Student Life Archives

Knight Ridder Newspapers

(KRT) Big Brother is paying closer attention to foreign students.

Thousands of U.S. colleges and universities are being tied into an Immigration and Naturalization Service computerized system tracking the movements of noncitizens.

That’s raising the anxiety level of students like Hari Parthasarathi, a 22-year-old native of India studying at the University of Akron.

In the United States to continue his education, Parthasarathi says he has no reason to fear immigration authorities and he understands why, in the wake of Sept. 11, the government is keeping closer tabs on foreigners.

Yet he expresses some concern when he hears that universities are feeding academic and personal information to the huge INS database.

Foreign students “are new here,” he says. “You come from India – crossing oceans. We just don’t want something to come in our way” of completing studies. Students are “getting intimidated without actually knowing what’s going on.”

The computerized tracking system – called Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS – is aimed at ensuring that the more than half-million foreign students in the United States take the courses they were approved to take and attend the schools they told the government they would attend.

In the past, colleges and universities used a paper-based system and kept the information in files. The INS only had access to the data when it asked.

The new system grew out of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; a Jordanian student was charged in the attacks. By 1996, the INS was planning a centralized system to track international students.

The Sept. 11 attacks prompted Congress to step up creation of SEVIS. At least one Sept. 11 hijacker, Hani Hanjour, entered the country on a student visa, but never showed up for classes.

So colleges are racing to put information online, spending money they can ill afford in this time of tight budgets.

David Ayers, director of the University of Akron’s international programs office, says the university spent about $60,000 to move to the computerized system. This amount did not include labor costs.

There are two deadlines.

By Thursday, campuses must be able to submit information on new international students to SEVIS. Those schools that haven’t been approved to log in won’t be able to enroll new foreign students.

Then, by Aug. 1, information on existing students must be in the system.

Ayers says students who stay in compliance with their immigration status – promptly reporting address and academic-program changes and maintaining a full course load – have nothing to fear.

As with the old paper system, students who fall out of compliance can face penalties, including deportation. But educators say now that the government is getting the information almost instantaneously, the stakes are especially high. They believe a backup plan is needed to deal with the possibility of a technical glitch or a data-entry error jeopardizing a foreign student’s legal status.

“The important thing here is that we have the security that we need and we’re able to maintain international student exchanges,” says Ursula Oaks, spokeswoman for the Association of International Educators in Washington, D.C. “We need to find a balance.”

Kelly Carmack, an immigration specialist with Kent State University’s international student office, says students are worried about SEVIS.

“But I think it’s going to make it easier for us to help them,” she says.

Some educators are troubled that their relationships with international students could change as a result of SEVIS.

UA’s Ayers says students may see his international programs office as being much more “police-like.”

More than 900 international students and researchers are enrolled at UA.

“We’ve never had to report (the information) unless we were asked by the INS,” Ayers says. “Now the reporting is routine and regular.”

Charles Nieman, director of international student and scholars services at Kent State, says campus officials are working hard to tell the approximately 800 affected foreigners at Kent’s main campus about the new system.

That way, he says, “they hear it from us rather than the rumor mill,” which could be spreading incorrect information.

Yonathan Admassu, a 30-year-old from Ethiopia studying at UA, says he’s not all that bothered by SEVIS.

He’s more apprehensive about a relatively new federal policy that requires male visitors from certain countries to register at INS offices by specific dates. So far, Ethiopia is not on the list. But one of Admassu’s friends – a student from Eritrea studying in Michigan – had to register.

“He has lived here for three years,” Admassu said, “and all of a sudden he’s being suspected.”

It’s time to bundle up. Pile on layers of shirts, some long socks, boots, a winter coat, gloves, a scarf, and a beanie-it’s cold outside.

Over the past three weeks, snow has fallen and temperatures have nose-dived in St. Louis all the way down to negative 2 degrees. This was accompanied by a wind chill of negative 25. The cold has extended throughout the United States, and the weather has impacted many people’s lives, including many on the Washington University campus. Waking up and starting the day means, for many students, having to face the dreaded freezing walk from the South 40 to classes.

