STUDENT LIFE
Check out the extreme flicks coming out of Asia in Cadenza.
THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF WASHINGTON UNIVERSIT Y IN ST. LOUIS SINCE 1878 Former Senior Forum Editor Molly Antos delivers glowing praise for Sigma Chi and The Solution in today’s Forum. Page 7.
Catch the antics and costumes of Art Prom in our photo spread documenting the most eccentric formal event of the year. Page 2.
VOLUME 127, NO. 69
Read about the sweeping success of softball and the tenacious triumphs of track in today’s Sports. Page 4.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 2006
WU junior to be one of 75 Truman Scholars By David Song Contributing Reporter Last week, the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation announced that 75 students from across the country had been selected as Truman Scholars. Among these students is Laura Kleinman, a Washington University junior. Kleinman, a University Danforth Scholar and philosophy major, was selected from a pool of 598 candidates. The Truman Scholarship Foundation, which is directed towards juniors committed to careers in the government or the not-for-profit sectors, was established in 1975, three years after former President Truman’s death. Since its inception, the Foundation has selected 2,480 students and provided those students over $40 million in funding. According to its Web site, the Foundation seeks “to provide [students] with financial support for graduate study, leadership training and fellowship with other students who are committed to making a difference through public service.”
See Page 10.
Although Kleinman was unaided in competing with other University students to be nominated by the University as a Truman scholar, she did receive considerable support in her applications once nominated. “Once I was nominated, the University took a vested interest in me,” said Kleinman. “Without a doubt, Dean [Ian] MacMullen was my biggest supporter. I must have given him 25 drafts of the application.” The 2006 application consists of 15 questions regarding high school and college activities, leadership experience and what societal problems applicants hope to address during their public service careers. “[Applying] took easily hundreds of hours,” said Kleinman. “The Truman Scholarship Foundation asks very substantive questions— ones I could write a thesis on—but we have a very limited amount of space in which to answer them. The character constraints were the most frustrating part of the whole application.” Kleinman, who has been
Anonymous benefactor makes students hot to trot
committed to public service throughout college, worked in the community with underprivileged girls before attending Washington University. During high school, she worked extensively with Girls Inc., a national organization that aids girls at risk for abuse or those in low-income families. “Before college, I spent virtually all my free time working with at-risk youth in inner-city Indianapolis,” said Kleinman. “I taught various classes concerning literacy, preventing adolescent pregnancy and abuse, among other courses aimed at giving atrisk kids the tools they need to become productive members of society.” Kleinman has continued tutoring inner-city children in college. She founded the Pathways program, which involves sophomore Danforth Scholars. “We target kids in a lowincome housing project who seem to have the potential to thrive in higher education settings, but who have no exposure to college as an option,”
MEGHAN LUECKE | STUDENT LIFE
Freshman enjoy an afternoon ride in a horse-drawn cart Monday, April 3 on Danforth Campus. Students rode to class in style on Monday thanks to a mysterious act of kindness. Two horse-drawn carriages, paid for by an anonymous sponsor, shuttled students from the South 40 to main campus between 9:45 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. “It’s the most amazing thing that’s ever happened to me in my entire life...it should happen every Monday,” said freshman Aaron Sidorov. Affi xed to each carriage was a sign that read, “It’s your turn,” a message that has appeared on signs all
See TRUMAN SCHOLAR, page 3
ART PROM: SANDBOXES, SLIDES AND STUDENTS
Staff Reporter
RACHIT PATEL | STUDENT LIFE
Washington University. “People didn’t want to believe it was free,” said Day. “We had to keep saying, ‘Come on, take a ride!’ The atmosphere here is really pretty and laid back. The people are friendly. It’s a great campus.” Sophomore Rich Siegel, felt “kingly,” when he caught the last carriage back to the South 40. “It’s a gorgeous day,” said Siegel. “This really adds to the beauty of life. Bio lab was awful, and now I get to take a ride home on a carriage.” — Kristin McGrath
across campus during the past week. The message has also accompanied a box of toys left in front of the Women’s Building and flyers encouraging passersby to send kind words about their fellow students to yourturn06@gmail.com. Carriage driver Kristen Day said that Paragon Carriage Company received a call from a person who asked to remain anonymous requesting carriages for an event “to do something nice for someone else.” According to Day, she and her horse Sam enjoyed their day at
Cyber Mall brings together student-run businesses By Troy Rumans
Seniors Margaret Day, Justin Thompson, and Chloe Byruck are sprayed with an unidentified liquid during Art Prom at the St. Louis Children’s Museum on Saturday night. See page 2 for more Art Prom coverage.
