STUDENT LIFE
THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF WASHINGTON UNIVERSIT Y IN ST. LOUIS SINCE 1878 From hiding in the bushes to manufacturing campus controversy, the Student Life Forum staff has sure been busy lately. Page 6.
Inside Cadenza: ‘Oscar Buzz,’ a new feature this semester, takes a look at possible Oscar contender ‘Capote.’ Page 9.
VOLUME 127, NO. 28
Women’s soccer and cross country tore apart the competition this weekend as the UAA championships draw near. Page 4.
Into old-school video games? The NES turned 20 years old this past month. Read more in Cadenza. Page 12.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2005
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Sick architecture juniors raise concerns By Mandy Silver Contributing Editor By junior year, Washington University architecture students consider Givens Hall the hub of both their academic and social lives. Junior architect majors estimate that they spend between as many as 40 to 60 hours a week in the studio space and large drafting rooms working late hours to finish projects. Recently, too many all-nighters have resulted in a large number of junior students getting sick. At the suggestion of Architecture Professor Iain Fraser and Associate Dean of the School of Architecture Peter MacKeith, a mandatory meeting for juniors was called to discuss health and wellness issues. Architecture School Council President Anisa Metzger organized the session and invited Chief of Health Promotion Services Melissa Ruwitch as a guest speaker. “The juniors have a really tough first semester this year because of their heavy load of studio—taking graphics and design studio at the same time,” said Metzger. “Professors felt students weren’t taking care of themselves as well as they could have been. I think juniors
needed to know that people were concerned.” Ruwitch’s presentation focused on promoting better nutrition and sleeping habits, while simultaneously attempting to raise students’ awareness about their own and their friends’ behavior. She also emphasized Health Services’ goal as “helping to support the academic mission of the university.” “In their setting, students feel confined to Givens,” said Ruwitch. “Since Kayak’s closes early, they think that they only have vending machines as a food option. Instead, I talked about planning—packing snacks. This is just one example of how Health Services might help students focus on a very basic behavior and help alter that specific unhealthy behavior.” Ruwitch’s impression of students was that “they were all really overworked and dead looking.” She said she believes that her message to get more rest was well received but was largely viewed as unfeasible by students. Debbie Balters, junior architecture student and an attendee at the health discussion, agreed with Ruwitch’s assessment of the students’ reception of her
presentation. Balters openly commented that architecture students simply don’t have the time to take advantage of the health services offered by the University, much less sleep the recommended number of hours each night. “I don’t think she [Ruwitch] realized how little sleep we had gotten,” said Balters. “We were in the middle of this really intense project and she started giving us these advertisements for Student Health Services no one has time for. It makes you realize how ridiculous your habits are when she tells you the recommended amount of sleep and everyone is functioning on a third of that.” Responding to student opinions, Ruwitch emphasized that she recognizes that the step from being aware of behavior to actually modifying that behavior is huge. “The students and I understand that there is a divide between giving tips and implementing changes in behavior,” Ruwitch said. “My purpose in speaking was to only give an overview of the services offered at Wash. U. and to welcome an opportunity to do further indepth health investigations.” Over the years, the school of
DAVID HARTSTEIN | STUDENT LIFE
Junior architecture student Steve Gage works on designing a shuttle stop Thursday afternoon in Givens Hall. The School of Architecture is known for having a rigorous work load. architecture has had counselors visit faculty meetings and student groups to address similar issues. Professor Fraser said that Ruwitch’s presentation was merely to suggest that “there are guidelines and help, based on
students’ interests.” Despite the stress juniors feel, most enter into the architecture major fully aware of the demands of the program. Pinned to a student board hanging in Givens is a crushed fortune whose
message reads “God will help you overcome any hardship.” For now, it appears that architecture students are satisfied harnessing the inspiration provided by a fortune cookie, rather than choosing to change their habits.