Freshman Adam Ralko is used to such frigid temperatures.

“I come from Michigan, so I know what cold weather is like, and I can say with certainty that the weather of last week is comparable to anything that I have experienced at home,” said Ralko. “To stay healthy here, I have to dress warmly, wearing several layers, but I know that I have to do more than that. That is why I try to eat a healthy diet, exercise, and get plenty of sleep.”

When out in the cutting wind, staying warm is of the essence, but once inside the soothing warmth of lecture halls or dorm rooms, students are still vulnerable to the effects cold weather has on the body.

Dr. Laurie Reitman, director of student health services, has some suggestions for students to prevent illness at this time of year.

“[Students] just have to recognize the importance of a few concepts,” said Reitman. “If they live a balanced life, that constantly fuels and maintains their bodies in a positive way; if they assign priority to their health, taking extra steps to realize the relative weakness of the immune system in cold months; and if they lower their risk against hazards, like being outside in extreme temperatures as little as necessary, they can greatly reduce their chances of getting sick and enjoy their second semester more.”

Sickness prevents students from getting all their work done, and it often leads students to fall behind in their coursework. Clearly, prevention is preferred, and this is achieved through all the common-sense measures-getting extra rest, drinking more liquids, eating a healthier diet, and even taking a multivitamin which replenishes the body. Sometimes, however, all these measures are not enough. Thus, medicine is relied on to take away symptoms and allows students to function once again. Medicine, however, is not an immediate cure and will not restore the body to perfect health without assistance.

As bleak as the situation feels, especially when the sub-zero winds whip across campus, living in St. Louis means things will not stay the same way for long. The cold of one day could be replaced by the warmth of the next.

“I am from the St. Louis area, so I am used to the spontaneous weather patterns,” said sophomore Jim Mourey. “The best advice I can give is to dress in layers. A freezing cold morning can turn into a warm afternoon, so it is best to be prepared for anything.”

Change is the rule of thumb. This week’s temperatures rose into the fifties and provided wonderful opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. But winter is not over, and fifties can quickly turn into teens.

On Tuesday evening, students and faculty alike tuned in and reacted to the President’s annual State of the Union address.

Professor Wayne Fields, a political rhetoric expert and the author of Union of Words: A History of Presidential Eloquence, analyzed President Bush’s speech and found that Bush used too much of an emotional appeal and not enough reasoning. “Bush told a powerful story about Iraq, imagined the threat that it posed… There was an emotional power to it, but not enough reason for an enduring policy,” said Fields.

Fields noted that Bush exhibited his tendency to follow his heart and base his decisions on it. “[The administration] is going to need to build a clear, logical argument that the people can understand. You need to have people pretty confident, not just excited. Emotion is not translated into a commitment. Hearts are a little bit fickle. [The Bush administration] made an effort to create anxiety; danger is not the way to build a base for action,” said Fields.

“The larger strategy seems to be to find someone to make an example of, Saddam Hussein for example, in order to implement foreign policy more far reaching than Iraq,” said Fields.

Fields also observed that Bush eliminated “Axis of Evil” from his speech terminology on the grounds that it does not promote optimal diplomatic relations.

Students from both sides of the political spectrum believe that diplomacy should be utilized more before the U.S. goes to war.

“He gave a good performance, speaking strongly about foreign affairs and homeland security, but questions remain concerning Iraq’s realistic threat on America’s welfare,” said Alyson Grant, a junior and the president of College Democrats. “Diplomacy is still a necessary road to a peaceful resolution, even though Bush appears to have dismissed that possibility. No blood should be shed if there is a better way to protect the interests of the nation, both home and abroad.”

As interim chair of the College Republicans, freshman Jeff Haurykiewicz feels “there is no evidence for war yet.”

“The American public generally supports President Bush and what he has to do. The public still has to be convinced that we need to go to Iraq. We haven’t heard from weapons relations and allies abroad. We can do more diplomatically. But if there is conclusive evidence, the American public will back Bush,” said Haurykiewicz.

The issue of Bush’s economic development plan divided the two club officers.

