Student Life Archives

In Friday’s staff editorial, “CS40 receives more money than it needs,” much is made of the large budget that the Congress of the South 40 is allocated each year. It’s true; CS40 is one of the best-funded groups on campus. It also does a lot with that money. Besides having several incorrect and misleading facts, the editorial fails to mention many of the significant costs that CS40 incurs each year-some mandated constitutionally and others historically.

The staff editorial noted that not all CS40 money goes directly to residents. While this is true, overhead costs are endemic to all organizations. There are other groups that pay employees or advisors as well. There’s nothing inherently wrong with paying an advisor. The reason CS40 hired one, for example, was that when a residential college director used to advise them, it took such a significant amount of time that it diminished the RCD’s capacity to complete his or her regular duties.

The time executives spend on these jobs precludes the possibility of a work-study job and, while executives are not officially “on call,” they are always receiving scores of phone calls and e-mails about various problems. Each executive advises at least two committees and two college councils and has to attend Assembly meetings each week, all in addition to the mandated office hours. Some of them spend upwards of 20 hours a week on CS40. Consider the fact that, even with the “executive overcompensation” that the staff article argued exists, in last year’s elections, multiple positions were unopposed. But since executive compensation is always a sticky subject, let’s talk about some non-controversial issues.

Friday’s editorial argued that the $10,000 spent on leadership training was excessive and that it was used for CS40 executives to go to conventions in South Dakota. (For the record, it was North Dakota.) All attempts to make Grand Fork, North Dakota, sound like the Bahamas aside, it is not just the executives who go to these conventions. Rather, 15 to 20 people go each year, including those involved with college councils. While we’re correcting things, how about the article’s suggestion that CS40 should “spend a tenth of [the leadership training money] and go to the Ozarks instead?” Imagine the editorial board’s surprise in finding out that CS40 and NRHH already went to the Ozarks earlier this school year for the leadership training of college council members.

The article also describes how CS40 needlessly duplicates the efforts of other campus groups, such as the SU Formal and Greek chapter formals. While they eventually applaud the CS40 formal for offering an alternative date to SU’s, what Student Life doesn’t mention is that there has never actually been an SU formal yet-this year is the inaugural. Up until now, the CS40 formal was the sole option for those not in a fraternity or sorority. SU should be applauded for their efforts to do the same for non-Greek, non-South 40 students.

Let’s just run through some of the items that CS40 funds (in part or whole) that weren’t mentioned in Friday’s article: an Assembly Series Speaker, the CS40 planner, a significant part of the cost of South 40 computer labs (almost $17,000), airport shuttles during move-in, rental cars, ad infinitum.

The argument that the Orientation office should be paying for Club 40 and all other Orientation activities is really not an argument at all. Think of it this way: if the Orientation office was paying for Club 40 instead of CS40, the student body would still pay for it through more tuition. At least in the current case, the people footing the bill for Club 40 are people that live on the 40, as opposed to all students. The same would occur if the costs of computer labs, rental cars, etc. were shifted off of CS40’s shoulders. The costs would still come back to residents in one way or another.

Finally, the one constructive recommendation that the editorial made suggested that CS40 should form a new committee that all college councils would appeal to when they wanted funds, instead of giving each council an equal amount. While nice in theory, this would simply lead to more bureaucracy and an enormous burden on the new committee’s members to hear the individual requests of all ten college councils. Furthermore, what would happen when that money ran out mid-year, as is common with many of SU’s “first-come, first-serve” accounts?

So all in all, what is this about? We’re splitting hairs on a fee that comprises about a quarter of one percent of the total cost of attending WU, while we lack the same fiery zeal for the typical $1,000-plus annual tuition increase. Let’s get our priorities straight and not knock a group that provides excellent programming and numerous services to over half the WU population.

The flowers were neither from nor for me. Rather, from they were from the Greek Interfraternity Council and for a professor-and thesis advisor-of mine. At the time she received her “Faculty Appreciation Day” bouquet, I was in her office discussing the subject I had proposed to study. In early October, I thought the token of student thanks was kind. In late October, I believe it to be necessary. Then, I could only imagine what academic research entails. Today, I know that professor’s projects’ demand constant attention, sustained interest, and intellectual peace of mind. A month of work on my thesis had led me to appreciate my professors to a degree I never thought possible.

