Archive for March, 2003

Staff Editorial: Encourage prospective students, it’s in your interest

Friday, March 28th, 2003 | Michael Parks
Annabelle de St. Maurice

Right now we are in the phase of the year often termed April Welcome, an incredibly important weekend for Washington University to entice its newly admitted students to matriculate.

We decided for this issue to rerun an old staff editorial about April Welcome from April 9, 1996, seven years ago. We did this to highlight some of the differences between WU seven years ago and WU as it exists now. For example, the acceptance rate has decreased from approximately 50 percent at the time this article was written to just around 25 percent currently. Over the course of just seven years the acceptance rate dropped to half of what it was.

Also, 11,000 students applied to WU in the fall of 1995 for admission to the 1996 entering class. This is almost half the number that apply now; WU currently receives around 22,000 applications per year.

The writers of this 1996 staff editorial were apparently right in their assumption that increasing the caliber of students admitted will increase WU’s prestige. The U.S. News and World Report ranking of Washington University currently stands at #12, placing it alongside or ahead of several Ivy League universities. When this 1996 staff editorial was written, WU was ranked alongside more regional schools such as Vanderbilt and the University of Michican.

Like the writers of this editorial, we encourage students to host prospective freshmen. It is one of the best ways for a prospective student to learn what life is like at WU and how wonderful it is to be a student here. In addition, the financial incentives have increased substantially from the Blockbuster movie rental, among others, listed in the article.

“Greater selectivity will improve school”

Yellow tulips cover the campus and students, faculty and staff don yellow buttons to match. It’s not just April, it’s April Welcome, that time of year when high school students invade campus to decide if they want to make WU home.

This year the spring ritual has greater significance, since 2,000 more applicants have applied to WU than last year, bringing the total number of applicants to over 11,000.

In just one year, the percent of students we accepted has dropped from 56 percent to 50 percent, reflecting the overall declining rate for the past few years. In addition, there was also a 13 percent increase in minority enrollment from last year to this year and 60 percent more campus visits.

This is good news for two reasons. An increase in selectivity means the school admits higher caliber students. It also enhances our prestige, allows us to attract superior faculty members, and make improvements in many other areas.

Our selectivity is still a far cry from most Ivy League schools which average about 25 percent selectivity ratings. (Harvard’s rating is around 11 percent.)

There are certainly quantitative ways in which our school is not on par with schools with higher selectivity. Our selectivity rating cannot improve without also improving the quality of the academic program, the library, student-faculty interaction and living conditions.

But a better caliber student and an improved university go hand in hand; one spurs the other along. As students we can help the process along in one small way: by hosting a prospective freshman. It would be foolish to underestimate the importance of campus visits as a critical determining factor for a high school student. A prospective freshman’s impression is bound to be unfavorable if they believe that WU didn’t care enough about them to provide housing during their stay. It is our responsibility as students to provide housing for future students.

Even if you have no motivation other than sheer bribery, there are great incentives. For hosting a student for one evening, you will receive your choice of an AMC movie pass, a Blockbuster movie rental, or a St. Louis Bread Co. gift certificate. If you host on certain weekends, including the weekend of Thurtene, when fewer students are available to host, you will receive double the incentive.

It takes both personal attention during the application and visiting process as well as a strong overall school to attract ideal students. We must focus on improving both; our school’s increased success will follow.

Students share lives online

Friday, March 28th, 2003 | Michael Parks
Jack Darcher

“Blog.” “Blogging.” “Weblog.” If you are not familiar with this lingo, then you may not be aware of one of the Internet’s most unique phenomena.

Officially, blogs are online journals-the combination of web and log, shortened for convenience’s sake.

With the expansion of sites such as Blogger, LiveJournal, and Xanga, which provide hosting and formatting for weblog creators, blogging is developing into a popular and accessible Internet pastime, especially among students and faculty at Washington University.

Fifth year computer science students David Warner and Michael Dixon began their own blog, negative273.com, in December 2000 as an attempt to upstage another blog site. Today they host four other blogs that, along with negative273, link to blogs throughout the nation.

“Blogs weren’t as popular two or so years ago,” said Warner. “Blogger and LiveJournal weren’t around then, so things were mostly restricted to the tech community.”

