“I think it’s really exciting,” said senior Will Fischer, Student Union’s executive adviser for sustainability, leader of the Green Events Commission, and co-chair of the Special Executive Task Force for Sustainable Events. “It mirrors a nationwide increase in awareness of the idea of sustainability. I think it’s wonderful because I think universities need to pioneer the development of a more sustainable world. We are training the next generation of thinkers, scientists and engineers. It only makes sense that we follow what will be the big problems in our world.”

Many students nationwide are enthusiastic about the opportunity to engage academically in environmental issues.

“I don’t think there’s a significantly larger number of students who are interested in this here than at comparable universities,” Fischer said. “I feel like we’re pretty average in that concern. I think we’re feeling the interest a lot of universities are feeling right now.”

Student interest in “green” academic fields is rising due to the increased awareness of the importance of sustainability, according to Green Action President Peter Murrey.

“It’s really just an interest in the environment, realizing that we as a generation are at a crossroads,” said Murrey, a junior. “We are going to determine the future of how we interact with our planet. We need to be knowledgeable about how the planet works, how businesses work and how we, in general, impact our surroundings, and how the surroundings impact us as well.”

Additionally, the applicability of sustainability issues to a wide variety of fields makes it an appealing subject to study.

“[Environmental programs are] highly applicable to so many other disciplines: environmental economics, business, chemistry, philosophy,” Murrey said. “Students who traditionally had an interest in these fields and were interested in the environment before now couldn’t exercise that interest in the environment. But now they can broaden their horizons and incorporate the environment into these fields.”

At Washington University, there has been a marked increase in interest in environmentally focused classes over the past decade. The number of students enrolled in the environmental studies major, for example, has doubled over the past 10 years.

Many other departments are offering classes that incorporate environmental perspectives into other fields as well. For instance, in the political science department, students can take a course titled Environmental and Energy Issues. The engineering school offers courses on “Green Engineering.”

“Just about any class you can take is going to apply in some way to the environment,” Murrey said. “You can make your coursework fit a

Another reason students are choosing environmentally focused majors more than ever before is the demand in the workforce for employees with those skills. According to the AASHE, the Obama administration predicts that “green” jobs will grow by 52 percent from 2000 to 2016.

“I hope that in the next couple of years we will see growth in what we want to call the ‘green economy,’ and the idea of ‘green collar’ jobs,” Fischer said. “Hopefully, that ideal will start to really show itself, and jobs and positions all around the world will start to open up to people of all sorts of fields in developing renewable technologies, implementing renewable technologies [and] driving policy decisions. While it seems like a trend right now, it seems like a fad, I’m confident that it’s here to stay.”

Students’ majors across subjects within Arts & Sciences prove variable over the last decade. (Josh Goldman and Mary Yang | Student Life)

Students across the nation are seeking to major in fields that traditionally lead to secure employment, resulting in a drop in enrollment in the humanities and other liberal arts fields, The New York Times reported. At Washington University, students are embracing these majors, and the University is taking steps to ensure that they are marketable.

Patricia Katzfey, a career development specialist in the Career Center, said many different areas of the University are working together to ensure each student’s success.

“I think what is happening specifically here at Wash. U. is that a lot of departments are really taking the whole student into consideration, looking at how we play as a research institute and how we prepare the student for the real world,” Katzfey said.

The Career Center works to ensure each student develops certain core skills. These include communications skills, analytical skills, leadership skills and the ability to work in groups.

“Washington University is really trying to look at those core skills,” Katzfey said. “No matter what the student majors in, they are going to have core skills that will be sought after and will serve the student in whatever career aspirations may follow.”

But there are still certain majors that tend to lead to greater success in job searches.

“I think there definitely are some majors that employers have a preference toward, those that have a strong analytical background that definitely will help serve them in many, many corporate environments,” Katzfey said.

For students pursuing liberal arts degrees, the University offers the Praxis Program. This program integrates the liberal arts degrees with practical experience with the skills necessary to a successful job search.

“I think because the economy is the way it is, and the fact that we are all looking very seriously at how to continue our employment, how to continue our lifestyles and our economic tastes, we’re having to look into those practical aspects,” Katzfey said.

According to the Office of Student Records, there were 48 students in the Praxis program in spring 2003, compared with 78 in spring 2008.

Nationally, a number of universities have eliminated programs in less traditionally practical fields. For instance, the University of Louisiana cut its philosophy major earlier this year. At Washington University, such programs continue to be strong.

