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THIS YEAR I WILL...| RESOLUTIONS FOR EVERY WU STUDENT | SCENE, PAGE 8

STUDENT LIFE

THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS SINCE 1878 VOLUME 128, NO. 43

WWW.STUDLIFE.COM

FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 2007

Undergraduate tuition tops $34K BY DAVID BRODY SENIOR PHOTO EDITOR Undergraduate tuition will cost $34,500 for the 2007-08 academic year, a 5.2 percent increase which amounts to $1,700 over the 2006-07 costs, University officials announced on Thursday. Room-and-board charges will increase by $456 (4.1 percent) to $11,632 for a full meal plan and new student housing. Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs Fredric Volkmann said that these increases are in line with the tuition increases over the past few years. He added that the University’s tuition is in the “middle of the pack” in relation to its peer institutions. Volkmann elaborated that the need to attract and retain high caliber faculty is one of the primary costs fueling the tuition increases. Academic costs across the board, from library periodicals to laboratory equipment upgrades, also contributed. Ever-increasing energy costs are another significant fi nancial hurdle. The cost of powering and running the University has increased across the board according to Volkmann. He explained that the 100-year-old campus needs to be updated to become more energy efficient and that the University is currently paying substantial frontend costs to undertake this

Reduced tuition option eliminated BY ELIZABETH LEWIS NEWS MANAGER

STUDENT LIFE ARCHIVES

process. Dean of Arts & Sciences Edward Macias said in a press release that expenses including expansion of career services and the rising cost of healthcare also tax the University’s ﬁ nances. While the University’s endowment is sizeable, it alone

cannot carry the ﬁ nancial burden. “Washington University is blessed with generous alumni and friends who provide significant annual support and gifts, but…growth in endowment income and gifts and grants cannot rise rapidly enough to offset

additional charges that must be supported through tuition.” Initial student reactions to the tuition announcement was mixed. While some students understand the need for the University to be competitive,

See TUITION INCREASE, page 3

The reduced-tuition plan, an option that allows students to have part-time status, has been eliminated. The decision was announced in spring of 2004 and goes into effect this semester. According to Dirk Killen, the associate dean in the College of Arts & Sciences, the decision was made to allay the trend of rising tuition. The reduced tuition bill option has resulted in a deﬁcit of over one million dollars. Since tuition dollars go towards more than paying the salary of the instructor teaching the course (such as library resources, computer resources, maintenance costs, and staff salaries), there is a signiﬁcant cost that goes along with each reduced tuition. “The student who comes is not half a student,” said Killen. “The department must process the paperwork, etc., and there is money lost for a part-time student. There is a straight loss to the College of Arts & Sciences.” This cost ultimately leads

to a sharper increase in tuition for each academic year, noted Killen. Killen explained that in an age when all selective private universities are looking for ways to help control the rising cost of tuition, the elimination of the reduced-tuition plan within three years was adopted as a way to help curb the escalating tuition costs. He continued by noting that while seniors who are eligible for the reduced-tuition plan save money in their ﬁnal semester, all students in the College of Arts & Sciences are charged a higher tuition rate each year as a result of this option. This means that even students who will receive a tuition reduction in their last semester have had a higher tuition in the previous seven semesters than they would have had without the existence of the reduced-tuition plan. While the elimination of this option could prove controversial, Killen said the reaction of students has been mostly positive.

See REDUCED-TUITION, page 3

NEWS ANALYSIS

BOOKING IT TO MALLINCKRODT

SU funding clamps down BY BEN SALES SENIOR STAFF REPORTER

JENNY SHAO | STUDENT LIFE

Students flock to the bookstore on Thursday to pick up their course books. While the campus store is still the primary supplier of class materials, many students have turned to the internet, specifically Amazon.com, to try to obtain their books for a lower price.

In October 2005, the Student Union Treasury found itself in crisis mode. Treasury ran out of appeals funding two months into the school year, leaving a plethora of groups in the lurch while having to limit that semester’s programming due to an empty bank. And though current treasurer Jason Lewis sees vast improvement this year, he still believes that the body has a ways to go. “One of the points I personally recommended to Treasury was better budgeting,” said Lewis, regarding his Treasurer’s Report at the end of last semester. “I do not think that they are doing a poor job, it is just an area of improvement.” Lewis outlined three problems in the report given to Treasury last semester, all of

which are meant to ensure that the fiasco of the fall before last does not repeat itself. The goals do not embody a change in the Treasury’s principles, but rather an effort by the executives to streamline a working system. “Treasury is by no means in a fiscal crisis,” said Lewis. “Even if you are doing it exactly how you should be doing it, there are things to be working on.” Lewis hopes, during this semester, to ensure equitable funding throughout the academic year, to effect greater adherence to the budget guidelines within the body, and to hold groups to tighter standards during the appeals process. “This is in terms of making sure that you have money to sustain yourself throughout the whole year, so there is not a fi nancial crisis in March and April,” said Lewis of his fi rst

initiative, “to grasp yourself around the fact that you have a certain amount of money.” Junior Aaron Robinson, speaker of the treasury, agrees that the budget needs to be sustained, though he added that he thinks no criticism or substantial change is needed. “I would not call it ﬁscally irresponsible if we give out $30,000 for one month and $30,000 for the next month,” said Robinson. “I value the appeals account having a balance.” Lewis’s second goal, to keep the budget guidelines in mind when allocating funds, also aims to keep the bigger picture of the academic year at the fore of each discussion as opposed to looking at each appeal without a larger context. “It is very easy to get caught

See TREASURY, page 3

New Wash. U. Web site receives mixed student reactions BY PUNEET KOLLIPARA STAFF REPORTER Although Washington University’s new Web site presents some improvements over the original, many feel there is still much work to do. According to Mary Ellen Benson, assistant vice chancellor and the chair of the web advisory group that redesigned the Web site, public feedback has been generally positive, although there have been some complaints. “In general the response is

positive, but there are people who would like to rethink one small thing or another,” she said. Many students, like freshman Jeff Nelson, felt similarly, though somewhat more negatively. “I think that overall, especially in comparison to the old Web site, there is an aesthetic improvement to it,” said Nelson. “However, I feel that there are still some shortcomings with it.” Benson said that most of the positive feedback was di-

Swimming towards success Bears’ swimming has had a busy winter break, taking on meets across the country. Can they swim towards a successful finish? Sports, Page 6

rected at the new “quick links” feature, a drop-down menu that takes visitors to key areas of the Web site. “It’s really a beneﬁt to current students and prospective students who want to go to certain pages and they don’t have to look all over the site for certain links,” said Nelson. According to Benson, viewers’ criticisms have generally concerned locating speciﬁc information. “We have been making some changes as people have had comments, like

they couldn’t ﬁ nd something easily, or that something needed to be higher up in the hierarchy,” she said. “The search function at the top of the Web site is really not set up very well. It’s hard to use,” said Alex Hoogland, a freshman. “The other day I needed to get a copy of the campus map to ﬁ nd one of my classes. I typed in ‘campus map,’ and I ended up getting a map of the human genome instead. “All the information you need is there,” Hoogland add-

This relationship is over! Breaking up may not be so hard to do. Cartoonist Rachel Harris takes a look at how technology might make saying “we’re through” a bit different. Forum, Page 4

ed. “It’s just really hard to access.” Aesthetically speaking, a large object of criticism was the main page photo, which features red tulips lining the foreground and Brookings Hall in the background. Many complained that the tulips in the foreground look washed out compared to the background, and some speculate that they may have been doctored into the photo using a program such as Adobe Photoshop. “The enhancements to the

INSIDE: Forum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Sudoku . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

tulips using Photoshop are painstakingly obvious,” said Nelson. “I think that takes away from the overall professionalism of the site.” Benson denied there being any alterations to the tulips. “A large number of people thought that the ﬂowers were Photoshopped on, painted on,” she said. “But they’re part of the photo. They have not been altered in any way.” Students also felt that not enough was done to ﬁ x the

