STUDENT LIFE
THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF WASHINGTON UNIVERSIT Y IN ST. LOUIS SINCE 1878 Remember recess? Graduate and undergraduate students did at the dodgeball competition to raise funds for Katrina relief. Page 3.
Getting dorm fever? Going campus crazy? Get up and get out—visit Scene for fun day trip getaways. Page 8.
VOLUME 127, NO. 69
Senior Staff Reporter Signaling a change in the Student Union leadership, the “Perspective” slate won all three of its races in the elections for next year’s executive council. “I was really excited that everyone on our slate won,” said Paul Moinester, who won his race for president over Neil Patel. “It was a tribute to how hard we worked.” Moinester, who currently serves as Speaker of the South 40, attributes his victory to his commitment and promise while campaigning. “People liked what I had to say,” he said. “They felt excited about those things coming to fruition. They saw how hard I was working and they respected that.” Joining Moinester will be incoming Treasurer Jason Lewis and Secretary Susan Land, as well as PerSUnal slate Vice Presidential Candidate Bobby Jones. “We all have extensive experience meeting new people and talking to student groups,” said Lewis, treasurer of the class of 2007, who won a close race over PerSUnal Candidate Aaron Robinson. “We are happy our hard work paid off.” Land, a senator from the Art School who beat Treasury Representative Jessica Wasserman for the position, sees potential as the incoming secretary in further communicating with the student body. “For me personally, the position is all about communication,” said Land. “I am excited about heading up the Public Relations committee—not only to have the communication to do things internally, but also with student groups.” As vice president, Jones also looks forward to fostering more dialogue by bringing different Washington University groups together. “One of my main goals is to see the Wash. U. campus come closer together as a uni-
Don’t get locked out in the apartment scramble. Get search tips from Scene. See Page 10.
MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2006
Perspective sweeps SU elections By Ben Sales
Columnist Jeff Stepp reflects and ponders life after graduation. See what our our graduating columnist has to say. Page 5.
fied community,” said Jones, a member of the Social Programming Board. “A simple fi rst step is setting up periodic meetings that will allow people from [a variety of] groups to come together and communicate to each other about what is going on in their section of campus.” Although Jones is the only candidate of his slate to win, he sees no problem in working with the Perspective candidates. “Clearly, when you go into something like that being part of a team, you want your team to win,” he said. “But from the conversations I had with Paul, Jason and Susan during the campaign, I am excited about the year we will share in office.” Moinester also looks forward to a productive year, working not only with the incoming executives, but also with the PerSUnal candidates and other leaders on campus. “It is really important that I transition well and learn what has been done,” said Moinester. “I need to forge relationships with the people I need to work with. I am meeting with people who have a vested interest in making the school more sustainable.” As for working with his runner-up, Moinester says he hopes Patel contributes to next year’s SU from a solid base of knowledge. “I am defi nitely open to any idea of working with him,” said Moinester, who won the race by 200 votes. “He is a talented individual and he has a lot of experience with SU.” Patel also hopes to keep improving SU by continuing in his role as a Treasury Representative. “I am going to take a really active role, expanding on what I did before,” said Patel. “I am going to take a leadership role to make SU more accountable.” Moinester also plans to work on the executive council’s accountability and acces-
See SU ELECTIONS, page 4
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Culture and color unite in a weekend of dance at Carnaval
ALWYN LOH | STUDENT LIFE
Students perform a Mexican folkloric dance during Carnaval Friday night in Edison Theater. To see more photos, turn to page 2.