The classics major has demonstrated a significant rise in enrollment. There were five declared classics majors in spring 1998 and 37 in 2008. Philosophy has shown a similar trend, with 25 philosophy majors in spring 1998 and 48 in spring 2008. Overall, the humanities have consistently represented between 15 and 20 percent of Arts & Sciences majors from spring 1998 to spring 2008.

The most popular field of majors in the College of Arts & Sciences is social science, commanding 35 to 40 percent of majors. In particular, economics has seen a rise in majors, from the seventh most popular major in Arts & Sciences in spring 1998, with 75 majors, to the third most popular in spring 2008, with 315 majors.

It should be noted, however, that the total number of declared majors in Arts & Sciences at the University increased from 2,140 in spring 1998 to 3,818 10 years later in spring 2008.

The popularity of majors is responsive to changing trends in the workforce.

“You think business is always going to be important, but I think we’re going to see some shifts,” Katzfey said. “To which direction, I really couldn’t say for sure.”

Katzfey predicts the emergence of many “green jobs.” The environmental studies major has seen an increase in interest, from 53 declared in spring 1998 to 95 declared in spring 2008.

Additionally, she predicts that biomedical engineering (BME) will continue to be in high demand. Students at the University are responsive to this. Although there were only 40 BME majors in spring 1998, the department has since expanded to 235 majors 10 years later.

Although Katzfey believes engineering majors of all sorts will consistently be competitive in the job search, some departments are seeing a significant decline in enrollment. For instance, the electrical engineering major was one of the school’s most popular in spring 1992, with 201 majors. Currently, only 43 students are pursuing that degree.

Regardless of students’ majors, the Career Center is working with students and academic departments to prepare students for a successful job hunt.

“I think we’re doing all the right things to really prepare the student,” Katzfey said. “We want to be there to help them through all of the professional challenges [and] the emotional challenges that go with that, to help them with navigating that transition from this very nurturing academic environment to what the real world is like.”

Additionally, the Career Center is working with alums and prospective employers to determine the trends in hiring so that they can better prepare students.

“That’s also bringing a lot more practical, real-life experience and understanding to the student population,” Katzfey said.

Katzfey reminds students that it is ultimately their responsibility to seek the Career Center’s guidance, but the Career Center is then happy to give students all the tools they can to succeed.

“It starts with the student,” Katzfey said. “They have to take the lead, and we’re here to serve them.”

The city faces severe disparities in health care provision. This is shown most starkly by the decreased availability of health care in ZIP codes populated by people from lower socioeconomic positions.

“We have great health care in this city, great providers, but it’s fragmented,” said panelist Melba Moore, commissioner of health for the City of St. Louis Department of Health. “In fact, one of the comments [from a recent study on St. Louis health care] was that the health outcomes in the northern quarter…were Third World.”

The disparity in health care coverage is especially clear when comparing affluent white neighborhoods to the less wealthy neighborhoods inhabited mostly by minorities.

“Certain ZIP codes that are predominantly white have better health care than the poor ZIP codes of the areas which are predominantly black,” said junior Adam Abadir, ABS political affairs chair.

“We saw that other organizations on campus were dealing with the health care reform aspects of health care but without really dealing with St. Louis’ status,” Abadir said. “We think that it would be good for the student body to know more about these local issues as opposed to just focusing on the reform aspects nationwide.”

ABS approached the issue from a less partisan perspective than previous health care-related events on campus did.

“Health care isn’t a partisan issue necessarily. There are uninsured Democrats, and there are uninsured Republicans,” Abadir said. “We felt that our organization would be best to deal with the nonpartisan aspects of healthcare.”

History: Health care in St. Louis

The correlation between zip code of residence and access to health care was “ordained by those in the power structure,” according to panelist Will Ross, associate dean for diversity and associate professor of medicine in the Renal Division at Washington University School of Medicine.

According to Ross, St. Louis was a relatively wealthy, desegregated city until 1917, when race conflicts escalated. In response, zoning ordinances were established in the 1920s, and were in place until the 1950s.

“Zoning ordinances were acted upon until 1950, essentially segregating the city,” Ross said. “Those who were African Americans were actually zoned into the North Side. Those who were Germans were zoned to the county. Those who were Italians were zoned to an area we now call the Hill. They are as entrenched as ever in the city.”

These zones then had differing access to education, jobs, and health care, according to Ross. Since 1920, the regions have developed at different paces with respect to these issues, resulting in the current disparity.

“This is absolutely not an act of serendipity. This is a predestined act based on that history,” Ross said.

Students found Ross’s discussion of the historical roots to today’s problems to be particularly enlightening.