See WEB SITE, page 3

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2 STUDENT LIFE | NEWS

STUDENT LIFE One Brookings Drive #1039 #42 Women’s Building Saint Louis, MO 63130-4899 News: (314) 935-5995 Advertising: (314) 935-6713 Fax: (314) 935-5938 e-mail: editor@studlife.com www.studlife.com Copyright 2007 Editor in Chief: Sarah Kliff Associate Editor: Liz Neukirch Managing Editors: Justin Davidson, David Tabor Senior News Editor: Mandy Silver Senior Forum Editor: Daniel Milstein Senior Cadenza Editor: Ivanna Yang Senior Scene Editor: Erin Fults Senior Sports Editor: Andrei Berman Senior Photo Editor: David Brody Senior Graphics Editor: Rachel Harris News Editors: Troy Rumans, Laura Geggel, Josh Hantz News Manager: Elizabeth Lewis Contributing Editor: Shweta Murthi Assignments Editor: Sam Guzik Forum Editors: Tess Croner, Nathan Everly, Chelsea Murphy, Jill Strominger Cadenza Editors: Elizabeth Ochoa, David Kaminksy, Brian Stitt Scene Editors: Sarah Klein, Felicia Baskin Sports Editor: Scott Kaufman-Ross Photo Editors: Alwyn Loh, Lionel Sobehart, Eitan Hochster, Jenny Shao Online Editor: Matt Rubin Design Chief: Laura McLean Production Chief: Anna Dinndorf Copy Chiefs: Willie Mendelson, Indu Chandrasekhar Copy Editors: Troy Rumans, Josh Hantz, Ellen Jones, hannah draper, Jessica Trieber, Meghan Luecke, Erin Fults, Jeff Lesser Designers: Ellen Lo, Jamie Reed, Chris Maury, Kim Yeh, Dennis Sweeney, Courtney LeGates General Manager: Andrew O’Dell Advertising Manager: Sara Judd Copyright 2006 Washington University Student Media, Inc. (WUSMI). Student Life is the financially and editorially independent, student-run newspaper serving the Washington University community. First copy of each publication is free; all additional copies are 50 cents. Subscriptions may be purchased for $80.00 by calling (314) 935-6713. Student Life is a publication of WUSMI and does not necessarily represent, in whole or in part, the views of the Washington University administration, faculty or students. All Student Life articles, photos and graphics are the property of WUSMI and may not be reproduced or published without the express written consent of the General Manager. Pictures and graphics printed in Student Life are available for purchase; e-mail editor@studlife.com for more information. Student Life reserves the right to edit all submissions for style, grammar, length and accuracy. The intent of submissions will not be altered. Student Life reserves the right not to publish all submissions. If you’d like to place an ad, please contact the Advertising Department at (314) 935-6713. If you wish to report an error or request a clarification, e-mail editor@studlife.com.

Senior News Editor / Mandy Silver / news@studlife.com

Pulse

Compiled by Laura Geggel

Friday, Jan. 19 Turbo Fruits The Indie Group Be Your Own Pet signed onto the record label Ecstatic Peace and toured the country going to Lollapalooza, SXSW and CMJ, but two of their band members, Jonas Stein and John Eatherly have continued on with their old group Turbo Fruits. It’s bluesy and punkish, a deﬁ nite must hear. Cover is $5 and the show beings at 7:30 at the Acoustic Café at the West County YMCA in Chesterﬁeld. 16464 Burkhardt Place (636) 532-3100 All Will Fall The Creepy Crawly presents the metal band All Will Fall tonight at 9 p.m. Tickets are $11 for those under 21 and $8 for those over age. 3524 Washington Ave Phil Loder Trio Get tickets at $10 a pop for the Phil Loder Trio at The Finale. Loder performs everything from jazz to rap and rock. He’s worked with legends like Nancy Wilson and Johnny Cash as he plays the piano and sings. In 1994, Loder composed a piano solo that won an Addy award for Montgomery Mall in the Washington, D.C. area. When he’s not busy composing, Loder composes and performs commercial music for companies, including Dairy Queen, Mallinkrodt, The St. Louis Cardinals and The St. Louis Blues. The music starts at 7:30 p.m. Visit Ticketmaster online to purchase tickets in advance. Third Fridays at Third Degree Glass Factory Watch artists wield molten, liquid glass at an energetic pace and form works of art while listening to music. Location: Third Degree Glass Factory Time: 6 p.m. - 10 p.m. 3rd Fridays of every month Cost: Free For more information call: (314) 367-4527 www.stlglass.com

FRIDAY | JANUARY 19, 2007

Saturday, Jan. 20 Exclusively Yours Jam at Jimmy’s on the Park when Exclusively Yours comes to play from 8 p.m. to midnight. Entrées are around $20, but you can come for under $10 appetizers and a wide array for drinks while you listen to the music. Jimmy’s is adjacent to Concordia Seminary by Kaldi’s coffee. 706 DeMun Avenue Plains Indian Beadwork Donald Danforth Jr. shares his collection of Plains Indian Beadwork at the St. Louis Art Museum. Pipe and saddle bags, moccasins and clothing formed during the 1800’s by American Indian nations including the Apache, Blackfeet, Cheyenne, Crow, Kiowa and Lakota will be on display. The exhibit is free. Cabin Fever: Schlafly Winter Beer Festival An afternoon of big music, big beers and big fun. Location: Schlaﬂy Bottleworks [Map It] Time: 1 p.m. - 5 p.m. For more information call: (314) 241-2337 www.schlaﬂy.com

Sunday, Jan. 21 Free Missouri Botanical Garden The Missouri Botanical Garden is a beautiful landscape of plants from every genus imaginable, but let’s admit it, the Garden is a pricy venture. You can leave your wallet at home from Jan. 19-21 as the Garden removes the Chihuly “Glass in the Garden” exhibit. The Climatron and Temperate House, as well as the Garden Gate Shop, will be closed for renovations, but the general gardens will be open for all to see. Reflections on Water Concordia Seminary presents an exhibit by Karl Fey titled Reﬂections on Water. 801 Demun Avenue

REDUCEDTUITION v FROM PAGE 1 “Students have generally understood quite well,” said Killen. “Sometimes, [they] are upset, they come talk, and [we] see a way that they can achieve the same things. They can take a class at a local college and transfer the credit back.” Furthermore, he said that the elimination of the reduced-tuition option has nothing to do with the part-time provision for students who need to work and pay at a reduced rate due to medical conditions that prevent them from enrolling and proceeding toward their degree at a regular rate of progress. Kristina McKay, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences, thinks that it could affect her friends who are seniors. “After seeing many of my upperclassmen friends spending most of their ﬁrst semesters looking for jobs and doing interviews for their second semesters, it is unfair to expect them to complete a full course load as well,” said McKay. Caroline Broome, a second semester senior, can see both sides of the issue. “They encourage students to be here and take four years of serious coursework, which is positive,” said Broome. “But the part-time option beneﬁts second semester seniors because they can apply for grad schools and look for jobs. It was a good option for students who worked hard enough [in other semesters] to be able to be part-time in their eighth semester.”

Rafia Zafar receives Fulbright Scholar award BY DAVID SONG STAFF REPORTER Raﬁa Zafar, professor in English, African and African American studies and American culture studies, was recently awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to lecture abroad at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. Zafar will hold the Walt Whitman Chair, considered one of the most prestigious positions in the Fulbright Distinguished Chairs Program. Founded by Arkansas Sena-

tor J. William Fulbright in 1946, the Fulbright Program serves as an international exchange program for scholars, sending 800 individuals from the United States abroad this year. Also recognized through the Fulbright Program is Alan Templeton, a professor of biology, who was appointed a Fulbright-Israel Distinguished Chair. Zafar herself supported the idea of intellectual and academic exchange among the United States and other na-

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tions, and acknowledged the value of diverse perspectives on matters such as government and gender roles “You apply to teach as part of a cultural exchange… all across the world,” she explained. “I’ve been a professor since 1989, and I’ve been saying to my students to study abroad… what a great thing it is. Because of my experience enjoying other cultures, I think it’s a good thing for students—Americans—to stretch themselves.” Although the application

process itself took well over a year and a half, Zafar will be abroad for only a few months, returning to St. Louis in May. At Utrecht, Zafar will teach both on the undergraduate and graduate levels, lecturing on American and African-American literature and culture— subjects that she believes can be of relevance to a European classroom. With such a class, students would be able to make comparisons between the United States and their own country regarding problems such as immigration. Zafar also noted that there would be a degree of mutual interaction and learning between herself and the Dutch students. “I’m teaching a course on the Harlem Renaissance. Right now, lots of the European countries are dealing with immigration, so I proposed com-

ing over to teach literature as a comparative experience. Essentially, [the students] are really interested. I get a chance to talk with students, not to talk at them.” Fulbright Scholar grants have been awarded in the past to other University faculty, including Shanti Parikh, assistant professor of anthropology, who was part of the Fulbright New Century Scholars Program in 2004 and 2005. The team that year carried a theme of feminism and female sexuality. “This particular program is intended to bring a group of scholars around the world on a particular topic,” explained Parikh. “The year I did it, [the theme] was called ‘Toward Equality: The Global Empowerment of Women.’”