“WU students have been having trouble finding jobs and the administration’s creation of more jobs will make it less difficult for those graduates seeking jobs rather than attending medical or graduate schools,” Haurykiewicz said.

Grant found Bush’s economic plan unpromising. “The Bush administration has posted the worst job creation numbers… Unemployment is at its highest since 1994 and since the president took office, 1.7 million jobs have been lost. This is inexcusable in the world’s most powerful industrial nation. To compensate for employment shortcomings, Bush wants to reward the country’s wealthiest 1 percent with an overly ambitious tax cut benefiting the rich,” said Grant.

On other domestic issues, Haurykiewicz said, “As far as the environment issue goes, more people will be happy if he does more about it… The AIDS issue is something that both sides of the political spectrum can agree something should be done about.”

Grant found Bush’s statements too broad and an inaccurate portrayal of the nation. “On the domestic front, the President appeared weak and without direction. In actuality our union’s economy is not strong and needs much work… Overall, Bush may have hooked some by blaming our domestic situation on problems abroad, but he did not provide Americans with answers to any of our problems.”

Saturday, January 25
11:20 a.m., ACCIDENT AUTO, ATHLETIC COMPLEX-Two vehicles, no injuries.

3:45 p.m., TELEPHONE, SMALL GROUP #3-Complainant reported harassing phone calls.
Sunday, January 26
6:26 p.m., ALARM, EADS HALL-Water leak set off smoke detectors.

Monday, January 27

7:52 a.m., LARCENY-THEFT, SOUTH BROOKINGS-Person(s) unknown stole two mini speakers and two AA batteries used with a small stereo headset. The item was left unattended at the above location.

2:37 p.m., PROPERTY DAMAGE, MALLINCKRODT CENTER-Reporting party, a WU employee reported damage to the Edison Theatre sign.

3:29 p.m., LARCENY-THEFT, ANHEUSER BUSCH HALL OF LAW-A student stated that on Jan. 23 between 10 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. an unknown person(s) took his cellular phone from a front zipper pocket of his back pack, which was located at a study table in the lower level library area of Anheuser Busch. Total loss valued at $300.

9:04 a.m., ACCIDENT AUTO, Houston Way-Two vehicles, no injuries.
Tuesday, January 28
8:09 a.m., ACCIDENT AUTO, MALLINCKRODT CENTER-Two vehicles, no injuries.

8:55 p.m., LARCENY-THEFT, ANHEUSER BUSCH HALL OF LAW-Victim’s laptop computer was taken between 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. by person(s) unknown.
Wednesday, January 29
6:31 p.m., LARCENY-THEFT, ANHEUSER BUSCH HALL OF LAW-Suspect stole long distance access codes over winter break and made several international calls.

10:51 p.m., DISTURBANCE, RUBELMAN DORM-One student made a complaint against another student for inappropriate actions.

WU police arrest robbery suspect

After investigating the alleged Jan. 17 burglary of House #4 on Fraternity Row, police apprehended a suspect, 46-year-old Kevin Bradley of Ferguson, Mo., in north St. Louis County on Wednesday. A warrant had been issued charging Bradley with burglary, and his bond has now been set at $50,000. Police believe Bradley entered the house before midnight, although nothing was reported as stolen and nobody in the house said they were injured. WUPD Police Chief Don Strom said that a witness at the scene provided an “excellent” description of Bradley which was “extremely helpful” in identifying the suspect.

Hatchet sales increase 21 percent
The Hatchet, WU’s yearbook, has seen a record number of sales for the 2003 edition, with the number of pre-orders already 21 percent higher than the total number of books sold last year. In an effort to increase sales, the Hatchet launched its first large-scale publicity campaign, attempting to redefine the yearbook’s place in the WU community. In addition to highlighting its strengths, the Hatchet staff has also made an effort to publicize the fact that students can order the yearbook via their student account. While this is not new, many students were previously unaware of this option. This year’s theme is “one,” which yearbook editors believe will represent each student’s contribution to the university community as a whole. Yearbook orders will continue to be accepted through the end of the academic year at the Hatchet Web site. Copies will be available in May.