“Now it has moved away from the do-it-yourself thing of tech people wanting to play around with web pages and put up journals at the same time and become more of a way to simply communicate,” said Dixon. “Sites like Blogger and LiveJournal are good because they have opened blogging up for a larger group. At the same time, however, people on those sites aren’t as interested in how things really look or work.”

Warner said it was fairly easy to get started and spread the word.

“Well when we were thinking about doing it we found out we could get server space for five dollars a month,” he said. “So we said ‘Why not?’ Then we found out that for $20, ten from each of us, we could get 250 stickers. So we said ‘Why not?’ And it spread from there.”

One of the blogs hosted on negative273.com belongs to Professor of Computer Science Ron Cytron. In his blog, Cytron ruminates on his undergraduate days at Rice, his experience teaching entry-level computer science classes, and his dealings with a rental car. He even referred to journals that a former student wrote while climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.

“I think people like to blog because it creates an online identity,” said Cytron. “You can really learn a lot about someone by reading their blog.”

Warner agreed.

“Everyone on negative273 has become much better friends through blogging,” he said. “I feel I have really gotten to know the other people on the site by reading their blogs.”

Cytron also said that blogs make up an aspect to communication absent in e-mail and instant messaging systems.

“Blogging has brought back the notion of composition to writing on the Internet,” he said. “With AIM or e-mail you just sit down and write everything really lazily. With blogs you have to compose your thoughts and put them down like a story”.

It is this attribute of blogging, Dixon said, that will limit its growth.

“I don’t think it will ever be as big as AIM or e-mail,” said Dixon. “I think that it is always going to take more effort to blog than it will to sit down and write an e-mail or an instant message and because of that it will never be as popular.”

For the time being, however, bloggers everywhere are excited about the possibilities afforded by this newest form of Internet communication. Long time bloggers are publishing books on the best strategies for creating entertaining journals, users are attending conferences that discuss recently created blogs, and hosting sites are pushing for blogging technology.

Life at army camp marked by Scud alarms, baggage

Friday, March 28th, 2003 | Ronald Paul Larson
courtesy of krt

Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service

(KRT) Four more Scud alarms sounded Friday; one in the morning, the rest in the afternoon, and another on Saturday about 6:30 p.m. There were none on Sunday. I am told there were 15 altogether, but I lost track. The soldiers are grateful that there are fewer alarms. They are ready to get out of the hot, uncomfortable chemical protective suits, or what Cpl. Delon Lee from Tampa Bay, Fla. calls “Gumby” suits.

Since the first Scud attack, the soldiers have had to wear the suits all the time. Fortunately, they do not have to wear the boots, gloves or masks constantly. That would be impossible. They merely have to carry them, just as they carry their M-16s. The soldiers are issued a camouflage duffel bag that they sling over their shoulder case that holds the protective boots and gloves.

That is not all that they have to carry. The soldiers must also wear their helmet and flak jacket at all times. Walking around in a chemical suit, helmet and flak jacket while carrying a nuclear, biological and chemical bag, an M-16 and a protective mask on your hip is very tiring and makes going to the bathroom a seriously considered decision.

Many soldiers don’t wear pants or a shirt when they wear the chemical protective suit because of the heat.

One of the officers I am bunking with is Nathan “Herb” Hancock of Gulf Shores, Ala. A West Point football teammate gave him the nickname “Herb” after Herbie Hancock, the famous jazz musician.

One morning I saw Capt. Hancock put on his suit wearing only his underwear.

“If I’m going to get slimed by a chemical attack I don’t care if I have any clothes on,” he said.

Camp Camden, named after Camden Yards baseball stadium, is much smaller than Camp Arifjan. Often the camps are called ballparks because they are named after baseball stadiums. At Camp Camden there are no permanent cinder block buildings. It is made up entirely of tents, parked Humvees and trucks, cargo containers, and portable bathrooms. There are probably less than 100 tents here but more troops seem to arrive daily. In my tent last Thursday, for example, there were two or three others. Now at least six more have arrived.

I am embedded with the 36th Engineer Group. The 36th is an active Army unit normally stationed at Fort Benning, Ga. The unit’s job is to command different types of engineer units that are capable of designing and constructing everything from roads to camps with running water and electricity, including prisoner-of-war camps. The units that the 36th commands are known as combat heavy engineer battalions. They are the construction battalions of the army.

