WEDNESDAY FEB. 9, 2005 Vol. 126, No. 49
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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
Bush to eliminate Perkins Loans By Laura Geggel Staff Reporter The 2,178 students at Washington University who receive Perkins Loans may have to look elsewhere for financial aid if President Bush has his way. In his 2006 budget released Monday, Bush proposed phasing out the federal Perkins Loan program over a period of 10 years. This new financial maneuver would substantially change how students apply for federal loans and grants in the future. “It was a shock,” said Bill Witbrodt, director of Student Financial Services at Washington University. “We knew that the government was going to eliminate further contributions to the fund, and we were modeling the impact of that over the next 10 years—but now we have to pay back all of the federal money that the government’s given us for the Perkins Fund. That changes things dramatically.” The Perkins Loan program allows both undergraduate and graduate students to take out a low-interest loan of five percent if they are eligible for financial aid. Schools lend students the money with government and school
funds. Students must pay back the loan within nine months of completing their education unless they are in the military or have mitigating circumstances, in which case their grace period can be extended up to ten years. Schools then recycle the money into new Perkins Loans. Undergraduates can receive up to $4,000 a year in loans while graduates can loan up to $6,000 a year. Bush plans to divert the money saved from the elimination of Perkins Loans to Pell Grants, a program that will soon target very low-income students. The new Pell Grant program, if passed by Congress, will increase the maximum amount eligible students can receive by $500 over the next five years to $4,550 a year. “This legislation is aimed at a broader base of students,” said Witbrodt. “The President’s goal is to help very low-income students attend community colleges and trade schools and as well as other lower-cost institutions that weren’t previously eligible to receive Perkins funds.” In essence, only a small number of four-year institutions were eligible to receive Perkins funds.
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Bush’s proposed plan: Phase out Perkins Loan program over
10 years
By Rachel Streitfeld Contributing Editor
DAVID BRODY | STUDENT LIFE
Four fire trucks, three police cars and two ambulances reported to Park residential hall at 10:15 Monday night to deal with some burnt Ramen noodles. Sophomore Allison Cartwright lives across the hall from the noodles in question. A plastic container overheated on the stove, causing the hall to fill with smoke and fumes. “All our stuff is going to smell, and we are really sad about it,” she said.
Burglars hitting apartments off campus are becoming increasingly brazen in their attempts at theft. Last Friday around 10 a.m., students living in an apartment on the 6100 block of Waterman Ave. surprised a suspect who had walked into the apartment through an unlocked door. The residents interrupted the man as he was inspecting their electronic equipment. “They were in another part of the apartment and they heard noises and they came out and spotted the person disconnecting the stereo system,” said WU Chief of Police Don Strom. The suspect immediately fled, empty-handed. Police have issued an alert to all members of the off campus community, describing the suspect as a black male in his mid-to-late-30s wearing dark clothing and a black “skull” cap. Strom repeated advice he’s been giving students living off campus for months. “It drives home the importance of keeping doors and windows locked,” he said. The crime advisory also warns students to report any suspicious persons or activities to WUPD and never to
See THIEF, page 3
Gottfried to speak on science in politics By Erin Fults Contributing Reporter
PAGE 5 The brownies and Rice Krispie treats you buy at your favorite campus eateries have gotten smaller. But they now come wrapped in pretty plastic bags with gold foil ties!!!!! The Editorial Board takes on the issue in what can only be described as “investigative reporting at its finest.”
$4000 for undergraduates up to $6000 for graduate students up to
Students spot thief in action
PAGE 8 “Doesn’t everyone have nipples?” Dan Milstein asks in Forum. One year after it happened, Milstein examines the infamous “wardrobe malfunction.” (And yes, Dan, we all have nipples.)
2,178 Wash U students receive them
See PERKINS, page 3
HOT RAMEN
Freshman Troy Ruths scored a career-high 18 points off the bench Sunday en route to a men’s basketball victory over rival Brandeis.