See ZAFAR, page 2

Senior News Editor / Mandy Silver / news@studlife.com

FRIDAY | JANUARY 19, 2007

Medical Spanish classes work to bridge cultural borders BY SAM GUZIK ASSIGNMENTS EDITOR As the number of Spanishspeaking Americans grows at a quickening pace, Washington University’s foreign language department has expanded to include medical Spanish classes to meet the demand for classes that will give practical tools for future careers in health. “Because of the growing number of minorities in the United States, it’s important as a doctor to be bilingual whether in Spanish or in another language,” said junior Gabriel Merlin, a former student in the class. The design of the medical Spanish classes allow students to go into further depth than a standard Spanish course. The class focuses speciﬁcally on the linguistic and cultural issues that surround treating the Spanish-speaking minority in the United States through role-playing and lab activities. “One of the goals and one of the accomplishments of these courses is creating an awareness of cultural sensitivity in medicine,” said Gail Swick, the Spanish language professor who designed and teaches the class for both students and professionals. Originally conceived as

ﬁ nd a shortage of licensed translators due to the high immigrant population in St. Louis. The University currently offers two classes in medical Spanish: one through the College of Arts and Sciences for students with prior knowledge of Spanish and one through University College for practicing medical professionals with little or no Spanish background. “I already knew Spanish, but most of the vocabulary I knew was about literature, and I wanted to have a more practical knowledge,” said junior Tasmeem Ahmad, a predentistry student who took the Arts & Sciences class last semester. Although pre-medical students comprise the majority of the Arts and Sciences course, pre-dental and pre-social work students have enrolled in the past. The classes, which have been taught since 1997, are limited by the number of students that can ﬁt into the lab for role-playing activities, and in recent semesters there have been waiting lists for the class. This year, the class is being offered for a second semester in a row because of the increased demand.

an upper-level Spanish class that would present material focused on one content area, the class currently strives to give medical professionals the skills to describe symptoms, explain treatments, and make presentations. That information is balanced by content about the cultural considerations necessary when treating Spanish-speakers. “A large issue among Spanish-speakers is not just the availability of health care, but also the ability to be understood both linguistically and culturally when receiving health care,” said Swick. The class spends time studying the many possible cultural differences that may arise when working with Hispanic minorities, such as varying names for folk-remedies and the importance of religion and superstition, in an effort to facilitate medical translation. “Medical translation requires more than just explaining different words, it requires conveying cultural messages,” explained senior Lucy Vine, a former student of the class. Some students use their experience in the class as an inspiration for volunteer work in nearby clinics where they serve as medical translators. Clinics and hospitals often

design, leading to large inconsistencies across the University’s site. The Ofﬁce of Publications only worked on the main pages for the University and did not deal with individual departments’ sites. “The Web site as a whole needs to be redesigned and restructured,” Nelson said. Some wondered if the University could have beneﬁted from hiring an outside contractor to design the Web site. According to Benson, the University did not allocate funding for any external contract-

TUITION INCREASE v FROM PAGE 1 they also believe the University needs to give an adequate explanation of the increases. “I’m a business man and I think it’s a competitive market…. If you have a problem with it you can go somewhere else…. I just want to hear the administration’s justiﬁcation for it,” said junior Rev Muraryi. Other students, like senior Sheleena Taylor, worry about the effect of rising tuition on lower income students. “Tuition affects the goals of diversity. We’re supposed to be this diverse school and diversity is more than just race. It’s

socioeconomic status too…. Scholarships don’t completely mitigate the increasing costs.” Macias also noted that about 60 percent of undergraduates receive ﬁ nancial aid in some form. Aid packages will be evaluated and increased on a case-by-case basis to accommodate the higher tuition Graduate and professional school tuitions will increase as well. Tuition for the graduate schools of Arts & Sciences, Architecture & Urban Design, and Engineering & Applied Sciences will mirror the undergraduate tuition increases, rising to $34,500. The Master

of Fine Arts program will increase $1,319 to $27,950; the Master of Social Work program will increase $1,200 to $27,390; the Juris Doctor program will increase $1,790 to $37,460; the LLM program will increase $1,800 to $35,800; the Master of Business Administration program will increase $1,950 to $37,900. The School of Medicine will announce the 200708 tuition for its M.D. program in March. —Additional reporting by Erin Fults

TREASURY v FROM PAGE 1 up in looking at each individual appeal,” he said. “One thing that Treasury should look at next year is adhering to the budget more closely, budgeting our funds more wisely.” The Treasury, said Lewis, should set an amount to allocate each semester, and stay close to that number while making small allowances to ensure equitable funding for groups. “You can never really predict how many appeals will come before you each week,” said Lewis. “My recommendation was to create a budgeting system that is more ﬂuid and adhering to that.” Robinson added that the funding system is really meant for the end of the year, when

WEB SITE v FROM PAGE 1 Web site’s structure, hierarchy, and page-to-page consistency. “It’s clear that the navigation and structure of the site hasn’t changed. There’s just been a new layout,” said Nelson. “If we think about the site as a whole…it’s totally inconsistent.” “I ﬁ nd it harder to navigate,” said junior Ruth Poland of the new site. “The listing that they use is confusing to your eyes.” Nelson said that each department’s site has its own

STUDENT LIFE | NEWS

Treasury runs the risk of emptying their safe too soon. “Treasury started with a pretty organized guideline system,” he said. “We are sticking to that pretty well. The problem comes with the speed at which that money is allocated. The tricky part is to save some for later appeals.” The third piece of the puzzle, according to Lewis’s plan, was to apply stricter guidelines to the appealing groups, adding a clause in the appeal requirements that has groups consider whether their event is worth its cost. Even though there have been complaints from groups that were denied appeals, Lewis says that rejection is a necessary symptom of a shrinking budget.

“There were very few appeals that were rejected last semester,” he said. “We have enough money to last us the semester but it does run out eventually and as we get closer to that running out point we need to evaluate appeals much more strictly.” Robinson said that the motivation for the tighter rules comes from reluctance on the Treasury representatives’ part to use the last of their money. “As we ended up with less and less in the appeals account the guidelines became more confusing,” said Robinson. “As the money goes down, the questions and the doubts go higher. No one wants to spend that last dollar.”

ZAFAR v FROM PAGE 2 ing. Nelson worries about the effect that the site’s weaknesses could have on the school’s image, especially to prospective students. “While they (prospective students) know that Wash. U. is a great school, the Web site reﬂects poorly on the institution, especially when you talk about students that we lose to peer institutions,” said Nelson. “You go to their sites, and they look great, they look professional. They look like a college site should look.”

Benson said that the new design is here to stay, and small tweaks will be made as people submit comments and suggestions. “The Web advisory group is meeting again next week and will be looking at some of the input and seeing what else we might do,” said Benson. “People’s response to the design is always going to be different, and my experience is that you’re always going to have people who don’t like change.”

The scholars in the program, once having conducted their research toward the issue, made policy recommendations to the United Nations and nations thereof. Parikh herself performed researched in Uganda, where she had been doing work since 1995. “I had a great experience, particularly working with scholars overseas, developing a language to talk about global issues. I thought it was fabulous.” Zafar stressed the capability that the Fulbright Program held

to exchange cultural perspectives and to allow Americans to attain goals of serving as social examples to other nations. “Geopolitically, [the United States] has a lot of proﬁ le, and I think people are interested in what America is like. I’m interested in helping. The notion is that we can be a model for the world. We have self-imposed expectations. We have to keep an upward trajectory, and for me, that’s what being a Fulbright Scholar is really about.”

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4 STUDENT LIFE | FORUM

Senior Forum Editor / Daniel Milstein / forum@studlife.com

FORUM

FRIDAY | JANUARY 19, 2007

Our daily Forum editors: Monday: Chelsea Murphy cemurphy@art.wustl.edu

To ensure that we have time to fully evaluate your submissions, guest columns should be e-mailed to the next issue’s editor or forwarded to forum@studlife.com by no later than 5 p.m. two days before publication. Late pieces will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. We welcome your submissions and thank you for your consideration.

