For those essential personnel who were required to work, however, the 43-hour “snowpocalypse” was anything but relaxing. These individuals made sure that students living on campus remained fed, that emergency medical services were available, that emergency facilities were ready in the event of a power outage and that the walkways around campus remained passable.

These administrators, cooks, facilities, maintenance and Top Care allowed students to pass the break comfortably and helped the University open on Wednesday morning. We would like to thank them for their hard work and personal sacrifice, and we hope that the rest of the University community takes time to thank them as well.

Students living on campus need to realize how lucky they were to have the University watching out for them. Bear’s Den kept us sane with specially prepared “Snow Day Specials” (Grilled cheese and macaroni! Chicken sandwich! Pork loin!). The Danforth University Center, the Knight Center and the Athletic Complex were being outfitted to provide lodging for students in case we lost power. Top Care kept everybody from slipping, and ResLife made sure we all kept our windows closed and everything went as smoothly as possible. In order to ensure these services, University personnel stayed overnight on or near campus, sacrificing their own comfort and personal time in order to guide campus through the storm. Maybe the on-campus wireless was a little slow from overuse, but at least we still had Internet—how else were we supposed to waste time on our day off?

This week served as another reminder that our maintenance, facility, janitorial and dining personnel help keep this campus functional around the clock. It’s time to thank these University employees for their work this week and for everything that they have done and will do for us this year.

A CQ Press report from Nov. 22 named the city America’s most dangerous for the second time in five years.

The report offers the latest grim assessment of safety in the areas around the University. It comes months after The Daily Beast ranked the University as the nation’s 13th most dangerous campus. And St. Louis was ranked America’s most dangerous city in 2006 by Morgan-Quitno, which was acquired by CQ Press in 2007. Both rankings have come under fire, with some critics saying their methodologies are biased.

Many students say that they feel safe around the Danforth Campus, which is located partially in the city but mostly in neighboring St. Louis County. But some said the CQ report may discourage prospective students from applying to a university in a city they perceive as dangerous.

“I feel like parents are going to be more concerned than students are,” freshman Brendan Daly said. “I know a prospective student whose parents are discouraging her from applying because of the recent ranking of St. Louis.”

The report is based on statistics on murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and motor vehicle theft reported to the FBI for all U.S. cities with more than 75,000 residents. St. Louis was ranked second most dangerous in 2009 and 2007 and fourth most dangerous in 2008.

University spokesman Steve Givens called the rankings flawed, saying in a statement Tuesday that the administration puts no stock in them.

“As our students know, the University has worked very hard over the past several years to make our campus and the neighborhoods surrounding it as safe as possible,” Givens added. “We will continue those efforts with the utmost diligence.”

The Daily Beast took heat for its campus safety rankings. In September, the University called the rankings misleading because they included crimes around the Medical Campus. The Daily Beast has defended its report, saying that its methodology was consistent across schools.

Kara Bowlin, a spokeswoman for St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, responded to the CQ report by telling CBS News that city crime has fallen each year since 2007 and by 7 percent so far in 2010.

The city criticized past years’ rankings for drawing on crime figures only in the city instead of in the whole region. Morgan-Quitno and CQ have defended its rankings throughout the years.

Some students said that they see St. Louis as dangerous but feel safe on campus and that the new rankings don’t make them worry more. Some became more cautious near campus after a spate of muggings this fall, however.

“Although St. Louis itself may be dangerous, I do not feel particularly unsafe on campus and in the surrounding area,” junior Corey Donahue said. “As long as I am careful of when and where I’m walking, I don’t feel in danger.”

Freshman Megan Conn said that any city comes with the risk of crime. She added that the campus is in a safer part of the area. “I don’t think students at Wash. U. are in significantly more danger than those at similar universities in Chicago, New York or Boston.”

With additional reporting by Puneet Kollipara.

“It takes a lot of coordination and effort to make the campus beautiful,” said Theiling, the horticulturist in charge of most of the landscape work done at Wash. U.

According to Theiling, the South 40 Residence Halls, along with the Danforth, North, South and West campuses, are all maintained by a group of around 30 workers from Top Care Lawn Service, the University’s grounds maintenance contractor since 1992. The workers are on a tight schedule from April to November.

“Currently, Top Care is mulching shrub beds, trees, preparing the flower beds and containers for the annual flowers, as well as working on the landscape of Brauer Hall and starting up the irrigation systems,” Theiling said. “Weekly mowing of the grass has begun and trash is picked up on a daily basis.”

