The movement originated in New York City last month as a protest of corporate greed and the nation’s current economic policies.

St. Louis residents have claimed Kiener Plaza, in downtown St. Louis at 7th Street and Market Street, as the center of their own Occupy movement. Locals have stationed themselves in the plaza since Oct. 1, with some members staying overnight in tents.

Last Friday, more than 500 people, including students, union leaders and other citizens, marched from Kiener Plaza to the Bank of America headquarters downtown.

Some students at the University have been closely following the progress of both the national and local Occupy movements. Senior Molly Gott has followed the protests since this summer, when she worked in the financial district of Manhattan and heard people discussing the effort.

Gott, who saw the media ignore stirrings of discontent for weeks, saw the parade on Friday as a sign of how much progress the movement has made.

“The original organizers had essentially no organizing experience,” Gott said. “They met on Facebook and met in person for the first time only a couple of nights before the first day of Occupy St. Louis. It’s incredible to see how a lot of people who have been involved with Occupy St. Louis have really stepped up and found power in having their opinions heard.”

Senior Arielle Klagsbrun echoed Gott’s sentiments.

“This started in all cities as a slow, haphazard group, but people committed to it and brought in the media attention,” Klagsbrun said. “If you’re able to have staying power, the media will come around and cover it.”

Others more distantly related to the University have taken active roles in the protests.

Former Adjunct lecturer at the University, Jerome Bauer, who now works with the American Federation of Teachers, has been down at Kiener Plaza every day.

Bauer has been involved with Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment after nearly losing his home to foreclosure a few years ago. While Bauer does not believe that an immediate revolution is feasible, he emphasized the importance of long-term reform.

“I hope to see more people from Wash. U. and from St. Louis turn up to show the world that we can do this right, because it is very important to set an example for the generations to come,” Bauer said. “This is about the future and I think that change does take time. That is why I think it is worthwhile for people to come out and support this.”

Bauer praised the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department’s response to the protests, which he believes has been much more receptive and less aggressive than the New York and Boston police departments.

“We have all realized that it’s in everyone’s best interest to keep the protest civil and nonviolent,” he said.

Various on-campus supporters of Occupy St. Louis have different priorities in backing the movement. While Gott and Bauer are concerned about unfair foreclosures, Klagsbrun worries about corporate America’s influence on environmental issues.

Gott and Klagsbrun agree that media criticism over the movement’s lack of a unified message misses the point of Occupy Wall Street.

“The media seems to be treating it as if there should have been a unified message from day one, where part of the importance of this movement is a commitment to the process of coming up with messages together and hearing all people’s voices before deciding on demands,” Gott said.

Chris Singer, a graduate student in the engineering school, agreed that the movement makes an important statement.

“The economic system we live within is the reason why we constantly have to fight these battles around environmental issues,” Singer said. “It is the root cause and Wall Street is the place to make that message clear.”

He emphasized the importance of the movement for future generations, specifically the generation currently enrolled in college that will be competing for jobs in the future.

“Students have a large vested interest in coming to Occupy St. Louis,” Singer said. “This is about shaping what the future of the U.S. and the world is about. This is incredibly unique in that there has been widespread, open outrage against the most harmful economic system in the entire world.”

Joe Burbank | Orlando Sentinel | MCT

Ron Paul, Gary Johnson, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Herman Cain, Jon Huntsman, Rick Perry, Michele Bachman

While many Democrats on campus are committed to voting for the Democratic incumbent, President Barack Obama, both Democrats and Republicans are starting to speculate as to whom Obama will run against next fall.

Political Science Professor William Lowry says the factions of the Republican party that exist nationwide, as well as on campus, will likely affect the election.

“There is a certain level of dissatisfaction among the voters…it has a lot to do with the party since the party has different factions within it,” Lowry said. “It seems to be that the momentum has shifted towards Romney [but] it is still pretty early to draw too many conclusions.”

