Today: Showers THE TUFTS High 72 Low 63 Tufts’ Student Tomorrow: Newspaper Partly Cloudy Since 1980 High 72 Low 52 VOLUME LIV, NUMBER 29 DAILY FR I DAY , OCTOBER 19, 2007 TCU Senate and administration work to bring mtvU to campus BY LI LLY RI BER And so far, he is too. Daily Editorial Board “We’re doing a little research on it ... but it does not seem that there The Tufts Community Union (TCU) are obstacles of substance to having Senate is working to bring mtvU, a this move forward, at least to the next cable network catered specifically to step,” Reitman said. the collegiate audience, to Tufts. Unlike the original MTV, mtvU strays The station, an offshoot of the from mainstream pop music, focus- larger MTV network, has obtained an ing instead on new, up-and-coming audience of 7.5 million students at groups that appeal to its target audi- over 750 campuses since its Jan. 2004 ence. launch. It is offered at no cost to either “We’ve never played a Britney students or administrations. video,” Friedman said. “What we want According to mtvU General Manager to do is find those artists that have Stephen Friedman, Tufts is one of the a real powerful college following or last schools in Massachusetts not to brand new bands that most people have MTV. haven’t heard of that college kids are Sophomore Senator C.J. Mourning, talking about.” who is leading the effort to bring the As such, much of the content is TIM STRAUB/ TUFTS DAILY station to campus, said that the proj- student-driven. New York Times Magazine reporter Matt Bai spoke last night in Braker Hall. ect is still in its beginning stages but “Programming is really coming has promise. from the universities,” Friedman said. Bai encourages Dems to find According to Mourning, senators He specifically mentioned the show have already met with an MTV repre- “Stand In,” in which cultural icons sentative. come to schools to serve as guest “Now we’re talking to different teachers. an argument for next election administrators to see if there are any But celebrities are not the only ones BY AARO N ZUCKER A N D ROB SI L V ERBLATT can recover from the struggles it has obstacles,” she said. given airtime as talent-search pro- Contributing Writer and Daily Editorial Board encountered in recent years. Dean of Student Affairs Bruce grams offer students a chance to stand “We live in an era where people say Reitman met with Mourning on in the limelight. New York Times Magazine reporter politics isn’t about ideas, it’s about win- Tuesday and the Senate executive “We really think of mtvU as an incu- Matt Bai (LA ’90) came to campus ning,” Bai told an audience in Braker board yesterday to discuss the issue. bator for student talent and we are eager last night to speak about the future “[The] student government seems of the Democratic Party and how it see BAI, page 2 to be quite in favor of it,” he said. see MTVU, page 2 Tufts econ professor develops Brown and Brew may get mezzanine, extra seating carbon emissions legislation BY ALEXA N DRA BOGUS pay any new taxes. Contributing Writer Despite this, Economics Professor Daniel Richards A carbon emissions bill anticipates the public will inspired by Tufts Economics have a negative reaction to the Professor Gilbert Metcalf may bill. reach the floor of Congress “I don’t think the public is this fall as part of a national sympathetic to any kind of initiative to counteract the new tax,” he said. “There’s a mounting effects of green- crowd that believes that [the house gases. tax rebate] won’t happen.” Metcalf, who specializes Anja Kollmuss, the out- in environmental tax policy, reach coordinator for the Tufts designed his proposal to pro- Climate Initiative, agreed. tect the environment while at Carbon taxes have not been LAURA SCHULTZ/ TUFTS DAILY the same time taking the bur- popular in the past “because den off taxpayers. they have the word tax in it,” Brown and Brew may soon be getting an upper “It would be a great addition that would delineate Entitled America’s Energy she said. deck. the space,” said senior Evan Lichtenstein, who works Security Trust Fund Act, it is The United States emit- Potential renovations to the café, which is located as a supervisor there. currently in the House Ways ted six billion tons of carbon in Curtis Hall, would capitalize on the space that Sophomores Elizabeth Mendelsohn and Victoria and Means Committee. dioxide in 2005, according opened up after the Protestant, Catholic and Muslim Ruff, both customers, agreed. The bill would impose a tax to the Energy Information chaplains moved into the new Interfaith Center this “I think [a