At the moment the 36th consists of the 46th Engineer Battalion, an active duty unit stationed at Fort Polk, La., and the 109th Engineer Battalion, a National Guard unit from South Dakota. Two firefighting units under the 95th Fire Fighting Headquarters and the 21st Facilities Engineer Team are also with the group. The 21st is made up of National Guard members from Massachusetts, Virginia and West Virginia. The soldiers in this unit are senior officers and non-commissioned officers who have expertise in repairing damaged water supply, electric distribution, and sanitation facilities.

Col. Michael Biering commands the 36th Engineer Group. Biering is an energetic man in his late 40s, born and raised in Charleston, S.C.

“One day I hope to go back,” he said. He started the junior ROTC unit at Goose Creek, a South Carolina high school, and has been wearing a military uniform ever since. He received an appointment to West Point in 1974 by former Sen. Strom Thurmond and graduated in 1978.

I think someone once said that rumors are the soldiers’ currency in trade. I was put in a tent that had two of three officers in it. When I woke up on Friday morning, one of them said that the 101st Airborne Division had dropped into Baghdad.

“The 3rd ID (Infantry Division) is lethal. I know, I was with them, he said. He said that the reason we didn’t have any more Scud attacks was because the 3rd ID had moved so far north. We ended up having five more Scud alerts after he said this.

Since Friday, the sky to the north has a solid gray at the horizon, which turns a lighter gray as you look up. I was later told that the gray sky was caused by seven oil wells that were on fire.

On Saturday I was awakened by a major who said that the Army had bridged the Euphrates and that an entire Iraqi regiment had surrendered.

These types of rumors are common, even in the age of CNN. This is because the soldiers themselves generally do not have access to news.

Soldiers often ask other soldiers that have come in from the outside if they have heard any news.

Julie Campbell of Hendersonville, Tenn., said the enlisted personnel have a $20 pool on when they will go home. The last date is December.

Professors discuss effects of present conflict

Friday, March 28th, 2003 | Cory Schneider
Annabelle de St. Maurice

Professors Paul Rothstein and Victor Le Vine are part of Student Life’s War in Iraq Panel. Rothstein is a professor of economics at Washington University, where he teaches public finance and public economics. He is also the Associate Director of the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy at WU. Le Vine has been a professor of political science at WU since 1961. He specializes in Comparative Politics, with a particular focus on African and Middle East Politics, Guerrilla War and Terrorism, International Law and Politics, Political Corruption and Ethnic Politics.

Has the media been adequately covering the war in Iraq? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the coverage?

Victor LeVine:

Who knows? In part, it may depend on with whom you’re embedded, or where you sit. In the Middle East, for example, people get Iraqi TV, al-Jazeera, various small independent stations, plus their own national channel(s), and if they have dishes or their government permits it, CNN, MSNBC and BBC. The Arab stations tend to be partial to the Iraqi side of the story and certainly highly condemnatory of the US’s role in the war. They also showed the US POWs and gruesome pictures of coalition dead and lots of images of children and other civilians purportedly injured by coalition bombs. Here in Turkey we get cable and the major Western sources, and a bit of everything else. You know what we get in the US. Who provides the more accurate picture? My guess is that we probably do, but that may not be saying much about the truth, whatever that is. Stay tuned.

Paul Rothstein:

I am not an expert on the media, so all I can offer is a personal impression. I do not expect to learn much on a day by day basis about what is happening. War is chaotic, information is tightly controlled and little can be independently verified. We expect a constant stream of reporting, however, so the content really suffers. Listen to the typical story, ask yourself what you learned and then ask whether you really have time for this. I think reporters for serious newspapers have the right incentives, but they can’t really find out who is killing whom, so instead they needle the generals at the press conferences.

To suggest a question for the panel, please e-mail [email protected].

-Compiled by Stacie Driebusch

Campus Briefs

Friday, March 28th, 2003 | Cory Schneider

WU students assist in community-wide project
Due to the efforts of a number of volunteer organizations, including two groups from Washington University, University City’s Pershing Elementary School now has two new playgrounds. This past Saturday, students from both the Asian Christian Fellowship and the Ligget/ Koening Residential College assisted in the construction. The project was coordinated and funded by St. Louis Children’s Hospital, and also included volunteers from church groups, UMSL students, Alpha Phi Omega, Pershing Elementary faculty, and the University City fire and police departments. The funding from a $120,000 grant from the Danforth foundation in addition to other partners that are associated with the Cardinals Care Foundation. The project is part of the Children’s Hospital’s Healthy Kids at Play program.