Landscape architects are hired by Wash. U. primarily to design landscapes and installations around new buildings, such as the aforementioned recent addition to the School of Engineering, Brauer Hall.

The selection of the rest of the grounds’ greenery is up to Theiling, who manages the landscape renovations, the replacement of those trees that did not survive the first couple of years of planting and the selection of annual flowers. He often opts for burgundies and whites that match the school colors.

At the moment, Top Care workers are busy preparing for the flurry of events that occur in spring, which attract many students and off-campus visitors. These include Thurtene, W.I.L.D. and, most notably, Commencement, before which the company plants new flowers to make the campus look as lovely as possible. This requires a large number of man-hours, especially for such a short period of time.

For years, students have debated the need for campus landscaping, or at least the need for such an abundance of it. The trademark spring tulips, whose planting has raised complaints from students as visible signs of some tuition money’s final resting place, are gone this year due to budget cuts.

Patricia Cheung, a graduate student at the Brown School of Social Work, thinks both the landscaping and tulips are necessary.

“A lot of high school students come during spring,” Cheung said. “It’s important, as superficial as that may sound.”

However, Cheung, who also did her undergraduate work at Wash. U., said she would instead like to see a bigger investment in a somewhat different aspect of landscaping: Wash. U.’s built environment. A greater number of benches, picnic tables and other interactive architecture across campus would encourage the use of Wash. U.’s green spaces. Cheung also desires more sustainable landscaping that would not have to be renovated as frequently.

“As far as the shrubs and trees that we choose, we try and go more for native trees and native shrubs, ones that sustain our weather conditions, that are well established in this region of the country, that can keep up with our hot, dry summers,” Theiling explained. “Pro-native is a very popular topic for many people, not just on campus.”

Given the spring deadlines, it seems that campus landscaping is often most appreciated by prospective students.

Will Childs-Klein, a high school junior interested in Wash. U., commented that landscaping might affect his college choice.

“The green is a big factor. I don’t want a campus that’s brown,” Childs-Klein said. He visited Rice University in October—acknowledging that it was autumn—and felt he liked the feel of Wash. U.’s campus “a lot better.”

“Keep it up,” Childs-Klein suggested in the end, regarding the maintenance work done around the school. Perhaps Wash. U. will remain a hung jury about the value of tulips. But it seems landscaping, in whatever form, is a valuable asset to the campus at large.

Visiting Writers
Rarely can we promise a truly exciting talk from a visiting writer. Rarer still can we promise two. On March 23 and 24, poet Frank Bidart will discuss the craft of poetry and give a reading. For those less familiar with the writing world, Bidart has a reputation for provocation; his poems, like his readings, are often graphic, and his readings often have the atmosphere of a rock concert. March 31 brings bad-boy playwright, poet and memoirist Nick Flynn, perhaps best known for his book “Another Bullshit Night in Suck City.”

Holi Festival Celebration and Water Balloon Fight
April 16 offers the perfect chance to blend the good karma of multicultural education with the stress-release of simulated warfare. Join several hundred other students at the swamp to learn about Holi, the Southeast Asian Festival of Color, and throw water-filled balloons and participate in a mud fight.

Gloria Steinem
Titan of feminist thought Gloria Steinem comes to campus April 12. Steinem has been at the vanguard of the Women’s Liberation Movement since the late 1960s. It is no overstatement to say that her writings and advocacy defined the movement for much of that time. While her talk on the subject of global sex trafficking should prove interesting enough on its own, anyone interested in Women and Gender Studies, or why we can even major in Women and Gender Studies, should attend.

Strauss the Younger’s Die Fledermaus
Tickets are still available for Friday and Saturday nights’ performances of Strauss II’s “The Bat.” Yes, it’s opera, but it’s one of the most commonly performed in North America. If you’re not much of a classical music nerd, Strauss II is a great composer to start with.

Factory Film Festival
In cooperation with the Tivoli Theater on the Loop, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will be screening three films from March 23-25 at 7 p.m.: Charlie Chaplin’s “Modern Times,” Martin Ritt’s uplifting “Norman Rae” and Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke’s celebrated “24 City.” Each film is a meditation on the relationship between human beings and hard factory labor. It might help put your English paper in perspective. Admission is free.

We know that with all the big ticket events on your schedule you won’t be able to hit all of these more niche offerings. But try to hit a few. After all, there is more to your college education than your GPA. As always, if you have an event you deem worthy of our precious late-semester hours, e-mail us at e-board@studlife.com.

