Director

J.C. Chandor

Starring

Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons

What you get out of a movie is always going to depend on what’s going on in your own life. This is a recognized fact. So, to write a review of “Margin Call,” I think I need to explain a few things.

I’m a Wash. U. senior. I’ve never done my own taxes, never handled my own investments, never had anything more permanent than a summer job. I am currently enrolled in an intro-level microeconomics class, the only such class I’ve ever taken—I’m a humanities person through and through, so it’s never before been necessary. The extent of my knowledge regarding the state of the economy and the stock market is a general sense that it’s not good.

But I’m a senior, so that means in May I get to graduate and deal with all those lovely financial realities that come with being a grownup. I’m terrified.

So, this week I saw “Margin Call.” The film starts with a round of layoffs at a big investment firm, and one of the guys laid off is named Eric Dale (Stanley Tucci). The layoffs are pretty much standard operating procedure for a cutthroat business like investment, but it turns out that Eric Dale was working on something big. His protégé, who is literally a rocket scientist, takes it upon himself to finish Dale’s projections that night, and he realizes just how catastrophic they will be for the company.

For the next hour of the movie, higher and higher powers in the company come into the office to hear the problem. Now, this is where my background comes in. A business school student would probably have no problem understanding what a margin call is and why it’s bad. Me, I didn’t really get it until about the fourth time it was explained.

Basically, though, everyone swears a lot, hems and haws about what to do and eventually realizes that they can possibly save the company by immediately selling all the soon-to-be-worthless stock, thus completely screwing over a good chunk of the American economy.

The problem is, despite the clear sense of urgency, the film moves kind of slowly. It is, however, beautifully acted. The ensemble cast interacts quite nicely, filling in all the different roles that show up in this kind of company. There are a lot of really interesting monologues about our financial system and what it is that an investor does to earn the big bucks, as the characters struggle to balance the moral issue with necessary company loyalties. But the movie bills itself as a thriller, and it’s definitely not.

I imagine it would be difficult to make a real thriller that deals with a financial disaster. For one thing, director J.C. Chandor had to devote an absurd amount of screen time to characters explaining to one another what’s going on, in more and more simplistic layman’s terms, just so that poor slobs like me can figure it out. For another, there’s not much mystery about what will happen. A company will almost always act in its own best interest, no matter what the cost. There is a bit of suspense about which characters will be on board, who will be the scapegoat, who will be fired, who will be promoted, who will try to commit suicide.

There is a moment where Penn Badgley, playing the fresh-faced 23-year-old just breaking into the business, is crying in a bathroom stall, knowing he’ll most likely lose his job. He comes out, looks at his boss and says, “This is all I ever wanted to do.”

I feel bad for Badgley’s character because even though I’m not going into finance, I’m completely afraid of that kind of failure. Heck, I feel bad for all the characters. But “Margin Call” was decidedly not an entertaining movie for me to watch, and the moral issues it explored weren’t quite enough to keep it interesting for the full 105 minutes.

As the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention. While we aren’t running out of money yet, why not try to gain back some of our losses? In my opinion, a perfect way to do this can be described in two words: alternate vending. Why limit our vending machine options to food and drink? We can charge the consumer for the availability of certain items in specialized locations. The campus bookstore has been capitalizing on this principle for years.

(Godiva Reisenbichler | Student Life)

This proposal probably sounds eccentric, but compared to the proliferation of vending machines in other cultures we look quite uncreative. In Japan, the motherland of the cultural quirk, vending machines exist for flowers, kerosene, batteries, cameras, fried foods, phone chargers, beer and liquor, and even used panties that have been worn by schoolgirls. If you don’t believe me, look it up on the Internet.  Surely we can think of something besides Coke and M&Ms to sell.