“I think he really brought in a historical aspect to what’s going on and that’s something that people don’t look at, how it was historically systematically shaped,” junior Maggie Parker said. “When you look at those maps, you can see how it is ingrained in our society. I think that really lets people think about it on a whole different level. That’s what I really enjoyed.”

Addressing the problem

There are a number of ways that students can help improve the state of health care in St. Louis. Ross claims “access, cost and quality” of health care must be addressed in order to reduce the disparities across St. Louis ZIP codes.

Moore believes access is the most crucial factor.

“African Americans within the community don’t access services for lack of access and availability,” she said.

On national health care, Ross argues the current legislation will have little impact on the health care situation because it fails to address adequately “access, cost and quality.”

“What we have won’t reduce costs that dramatically. It will not improve access that much. It will affect quality maybe 10 years down the road. The plan is deeply, deeply flawed,” he said.

Moore believes that public health is not as high a priority for the people or the government as it should be.

“We’re always fighting for every dime we can get. We’re in competition with Parks and Recreation. We’re public health,” Moore said. “We have to choose what we’re able to do in a public health agency because there’s not enough money.”

Moore advises students to contact their legislators to inform them of the need for greater public health funding.

Conversely, panelist Judy Bentley, head of the Community Health-in-Partnership Services (CHIPS), a nonprofit organization that provides health care and social services for the underserved, believes in the power of lower-level change.

“You need to look at health reform as not a top-down, but a bottom-up. I think that’s where change really happens,” Bentley said. “Policy is only good if you can make it work. I think the most effective way to make anything work is if you can get your community involved and you can get individual participation.”

Panelist Gregory Polites, assistant professor of emergency medicine and assistant director of the Emergency Medicine Residency Program, argued that both methods are effective.

“Be politically active. You might not think that your voice matters, but it really does,” Polites said.

Polites advised students looking to make a community-based change to develop ideas that involve a basic program that would have a huge impact. He said good ideas can get financial and political support.

“To take the effort and energy and put it into your own community here in St. Louis, to me, I think, is incredible,” he said.

Is the E.R. an option?

Although most use the emergency room as a last resort, many uninsured individuals use it as a first choice option, according to Polites.

“We can get a workup done that would require about three weeks in some cases or more in outpatient done in a matter of hours,” Polites said. “I can see a rationale for why people would come to the Emergency Room.”

The emergency and trauma facilities are “geared towards an incredibly rapid pace on very serious patients,” according to Polites. The problem, however, is that these facilities also must deal with preventable issues.

“What we do a lot of times in emergency medicine is stamp out fires,” Polites said. “[Emergency issues are] not the problem. Everyone is going to get emergency care. The problem is how to get to people before it turns into an emergency. That’s what we need to address.”

Ross noted that resources are misused when people wait for preventable issues to become severe and then choose to go to the ER.

“When a patient gets to an emergency room, that’s a failure of the system,” Ross said. “That’s an inappropriate use of our country’s resources.”

One possible solution Ross and others propose to this is the development of medical homes, which would provide primary care and prevent issues from becoming too severe.

“This is how we should be delivering care,” Ross said. “If we did this, if we had a country that could provide that level of basic care to everyone at a relatively low cost, then we wouldn’t see this excessive utilization of hospital and emergency care.”

Polites sees great benefits of this to individual patients.

“Patients deserve better than just having a person they can go to temporarily. They deserve a primary doctor who knows them. We need to put more emphasis into that,” Polites said.

What about Medicare and Medicaid?

Medicare and Medicaid, the federal- and state-funded programs that provide care to many low-income individuals, have received a mixture of criticism and praise since their inception. Ross believes that the programs themselves have great potential but are limited by the flaws of the basic healthcare system.

“Medicaid and Medicare are extraordinarily effective programs. They’ve been demonized. They’ve been called socialistic, but they work,” Ross said. “Medicare and Medicaid are functional. The system on which they are based is dysfunctional.”

According to the panel, emphasis in the current healthcare system is on healing critical illnesses rather than providing adequate primary care.

“As a consequence of the perverse system, we’ve utilized so much money that we now can’t pay for Medicaid and Medicare,” Ross said, although he claims these programs are less costly than private insurance systems.

Polites, too, sees the current system as backwards, and advocates a shift in focus to preventative care where possible.

“We have everything backwards. The way that we fund things, it’s totally backwards,” Polites said. “We spend so much money on folks that are acute, who have a life-threatening illness. That’s where the vast majority of resources go into. If we took those same resources and put them into preventative healthcare and do it early, at a young age…you would have the money to fund those.”