STAFF EDITORIAL

Resolutions for Washington University A

s 2006 wound down, the editorial board of Student Life followed the lead of millions of others, and made New Years’ resolutions. Student Life’s resolutions, however, had a fairly predictable twist. They were concerned solely with Wash. U., and changes that should happen this semester. Here they are: • Lose weight. It may have been a freak occurrence, but the University needs to admit fewer incoming freshmen next year than they did this year. Upperclassmen should not be forced out of the housing that they had already been granted just to make room for freshmen. It would also help increase the University’s ranking, which always seems to be of the utmost importance, by making

the University more selective. Let Wheeler become a sophomore dorm again next year. • Manage money better. The second half of meal plans are now available for students to use. But even though they paid for these points at the beginning of the academic year, these points were off-limits first semester, and anyone who ran out of points had to buy more. There are administrative benefits to splitting up the meal points by semester, such as for students going abroad, but can’t students be able to dip into their second semester points first semester? • Eat better. Frankly, the new Latino Grill in Mallinckrodt is just disappointing. And the Asian station isn’t much better. When students

filled out surveys saying that they wanted Asian food in Mallinckrodt, many thought a different fast food place would be coming in to replace Taco Bell instead of simply another Bon Appétit location. Make the wishes of those students come true, and bring a new fast food place, which students already like, to the Mallinckrodt food court. • Don’t embarrass yourself in public. We’re just going to pretend that the rapping thank yous made by administrators uploaded on YouTube for those who filled out course evaluations never happened. • Be prepared. After last semester’s snowstorm, the University was not able to salt walkways to class adequately. Fortunately, remnants of the most recent ice

Wednesday: Nathan Everly Friday: Tess Croner neverly@wustl.edu tacroner@wustl.edu

storm were all but gone by the beginning of classes this semester, but the University’s response to ice storms must be improved. • Be upfront with your significant other. Time and time again, finals are moved midsemester, and students who had planned out their final schedule before get stuck with having an inordinate amount of work piled up for just a couple of days, often without the benefit of a reading week. Professors should set the final date at the beginning of the semester, and keep that date. There you have it, our 2007 resolutions. Oh yeah, we wouldn’t mind fewer gigantic holes on campus as well. Happy New Years!

RACHEL HARRIS | EDITORIAL CARTOON

Be cruel in course evaluations BY GREG ALLEN STAFF COLUMNIST

ourse evals could be a great part of Wash. U. life. Done right, evals could be the perfect way for students who think a class sounds interesting to make sure it’s actually going to be interesting. More importantly, evals could be a way for the administration to make sure its teachers are at least halfway decent at teaching. Unfortunately, I recently discovered that evals serve neither of these purposes. I don’t fully know why this is the case, low student participation may be part of the problem. It’s easy to imagine students who were bored stiff by a professor might be disinclined to spend another six minutes thinking about him. Still, I have another theory why course evals are practically useless: the few people who do ﬁ ll them out are polite as if the damned things weren’t anonymous. Obviously, this article isn’t anonymous, so I can’t name names, but I can say that some of my professors last semester were god-awful. This is not me being bitter about bad grades. In fact, the classes in which I got my worst grades received my most favorable evaluations. The god-awful teachers, however, received honest and cruel evaluations—ones with the occasional two and long anecdotes to justify them. Here’s the weird thing though: even though everyone I’ve ever talked to in these classes agrees the professor is awful, when I look up the evaluation results, virtually every class has decided the professor ranks somewhere between a 4.9 and a 5.8. There was one exception where the entire class, myself especially, agreed the professor was top notch and scored him as such. That’s probably why he’s being poached away by other schools. Anyway, besides that one exception, I’m astounded to ﬁ nd that the quality of a professor had less to do with their score than randomness. To remedy this situation, I have compiled a list of test questions I hope you will ask yourself before you give in to that apparently insatiable

urge to give your professor a five: Does this professor teach by reading verbatim off a PowerPoint? Does this teacher say “that’s a good question” even when it isn’t a good question? Even when the question makes you doubt the integrity of the Wash.U. admissions committee? Does your professor have at least one “um” for every three actual words? Did you learn far more from your textbook and/or classmates than your professor? Did tests grade your ability to decipher your professor’s syntax and/ or poor grammar skills rather than knowledge of the material? Did your professor waste enormous blocks of time dealing with his or her neuroticism? Is your professor better than Valium at inducing sleep? If you answered yes to any of these questions, please at least hesitate before you mark a five in every column. Do it so other students don’t have to suffer though what you did. Do it because you’re paying an ungodly amount to go here. Do it because you deserve teachers who match that fee. I understand this article is all kinds of pretentious because I’m a nobody freshman with zero qualifications to criticize a Ph.D, but that’s okay. It’s okay because I’m not saying that they don’t understand their field—if they’re at Wash. U. they obviously do—I am saying that they weren’t half as great as they ought to be at making me understand their field. Wash.U. is a research University, and that’s a good thing. Research opportunities for undergraduates are good things. But great researchers don’t always make great professors. To be honest, I would rather be taught by a passionate TA who knows how to convey knowledge in a classroom than an apathetic Nobel Prize winner who knows how to discover knowledge in a laboratory. If students are really going to ever get dedicated and talented teachers, they have to be more honest, and yes, crueler in course evaluations. Greg is a freshman in Arts & Sciences. He can be reached via e-mail at gcallen@wustl. edu.

Let me count the ways

hit clocks in at number 4,499, right between taxi and struggling. In a way, such a sequence does not seem too out of place. “You graduated from Wash. U., and now you’re driving a taxi? Shit, dude, you’re struggling.” This is the Daniel type of data one can find at wordcount.org, a website that displays how common a word is, and is one of the best timewasters on the internet this side of Facebook. “WordCount is an artistic

experiment in the way we use language,” the Web site states. While the artistic value of wordcount.org is questionable, when someone has a lot of time to kill, it can be a fun thing to do. Based on data from the British National Corpus, it displays the 86,800 most Milstein common words in the English language, and allows users to search for a word, or browse the rankings. Not surprisingly, “the” is at the top of the list (or, more accurately, the very left of the list. Coincidence, or political statement – you

decide), followed by “of,” “and,” “to,” and “a.” The last word on the list is “conquistador” (Pizzaro is rolling in his grave), just ahead of “recrossed,” and three behind the ever-popular “Carniola,” which is a region of Slovenia, apparently. The more you know! There are some pretty interesting things contained in the frames of WordCount. In a sign of what makes the world go ‘round, “money” is at 227, while “love” is number 384. But as a blow to cynicism, and what could be considered a victory for St. Valentine, “love” does beat “sex,” with “sex” only at

1,236. Politically, “democrat” is at 7,135, whereas “republican” is at 4,634 (apparently, some Web site didn’t watch the 2004 election results…or it has to do with the words

“Does that mean football is almost as good, but not quite as good as sex?” democrat and republican, instead of the Democratic and Republican American political parties. Either/or). The world of sports reflects

the fact that the world wide web is indeed worldwide, with “football” being the most common word at number 1,533 (does that mean football is almost as good, but not quite as good as sex?), followed by “soccer” at 5,839, “hockey” (the thinking man’s basketball) at 10,048, “baseball” at 12,548, and “basketball” at 19,433. “Iraq” is at 3,046, but “quagmire” is only at 41,196, and “escalation” is at 19,826. Meanwhile, “America ensure oil opportunity” are all in a row, from 992-995. Cue your Twilight Zone music. The most fascinating part (yes, I really think this is

kind of fascinating) of WordCount, however, is QueryCount, a listing of the most searched words on WordCount. In a way, this gives a glimpse into the words that are on people’s minds the most, as these are the words people want to know about. So what is the most popular word people look up, the word most people are curious about? “God” is the fifth most searched word, and “hello” is 17th, but here, it is sex that is number one. So much for romanticism. “Love” is at number three, with “the” sandwiched be-

See MILSTEIN, page 5

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FRIDAY | JANUARY 19, 2007

STUDENT LIFE | FORUM

Sidewalks, wireless, and Kazakhstan BY SARA REMEDIOS STAFF COLUMNIST

was having trouble coming up with a topic for an article this week—let’s blame the new semester madness. Whatever the cause, when it came time to sit down and actually write something, I completely blanked. I became, in essence, a very opinionated girl without a single opinion worth writing about. So I did what anyone would do: I looked around and asked everyone in my immediate vicinity what they would write about, had they an impending deadline. What follows is a compilation of all the issues plaguing the minds of the people with whom I’ve spoken in the past ten minutes.

