STUDENT LIFE
THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF WASHINGTON UNIVERSIT Y IN ST. LOUIS SINCE 1878 Cartoonist Johnny Chang tells it like it is regarding students’ reactions to iconic civil rights figure Rosa Parks’ recent death. Page 4.
Now RAs aren’t the only acronyms running around campus. Scene has the lowdown on RPMs, RPHEs, RAPs and more. Page 6.
VOLUME 127, NO. 29
Sports says farewell to Busch Stadium with a column and a feature on the best stadiums to be found across the country. Page 10.
Drink much? Well, you don’t have to brag about it. Find out why “Facebook drunk” should only be a Halloween costume inside Forum. Page 5.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2005
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WU negotiates for new music space By Brad Nelson News Editor Washington University is currently negotiating the purchase of a music hall from Webster University in an effort to alleviate space concerns that have plagued the music and performing arts departments for 25 years. The building, which houses Webster’s Community Music School, located off the Delmar Loop at 650 Trinity Ave., was used by Webster University to offer music lessons to both Webster students and the surrounding community. Webster administrators decided to sell the building for an undisclosed amount last summer at the behest of their Board of Trustees, who wished to pay off the $300,000 in debt the school owes on it, The Webster Journal reported. Before the University can utilize the building, zoning changes must first be approved by the
University City Council, which will vote on the matter at its next meeting on Nov. 21. Already, University City’s Office of Planning and Development has tentatively approved the zoning changes, which will allow the University to make renovations, said Lehman Walker, the city’s director of planning and development. Walker said the University wasn’t planning on making any major renovations to the building, other than bringing it up to code and adding a few coats of paint. Steve Rackers, the University’s director of capital projects, did not return phone calls seeking comment. John Stewart, a voice professor, said the music faculty had been made aware of the situation and were generally excited. “We think it’s great,” he said. “We’ll all be able to teach in decent space. And having a big auditorium would allow us to program stuff
we couldn’t do on campus.” He also said the University was planning to offer a shuttle service to and from the building that would leave every 15 minutes. Amy Schwarz, a senior opera major, fears that the purchase of the building may deter plans to build a performing arts center on campus, which students and faculty feel would be the optimal solution. “I’m sure they’ll use this as an excuse,” she said. Still, she’s excited by the prospect of a new performance space. “In theory, having the new building is a good thing,” said Schwarz. “After seeing what the music department has had to contend with, I think this is a big boost.” For years, students and faculty have complained that the administration has been unresponsive to the music department’s needs for adequate performance and practice space.
WU study finds that male mice serenade for sex By Sarah Kliff Senior News Editor While a cappella groups seem to dominate the singing scene, a quieter creature on campus has recently been discovered performing its own serenades. Researchers at the Washington University Medical School found that male mice can use song when attempting to match up with a female mouse mate. Their discovery adds mice to the short list of animals that can sing, which currently includes humans, whales, bats, insects and birds. “We know they sing, which s in it of itself a pretty big deal,” said Timothy Holy, a co-author of the study. “Our guess is that these are courtship songs, that the male is trying to attract a female or repel other males.” Holy found that the introduction to female scents induced male mice to chirp. When conducting the study, Holy introduced mice to a swab coated in mouse urine that contained female pheromones, the male mice would sniff the swab and, thirty seconds later, begin chirping in response. The patterning of the chirps seems to fit scientists’ biological defi nitions for what constitutes a song, including factors such as the rhythms and melodic motifs. The study’s results, published in Tuesday’s Public Library of Science Biology and co-authored by University researchers Holy and Zhongsheng Guo, were found largely by coincidence. The two researchers were investigating the mice’s neural reaction to smell. “We got into it by accident,” said Holy. “The main focus of
our research is understanding the sense of smells, particularly pheromones. We got into this research because we actually were studying the brain circuitry, but wanted to compliment with the mouse behavior since behavior is the ultimate litmus test.” The chirps, two octaves too high to be heard by the human ear, are triggered by the presence of female mice pheromones. To study the inaudible sounds, Holy devised methods, such as playing the tape slowly or studying the mathematical nature of the compositions. The notion that mice make chirping sounds is nothing new—researchers discovered the noises two decades ago. The technology available at time, however, did not allow researchers to understand the noises’ complexity. “When it was fi rst discovered, there were people who looked into it a little bit,” said Holy. ”Technology wasn’t at the point where they could do the study that we could do. Recording to computer quantitative measures was crucial. The computer technology was ready sometime ago and it appears that no one before us thought to use it.” For now, Holy will continue working with mice, understanding their reactions to smell rather than continuing to study song. “We’re looking at any place where this behavior interacts with smell,” said Holy. “Then we’re getting at some of the questions, like how the male recognizes that sense of smell. We’re planning to compare that to our neuro-physical data. We see singing as simply an output of their behavior decision.”
