Matt Mitgang | Student Life

Students arrived on campus in August to find construction on the South 40 complete. The new Bear’s Den dining facility was built, it and offered expanded dining options, including an Indian station, a stir-fry station, a pizza station and a pasta station. Two dorms started last year, the South Forty House and Eliot B, were completed.

The University went fully tobacco free in July, and students arriving in August were forced to leave campus to indulge their tobacco habits. Almost immediately, smokers on campus began to congregate on Forsyth and at other places around the border of the Danforth campus to smoke. University officials said that they hoped not to have to implement punishments for students who smoked on campus, and Student Health Services stressed the services it offered to students interested in quitting smoking.

In January, dining services introduced its new “Connie’s Choice” initiative, named after University nutritionist Connie Diekman. There were stickers posted at dining facilities around campus promoting healthy eating options. In conjunction with the program, Dining Services began to enforce tater tot portion size. To the disappointment of many students, dining facilities began to give students 12 tater tots in each serving. This did not last long, however, and by the end of the year, servings were back up to their old, large size.

The Student Health Advisory Committee (SHAC) decided to expand Sexual Awareness week to include discussion on alternative sexual options, and, in a controversial move, invited Bristol Palin to lead a panel discussion on abstinence. In January, Student Union Treasury approved the panel, which was set to cost $20,000. The Treasury’s approval caused an immediate uproar on campus; many students believed that Palin, who was infamously pregnant during the 2008 election cycle, was not an appropriate person to speak about abstinence on campus. The controversy lasted for two days and garnered national media attention until SHAC and Palin both agreed that she shouldn’t come.

The winter was notable for its severe weather, and in February the University had its first snow day since 1982. The administration shut down the University preemptively because of a bleak weather forecast. The weather did not live up to its forecast, however, and little snow actually accumulated on the ground. The University opened the next day, although certain services, including dining, remained limited over the next few days.

In March, the women’s basketball team fell one game short of winning a consecutive National Championship.

This spring, the University admitted members of the class of 2015 and posted its lowest ever admissions rate, dropping to 15.4 percent.

In April, the University announced its decision to bring Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel to campus as the 2011 Commencement speaker. Seniors were excited that the University was bringing in such a well-known speaker for graduation.

The year ended with Student Union elections. Students voted the UP slate into office, and the new Senate and Treasury voted on the new budget without contest.

Energy saved in Green Cup competition

Fraternity League
(% change in energy usage)

1. Sigma Chi | -16.5%
2. SAE | -5.1%
3. TKE/Sig Ep | -0.7%
4. Beta/AEPi | 2.9%
5. Kappa Sig | 3.7%
6. Theta Xi | 17.1%
7. Sigma Nu | 28.5%
8. Phi Delta | 26.9%

South 40 League
(% change in energy usage)

1. JKL | -12.2%
2. HIG | -7.1%
3. Thomas Eliot | -6.8%
4. WGE | -4.3%
5. Crow | -4.1
6. Ruby/Umrath/South 40 | -0.8%
7. Brookings | -0.8%
8. Liggett/Koening | -0.3%
9. Lee/Beaumont | 1%
10. Park/Mudd | 2.7%

The residential college JKL and fraternity Sigma Chi won a trophy, but not for any athletic feat.

They were the winners of the first Green Cup competition.

Washington University tried to cut down on energy consumption by pitting all of the South 40 Residential Colleges against each other, and all of the fraternity houses against each other.

JKL won the ResCollege portion of the event by reducing its energy intake by 12.3 percent.

Sigma Chi won the fraternity round of the competition by cutting its energy consumption by 16.6 percent.

The winners were announced on Friday.

Senior Chris Brennan came up with the idea for the competition and planned it with Will Fischer, a fellow in the Office of Sustainability.

In order to keep track of the total energy consumption, meters had to be installed in each building.

According to Fisher, the winning teams posted a greater reduction than he initially expected.

Based on prior experiments at other universities, Fischer did not expect the reductions to top 10 percent.

Fischer says that he hopes this will become an annual tradition.

“I think that this is a really positive message for everyone to hear—the idea of a Green Cup is something I hope people take to heart. I was blown away by the participation in the fraternities. There was a remarkable amount of participation; I think this is such a great foundation for continuing the competition in future years,” Fischer said.