Ideas that I think would be useful could be Visine tears in Whispers, cheap rain ponchos in various locations, Sharpies and X-Acto knife refill blades at the art school, miniature staplers, hair ties, small flashlights, Band-Aids for those days when you just had to wear uncomfortable shoes, cheap sunglasses, sunscreen and maybe some Advil or Tylenol (again, those would probably sell the most in Whispers).

Setting up vending machines, while having a high start-up cost, has a very low maintenance cost and would probably turn a profit in the end—not to mention the increased availability of small but useful items for students. Also, with the universality of the campus card and the “free money” mindset it evokes, higher-priced items would have a good chance of selling well.

One of the problems with this unorthodox proposal would be aesthetics. Vending machines aren’t the most beautiful things in the world—their hulking masses of metal and coils manage to look both shabby and sterile at the same time. However, the school that gave us the artistically-sculpted fake fire pit in the DUC Courtyard could probably find a way to class up a vending machine if need be. Another problem is that it seems like Coke machines and your standard candy dispensers have already snatched up all of the prime vending-machine realty. But again, it’s not that big of a problem; I think once we realize space could be money, we would find a lot more of it.

Alternate vending: an unusual idea? Yes. Seemingly out of the blue? Maybe. But why not? At its core, it’s nothing more than the idea of giving us, the consumers, what we need in a more convenient way. Imagine being in Whispers at three in the morning and being able to buy eye drops for the dry contacts that come out every time you blink, and then being able to buy ibuprofen for the raging, caffeine-fueled headache you have. Or being in Seigle Hall, which is an island unto itself, and being able to buy Band-Aids for your awful blisters without having to walk all the way to the bookstore. As far as a cheap and easily sustainable way of making money, expanding vending choices certainly makes sense to me.

Ann is a junior in Arts & Sciences. She can be reached via e-mail at aejohnson@gmail.com.

Chancellor Mark Wrighton speaks on the issues and challenges currently facing Washington University and those the school will face in the short-term future. The University’s endowment is estimated to have fallen 25 percent since the end of fiscal 2008 and is expected to continue declining. (Matt Mitgang | Student Life)

In the midst of the worldwide economic crisis, Washington University is dealing with a difficult financial situation of its own.

The administration estimates the University’s endowment is down by 20 to 25 percent as of the end of May, according to Chancellor Mark Wrighton.

“That [estimate] might be a little better than we had in mid-April, when I communicated it to the community,” Wrighton said in reference to an e-mail he sent to students, faculty and staff to inform them about the University’s financial situation.

He followed up that e-mail with a “State of the University Address” on April 23, providing the community an opportunity to ask questions.

Wrighton said donations to the University have held relatively steady, even as the number of donors to the University has decreased.

“[It] might even be ahead [of] last year,” Wrighton said.

In fact, the total amount of money donated to the University in fiscal 2009 as of the end of May was 4 percent higher than the previous year, according to David Blasingame, executive vice chancellor for alumni and development programs.

Blasingame said the University is also outperforming peer institutions in donations.

“I think most places are experiencing downturns,” he said.

Blasingame attributed the University’s slight upturn to several large donations at the beginning of the year. The University, he said, also has benefited from an institution-wide strategic planning, which provides potential donors a glimpse into new ideas and plans underway at the University.

As one of the foremost responses to the economic crisis this past year, Wrighton said the University is re-prioritizing resources to increase financial aid. Bill Witbrodt, director of Student Financial Services, said the financial aid budget “has top priority.”

“We recognize that when the economy is rough, our families are having a tough time too. We need to do all that we can to make sure that our students can continue their education at Washington University,” Witbrodt said. “When things are tough, it’s even more important to have a stable financial aid budget.”

The student financial aid budget has increased by 20 percent in the past two years—a feat accomplished partially by cutting administrative expenses. Meanwhile, tuition has risen—though by less than 10 percent, Wrighton said.

This is the first time that University has had to freeze compensation expenses since Wrighton’s tenure as chancellor began in 1995, he said. The University has also filled advertised jobs slower and recruited fewer faculty this year than usual.