“Stop with the bad Borat impressions already!” The first, and most adamant, comment was this: walk on the right side of the sidewalk. The left side is the wrong side, and when you walk there or, God forbid, weave back and forth, it annoys people walking in the opposite direction. If you always leave with enough time to get to class or don’t really think about where you’re walking when traversing the sidewalks on campus then this probably does not seem like a very big deal, but for those who are in a hurry (or even just impatient) the need to dodge people and change paths frequently is, frankly, annoying. Pick a side and stick to it, and please, pick the right side. A second complaint: stop

with the bad Borat impressions already! If you can do an imitation that does justice to the original then by all means, proceed, but if you’ve got one of those ambiguously accented, I-can’t-quite-get-the-phrasing-or-the-intonation-rightbut-I’m-gonna-go-for-it-anyway impressions, quit while you’re behind. Borat is an excellent feat of comedy (or so I’m told), and the bad impersonations are not paying homage as much as overkill. Next comes an issue much closer to my own heart: why can’t we have wireless Internet in the dorms? If it’s really a financial question, of stealing service from ResTech or whatever, there are ways around that—you have to sign up anyway, you could create a wireless network that students enroll in. Reliability of service is a different question, and I do understand that, but honestly? Having to stay within three feet of your desk when working on a computer is a pain in the butt. The last point is one I’m sure everyone has thought about a lot recently, with real, non-campus food only in the recent past: while I love our point-based system and having so many options for getting food on campus, sometimes some non-campus food would be more than welcome. Yes, we have decent-ish Chinese takeout, and a few pizza places, but better takeout options (or at least, increased awareness of the good ones that are out there) would be genius. Secondarily, as we’re all either running out of or wallowing in our extra points, I think it’s fair to say that there may, in fact, be a better way to organize the dining system—the option to buy more

TEMU BROWN | STUDENT LIFE

points on WebSTAC is helpful, but the ability to redeem those unspent would be just as nice. There were a few more opinions put forth (better screening for undergradu-

ate teaching assistants, a more sexually-liberal student body, more attractive students) but alas, it seems they will have to wait, as I’ve reached my word limit. I hope if you ever get writ-

cialty-knitting store where colorfully adorned middleaged women were sitting around on cushy couches, yammering on and on, their needles clicking furiously. Pretty intimidating. Especially when I was taken under the pastel-sweatered

“I was taken under the pastel-sweatered wing of some androgynous creature named Bonnie who glared at me over a hot pink sock.” wing of some androgynous creature named Bonnie who glared at me over a hot pink sock. During the course of my half hour lesson she taught me how to knit and pearl stitches. She convinced me to give up on my

Sara is a sophomore in Arts & Sciences. She can be reached via e-mail at saremedi@artsci.wustl.edu.

MILSTEIN v FROM PAGE 4

Quit needling me salvage an otherwise happydidn’t accomplish much go-lucky but utterly useless over break. I wasn’t a chunk of my life. I learned go-getter. I didn’t work how to knit. in any soup kitchens I can’t say I ever or fill out any summer job dreamed of becomapplications. Yeah, ing a famous knitthere was the octer. Friends have casional day of suggested this sport activity, the hour before, but I’ve alor two of socializaways responded with tion, but mostly I the apathy I typically sat around reacreserve for topics quainting myself other than food. So with 90’s television on Christmas day I shows and boosting Tess Croner felt some sense of my high scores in irony when my mom Star Ball. Nothing gave me a pair of knitting too exciting, but I’m rested, needles, a ball of yarn and relaxed. I have warm feela book declaring on its ings and an overall sense cover, “I can’t believe I’m of well-being. And now I knitting!” Being a prodigy also have about two milat almost everything I do, I lion different people ask me managed in less than a week the obligatory, “How was to knit a large square block break?” No way am I going of loose, drunken stitchto confess my slothfulness es. Kind of an oversized to so many people. Luckcoaster. ily I have one saving grace. It wasn’t long until my One newly acquired skill mom carted me off to a spefrom my three weeks off to

ers block as severe as mine, you have equally helpful and opinionated people nearby to help out. Oh, and why don’t we have a climbing gym?

coaster and start over. Bonnie gave me a simple scarf pattern. She also exposed me to about a year’s supply of secondhand smoke just by breathing on me. And then she sent me on my way. Her parting words: just keep knitting. A couple weeks later, I’m becoming more and more infatuated with this new pastime. Now, when I’m killing time, I can also make something. I can create while I destroy! I can procrastinate while writing these Forum pieces by making progress on my scarf. Should have it ready by next winter. Go ahead; ask me how my break was. I’m ready for you. I’ve got skills. Need a coaster? Tess is a sophomore in Arts & Sciences. She can be reached via e-mail at forum@studlife. com.

tween them. “Shit” is fourth, and “penis” and “vagina” are just ahead of “Jesus,” with those words being 12, 13, and 14, respectively. Religious people might take consolation in knowing that at number five, “Gpod” was ahead of “I,” which was sixth. The most searched noun that wasn’t dirty (or a pronoun) was “dog,” at fifteen. When people stop thinking about parts of human anatomy, they turn to man’s best friend (sadly, emu is only the 4,547th most searched word). So what does this really mean? Is it a sign that people

are inherently filthy and still in a primitive state, only caring about sex and cursing? Maybe a little. But we already knew that. Mostly, the best words to describe what wordcount.org actually means, aside from being a fun little diversion, is the 172nd most common word and the 4499th most common word. Daniel is a junior in Arts & Sciences and Senior Forum editor. He can be reached via e-mail at forum@studlife.com.

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6 STUDENT LIFE | SPORTS

Senior Sports Editor / Andrei Berman / sports@studlife.com

FRIDAY | JANUARY 19, 2007

SPORTS

Men’s basketball now 13th in nation v Team to open four game home stand this weekend BY UNAIZ KABANI SPORTS REPORTER The Washington University basketball team completed its sweep of a four-game road trip during winter break by defeating Emory University 78-73 last Sunday. The team also posted winter vacation wins over the University of Chicago, Case Western Reserve University and Webster University. As a result of the team’s strong weekend, the Red and Green jumped three spots to No. 13 in the D3Hoops.com Top-25 Poll. It is the team’s

highest ranking since holding the No. 8 spot in the 2002-2003 season. Prior to the break, the Bears had yet to crack the coveted Top 25. With the victories, the Bears (12-1) are now in sole position of first place in the University Athletic Association (UAA) with a 3-0 record and are on a nine-game winning streak, the team’s longest since the 2002-2003 campaign. “We’ve been playing well all season,” sophomore forward Tyler Nading said. “We have great chemistry and everyone knows his role. We

know what’s a good shot and what’s a bad shot and play smart.” Forward Troy Ruths, an early candidate for conference Player of the Year honors, has led the way in recent wins, averaging 23 points on 72 percent shooting in the team’s last four victories. The junior big man from Sugar Land, Texas was named UAA Men’s Basketball Athlete of the Week Jan. 8 and leads the league in scoring with 20 points per contest. “Troy has been a beast,” sophomore guard Sean Wallis said. “He has great hands

and runs the court well. He makes my job easy as a point guard.” “What Troy is doing is unheard of,” Nading added. “He doesn’t force anything and makes everything look easy.” The Bears began 2007 by traveling cross-town to battle Webster University on Jan. 3. The Red and Green left with an 81-65 victory, led by Ruths’ 21 points on 8-9 shooting from the field. With the score tied 7-7 early in the first half, the Bears scored 17 of the game’s next 19 points to take a commanding 15 point lead. Mid-

mark for his career, finishing the game with 812. Wallis also had a stellar performance, packing the stat sheet with a career-high 25 points on 7-9 shooting from behind the arc, six rebounds and six assists. “I’m from the Chicago area. I had a lot of family and friends at the game,” Wallis said. “It was nice to put on a show for them, but the win was more important. Numbers don’t matter if you lose.”

way through the second half, the team built the lead to 23 to ensure the victory. Nading and Wallis also filled up the box score. Nading scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds while Wallis contributed 10 points and dished out eight assists. Wash. U. then traveled to Chicago for its first UAA game of the season and impressively defeated the Maroons of the University of Chicago, 70-59. Ruths scored a career-high 28 points on 11-12 shooting from the field and crossed the 800-point-

Swimming in the sunshine state v Swimmers take mid-season training trip to Florida over winter break BY ANNA DINNDORF SPORTS REPORTER

LIONEL SOBEHART | STUDENT LIFE

A Bear swimmer tears down the lane during a meet in November. The Wash. U. swim team has performed quite well this year, to the delight of its fans.

