Student Life Archives

After the September 11 terrorist attacks, five students have backed out of their plans to study abroad and no university study abroad programs have been cancelled, said Dr. Robert Booker, director of the Office of International Studies.

This year, one Washington University student is studying in the Middle East at the University of Tel Aviv in Israel. Two other students had planned to go to Israel next semester; one has recently decided to not go abroad at all, and the other chose to study in England instead.

Each year, WU sends students to England, Australia, Chile and Spain, and fewer students go to other places around the globe, said Booker.

Booker said he talked to a number of concerned parents and students about planned trips.

Jonthan Davis, a junior going to Kenya next semester, said he never questioned his decision to study abroad in the spring.

“At a time when being in America isn’t necessarily the safest place to be, why would I be worried about being in another country?” said Davis.

Amy Reahard, a sophomore traveling with the School of Art’s program to Florence, Italy, next semester, admitted that she is nervous, but confident that WU will ensure the safety of the students.

“I don’t think they’d send us over there if they knew that there might be a problem,” she said.

Both Reahard and Davis said their parents expressed concern about them going, but not enough to cancel their plans.

“My parents trust my judgment, so the only advice they gave me was to be safe,” Davis said. “They are somewhat scared about me going, but I believe they would have been regardless of the attacks or not.”

Booker sent out an e-mail announcing a pre-departure briefing for next semester’s study abroad students. The Office of International Studies regularly sponsors pre-departure briefing sessions for students planning a trip abroad, Booker said, but he thinks students this year will be especially attentive to hearing about safety precautions.

“We always recommend that students keep a low profile,” Booker said. “That means dressing like native students and no American flags on your backpacks.”

Professor of English Joseph Loewenstein, coordinator for students studying abroad in the United Kingdom, said his advice to students this year is just to proceed “warily and quietly.”

“That’s always the case, but it’s particularly important now,” said Loewenstein. “Some students think of study abroad as an occasion to cut loose, but that’s even more inappropriate now.”

Booker added that students considering study abroad for next semester must decide quickly because the longer they wait, the more likely they will encounter complications in billing policies, housing and course registration if they decide against the trip.

Washington University will move from Missouri’s first congressional district to the third district as a result of federal redistricting from the 2000 national census, if the state Court of Appeals passes the proposed plan.

The move from Representative William L. Clay’s (D) district to House Democratic leader Richard A. Gephardt’s (D) district shouldn’t affect most WU students who are not registered voters in Missouri.

The U.S. Constitution mandates that a census be taken every ten years, but according to the Census Bureau, the statistics have been used only since 1980 to “merge local voting behavior data with small-area census counts to create legislative districts with balanced populations.”

Redrawing district lines allows a more equitable distribution of voters among geographic boundaries, in accordance with the “one-person, one-vote” rule of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Missouri Democrats and Republicans were supposed to reach an agreement for a bipartisan redistricting plan by August 28, but because of lengthy discussions and failure to agree on where to draw lines, they missed the deadline. The redistricting plans now lie in the hands of Missouri’s Court of Appeals.

“Congressional incumbents want to see a new district plan that gives them a good chance of being re-elected,” said American Studies Professor Steven Smith. “Within the same party, there is tension between those who want to keep incumbents versus maximizing seats [in the House of Representatives].”

With the next congressional elections taking place in 2002, winning seats in the House will be crucial to maintaining or toppling the balance of power, since a switch of merely six seats will put the House in a Democratic majority.

From the long lines, blistering cold wind and costumes, you could tell it was Bauhaus.

The cold Saturday night saw packs of scantily-clad people walking to the Brookings parking lot for the School of Architecture’s annual Halloween event. Walking into the tent, the atmosphere became warm and humid, as condensation dripped from the ceiling.

The crowd incorporated the usual assortment of barely-dressed women and cross-dressed men, including one sophomore male who wore a one-strap top and a skirt. Another wore just a T-shirt and boxers.

But sophomore Dylan Linkgelbach wore plastic size DD cleavage.

“Well, I cross-dressed last year, and I wanted something to spice it up this year,” he said.

Sophomore Dave Jurgens, on the other hand, chose to wear a little less-actually a lot less. For Bauhaus he wore only two big leaves, one in front and one in back. Party-goers quickly dubbed him “the naked guy.”

“It seemed the simplest yet most creative costume,” said Jurgens. “I did run into some problems. One girl ripped one of the leaves.”

Emmy Wohlgemuth came dressed as Bridgett Jones, clad only in leopard print bikini underwear, a sweater and tennis shoes, like Renee Zelwegger was dressed in the last scene of the movie.

“I almost didn’t do it because I didn’t think I would be brave enough, but at the last minute I was like whatever and got the guts to do it,” she said.

Outrageous costumes aside, the violent lines at the Johnny on the Spots and the cold weather opposed the happier vibe inside the tent.

For some, seeing popular local DJ Stan Doublin, a St. Louis house headliner, spin at the party was a surprise. In the past, Bauhaus planners hired TKO DJs to provide music; this year they hired KWUR, who brought Doublin.

As a part of this year’s Founder’s Day festivities, the Washington University Alumni Association sponsored a question and answer session with former New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley, a 2000 presidential candidate.

