POLES INCLUDED | TRY SOME SEXY, UNCONVENTIONAL EXERCISE | SCENE, PAGE 10
STUDENT LIFE
THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS SINCE 1878 VOLUME 128, NO. 69
WWW.STUDLIFE.COM
FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2007
Patel beats out Wolff in landslide v Johnson only Paradigm candidate to win BY BEN SALES SENIOR STAFF REPORTER In his second bid for the Student Union Presidency, “eXperience” slate candidate Neil Patel garnered nearly 70 percent of the vote, beating Jon Wolff of the “Paradigm” slate. The only “Paradigm” candidate to win an executive position was Marius Johnson, who beat Ray Mailhot in the race for Student Union (SU) treasurer. Patel believes that the energy of his slate was the deciding factor in his victory. “It was one of the strongest, most well-oiled aggressive campaigns that this school has ever seen,” said Patel, who will be a senior next year. “We were everywhere. It was an amazing experience to meet so many people who cared and needed an outlet. SU will be that outlet.” Patel will be joined by fellow eXperience candidates Brittany Perez, who won un-
opposed as vice president and Rebecca Forman, who beat sophomore Yewande Alimi for secretary. Wolff, though he believes that his message was misunderstood during his campaign, was glad to campaign and believes that Patel will prove an able president. “I think a few things were misconstrued,” said Wolff, a junior. “The campaign has really been a good experience. Neil has got a lot of great ideas and I am confident he will do a good job.” Wolff added that he plans to stay involved on campus, but not necessarily in SU’s internal affairs. “I think I have another mission on campus,” he said. “I want to start a squash team. I love squash. I think it will positively affect the campus. I want to start an urban issues group looking at urban real estate, urban poverty.” Patel hopes that Wolff will remain involved in student
activities and plans to work with him in whatever capacity Wolff wants. “In whatever aspect he wants to be involved, I will have a conversation with him,” said Patel. “He offers great insight into issues [the eXperience slate] talked about.” Patel also looks forward to working with Johnson. While Johnson, a sophomore, fills out the executive as the only Paradigm candidate, he is excited to serve as treasurer. “Although it is unfortunate that I didn’t win with the slate I entered the campaign with, I am very comfortable with the other slate,” he said. “I knew all the people involved and had worked with them prior to this experience. I am excited to work with them after this experience.” In line with his campaign platform, Patel plans to work on improving campus fitness
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Architecture
President Neil Patel Jon Wolff
68.2% 29.4%
Art Diana Barbosa
Vice President Brittany Perez
95.6%
Treasurer Marius Johnson 50.5% Ray Mailhot 47.8% Secretary Rebecca Forman 55.4% Yewande Alimi 42.9%
Requires 2/3 majority to pass
No one elected
Arts and Sciences Grant Logan Atilano Barbosa Ronald Chang Cheryl Cooper Kady McFadden Paul Moinester Jeff Nelson Harrison Suarez Neil Wingkun
Business Eric Gradel
Engineering
John Ablan Frank Beling Andrei Berman Ciara Caprara Dani Davidson Matt Fahey Neehar Garg Jeffrey Griffin Jennifer Hadley Jack Kider Laszlo Korsos Alex Lin Bharath Mohan William Osberghaus Maggy Randels Courtney Reeves Aaron Robinson Brent Rubin Neha Tibrewala
Campus Y 75% Yea, 25% Nay, PASS
Dance Marathon 54% Yea, 46% Nay, FAIL
EST 90% Yea, 10% Nay, PASS
Uncle Joe’s 79% Yea, 21% Nay, PASS
Colin Arthur Zaumseil Towery 2nd seat TBD
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See ELECTONS, page 3
Sophomore Class Council
Junior Class Council
Senior Class Council
President: Pat Book External VP: Jeanette Wong Internal VP: Amy Xu Treasurer: Regis Murayi Secretary: Ginny Page
President: David Ross External VP: Jonathan Brown Internal VP: James Kugler Treasurer: Chong Lee Secretary: Rubyn Wasserman
President: Karan Chopra External VP: Andrew Agins Internal VP: Wendy Xin Treasurer: Mansi Shah Secretary: Tori Fancher
Sam Fox confirmed by recess appointment Professor Brown denied tenure, students rally in support BY SAM GUZIK
SENIOR NEWS EDITOR
President Bush named Sam Fox, a prominent University donor and member of the St. Louis community, ambassador to Belgium on Wednesday. Fox was installed using a recess appointment, a technique that allowed his installation over the objections of the Senate. Fox was nominated last December, but his name was withdrawn from consideration on March 28 after coming under fi re for his donations to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a po-
litical group that was involved with a series of controversial advertisements about Senator John Kerry’s military history during the 2004 presidential campaign. But Political Science Professor Andrew Sobel said that ambassadorships to countries where the U.S. has stable relations are not major areas of concern. “Countries like Belgium and the Netherlands, those are political payoffs. And it’s not just the Republicans; the Democrats do this too. In the practice of diplomacy, all the real relations