Sophomore Jenny Sun rakes leaves in University City on Saturday as part of an event organized by the Alpha Phi Omega fraternity. (Paula Avery | Student Life)

Washington University students sacrificed a few hours of extra sleep in an effort to mend the University’s relationship with the surrounding community and raise money for fallen officers by participating in the Great Rake Neighborhood Initiative early Saturday morning.

Hosted by community service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega, the group raised more than $700 dollars for Backstoppers, a charity that provides funds to the families of fallen firefighters and police officers.

One of the main purposes of the initiative was to repair University relations with the community. University students have come under fire in recent weeks for their alleged insensitivity to the residents of surrounding neighborhoods.

“[We want to] make up for a lot of the problems they have had in that neighborhood,” said senior Jasmine Yasar, the fraternity’s vice president of service. “A lot of students sometimes on the weekends get a little rowdy, so this is a way to foster good feelings for the university between the neighbors and Wash. U.”

Student volunteers went to the Ames Place neighborhood, located minutes from the University’s main campus, to rake leaves. The fraternity (APO) provided bagels for the volunteers, as well as all necessary raking supplies.

“The University started talking to student leaders about an idea to help the neighborhoods, and so APO’s kind of running it,” Yasar said.

The students who raked asked for donations to Backstoppers.

“It’s obviously very hard if you lose someone close to you and they’re the breadwinner, it is very difficult to pay the bills and funeral costs,” Yasar said.

While coordinating the project, APO has made great efforts to collaborate with other large University organizations.

“We look to sponsor service events with other people because it’s always good to have events with other people,” Yasar said.

Representatives from many campus sororities and fraternities participated in the event. Alpha Kappa Psi (AKPsi), a co-ed business fraternity, is also one of the main participants.

“We thought this would be a worthwhile event to help out with,” said sophomore Erika Antisdale, an AKPsi member. “In the past we haven’t really done much with community service, so we’re trying to participate a little bit more and give back a little bit more, so we thought this was a good opportunity when it came by.”

Students who were involved were impressed by the collaboration among Greek groups.

“It was nice to see representatives from virtually every Greek society coming to do something nice for our community,” said sophomore Courtney Safir, an APO member and event participant.

The Ames Place neighborhood boasts 204 homes and approximately 530 trees, according to the Ames Place Neighborhood Web site. Tree upkeep is costly, and individual homeowners are responsible for the general clean up of twigs and leaves. Therefore, the decision to host a leaf-raking event was a logical one, Yasar said.

“Obviously University City has a lot of trees, and if you walk around, there’s tons of leaves everywhere out in University City. There’s a lot,” Yasar said. “Raking is also a very labor-intensive thing, and we wanted to help them out in that regard, so they can take a break on a Saturday and spend time with their family instead of laboring in their front yards.”

Participants felt that the raking would make a difference for the residents of the neighborhood.

“There was a ridiculous amount of leaves all over the entire neighborhood, so the people whose yards we raked were really grateful,” Safir said.

While raking, students wore University apparel.

“We tried to all wear Wash. U. gear so they can see that we’re actually very friendly students who like helping and we’re good neighbors,” Yasar said.

With the success of this event, APO looks forward to future success of similar efforts.

“Hopefully there will be other good neighbor initiatives in the future, and hopefully we’ll get a bigger response from other groups on campus and make this more of a continuous thing to help the nearby communities instead of being caught in the Wash. U. bubble all the time,” Yasar said.

For now, however, APO will continue its other service initiatives in the area. During an upcoming weekend, APO and the Vietnamese Student Association will coordinate an effort to help feed the homeless with Feed St. Louis.

Partisanship is common in national politics and is also alive at Washington University. Members of political student groups on campus say they use the partisan divide to foster debate.

Senior Ryan Winograd, president of the College Republicans, said political disputes do occur between students at the University, but usually they are purely intellectual.

“I’ve had debates and I’ve had arguments with students. It’s never gotten violent. Ever,” Winograd said. “I guess that might be an issue at some schools, but I don’t think that’s an issue at Wash. U. I’ve definitely seen yelling, heated, maybe some name-calling.”

One upcoming debate between the College Republicans and College Democrats is Campus Crossfire on Monday night. Each group will have a representative debating the issue of health care.

The debate will consist of 45 minutes of formal debate, followed by 15 minutes of questions from the audience.

“It’s always fun,” said junior Katherine Berger, president of the College Democrats. “We always end up having the Democrats on one side of the room and the Republicans on the other, and there’s cheering.”

Winograd said he values the debate created by disputes among those with differing viewpoints. Although he said some political discussions on campus are unproductive, he believes it is important for the College Democrats and the College Republicans to play a leading role in promoting productive discourse.

