The effects of the economic recession that first hit the University around two years ago are just starting to diminish, according to Barbara Feiner, chief financial officer for the University.

“Following the decline in our endowment in fiscal year 2009, we did reduce many budgets in fiscal years 2010 and 2011, primarily in central administrative areas,” Feiner said. “During the current year, we are monitoring expenses carefully, but there have not been widespread budget cuts.”

Numerous departments are seeing the effects of the improving endowment.

University Libraries is seeing an increased budget after suffering from cutbacks over the 2010-2011 year.

“We received an increase in our ongoing collections budget and one-time funds for some large purchases,” Shirley K. Baker, vice chancellor for scholarly resources and dean of University Libraries, said. “And, we were funded to add two positions to the staff to deal with changing library needs.”

Baker said the libraries need the funds to afford increasingly expensive collections, especially scientific journals.

The Office of Residential Life is also having fewer financial difficulties this year, Accounting Manager Joyce Markowski said.

In the previous fiscal year, the office lost five percent of its funding, leading it to postpone its plan to demolish Rubelmann House and forcing it to cut several staff positions. Tim Lempfert, associate director of Residential Life, emphasized that the office specifically avoided cutting programming or College Council funding.

“Budgets change every year depending upon income and expenses,” Markowski said. “We have looked for ways to be more efficient, trim our expenses…in some cases, we have not filled [our] open positions.”

Radha Gopalan, assistant professor at the Olin Business School, said the decreasing cutbacks reflect the University’s improving finances.

“The economy influences university spending by affecting the two important revenue sources: the performance of the endowment and fee income. I believe the decreasing cutbacks are a reflection of improvements on both fronts.”

Some students remain surprised that the University’s endowment suffered in the past, and disagree with the school’s allocation choices.

“I’m surprised that endowment has dropped in past years, especially considering the prestige and accomplishments Wash. U. has been obtaining recently,” sophomore Timothy Greer said. “If I had to change one thing in Wash. U.’s budget, I would allocate more money to athletics and less to keeping the grass green. Wash. U. pays so much for fertilizer and landscaping everywhere on campus and I think the money could be used better for other things.”

Another student suggested the University use its increased endowment to provide more services to undergraduates.

“I would kind of guess they’d do some more construction things, but I hope they’d do things that would be more helpful to students,” senior Zach Lou said. “I’m a senior and I’m really interested in post-grad opportunities.”

Michelle Nahmad | Student Life

I loved living on the South 40, and only moved away, with some complaining, when it ceased to be fashionable. For two years prior, RAs and Congress of the South 40 officials filled my Wash. U. inbox with emails about events taking place on campus, sometimes on the South 40, sometimes not, and they were a great way to stay up-to-date without being involved in myriad student groups.

Since leaving, this stream of messages has disappeared, and I’m in the dark as to what’s happening on campus. I was never notified about John Oliver, and only figured out when and where tickets could be picked up when I walked past a line of students stretching to Graham Chapel, most of them freshmen asking each other what they were doing that Wednesday night. I had no idea that Joseph Gordon-Levitt was coming to campus until Student Life ran an article on the subject on Monday, one that I didn’t see until after the last tickets were taken. I, as well as many other students who live off campus, would have liked to see him, but since we don’t live on campus, that wasn’t an option.

Being off campus does much more than remove a student physically; with the absence of a constant email barrage, or even a painted wall to walk past, it removes a student mentally from the Wash. U. community. I feel separated from life on campus, and from the student body I felt a part of for two years.

There should be a group that does for students who live off campus, be they in university or independently-owned housing, what so many groups, RAs and RCDs do for students who live on the South 40 or in the Village. The South 40 may be a fair distance away, but I can readily think of several functions put on last year as far away as Mudd that I’d be interested in this year, if only I had the information about both when they occurred and the fact that they existed at all. It’s significantly easier to convince me to go to Graham Chapel, the site of Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s visit, which I’m convinced is equidistant from this year and last year’s housing.

With the exception of occasional hints of nostalgia, I enjoy living off campus. A friend of mine put it well when he said, “you miss the carnival feel sometimes, but you can’t beat the independence of being off campus.” I agree entirely, and I bid a happy farewell to the mollycoddling and omnipresent dorm authorities. However, the basic informative function they and others served is completely absent as soon as one moves away. For no greater reason than potential entertainment, I want to be kept in the know as to important events on campus.

