M O N D AY OCT. 11, 2004 Vol. 126, No. 18
Sunny 65° / 51° w w w. s t u d l i f e . c o m
ELECTION COUNTDOWN
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DAYS UNTIL ELECTION DAY DAYS UNTIL INAUGURATION
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
Police shut down Row after brawl n B&D officer injured; students
taken into custody by WUPD By Rachel Streitfeld Contributing Editor
INSIDE
Washington University and Clayton police shut down a packed Fraternity Row on Saturday night after a brawl erupted outside one of the houses. Several fraternity parties were raging on campus when a fight broke out around midnight on the patio of Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE). Students had congregated at Kappa Sigma for a closed mixer and also below the Row at Sigma Phi Epsilon. A member of SAE said at least two students were arrested, but they did not spend the night in jail. WUPD Chief Don Strom confi rmed that the Row had been shut down and that “several students had been taken into custody,” but said he could not comment until the police report was completed. Strom expects the report today. A representative from B & D Security said 10 guards had been assigned to patrol the parties—three for each house and one “roamer.”
“My people more or less stepped in between them to stop them from fighting,” said B & D office manager Debbie, who asked that her last name not be used. “The more they tried to break them up, the more they got into it. So they just had to call the police.” One B & D guard was injured during the course of the students’ clash. “He was pushed down and hit his head on the concrete,” said Debbie. “One of the people came up behind him and knocked him down.” The guard did not require medical attention. Debbie said B & D called the police when things got out of hand. Clayton police officers were then called in to “assist Wash U police,” said Sergeant Stuart Glenn. “We just responded to assist your officers,” said Glenn. Some students didn’t know what had happened until police told them to leave. “It was a pretty crowded night, and all of a sudden everybody was like, you have to go, you have to leave,” said junior Jennie Cohen, who saw the altercation from inside the SAE house. “Then I saw flashing lights and a big red truck.”
See BRAWL, page 7
The protestors were out on Friday, but one cop says all they gave him was some “exercise.”
Chingy headlines Rock the Vote concert
PAGES 3 Those overseeing the debate volunteers did an awful job, says Molly Antos in Forum.
By Liz Neukirch and Shweta Murthi Senior News Editor and Contributing Reporter
PAGE 9 The Bears football team posted a key victory over rival University of Chicago.
PAGE 9
All signs point to Scene, which has a review of the best signs seen around campus.
Senator Kerry argues a point during Friday’s presidential debate in the Athletic Complex.
Some town hall questioners still undecided in contest
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The organizers for Project Democracy were in for a surprise when they arrived in the Quad at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday to set up for Rock the Vote—by 6:00 they had received a call informing them that Chingy was going to perform in the concert’s lineup later that afternoon. “It was six in the morning, so I wasn’t thinking too clearly,” said senior Teresa Sullivan, head of Project Democracy, of her reaction Saturday morning. “We were jumping out of our seats, we were so excited.” Sullivan described the event as “everything [she] hoped it would be,” noting that the artists really stuck to the event’s message: “enjoy the concert and get out and vote.” Junior Josh Feldman, who emceed the event, said that while he hoped more people would attend the event he was “very happy” with how everything was run. The turnout for the event on Saturday did not quite match up with the numbers that fall Walk In Lay Down (WILD) pulled in; however, a sizeable group of students showed up to see St. Louis native Chingy, whose rap set capped off the event. “There was a nice little crowd at the front when Chingy was playing, but mostly people were milling around,” said junior Sarah August. “There weren’t really that many people there. I think people sort of came and saw that not much was happening and didn’t stick around. I wasn’t there very long.” According to junior Ben Kornfeld, there were a “fair number of people” milling around before Chingy’s performance, at which point a group gathered around the stage. “It was really awesome,” Kornfeld said. “He played all the songs that have played on the radio.” Sarah Hudson opened the concert, followed by St. Jude and the Wylde Bunch. Rock the Vote concerts generally tend to have political speakers, but those were deferred in place of a more nonpartisan environment for students. According to Sullivan, the Rock the Vote organization was “in charge of the talent” for the concert and chose the artists who performed. Though the Rock the Vote concert was held after the registration deadline for new voters, Project Democracy organizers affirm that they also want to educate and motivate voters to be more politically active.
news@studlife.com
DAVID BRODY | STUDENT LIFE
The town hall audience for the second 2004 presidential debate enters the set. Contributing Editor
INDEX News Forum Sports Classifieds Scene
DAVID BRODY | STUDENT LIFE
By Erin Harkless
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DAVID BRODY | STUDENT LIFE
A flyer from Saturday night’s SAE party.
SPIN ALLEY—They asked the tough questions from the best seats in the house, but for some of the 140 town hall participants in Friday’s debate, neither candidate convinced them to change their status as undecided voters. Ann Bronsing from Chesterfield asked Senator Kerry about homeland security issues, in particular why there has not been another terrorist attack on American soil since September 11 and if elected what he would do to assure that America stays safe. She said that she was hoping he would acknowledge
STUDENT LIFE
the good work done by the president while still offering his plans for keeping the country safe from future terrorist attacks. “He did a pretty good job with the question,” Bronsing said. Bronsing noted that neither candidate has won her vote, and she feels she needs to read and think more before making her decision. In the end, the experience in the audience did help, but it didn’t solidify her vote. University City resident Sarah Degenhart felt
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AARON SELIGMAN | STUDENT LIFE
St. Louis rapper Chingy performs in the Quad during Saturday’s Rock the Vote concert.
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