Following brief introductions by Chancellor Wrighton, SU President Justin Ragner and Marie Oetting, chairman of the Alumni Board of Governors, Bradley began a short speech before asking for questions from the student audience.

Senator Bradley’s opening comments focused on the political leadership of the country and later addressed the role of college students in politics, especially in his own presidential campaign, which drew large support on American campuses.

“I won every college town we ran in, but there were not enough college students,” said Bradley. “I did get a [positive] response from young people across the country because I was basically very candid about where we are in the country.”

Bradley’s closing remarks addressed prolematic areas of American society. Specifically, he focused on healthcare and child poverty as issues of great concern. He concluded his speech by discussing the role of politicians as representatives of the American people.

Aside from a small group of students-including heads of political organizations, student government, and media-who were given automatic invitations to the event, a lottery determined which students could attend the discussion, held at Anheiser-Busch Hall’s Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom.

While the organizers of the event had ten screened questions submitted by those with automatic invites to the event, Bradley simply took questions from the audience at large if a student raised his hand. Most of the prepared questions were not asked.

“During your time as senator, what do you feel has been your most important contribution?” asked Brian Shank, president of the College Republicans. Legislative initiatives, including the 1986 Tax Reform Act, Bradley said, had the most sweeping impact of his efforts.

Another student asked Bradley to explain and debate the reluctance of young people to get involved with politics, when there is a stigma attached to the profession. Bradley cited three factors undermining involvement: the overblown role of money in politics, national media that are generally “much too superficial and sensational,” and a lack of politicians who speak from core convictions.

Many questions addressed the recent terrorist attacks. When asked how he felt President George W. Bush was doing in responding to the tragedy, Bradley’s response was positive, while he added that Bush could “do more.”

“I think [Bush] is doing a good job, but it is too early to tell. The president did what he needed to do. He effectively mourned the loss of 6,000 Americans,” said Bradley.

Bradley, a native of Crystal City, Mo., and former basketball player for the New York Knicks, was in St. Louis to deliver the keynote speech at the Founder’s Day banquet which took place that night at the Ritz-Carlton in Clayton.

The Washington University Office of Public Affairs’ (OPA) media guidelines have sparked controversy following the September 11 terrorist attacks, after a St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter was denied access to a September 20 peace protest in the Brookings Quadrangle.

In letters and opinion-editorials appearing in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Student Life during the last month, opponents of the policy have argued that the university administration is trying to curtail freedom of speech by not allowing media personnel onto campus without their approval.

During the September 20 protest-an assembly of approximately ten students-the Office of Student Activities asked the OPA to restrict media access to campus, upon the request of a group of students.

The current WU media guidelines stipulate that “reporters and television and radio news crews wishing to interview,

to photograph and/or videotape/broadcast on the WU campus must notify the Public Affairs’ office” and that “the areas in which photography/ taping/ broadcasting is allowed may be further restricted at the discretion of the Public Affairs office of the university

administration.”

The guidelines also require that a member of the OPA must accompany all electronic media on campus and that campus police be informed of all electronic media crews coming on to campus.

A non-bylined editorial in the Post-Dispatch objected to the decision to bar media from a campus protest on the grounds that rather than promoting open discussion as a university should, the restriction of media access sent a signal that some ideas are too dangerous to be expressed.

WU junior Shawn Kumar and senior Amy Hill, both of whom have been active in campus protests, said they were worried that the guidelines allowed the university to limit media coverage at those events. WU

alumnus and former editor of Student Life Dorothy Brockhoff has written a letter to the

editors of the Post-

Dispatch voicing the same

concern. Fred Volkmann, vice chancellor for Public Affairs, disagreed, stating that the university’s media guidelines are for the protection of the WU community.

“[The WU policy] has to do with people

coming on the campus and appearing here in such a way that it could be perceived that they were entering places where they were not

supposed to be,” said Volkmann.

Besides citing the possibility of students being harassed by reporters, Volkmann

mentioned two reasons why the university should protect its students rather than letting them fend for themselves.

He pointed out that there are WU students who are not yet 18 and cannot legally make the decision to be interviewed if their parents don’t want them to do so. In addition, he said, having an open campus can cause security issues. Volkmann said it would be possible for criminals to pose as reporters in order to gain access to the campus.

He added that the restrictions were important in order to prevent the media from gaining access to sensitive faculty research areas.

The OPA guidelines have been in place for decades. After the protest, however, writers from the Post-Dispatch asserted the novelty of the entire policy.

Post-Dispatch columnist Jerry Berger wrote in his column that, “on-camera interviews with members of WU’s faculty may be scarcer and look a little more crowded if local news bosses abide by a new set of guidelines issued by the school’s press police.”

Volkmann said the misunderstanding arose because the Post-Dispatch did not have WU’s media guide.

Administrators did, however, revise the guidelines in late September, because they were ambiguous in their discussion of photographers access to campus. Volkmann also said that they made the revision to integrate the print and electronic media guidelines, which previously were separate. These revisions, however, did not affect the policy that affected the Post-Dispatch reporter at the September 20 protest.

“The only place where you have media surprise expressed was the Post-Dispatch because they didn’t have the guidelines,” said Volkmann. “They’ve never asked for them, and we’ve never had to send them. We’ve always had such good relations.”

Volkmann explained that other media sources weren’t surprised by the revision of the guidelines.