WWW.STUDLIFE.COM
Ever wanted to rent movies, buy furniture and fi nd storage at the same time? Students can now do just that without leaving their dorm rooms, as the Washington University Web mall is on the way. “What we want to create is a virtual mall, where instead of going to the storefront you can do everything you need online,” said Julie Thornton, the adviser for the Student Entrepreneurial program at the University. “I think all the businesses have Web sites and in some cases their whole business is online.” The proposed online mall for all University businesses comes as part as a wider project to unify all student businesses at the University. The idea behind the mall itself came as a response to the current dearth of online resources for the entrepreneurial program. “If you were to search for entrepreneurial programs on the Washington University Web site, you’d fi nd almost nothing,” said Thornton. “To put together a much better Web site that better explains the programs and highlights its benefits is key.” Additionally, the Web site would provide services for student business owners, such as accountants and attorneys, as well as other resources that would otherwise mystify a student striking out in the business world. “As a representative of Off the Row, we’re certainly willing to
take advantage of it. It’s a great one-stop shop for students to see all the businesses working together,” said senior Cliff Payne, who has been a part of the entrepreneurial program since he was a freshman. The University entrepreneurial program has witnessed a renewed vigor this past year from the student body. As Thornton noted, much of the progress being made this year comes from the dedication of the students involved. “My involvement has seen renewed student engagement in [the program] and the possibilities in this community—that the student program exists, and that there is more than just this storefront,” said Thornton. Another major change coming up for the program stems directly from this sentiment—a studentrun executive board, created for the purpose of assisting new and old businesses has been working to improve itself. Junior and co-owner of University Trucking Ari Vared, who is spearheading the creation of this board, believes the students can do much to vitalize the entrepreneurial program. “The program has been underdeveloped,” said Vared. “At Wash. U., we have one of the most unique opportunities in the country to own your own business. It’s unlike any other campus.” Working together might help student business owners to achieve a greater presence on campus.
“A major problem is that we’re not yet very unified as business owners. Without that, we can’t really move forward,” said Vared. “There needs to be a group of people who will take initiative. That is the purpose of the student executive board.” The Student Entrepreneurial program currently has a board of advisers, but the connection between this board and the students has been distant. Vared and Thornton hope to close that distance with the student board by selecting a student representative to sit on the board of advisers as a liaison. Vared sees student entrepreneurship as a valuable opportunity for the campus. He hopes that the student executive board will also foster more interest in entrepreneurial activities from students who have not necessarily considered starting a business. “There are a lot of creative people on campus and the executive board will create a way to help people become more involved and help people start businesses of their own,” said Vared. “The education you get from outside of the classroom as a student business owner is much different than in the classroom...It’s priceless.” The current entrepreneurial program has had notable difficulties with growth due to its strained resources. Currently, the only faculty member who is specifically assigned to the program is Thorn-
See CYBER MALL, page 3
Dining Services reshapes meal plans v
Plans broken into semester-sized bites with more options made available to students on Kosher meal plan
By Josh Hantz Associate Reporter Dining Services is making several changes to meal plans for next year. Most notably, points will be sold by semester rather than by year to be more consistent with the current practice of billing students for tuition and room and board by semester. The sizes of the plans will not change, but students will have only half of their points available to them during the fall. The other half will be available for use during spring semester. One reason for the change is that many students on
smaller plans have been using a year’s worth of points in one semester. This creates confusion when they graduate early or go abroad and are billed in the spring for points they used during the fall. “Student accounting services is up to 50 calls a day regarding this issue,” said Marilyn Pollack, director of Dining Services. Now students will be billed each semester. Pollack also noted that other high-ranking universities like Cornell and Yale use this method of selling points by semester. If students run out of points in the fall, they may purchase additional points for
$1 per point. Unlike other institutions that sell meal points by semester, however, Washington University will allow points to carry over from fall to spring. “It would be too much of a culture change for them not to,” said Pollack. “We just want to do what’s reasonable.” Some, however, still do not think the change will benefit the students. If students run out of points during the fall, they cannot begin to use the points designated for spring semester. The additional points they purchase in the fall might then translate into extra nontransferable points left over at the end of the year. “Some kids buy the smallest
meal plan on purpose knowing they’ll run out so that they can buy more at the end of the year,” said freshman Dylan Mathieu. “They won’t be able do that now.” Major changes are also being made to the Kosher meal plan. Currently only one size, the Square Meal Deal, is offered for everyone. Beginning fall 2006, however, Dining Services will offer four plans to appeal to a wider range of students. Like students with standard meal plans, students wishing to purchase Kosher meal plans will now be able to choose from the Meal Manager plan, the Square Meal Deal, the Meals Plus plan and the Boun-
tiful plan. The Kosher versions of these plans will be priced slightly higher to account for the additional costs incurred for the purchase and preparation of Kosher food items. Additionally, the price of the Kosher plan will fall by eight percent, compared to this year’s prices, while the cost of standard meal plans will increase by 2 percent. This year, the Kosher meal plan costs approximately $1.70 per point compared to the standard meal plans, which cost between $1.30 for the Bountiful Plan and $1.45 for the Grab-a-Bite plan. Next year, the various Kosher plans will cost between approximately $1.50 and $1.60
per point. “Our goal is to make the plan attractive enough so students stay on [the Kosher plan] as sophomores and juniors,” said Pollack. Of the 40 students on the Kosher plan this year, most are freshmen. Traditionally, the majority don’t return to the plan in the future for several reasons. “The Kosher plan was priced so high that no one was going to it,” said Pollack. “We couldn’t cover the costs. We talked about all these things and what we needed to do and we thought it was a good plan.” The adjustments will go into effect in fall 2006.