STUDENT LIFE
THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF WASHINGTON UNIVERSIT Y IN ST. LOUIS SINCE 1878 Abort “every black baby in the U.S.”? Cartoonist Temu Brown takes on moralist Bill Bennett in a hard-hitting cartoon. Page 5.
A crowd of 2,176 was on hand to watch the Bears’ heartbreaking loss to U. Chicago in football this weekend. Page 4.
VOLUME 127, NO. 19
Inside News: Colleges prepare for the end of the “Echo Boom,” the current generation of children of the Baby Boomers. Page 3.
With a new position as administrative coordinator, University alum Jim Mourey has a lot to dance about. See Page 6.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2005
WWW.STUDLIFE.COM
Pakistan earthquake kills thousands By Elizabeth Lewis Staff Reporter A massive earthquake with a rating of 7.7 on the Richter scale hit 60 miles north-northeast of Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, on Saturday at 8:50 a.m. (11:50 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday). The earthquake also affected major cities in India such as Lahore and New Delhi. As of Sunday afternoon, 20,000 dead, mostly in the Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, and over 43,000 injuries have been reported, according to Prime Minister of Pakistan Shaukat Aziz. Balakot, Pakistan, a village of about 30,000, was hit the hardest. In Kashmir, the death toll climbed even higher, with 30,000 casualties as of yesterday. Thousands more are injured throughout Pakistan. Major General Shaukat Sul-
tan, a spokesperson for the Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, told CNN, “The army has been fully mobilized to handle this situation. This disaster is by far the biggest in its magnitude and scale so far that we have witnessed in Pakistan’s history.” Freshman Nyda Mukhtar is from Pakistan. She was on the phone with her parents when the earthquake hit. “[I] was chatting with my parents when the phone went offline,” said Mukhtar. “I thought there was a power shortage, but there had been a massive earthquake. It was the worst that my grandparents had ever seen.” The earthquake also affected some of Mukhtar’s friends and their families. She said, “One guy from my high school is dead and my best friend can’t find her parents. My parents are very tense about my best
friend’s parents. Another guy from my high school was found under the rubble, and he is lucky to be alive.” Mukhtar further described the devastation. “The rubble is three stories high, and there are many people underneath,” she said. “The army is there going through the rubble and the British are there with sound detection devices.” A school crumbled 40 miles from Islamabad, and 250 students were killed. Three other school buildings have also been demolished in the Pakistani Kashmir area, resulting in more than 200 child deaths. The death toll is expected to continue to climb because rescue workers and the military have been unable to access certain areas due to massive landslides. The army is trying to help the injured by setting up medi-
cal camps and aid centers. Military forces are also airlifting supplies and taking the injured to hospitals but report that the roads are too full of rubble to transport any supplies for the victims of the earthquake. There are many wounded people who need to be treated, but this task is made even more difficult because one of the three hospitals in Pakistani Kashmir collapsed. Relief workers are continuing to feed the newly homeless survivors of the earthquake, as well as to relieve those trapped under the rubble. Many Pakistanis stayed in the streets on Sunday for fear of returning home and facing possible aftershocks. People are extremely frightened and have lost their loved ones. Mukhtar can understand their sentiments. “I am in shock,” she said.
PAKISTAN
Center of magnitude 7.6 quake KRT CAMPUS
Tulane plans to reopen for 2006 spring semester By Marla Friedman Contributing Reporter
ALWYN LOH | STUDENT LIFE
Members of the Treasury Council listen as appeals are made before the general committee at last week’s meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 4.