PAD to perform All’s Well That Ends Well
For the next two weeks the Performing Arts Department will not only be presenting William Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well, but is also celebrating the 400th anniversary of this comedy, sometimes referred to as one of Shakespeare’s “problem plays.” Though the play is rarely produced in the United States, PAD’s senior artist in residence, director William Whitaker, is confident about the production. He chose to cut about one-fifth of the play. In addition to Whitaker’s talent, PAD’s production will also feature Tony-award winning actress Jane Lapotaire, who is a visiting artist in the department and a member of Britain’s Royal Shakespeare Company. The production also has a number of Washington University students in its cast. The play will be performed at Edison Theatre on March 28-29 at 8 p.m., March 30 at 2 p.m., April 4-5 at 8 p.m., and April 6 at 2 p.m.

Police Beat

Friday, March 28th, 2003 | Cory Schneider

Monday, March 24

9:47 a.m., ARTICLE, SOUTH 40 RESIDENCE AREA- Staff member reported losing her Chinese passport during a move into a new house. Total loss value
of $100.

3:36 p.m., LARCENY-THEFT, ATHLETIC COMPLEX- A student left his wallet inside his gym bag which was outside the doors of the weight room at the A.C. Upon his return he realized his wallet had been stolen.

5:54 p.m., LARCENY-THEFT, SOUTH 40 RESIDENCE AREA – 2 victims stated that they were playing basketball in the Swamp area and left their belongings unattended. When they went to retrieve them, they were gone, assumed stolen.

Tuesday, March 25

4:02 p.m., TRESPASSING, LAB SCIENCES BLDG – R/P’s workers advised of a homeless female on the 4th floor. Warrant for trespassing.

7:14 p.m., LARCENY-THEFT, ELIOT DORM- The victim, a student, stated that unknown person(s) stole her bike which was secured to the bike rack on the west side of Eliot Dorm. Loss = $175.00.

Wednesday, March 26

5:38 a.m., LARCENY-THEFT, SIMON HALL- ABM employee observed 2 people steal an 18″ potted plant from Simon Hall. Property taken: 24 in. unknown variety house plant with 4″ dark green leaves, in an 18″ black ceramic pot.

1:19 p.m., FRAUD, UNDESIGNATED AREA OFF CAMPUS- Victim, a graduate from WU in 2001 reports someone using her identity to secure a Sprint cell-phone. Possibly occurred here.

24/7 Prayer unites campus ministries

Friday, March 28th, 2003 | Cory Schneider
Ian Orland

Amid bibles, CDs, butcher paper and a guitar, Washington University students from a variety of campus ministries embarked on a week of non-stop prayer last Sunday.

WU undergraduates from groups such as Campus Crusade for Christ, Intervarsity and Harambee Christian Ministry signed up for 168 one-hour blocks of individual or group prayer. Students will continue to pray until 6 p.m. Sunday, at which time 24/7 Prayer will come to an end. When in the prayer room, located in the Mudd dorm, students are free to pray how they wish, said sophomore Elizabeth Fynskov.

“You can sit in a chair, lie on the ground, stand-there are many ways you can pray and you are free to choose your own method,” said Fynskov, who organized the event this year. “You can talk out loud or play the guitar and sing or listen to music if you want to. There is even paper on the walls and a book, so if you are struck by something when you are praying, you can write a bible verse, song lyric or anything else that inspires you.”

Following the success of last year’s 24/7 Prayer, Fynskov, who is a member of Campus Crusade for Christ, organized this year’s event at the end of January. She said that at the time she did not know that the country would be at war with Iraq, but she is glad that 24/7 Prayer can provide solace to students who are anxious about the conflict.

“Though we arbitrarily picked the date, it happened to coincide with the declaration of war and our soldiers heading off to the Middle East,” said Fynskov. “I think that it is great that 24/7 Prayer is going on, then, because a lot of students are worried and are expressing concern over family, friends and troops that they do not even know being in such a tough situation. I think it is awesome that this time of prayer can fall when so many people are reaching out and looking for a source of strength.”

Sophomore Kevin Carlsberg, who particip3ated in prayer during the week, agreed with Fynskov about the power of prayer.