Amid plastic palm trees, gummiworm-strewn tables, and beach ball-shaped carrot cake, Bon App‚tit presented the “World Beach Tour Dinner” at Center Court on Jan. 28. The event, which featured high-end cuisine and elaborate decorations, was a gesture of gratitude to Washington University students for voting the fare “Best Food 2002,” in a survey by the Princeton Review.

Long lines didn’t deter over 1,100 hungry students, who waited to sample foods from costal-themed menus served by staffers in Hawaiian shirts. From the skewered prawns of the Grill Coast Louisiana menu to the Traditional Cape Cod menu, which boasted boiled clams and mussels, the general consensus was extremely positive. “I was so psyched to eat that I forgot to get a drink,” said freshman Cody Elan.

Students dined to the tunes of Cambooley, a one-man steel band. Sand buckets and pails, beach balls, and sunglasses were among the freebies provided, along with tank tops that read, “Proud to Feed Great Minds.”

“The fact that the shirts said that was really nice of them. We should be thanking them instead of them thanking us,” said sophomore Elliot Schiffer.

“We were trying to show our appreciation to our customers,” explained Greg Teator, general manager of dining services. “A lot of thought went into the menu…This is how Bon App‚tit can strut its culinary stuff.”

The numbers added up. After consuming, among other things, 300 lbs of smoked prime rib and 125 lbs of bananas foster in rum sauce, WU students were both grateful and full. What’s more, Bon App‚tit’s attention to detail did not go unnoticed. “They pretty much had everything but an open bar,” said freshman Betsy Ramaccia.

The Task Force on Under-graduate Grievance Procedures has released a draft version of its final report to the public.

The task force’s proposed solution has three components. First, according to the report, “grievance procedures need to be simpler and more effectively communicated to students, faculty, staff, and administrators. A single document, written in plain and simple language, should describe informal and formal grievance procedures.”

Second, “each school should have an ombudsperson available to assist with the informal resolution of student grievances against faculty members.”

Finally, “the university should have a single formal grievance process available to any student with a complaint against a faculty member about discrimination or harassment.”

Appointed by Chancellor Wrighton during summer 2002, the task force met nine times over the course of the fall 2002 semester to review existing university and school-specific policies for dealing with student discrimination complaints against faculty and administration. Three of these meetings were open to the public.

In the course of its investigation, the task force found that very few people on campus were even aware of the existence of formal grievance procedures, which are intended to be used when a student feels that a teacher has harassed an individual or a group of students based on gender, race, or ethnicity.

“Honestly, I thought you just went and talked to some guy about it, and he would get back to you,” said freshman Jonathan Liu.

Moreover, the task force found that only the School of Arts and Sciences has a written student grievances policy. Currently, the other four undergraduate schools rely on a variety of official, but informal methods for their dispute resolution, which have never been explicitly defined.

Dean of the School of Law Joel Seligman, chairman of the task force, explained another complication that arises when students feel a discriminatory event has taken place.

“The reality has been in the sexual harassment area that there’s some instances that people will believe they’ve been sexually harassed,” he said. “There’ve been other instances where they’re literally uncertain and are trying to decide… and want to think through what it would mean to go forward with a complaint.”

Problems with existing procedures include their age and relative obscurity. According to the report, no one has launched a formal harassment claim of any kind for at least a decade at WU. This means that current procedures are, for the most part, untested. The current sexual harassment policy was adopted in 1996-1997, but it has yet to be employed in a formal complaint. The university also planned to release a new policy on non-sexual forms of discrimination at the end of January or in early February.

While writing new grievance procedures, the task force had “mixed views about the degree of confidentiality that should exist and the role record-keeping should play in informal grievance procedures,” according to the report. In the process of investigating a discrimination allegation, it is nearly impossible to not at least implicitly identify the complaining student to the accused teacher, the report said. However, committee members also felt that many students would come forward only on the condition of anonymity.

The issue of record-keeping was similarly complicated.