“We definitely have students with differing opinions, and you do see them arguing about it sometimes. Sometimes it happens in a manner that I think fosters good discourse and enlightenment, perhaps on both sides of the issues, and other times it occurs in a way that is completely unproductive,” Winograd said. “I think the goal of the College Republicans and College Democrats should be to make sure that those sorts of debates and discussions happen in a way that is educational and not confrontational.”

Berger said she considers the partisan divide on campus to be a source of debate rather than a conflict.

“I think that people who are really interested in politics and particularly interested in partisan politics know that your political beliefs do not necessarily define who you are as a person, although it’s certainly an important part of it,” Berger said. “At least in my own experience, as much as we might argue over health care or the economy or the war, [or] whatever the subject may be, we’re all students. We’re all on that same sort of level.”

Winograd argued that debates and discussions between people with differing opinions are vital to the development of knowledge about an issue.

“[Dialogue is] the only way you can truly question your beliefs, grow your beliefs [or] change your beliefs,” Winograd said. “Maybe you actually know everything and that dialogue, the discourse strengthens your beliefs. But when it gets to the point of yelling or name-calling, you’re not really debating anything. You’re just staying with what you believe; you’re not questioning what you believe in any way.”

Another collaboration effort between political student groups is in the works. The College Democrats, College Republicans and the Association of Black Students (ABS) are coordinating another health care debate. The debate will involve politicians and policy experts from both ends of the political spectrum.

“That’s an example of more than just our two groups working together, but, more broadly, [we will work] with other groups in the school to bring what will hopefully be an enlightening discussion to campus,” Winograd said.

Winograd hopes these events will help to inform the public of important political issues.

“What’s important for me is …that when people make decisions, they are as well-informed as possible so that they can then apply their ideology and decide what their preferred outcome is,” Winograd said. “I may not agree with it—that’s fine. I actually really enjoy debating with students whom I disagree with to see why I disagree with them. What’s frustrating is when I’m debating with someone who doesn’t really have good reasons for their beliefs. For me, it’s more fun when they’re very well educated about [the issues].”

Today’s Washington University students enjoy memory foam mattresses in some dorms on the South 40 and eat fresh sushi for lunch at the Danforth University Center.

College life has changed markedly in the past few decades, according to Associate Dean of Students Jill Stratton, who has been at the University for 17 years.

Stratton said that for a long time, the University and other colleges focused many of their resources on graduate-level programs. This changed in the early 1990s, when the University and other schools began concentrating more on the undergraduate experience.

“A few places like Stanford and Washington University realized the heart and soul of our university are the undergraduates,” Stratton said.

Stratton, who teaches The Psychology of Young Adulthood at the University, said she believes that the quality of life enjoyed by students is essential to their success at the University. In her course, she discusses research that she said demonstrates a strong correlation between the happiness and fulfillment of students and their levels of academic success.

Sophomore Laura Zaim, who gives tours as part of the Student Activities Committee (SAC), said students today have a much different experience from their parents.

“[Today’s experience] has absolutely nothing to do with the college experience that our parents went through,” Zaim said. “I know when I give tours…parents are always remarking on…how there’s so much here that they didn’t have [and] can’t really imagine that they can [have here].”

Zaim said a large part of why the University offers some of its amenities to undergraduate students is today’s consumer culture.

“I think it’s become kind of like a consumer culture in that all these services are provided to us because we’re willing to pay for them. And [it helps] colleges to remain competitive,” Zaim said.

Stratton also emphasized the competitive edge offered by the University’s high quality of life.

“A lot of college campuses are paying more attention to the quality of life and students’ lives outside the classroom,” Stratton said. “But I think it’s one of our draws. I think we compare very well across the board.”

Residential facilities

Stratton said she has noticed a number of changes to the residential facilities on campus over the years, including 14 new buildings.

“The whole landscape has completely changed,” Stratton said.

Associate Director of Residential Life Joshua Walehwa has worked at the University since July 2003. In this time, he said he has seen the quality of residential facilities increase.

“We’ve added additional faculty families. We’ve strengthened our student engagement approach…We’ve improved safety and security and comfort levels,” he said. “Overall, we’ve just continued to try to be out there in front of other schools in the country in terms of trying to have a great residential life program.”

Additionally, the purpose behind residential facilities has altered, according to Stratton.

“Back in the day, [residential facilities were] just the concrete cinderblocks,” Stratton said. “Now, it’s where we live and learn. It’s about the quality of our whole lives.”

Dining facilities

Although Nadeem Siddiqui, resident district manager for Bon Appétit, is relatively new to the University, he said he has already seen dramatic changes in campus dining, including the construction of the new South 40 dining facility.