I, like you, am a busy person. Between classes, commitments to academic, athletic and social groups, interest in the community and nation in which I live (e.g. political or medical volunteer efforts), and a desire to spend time with friends, I often find it difficult to devote significant chunks of time to my thesis. On many occasions, far-away deadlines sadly relegate thesis reading to a lower priority than class essays in the juggling act that is my life.

The same, I suppose, is true of professors. At Washington University, they are not merely researchers, but also teachers, administrators, evaluators, guidance counselors, and recommendation writers. Yet, away from the Hilltop Campus, they are also wives, husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters, sons, and community members. By virtue of their titles at WU, however, they are afforded less of a luxury than am I; teachers are obliged to prioritize research. After but a month of work on my thesis, I am amazed that my professors never drop the ball.

Some would expect them to do so, if only because many have little economic incentive to work; they are tenured. Southpaw, “WU’s liberal voice,” aptly captured this reality in one of the magazine’s spring issues. Alongside a student submission was a photograph of a professor’s vanity plates. His chosen vocabulary? “10-URED.” One particular individual’s ill-advised decision aside, however, the majority of our professors do not relax after securing a job for life. Rather, because of the competitive yet collegiate atmosphere in which they work, they are all but required to remain productive.

Indeed, I have learned (or, more accurately, have had reinforced) over the past several weeks that a central feature of research is that it is situational in nature. By this I mean that my professors’ current research must be located within previous work and theory. As such, faculty must be aware of old and new studies in their field. If they aspire to have their own research and writing respected, they must adhere-or explain and persuasively justify-their deviation from the communal standards that their colleagues have established. Better yet, WU professors should make significant contributions, early and often, to the advancement of knowledge in their area of expertise. Only if they do so will they be well respected in a national and international arena-academia-where in-tense competition is found within a close community.

Academic research, I now know, requires a high level of intellect. In my own experience, I have found it more difficult, for example, to read a book for my thesis than for a class. The level of thoroughness with which I must study the work of another scholar for my own research far exceeds the care I must devote to perusing a book for class discussion. To attain the degree of focus necessary to proceed with thesis readings, I must often lock myself in my room and turn off my computer and my cell phone in an effort avoid all distractions.

Here again I have an advantage over my professors-and an explanation for why they often stay at home to do work. I have the luxury of both larger amounts of free time and less interruptions to daily life. Yet again, my professors manage to conduct and produce high-quality research.

Nothing that I have written in this column is revolutionary. Much of my reflections I know to be common knowledge. Others I understand to be subconscious. The great value of my first month of work on my thesis is not that I have learned much (though I have, about electoral reform specifically and social science research techniques generally). It is that I have come to appreciate that which-and those who-I already knew.

One idea is not necessarily as good as another

To the editor:

Perhaps I’m not the only member of the campus community who has seen the mural (black lettering on an orange background) on the wall of the building near Bixby Hall that reads “One idea is as good as another.” Hopefully, if that is the case, I’m not the only one to have noticed the slight flaw in this all-too-common reasoning.
After all, if one idea is as good as another, then I suppose that the idea, common for centuries, that women were mere chattel, property owned by their fathers until marriage and their husbands afterwards, is as good as the idea that women are full-fledged human beings, with rights to their person and their property. And the idea that racial purity is a desirable goal, one worth committing genocide and “ethnic cleansing” to attain, is as good as the idea that tolerance and diversity are desirable.
For that matter, if “one idea is as good as another,” then the idea that that statement is the most idiotic, puerile, vapid idea I’ve ever heard is as good as the idea that “one idea is as good as another.”
But they can’t both be good ideas; they are mutually exclusive. Nor can they both be bad ideas, for if “one idea is as good as another” is a bad idea, then the idea that it is a (very) bad idea can’t be a bad idea. And since they are both absolutes, allowing for no middle ground, they can’t both be marginally good ideas; they’re either right or wrong. Hence, one of them is demonstrably not “as good as the other.”

