F R I D A Y Sept. 19, 2003 Vol. 125, No. 11
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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
INSIDE Friedman CAVE IN packs gym Jess Minnen interviews Stephen Brodsky, guitarist and songwriter for up and coming hard rockers Cave In. See him from all sides as he reflects on the progress of his music, his favorite drug and sexual position.
PAGE 5 FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Grievance policy gets overhauled
By Robert McManmon q Staff Writer Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, 1988 National Book Award winner and long-time New York Times foreign affairs columnist Thomas L. Friedman spoke at Wednesday’s Assembly Series as part of the University’s Sesquintienial celebration. “He has helped us understand some of the most important and confusing events of our time,” said Dean Edward Macias in his introduction of Friedman’s speech. The topic of the lecture was the “Democratic Reconstruction in Iraq.” Friedman explained why he believed that the United States needed to invade Iraq this past spring, describing four reasons for the war. Those reasons included weapons of mass destruction, the moral problems involving human rights abuses, the need for a regime change, and to “burst the terrorism bubble.” Friedman also said that “[America] completely misunderstood what kind of country we were taking over.” Specifically, the Bush Administration did not understand how impoverished of a
Task force hopes new policy will be more accessible to students By Troy Rumans q Contributing Reporter
Dana Kuhn
New York Times columnist Thomas Freidman speaks in the Athletic Complex this past Wednesday. Friedman was the first speaker of this year’s Assembly Series. country Iraq was outside of Baghdad, and how much infrastructure would be needed for reconstruction. Nevertheless, Friedman felt that “ultimately this is a war of ideas,” and that in the long run the U.S. could be successful in popping the
See FRIEDMAN, page 4
Shanghai Grads Students got thinking about important issues facing the St. Louis Community during “Talk of the Town.” Topics included the upheaval in the St. Louis Public schools and lingering racism in the city. The panel also previewed one of St. Louis’ special events, “Taste of St. Louis.” For more, read Jeff Nathan’s article about the event.
PAGE 4 QUARTERBACK DADDY One year ago junior Adam Meranda was a backup safety for the Washington University football team. Now Meranda is not only the team’s starting quarterback, but is married with a newborn child. Needless to say, it’s been a wild year for Meranda, who leads the Bears against Illinois Wesleyan this weekend.
PAGE 9 STUDENT SNAPSHOT
Q:
Who would you vote for in the California Recall?
Arnold. If he can A: A.handle aliens, robots, and terrorists, I’m sure he can take care of a budget crisis. B. Gary Coleman. It takes Diff’rent Strokes. C. Gallagher. Think of the issues you can resolve with a watermelon and a sledgehammer. D. Larry Flynt. A chicken in every pot and a copy of Hustler in every mailbox. Cast your vote at studlife.com
INDEX Cadenza Forum Calendar Sports
pages 5-6 pages 7-8 page 8 pages 9,11
SYLVIA HARDY
Students from Fudan University line up in front of the Knight Center as they prepare to graduate at Graham Chapel. The students are the first class of Executive Masters of Business of Administration to earn their degrees through the joint program staffed by Olin School of Business and Fudan University professors in Shanghai, China. Read the story on page 4.
Wa s h i n g t o n University’s new grievance policy stands to impact the entire student body, especially regarding faculty- student relations. A myriad of changes to the policy have been made in response to suggestions by FILE PHOTO the task force on Joel Seligman u nde rg raduate grievance procedures, which was headed by Joel Seligman, dean of the School of Law. One of the major changes suggested by the task force was the expanded role of the “Administrative Hearing Committees.” Now a single Hearing Committee on Discrimination exists, with the addition of student representation. The task force also stressed the importance of standardizing policies across schools. “There are minimum procedures that every school follows,” said Seligman. Previously, only the College of Arts & Sciences had a formalized grievance policy. “We envisioned [that] there would be a description of this in many places,” said Seligman. “Very few students had any idea that there were grievance policies.” Ann Prenatt, vice chancellor of human resources, said that an integral goal of the grievance policy is informing students of exactly what options they have in the case of harassment. “The bigger issue is making sure what [students] know their resources are,” said Prenatt. “This is well-publicized for all.” The University’s stance on sexual harassment has not changed. According to Prenatt, the University has always taken student complaints seriously. “We don’t ever go into a conversation thinking this is a game,” said Prenatt. Prenatt believes a major problem among students lies in their reluctance to take formal action. In many of these cases, said Prenatt, students try to handle the problem on their own, assuming that it is not a topic they should discuss, or simply do not know where to go for help. One problem the task force found was that few claims of discrimination are reported. “The biggest surprise to me was [the fi ndings on] discrimination on the basis of race, gender and nationality,” said Seligman. “It didn’t seem to be an issue.” Seligman also said that confidentiality was one of the key issues debated within the task force. The changes will ensure that confidentiality is respected throughout the grievance process. Many students do believe they have an outlet for expressing issues of student-faculty harassment. Ultimately, however, most see it as only a minor problem. “I would probably talk to my academic advisor,” said freshman Jill Savla, “Then I’d probably just shrug it off.”
trumans@studlife.com
STL racism, education upheaval topics of panel Talk of Town event also previews Taste of St. Louis By Jeff Nathan q Contributing Reporter Honest discussion about St. Louis issues was at the heart of “Talk of the Town,” an open dialogue led by St. Louis community experts on Tuesday. Three community leaders and a panel judge sat in front of an audience of an estimated 115 Washington University students. The topics ranged from diversity to St. Louis’ special events. Stephanie Kurtzman, coordinator for community service and women’s programs, said that the program aimed to expand students’ perspectives of St. Louis. “Our goal was to provide members of the University community greater understanding of where they live,” said Kurtzman. “It is important to know where you come from and the community you live in.”
STUDENT LIFE
Freshman Rebecca Silverman said that the program educated her on the issues facing the St. Louis community. “I thought the issues were obviously current issues,” said Silverman. “They were relevant to what’s going on today in St. Louis. I think it gave me a better idea of the city—considering I’m a freshman, I don’t know much about it. It gave me a better idea of what’s out there and what the city is doing to improve itself.” Panelist Blake Youde, director of special projects for St. Louis, said that he was pleased with the student turnout. “It was great to see the interest of students here, both graduate and undergrad, students who really want to know what its like to live here, not only as [students], but as [residents] of the community,” said Youde. The discussion started off with an introduction to the general characteristics of the people of St. Louis, given by moderator Terry Jones. Jones is a professor of political science at University of Missouri-St. Louis and a general St. Louis expert.
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JONATHAN LANE
Students get a preview of “Taste of St. Louis” at the “Talk of the Town” panel discussion. Tuesday’s event broached issues of race and education in St. Louis.
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