Ranaldo, but allowed it tobleach out in the sun and mellow. Themelodies are a little stranger and moreoff kilter, sometimes treading Pavementterritory, but they are still very decid-edly evocative of Real Estate and Duck-tails, despite a sound more removedfrom the beach and more akin toWoods and the woods. There is a weirddepravity about Lynchs guitar playingon Just Enough that I find rather en-rapturing. The farfisa organ in the back-

ground is exemplary of the nicesubtleties which spring up all over

Mare.The percussion is impressive

throughout the album, as is the dimambience against which it is set. Still

Racing is one of the albums best cuts.It features a choir of hushed Lynchessinging atop a thick safety net ofacoustic guitars and mandolins. Thesong could have been at home on YoungPrayer by Panda Bear. Ears also

evokes Animal Collective, albeit in adifferent way. Lynch sings in a falsettowhich evokes Beiruts horn arrange-ments in timbre in tandem with AveyTare. The guitar solo is impressive andsounds as if its notes are stuck in glue orhoney, each note sustained giving wayinto a spill of hot white hum. It is themost traditionally cathartic crescendoon the LP. The furious clarinet playingon Ruth My Sister is impressive aswell, evoking Bruce Springsteen, Bleed-ing Gums Murphy, a panorama of backalley imagery and that new Ariel Pinkalbum (just a bit) to me. Another one of

my favorite songs on Mare is Travel-ers. Think forests, dystopian guitarlicks and avoiding tripping on tree rootswhile ambling frantically as best as pos-sible for an approximation of what itslike to listen to.

Riding a Glistening Pony in the Sweet Jersey Air

By Josh Ginsberg

The song could havebeen at home onYoung Prayerby

Panda Bear. Earsalso evokes AnimalCollective, albeit in

a different way.


12/16

12 Vol. XXX, Issue 9 | Tuesday, July 20, 2010Arts & Entertainment

The Gaslight Anthems newest re-lease,American Slang, sees the band fi-nally hitting the stride I think theyalways wanted. Drawing on a widerange of influences and stepping uptheir song writing, this New Jersey-bredquartet has created their best album yet.

American Slangis the follow up to2008s The 59 Sound, critically ac-claimed and full of fan-favorite tracks.It would have been very easy for theband to write the same album, andprobably no one would have com-plained. Instead, The Gaslight Anthemramped up their game, delving deeperinto their Motown, soul and R&B influ-ences and retaining less of the punkedge that brought them their first, andmost loyal, fans. Some may seeAmeri-can Slang as too radical a departurefrom their harder early sound, but thisalbum is the one I think The GaslightAnthem has always wanted to make,they just didnt know how.

From the opening chords of thefirst song (the title track), it is obviousthatAmerican Slangis a different albumfrom its predecessor. Gone are the opencowboy chords, the M.O. of their previous releases. And while it doesntmake them Dragonforce, the use ofmore barre chords and having morethan four chord changes in a song offersa subtle complexity not really found intheir earlier material. Also differentis the feel of these tracks. Musically, theysound lighter, taking cues from 60s souland 80s Springsteen, but this meansthat the songs have less driving urgencyto them. They have more room tobreathe, which is especially evident inlead guitarist Alex Rosamilias work. Hehas always been a noodling guitarplayer, influenced more by shoegazeand post-rock than the Motown andworking-class rock that has guided pri-mary songwriter and vocalist Brian Fal-lon. With more room to work with,Rosamilias guitar lines sound more inplace than they ever have before. Theyare almost playful at times, weaving inand out of the main progression, like onthe aforementioned titled track andThe Spirit of Jazz, my favorite song offthe entire album. At times his lines aredriving the song, like the slow and in-teresting The Queen of LowerChelsea. Ive always felt that it was thelead work that has really set Gaslightapart from their contemporaries, atleast musically, and American Slangismore than ample proof.

The rhythm section also improvesgreatly over previous efforts. Drummer

Benny Horowitz has always provided asolid foundation to the bands sound.With his background in hardcore andpunk, his style of playing has lent an in-teresting tone and pace to Gaslightssongs. It gives the tracks an edge thatkeeps the band from being BruceSpringsteen rip-offs. On AmericanSlangthings are no different. Horowitzhas turned things down a notch, fittinghis parts in much more with the overalltone of the songs, but he has keptenough of his hard playing style thatthis album can truly be cemented asGaslights. Bassist Alex Levine is the

weak link. Hes stable, but uninterestingat best. Bass is low in the mix, some-times barely audible, even with a decentsound system, and that has always beenthe case. There is absolutely nothing re-

markable about the bass work, but atleast it doesnt suck and detract from the

album.Vocally, Fallon delivers his best per-formance yet. Hes tough and gritty, butcan croon when he needs to. Hes notafraid of off-key yelps and being imper-fect, which is refreshing. Also, thespring reverb that plagued The 59Soundis blessedly gone, so Fallon does-nt sound like hes singing in the Carls-bad Caverns. His voice is clear andperfect for the bands sound.

The star of the show, of course, isBrian Fallons songwriting. Fallonmoved to Brooklyn while writing thesongs forAmerican Slangand it shows.