Teddy Wenneker | Student Life

Freshman Eugenia Payeras-Paz studies economics and strategy in College Hall on Sunday night during one of the Study Nights at College Hall. S.N.A.T.C.H. is organized by Dining Services and Residential Life with the goal of providing a productive working space on the South 40. S.N.A.T.C.H. occurs every Sunday night from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. in College Hall.

Every Sunday, Washington University reserves College Hall as a place for students to study, and Dining Services provides snacks for students studying in the facility.

Residential Life and Dining Services have been working with student Event Assistants (E.A.s) since the beginning of the school year to develop the program.

It started on the second Sunday of September, and will continue to be held every Sunday from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. in College Hall, the dining room adjacent to Bear’s Den.

Brittney Roetzel, assistant director for special facilities and programs for the Office of Residential Life, reported that about 50 people showed up for the event the first week it was offered and that the directors were pleased with the turnout.

She says that students attend the program to study, not just for the free food.

“The space isn’t conducive for people to just come in and grab food without working, since it is set up in the back. Therefore, people who come in during the program with the intention to work will be ensured enough snacks,” Roetzel said.

Students will be able to check the snack options online before the event.

According to Roetzel, Residential Life continually works with the E.A.s to improve the quality of life for students living on the South 40.

She says that providing a quiet study space for students has always been a priority for Residential Life, and that S.N.A.T.C.H. will create the first designated study space in the South 40 dining complex.

“I wish they offered something like this last year when I lived on the 40,” junior Lauren Smith said. “I probably wouldn’t go as far as checking snacks online, but the brownies they provided today were very good!”

Other students agreed that they were not likely to use the online resource, but that they still enjoyed the free snacks.

The space is designed for both group work and individual study, but E.A.s are present to ensure that the space doesn’t get too loud for students trying to get work done.

College Hall is equipped with outlets so that students can plug in their laptops while working. The space is able to seat 150 students.

“As the semester goes on, we expect the space to be more heavily utilized,” Roetzel said. “Students usually start the year off with less work, and therefore have less of a demand for quiet study space. We anticipate that this will change within the next few weeks.”

Although S.N.AT.C.H. only takes place one evening per week, more days might be added if the demand is high enough.

Recently, ResLife changed the financial aid systems for residential advisers (RAs). RAs get free room and board as part of the job they do. They have very difficult jobs, and exist to provide advice and help to students throughout their tenure.

Until the 2011-2012 school year, the financial value of the services RAs received was included in determining their financial aid packages, and RAs could have lost a portion of their financial aid if they received the normal RA benefits. In fact, some students offered RA positions rejected the offers because of the impact on their financial aid.

ResLife recognized how unfair this was, and that it was getting an undoubtedly smaller number of applications—so it changed the policy. For that, we commend them.

On Wednesday, however, all students in ResLife housing received an email detailing the new checkout policy. As an editorial board, we believe that changing the checkout policy was a bad decision. We think that ResLife needs to reevaluate its process for implementing new policies.

An article on Student Life’s front cover outlines the details of the new policy. While it is designed to make the checkout process move more quickly, there are downsides.

We are concerned that if students are running late, or are on a tight schedule, the checking out process will be very hectic, especially if students have a final immediately beforehand.

We also worry that this policy would inconvenience RAs (during finals) if they have to check residents out of their rooms.

To add to this, many students have their parents help moving out. It is unreasonable to expect students and their families to narrow the checkout process down to a specific hour, one month in advance for many. Moreover, RAs have to be on duty to check their residents out. Although RAs are under contract through Commencement, the inconvenience is amplified for those with senior residents who may be asked to help with checkout while frantically moving out themselves.

We also believe that it is unfair to students who are leaving between 11 p.m. and 8 a.m. In those cases, the RAs will check students out between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. the night before. Almost no student we know will want to spend that hour in their last night on campus waiting in their room when ResLife’s previous policy left this time for saying goodbye to friends.

With all of this in mind, we would like to question how ResLife approaches its decision-making process. While ResLife administrators made a great decision regarding RAs and their ability to pay for college, we do not think that students who were leaving were properly considered when the new checkout system was approved.

ResLife needs to look at the potential consequences of its actions, especially this most recent change. We believe that this plan should be repealed or changed within the next few years.

Matt Mitgang | Student Life

Beaumont 2 RA Sydney Rossman-Reich speaks with her floor at their first floor meeting before convocation. Starting next schoolyear, RAs will be considered University employees. With the new system, RA compensation will no longer impact financial aid packages.