The 15 declared Republican presidential candidates range from governors and career politicians to a TV host and a flight attendant. They include Rick Perry, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Rick Santorum and Herman Cain.

Members of Washington University’s College Republicans chapter are split over which Republican candidate they will support.

Senior Michael Beitman said he supports Mitt Romney, whom he thinks stands the best chance out of all current Republican contenders.

“He is by far the smartest guy. The field is a little bit weaker than I would like but he looks and sounds presidential,” Beitman said.

Other students in the group voiced differences in opinion.

Junior Michael Rosengart is involved with Jon Huntsman’s campaign, and he thinks the ex-governor of Utah and ambassador to China has the strongest leadership background.

“He has the experience and the record of results to back [his words] up…he has the ideas to move the country forward,” Rosengart said. “I’m involved in Huntsman’s GenH college student and young professional youth with a couple of other students…When Missouri starts playing a role in primary season, we want to have an impact on campus.”

Freshman Kaitlin McTague said she supports Michele Bachmann because she was enthusiastic when she visited McTague’s hometown. She says she likes that Bachmann is familiar with kids after raising dozens of foster children.

As far as Obama getting re-elected, members of the group noted general dissatisfaction with his presidency thus far. They said that he was too inexperienced in politics to become president in the first place.

McTague specifically noted disagreement with Obama’s stance on Israel and his healthcare plan.

The Republican primaries will start this February, leading up to the election next November.

Matt Mitgang | Student Life

Former state senator Jeff Smith, flanked by his lawyers, speaks to the media after being sentenced to 12 months in federal prison and a $50,000 fine in November 2009. Smith plead guity to two counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Smith handwrote the majority of the book in a journal he kept while serving time for lying to federal investigators who were looking into his campaign activities from his 2004 congressional bid.

In his book, tentatively titled “Mr. Smith Goes to Prison: What They Don’t Teach in PoliSci 101,” Smith aims to point out how his political science degrees have helped him in his legislative tenure and throughout his life, and discuss ways in which he thinks they are lacking.

“I would say there’s a healthy dose of analysis [in my book] of places where scholarly theory comports with reality that I encountered or does not,” Smith said. “In a lot of cases, it kind of falls short.”

According to Smith, many academic programs are so heavily focused on scholarly theory that they often fail to fully prepare students for the practice of politics.

“[In my book, I discuss] places where academic theory is often insufficient to explain a lot of the phenomena that I encountered,” he said. “A lot of political science theory and theories about the legislative process are pretty mathematical and don’t always account for emotion and relationships, and those are…two very, very important factors that often are not included in models.”

Writing a book, Smith said, has long been a personal objective. He hopes that his work will help to inform and improve the field and practice of politics.

“I’ve always hoped to try to alert practitioners to the fact that there is a lot of wisdom that they can draw upon in political science,” Smith said. “I’ve also tried very hard to bring different aspects of real world politics to academia, which conversely, I think, helps inform the work of scholars. So one of the main goals of the book is to try to help the two worlds speak to each other.”

Smith submitted a false affidavit to the Federal Election Commission while under investigation. In the affidavit, Smith denied involvement in the production of illegal negative advertisements distributed about Russ Carnahan—Smith’s opponent in the 2004 U.S. House of Representatives race, to whom Smith lost.

He also hopes to share his story with young people—especially those interested in politics, who might learn from his mistakes.

“I spent over a decade involved in community service in St. Louis and then public service,” Smith said. “And because of a mistake that was pretty needless—and ultimately didn’t make a difference in the election that I was running—I made a mistake in the heat of a campaign that really undid a lot of the good I had worked to accomplish.”

In his experience, Smith has found that small choices and judgment calls really do matter.

“In the original mistake, the spotlight wasn’t on at all. It was a five-minute conversation in the middle of a campaign that no one was really paying attention to at that time,” he said. “It was in a time before the spotlight was on me, in a time before I realized that it would come back to haunt me, was when I originally slipped up. It’s things that you do when you might least expect it that can ultimately come back and unravel a lot of the things that you had worked for.”