Some groups left out as SU appeals process ends early By Ben Sales Contributing Reporter The Student Union Treasury has been forced to end the budget appeals process for the fall 2005 semester earlier than in previous years after it was inundated with requests for additional funding. The formal end to the appeals process came in the third week of September, over a month earlier than last year. In years past, the extra month was used by student groups to appeal for money for conferences, speakers and events at the end of the semester. While student groups can still apply for emergency appeals, the unusually early end to the regular process irks some. “If [the appeals ended] two weeks later, that would have made a big difference,” said Aaron Keyak, treasurer of the College Democrats. Keyak’s group was unable to present an appeal after Sept. 20, the last meeting at which Treasury representatives heard regular budget appeals. Keyak complained that the window for appeals this semester was too short to provide groups with an adequate chance to make requests. He explained that he attended
a mandatory meeting for all treasurers of Category I groups (groups that receive the most funding from SU), during which the appeals process was explained. Only days later, Keyak was notified that the appeals process had closed. Speaker of the Treasury Judson Clark explained that the appeals process comes after each of the more than 100 Category I groups has submitted a budget suggestion and received funding. Since Treasury does usually approve funds for speakers or conferences during initial budget requests, due to the difficulty in accurately predicting these costs in advance, the appeals process must be used to gain SU funding for such events. In addition, the Treasury sets strict limits on funding for food in the initial estimate, leaving some cultural groups—for which food is a central part of ceremonies— short of their expected budget. The only way to receive this money is to appeal. Appeals for fall semester began at the end of spring 2005, when an unusually large number of groups submitted appeals. “The fiscal semester be-
gins earlier than the academic semester,” said Clark. “[We received] more appeals, larger appeals and we worked quicker.” This, he said, resulted in fewer available funds at the beginning of the fall academic semester. Clark explained that the appeals process is designed to fairly provide funding for as many groups as possible, given budget constraints. “The Treasury is [dedicated to] helping the most students it can,” said Clark. “We don’t know when the money is going to run out,” he added. Treasury allows for student groups with extenuating circumstances to apply for emergency appeals throughout the semester. At their Oct. 4 meeting, the Treasury approved the emergency appeals of all three student groups that applied. According to SU Treasurer Ed Banti, a senior, the Treasury was allocated $260,000 in appeals for the entire year, which is the majority of its budget. Appeals were officially closed after the Treasury was left with approximately $118,000 for spring 2006 following a Sept. 20 meeting. Banti’s answer, however, did not satisfy some student
groups that needed the appeals process in order to fund programs. “We all feel that the Student Union is losing touch with us,” said Jamie Lee, a past president of the Hong Kong Students’ Association. “Every year … we have to play the game with the Budget Committee.” Keyak also expressed resentment toward the policy on food, saying, “I don’t think that’s an appropriate policy. For the College Democrats, food is essential. It gets people together and talking.” To that comment, Clark responded, “The Treasury is not a meal plan.” The Treasury encourages groups to fundraise independently in order to provide for food, giveaways and other items less likely to be included in the initial budget. Clark said that the groups are “very cooperative” in this regard and that SU does not require groups to raise any specific amount of money, but rather to “just fundraise.” Keyak criticized the role of fundraising in SU budget allocations. “There’s very little positive incentive to fund-
See TREASURY, page 2
Tulane President Scott S. Cowen announced Wednesday that the University plans to reopen for the upcoming spring semester and will offer two academic semesters between January and June 2006 to help make up for lost time. Classes for the spring semester will begin on January 17, with the semester running through early May. An optional seven-week “lagniappe semester” will follow, running from May 15 to the end of June. In Southern Louisiana dialect, “lagniappe” means an unexpected gift or benefit. Cowen said the extra semester will allow students who chose not to attend school this fall to catch up on their credit hours. Further, students who attended another institution this fall on a part-time basis and decide to enroll in both Tulane semesters will be able to earn enough credits and graduate on time. Julie Knorr, a sophomore student from Tulane who is attending Washington University this semester, thinks the lagniappe semester is ultimately “the best solution for a really difficult problem,” and believes that “it will be
nice to get everyone back on track so [they] can start being Tulane students again.” “[I’m] very excited about going back [to help rebuild] because, especially being an architecture student, I have more knowledge of what I can do to help out,” said Knorr. She said that the return “will be good for the community and for [the school] because Tulane will really pull together in helping out both on and off campus.” Mike Strecker, the director of public relations at Tulane, said that the campus “is in improving shape and wasn’t hit as hard as many parts of the city [we] saw on television.” “The president reported that the front half of the campus possibly looks even better than when [they] left it,” said Strecker. With the ideas for a return to academics squared away, Tulane still faces housing problems for students and faculty. The university has been toying with various ideas, such as leasing a cruise ship, constructing temporary housing and renting space in apartment buildings in order to accommodate everyone. Strecker said that students living in on-campus housing,
See TULANE, page 3
University grads surge towards Teach for America By Ben Sales Contributing Reporter Teach for America has transformed into a magnet for recent college graduates looking for ways to help children in underprivileged schools. Applications to the program, which recruits actively on the Washington University campus and is a popular choice among graduating seniors, rose 30 percent nationally this year. Over 17,000 college seniors applied this fall for 2,200 spots in 22 urban and rural areas nationwide. The applicants had an average GPA of about 3.5 and, according to Teach for America’s (TFA) Web site, “nearly all held a position of leadership on their respective campuses or within their communities.” Aaron Seligman, who graduated from the University in
For a first-hand account of a WU alum doing TFA in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina hit, see Scene, page 6. 2005, and now teaches in Washington, D.C., said he isn’t surprised by the application surge. “People aren’t happy with the way this country is going; they want to change things,” he said. Founded in 1989 by a senior at Princeton in an effort to close the nation’s education gap, TFA has become an appealing option for college graduates hoping to make a difference. Students are “aware of the education gap” between the wealthier and poorer schools in the U.S., said Seligman, who majored in Spanish and cur-
See TEACH FOR AMERICA, page 3