mezzanine] would be a great idea. It of $15 per ton on carbon diox- Administration. Metcalf esti- year. They had previously occupied the second floor would be nice to have more places for students to ide emissions. The revenue mates that his bill would of Curtis. hang-out on campus,” Mendelsohn said. from that tax would then be reduce emissions by about 12 While the plan is still in its infant stages, Vice Ruff said it would help reduce some of the space redistributed to households percent and raise over $80 bil- President of Operations John Roberto said that his pressures in the main Brown and Brew seating area. in the form of an income tax lion in revenue to be redistrib- office is “looking into the feasibility” of using this area “There’s definitely times when it’s obnoxiously full in credit. uted to the public. to create a mezzanine. there,” she said. His proposal comes as at a But the carbon tax is not If the construction moves forward, it would not Before moving forward with construction, the time when efforts to reduce without problems. displace any of the groups who currently have offices university would have to hire an architect and draw emissions have gotten support Metcalf anticipates an in Curtis. up blueprints. from key legislators, includ- increase of 13 cents per gal- It also probably would not hinder the day-to- But whether the plan even gets that far depends ing Sens. Joseph Lieberman lon in the price of gasoline day operations of the café, according to Director of on the results of feasibility studies that examine (I-Conn.) and John McCain at the pump, a 14.1 percent Dining Services Patricia Klos. issues like whether the new mezzanine would allow (R-Ariz.) and House Speaker increase in electricity and nat- “It is reasonable to think that ... Brown and Brew for an acceptable emergency egress route. There Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). ural gas prices, and a 10.9 per- would remain open while work went on in the bal- would also be financial considerations. Metcalf is confident his pro- cent increase in home-heating cony area,” she said in an e-mail. As such, Klos said that there still are not any guar- posal would ensure that the prices, according to a policy The current proposal, which calls for the mez- antees. tax only affects fossil fuel pro- brief he wrote for the World zanine to be used only for seating, has gotten an “It is too soon to tell if we will be able to proceed ducers and not the general Resources Institute, an envi- enthusiastic response from the café’s employees and with any changes in the building,” she said. public. As such, he said that customers. —by Daniel Pasternack households will not have to see EMISSIONS, page 2 Inside this issue tuftsdaily.com Today’s Sections Just when you got used Comics 8 to the CharlieCard, the Women’s soccer travels to News 1 MBTA may be institut- Williamstown for NESCAC Features 3 Classifieds 9 ing a new plan to sys- showdown with nationally- Arts | Living 5Sports Back tematically raise T fares. ranked Ephs. see FEATURES, page 3 see SPORTS, back page 2 THE TUF T S DAILY NEWS Friday, October 19, 2007 THE TUFTS DAILY Bloggers are ‘the next generation of activists,’ says Bai ELLY IZZETTA K M. R BAI uum. “[Blogging] is also a huge phe- “There are unpleasant truths that Editor-in-Chief continued from page 1 nomenon in places across the country must be told and difficult choices that Hall. “If you want to change the coun- where the Democratic Party has up must be made, and the most successful EDItorIAL try, you need an argument. Elections and left,” he said. candidates are the ones who were con- Liz Hoffman Managing Editors don’t change the country; they are Bai was inspired to write his book troversial, who made arguments that Alex Bloom the means to enacting the change you when traveling with then-presiden- some people weren’t ready to hear,” he seek.” tial-candidate Howard Dean, who said. “These people changed America.” Forrest Gittleson Editorial Page Editors But the party has been lacking an started “the first political movement But that doesn’t mean completely Jacob Maccoby Kristen Sawicki argument. And while it has not aban- of the Internet Age,” he said. ignoring the preferences of the vot- Judy Wexler doned its ideology, it has been unable “Traveling with Dean, I noticed ers. “George Bush thinks ... leadership to adapt to the changing times. the emotion of each crowd and their is doing what’s unpopular, but he’s Rob Silverblatt Executive News Editor “I don’t mean to suggest that there resentment, not just at conservatives, missing the point.