“Two years in a row, I will have the advantage of helping to redefine and adjust the dining program to help students have a better quality experience,” Siddiqui said.

The University hasn’t always had the high quality dining services that it currently has.

“We have all this healthy organic stuff that helps us live better lives, and back then it was like, ‘Here’s some cold pizza,’” sophomore Jessica Frank said.

Siddiqui said he believes changes in dining services are more recent.

“I think it has taken some years to refine [the campus dining situation]. I think the last several years it has been rated among the top living parts of the University,” Siddiqui said.

Siddiqui said he believes the University’s dining options are superior to those of comparable institutions, due in large part to the longer hours of service and the unique types of food provided. Siddiqui, who previously worked at Cornell and Stanford universities, claimed that when the South 40 facility is complete, the University’s dining system will be “one of the top programs in the nation.”

“We want a place that is comfortable and warm where students can come together with faculty and staff to learn,” he said. “Food is a magnet that brings people together.”

The program is a component of the McDonnell International Scholars Academy, whose membership includes the University and 24 partner institutions around the world.

EECE Professor of Practice Ruth Chen said she believes the international research and learning connectivity established by the program helps students respond to global issues in environmental and energy studies.

“Even though we have environmental and chemical problems in this country we can see how other countries approach these issues… [which] will give us a wonderful perspective of how to solve ours and also solve them in a way that doesn’t create problems in other parts of the globe,” Chen said.

The International Experience brings students to a partner institution over the summer, and continues the learning experience through a three-credit course offered the following fall.

Students attend a weekend language school to develop a conversational understanding before the program. While abroad, students take courses taught in English on the individual nation’s history and culture. They also have the opportunity to see laboratories, meet professors who are leading the students’ fields of study, and attend lectures and laboratory projects.

Upon their return, students work on a project with a faculty advisor that culminates in a research paper.

History: Beijing, China 2008

In China, the program has been run through two partner universities in Beijing: Tsinghua University and Peking University, both of which are top-tier schools.

Students in the program also worked alongside government officials to improve Beijing’s air quality before the Olympics.

“The inaugural year went quite well,” Chen said.

History: Seoul, Korea 2009

The University has three partner universities in Seoul, Korea: Yonsei University, Seoul National University and Korea University. The International Experience program also coordinated some lessons with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).

Students concluded their visit with a seminar presentation to 200 Korean engineering students.

Future Programs

This summer, the International Experience will go to IIT Bombay.

The International Experience is scheduled to go to Hong Kong and Shanghai in 2011 and 2012, respectively.

Chen expects the program’s strength to continue and also hopes to expand the availability of internships in the country post-program.

“I feel that this type of in-depth study would prepare our students for their future challenges in their work or in their academic pursuits,” Chen said. “The perspective they bring from abroad will make them a world citizen and make them more perceptive to world problems, environmental and energy issues in other parts of the world.”

Benefits of the Program

Chen notes that many students have been heavily impacted by the program.

“I feel it was eye-opening in many ways to the students and they bring back a new perspective,” Chen said.

One student called the Beijing experience “the highlight of his life,” according to Chen.

A number of participants who have graduated have gone on to graduate school or careers related to their experience.

Beijing program participant Tyler Nading told Chen that at a certain point in his career, he wanted to work in China.

Chen said she believes other participants in the Beijing Program have had life-changing experiences.

“They have seen how far China has come, but they also see how much farther China has to go. They realize it’s a global issue, and it’s not a problem for only the Chinese to solve. It takes going to China to have that realization,” Chen said.

Students who participated in the Korea Program have continued on to related internships.

Senior Michael Craig said he learned a lot through the Korean program and recommends it to future students.

“It seemed to be a great opportunity to visit a part of the world I’ve not been to while also learning a tremendous amount and possibly networking with people outside our nation,” Craig said. “Meeting people there who may be potential contacts later in life [if] I choose to look for a job there was a great opportunity.”

Chen said she believes the program participants have remarkable potential, which the International Experience Program will help to develop.

“As far as I see, they are very good engineers and this would make them better engineers and better citizens of the world,” Chen said.

When disposing of waste in the Danforth University Center, students have multiple recycling options, as well as a trash can. (Kim Jones | Student Life)

The Washington University Office of Undergraduate Admissions said it is making great strides toward a more sustainable way of operating, but many sustainability groups on campus question this claim.

Director of Admissions Julie Shimabukuro wrote in an e-mail to Student Life that the admissions office is continually finding “ways to ‘go green,’” in keeping with University-wide sustainability efforts.

According to Shimabukuro, sustainability initiatives include the replacement of a portion of paper mailings with electronic mailings. Shimabukuro said this effort is “expanding.”