In an email to all RAs for the 2011-2012 school year, Associate Director of Residential Life Mary Elliott announced that the RAs will now be considered full employees of the Office of Residential Life. This will stop their financial aid from being affected.

In the past, some RAs have lost a portion of their financial aid due to their RA compensation.

RAs receive compensation for their housing and for half of their board expenses.

Before this change, students who were considering being RAs had to take into account the effect that being an RA would have on their financial aid before committing to the job.

According to Elliott, several students have to turn down their RA offers each year due to financial aid issues.

“It’s something that the RAs in the previous years have been fighting for a long time,” said sophomore Rachel Koren, a future RA. “It’s unfair that people who qualified for the job had to turn it down because they would lose their financial aid. They should not be penalized for their achievement.”

Elliott said that achieving the status change was a collaborative effort.

“The Office of Residential Life, through a lot of collaboration with partners across campus, was able to re-classify the compensation the RAs receive…so that it does not negatively impact their financial aid packages,” she said. “We’ve been working on this for a number of years and we’re so happy that it’s come to fruition.”

According to Elliott, the only difference to students who accept the position is that they will have to fill out employment forms for the University.

“[It’s] no big rule change or anything like that,” she said.

She added that she hopes the change will allow more qualified students to become RAs, without regard to their financial aid.

“My hope is that it won’t stand in people’s way now. If it was a factor to not apply perhaps now knowing it wont negatively affect them they would consider it,” Elliott said. “When you want to hire someone and think they’re great it’s hard not to hire someone for the team.”

Junior and RA Sarah Michaels thinks that this change will help to even the playing field for all students who want to be RAs, regardless of their financial situation.

“I think it will allow people to make a decision on whether to be an RA based on whether or not it is something they want to do rather than based on whether or not it is something they can afford to do,” Michaels said.

Correction: In the original posting of this article, it was reported that any charges incurred before the suspension of room rental fees will not be reimbursed. The Office of Residential Life will return any billed payments for room rental charges. Student Life regrets the error.

These are all true, but they are not the full story. For example, the ResLife staff has worked heroically to negotiate workable rates with individual student groups. On the flip side, ResLife spends the equivalent of twice the cost of these rooms on free housing for Event Assistants.

But as compelling (and confusing) as all the talk about money is, it only obscures the larger issue: These new fees cripple student groups where it really counts—where they serve students, especially underclassmen, who have not yet found a place where they belong.

As President of WU-SLam, I can only look at this through the lens of our history. From the earliest days of meeting in common rooms to our expansion into Ursa’s Fireside, WU-SLam has relied on luck, charm, and whatever we could get for free. We held our first Grand Slam on a budget of zero dollars, and pulled five hundred people into Tisch Commons, which had never held a major event before. In short, we have always been a truly grassroots organization.

As a grassroots organization, we have been sustained by the consistent support of the student body, who have packed out show after show, workshop after workshop. And we have been sustained by the many opportunities available for student groups for free.

Without these opportunities, we would have had nowhere to hold our first workshops or slams. More specifically, under the new fee structure, we could never have moved our weekly meetings out of the Gregg common room and into Ursa’s Fireside, a move which has created a greater sense of legitimacy and a boom in attendance—from five or ten people attending each week to thirty or forty.

If the fees remain at their current level, we won’t be able to use Fireside anymore. Next year’s freshmen will have a harder time finding workshops, and fewer of them will make the effort to find us. We’ll lose membership, and they will lose the life-changing experience that WU-SLam has represented for so many.

But this isn’t really about WU-SLam. We’ve been incredibly fortunate in the amount of support we’ve received for workshops and slams alike, and as much as it will hurt us to move out of Fireside, ultimately we can survive it.

What I’m worried about is the next WU-SLam. The next group that starts off the sweat and dedication of a few students, with the potential to captivate the whole campus in a matter of a few years. The next group with so much raw talent it could change the conversation on a national level. The next group that brings students together across racial, cultural, academic, and other demographic lines, uniting people who otherwise would never have met.

Will that student group be stuck in common rooms because it can’t afford to move into Ursa’s or other well-known, central spaces? Will the loopholes and opportunities that allowed WU-SLam to become successful be bricked up by fees and red tape?