Smith hopes that the significant press his story has garnered will allow his message to be heard.

In fall of 2009, Smith pled guilty on two felony counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice. He was convicted, sentenced to a year and a day in a Kentucky prison, and fined $50,000. Smith was released to a St. Louis halfway house in August 2010, where he stayed until November 2010.

So far, the former state senator has written about 400 pages, and he says the book is almost complete. His agent has been pitching to publishers and hopes that the book will be available for sale by late 2011 or early 2012.

Senior Grady Jung remembers hearing about the controversy in 2009 and thinks the book will provide a uniquely beneficial view.

“There are a lot of not-kosher things in politics, and to get the perspective of someone who was actually prosecuted for that—I think that would be a really valuable view,” Jung said.

Other students agree that Smith’s experiences make his viewpoint valuable.

“It will definitely offer an interesting perspective. People already think there’s so much corruption in government; [now] they can hear the story from someone who has actually gone through it and been a part of it,” freshman Robert Knapel said.

Since Smith regained his freedom, he has been working on various projects, helping to write part of the city’s bid for the Democratic National Convention and doing consulting work. He has also written for “The Recovering Politician” blog and will soon begin contributing to The Huffington Post, focusing on urban education and federal budget issues.

Smith has also interviewed for several professorships in various locations around the country. In 2002, he won Washington University’s Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence.

“I loved the experience I had teaching at Wash. U.,” Smith said. “I just came back last week and guest lectured for a friend who teaches a public policy course, and it reminded me of how much I love teaching and being around young people who are interested in public policy, so hopefully I’ll have the chance to do that again.”

The University hosted the 2008 vice-presidential debate, between then-candidates Sarah Palin and Joseph Biden.

Before that, the University hosted presidential debates in 1992, 2000 and 2004. It was also chosen to host a debate between President Bill Clinton and Senator Bob Dole in 1996, but the debate was later canceled.

Eleven other universities, including Indiana University and Wake Forest University, have also applied to host debates in 2012.

According to Rob Wild, assistant to the chancellor, the University hopes to bring the debate to campus in order to increase student political involvement.

“We push to get students registered [to vote], and certainly when there is a debate on campus we have an easier time getting people on campus engaged,” Wild said.

He also said that the debates help enhance students’ academic experiences by increasing their knowledge of the political issues affecting the country as a whole.

Still, not all members of the University community agree that the 2008 debate contributed to their educational experience.

“As a student in polisci, I don’t think it added to my learning. Although I would have had a different experience if I had gotten in [to watch the debate],” said senior Peter Bush, who didn’t have a ticket.

The presidential and vice presidential debates are organized by the Commission on Presidential Debates. The Commission requires that each university hosting a debate be able to contribute to the cost of the debate. According to Wild, the University was required to give $1.65 million toward the 2008 debate.

The University received funding from outside sponsors to offset the cost of the debate. The administration hopes to do the same if it is chosen to host a debate in 2012.

“We do our best to make sure we minimize that impact,” Wild said.

According to Steve Givens, associate vice chancellor for pubic affairs, the University usually looks to St. Louis-based corporations to provide sponsorship. Emerson, AT&T and Wachovia sponsored the 2008 debate.

Givens, who was the head of the debate steering committees in 2000 and 2004, noted the historical importance of hosting presidential debates.

“No one knew five years ago when we agreed to host the vice presidential debate what an important event that was going to be toward the election,” Wild said.

The University has a long-standing tradition of giving all the debate tickets that it receives to students.

In 2008, the University released debate tickets to students via a lottery system. The University chose 432 of the 7,942 students who entered the lottery to attend the debate.

Students of the campus community hope that the University has more tickets to give to students if a debate is held on campus in 2012.

“I was here for the 2008 debate. I didn’t get to go because of the lottery system. It would be nice if more students could go,” junior Emilie Weisser said.

Many members of the Washington University community think that the debates increase the University’s name recognition.