The admissions office is also making efforts to promote the use of online applications and electronic submissions of letters of recommendation. Many printed publications are also moving to recycled paper with more sustainable printing methods. Where possible, the admissions office has encouraged the reduction in the length of brochures and publications to prevent wasting paper.

The Danforth University Center is one of a growing number of LEED-certified buildings on campus. (Kim Jones | Student Life)

“I have nothing but applause for the admissions office for moving in that direction,” said Matthew Malten, assistant vice chancellor for campus sustainability. “I think it’s tremendous.”

Some students, however, expressed criticism for the amount of mailings they received from the University prior to and after enrollment.

“I still remember how much we were flooded at my house by all of those [mailings]. It’s kind of ridiculous,” said junior Peter Murrey, president of Green Action. “I feel like I could have stuffed a pillow with all of them and slept very comfortably.”

Students involved in sustainability efforts on campus see a high potential for reductions in the admissions office’s number of mailings.

The toilets in the Danforth University Center promote water conservation by having two ways to flush. (Kim Jones | Student Life)

“They would just send you more and more things over and over and over again,” said senior Will Fischer, executive advisor for sustainability to Student Union President Jeff Nelson and leader of the Green Events Commission. “If you had applied or not applied, you would get a lot of really colorful, pretty brochures with Brookings on them. There is definitely a lot of room for improvement, I think, in that regard. I think that is why a lot of people have targeted that as something to start with in terms of ‘greening’ admissions.”

Fischer also mentioned the financial costs of sending so many mailings. With electronic communications, Fischer said many of these financial costs could be reduced.

“We know that it would cost money to send all those pamphlets out,” Fischer said. “I think it’s maybe too bad that they waited until there was a lot of financial pressure to start [reducing mailings]. But I think, in general, that’s really good to see.”

Fischer and Murrey both encourage the admissions office to set quantitative targets for reductions in mailings.

“It would be cool if they could kind of publish some numbers or some facts about reducing paper usage by a certain number of pounds or saving a certain amount of money every year by e-mailing more than we are mailing,” Fischer said. “That would be effective.”

Admissions and the state of sustainability on campus

The University has made significant strides in recent years toward operating in a more sustainable manner. By introducing new building regulations, for example, the University has demonstrated a commitment to sustainability.

“We think we compare very favorably with many of our peers,” Malten said. “That being said, we know we still have a tremendous amount of work to do.”

The university provides many recycling and trash cans throughout campus, such as this one in Lee. (Kim Jones | Student Life)

With the release of the Sustainability Plan—originally planned for release last spring but delayed until this October—Fischer and Murrey hope to see further improvements in the level of environmental sustainability efforts made by the University.

“I think the University as a whole is doing a really good job in terms of recognizing that we are in need of some improvement in a lot of areas,” Fischer said. “The problem with the University as a whole is that they’re not trying to set a new bar; they’re trying to just achieve the bar, whether you’re talking about admissions, transportation, dining, parking services.”

The admissions office, according to Murrey, is not keeping up with the standards set by other sectors of the University.

“From what I’ve seen, the admissions office is kind of behind the curve on adapting towards more sustainable technologies,” he said. “Buildings has done a pretty d— good job of it with the limited amount of funds that they’re working with. Really with admissions, it’s not a matter of switching over to a green technology or something like that—it’s a matter of reducing.”

Fischer made several suggestions for how the admissions office can go about doing this.

“They could offer carbon offsets to students who fly here to visit. That’s a very lofty goal. In terms of reasonable expectations for the admissions office, this is exactly what’s reasonable for them right now,” he said.

Although admissions is making efforts to engage in more sustainable practices, Murrey argues there is more that can be done.

“I would just encourage the admissions office to remember that there’s ‘reuse’ and ‘recycle,’ but there’s also ‘reduce.’ Reducing is something that not even just sustainability people like me care about,” Murrey said. “It’s a common concern when people come here.”

“[The admissions officers are] saying it is one of the largest classes,” Shimabukuro said. “They are not exactly sure if it is the largest.”

The University admitted more than 1,500 students this year, she said, which is a significant increase over last year’s 1,430.

The Class of 2013, at 1,515 students, is one of the largest classes ever admitted to Washington University. The proportion of international students increased this year, an admissions official said. (Matt Mitgang | Student Life)

The decision to make the class larger than previous classes was intentional, Shimabukuro said.

The primary reason more students were admitted this year is that the newly opened Umrath House can house more students. Because each student living on campus requires a bed, the number of beds available in freshman living quarters limits the number of freshmen who can be admitted.