With the end of a long season in sight, the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams have not relented in their quest to achieve outstanding performances at nationals. With three weeks remaining until the UAA Championship meet, the Bears are looking to build on recent success and hard training to carry them through the rest of the season. The NCAA championship meet will occur four weeks after the UAA meet. As a part of their increased training, the teams spent winter break in Bradenton, Fla. But the trip was hardly a vacation. During the ten days spent in the sunshine state, the swimmers practiced twice a day, making

the training the most difficult of the season. “The trip was just grueling training,” said senior co-captain Sam Haywood. “I think it puts us in a really good place to get back and finish the rest of the season.” Despite training hard for most of the day, the swimmers managed to find some time for fun. “We got a couple hours each day to lay on the beach,” said junior co-captain Meredith Nordbrock. “[The trip] is really good for team bonding as well. You’re in close quarters with the team all week and you really get to know each other well.” Upon returning to St. Louis, the success of the trip was measured immediately, as both squads faced Lindenwood University last Friday in a dual meet. The men’s and women’s teams

work in Florida paid off.” The Bears now shift their attention to preparing for the UAA Championships in February and the NCAA Championships in March. After the intense training over break, yardage swam during practice will be gradually decreased leading up to the championship meets, to allow swimmers to rest before their ﬁnal swims. “Everyone’s been working so hard, and so it’s just a matter of doing what our coach gives us and having a little bit of trust,” said Nordbrock. The Bears are back in action this weekend for the Wash. U. Invitational, their last home meet of the season. Friday’s session begins at 6 p.m. and Saturday’s starts at 11 a.m., both at Millstone pool.

both pulled out wins, with the men winning 137-93 and the women coasting to a 148-74 victory. “I think everyone was just really pumped up for [the meet],” said Nordbrock. “We’re in the best shape of the entire season because of the training trip.” The meet was highlighted by a pair of outstanding performances in the 1000-yard freestyle. Freshman Marin Hawk won the event and set a new school record with a time of 10:29.16. Sophomore Kelly Kono’s second place ﬁnish of 10:34.23 also broke the previous record. “Everyone swam very well, so it was a good pick-me-up,” said Nordbrock, who improved her NCAA provisional qualifying time in the 200-yard individual medley to 2:08.94 on Friday. “It’s really nice to see that our hard

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FRIDAY | JANUARY 19, 2007

SCENE STAFF REPORTERS On a recent cold and dreary winter’s night, we decided to venture out of our warm apartments on a hot tip. A friend had told us that Momo’s, the most recent restaurant to join owner Mike Johnson’s mini gastronomical empire, is the new hot spot for Greek food in the city. Being fans of his other restaurants, BARcelona Tapas Restaurant in Clayton and Cyrano’s in Webster Groves, Momo’s sounded like a solid bet. The “Ouzaria Taverna,” as Momo’s prominently declares itself on the large sign outside the building, was crowded and buzzing with patrons who came to warm themselves with shots of the Greek anise ﬂavored spirit ouzo over a few small plates of meze (known as tapas in Spain). The décor also adds to the cozy atmosphere. As our large group sat down on colorful cushioned seats at a medium sized table small enough for conversation to travel from one end to the other, we admiringly gazed at the blue-green mosaics and cerulean light ﬁxtures

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above us. Though Momo’s features a long list of both hot and cold meze, there are also larger main dishes for those who prefer not to share small plates. We decided to go for a bit of everything, beginning with a spread sampler. We were quite impressed with the tart yet creamy cucumber, mint and yogurt-based tzaziki, the Htipi, a wonderfully smoky and sweet combination of sweet roasted peppers and feta, and the fava bean and eggplant spreads, both of which were delicious slathered on the warm pita that accompanied them. Our eating pleasure was soon interrupted, however, as the ﬁrst of our main courses

came out with what seemed like lightning speed. In what felt like ﬁve minutes after placing our orders, mezes and larger plates were already on the table and the dips had only just arrived. We forgave the error in timing, but because we were still working on the appetizers, we did not get to some of the mezes until they were a bit cold. Fortunately, most of the dishes were still tasty, particularly the eggplant fries which came with a tangy sherry-tomato skordalia dip on the side to serve as a sort of “ketchup.” Falafel and lamb gyro were good but not standout dishes and seared tuna with lemon was similarly pleasing without the extra je ne sais quoi that

HealthBeat

’ll admit to my membership in that ever-growing group of people who listen to their iPod for at least an hour a day. On my morning runs or trips to the Brooke gym I need my iPod to keep me pumped, and I have no shame in saying that when my motivation starts to run low, I usually reach for the click wheel. I roll my ﬁ nger over the surface and make the music louder in hopes that the pounding bass in my ears will make my legs move faster. But the other day, before my ﬁ nger could so much as reach for the wheel, I realized that my favorite playlist had begun to sound much softer. Suddenly, I wondered if my sensitivity to sound had changed because of my constant iPod use. Ask any of my suitemates and they will say “no”—I’m that girl who can’t sleep with any sort of noise, be it soft mumbling or the humming of a blow dryer. Still, listening to an iPod every day must have some harmful effects, right? Right. The experience I described above is actually a documented phenomenon. When we frequently listen to music from headphones, we gradually lose sensitivity to sound. This means that if you

put on your headphones and select your favorite mix, the fi rst song may sound fi ne with the volume turned up halfway but by the fi fth song, it may seem as though Genkin your iPod’s volume is on a much lower setting. In such a situation, most people would simply reach for the click wheel and turn the sound up. Of course, by the 12th song, another turn of the wheel would be necessary, and so on and so on. iPods (as well as other MP3 players) are made so that we can listen to them at potentially harmful levels. The controls allow for music to be listened to at 100dB, which can damage our hearing. Since very few people are able to distinguish the difference between 100dB of noise and the much safer level such as 85dB of noise, we put ourselves at risk every time we raise the volume. If we can’t even perceive the difference between safe and dangerous listening levels, how do we protect ourselves from overdoing it? The general rule of thumb seems to be that if you can’t hear the conversations of the people around you when your headphones are on, you are listening at levels that are too loud. A safe listening level

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makes a dish outstanding. We were let down, though, with roasted beets that tasted as if they’d been pulled from a can and a tasteless ﬂat bread pizza. As the meze continued to stream out of the kitchen, we were rewarded for our perseverance with a delicate dish of seared tiny bay scallops swimming in a pool of garlic and tomato infused broth. Beef tenderloin came next and was excellent, marinated with a garlicky sauce and served alongside buttery spinach and sun-dried tomatoes. The Tyropita was another stand out dish and probably our favorite of the night. These were delicate, crispy philo pastries ﬁlled with feta cheese and topped with a

cross Forsyth in a hurry). Another check system: tap the shoulder of the person sitting or standing next to you and ask if he or she can hear your music. If the answer is yes, you are listening too loudly. Be extra cautious if you listen to music with headphones as you exercise. Aerobic exercise causes blood to shunt

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tention to how many times you turn that click wheel, and always check to see that your volume is at a reasonable level. Even if your music seems soft, your ears will thank you now— and you’ll thank yourself in 30 years when you are still able to tune in to the world around you.

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towards active muscles, which means that blood is leaving the ears. This makes the inner ear much more vulnerable to damage from loud noise. While these facts may be slightly alarming, don’t panic; you probably haven’t done any major damage to your ears … yet. Just make sure to pay at-

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Live Music Friday and Saturday Nights

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At the end of the meal, we had a special treat. A belly dancer came out and danced while balancing candles on her head. Everyone was very impressed and entertained. Ultimately, we felt that the food was good and the restaurant was lively and fun. We recommend going with a big group of friends so that you can try a variety of dishes.

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robust red pepper sauce that punctuated the smoothness of the melted cheese. Overall, the service continued to be disappointing. The waitress never asked as how we liked our food and never came over to our table to see if we needed anything. When we were out of pita bread, it took a long time to ﬁnd our waitress and ask her for more.

presents a guide to places of worship in the WU community

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MARGOT DANKNER | STUDENT LIFE

The Stepping Out team grabbed some friends to spend a cold night in the Cozy Momos, a Greek restaurant minutes from campus.