“I think the VP debates are cool because they bring recognition to the school. Most people on the coasts don’t know about Wash. U.,” sophomore Allie Brand said.

According to Wild, the Commission on Presidential Debates chooses host sites based on a number of factors, including facilities and funding. In the past, leaders of the Commission on Presidential Debates have visited the campus prior to making the decision to evaluate the facilities.

The 2008 debate was held in the Athletic Complex. The AC also housed members of the media during the debate.

Administrators say that debates have consistently created enthusiasm among members of the University community.

“It has proven to be something that brings a lot of excitement to the University,” Wild said.

Givens attributes this enthusiasm among students to the degree of political involvement it affords them.

“It brings a level of excitement for our students, that the students find themselves in the middle of an historic, maybe even game-changing event,” Givens said.

With additional reporting by Wei-Yin Ko.

Matt Mitgang

U.S. Reps. Russ Carnahan (D-St. Louis) at left and Jo Ann Emerson (R-Cape Girardeau), the two co-chairs of the Center Aisle Caucus, joined Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay (D-St. Louis) on campus Thursday in a conversation about how to make political discourse more civil.

U.S. Reps. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Cape Girardeau), Russ Carnahan (D-St. Louis) and William Lacy Clay (D-St. Louis) told a public forum in the Knight Center that the way politicians interact with one another holds major implications across political culture—from environmental policy to congressional potlucks.

And they said part of an increased lack of civility in politics stems from an increasingly polarized and sensationalistic news media.

“The media gives too much attention to negativity and fighting and not enough to conversations like this one,” Carnahan told the audience at the discussion, which was sponsored by the Danforth Center on Religion & Politics.

Civility in politics—or a lack thereof—has entered the national spotlight since U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) was shot and wounded severely during a public appearance in January.

In opening the panel, moderator Wayne Fields, the center’s founding director and a professor of English at Washington University, pointed to the recent shooting as a catalyst for the representatives’ conversation. But he also cited something more deeply ingrained in American culture—“a widely expressed longing for a more civil society, one in which our behavior is consistent with our most fundamental religious and civic values.”

Carnahan and Emerson are the co-chairs of the Center Aisle Caucus, a forum founded in 2005 to build relationships between members of both parties. They said the shooting had delivered a major wake-up call, one that made the caucus’s mission more important than ever.

Emerson emphasized the importance of a culture of civility within Congress, citing her close personal friendship with U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) and the weekly potlucks she hosts on Sundays for a group of five couples that include members of Congress from both sides of the aisle.

“I’ve learned how not to judge people based on how they vote,” Emerson said. “We have conversations about family and faith….Quite frankly, I love not talking politics.”

Emerson recounted a time when she and Wasserman Schultz appeared on the MSNBC show “Hardball” with Chris Matthews. Emerson said she and her friend managed to remain civil on the show, despite what she perceived as Matthews’ effort to incite a heated debate between the two. “I think it should be our responsibility to promote [civility] on those shows,” she said.

When Fields asked about the fast and often contentious pace of today’s media and the role of social media in democratic politics, the representatives responded that new media has become a powerful tool—but added that it has its limitations.

“People in new media, they tend to be self-selecting information that they don’t agree with, and a lot of times they’re not seeing the broader part of the debate,” Carnahan said. “Still, we’re seeing [new media] topple dictators and military forces across North Africa….We need to be involved in that. In democracy, it’s a tremendous tool.”

When Fields asked about the current protests in Madison over public-union rights legislation and about how to tackle hard issues with civility, all three representatives cited conversations they’d had in Congress about health care.

Emerson said open forums in Congress started by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) have helped encourage civil dialogue on the issue.

But all three added that the civil parts of the debate over health-care reform in the previous Congress were overridden by contention, especially as the process was portrayed by the media.

“The process itself really got demonized throughout,” Carnahan said.

Senior Toby Shepard said that attending the event broadened her perspective on the way politicians interact.