Impact of Perkins Loans
STUDENT LIFE ARCHIVES
Kurt Gottfried will be giving a lecture today at 11 a.m. in Graham Chapel.
Kurt Gottfried, co-founder of the Union of Concerned Scientists and influential physicist, will speak today on the role that science plays in the political arena. His lecture, entitled Science Meets Politics: From Thomas Jefferson to George W. Bush, will draw on historical examples to illustrate the distortion of science in the pursuit of political goals and policies. The lecture will begin at 11 a.m. in Graham Chapel. Gottfried will focus specifically on the Union of Concerned Scientists’ objections to the alleged misrepresentation of scientific fact by the Bush Administration. Gottfried, an emeritus professor of physics at Cornell University, boasts a broad spectrum of honors and in-
volvement. In 1969, he co-founded the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), an independent, non-profit organization that lobbies to change public policy in order a safer living environment. The UCS currently has over 100,000 citizen and scientist members that work to research and share information concerning such hot topic issues as global warming, genetically engineered crops and renewable energy. Gottfried has devoted much of his time and expertise to the issue of nuclear disarmament, leading a UCS critique of what they have dubbed the “Star Wars” program – unnecessary governmental development of nuclear weapons. A UCS statement in 2003 suggested that “instead of spending time and money on building an unworkable missile shield, the administration should focus on the
pressing threat of terrorists obtaining weapons of mass destruction.” Jonathan Katz, assistant professor of physics, took a course from Gottfried as an undergraduate at Cornell University. Katz raised concerns with the “Stars Wars” argument endorsed by Gottfried and the UCS. “What I disagree with is the basic philosophy—that missile defense is a bad thing,” said Katz. “If missile defense can be made to work it would be a good thing. There have been very few tests…there have been many failures. But the fact that it’s failed a signifi cant number of tests does not mean it can’t be made to work…it’s just not ready. I sometimes get the impression that they [the UCS] are fundamentally against missile defense.” While Katz does not endorse all
See GOTTFRIED, page 3
NASA sends sun particles to WU researchers By Helen Rhee Staff Reporter An unprecedented sample of the sun was recently delivered to two Washington University researchers. Scientists at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston shipped a sample from the Genesis spacecraft’s polished aluminum collector to physics professor Charles M. Hohenberg and Alex Meshik, a senior research scientist in the department. A new arrival at JSC, the collector contains particles from the solar wind that will give insight into the composition of noble gases in the sun. In turn, understanding the composition of the sun will provide new insight into how the solar system was formed. Meshik and Hohenberg will investigate the composition of isotopic and elemental abundances of noble gases in the sun, specifically focusing on neon, argon, krypton and xenon. “The sun contains 99 percent of the matter that makes up the solar system. Measuring accurately the composition of the noble gases will help us understand how the solar system started,” said Hohenberg. Primary research by NASA scientists confirmed the traces of ions from the solar wind.
STUDENT LIFE
COURTESY OF JPL/NASA
Scientists work to recover samples from the Genesis return capsule. Some of those samples were then sent to researchers at Washington University. Genesis was launched four years ago on Aug. 8, 2001, from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on a mission to collect particles of solar wind. It collected
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particles flung out of the sun while orbiting outside of the Earth’s gravitational field. The canister containing the sample landed in Utah on Sept. 8, 2004. Due to technical difficulties Genesis failed to land properly on land, thereby crushing and bending all the solar collectors. From its landing until October 2004, scientists used extensive recovery efforts to salvage remains of the particles. At first, scientists were skeptical that any elements of solar ions had survived through the contamination. Luckily, particles of noble gases, found on one of Genesis’ pieces, remained purely intact, allowing researches to fulfill one of the mission’s primary goals: investigating the composition of noble gases. “This sample will be the best chance at directly measuring the composition of noble gases produced from the sun. Determining the composition of the sun will be an important reference point,” said Meshik. The Genesis mission began a few years ago with the objective of understanding the formation of the solar system. The title of projectGenesisrelates to the ultimate goal of the mission: finding the beginning
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See NASA, page 3
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