F R I D AY DEC. 10, 2004 Vol. 126, No. 39
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THE END IS NEAR . . .
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DAYS UNTIL FINALS END DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS
INSIDE
Holiday options leaving you confused? Consider an issue more serious than your next purchase.
STUDENT LIFE T H E I N D E P E N D E N T N E W S PA P E R O F WA S H I N G T O N U N I V E R S I T Y I N S T. L O U I S S I N C E 1 8 7 8
SU VP elected behind closed doors By Rachel Streitfeld and Sarah Kliff News Staff Four hours into Wednesday’s meeting to elect a new class vice president, Student Union members moved to seal their discussion from the public. An argument erupted around 1 a.m. when Treasury representative Judson Clark suggested expelling media from the meeting. Legislators discussed a variety of options before deciding to convene an executive session, effectively closing the meeting to the student body. The heated back-and-forth centered around whether reporters from Student Life should be allowed to take notes on the proceedings. Clark said “nothing good can come” of the reporters’ presence. He expressed concern that “anything we say will be taken out of context.” “Discussion should not be on any record of any kind. It is the reason we have the nominees step out,” said Clark. “We provide one unified voice so that all anyone knows what we personally think about them is never in the minutes.” The candidates themselves were only allowed in the chamber to present their speeches and answer the joint committee’s questions. The candidates were not privy to speeches from their competitors. After an hour of debate, Senate and Treasury members decided the reporters could stay only if they turned off their tape recorder, shut off their laptops and laid down their pens—thereby agreeing
not to report on the discussion. One stipulation of an executive session is that no one present can repeat what was discussed behind closed doors. The executive session excluded the five candidates, who waited in the hallway until the legislators announced the election of junior Pam Bookbinder, former speaker of the Senate. The closed-door decision did not sit well with some members. “I was very upset when we moved into executive session,” said Senator Tony Zand, a junior. “I feel that the discussion of students should be open. If the Senate and Treasury are going to pick a candidate they should be able to discuss that with the student body.” Others pointed out that students had been invited to the meeting, and the two reporters should not be forced to leave for exercising their rights as students to attend. “I just want to reiterate how ridiculous it is that we are targeting two individuals by telling them to leave,” said Senator Aaron Keyak. SU President David Ader advised members to consider allowing the reporters to stay. “I do recognize the need for outside people being here, and even if [the reporters] want to consider themselves Wash U students for the night instead of Stud Life reporters and shut off their laptops, maybe they could get the tone of the meeting and
Some of the big names in Wash U sports reminisce about the past four years on and off the field.
PAGE 7
By Sarah Kliff News Editor After a meeting that lasted nearly five hours, Student Union senators and treasury representatives elected junior Pam Bookbinder as their new vice president Wednesday night. Bookbinder will replace Katie Leikhim, who resigned from the position last week. “I’m excited to get to work. I feel really honored that I was elected,” said Bookbinder. “It should be a very exciting, busy few weeks [before break].” Bookbinder, who recently finished a term as speaker of the Senate, has been involved Pam Bookbinder in SU for the past two and a half years. Within the organization, she has also served as Food Committee Chair and Campus Services for two terms. “I absolutely love being in Student Union and
See BOOKBINDER, page 4
See SU VP, page 3
Sigma Chi seeks advice from alumni n Alumni advisory board helps out with fraternity’s plans to recruit next semester By Erin Harkless Contributing Editor
PAGES 5 & 6
Pam Bookbinder elected Student Union VP
After losing their house and receiving harsh sanctions from University administrators in response to several incidents last semester, Sigma Chi members are looking to turn things around with the help of a new alumni advisory board. “There was not a lot of alumni involvement in the past and I think that’s possibly where some of our problems lay,” Sigma Chi President Justin Thompson said. “When you have strong alumni involvement to give a voice of reason, a lot of bad decisions can be avoided.” While the fraternity had a chapter advisor working with them in the past, the alumni advisory board did not exist in its current form until this year, Thompson explained. The board is comprised of five alumni, ranging from recent graduates to men who graduated from the University in the 1960s. Most of the members live in the St. Louis area and have made themselves available to current members when needed. The board meets monthly to help the chapter focus on its ideals, approve chapter events, and offer advice and support to
the current members. It has offered several new ideas to the officers and brothers this semester, including a mentoring program that connects officers with an alumnus on the board. Each current officer also has his own set of mentees so that younger members can learn the roles of that office and better understand what that specific position entails. Most Sigma Chi members have reacted positively to the board and have enjoyed the opportunity to interact and gain advice from alumni. “It’s great to have alums involved with the chapter and have their advice on how things should be done,” said senior Sean Moore. Rob Salyer, a 1995 alumnus of the University and current Sigma Chi chapter advisor and alumni board member, said that he was discouraged by the events of last spring, but the support of other alumni encouraged him to stay involved. “We added more structure this year and are there to give more guidance, but the guys really took the ball and ran with things,” Salyer said.