According to Fischer, some students went to extremes to ensure that they decreased their energy use.

The Sigma Chi brothers refused to turn on the air conditioning in their house during the competition.

Other students took less drastic measures, like unplugging their appliances before leaving their rooms.

“It was really neat to see people approaching the issue not as something politicized but as ‘Hey we need to do something to lower our energy consumption,’” Fischer said.

Still, most students did not recognize the impact that the competition had on their everyday lives or those of their peers.

“I don’t think the competition helped with the energy consumption. I didn’t notice any change in behavior in students. People have also been saying traditional dorms would win, so they didn’t even need to try,” sophomore Brooke Husic said.

Freshman Paige VanTassell says that most people she knows already acted in an environmentally conscious way before the competition.

“I think people normally turn off their light when they leave and such anyway. I didn’t notice any change in how people act,” VanTassell said

Brennan hopes that the lessons learned from the competition will carry over into students’ everyday lives.

“The idea of the competition—having people change to more socially responsible behavior—was definitely more important than the total electricity savings it produced. Hopefully those changes can carry over after the competition,” Brennan said.

With additional reporting by Wei-Yin Ko.

According to Tim Lempfert, the associate director of Residential Life, the office will be meeting with all of the students who have not been assigned to find housing for them. They may not be placed with the people they originally filed the petition with, or in one of their preferred dorms.

Housing is assigned in three rounds: the Residential College round, the North Side round and the South 40 round.

Lempfert says that some students have been placed since round three assignments were released last week.

Still, many students who were not placed in Round 3 are still waiting for their housing assignments and are looking for alternative housing options.

Sophomore Taylor McCain applied for housing in Round 2, and was denied. He subsequently applied for housing on the South 40 in Round 3, and was again denied.

ResLife told the members of his petition that they were guaranteed housing, but would likely be broken up.

He is now searching for an off-campus apartment with his friends while awaiting his ResLife assignment.

“It has been really frustrating. I don’t know what the school could do to fix it but it’s obviously not the best outcome,” said McCain.

Sophomore Sophia Hirsch is also awaiting news on her housing assignment after being rejected in Round 2 and 3.

After realizing that there are few apartments still available off campus, her suite decided to remain on campus. She said that she expects her suite to be broken up by ResLife.

“Its incredibly frustrating. I was never informed that it would be so difficult to have housing. I assumed after Round 2 I would be able to get housing in Round 3,” Hirsch said. “You assume when you are told you are guaranteed housing you are actually going to get housing.”

Some students who were rejected in Round 3 have already been assigned alternative housing by ResLife.

Freshman Greg Porter originally hoped to be placed in a four-person traditional suite on the South 40.

After he was not assigned in Round 3, ResLife placed his suite in Hitzeman, and is assigning two random students to the six-person suite.

Despite the difficulty, Porter still credits ResLife for finding him housing

“They’ve been really helpful, it’s not their fault that there are too may people here,” Porter said.

According to Lempfert, students were not placed because more three and four person petitions were submitted than there were suites available.

He said that all students who submitted a contract will be placed in ResLife housing, either on or off campus.

He also said that this housing situation is not unusual, and that a number of students are rejected in the initial housing rounds every year.

Rutledge and Myers, which were slated to close last year, but were instead kept open due to the large freshman class, will remain open to provide additional housing for the upcoming year.

“Fortunately this year like every other we will provide housing for all students who have a contract with us,” Lempfert said.

Matt Mitgang | Student Life

Each of the Clocktower’s four faces are stuck at a different time, and have been for almost a month. Parts are being shipped to Cincinnati to be fixed.

After remaining stationary at 1:55 for several weeks, each face of the South 40 Clocktower was frozen at a different time on Tuesday.

The inner mechanics of the Clocktower are currently being repaired. This is the first time the Clocktower has failed since it was erected in 2000.

Repairs on the Clocktower began almost a month ago when the clock did not transition to daylight saving time and Facilities tried to reset it manually. After operating for about a week, it stopped.

According to Bill Riley, director of maintenance operations, the entire inner movement of the clock is currently being shipped to Cincinnati to be rebuilt.

