STUDENT LIFE
THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF WASHINGTON UNIVERSIT Y IN ST. LOUIS SINCE 1878 The Bears found victory on the football field over the weekend. Sports has detailed coverage of that and more inside. Page 4.
Forum has three pages today, each of which is jam-packed with columns, cartoons, and controversy. Page 5.
VOLUME 127, NO. 16
Columnist Rachel Brockway gets electronic, discussing cell phones, instant messenger conversation, and love. Page 8.
Motherhood, marriage, and children—these things are on a number of your classmates’ minds. Find out more in Scene. Page 10.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2005
WWW.STUDLIFE.COM
Katz sparks academic freedom debate By Brad Nelson News Editor Revelations that physics professor Jonathan Katz maintains a web page on a University server—on which he argues that homosexuals caused America’s AIDS epidemic—have raised questions on whether Washington University should censor individuals for voicing views that other University members may find morally repugnant. The University’s answer: the doctrine of academic freedom allows Katz and everyone else the right to express the views they wish. “People can say what they think,” said Dennis Martin, an associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences who oversees the college’s computer services. “That’s the
whole point of this in a way. A university is about ideas and their free exchange, so he can say whatever he likes.” To ensure the free exchange of ideas on the University’s computers, Martin points out that the Computer Use Policy has a clause that reads: “While the University encourages respect for the rights and sensibilities of others, it cannot protect individuals against the existence of materials that may be offensive to them.” Eugene Volokh, a law professor at the University of California at Los Angeles who specializes in freedom of speech and technology issues, said universities across the country have a similar policy. “Generally speaking, most universities are happy to give their professors Web space
partment Web server, on an unrestricted features essays on basis and want peotopics ranging from ple to branch out of problems with Univeran area beyond their sity administration to expertise,” he said. the validity of learn“In fact, most univering disabilities. sities let you use your In the essay “In DeWeb site however you fense of Homophoplease.” Jonathan bia,” Katz wrote, “I In an interview, am a homophobe and Katz said that as a Katz professor, he considers him- proud.” He further commented on self a “public intellectual,” whose job it is to comment the AIDS epidemic, saying on topics outside his special- that it was caused by “gross ty. “It’s a part and a privilege homosexual promiscuity.” Since then, students have of a professor’s job to speak called for the censoring of freely,” he said. The controversy over Katz’s opinions. “Katz can have whatever Katz’s Web site started after Student Life Forum Editor opinion he wants, but whethJeff Stepp called Katz’s opin- er or not that opinion should ions “offensive, discrimina- be voiced on Wash. U. Web tory and bigoted” in a Sept. space is certainly something that needs to be looked at,” 26 column. The Web site, which is senior Ryan Collins said in a hosted on the physics de- letter to the editor.
“The problem with the comments in Student Life is that no one bothered to offer a different point of view,” Katz said. “They just said censor this; we don’t like it and that’s a very unhealthy response. If you think something is wrong, then you need to make your case.” Volokh said that while he “doesn’t endorse [Katz’s views],” he doesn’t think that they should be censored either. “Part of public debate is the right to express views that are harshly critical of homosexuals,” he said. “If those views urge discrimination against other groups, there’s nothing prohibitive about that.” This isn’t the first time a college professor has come under fire for expressing views on a school’s Web
space. In 1997, Arthur Butz, an electrical engineering professor at Northwestern University, published a Web site on the University’s server with links to Web sites and essays that support Holocaust “revisionist” theory, the idea that the Holocaust never happened. Butz had made his views public long before. Twentyone years earlier, in 1976, he wrote “The Hoax of the Twentieth Century.” But the University tolerated him because he kept his views out of the classroom. After the Web site was published, many students and Jewish scholars were outraged that Butz was using Northwestern Web space to express his views.