“In our discussions, the question of what do we mean by confidentiality was probably the most complex conversation we engaged in,” said Seligman. “Some basically said, in effect, people seem more comfortable with us if we’re not writing everything down, if they understand we don’t have judgmental power-if we can just talk, reach a meeting of the minds.”

On the other hand, however, this would present certain problems.

“Other people said, ‘What if there have been a series of complaints about a specific individual over time?’ Without record-keeping, it would be difficult to identify any faculty members who have been the subject of previous complaints,” said Seligman. “So, it was a balancing of two very different kinds of considerations.”

The task force found that it was much more common for students to pursue informal complaints.

Freddie Dickinson, the student representative on the task force from the School of Architecture, mentioned the nature of discrimination cases.

“It’s kind of hard to create a draft for all situations,” he said. “[They should] have some room to judge each case on its own merit, rather than looking for some kind of flowchart to address the questions.”

The task force also obtained grievance procedures from 13 other universities, including Harvard, Stanford, and Yale, and concluded that there was no standard approach.

Copies of the WU task force’s draft are available online at http://aisweb.wustl.edu/chancellor/announce.nsf.

A facelift is in store for www.wustl.

edu, Washington University’s official homepage, as well as all other university Web pages with the familiar beige background.

A proposed design was submitted to several administrative committees in the past few weeks, and that design is currently being revised to accommodate the feedback received from those groups. The sites representing various schools and departments within the university will not be affected by these modifications.

Jan Weller, assistant vice chancellor for network and library technology, and Mary Ellen Benson, assistant vice chancellor for public affairs, co-chair the Web site redesign research effort. Both of their offices are working closely to improve the site’s appearance and functionality.

The existing Web site has been up since 2000, and it is the result of recommendations collected by a committee formed by the chancellor in 1999. The committee consulted a wide array of faculty and students to satisfy the needs of its users. Changing technology and other issues, however, have compelled administration to once again consider an overhaul of the homepage.

“The life of a Web page is usually 18 months, and this one has been up for two and a half years,” said Benson.

A new design will also reflect the capabilities of new Web browser technologies that the old page was not built for.

“We not only want to look at [the redesign of the homepage] from a design perspective, but we also want to consider the functionality of the page,” said Weller.

The current redesign process is a departure from the approach taken during the last major update of the homepage. Benson said that last time feedback and suggestions were gathered before designing the Web site since “it was such a massive overhaul of the way the information was presented.”

This year, a proposed design was first created, and it will now be revised and modified with additional input and feedback. Once the revisions have been made to the original proposal, it will be linked to the current homepage and students will be able to offer their own feedback to the webmaster and Web editor.

There is one area, however, where students may offer their own suggestions in an open forum. At a recent Student Union retreat, officers collected feedback on the “Current Students” page, one of the areas most heavily used by students of those that will be redesigned. According to President Katie Platt, SU will be holding a meeting on Feb. 7 to discuss what changes should be made to this portion of the Web site.

Many students concur that the homepage is in dire need of a makeover.

Freshman Rob Boyer said, “It’s the ugliest university Web site I’ve ever seen. It’s the color of old-man skin, first of all. Sometimes, on old computers, it turns magenta. It’s not at all aesthetically pleasing.”

Sara Kaufman concurred.

“Sometimes it’s hard to find some things you’re trying to look for; something about a professor or a class, or just general information.”

Others find it to be a useful resource, such as freshman Emily Norwood.

“I think its helpful most of the time,” said Norwood. “I like the way it looks, it’s not very confusing and I actually think it’s pretty useful.”

There is no set timeline for the completion of the homepage redesign, but Benson said, “We would like to do it before the end of this year so that we’ll have it ready when the sesquicentennial celebration arrives.”

The financial ship is sinking, and Bon Appetit hopes the Rat can swim.

The Umrathskeller, Washington Univer-sity’s lone bar and grill, has cut back its Thursday night hours this year due to lack of revenue and patrons. Last semester, the Rat, as the Umrathskeller is commonly called, was open every Thursday night, but it will be open only three nights this semester: Feb. 13, March 13, and April 3 from 8 p.m. to midnight. These could be the last Rat Nights ever if attendance remains low.