It is peppered with references to locales(the song The Queens of LowerChelsea) and the city itself. But moresubstantially, Fallons characters aretough and weary city folk. While previ-

ous albums have been hopeful and cel-ebratory of the ordinary life,American

Slangacknowledges its hardships. Lyricslike, So dont sing me your songs aboutthe good times/ Those days are goneand you should just let them go/ AndGod help the man who says/ If youdhave known me when and We wereorphans before/ We were ever the sonsof regret show that Fallon has grownup, and even with Gaslights immensesuccess, things are never always great.Its an important step for him to take,and I see it resulting in even better ma-terial in the future.

American Slangis The Gaslight An-thems best showing to date. They made

the record they wanted to, and while itmay alienate a few old fans, it seems tohave been worth it for this New Jerseyoutfit.

Telling Fortunes in American Slang

By Zach Knowlton


13/16

After the wonderland ofThe Beat-les: Rock Band, Harmonix has followedup with another single band edition ofthe popular Rock Band franchise,Green Day: Rock Band.

Yeah, I know, not necessarily myfirst choice either, but its still a lot offun.

All in all, there are 47songs on disc, with seam-less integration for the 6tracks already released asdownloadable content(Know Your Enemy, 21Guns and 4 other songsfrom the 2009 album 21st

Century Breakdown).There is also a Plus versionavailable that costs an extra$10 and comes with theDLC tracks and a free ex-port code. Thats right, fora small fee, you can exportall of the songs for use inRock Band 2.

Of the 53 songs youcan play most come fromthree albums in their en-tirety: the breakout Dookie,punk-rock operaAmericanIdiot, and their most recenteffort, 21stCentury Break-down. The rest are a smat-tering of singles from theother albums, such as BrainStew/Jaded, Warning, and the any-thing-remotely-sad staple of the 90s,Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life).

The Beatles was a tribute to the en-tire legacy of the band, from school-

girls screaming as they played live on

The Ed Sullivan Show to the abstractimagery ofAbbey Road. Green Day in-stead chooses to honor their live per-formances. You can play in one ofthree venues: Milton Keyes Stadium,where they recorded their Bullet In ABible DVD, the Fox Theatre in Oak-land, and the Warehouse, a small rockclub meant to represent all the squatsand clubs they played early in their ca-

reer.First off, the animations are a real

pleasure to look at. They dont matchthe trippy dreamscapes ofThe Beatles:Rock Band, but they definitely add to

the experience. Little things like Billie

Joe Armstrong going up on the raftersto play the finish to Boulevard OfBroken Dreams and drummer TreCool dancing around during the open-ing of F.O.D., all lend the game itsown unique tone. The Guitar Hero se-ries has employed song specific linearmotion capture like this since theirfourth edition, Guitar Hero: WorldTour.

Its certainly more difficult thanthe Beatles edition, but dont go in ex-pecting extensive Dragonforce-levelsolos. Even though the songs aremostly chords, the rhythms keep the

songs challenging, and itll be sure to

provide a workout to even the mostseasoned drummers. On some songs,especially from the Dookie album,bassists will welcome an actual chal-lenge.

As a reward for completing songsand challenges, you get pictures andvideos of concerts. The pictures arenothing special, since no extra infor-mation is given other than the name of

the photographer, butthe videos are amazing.There are rare inter-views, sound checks,and a live performance

of She where, I as-sume, because theywere so nervous filmingtheir first concert spe-cial, they took a shitload of drugs before-hand.

Overall, the game iswell put together, andcaptures the feel of theband. There isnt asmuch as there was inThe Beatles: Rock Band,and it would have beennice to get some songs

from the pre-Dookie al-bums, or side projectslike the Foxboro HotTubs and The Network.But is it worth the pur-chase? Its Rock Bandwith Green Day. Even

with the export fee, 54 songs for $70isnt too bad of a deal. Lets face it, ifyoure reading this, youre a child ofthe 90s and Im sure as hell youre atleast curious.

The Stony Brook Press 13Arts & Entertainment

My Eyes Feel Like Teyre Gonna Bleed

By Eric DiGiovanni


14/16

14 Vol. XXX, Issue 9 | Tuesday, July 20, 2010

This past year was without a doubtthe most successful in the history ofStony Brook Athletics. The Seawolveslacrosse team made it to the final eightin the Division I NCAA Tournament,where they lost a very close battle tofirst ranked Virginia.

The baseball team won their secondAmerica East title in three years andwon their first Division I NCAA Tour-nament game at the Myrtle Beach Re-gional over NC State.

And the Stony Brook mens basket-ball team had an impressive season,winning the regular season AmericaEast title, and making it to the post-sea-son NIT Tournament.

Several Seawolves athletes haveachieved individual accomplishmentsas well. From our lacrosse team, KevinCrowley and Greg Miceli will partici-pate in the 2010 World Championships.Crowley (New Westminster, British Co-lumbia) will play for Team Canada, andMiceli (King City, Ontario) will play forTeam Italy.