“During this time of war, it is especially important to turn to God in order to have Him be present and make Himself known,” said Carlsberg. “I really believe that God does listen and I believe that great things can happen when you pray.”

Students who are praying are not just doing so for themselves or their friends and family. All last week, participants in 24/7 Prayer collected prayer requests by tabling in Mallinckrodt. The requests can be for a student’s loved ones, U.S. troops, Iraqis or anyone who might be experiencing rough times.

Some students, though, felt uncomfortable with the idea of having their names submitted without their consent.

“I am not sure that I would want my name up for everyone in the prayer room to see,” said freshman Darcy Heusel. “I don’t think that any one student has the right to say that I need to be prayed for without my saying that it is all right to do so beforehand.”

Fynskov maintained that aside from keeping all requests confidential between those students praying, all of the names submitted were given out of genuine love and not malice.

“Prayer is a community thing,” said Fynskov. “In the process of presenting a concern to God, you really discover the view you are taking on a lot of issues and you realize that the perspective you have may not be one you would like. The valuable thing that people will take from the prayer room, then, is not the names on the walls but the experience that they had.”

Seniors give money to WU

Friday, March 28th, 2003 | Alison Zisser

As graduation creeps ever closer for the Class of 2003, many seniors reflecting upon their years here have chosen to give a bit back through the Senior Gifts.

The graduating class traditionally leaves a gift as a remembrance of their undergraduate years and a contribution to future generations of students. Each of the five undergraduate schools of Washington University separately presents a donation decided by a Senior Gift Committee and advised by the Alumni House.

“The senior gift reflects on the experience of the class during their time at WU,” said Chancellor Mark Wrighton. “It is a symbol of appreciation and affection for the University and an acknowledgement of the role the university and its faculty and staff play in shaping the lives and careers of the students in the class.”

Wrighton said that although the monetary gifts are appreciated, they are not the only things that the university expects from graduates.

“Our expectation is that the class will provide a tangible sign of the positive aspects of their experience at the University,” he said. “Your greatest gifts will be the contributions you make to society enabled by the education and relationships developed from the WU experience.”

The Art, Architecture and Business School students donate to their schools’ annual funds. The Art School’s Annual Fund provides scholarships and imp-roves facilities, while helping retain faculty and developing new programs. Art students may direct their donation within the Annual Fund to a particular major. Architecture’s Annual Fund also sponsors scholarships and brings world-renowned architects and guest lecturers to campus. All donations to the Business School’s Class Gift benefit the Olin Annual Fund which finances various business school projects including scholarships and facility improvements.

Engineering and Arts & Sciences seniors contribute their donations through the Class Gift directly to scholarships for future students. This year, the Engineering School Gift Committee hopes to raise $35,000 to benefit an engineering student in financial need. Arts & Sciences is funding a scholarship to benefit a student in the Class of 2007. Determined by need and merit, the class hopes to annually donate $2,500 to the student’s financial package. According to committee chair Emily Bennett, class involvement, not donation amount, is the primary objective.

“Our goal this year is to get 210 Arts & Sciences seniors involved,” she said. “I really want to stress that participation is the most important aspect to us. We value participation much more than we value the specific amount of money.”

Students have been positive about the scholarship initiatives of each school, and they believe helping future students gain an education is a worthwhile use of their donations.

“I think it’s the best use of our money,” said senior Lucy Biederman. “When they give a bench, what good does that do for the campus? It’s a huge thing to let someone come here who wouldn’t have otherwise been able to. It’s wonderful.”

The schools provide different incentives to increase participation. Art students receive a beverage glass designed by visual communications senior Ellen Sitkin. Business School students who pledge a sum of at least $75 over three years receive an appreciative gift from the Class Gift Committee. Besides a t-shirt, Swiss Army knife, and massager for Arts & Sciences donors, the Alumni House will not contact them for contributions until their five-year reunion.

In addition to mailings advertising the senior gift, committees have e-mailed, tabled, planned happy hours, and sponsored evenings at clubs and bowling alleys to publicize their efforts. Despite these initiatives, however, most students remain uninformed.

“I actually had no idea there was such a thing,” said senior Katie Schnidman.

Senior Class President Jason Green partially attributes unfamiliarity with the Class Gift to the expectation that the Class Council plans and coordinates the project.