As students who care about the future of the Wash. U community, we have a responsibility not to let that happen. To say that on the 40 of all places, where people are finding and inventing themselves, we should be rewarding innovation and grassroots organization, not establishment or money. That every new student group deserves the opportunity for a space like Fireside, even if they can’t budget for it. We have a responsibility to email and talk to ResLife over and over until they realize that this is not something we are willing to accept.

In my three years here, I have seen WU-SLam born and struggle to find its legs. I have seen us become popular beyond anyone’s wildest hopes, and pack out Edison in only our third year. I have seen us gain national recognition, including ranking fifth in the nation last year. I know how much of that is because of luck, and because of the opportunities that were available to us.

Seeing how far we’ve come in such a short time is heartbreakingly beautiful. Even more heartbreaking is the thought that our success might never be repeatable.

Matt Mitgang | Student Life

Sophomore Daniel Michon films tryouts for this year’s Carnaval performance. Michon is an event assistant with the Office of Residential Life.

As ALAS (Association of Latin American Students) members led auditions for more than 20 hopeful Carnaval participants on Sunday, a sophomore in an emblazoned black polo quietly set up the speaker system and video-recording equipment at the front of the Mudd Multipurpose Room. As they danced, he remained alert for any technical difficulties.

Sophomore Daniel Michon is one of eight undergraduate students given free Residential Life housing for working as an event assistant—a position created by ResLife to make student events run more smoothly.

Event assistants are available for any ResLife meeting space and are required for any group using College Hall. They help student groups use audio/visual equipment, set up rooms, communicate with the housekeeping staff and liaise with catering services to make sure events go as smoothly as planned.

“Really, they’re there to help with the smaller details people don’t often think about,” said Brittney Roetzel, assistant director for special facilities and programs for ResLife.

The assistants also help plan for essential services like trash removal and coat storage at larger functions.

Event Services also has event assistants available for any event planned in the Danforth University Center or Graham Chapel.

More than 40 students applied last April for the ResLife position, and eight were selected after a round of interviews. Next semester, ResLife hopes to expand the group to 12.

Compensation for next year has not been decided, but ResLife stands by its decision to pay for housing.

“For ResLife programs, we compensate with housing, and we want to make sure they’re ResLife students because they work in ResLife spaces,” Roetzel said.

The Social Justice Center (SJC) is also a ResLife program, but its employees are paid through work-study. Roetzel said that this is because the SJC is more of an auxiliary program with ResLife, and therefore does not necessitate free housing.

Michon says that compensation did not play a role in his decision to apply to be an event assistant.

“A lot of [Event Assistants] are on College Council, and they looked at this job as another way to extend to the entire Wash. U. community,” Michon said.

According to Michon, compensation for the position is unrelated to recently contested fees imposed by ResLife.

“A lot of people think the new rent space fees are going to us, and that’s just ridiculous. We’re just getting our housing compensated, but that’s not a main focus or anything,” Michon said. “You have to think of [the position] like an RA—people aren’t nitpicking that RAs are useless, that we don’t need RAs—RAs are an integral part of this university, and we’re trying to make this position look like that too.”

ResLife requires that event assistants live on campus so that they are close to the spaces they care for.

Event assistants are easily able to contact people, like housekeeping and groundskeeping staff, in the event of an unexpected occurrence.

According to Roetzel, an event assistant on duty at a recent College Hall event noticed the steps outside were icing over and promptly contacted the groundskeeping staff, who made sure the pathway was cleared.

“We’re a team,” Michon said. “There are a lot of different viewpoints, and everyone brings their own things to the table.”

Students, I am here to tell you that Residential Life’s decision can only benefit student groups. Right now, there are simply too many groups on campus. The list needs to be culled. Any group that fails to generate enough membership to justify paying the bills to meet will simply have to disband. Only the strong survive. It is Social Darwinism, survival of the fittest at work. This is our opportunity to show the school just what we, the student body, care about.

There are more benefits to this new system also. The economy is down, and so is Washington University’s endowment. The school simply needs more money to operate effectively and provide us with all the services we’re used to. After all, a new engineering building doesn’t simply build itself every year. Old, unlivable dorms don’t demolish themselves, and they certainly don’t replace themselves with gaudy giants. Half of the Swamp can’t uproot itself, so someone has to pay to replace it with more rooms students have to pay to get into. The showers in Liggett/Koenig still set off the fire alarms, and less money isn’t going to fix that problem. Money makes the walls go down, and money makes the walls go up again. Our student activities fee is simply not enough to cover the cost of student activities anymore.