Formerly, Thursday nights at the Rat were extremely popular with students. Two years ago, 200 to 300 students attended the Thursday night gatherings on average. Attendance has dropped steadily in the two years since Bon Appetit began counting visitors.

Greg Teator is the general manager of Bon Appetit, the company which operates the Rat. He recommended this semester’s changes to the university’s administration.

“There was one Rat Night last semester where we had two people with a total sale of $8,” said Teator. “Then, if you consider that you pay $16 an hour for a security guard and times that by four, plus a manager and an hourly associate and then multiply that over the course of 32 weeks… It adds up.”

Essentially, the Rat has become a sinkhole for money. Teator suggested location as a possible reason for this. The Rat is situated below the west end of Umrath Hall, just outside the doors of Mallinkrodt.

“We don’t have the street business like the typical bar would have,” he said. “The Rat is primarily for students that know where it is and that we have events.”

Another reason Teator offered is the size of the eligible drinking population at WU.

“When you compare [the Rat] to other campuses that have bars or a pub on their campus, it’s not heavily used,” said Teator. “Take a look at the age of authorized patrons that can drink beer; three quarters of your clientele is underage.”

Many upperclassmen have their own opinions on the causes of the Rat’s decline. Some blame the Rat’s increased monitoring of underage drinkers, while others fault the rise in price of beer.

“I honestly think that it is the school’s own fault,” said senior David Dantzler. “When you jack up the price of beer and decrease the size of the cups, of course that is going to upset people when for so long they are used to something different. So people started going elsewhere.”

Steve Hoffner, vice chancellor of students, approved Teator’s recommendation to limit the Rat’s hours. When asked about student complaints about beer prices and ID-checking, he acknowledged both issues.

According to Hoffner, the Missouri Liquor Control Commission sent representatives to the Rat five years ago to investigate a complaint about underage drinking. The complaint was supposedly made by a student. Underage drinkers were found and charges were filed against Marriott, the company that ran the Rat at that time.

After this, the Rat was more diligent about checking IDs and began referring students to the judicial administrator. Several students were fined $500.

Hoffner also admits that the beer sizes shrank but said they did so only to reduce binge drinking.

“The university began to take a hard look at how the Rat was operating and what we could do to address the concern of over-consumption of alcohol,” said Hoffner. “That resulted in the price increase and the reduction in the size of the cups.”

Hoffner also states plainly that underage drinking will never be an option.

“The culture of the university has changed,” he said. “There is less tolerance for underage drinking and much more focus on healthy and responsible behavior. We’re not going to turn that clock back, nor should we. We may try to again market it in the way it was originally intended-to an older crowd-but right now we’re not sure what the future holds.”

Upperclassmen may harbor opinions about the changes made to the Rat, but current freshmen Michelle Wang and Cynthia Ivy can only admit to never participating in a populated Rat Night.

“I remember when I came to visit, people suggested we go to the Rat,” said Wang. “They were like, ‘the Rat, its cool, definitely check it out.’ But it just doesn’t seem like anybody really knows about it this year. None of my friends ever suggest going there. It just seems kind of dead.”

Ivy shared this opinion.

“I guess it was the first month of school when we went down just to check out the whole place,” she said. “After that, we never went back again.”

Rat Night may be failing, but the Rat’s lunch business, which features a grill that serves up large portions and constant sporting events via satellite, remains successful. Typically, 200-250 people stop in for lunch each day.

The satellite system that provides those sporting events was just one attempt of many to draw crowds to Rat Nights. They tried DJ’s every night this past semester, advertisements in Student Life, bar specials, theme nights, appetizer discounts, and football weekend parties. Nothing seemed to work.

“I can’t tell you why people wouldn’t go there,” said Teator.

If participation continues to be low this semester, Rat Nights will be a thing of the past. Teator expects that next year the Rat will remain open for lunch and to be available to be rented out by student groups for a set cost.

“We’re going to open up every month to see if it is missed or not,” he said. “My gut feeling is, it’s not missed.”