are being done by the professional civil servant and foreign service staff,” said Sobel. The donation, which totaled $50,000, was brought to the limelight because Senator Kerry is the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, the committee that handled the nomination. “The big issue is that Kerry challenged him in the congressional hearing and it made [Fox] look uncomfortable, maybe even silly, so Bush had to go outside the normal process to do it,” said Sobel. “This is part of the climate in D.C. right
now.” Fox’s installation was one of a number of recess appointments made Wednesday during a brief congressional recess. While Fox’s recess appointment is not expected to generate much controversy, others may. “I think we’re likely to get some congressional response, not on Sam Fox, but probably more importantly on Susan Dudely, who was the president’s choice to be the head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Review,” said Steven Smith,
See SAM FOX, page 2
HEADLINE
SCOTT BRESSLER | STUDENT LIFE
WUPD Officer Mark Alexander, Officer Nicole Ruhland, Sergeant Ron Newbold, Officer Kim Chaitman and Officer Paul O’Donnell participate in the White Ribbon Campaign to raise awareness of male violence against women. On April 5, fraternities displayed white banners outside their houses while their members, WUPD and other men on campus wore ribbons pinned to their clothes.
See WU run, see WU win Women’s track and field takes first and men’s takes sixth at WU invitational meet. Be there when they next hit the field running. Sports, Page 6
Entering the Real World What do condoms and MTV have in common? Our reporter Willie Mendelson! Check out his experiences auditioning for “The Real World.” Scene, Page 8
BY DAVID SONG NEWS EDITOR Leslie Brown, a well-respected African-American assistant professor of history, was recently denied tenure by Washington University. A number of undergraduate students, including the Association of Black Students (ABS) and several University alumni, have contested the decision, suggesting that Brown’s denial of tenure reflects poorly on the University’s commitment to diversity. Sheleena Taylor, a senior majoring in history and one of Brown’s advisees, is involved in a student letterwriting campaign to promote diversity on campus. “With her we’re doing a letter-writing campaign to raise awareness. She isn’t just a Washington University community member, she’s a St. Louis community member; she’s active in both communities,” said Taylor. Taylor added that the issue of Brown’s denial of tenure extends past her own career as an academic and to the issue of diversity in University faculty along the lines of race and gender. “We’re not trying to use her as a poster child for diversity. We’re using her as a case of how Washington University’s not living up to its promise of diversity,” said Taylor. Carmen Brooks, a graduate of the class of 2004, noted that her support for Brown was not personally motivated, but made to further diversity on campus. “This isn’t just a personal, emotional plea,” said Brooks. “I’ve seen her open students’
INSIDE: Forum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Sudoku . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
minds to what it means to be black and a woman in America. It’s very much scholarly in forcing students to broaden their perspectives on American citizenship. Dr. Brown is a catalyst [for diversity]. She’s a phenomenal teacher, but it’s much bigger than that.” Brooks raised the issue of the number of minority professors in the College of Arts and Sciences. Brown, she noted, has been the only African-American teaching in the history department for the last two years. Of the AfricanAmerican professors in Arts and Sciences, six are tenured, four (including Brown) are on the tenure-track and two are adjunct professors. “We’ve lost minority faculty, not gained them,” continued Brooks. “You wonder, is it acceptable to lose faculty? The University has a history of not tenuring black professors. Of all the black professors, only two have been tenured. What does that say about the tenure process at Washington University?” Brooks also said that some histories go untaught in the history department itself. “You start realizing the larger issues of diversity. In the history department there hasn’t been anyone to teach Southeast Asian history; there’s no one in the department who teaches Caribbean history,” said Brooks. In July 2005, the Washington University Diversity Initiative was created. The initiative led to the creation of a Coordinating Council for Diversity Initiatives (CCDI), chaired by Leah A. Merrifield. Brooks, however, questioned
See BROWN, page 2
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