Wrighton predicts the next fiscal year, beginning July 1, 2010, will be even more challenging. In fact, the University—in efforts to brace itself for greater financial troubles ahead—has started preparing for next year much earlier than it has in the past.

Even with the chancellor’s recent disclosures about the University’s economic state, most students remain dissatisfied with the administration’s extent of communication and transparency in financial issues.

This past semester, several students came together to start a Facebook group called “WU Students for Endowment Transparency” (WUSET). Junior Jacob Stern, one of WUSET’s founders, said he and others formed the group after reaching a consensus that students have very limited access to the University’s financial information, such as the breakdown of the endowment.

“By adopting a method of controlled disclosure, the University would join the ranks of prestigious educational institutions, such as Brown, Harvard, Yale, Duke, Stanford, and Columbia that have empowered students by making investment records available but would not limit the power of trustees or administrators,” the group’s mission statement reads. “We feel this step would reflect an institutional commitment to student participation in the broader university community.”

WUSET is in the stages of preparing for more active efforts in the fall, including talks with the administration.

“We really hope that it can be a really cooperative relationship,” said Stern, who hopes that the partnership will be beneficial for both students and administrators alike. “We don’t see the administration as an enemy by any means.”

Nanette Tarbouni, director of undergraduate admissions at the University, said that she does not expect the number of students applying to the University to fall. She anticipates that the number will stay relatively the same.

“It is too early to be able to predict what will happen with applications this year. We do expect the size of the freshman class to be in keeping with our usual range,” Tarbouni wrote in an e-mail to Student Life.

According to the U.S. News and World Report’s 2008-2009 Best Colleges rankings, a record number of 22,428 high school seniors applied to the University for the 2008-2009 school year. Just 3,887 applicants, or 17 percent, were accepted.

This school year, 1,338 first-time degree-seeking freshmen enrolled at the University.

According to the College Board, not only are record numbers of students graduating from high school, but more and more high school seniors are applying to college. Sixty percent of graduating seniors apply to college, according to College Board data provided to U.S. News and World Report this year.

The increasing competition and rising applicant pools have caused the acceptance rates of most four-year institutions to decline.

With U.S. wages flatlining and the cost of education rising, the ability to pay for higher education has become more difficult, prompting numerous high school graduates to turn to low-cost state schools and community colleges.

At the University, the average total cost for a Wash. U. education after receiving grants based on need is $26,590, a 48 percent average discount.

Despite these factors, none of the schools in U.S. News and World Report’s top 20 national universities, all of which are private, has seen a decrease in applications.

Gregg Walke, a guidance counselor for seniors at Stuyvesant High School in New York City, does not believe the number of students in the U.S., including seniors at Stuyvesant, who apply to Washington University will ever decline.

“With the continuing growth of the popularity of Washington University in St. Louis and the school’s steady position at the top of the rankings, the amount of students that are going to Washington University is most likely to rise,” he said.

Stuyvesant, one of the highest-ranked high schools in the nation, sends a large group of students to highly-ranked schools such as Wash. U. each year.

According to Walke, for the 763-member 2008 graduating class at Stuyvesant, nine students applied Early Decision to the University. Only two were accepted and another was wait-listed.

Of the Regular Decision applicants, 87 other seniors applied to the University. Of those 52 were wait-listed, 18 were accepted and seven were rejected.

Mo Shomrat, a current senior from Stuyvesant, initially thought about applying Early Decision to Wash. U. However, after witnessing the low acceptance rates of students from the previous year who applied Early Decision, he decided to apply Regular Decision.

Shomrat agreed with Walke that the number of students applying to the University will never fall—especially at Stuyvesant.

“Wash. U. more or less has become a dream school for many students here,” Shomrat said. “From the friends whom I’ve talked to, I’d expect the number of seniors applying to Wash. U. this year from Stuy to exceed a hundred.”