KRT CAMPUS
Results of a recent study conducted by University researchers show that male mice sing to female mice in order to seduce them.
Just last April, a handful of administrators, including Executive Vice Chancellor Edward Macias, met with the music department to discuss the space constraints. Students said they had to wait for hours to use one of the few practice spaces in the main music building. Similar problems have plagued the performing arts department. “Students feel like they compromise their work in order to accommodate each other,” said David Marchant, a former senior lecturer in dance. “They get things done, but they could be doing better work if they had more space.” The departments have had to contend with space concerns as the number of students seeking music instruction has skyrocketed. Music department records indicate that 240 students received music instruction in 1979. That number jumped to 472 students
See MUSIC, page 3
EITAN HOCHSTER | STUDENT LIFE
Washington University is in the process of negotiating to buy Webster University’s Community Music School on the Loop. If the purchase goes through, then the Performing Arts Department will receive the new space it has been requesting for 25 years.
‘BRIGHT’-ENING ISSUES OF RACE AND POVERTY
DAVID HARTSTEIN | STUDENT LIFE
Stephen Bright, director of the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta, speaks during Assembly Series in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom in Anheuser-Busch Hall on Wednesday. Bright spoke about the death penalty, race and poverty.
Investment club provides real experience By Troy Rumans Contributing Reporter Most would think that the world of investment is domain relegated to indefatigable number crunchers, who choose to surround themselves with myriad statistics rather than trouble themselves with the outside world. Senior Rajeev Jahagirdar and junior Robert Winning disagree. This semester they founded the fi rst ever investment club at Washington University—and everyone’s invited to apply to be part of it. “My real goal is to get students in engineering, Arts & Sciences and even the business school to get practical fi nancial service application rather than just working behind a computer,” said Jahagirdar. “I want people to actually work with each other.” Jahagirdar and Winning see significant demand for such an organization on campus, as the current options for group investments are somewhat limited. Currently, the Investment Praxis course in the Olin School of
Business is the only available class on campus that revolves around the investment of actual funds. The class manages a University-owned portfolio for the duration of a semester and is available to less than ten seniors every session. A number of key factors differentiate the investment club from the course. Students from all years and schools are considered. Additionally, students will work with their portfolios until they graduate, and a new executive committee will be chosen. Out of over 90 applications, Jahagirdar and Winning chose candidates from all disciplines and classes to take part in their new endeavor. Investment clubs are commonplace at universities across the nation. “They have investment clubs like this at most of our peer universities—some are private investment, some are endowment money,” said Jahagirdar. “The University is defi nitely interested, but at this point we’re going to pursue an organization separate from the university.”
Jahagirdar and Winning have currently chosen to secure private funding for their organization. They currently have been offered between $30,000 and $60,000 from alumni, community members and other students. University funding and pure private investment present their own sets of benefits and challenges, in the duo’s opinion. The question of oversight weighed heavily on their decision. “We’ll be managing private people’s money, so we feel we should try to stay private,” said Jahagirdar. Where does all of this money go? According to Jahagirdar, their capital is currently being directed
PHOTOILLUSTRATION BY KRT CAMPUS
towards traditional investment opportunities. Profits garnered from their portfolio will return to their investors. Additionally, they have decided to create a derivates unit led by senior Ben Robin-
See INVESTMENT, page 3