“I thought it was interesting,” Shepard said. “I didn’t feel that any of them said anything particularly concrete or groundbreaking, and they didn’t necessarily do much in the way of coming up with solutions, but they definitely brought up important issues.”

Sophomore Anna Appelbaum agreed.

“As someone who considers herself to be very liberal, [I thought] it was especially interesting to listen to Jo Ann Emerson speak,” Applebaum said. “It drove home for me the point that civil discourse is incredibly important. Seeing her say things that I could agree with really spoke to what this entire event was trying to accomplish.”

Loesch, co-founder of the St. Louis Tea Party, was hired this month to be the 24-hour news channel’s Tea Party expert for the 2012 election.

“I believe things have been shaken up,” Jessica A. Brown, a teacher of media literacy in University College, said. “[CNN’s hiring of Loesch] gets people out of their comfort zone, which is good.”

Loesch is the editor-in-chief of Andrew Breitbart’s website, Big Journalism, and the host of “The Dana Show,” a conservative talk show in St. Louis. She has also made numerous media appearances on FOX News, ABC, CBS and CNN and has been a guest on “Real Time with Bill Maher.”

While the controversy surrounding Loesch’s hiring is being debated across various media outlets, politically involved students have their own interpretations of the event.

Junior Kevin Paule, president of Young Americans for Liberty at Washington University, believes that CNN’s decision reflects its bipartisan audience.

“The Tea Party is not only a major force in the Republican party, but also in the American political scene,” Paule said, “[The Young Americans for Liberty] are happy to see that CNN has come to this realization as millions of Americans call for the shrinking of government.”

Sophomore Joel Yambert, president of the College Republicans, also believes that Dana Loesch will be a good addition to the network.

“I am quite excited to hear about Loesch’s hiring at the CNN network,” Yambert said. “I feel that she has a lot of good to put forward to the network, and she has a strong foundation in her ideals. I believe that she is an intelligent woman who is able to look at both sides and always tell a straight story—she tells it as it is, if you will.”

Yambert also mentioned the fact that many conservatives, himself included, feel that CNN has a liberal bias.

“I feel that her addition to their team will be great for those on the right wing,” Yambert said. “It will also provide a new perspective and add more of a fair situation in CNN’s delivery of politics to the American public.”

In contrast, Adam Shriver, a graduate student in Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology at the University and the leader of the St. Louis Activist Hub, believes that Loesch’s credibility as an analyst is questionable at best.

“Hiring Dana Loesch as an election analyst severely damages the credibility of CNN as a news organization, not because of the fact that she’s extremely conservative, but rather because she is a proponent of the Andrew Breitbart approach to journalism which is fundamentally dishonest when it comes to the gathering and presentation of information,” Shriver wrote in an e-mail to Student Life.

Shriver cited Loesch’s recent comments regarding Bristol Palin’s guest speaker controversy last week as an example of her dishonesty.

“Loesch was completely dishonest about the Bristol Palin controversy at Wash. U.…she claimed that Wash. U. paid Van Jones $20,000 to speak at the school,” Shriver said. “Actually, Van Jones usually speaks for $20,000, but agreed to speak at Wash. U. for only $5,000. Green Action applied for a small amount more for a panel, but they were turned down.”

Shriver concluded by addressing what, he believes, made this hiring controversial.

“There are plenty of honest people out there who can effectively communicate a conservative message,” he said. “I see no reason why CNN should hire a person with Loesch’s track record of pushing blatant misinformation.”

Since the president released his budget proposal on Monday, Republicans in the House have been debating a proposal of their own to submit in response.

The administration’s budget for the 2012 fiscal year proposes $36.1 billion in Pell grant funding for approximately 9.6 million students but would include a provision preventing students from collecting more than one annual Pell grant. Currently, students may earn a second Pell grant for summer classes.

The maximum grant allocation of $5500 would not be decreased.

In contrast, the Republican plan would reduce the maximum Pell grant amount available for both the regular academic year and summer term.