People are always talking about bridging the gap that exists between students in different geographical areas. And while some groups like Teach For America are well known and attract many applicants, one lesser-known organization is Reasoning Mind (RM).

Junior Jordan Jacobs serves as a campus recruiter for Reasoning Mind (RM), a nonprofit organization that aims to change the instructional paradigm in early math education in schools across the US.

Last year, Jacobs learned from a relative that Reasoning Mind was looking for a campus recruiter at Washington University, and he volunteered for the job immediately. In the past year, he has been actively promoting the Reasoning Mind program among students and professors on campus. Now, the company is registered in the Career Center for interested students and professors.

“What I am trying to do on campus is to attract the best teachers at the University to work for the organization, and thus enhance the learning process for those students,” Jacobs said.

The RM service is a computer-based educational program used by middle schools across the nation. The teacher controls the learning process and works with students one-on-one. The program attempts to reform the mathematics curriculum by introducing a rigorous and effective curriculum that prepares kids for success in higher-level math. Evaluations of students have shown that theu have improved significantly after the implementation of RM.

“The RM movement has made a significant impact in promoting the early math education,” Jacobs said. “The schools that have signed up for the service all continued their enrollment in the subsequent year. The number of schools enrolled has doubled in the past year.”

Indeed, increased attention has been devoted to the importance of early math education in recent years.

As noted in RM’s mission statement, “First-rate math and science skills are essential for success in the 21st century workforce…Reasoning Mind’s mission is to provide a first-rate math education for every child. To achieve this, we offer an engaging online community that develops students’ math knowledge and thinking skills, and we help schools and parents bring this to their children.”

As a math major, Jacobs also said, “Reasoning Mind [in]spires me to teach mathematics. I have applied to a summer internship with a similar company, teaching middle school kids.”

Due to lack of communication regarding the construction on the 40, there were (and currently are) only two plausible ways of walking to campus. One route is between JKL and Lee, and the other route is all the way around the Wohl parking garage. The first method is very dangerous, filled with puddles and freshmen, while the second route makes me understand how it felt to get from New York to California by ship before the Panama Canal was built. As the first few days of classes were not conducive to trekking, the sweltering heat at 10 in the morning made my journey feel more grueling than Frodo’s. Clayco’s answer to this problem was to build a series of temporary stairs like mazes between construction zones, which of course can lead you nowhere.

My experiences with bicycles this semester have not been good. I first tried borrowing one from a friend, and it ended up being similar to a deathtrap. Due to a lack of maintenance (and usage), the back brakes are nonfunctional, the seat is loose, the tires are flat and the front wheel is pulling to the right. I nearly died the first time I rode it. I was wise enough to grit my teeth and buy my own.

The final method I chose to use was the campus circulator. My experiences with it have been nothing short of terrifying, hilarious and maddening. On some occasions, the driver tries to eliminate the waiting time per stop delay, and you better get out of the way in those moments. It does not matter what race, gender or disabilities you have, pray you can jump out of its path. Last year, as my friend and I were riding the bus, the driver rocketed around the turn from Wallace Drive into Mallinckrodt, and two poor students had the misfortune of not walking on the sidewalk. The driver came up from behind and honked his horn menacingly. One of the kids probably had to change his pants, and the other exhibited “deer in the headlights” characteristics. On another occasion, it was a bitter winter morning and there was a long line at the Clocktower. Students were frozen, praying for the campus circulator. He came a little early, but kids gratefully clambered aboard. All the kids had boarded, and we noticed a kid on crutches limping toward the bus. The bus driver proceeded to invoke the Pirates’ Code: Those who fall behind get left behind. The kid started to move faster but was left in the snow. I can’t help laughing as I write this, but it sure would have sucked to be that kid.

A note to the freshmen: Wash. U. is not a large campus, but when it is snowing and 2 degrees below zero, your dorm seems like miles away. In general, I suggest bikes as the best method of transportation. Walking isn’t bad if you aren’t in a rush, but if you are really late or if it is raining, take a deep breath, and pray the campus circulator stops for you.

Their brilliant idea? An underground tour of Wash. U., one that would show prospective students and parents a side of Wash. U. banned from official tours and glossy photographs. A few proposed sites for these unsanctioned expeditions:

Frat row—take the parents by day to show off the smashed red cups, half-empty beer cans and now-empty SAMMY house. Then take the prospective students on Saturday night to illustrate the benefits of going to a state school.