“We called in the manufacturer’s representative from the company that made [the clock] and actually installed it, and their report was that a certain part—the reset ‘pawl’—was worn. It would need to be replaced but because they are no longer manufacturing the internal movement with the same pieces, the whole movement of the clock had to be sent back to the factory in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the movement will have to be rebuilt,” Riley said.

Most students have not missed the absent mechanism.

“I have not noticed it,” freshman Ian Kinstlinger said. “I never think to glance at the Clocktower on my way to class—I always look at my cell phone for the time.”

While some students have observed the change, most did not find the lack of function particularly troubling.

“It hasn’t really been an issue because I don’t live on the 40…but it’s something I noticed,” junior Lexi Klein said. “I think that more people probably use it as a landmark than for time and don’t necessarily rely on it, but I think it’s something that should definitely be fixed—it’s there to tell time.”

Facilities customer service was not aware of the problem until Student Life inquired about the issue Tuesday afternoon.

“This is the first time I’ve heard the Clocktower is not functioning,” said Facilities Customer Service Representative Deborah Koonce.

“A thousand people could walk by it every day and not say it’s not working,” said Mary Ann Dill, service manager. for Facilities.

According to Riley, this is an inconvenient time of the school year for the Clocktower to break down.

“If we were going to have the clock not operational, it would not be the last month of classes and finals,” Riley said. “I suspect that a lot of students look at that leaving the South 40 to see if they’ll be late to class.”

Evan Freedman | Student Life

A tornado that ripped through Richmond Heights last Sunday night brought down power lines along Big Bend Boulevard, seen here looking south from Clayton Road. While power was not lost on campus, blocks of Kingsbury Boulevard and Washington Avenue lost power briefly on Tuesday.

A tornado warning for St. Louis County led students across campus to seek shelter—though many students could barely hear the sirens.

According to Mark Bagby, Washington University’s emergency management coordinator, there have been no reports that sirens did not go off as expected, and a silent test conducted this morning proved the system to be operational.

In a discussion between school officials and students Tuesday afternoon, two students reported that they had heard the sirens. Other students reported not hearing anything or not paying attention.

Sophomore Nick Kavanagh expected the sirens on top of his building to go off, but he heard nothing—even when he was standing directly outside of Nemerov.

“They 100 percent did not go off,” Kavanagh said. “I could hear in the distance the ones coming off from the top of Graham Chapel, but they were very, very faint, and if the wind had been stronger, I probably would not have heard them.”

Tornado sirens are located on Brookings Hall, Seigle Hall, and Nemerov House.

Because it was so quiet, he believed it to be a “safe” warning, as opposed to an actual tornado warning.

According to Steve Hoffner, associate vice chancellor for operations, the sirens should have been clearly audible.

“It was a typical tornado warning siren, which revs up and then continues at a steady pace for a couple of minutes,” Hoffner said. “To the best of our knowledge, they did go off, but we’ll have an opportunity to check live Monday morning.”

The University will test its emergency notification system on Wednesday at approximately 12:05 p.m.

Sophomore Abby Traub was on the fourth floor of Nemerov when she saw weather warnings on TV. She didn’t hear the sirens either.

“I didn’t hear any sirens, so I assumed it wasn’t actually a tornado,” Traub said. “I didn’t hear anything.”

The University relies on the sirens, which are controlled by the county’s emergency alert system, instead of its own WUSTLAlerts system. According to Bagby, WUSTLAlerts has only been used once since it was created in 2007—for the University closing this past January.

“The WUSTLAlerts system is a University-wide alert system for life-threatening emergencies or emergencies that we need to get information to people very, very quickly—for example, a gunman on campus or a hazardous materials threat,” Bagby said. “For severe weather, we rely on our outdoor warning sirens.”

According to Bagby, damage from the storm was minimal, and no locations on campus lost power.

WUSTLAlerts is being tested on March 9 to ensure that the system works and that students are familiar with it. St. Louis County warning sirens will be tested on March 7, the first Monday of the month.

Correction: In the original posting of this article, it was reported that the University would test its tornado sirens on March 7.These sirens are operated by St. Louis County, not the University. The WUSTLAlerts system will be tested Wednesday at approximately 12:05 p.m. as reported. Student Life regrets the error.

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