Alumni Discuss Future of Public Broadcasting and Media in Panel
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Today: PM Snow THE TUFTS High 38 Low 27 Tufts’ Student Tomorrow: Newspaper Partly Cloudy Since 1980 High 41 Low 20 VOLUME LIV, NUMBER 60 DAILY FRIDAY , DECEMBER 7, 2007 Actor Kevin Heffernan speaks in Cabot Harvard University among about ‘Super Troopers’ and ‘Beerfest’ schools tied to lending debacle BY BE N GITTLESO N BY MADELI N E GARBER But these schools have Daily Staff Writer Daily Staff Writer claimed that a different law, the Massachusetts Uniform Limited “I hope tonight you find out what Harvard University and five Partnership, absolves so-called a complex guy I am,” actor and writ- other leading higher education third-party defendants. er Kevin Heffernan told a crowded institutions are under fire for “At bottom, Meadow Creek Cabot Auditorium last night. supporting a money-lending claims only that Harvard, Well-known for his roles as Officer company that allegedly charged Princeton and Yale had knowl- Rodney Farva in “Super Troopers” developer Fred Fahey more than edge of the allegedly usurious (2001), Lars in “Club Dread” (2004), twice the legal limit of interest loans, and that some of the and Landfill in “Beerfest” (2006), on a $6.7 million loan. money used to fund the loans Heffernan spoke bout how he got The schools invested in Realty can be traced back several steps started in comedy, told tales from Financial Partners (RFP), the to the money the universities the sets of his movies, and even gave firm that was allegedly charg- invested with RFP ... pursuant to some commentary on the various ing Fahey’s company, Meadow the limited partnership agree- beer choices available to under- Creek LLC, a 42-percent inter- ment,” they said in a joint state- grads. est rate on a loan. The maxi- ment filed in court on Nov. 2. Heffernan is a member of Broken mum legal interest rate under “Such allegations, even if taken Lizard, the five-man comedy group Massachusetts law is 20 percent as true, do not entitle Meadow behind most of the popular films in in most circumstances. Creek to any relief [from] JORDYN WOLFAND/TUFTS DAILY which the Connecticut native has Actor Kevin Heffernan speaks about his career. Fahey is now suing RFP, the six Harvard, Princeton or Yale.” starred. schools, and two philanthropic Joe Wrinn, Harvard’s director Sponsored by the Lecture Series, Goosebeak, a comedy group that he “From there, they gave us more foundations that also invested of news and public affairs, would the event began with clips from said had many participants at the dough,” he said. in the firm for violating the not comment on the specifics of Heffernan’s movies. Junior Ben New York school. After many of its This enabled the comedy team Criminal Usury Act. He is claim- the case, noting that he could Moskowitz then asked some ques- members graduated, some, includ- to produce its first blockbuster film, ing that they had knowledge of not provide information that is tions and later opened the floor to ing Heffernan, met again in New “Super Troopers.” The movie cen- the loan rate and failed to notify not in the court document. the audience. York City and started the Broken ters on a group of Vermont state the state’s attorney general. According to the law, these In response to a question from Lizard group. troopers who compete with local Attorney Richard Briansky, of universities are referencing leg- Moskowitz, Heffernan discussed “Ultimately, we figured out how law enforcement, all the while play- Prince, Lobel, Glovsky and Tye islation that takes “a limited how his experiences in high school to write scripts and kind of got the ing games on unsuspecting motor- LLP, is representing Fahey. “This partner is not liable for the obli- and college led to a career in com- hang of it after a while,” Heffernan ists and committing crimes of their act imposes liability on all par- gations of a limited partnership edy. said. own. ties involved in a limited part- unless he is also a general part- “I wasn’t the class clown kind of Broken Lizard gained popularity Asked about the origins of nership and not just the partner- ner or, in addition to the exercise guy that was always getting in trou- after its first film “Puddle Cruiser” “Beerfest,” a comedy about a group ship itself,” he told the Daily. of his rights and powers as a ble,” he said. “I was a more subver- (1996) played at a number of film of friends who travel to an inter- Harvard, Princeton and Yale limited partner, he participates sive humor kind of guy.” festivals. When film studios began national beer-drinking competition Universities, all accused by in the control of the business. At Colgate University, Heffernan to notice the group, Heffernan said, Fahey in the case, were limited ...” Harvard and the additional was a founding member of Charred more opportunities came along. see HEFFERNAN, page 2 partners with RFP. see LENDING, page 2 Alumni discuss future