Though I’ve never met you, I feel obligated to tell you something that you might not want to hear: chances are, you were probably lied to on your admissions tour when you visited Washington University. Not about the really big things of course, and nothing was spread with malicious intent. There are some little tidbits that were likely passed along to you as fact, however, when in actuality they are not true.

In case you haven’t had a chance to talk with those in the know, here is the truth behind a few of the current “WUmors” floating around campus.

Chancellor Mark Wrighton and the glow-stick conspiracy theory

For example, you very likely heard that Chancellor Mark Wrighton has a patent for glow-sticks or something involved in their production. This rumor may have been encouraged by the vast quantities of glow-sticks handed out at Convocation every August. (You’ll see-there are thousands of them.)

Our “Magic Mark” is, indeed, a chemist, and he does hold 14 patents. Much of his research has involved photochemistry. However, the research in chemiluminescence that led to the glow-stick’s creation was carried out by other chemists in the early 1960s, when Wrighton was still in high school.

Eliot Hall and the incontestable architectural award

Something else you may have heard is that drab concrete Eliot Hall (not the new dorm of that name, nor the old high-rise dorm, but the home of the political science and economics departments) cannot be torn down because it won an architectural award, sometimes specifically claimed to be an award for “best use of concrete.” (Or even referred to as the Noble Prize of Architecture-which does not even exist.)

While the building has received architectural acclaim, this would not prevent the University from tearing the building down. Eliot was built in the late 1960s and dedicated in 1974, and was designed to have a modern and bare look along with the then-new Law School building nearby, Mudd Hall. Mudd was soon found be too small for the Law School, and the combination of this and its widely panned look resulted in the Law School’s move to a newer building in 1996, and Mudd’s consequent demolition in 1998.

Eliot sticks out dramatically among the many red-granite-adorned buildings that surround it and remains the University’s clear priority for demolition on main campus-but don’t be surprised if the building outlasts your days at the University.

Absent sorority houses and the anti-brothel campaign

One substantial aspect of campus life that was probably brushed over on your tour are the fraternity houses, both on “frat row” and “below the row.” These do indeed exist, and if that was mentioned at all then you may have heard that there is some law prohibiting sorority houses or other arrangements in which many women live together, on the theory that such a location might technically be considered a brothel.

According to Karin Johnes, director of Greek Life at the University, this is an “urban legend,” and a few years ago the campus’ sororities were asked if they wanted to have houses. There was no interest expressed because many sorority members appreciate the flexibility of being able to live with friends outside their own sorority. The substantial bureaucratic hassles that go along with having a house were seen as another drawback.

Each sorority does have a home on campus, though, in suites in the aptly named Women’s Building.

South 40 housing and the nuclear waste reservoir

The area now known as the South 40 once served as the burial ground for isotope microparticle catching material. This material, however, does not constitute nuclear waste.

During the 1940s the federal government utilized the University’s cyclotron to create approximately 500 micrograms of plutonium in conjunction with the Manhattan Project. The government then assumed responsibility for disposing of all remnant materials, and the University used the cyclotron to create short half-life isotopes.

According to Fred Volkmann, vice chancellor for public affairs, the half-life isotopes “were used primarily at the medical school for patient care and treatment.”

The isotopes themselves had half-lives ranging from a few minutes to a few days, so there was little effective risk in their creation and handling. Researchers still made efforts to minimize any risks by covering the floor of the room with newspaper to catch any microparticle byproducts of isotope creation. These newspapers were later buried in an unused forest, now known as the South 40.

Special care was taken to document where the newspapers were buried. When the University made plans to build residence halls on the South 40, that documentation was consulted. Prior to construction, the buried materials were removed and the soil was tested for radioactive levels. Nothing out of the ordinary was found, so the first round of construction began in 1958. In 1960, soil tests were conducted again prior to additional construction. Once again, no traces of radioactive residue were found.

Now you know some facts that some upperclassmen don’t know-and apparently things even some tour guides don’t know!

-With additional reporting by Emily Tobias

Popularity: 1% [?]

 Print This Post

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 31st, 2004 at 12:00 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.