Jim Yanni
Washington University Staff
Shuttle Driver

Support Take Back the Night

To the editor:

I’m writing this letter to express my hope that, even though Sexual Assault Awareness Week has ended, the discussion of issues like rape on our campus will not. I especially would like for this discussion to permeate beyond individuals and groups that are committed to “women’s issues,” as rape and violence are issues that affect everyone, whether we are aware of it or not.
In publicizing an event that I’ve worked to organize that brings attention to these issues, I’ve been met with a great deal of resistance. A few of my friends have told me that sitting down to talk about rape isn’t going to accomplish anything; they don’t rape or commit violence, and no one who attends these kinds of events would either.
Part of the problem is that if we gain almost a sense of security by our avoidance of this issue. We want to believe that it’s not as widespread as it really is so that we can worry less about ourselves and our friends. However, we are only hurting ourselves and the victims of these crimes by our failure to acknowledge their pervasiveness. By not talking about it, by not calling attention to the fact that our society allows these crimes to occur only further encourages victims to keep silent and for attention to their existence to diminish.
Pledging to be an individual who doesn’t rape or commit violence against women is not enough. For there to be change, we need the activism of men as well as women. If a world without rape and violence is something you’d like to see, please come to this year’s Take Back the Night-this Wednesday, Oct. 30. It’s an event meant to raise awareness about these issues, and we’d love to see both men and women there. Take Back the Night consists of a women’s march and a men’s discussion. We’ll meet in the Quad at 7 p.m. I hope to see everyone there.

Lisa Kohn
Arts and Sciences
Class of 2005

Alyssa Gregory

It’s November and time for elections. It’s time to get educated about the issues and make your voice heard and vote.

SU elections hold an importance specifically because these candidates represent students and only students, and their actions have a primary effect on students’ daily lives. As with the congressional elections, one should not only vote but also learn about the candidates. Each candidate’s statement is in today’s paper, as well as online at SU’s Web site. Go to either one, so you can learn about the future representatives of Washington University.

This year’s SU elections, however, are even more important, in that the new SU constitution is on the ballot. This constitution, which has been in committee for the past two years, is finally complete and will determine how your student body functions. Contained in it are major changes that include a greater separation of powers between its members and committees, fewer senatorial positions, and the creation of new committees. As stated on the SU Web site, however, this new constitution also carries with it possible drawbacks, such as stagnation and the removal of monetary power from the senate. To learn more about the constitution before you vote on it, read it in its entirety in today’s paper or go to SU’s Web page.

One of the brilliant things about the government under which we live is that it is multi-tiered. One may vote not only on a campus level, but also on the state, city, and, national level. At the same time that SU elections will be occurring, so too will Congressional elections.

Though they may not hold the nation’s interest as much as presidential elections, the Nov. 5 midterm elections remain an important part of American democracy. These elections will determine which party controls Congress, and the winners will determine the direction that our government takes over the next two years.

Though WU appears to be an isolated environment, your vote can make a difference; so get out there and vote.

Before you do, you should learn about for whom and for what it is you are voting. Often times, individuals simply go to the ballots and vote based on their party allegiance without any consideration of the type of candidate they are supporting. When one goes to the polls, one does not vote for a particular ideology but rather specific persons with their own sets of beliefs that may or may not match the stance of the party under which they are running.

Know the issues.

Before exercising your right to vote, exercise your right to be educated. In this age of information, it is easier than ever to find out where exactly each candidate stands on the issues and which interests support which candidates.

If one registered to vote in Missouri, he or she will participate in one of the most closely watched senatorial elections of the year: incumbent Democrat Jean Carnahan faces the Republican (and former WU visiting professor) Jim Talent.

It should also be noted that this race in particular holds a special importance, in that, if Jim Talent is elected, he will be instated in November, and not in January. The reason for this lies in that Sen. Carnahan came to office without actually being elected; she was instated after her husband died in a plane crash after his election. What this means is that if Talent wins, the Republican party will hold the majority for nine weeks before the January induction of all other senators, even if the Democratic party gains the majority by election. This could possibly mean that President Bush could push through federal court appointees and even certain reforms.

Though the space provided by this page is not enough to outline the stances that each candidate takes on the issues, one can and should learn more about them at the non-partisan website www.issues2002.org.

And even if you’re not registered here in Missouri, those of you registered at your home states should send in your absentee ballots so that your presence will be known in these elections. Simply mail in your ballot and you’re done. What could be easier? You don’t even have to leave home.

While you’re at it, vote for the propositions and candidates of your city as well. There a many important issues being voted on. For instance, there is a new cigarette tax that may make your Marlboros and Camels about 50 cents more expensive than they already are.

These elections and issues affect you. So get educated. Go out. Go vote.