What? Did you say something?

should permit you to both hear the music and hear sounds around you. From a different safety standpoint, it is always advisable to listen to the world around you, especially if you are doing anything that might require you to hear warning noises (i.e. honks from cars about to run you over as you

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BY ALEXA NATHANSON AND MARGOT DANKNER

STUDENT LIFE | SCENE

Ethical Society of St. Louis (1/4 mile west of the Galleria) 9001 Clayton Rd. (314) 991-0955 www.ethicalstl.org

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8 STUDENT LIFE | SCENE

Senior Scene Editor / Erin Fults / scene@studlife.com

FRIDAY I JANUARY 19, 2007

New Year’s Resolutions, Wash. U. Style BY FELICIA BASKIN SCENE REGULAR FEATURES EDITOR Not just any New Year’s resolutions will cut it for the Washington University student. Eat less junk food? Difﬁcult to stick to when the bakery sells cookies fresh out of the oven. Get more sleep? Yeah, right. What we need is a special sort of resolution, one to help us appreciate the wonderland commonly known as Wash. U. Use the following list to ﬁgure out how you can better enjoy your time spent on campus. After all, there will always be calories to cut back on—but how often do you have the chance to chat with world-renowned experts or watch the chancellor play “Simon Says?” Note that your commitment to these resolutions will be much stronger if you read them out loud. Preface each vow with the following phrase: “As a Washington University student in the year 2007, I will...” Stop comparing schedules: Sometimes, busy, talented people like to compete over how much they have to do. If you are one of those people, try

converting your competitive energy into energy that fuels your ability to work more efﬁciently. When you’re done studying, meet up with your friends to talk about the things that really matter… like last week’s episode of “Grey’s Anatomy” or the best way to eat a Reese’s. Attend more University events: Sorry, but parties don’t count towards this category. Every week our campus hosts assemblies and discussions that cover all sorts of interesting topics. The Assembly Series sponsors many great speakers, of course, but also check out what individual departments and clubs are offering. Take the time to attend events that spark your curiosity, even if you only go to one per month. Listening to someone talk about what they love can intensify your own interests or even inspire you to pursue new topics. Eat more Ted Drewes: We are incredibly lucky that Ted Drewes is so close to our school, but most Washington University students don’t really make use of this resource. Stop relying on campus events to provide you with free cups of plain frozen custard—des-

sert is so much sweeter when you’ve worked hard to get it. Put in that extra effort and take a trip to the actual store, then reward yourself with a concrete or other Ted Drewes specialty. You’ll soon ﬁnd that you sleep better knowing you are making the most of Washington University’s superb location. Talk to other students outside of class: Sometimes you can learn more from your peers than you can from your textbooks. No matter where you go on campus, it’s pretty much guaranteed that you will be surrounded by people with diverse interests and talents. Spend some time talking to your peers about their hobbies, travel, or whatever they enjoy most. If nothing else, you’ll have more people to wave to in Whispers. Have a minute for the environment: You know those people who stand by the Underpass and try to talk to you about the environment? Sure, they can be kind of annoying when you are rushing off to class. But if you do have a couple of minutes, why not stop and humor some discussion about trees and energy? That way, when 9 p.m. rolls around

and you still haven’t started your homework you can attribute your delay to your concern about the environment and not your addiction to YouTube. Find new ways to study: Have your friends ever complained that you stay in to study too often? Or that you recite your notes instead of having a real conversation? From now on, use your notes to write alternate lyrics to Top 40-like songs. When you go out, sing your own lyrics in your head to study on the dance ﬂoor. You can also give concerts to tutor classmates that are behind in their work or lead sing-alongs to study in a group. Resist the urge to kick squirrels: Just because there are so many squirrels doesn’t mean it is fair for you to pick on them. This year, learn to leave the squirrels alone. You could always join an IM soccer team and kick around a ball. And if you just can’t rid yourself of the desire to kick something furry, invest in a good dog toy or two. Linger: Instead of running of to classes and meetings at the last minute, allow yourself a little extra time to stop along

JENNY SHAO | STUDENT LIFE

A New Year’s Resolution for 2007 reminds students to refrain from mistreating squirrels on main campus. the way and talk to people you know. Pay attention to how many people you say hi to as you travel from place to place and realize how many great conversations you could have if you just slowed things down a bit. The Wash. U. lifestyle is jam-packed with friends and functions, quizzes and quests,

so it’s clearly understandable if you can’t stick to all of these resolutions. Still, a university is a great place to engage in new activities and meet people from all over the world. And if you take the time to enrich your campus life a little, you just might make 2007 your happiest year yet.

Sex: Do or Die

ne of my assignments for a creative writing seminar I took during the summer of 2002 was to describe my emotions at a poignant moment in my life. I chose to describe how a good friend had betrayed me near the end of eighth grade, a tearjerker that brought immense sympathy from my adolescent audience. Another girl chose to discuss her fi rst time. Writing about sex (and then reading it out loud) in a class full of 15 and 16-year-old English nerds must have been a bit unsettling for this girl, one of the lucky ones among us to have lost her virginity by her junior year in high school. After she fi nished reading the piece, she gave our teacher an uneasy look and seemed if she was about to cry. He nodded to her. “Some of us have and some of us haven’t,” he said. “That’s all there is to it.” Wise words, except for that there was most defi nitely more to it and everyone in the room thought so. You’ve known it

minority, the eversince day one, since shrinking group that the ﬁ rst of your reads Cosmo surveys friends lost his or and can’t answer half her virginity and the questions, you can let you know, since feel the frustration, the time your gym the “do-or-die” menteacher showed you tality that pervades a condom in the every dating scene, evninth grade sex ed Ben Sales ery party on frat row. class and all the Most of the members guys in the room of the Association of snickered for ﬁve Campus Virgins have no idea minutes. That’s when it starts, their student group is so large. the haves and the have-nots, One of my friends predicted and the pressure only begins there. By the time you’re in col- last year that the number was lege, the pressure cuts through as low as ten percent. With all the pressure that factoid the air. inspires, who wants to be in a Now if you’re one of the supposedly decimated sector haves, part of the 56 percent of the population? of our campus (according to This perpetuated percepthe latest Student Life survey) tion leads to some of the said that has hit the grand slam virgins sinking into desperaand never looked back, this tion, willing to do anything division of possession poses to change jerseys (or take no problem. To look down on them off altogether) and join the other 44 percent would be the other team. Most people, to sink back into the essence regardless of gender, view sex of adolescence, to live the within some kind of value emotions and dramas of high system, a system that, as time school all over again. For those goes on, starts to erode. who have done it, that really is Take a friend of mine. While all there is to it. still in the era of virginity, this But if you are part of the

friend sought my advice as to whether he and his girlfriend (a virginette) should take that collective jump into the cool waters of lust and romance. As part of his argument, he said, “Well, Ben, I want to do it.” Very good, buddy. You’re a guy and you have hormones. Welcome to the club, have a free snack. But don’t let your principles go and don’t do something you might later regret just so you can get jiggy with it while your roommate’s away. Because this isn’t a race; this is life. And this isn’t a contest to see who can get down ﬁ rst without getting pregnant. Do what you want and feel free to feel good, but the most important thing is to chill out, to take things as they come without keeping in mind your virginity or lack thereof. Eventually, you know, we will all be on the same team. Sooner or later, everybody has sex. But until then, some of us have and some of us haven’t. And that’s all there is to it.

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Your fast-food alternative, Crazy Bowls and Wraps, is now open in the Loop, at 6329 Delmar Blvd. Come in and try one of your favorites at our newest location. Grilled chicken, grilled sirloin steak, fresh vegetables, noodle bowls, homemade original sauces, soups, salads. PLUS, our location at 7353 Forsyth is still open, too.

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UNDER THE BIG SIGN • 314-647-5005

FRIDAY | JANUARY 19, 2007

STUDENT LIFE | CLASSIFIEDS

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Classified ads are free to students, faculty and staff for personal use. To place your FREE 25-word ad, simply email us from your WU email account.

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ATTENTION COLLEGE STUDENTS: Part-time work $12 base/appt. Flexible Schedules. Customer sales/service. Scholarship opportunities. No experience necessary. Call 314997-7873. GRADERS/TUTORS WANTED A west county Mathematics and Reading learning center is hiring parttime graders/tutors helping children ages 3 to 15. We offer flexible schedule, fun and rewarding working environment. Interested candidates please call 636-5375522. E-mail: jwchan@earthlink.net LOOKING FOR A Chinesespeaking student to provide Mandarin lessons to 4-yearold boy in Brentwood for 1 hour/week. Must have transportation. Please call 314422-3496. MAD SCIENCE INSTRUCTORS: Enthusiastic instructors needed to teach part-time (after school, 1 to 5 days per week), fun, hands-on science programs in elementary schools. Must have transportation. $25.00 - $27.50 per 1 hour class. Call 314991-8000. NIGHT STUDENT SEEKING CAREGIVER for Spring semester. 2 great kids, 4 & 9 yr. old. Wed. and/or Thurs., 6:15-9:15, $10 per hour. U City-near campus. 314-6075627.