The Republicans’ propose a reduction in the maximum grant amount possible for students from $5,500 to $4,700, a decrease of 14.5 percent.

According to Steven Smith, the Kate M. Gregg Distinguished Professor of Social Sciences at the Washington University, the Republican-proposed cut will be a blow to financial aid across the board.

“For students at a place like Wash. U., that’s a big chunk,” Smith said. “That’s a pretty big hit, and to have it all done in one year; that’s something to which a student has a hard time adjusting, because that means that whenever you get the Pell grant, whether it is for the regular academic year or the summer, there is just less money available for you.”

According to the Obama administration, the cuts suggested by the Republicans will save money with little effect on graduation rate.

Obama’s plan, Smith said, might be more generous to students than the Republican alternative.

But according to Smith, Obama’s plan would take a large toll on students receiving the maximum grant. It would also affect those students in the upper income range eligible for the grant, who will likely receive less federal aid, if any, under the new budget.

“They used to be able to get that maximum plus an additional amount for the summer; now that additional amount for the summer will disappear,” Smith said. “That will mean less money in the pockets of some students.”

In the past, Pell grants have been extended to students for summer terms so that they can graduate earlier. But after evaluating graduation rates, the Office of Management and Budget and the Department of Education found that students who receive summer Pell grants typically do not graduate early.

This is because many of the students who have received summer Pell grants are also working part time, research conducted by the federal government found. Taking courses in the summer allows these students to take fewer courses and work more hours year-round.

“The bigger picture here is that funding for student aid is at risk when both Democrats and Republicans are looking for ways to trim budgets,” Smith said. “I think there’s little doubt that there is going to be somewhat of a hit on Pell Grants for the next fiscal year.”

The effects of the cuts will extend to both the private and public sectors of higher education.

“In the sector of public colleges and universities, we’re going to be seeing rising tuitions and fewer financial aid dollars available,” Smith said. “So, inevitably, there are going to be people who don’t go to college, or delay going to college, or go at a slower pace in order to make it affordable in the new situation. It’s inevitable that that affects working class students from working class families.”

The University will by no means be immune to the effects of the cuts.

“It will affect places like Wash. U. because students will shift from here to a less expensive school, unless the University is able to make it up,” Smith said. “Wash. U. and other schools like it have done pretty well. They’ve worked pretty hard to make it up with internal financial aid dollars. But this is going to be a big system-wide hit, and it will be increasingly difficult for colleges and universities to make it up.”

Student Financial Services at the University plans to compensate students for the cuts in Pell grants.

“If Pell grants for the academic year are reduced, the University will make up the difference according to a policy that has been in place for some time,” Bill Witbrodt, director of Student Financial Services, wrote in an e-mail to Student Life. “If a student’s family’s financial situation stays about the same, and cost (tuition, etc.) increases, then the student’s financial aid award should increase also.”

There are certain benefits embedded in Obama’s proposed budget, including a 13 percent increase in research funding to places like the National Science Foundation.

Obama’s budget would also allocate $8.5 billion in new loan volume to the Federal Perkins Loan Program each year, which reaches approximately three million students. To increase competition among colleges, the plan also proposes $175 million in competitive grants.

Paul Goedeke | Student Life

Junior Parsa Bastani tells students about his experiences in Alexandria as part of a panel on the current political climate in Egypt on Wednesday night.

On Wednesday night, around 80 students gathered in the Danforth University Center Fun Room to hear 20-year-old Amin Abu-Hashen participate in a panel about Egypt’s current political climate from Cairo.

The panel came less than 24 hours before Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced that he would not relinquish power.

Senior Nick Wilbar, co-editor-in-chief of the Washington University Political Review (WUPR), met Abu-Hashen, an Egyptian citizen, while studying at the American University in Cairo (AUC) last spring. Abu-Hashen was called from Cairo using Skype.