See SIGMA CHI, page 3 The Sigma Chi logo.
Level of depression at WU surpasses national average Senior Forum Editor
Cadenza mentions them all in their Best and Worst of 2004.
PAGE 12 Double the fun: Two staff editorials weigh in on the Student Union election and the possibility of Pell Grant cuts.
PAGE 5 INDEX News Forum Sports Cadenza
1-4 5-6 7 8-12
New data from Student Health and Counseling Services shows that 17.8 percent of female students and 8.9 percent of male students at Washington University are currently diagnosed with depression. Corresponding national figures from a similar study are 14 percent and 7 percent. “I think that our sample was large enough that the difference even in the case of men is likely significant,” wrote Alan Glass, director of Student Health and Counseling Services (SHCS), in an e-mail. He called depression one of the top three health problems facing colleges today, and a major problem at the University. “The age group 18-25 has a really high incidence of depression,” he said in an interview. The University data is from the National College Health Assessment, which SHCS administered to randomly selected students in October, while the national data was collected in a 2002 administration of the same study. “We never before had data from our student body,” Glass said. “This is good data.” Owing to the stigma attached to the disease, many college students remain unaware of the prevalence of depression in their peers. “I don’t talk about it,” said sophomore Denise Umpierrez. “It’s a more of a personal thing. It’s a hard topic to talk about.” Glass said that stigma is the biggest obstacle in helping students with depression get the treatment they need. “We’re overcoming years worth of stigma around mental health issues,” he said. The illness Depression is a mental illness char-
STUDENT LIFE
By Liz Neukirch Senior News Editor
By Roman Goldstein
What do Uggs, Wyoming, and Martha Stewart have in common?
WU receives ration of flu vaccine
JOHN ROBERGE | KRT CAMPUS
John Roberge’s color illustration of a depressed teen-age girl sitting alone on a rooftop. 17.8% of female and 8.9% male students at WashU are diagnosed with depression. acterized by loss of energy, changes in appetite, irritability, sleep problems, feelings of worthlessness, difficulty concentrating, and suicidal or morbid thoughts according to the American Psychiatric Association. “Hopelessness for me is what it was,” said Christine Win, class of 1998. “You feel so isolated, so cut off, that you can’t reach out to others.” Ben Schartman, class of 2001, said that depression made his life burdensome. “You don’t necessarily feel sad, just lifeless and ambitionless,” he said. “A little bit hopeless. I think I felt trapped, too, and out of my depth. Everything in my life became a burden.”
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Though there is a genetic component to the illness, many of the risk factors are environmental. Stress is a trigger for depression and is common in college, explained Glass. The stress factor is particularly important with exams coming up. EST Field Director Matthew Vogt said that EST sees an increase in mental health calls at the end of the semester, though these are not just depression-related calls. Win said that exam time reveals students’ underlying depression, but does not necessarily cause it. “Most likely the underlying problem
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Through a personal connection, Dr. Alan Glass has obtained a ration of injectable flu vaccine for Washington University students. Glass, director of Student Health and Counseling Services (SHCS), said the University tried to get a portion of the vaccine when it was originally distributed, but ran into bad luck—of the two suppliers who make the vaccine, the one the University had contacted was pulled from the market. “We were able to obtain it fi nally because of a connection with folks at the Stanford University student health center,” said Glass, who knows the center’s director. Because of the specific criteria students must meet in order to get the vaccination, Stanford had “a significant amount left” after offering the rations to interested students. They passed on 50 of the leftover doses to SHCS. “They’d ordered all of their vaccine from the [supplier] that wasn’t pulled. We had bad luck, and they had good luck—and they were willing to share some of their good luck with us,” Glass said. The University will follow the set of criteria established by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention when distributing the vaccine, Glass noted. In order to get the vaccine, students must qualify as “high-risk”—this
See DEPRESSION, page 3
See FLU, page 2
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