See KATZ, page 3
Students jam for New Orleans hurricane relief By Laura Geggel News Editor Students and locals fi lled the 6600 block of Washington Avenue on Saturday for Riddic-a-fest, a block party fundraiser that raised $2,578 for people affected by Hurricane Katrina. “We’ve been wanting to have a block party for two years, but my roommate [Daniela Torre] got involved with something called NOLA Hurricane Funds and she was thinking of throwing a party at the Vault. And I said, ‘You know what, I’ll throw the block party for you and donate the money to your cause,’” said Cassidy Blackwell, a senior who lives on Waterman Avenue. The party, which lasted from 1-8 p.m, served food and beverages while KWUR’s disc jockeys and three student bands took turns spinning music in the background. “We heard that they were doing a benefit for Hurricane Katrina,” said Taylor Hermes,
a senior involved with KWUR. “We basically just offered to do it because it’s for charity and it gets our name out.” Other student groups, including Students of the South, which is helping Washington University members collect resources for hurricane victims, assisted with the block party. “We’re charging seven dollars at the door. [We’ve invited] all of the neighborhood people and all of the people at this school,” said Blackwell. Money raised by the event will be donated to NOLA Hurricane Fund, the Red Cross and Trio, a New Orleans education program. Senior Daniela Torre, one of the party’s organizers, worked with one of the New Orleans, Louisiana (NOLA) founders this past summer. “It was started by a bunch of Tulanian EMTs, so the fi rst amount of money went to buying gas and keeping the ambulances running,” said Torre. Since the initial search and rescue process in which the
Tulane Emergency Medical Service helped with the evacuation and treatment of hurricane victims, NOLA has been collecting money for relief backpacks fi lled with, “things for [displaced children], like music, because the people in the Astrodome didn’t have anything,” Torre said. Once people are allowed back into New Orleans, NOLA plans to individually adopt families and schools in need. “A lot of the schools are devastated, so it’s to buy more books and repair the schools, get the air conditioning running again,” Torre added. Another third of the money raised will go to Trio, an organization that provides summer school for underprivileged students in New Orleans. Senior Joshua Ellis, who helped Torre and Blackwell organize the block party, worked with the Trio program over the summer. “Trio’s students are the
PAM BUZZETTA | STUDENT LIFE
See RIDDIC-A-FEST, page 3 Arms Akimbo plays at Riddic-a-fest, a fundraiser for Hurricane Katrina victims, which raised $2,578. The fundraiser spanned all of Saturday afternoon and featured student bands and KWUR disc jockeys.
Smith commences a second bid for office
AN OCEAN OF GREEKS IN MOTION ON THE LOOP
By Troy Rumans Contributing Reporter
CAROLYN GOLDSTEIN | STUDENT LIFE
Greeks filled the Delmar Loop as they made their debut appearance in the 19th annual “Loop in Motion” parade on Saturday. The parade concluded a week of “Greeks in Motion,” programming that replaced Greek Week. A committee of Greek community members spent over six months planning the parade in conjunction with U City East.
He’s Jeff Smith, and he’s running for public office. Again. Smith, who currently teaches at Washington University and Saint Louis University, is seeking election to the state senate in the 4th district of Missouri. Since the incumbent senator Pat Dougherty is termlimited by law, the seat will be open to all fresh faces. Smith ran for a seat in the House of Representatives last year, but ultimately lost in a close race with Congressman Russ Carnahan. He recalls his biggest barrier to entry being simple, but daunting: nobody knew his name. “Last time I was completely unknown. When we began, my pollster told me my name identity was three percent. Two percent of that three percent was that someone heard of a Jeff Smith, not this Jeff Smith,” said Smith. Smith hopes that his campaign this year will benefit from acceptance by the established government, while still maintaining the grassroots enthusiasm of last year. “I look forward to running another real grassroots campaign. I’ll have more establishment support than last time because the whole es-
tablishment was against me,” said Smith. “But this time we hope to keep that same grassroots support and more [support] from the establishment.” Student activism also played a major role in Smith’s campaign previous year. He employed over twenty student interns that worked to spread his name to various campuses, as well as the community at large. Smith also attended numerous student functions to inform the younger generation of his platform and plans to do the same this year. Smith believes that his position as a professor gives him rare insight into the lives of a highly elusive, and commonly apathetic, voting group in the student population. After teaching in the political science department, Smith thinks that University students are thirsty for some political responsibility, and anticipates a high degree of involvement from the campus body. “Anyone who gets involved will have an opportunity to work in a variety of areas. We are going to have volunteers helping not just with voter contact, but also helping draft up policy proposals, helping write up press releases. There are myriad
See SMITH, page 3