Wilbar joined Abu-Hashen and juniors Sarah Rangwala and Parsa Bastani as members of the panel, co-hosted by both WUPR and Controversy N’ Coffee (CNC). Rangwala spent last semester at AUC, and Bastani returned early from a semester abroad in Alexandria at the Middlebury School in the Middle East last week after the U.S. Department of State issued an order for all American citizens to leave the country.

Bastani offered the perspective of an American spectator before Abu-Hashen shared his experiences as a participant in the recent protests, which began Jan. 25.

The protesters’ grievances include various legal and political issues related to the government of President Hosni Mubarak, including police brutality, state-of-emergency laws, lack of free elections and free speech, food price inflation and low minimum wages.

Abu-Hashen said that most Egyptians he knows genuinely despise Mubarak, and that the protests have been inspirational for many citizens; however, he said that the violence has been difficult to stomach.

“It’s very tough to hear of people’s homes being forcibly broken into,” Abu-Hashen said. “It was very unsafe for a couple of days.”

Abu-Hashen said that he had also personally witnessed police using Molotov cocktails, a type of gasoline bomb, and civilians beating up the police in droves.

On Wednesday night, Abu-Hashen predicted that Mubarak would relinquish power. However, Mubarak announced in a speech Thursday afternoon that he would not leave office, enraging hundreds of thousands who had gathered in Tahrir Sqaure in Cairo to celebrate his resignation.

Mubarak also announced in the speech that he will delegate some authority to Vice President Omar Suleiman.

For the panel’s organizers, Abu-Hashen’s perspective—and the format of the event—allowed for a different kind of conversation about Egypt and the Middle East.

“It allowed us to talk with people who were there, Egyptian kids who participated in it,” Wilbar said. “Parsa stood to shed a lot of light on it because he saw it happen, but these Egyptian kids actually participated, they saw how meaningful it was to watch it unfold.”

Students who attended the panel found Abu-Hashen’s testimony meaningful.

“I’m a political science major, and especially after coming back from abroad, I try to stay more aggressive about international issues,” junior Michael Fletcher said. “Egypt is obviously a big deal. I didn’t realize how unsafe it had gotten…I knew protests were going on, but I naively thought they were more peaceful than this.”

Senior Nicole Lopez, who spent her junior year in Jordan, agreed.

“I’ve been dying to talk to people about this because I love the Middle East,” Lopez said. “You’re watching Tunisia, then you see these

massive protests in Egypt. I don’t have much contact with people inside of Egypt, so it was really exciting to hear what’s actually going on on a ground level.”

The uprising has generated conversation about Egypt among pundits and academics alike, including Ahmet Karamustafa, a professor of history at the University.

“The spectacular popular uprising is the clearest evidence that the autocratic rule of Mubarak and his associates is doomed,” Karamustafa wrote in an e-mail to Student Life on Thursday afternoon. “The cosmopolitan people of Egypt have shown that they are way ahead of their moribund regime. No matter what the outcome, it won’t be business as usual again in Egypt.

Michael Robinson Chavez | Los Angeles Times | MCT

Chaos has enveloped Egypt in the wake of massive protests and widespread violence against the regime of President Hosni Mubarak. The political unrest in the area has forced the evacuation of U.S. nationals, including students studying abroad from Washington University.

Junior Parsa Bastani was studying in Alexandria at the Middlebury School in the Middle East, which is based at Alexandria University. He is on his way back to St. Louis from Prague and is contemplating various options for finishing out the semester.

Junior Allegra Skurka, studying at Cairo University, flew to Athens this week and plans to finish the semester in Jordan.

Protests against Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s president since 1981, began in Cairo last Tuesday and turned to violent riots as more than 250,000 Egyptians took to the streets.

The protesters’ grievances include various legal and political issues, including police brutality, state-of-emergency laws, lack of free elections and free speech, food-price inflation and low minimum wages.

Standing on a balcony at a friend’s apartment near the city center, Skurka was close enough to feel the effects of the tear gas initially used to dispel the riots.