Old dorms—forget the leather couches in Liggett/Koenig. Instead show prospective students the winding hallways, incomprehensible numbering, rock solid walls and general misery of the old freshmen dorms.

Construction—to offer the full effect of this attraction, wake pre-registered guests in their hotel rooms at 8 a.m. with a delightful construction medley. Point out the giant holes and speculate on the function of each uncompleted structure. If any of them complain, assure them that the drop in our endowment will likely delay any future deafness-inducing proposals.

Hot guy and girl scouting—just kidding. Explain that this feature is unavailable due to a lack of resources.

Mugging sites—this feature could also be offered as a separate Wash. U. crime tour. Show worried parents the exact location of all recent campus crimes. The extended tour would included vivid descriptions and staged reenactments. As a bonus gift, tour attendees would receive free “Safety First” memorabilia.

Real weather experience—rather than offer participants umbrellas to shield them from inclement weather, this tour would deliberately subject them to it. To simulate Wash. U.’s real weather, the temperature surrounding the tour group would go from 60 degrees to 15 back up to 85, all within 10 minutes. This realistic temperature simulation would be followed by light showers, freezing rain, surprise earthquakes, and a loud sounding of the Liggett/Koenig fire alarm.

DUC food court challenge—why not add a fun, interactive game to the experience? Visitors would be given a tray and then told to buy lunch at noon and find themselves a seat in 10 minutes or less. Points will be deducted each time they trip and spilled trays will result in automatic disqualification. First place winners will receive a free giveaway from one of the student groups tabling nearby. Of course, they must also give said group their e-mail address, phone number, home address, list of places to accidentally run into them and permission to stalk them on Facebook. Second place winners get to finish their lunch.

Natural flora and fauna—Linger around Mallinkcrodt until a vicious squirrel leaps out of a trash can. Point out their remarkable assertiveness and try to avoid unwanted teeth marks. If the squirrels fail to impress the group, mention the tulips.

Unnatural flora and fauna—no Wash. U. tour would be complete without an introduction to the bunny. Not only does its metal composition warrant classification as unnatural, so does its freakishly emaciated torso.

I know that despite the obvious brilliance of these ideas, the admissions office will probably not incorporate any of these proposals into their standard tour route. I do not fault them for the omission; like any first impression, a real campus tour should showcase the best side of Wash. U. and save the flaws for later.

Sure, some of you may still be reeling from the shock that life at Wash. U. is not a close approximation of Animal House nor a perpetually sunny, hammock-filled utopia. I, however, am okay with that. I love this school, flaws and all. After all, curmudgeonly school columnists need something to complain about, right?

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First, some background on the idea that communities tend to splinter. Nations can only become so diverse before they fracture into smaller ones (think about the former Yugoslavia; now Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and three more). On the university level, this is also a fact of life. Think of the many, many cultural clubs on campus. They form their own insular (to some degree) communities. Neighbors are just as likely to not know one another as they are to know one another. Even on the family level, time has seen the change from the extended family clan to the nuclear family.

This even extends down to the individual scale. Everyone has friends and acquaintances. There is a division between these two groups of relations, but it is not that clear-cut. As a rule of thumb, one has more friends than acquaintances.

Now, a community is the trick of making these familiar faces into acquaintances. Everyone in the community needs something in common. A simplistic case is the scenario that repeats itself on every freshman floor as the RAs make the floor into a community. You have a bunch of strangers all sharing a common dorm, and suddenly they’re a community. Sadly, it often stops there.

A community is a good thing because it is how we are supposed to live. It has been said that “no man is an island,” and this statement has proven to be true. That said, how can we establish a community?

First, we need to get to know one another. Before a community can be made out of acquaintances with something in common, people have to be acquainted. Our RAs do a good job, but it is really not something that can be forced.

One needs to get out there and get to know people. Make the effort to introduce yourself to your friend’s friend, your classmates and your neighbors. Learn people’s names! Quit making excuses about being bad with names, and just make the effort. Knowing someone’s name is the easiest way to make that person into an acquaintance (there are quite a few pages devoted to learning people’s names in the seminal “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie).

After getting to know someone, make the effort to ask, “How are you?” and to actually listen to the person’s response. People love it when someone listens to them, and they will be willing to extend the favor to you. Pretty soon, you’ll no longer be an island. You’ll find out that humankind has tended toward communities in spite of communities’ tendency to splinter, because they lead to happiness.