Please check your ad carefully on the first day of publication and notify Student Life of any errors. We will only be responsible for the first day’s incorrect insertion.

TUTOR NEEDED: TEACH pre-calculus to senior high school student. $12/hour. Please call 303-9222.

BRENTWOOD FOREST CONDO 9183 Wrenwood Ln. 2 bd, 1 bath, fireplace, vaulted ceilings, 2 decks, Wash /Dryer, Entertainment Center, $900/month, First month rent FREE! Contact (314) 397-4204. BRENTWOOD: LARGE, FURNISHED bedroom in 4bedroom house for rent. Available Immediately. Carpeted, central air/heat, washer/dryer, wireless internet, garage. $275/month + 1/4 utilities. Jason 314-4797365. CLAYTON, U. CITY LOOP, CWE and Dogtown. Beautiful studios, 1, 2 bedrooms. Quiet buildings. $425-$750. Call 725-5757.

ROOMMATE WANTED. ONE bedroom in a three beedroom apartment. Sublease available for spring. 5510 Waterman blvd. Spacious and furnished. $433/month. Email sjgittle@wustl.edu or call 718-614-8697.

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MIDSIZE REFRIGERATOR FOR sale! Great price - $50. Aficionado by Haier. One year old. Great condition, temperature control, small freezer. Call 720-635-5585. STUDENTS: NEED FURNITURE? SLU staffer selling used furniture. Desk, dresser, dining table, kitchen cart, microwave. Good condition, inexpensive. E-mail babkaam@slu.edu

AUTOS 1995 HONDA ACCORD EX $2800 neg. Red/Maroon. V6, leather, sunroof, power doors & locks, CD. Looks good. Runs good. Needs a little work to be perfect. 224,500 mi. 314-838-8107.

$5000 PAID. EGG DONORS. +Expenses. N/smokers, ages 19-29, SAT>1100, ACT>24, GPA>3.0. Reply to: Info@eggdonorcenter.com

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By Michael Mepham Level: 1

Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit 1 to 9. For strategies on how to solve Sudoku, visit www.sudoku.org.uk.

Solution to Wednesday’s puzzle

01/19/07

Senior Scene Editor / Erin Fults / scene@studlife.com

FRIDAY | JANUARY 19, 2007

STUDENT LIFE | SCENE

SCENE Female Engineers:

No Longer the Forbidden Trade BY INDU CHANDRASEKHAR SCENE REPORTER The male scientist. It is one our most perpetuated stereotypes, and for good reason. The notion that men are better suited for the analytical thinking involved in science and engineering has been around for centuries, originally based off of pervading sexism in cultures across the globe. Whether it was perceived female weakness or the newer scientific evidence that men are bigger brained and more analytically minded, there have always been plenty of reasons to write off a woman’s pursuit of engineering. Why struggle to make it in a group of fields so male-dominated that fi nding a female ally becomes a trying task? Why not use the natural sympathies of the female nature in more creative, people-oriented fields, like psychology and the humanities? As a Washington University student, however, you have undoubtedly encountered countless women who work against these stereotypes daily. It is no longer the 19th century and as students at one of the nation’s top-ranked universities, we share our campus with some of the most intelligent, driven students in the country. The University and the world beyond college are trying desperately to break down the old roadblocks women once encountered; with Wash. U.’s female engineering enrollment above the national average, there seem to have been some changes in our generation’s mindset. What makes a woman decide to pursue engineering? Most would say a longstanding interest in science or a recognized talent in math. Lisa Skultety, sophomore and Women in Engineering Day chair for the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), chose engineering as her major long ago. “I’ve always loved math and science, those have been my passions,” she said. A love of chemistry and participation in math and science competitions seemed to indicate that chemical engineering was the logical choice. “I’ve experienced no stigma against it … my parents have been really supportive and encouraging,” she noted. As a member of SWE, Skultety and others from every engineering field have been able to reach out to high school students, particularly girls, and foster confidence to study engineering. The program, Women in Engineering Day, brings

in students from around the city to stay overnight with engineering students and participate in Engineering Olympics—hands on activities that test innovation, experimentation and, of course, the ability to make something that works. Is the program effective? Wash. U. has snagged one past participant already and many more end up studying engineering at various other colleges. “As SWE members, we want to encourage girls to do engineering … in the past, women have been discouraged and we want to remedy that,” said Skultety. Mary Sansalone, the recently appointed dean of engineering, has a similar mission statement. “We are making the recruiting of women students at all levels and women faculty a high priority,” she said. There are, however, many strides to be made before the number of female engineers is equivalent to that of males. Many of the stumbling blocks high school girls face when deciding on possible majors in college are rooted in past school experiences. Emily Laird, a psychology major, is currently studying the math selfesteem of girls who went to singlesex versus co-educational schools. Math self-esteem is essentially one’s perceived ability in math; the trend is that both girls and boys believe boys are better at math. In truth, studies have shown that girls tend to do better than boys in math through sixth grade and have better problem solving abilities. The trend, however, seems to be that once students are given the choice of higher math classes, boys choose the more advanced courses. Laird believes this tendency is rooted in our earliest forms of public education: pre-school. In most pre-schools, girls enter with higher proﬁciency in vocabulary and impulse control, and teachers often focus more on bringing the boys up to speed. Further along in elementary school, boys are encouraged to participate more often to keep them in line, a process that encourages the boys’ conﬁdence and math self-esteem, but might give girls the message that they don’t belong in higher math. Laird wonders if all-girl environments foster a higher math self-esteem for girls, since the

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LIFE

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needs of male students are no longer taken into account. It is possible that these girls, having only other girls to compete with, end up learning in an environment that encourages science and removes the stigma commonly associated with “science nerds” in high school. As it is, women across the country seem to be realizing the beneﬁts of engineering, including the need for women in companies and universities across the globe. The interdisciplinary applications have also become an advantage for engineers, and possibly one of its biggest attractors. Biomedical engineering is generating a huge amount of interest, both nationally and at Wash. U., for both women and men. In fact, BME is the most gender balanced

program at the University—quite a feat, considering almost a third of last year’s engineering applicants wanted to study BME. Wash. U.’s program, according to Sansalone, is one of the best in the nation, and the interest shows. A field that nationally boasts the highest female enrollment among engineering programs—45 percent of BME graduates are women—is attractive for several reasons, a common one being its appeal to medical schools. Junior Kristi Tanouye, a BME major and vice president of SWE, agreed. “The growing BME department is defi nitely helping because so many women are interested in the medical field,” said Tanouye.

JENNY SHAO | STUDENT LIFE

Junior Kristi Tanouye works on a CAD lab in Jolley Hall on Thursday, Jan. 18. Female engineers are more commonplace now than they were several years ago as women overcome traditional stereotypes.

After BME, mechanical engineering has the second highest number of applicants at Wash. U.; nationally, however, only 14 percent of mechanical engineering graduates are women. Likewise, last year’s number of female applicants to the School of Engineering was about 30 percent of the total. What can be done to increase these numbers? Heavy recruiting post-college for female students is a defi nite plus. Organizations like SWE are geared specifically to helping students network and fi nd great opportunities. At a recent SWE convention, over half of the Wash. U. contingent had interviews for internships and jobs at the conference itself. Sansalone also believes the answer lies in research opportunities and interdisciplinary development. She is currently working to raise money so that every student can do research with a professor, be it in the Engineering School or otherwise. “So much of the excitement in education research is at the interface with other disciplines … We have worked hard to break down any real and perceived barriers to collaboration across School boundaries,” said Sansalone. More and more, the current job market is calling for students who can reach across the boundaries of their field. Positions in industry, design, theatre, music—you name it, engineering is useful to it. Andrea Heugatter, assistant dean for engineering admissions, has seen many students excel in fields that combine talents. “These programs are developed because of a need we see across the globe,” said Heugatter. “Businesses appreciate engineers that can understand technical details and serve as consultants…that’s what brings students here…the ability to cross boundaries.” Engineering, it seems, is no longer confi ned to its old stereotypes. With its increasing demand in every field, the appeal could be enough to trump the inhibitions women have felt against science for centuries. “I think women who have any interest in science, business or technology should consider at least taking courses in engineering or majoring in engineering,” said Heugatter. “We’re just scratching the surface on opportunites.”