“It was [a] moment that brought me to reality, that the U.S. and my rights don’t travel with me wherever I go,” Skurka wrote in an e-mail to Student Life. “I wouldn’t feel the sting of tear gas if I were in the U.S. I was in a country whose citizens don’t have the right to stand up for themselves and who are being repressed by the very body that is charged with protecting them. Egyptians call it state terrorism. No one should have to endure that.”

On Monday, the Egyptian military declared that it would not fire on protesters. Mubarak and his family have allegedly since fled to London, and Mubarak has declared that he will not seek re-election and will leave office when his term ends in September.

Organizers of the protest were inspired by similar events in Tunisia, which succeeded in ousting Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali after 23 years of authoritarian rule.

On Tuesday, the U.S. State Department issued an order for all non-emergency personnel and their families to evacuate the country immediately. After EgyptAir canceled approximately 75 percent of its flights, airlines from around the world arranged about 85 flights to ferry those visiting Egypt to safer nations.

Skurka flew to Athens on a flight chartered by the U.S. Department of State.

“The decision was made to evacuate on Sunday, but we were not able to get secure transport to the airport for our chartered flight until Monday,” Skurka wrote. “It was much worse for the people who were trying to catch commercial flights out of the country as opposed to chartered evacuation planes.”

Bastani could not be reached for comment.

“We are very relieved,” Priscilla Stone, director of Overseas Programs at the University, wrote in an e-mail to Student Life. “Middlebury College and AMIDEAST, who were hosting these two students, did a very good job under trying circumstances in evacuating these students and keeping us and the families informed of their progress,”

2010 alumni Adina Appelbaum and Marcus Walton, studying in Egypt on Fulbright scholarships, were both out of the country when the protests began—Appelbaum in Morocco and Walton in Tunisia. Both have been reported safe.

Senior Toby Shepard, who completed a program at the American University in Cairo last spring, expressed relief at the students’ evacuation and concern for the Egyptian friends she made.

“On the one hand, I’m really excited for Egypt and for all of the Egyptians because this is a really important historical moment for them, and the possibility for real change is sort of exciting and infectious,” Shepard said. “On the other hand, as reports of the number of protesters who were killed has gone up, I’m nervous for my Egyptian friends who I know are still there.”

Matt Mitgang | Student Life

Congressman Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.) concludes his victory speech on Nov. 2 after being reelected as the representative from Missouri’s third congressional district. Carnahan won by over 4,000 votes, but Republican Ed Martin has not yet conceded the race.

As of Tuesday’s final count, Martin trailed by 4,400 of approximately 200,000 district votes. But the election was too close to call until around midnight, and the Martin campaign has pointed to a late-night influx of heavy Carnahan votes from seven city precincts as reason for investigation.

Martin also points to the fact that Congressman Carnahan’s sister, Robin Carnahan, reported having irregularities and computer glitches early on Election Day last Tuesday.

These irregularities, according to Robin Carnahan’s staff, arose when voters arrived and found that their names were not on the poll books. Local election officials were unable to verify their voting status because servers were overrun.

Washington University is located in the 3rd Congressional district. On Tuesday, several students complained of confusion at the polls, including being turned away after requesting provisional ballots.

“Because the Secretary of State’s database was not working from about 7 a.m. until close to 3 p.m., we have heard reports about problems with provisional voting throughout the district, including precincts in and around Wash. U.,” Martin wrote in an email to Student Life. “This is a fundamental duty of the Secretary of State and a real problem. We are still exploring if people were disenfranchised and how it impacted the election.”

The Martin campaign has suggested that an independent investigator be hired because of the family ties between Robin and Russ Carnahan. Normally, the voting inquiry would be the responsibility of the Missouri secretary of state.

Martin is not sure what options are available, but is working hard to figure out what to do next. Though his loss margin is well beyond the 1 percent margin at which a recount can be requested, Martin can legally challenge the election until Carnahan is sworn into office again on Nov. 16.