However, perhaps the greatest ac-complishment achieved by our lacrosseteam was when Tom Compitellos in-credible diving goal and Kevin Crow-leys spectacular behind the back goalhit #5 and #1 respectively on Sports

Centers top ten plays on the same night.

Senior Michael Stephen and Soph-omore Tyler Johnson of the Seawolvesbaseball team were both named to theAmerica East All-Academic team.

Stephen lead the Seawolves in home

runs and RBIs, and lead the league inRBIs during conference play. Johnsonmade the All-America East Team aswell with a Seawolves single season

record 10 wins and an impressive 6-1

record with a 2.44 ERA in conferenceplay.Also, Seawolves freshman William

Carmona was awarded America Eastrookie of the year, a Louisville SluggerFreshman All-American byCollegiateBaseball Newspaper, and Ping!Base-ball.com named Carmona a third teamFreshman All-American.

Stony Brook alumnus Tom Koehlerwas recently named to the SouthernLeague All-Star Game. Currently pitch-ing for the Florida Marlins Double-Ateam, Koehler holds a 10-1 record witha 3.21 ERA.

Twins, Lucy and Holly Van Dalenbecame Stony Brook tracks first two Di-vision I All-Americans. Holly set a newschool record in the 5,000 meter (3.1Miles) race, finishing in 16:06.77. Shefinished in 7th overall.

Junior Lucy Van Dalen finishedeigth the next day in the 1,500 meter(just under one mile) race with a timeof 4:18.42.

As a whole, Stony Brook Univer-sitys student athletes posted a com-bined 3.03 GPA. This is the fourthstraight season that Stony Brooks ath-letes have combined for a GPA above

3.0. It was an incredible year for theSeawolves, so tune in next year, becauseyou aint seen nothing yet.

Seawolves Recap!

By Matt Maran

sports


15/16

The Stony Brook Press 15Sports

On July 3, at UFC 116 at the MGMGrand Garden Arena in Las Vegas,Brock Lesnar put a cap on his comebackstory and defeated Shane Carwin to be-come the Undisputed UFC Heavy-weight Champion.

Carwin absolutely pummeledLesnar for the duration of the first

round, and it would not have been toofar out of the ordinary for the fight tohave been stopped, but its a good thingit wasnt. Lesnar still had plenty left inthe tank, and Carwin spent all of his en-ergy trying to put Lesnar away.

At the start of the second round,Lesnar stood up and smiled at Carwin.His face looked like a piece of raw,butchered meat, and he was smiling.Thats my kind of fighter!

Carwin was out of energy and prac-tically gave Lesnar a takedown. Lesnarwas able to maneuver his way into anadvantageous position on the ground.

At this point everyone expected Lesnarto ground and pound his way to victory.

Well, everyone was surprised, in-cluding Carwin, when Lesnar locked anarm and choked out his top challenger.Carwin tapped out, and Brock Lesnarwas once again the Undisputed Heavy-weight Champion.

Lesnar had just returned from anear-fatal case of diverticulitis. He lost40 pounds in a week, and was very closeto death just six months ago. He madehis way back to the UFC and in his firstfight in a year took one hell of a beating,and came out still the champ.

Meanwhile, Fedor Emilianenko lostto Fabricio Werdum by submission justabout a minute into the fight on aStrikeforce show. Fedor was consideredto be head-and-shoulders above anyother heavyweight, and one of the bestpound-for-pound fighters in the world.

Fedor caught Werdum with a

punch, and then gotoverconfident. Hepounced on Werdum inan attempt to finish him,but got caught in a choke.

With that loss,Fedors aura of invincibil-ity has been dampened.He lost to Werdum, afighter who had been re-leased from the UFC for

losing too much. Fedorhas had an incredible ca-reer, but he never mademistakes like he didagainst Werdum. Fedorsimply is not indestructi-ble anymore.

Brock Lesnar is nowwithout a doubt the bestheavyweight in the world.Lesnar withstood an on-slaught from Carwin thatwould have destroyedmost fighters. Lesnarshowed that he has im-

proved leaps and boundsince his first fight atUFC 81, where FrankMir caught him in akneebar submission.Lesnar has improved histechnique and worked onall aspects of his game toa point that he was able towin a heavyweight cham-pionship bout with anarm choke. I dont thinkLesnar knew what thathold was two years ago.

Lesnar did show that

his stand-up game canstill use some work. Hewas absolutely pummeled by Carwin,and the referee could very well havestopped the fight. There are other topheavyweights with good enough stand-up offense to give Lesnar trouble, butCarwins is the most powerful.

Next up for Lesnar is top contender

Cain Velasquez at UFC 121 in October.Velasquez is undefeated and is comingoff a win over MMA legend AntonioRodrigo Nogueira.

Velasquez has better striking thanLesnar, but he is about 30 poundslighter and will have a lot of trouble pre-

venting Lesnar from taking him down.For the first time in years, the UFC

can be certain that they have the bestheavyweight in the world. Brock Lesnarhas reached the level Mike Tyson wason 15 years ago, and is now the baddestman on the planet.

Undisputed King of the

Heavyweight DivisionBy Matt Maran


16/16

the stony brook press - volume 31, issue 15

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