As our campaign has fought for a Living Wage as well as negotiations concerning Washington University’s general labor practices for over a year and a half, we have realized that we had reached our tipping point. It is now our turn to follow in the footsteps of dozens of other schools, including Harvard, Stanford, Wesleyan, and most recently Georgetown University. We cannot wait any longer.
Just before noon Monday, members of the Student Worker Alliance began staging a sit-in at the admissions office in Brookings Hall. Students are demanding the University adopt a “living wage” for all employees and contracted workers.
Just before the sit-in began, Assistant to the Chancellor Steve Givens said he was not aware of the impending sit-in, but he said he did not expect the University to oppose it.
Ex-Boeing Chief Financial Officer Michael Sears pleaded guilty in federal court on Monday to a felony conflict-of-interest charge. Sears was a member of the Washington University Board of Trustees until his resignation in the spring of this year. Sears will be sentenced in January and faces up to six months in jail.
With the hub of campus social life effectively shut down-or at least significantly altered-for the remainder of the semester, many are left wondering what will take the place of Fraternity Row over the next two months. The woman behind the decision to prohibit alcohol at Greek events, Director of Greek Life Karin Johnes, said that she conceived of the ban as a way to reduce what she felt was inappropriate behavior by certain fraternities and sororities.
At least 105 students will watch President Bush and Senator Kerry square off tonight in the Field House. That’s the size of the debate commission’s initial allotment of tickets for Washington University students. “That’s what we were given, but we’re hoping for some more,” said Steve Givens, head of the University’s debate planning committee.
Out of the nearly 6,000 Washington University students who entered the debate ticket lottery, 300 are left standing in the quest to obtain the hottest tickets in town. For that group of 300, nobody at the University is certain how many will be inside the Athletic Complex (AC) Friday night and how many will be left ticketless.
Time is quickly running out for people interested in registering to vote. In Missouri, today is the last day to register to vote in the November presidential election, and registration in many other states closed earlier this week. To mark today’s deadline, members of Project Democracy will be out in full force around campus all day as part of a last-minute registration push.
The saga continues. With just nine days until Washington University hosts the town-hall debate between President Bush and Senator Kerry, the meeting remains in a limbo of sorts. Both candidates have agreed to participate in the debate, but because the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) has refused to sign the campaigns’ agreement, either candidate could pull out at any time.
Finally, it’s official. Or is it? Nearly ten months after first being proposed, the three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate seemed Monday night to be in limbo no more. An agreement released then by the Bush-Cheney and Kerry-Edwards campaigns featured a debate schedule that mirrored the one proposed by the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD).
“It’s good exposure for the University, the state and the city. It’s good for the American people.” I was quoted as speaking those uninspired words in Tuesday’s Post-Dispatch. I probably don’t have to explain that I was talking about the presidential debate that’s coming to campus.
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