Bright to speak on death penalty at law school By John Hewitt Staff Reporter Stephen Bright, director of the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta, will speak on the death penalty today in conjunction with a meeting of the Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons, which the University Law School began hosting yesterday. Bright will speak on “Crime, Prison and the Death Penalty: The Influence of Race and Poverty.” “It is really important that people look at what kind of court system they have and what kind of justice is being dispensed,”
said Bright. “Poor people who are in prison who can’t afford a lawyer—what can they do if their rights are being violated, if they’re being raped every day in their cell? If you don’t have a lawyer, there’s nothing you can do.” Bright’s speech will cover a range of topics including public health problems posed by America’s jail system and political demagoguery surrounding the issue of crime. Yesterday’s meeting of the Commission, which was open to the public, focused on the stress that corrections officers are put under, how they cope with it and
how the situation might be improved. “My big pitch to law students is that it’s more fulfilling to give up the money that you get from working at the big law firms and do something worthwhile like working for the public defender offices,” said Bright. “I would encourage people who’re going into law to really pay attention to this—and to those that aren’t, I’d say that they have a civic responsibility...to encourage their legislators to do something about it...We incarcerate more of our population than any other country in the world.” Alex Busansky, the Commis-
sion’s executive director, commented on the difficulties facing prisoners once they leave the criminal justice system. “Ninety-seven percent of all inmates are released eventually,” said Busansky. “Twenty percent of them are mentally ill, and many prisoners are no longer given educational programming or work opportunities... We accept the situation because no one wants to talk about it.” The Commission began operating last March with the intent to increase public knowledge about serious problems within America’s prisons and to search for solutions. Members include
legal experts, psychiatrists, law enforcement officials, civil rights advocates and state legislators. Josh Glickman, a secondyear law student, worked with the Commission last summer. “I think it’s a fantastic commission,” said Glickman. “I think it’s easy for people to not know and not care about what happens in our nation’s prisons. People don’t realize how the safety of our inmates affects the outside world.” Glickman added that he thought Washington University had been very accommodating in hosting the Commission,
which is not affiliated with the University. The Commission will move to Los Angeles, California in February 2006. Margo Schlanger is a professor at the Law School who serves on the commission. “Students don’t often get a chance to participate in an event where public policy can be affected,” said Schlanger. “This isn’t just an exercise held for educational value...it’s an opportunity for the benefit of the commission.” Bright will give his Assembly Series address today at 4 p.m. in the Bryan Moot Courtroom in Anheuser-Busch Hall.
CPC’s Happy Hour attacked by false flyers once again By Sarah Kliff Senior News Editor
DAVID BRODY | STUDENT LIFE
Students use the walkway over the Forest Park Parkway MetroLink construction to return home from classes on Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 1, 2005. A female student was robbed as she came off the bridge very early Sunday morning.
Robberies continue near campus By Sarah Kliff Senior News Editor A recent string of offcampus robberies continued through the weekend, with one student assaulted directly across the street from Washington University early Sunday morning. University City Police are currently pursuing an individual who they believe has committed four recent street robberies, one in September and three in October. In Sunday’s robbery, a University student was robbed
as she exited the walkway over the Forest Park Parkway MetroLink construction. “These robberies are occurring late at night, with one or two people,” said Charles Adam, the Deputy Chief of University City Police. “He’s picking people who are off the beaten path. The young lady who was robbed the other day was robbed late at night while crossing the walkway.” Adams said that the University City Police have stepped up their patrol efforts since students arrived
on campus for the fall semester and have placed a greater focus on patrolling over the weekend. The robberies have tended to occur when individuals were walking alone on side streets in the area between campus and the Delmar Loop. “We increased our patrols south of Delmar,” said Adams. “We have a whole unit that comes in and patrols that area since the school year started.” Adams also noted that University City officers are working in conjunction with
Washington University Police to patrol the same area. The high amount of pedestrian traffic makes the area a target. Adams recommended that students walking to the Delmar Loop travel in groups and use main thoroughfares rather than side streets. “When you have this much walking traffic, it’s enormous,” said Adams. “You’re going to have people who are going to rely on this proliferation of pedestrians as targets. We all have to be cognizant.”
Flyers falsely announced the cancellation of the Campus Programming Council’s weekly Happy Hour on Thursday, marking the second time that Happy Hour has fallen subject to such false advertisements. The fake flyers were posted on both dormitories and academic buildings. At this point, Campus Programming Council (CPC) does not have any leads about who created the flyers. “We woke up in the morning getting calls from people, asking me why happy hour was cancelled,” said junior Eric Turkington, co-president of CPC. “I was confused because I thought it was still going on. There were flyers posted on every dorm and economics building with the CPC logo.” Happy Hour typically brings in a crowd of 200 hundred students for free beer and pizza on a Thursday afternoon. Turkington noticed a decrease in attendance at the Oct. 27 after the fake flyers were posted. CPC faced a similar incident last semester, when flyers containing both the CPC and Student Union logo littered campus. Said Turkington, “It was the same thing last time. We had posted our own flyers and then these ones went up.” CPC has yet to pursue any action against those posting
the flyer. “I don’t think it’s something that you could investigate,” said Turkington. “Basically, we assume most people don’t do that and they can respect Happy Hour and that it’s for everybody. The best we could do is just keep our ears open if anyone hears anything.” Washington University Police (WUPD) Chief Don Strom said he had not heard anything about the incident but that WUPD could investigate the problem. “I think certainly we would be interested in meeting with the group and identifying who the source of flyers is,” said Strom. “It’s more than likely it would be a matter that we would refer to the Judicial Administrator.” As for now, Strom thinks that increased student awareness of the problem would aid CPC in preventing the problem from occurring. “I think it’s important to get the word out to people,” said Strom. “I think it’s helpful for people to know the impact that it has. It’s ultimately costing student funds for the activity at an event like this, so if it’s being perpetrated by other students then it’s important to see the impact. What may seem like a practical joke may not be so fun. If they want to consult with us we’d be happy to look at the material they have and see if there are any potential leads.”