of public Political science lecturer Solomont broadcasting and media in panel appears on leading donors’ list for 2007 BY AARO N ZUCKER we’re doing it for an international audi- BY GIO VA nn I RUSSO N ELLO Contributing Writer ence.” Daily Editorial Board Shapiro, the former president of NBC Three Tufts alums returned to the Hill News, entered the world of public broad- Tufts trustee and visiting political science yesterday to share their knowledge of pub- casting in February. He explained how he teacher Alan Solomont (A ‘70) was the sixth lic broadcasting in a program entitled has been able to apply what he learned leading contributor in the country to political “Problems and Promises: The Future of working in commercial television to his new institutions from January to mid-November. Public Broadcasting.” work. He added $106,450 during this time period Neal Shapiro (LA ‘80), the president of “The difference is, in the commercial to the coffers of candidates, the Democratic PBS station 13/WNET New York City; Denise world, you see change happen from the top Party and Political Action Committees, DiIanni (J ‘79), the executive in charge of down,” he said. according to USA Today. local productions at WGBH’s Boston Media The panelists said that funding is a con- These donations included two $10,000 Productions; and John Davidow (A ‘77), stant struggle for public broadcasting, and it contributions to the Democratic National the news director and managing editor for is often difficult to raise enough money. Committee Services Corporation and a Boston’s WBUR, were all featured in the “Our viewership is mostly the same, $28,500 gift to the Democratic Congressional panel discussion moderated by Director of but corporation sponsorship is way down Campaign Committee, according to the Web Communications and Media Studies Julie because they no longer feel they have a civic site OpenSecrets.org. Dobrow. imperative to [sponsor us],” Shapiro said. Solomont also donated once to Tufts alum All three speakers focused on their sta- DiIanni cited a lack of funds as one reason and presidential hopeful Bill Richardson (A tions’ efforts to survive in an age of techno- why PBS puts on British shows. ‘70, F ‘71) and a number of times to his can- logical expansion and talked about inform- “Other programs are too expensive,” she didate of choice, Barack Obama. ing, entertaining, reaching and including said. “We can’t afford quality programming Solomont, who teaches a seminar entitled their audiences in new ways. like that without the money available from “Decision ‘08” at Tufts, said he contributes JORDYN WOLFAND/TUFTS DAILY “TV has changed a lot in the years I’ve the BBC and the UK.” because he sees reason for hope in today’s Tufts trustee Alan Solomont works for Barack been [with WGBH], and it’s very difficult According to Davidow, government increasingly polarized American political Obama’s campaign. talking about my work without talking about grants have also decreased over the years, arena. new media and the sort of digital explosion and sometimes shows are cut because sta- “I’ve been certainly willing to [contribute] party.” we’ve experienced,” DiIanni said. tions can no longer afford them. because I’m passionate about the role that Although Solomont donates his own In his experiences, Davidow, whose sta- “While other [commercial] stations are the political process can play in making this money, he is also a long-time political fund- tion is part of NPR, has found technology to much more concerned with serving stock- a better country,” he said. raiser. be a means to reach new people. holders, our mantra is, ‘Are we serving our On a practical note, Solomont also recog- He has served as treasurer of the “For a long time, [our Web site] was just listeners?’” he said. “We’re not driven by rat- nizes the Democrats’ need for hefty dona- Massachusetts Democratic Party and chair- reflecting what we put on air and not much ings.” tions in order to challenge the Republican man of the Democratic National Committee. else, but we’re recognizing now that we need Those listeners are unique. Public broad- Party. Campaigns have become more expen- He has also worked on the five presidential to take advantage of every platform we can,” casting is popular among the very young and sive, Solomont explained, leading to a need campaigns since 1988. he said. the elderly, but virtually unwatched among for Democrats “to make sure that our can- Prior to the 2004 election, Solomont raised “We’re doing it for a local audience, we’re didates [can] compete financially with what doing it for a national audience, and now see PUBLIC BROADCASTING, page 2 generally has been a much better-financed see OBAMA, page 2 Inside this issue tuftsdaily.com Today’s Sections Comics 7 Students at universities nation- Junior forward John Pierce News 1 wide are ogranizing to stop the scored 36 points in a Jumbo Features 3 Classifieds 9 use of sweatshops to produce win over Babson.