The third benefit to the students, of course, is a chance to practice creativity and bluffing. While officially reserving spaces can be a death sentence for some groups, students are still free to gather in and use the spaces, assuming no one has officially reserved them. Groups that can come up with ways to unofficially reserve spaces (just going and sitting there for hours before a scheduled meeting is only the tip of the iceberg—how about mannequins and poor lighting?), or groups that can bluff other groups into thinking they actually reserved the space, will rule. Each meeting will cost ingenuity. Residential Life is really just looking out for us. They want us to better ourselves. Not only that, they’re forcing us to.

An unintended fourth benefit conferred by this issue is extended to a group of people not normally considered by Residential Life. By forcing groups away from meeting in places that one must swipe in to, Residential Life is making it more convenient for those who live off campus to come to meetings. No longer do we have to tailgate into buildings, or wait outside until someone comes to let us in.

Making student groups pay money for most usable spaces on the South 40 and in the Village is a great move for Residential Life. What may be seen as shameful money grubbing by some is actually a way to better the experience of everyone at Wash. U.

Burglaries fell sharply on campus but almost doubled off-campus between 2008 to 2009, according to new statistics on crime at Washington University.

On-campus burglaries dropped from 30 in 2008 to seven in 2009. While this difference appears drastic, it is in large part due to a single incident, when Hitzeman and Hurd residential halls were burglarized over winter break in 2007 and reports were filed in January 2008.

The statistics also show a significant increase in non-campus property burglaries in 2009. A total of 28 burglaries occurred on non-campus properties that year, with 16 the year before.

Campus crime statistics from across the nation for 2009 were released Oct. 1 and are now available on the U.S. Department of Education website.

The statistics, whose public release is mandated by the Clery Act of 1991, show arrests and criminal offenses at the University over a three-year period.

The statistics include figures for murder, sex offenses, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, vehicle theft and arson. The report also includes arrests and referrals for drugs, alcohol and weapons violations.

Most of the reported crimes for Washington University were property-related, with a very low incidence of interpersonal crime.

Increases in off-campus crime have contributed to heightened concern about security on campus, especially in comparative ratings with other universities, such as the one recently issued by the online publication The Daily Beast, in which Wash. U. was ranked the nation’s 13th most dangerous campus.

Non-campus property includes the West Campus, North Campus, South Campus, about 165 apartment buildings owned by Quadrangle Housing and the Residential Life (ResLife) apartments, as well as some University-owned commercial establishments.

The Washington University Police Department has expanded security measures in response to the rising concern about campus safety, adding closed-circuit television surveillance to investigate on-campus incidents and monitor unwelcome visitors from the outside.

“I feel like once you leave the Wash. U. campus and step outside its borders, it gets dramatically less controlled and less safe,” sophomore Joanne Li said. “Also the fact that Wash. U.’s campus is an open campus makes me feel like I always have to be on the lookout and just be smart.”

Chief of Police Don Strom warned that the statistics are complex and can be misleading for comparison with other schools. Wash. U. statistics include numerous off-campus properties, but other campuses may not have any such properties to include.

There were no weapons violations reported for any of the three years covered in the statistics. The number of drug- and alcohol-related arrests ranged from one to five; they do not show any significant increase over the three years.

There is, however, an upward trend in the number of referrals for alcohol violations, which rose from less than 200 referrals in 2007 to more than 300 in both of the following two years. In the case of a referral, the incident is reported to the police but handled outside the police department, usually by a mandated reporter such as a residential adviser, residential college director or athletic coach. This increase indicates a tightening of ResLife alcohol policies in recent years.

The number of reported sexual offenses on campus remained low, declining from seven in 2008 to five in 2009. Strom finds this figure to be suspect.

“Five or seven is way too many, but I think it under represents the problem,” Strom said. “That’s what our dialogue needs to be about. I’m glad to see that the University now has a sexual assault [prevention] coordinator who can take that issue head-on.”

Overall, the crime statistics show a positive trend in the direction of a safer campus community over the past three years. Strom also indicated that the figures for 2010 have maintained that trend thus far.

“We feel like we have a pretty safe campus,” Strom said. “I think most people feel that way. But we also talk about that ‘Wash. U. bubble,’ and that doesn’t mean we can let our guard down. We live in an urban area, and we’re an open campus. We have to take those steps that make sense to protect our property, to protect ourselves and to use the services that are available.”