Alpha Kappa Psi asks, ‘What’s your credit score?’ v Alpha Kappa Psi educates and prepares students for golden financial future By Troy Rumans News Editor Students have a lengthy list to manage. Grades, schedules, meetings—all weigh heavily on our minds. Worrying about a credit score that’s not supposed to matter for years seems like a silly notion then, right? The What’s My Score campaign, sponsored by Alpha Kappa Psi and the St. Paul Foundation, seeks to change the misconception that a student’s credit score can be ignored during college. The
message of the campaign is quite simple: credit score does matter and it is important for students to maintain a good credit score. “We want students to value and manage their credit reputation in the same way they manage their grade point average,” said junior Anoop Shah, one of the key proponents of the campaign at Washington University. “Credit is something many young people have misconceptions about and if we tackle some of these misconceptions in college, we are setting up Wash. U. students to have a more secure financial future,” said Shah. The campaign revolves around educating the University populace through multiple forms of advertisement, as well as presentation sessions at campus dormitories. Students are also encouraged to visit the campaign
Web site, whatsmyscore.org, for further information. “We don’t want to have one person come to us and say, ‘Here’s my credit score, what should I do?’ We’re trying to get them to understand their credit score, and see why it’s important,” said senior Sarah Frances Watson, who is also working with the campaign. The major problem, Shah noted, was not with actually following guidelines to good credit, but educating students as to what those guidelines are. “The lack of credit education available to college age students is troubling considering that most of us start developing credit and making financial decisions that will affect our credit the day we arrive here,” said Shah. Watson agreed. “We want to educate the Wash. U. community about
the importance of your credit score, how it can affect your life and the fact that it’s actionable,” said Watson. “They’re really easy things to do, but we want to encourage students to get into a habit of engaging in healthy activities.” Some of the biggest pitfalls toward developing a bad credit score are paying bills late, maxing out a credit card (even if the balance is paid off in full) and even not using one’s full name on a legal document. Additionally, ignoring the importance of credit score now can cause significant problems. “Many students believe that it’s easy to improve on a bad credit score, but in reality it takes an extremely long time to get a bad credit score back to a reasonable level,” said Shah. “Many people be-
See CREDIT, page 4
Finalists announced for Skandalaris entrepreneurship competition
Pow Wow wows crowd
By Brittany Farb Staff Reporter
PAM BUZZETTA | STUDENT LIFE
Performers dance at the 16th Annual Pow Wow held all day Saturday in Wash. U.’s Field House. The event, headed by the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies, marked the culmination of American Indian Awareness Week.
Young entrepreneurs and several important St. Louis business organizations were on the edge of their seats when the Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurial Studies announced the finalists for its Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Competition (SEIC) on March 30 at a special ceremony held at Graham Chapel. Co-sponsored by the Youthbridge association and the Skandalaris Center, the SEIC was launched at Washington University at the beginning of the fall semester. The competition is comprised of four deliverables, or stages, that represent the normal process of starting up a new business. The finalists are currently finishing their business plans, which will be submitted later this week. Final presentations will be given on April 27. “At each stage, the competitors are judged and receive feedback from judges on their
deliverables,” said Rosemary Gliedt, center manager of the Skandalaris Center. “At the elevator pitch competition we had judges representing service providers, practitioners, academics, investors and foundations. Those will be the folks also evaluating the business plans and the final presentations.” The finalists are competing for a $65,000 of funding for their projects. Finalists include: Meds & Foods for Kids, a company that will distribute nutrient-rich peanut butter paste developed at the University; Panda Athletic Club, a full-service boxing gym for underprivileged teens; and ArtWorkPos Enterprise, an organization that will sell products such as note cards and calendars designed by at-risk teenagers who are artists’ apprentices. The remaining five finalists include Build St. Louis, the Haven of Grace, La Loba Life Services, Redevelopment Opportunities for Women and the Wyman Center’s Peak Performance Profile Initiative.
Although most of the founders of these ideas are not students at the University, the competition has benefited the University as well as the St. Louis community. “We’ve seen participants learn as they attend workshops and think about their ventures, and the ideas of sustainability and social value,” said Gleidt. “They are learning to collaborate with each other and share more information more openly, which helps each of them move their ventures forward.” Gleidt is also impressed with the generosity of the donors in the St. Louis community. The YouthBridge Association donated $500,000 to provide five years of seed funding for the competition. As a result, the YouthBridge Association was made a partner with Washington University for the competition. The University has also matched this donation, with the help
See FINALISTS, page 4