“With the new residence halls opening up on time, we were able to expand the class a little bit,” Shimabukuro said. “That’s the main challenge in admissions. It’s always tricky. You don’t want to go over what we can accommodate. This year, because we could accommodate those students, we did.”

The admissions office says it is pleased with the larger size of the incoming class but does not expect that future classes will be this large.

“For us, in admissions, it’s always nice to say ‘yes’ to a few more students. We really love that,” Shimabukuro said. “I think, for next year, we’re probably going to go back initially to probably around 1,400—plus or minus in that range. We’re not anticipating that it is going to be a larger class.”

Despite the larger size, the makeup of the class is not different from that of previous classes. The profile of the student population has remained consistent, and the academic quality has remained high, according to Shimabukuro.

The proportion of international students admitted, however, has increased from last year.

“This year we did have a larger international class come in. The Office of International Students and Scholars did a wonderful job of accommodating all those students,” she said. “It’s always nice to have more of a global campus and a global perspective.”

For many students, a larger class size is a plus.

“The campus is more multicultured,” freshman William Wang said about the increase in international students. “I think it’s good.”

“It’s nice [to be part of a large class], because there is more opportunity to meet new people and there’s a higher chance of finding people with similar interests,” freshman Carolyn Carpenter said.
Shimabukuro said she does not see any potential drawbacks to the larger class size.

“I don’t think there are drawbacks, as long as we can accommodate them in the classrooms—which we are—and in the residence halls,” she said.

Stephen F. & Camilla T. Brauer Hall, seen here last week, is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2010. Brauer Hall will house the Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering. (Matt Mitgang | Student Life)

Stephen F. and Camilla T. Brauer Hall for the Washington University School of Engineering & Applied Science is scheduled to be officially open and ready for use in the fall of 2010, according to the administration.

Brauer Hall, located close to Whitaker Hall in the parking lot outside of Brookings Hall, is part of the University’s effort to improve research and learning facilities for students and faculty.

Construction began in October 2008 and will be completed in the spring of 2010 in preparation for the following fall semester’s academic use, according to Michael Altepeter, assistant dean of facilities planning and management.

Altepeter wrote in an e-mail to Student Life that Brauer Hall will feature the same architectural style as most of the buildings on the Danforth Campus.

“The architecture will be the collegiate gothic style used by Cope & Stewardson for the original buildings. The building is but one component of a master plan developed for this section of the University campus,” Altepeter wrote. “Brauer Hall is designed with an arcade inspired by the one at Ridgely Hall.”

Among the facilities in the building’s 150,000 square feet of space, there will be two teaching labs, one each for the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) and the Department for Energy, Environmental and Chemical engineering (EECE).

Altepeter notes that the building will be immensely useful to the development of the University’s already strong BME and EECE programs.

“The new building will offer the EECE Department state-of-the-art laboratories. The new building also gives BME, presently ranked 10th in the nation, the room it needs to expand,” he wrote.

A highlight of Brauer Hall will be its extensive research facilities for the two departments.

“The research laboratories will be state-of-the-art, modular facilities which will allow us to do research in Energy and Environment,” Pratim Biswas, chair of the EECE Department, wrote in an e-mail to Student Life. “They will be modern and faculty doing similar research will be grouped together. For example, research in aerosol science and technology, air quality and nanoparticle technology will be done on the third floor.”

Seven wet labs and a number of computational labs in Brauer Hall will provide students and faculty with additional facilities for research.

Another innovation in the new building will be a distance learning classroom, which will facilitate interactions between the University and other colleges in the McDonnell Academy Global Energy and Environmental Partnership. These include Fudan University in China, the University of Tokyo, the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay and nearly two dozen others.

“[The distance learning classroom] will have the provision to connect to the world,” Biswas wrote.

In his speech at Brauer Hall’s groundbreaking ceremony in October, Biswas said he anticipated the building will be the site of research that will affect the planet.

“While a momentous event for our University, this building will impact the world,” he said during the speech. “We will train graduate and undergraduate students in energy, environmental and chemical engineering, and prepare the leaders of tomorrow to tackle the important issues we will face.”

In keeping with the University’s environmental and sustainability initiatives, Brauer Hall is designed to receive Leadership in Energy and Environment Design’s  Gold certification, according to Biswas. The building will implement many of the latest technologies to be as sustainable as possible, including a mechanism to capture and reuse storm water and a system of cooperating with local utility providers to reduce energy consumption.

To keep the University community up to date on the construction of Brauer Hall, the department has established a Web site with details on the project: http://eec.wustl.edu/about/newbuilding.asp.