“They look to us and realize that it isn’t something we do, and then it’s even more of a surprise that it’s divided into each separate school,” he said. “People expect there to be one senior class gift when in reality that isn’t the case, although some organizations have pushed in recent years to change that.”

Meanwhile, each gift committee continues to advertise and encourages donations. Students may contribute through pledge cards they receive in the mail with their school’s gift description or may pledge to their individual school through the Senior Class Gift Program web site, http://seniorclassgift.wustl.edu.

“I think it’s important to reflect your appreciation for all you’ve received here, education, experiences, whatnot, and the recognition that in past years, someone gave so that people would benefit today,” said Green. “Giving a Senior Gift now just starts the mentality of giving back to the University and bettering it.”

Jewzapalooza!

Friday, March 28th, 2003 | Oliver Scholes
Ian Orland

WU student Beth Kurtz, right, helps Zoey Fleisher make necklaces with of their Hebrew names yesterday at Jewzapalooza.

“Jewzapalooza is a celebration of Jewish culture, people, and religion,” said sophomore coordinator Joy Rosenthal. The event, which took place in Bowles Plaza on Thursday afternoon, brought all of the WU Jewish student groups together for a number of activities. Along with the traditional food, dance and ball games several students used the opportunity to complete their social justice projects, which included making care packages for the needy in preparation for Passover and making dreamcatchers.

TA contests arrest with ACLU’s help

Friday, March 28th, 2003 | Oliver Scholes
Ian Orland

Even as the U.S.-led disarmament of Iraq begins, Washington University students are continuing to express their opposition to the current conflict. Though many students have only recently become involved with the protest movement, some members of the student body, along with members of WU’s faculty and staff, have been expressing their sentiments for some time. Anthropology Teaching Assistant Angela Gordon, who was arrested during a pro-peace demonstration on Nov. 4, 2002, is one such person.

Though she was arrested last year, Gordon’s case is only now coming before the courts. On March 3, while WU was on spring break, she attended the first hearing in connection with her case. She and a fellow protester, Bill Ramsey, face charges of obstruction in relation to a protest at a Jim Talent campaign event at which President Bush was due to appear.

“[My charge] was explained to me as being ‘not doing what the police officer tells you to do, when he tells you to do it,'” said Gordon.

Gordon does not contest that both she and Ramsey declined to follow the police officer’s instructions, namely that they needed to move to a specially designated protest area. However, she claims that the instruction violated her First Amendment right to freedom of assembly.

“We arrived at the event, and we were told by police officers that we needed to proceed to a specially designated protest area,” said Gordon. “We told them that we would go there, but that if we didn’t like it, we would come back. The protest area was not going to be in a location where people could [protest].”

Ramsey apparently informed the police that he was going to protest by the side of the road, rather than proceeding to the designated location. He was then arrested, handcuffed and led in the direction of a police wagon. Gordon first tried to pick up the banner that Ramsey had been carrying, but upon being informed that it was being taken as evidence, retrieved a sign from another member of her group and returned to the location that she had been told to leave.

“At that point, I was arrested and handcuffed, and both Bill and I were put into the police wagon,” said Gordon.

Sergeant Donovan Kenton of the St. Charles Police Department, though not present at Gordon’s arrest, reiterated that Gordon’s arrest was not due to her protesting.

“We do not arrest people for protesting, because that is a First Amendment right,” said Kenton. “We arrest them for trespassing and for breaking the law. If she thinks she is innocent, she can plead as such and fight the charges.”

Subsequent to Gordon’s detention, a busload of protestors from another organization arrived and congregated in the area in contention.

“I guess they decided that they didn’t want to keep arresting people, because they allowed the others to stay at that spot, and they didn’t arrest anybody else,” said Gordon.

Both protesters were eventually taken to the police station, where they were formally charged with obstruction and held for several hours until their bail was met.

That evening, Gordon contacted the American Civil Liberties Union, which expressed some interest in providing legal representation. The ACLU, however, made no formal decision until the morning of Gordon’s court date, so the only action taken by the lawyer was to ask for a continuance, which was granted.

“The ACLU has agreed to represent us both in this trial, and perhaps in pursuing a civil suit against either the City of St. Charles, or even the Secret Service,” said Gordon. “At a lot of events, a special protest area is created, often, at least if the President is appearing, at the direction of the Secret Service. If there’s a pattern, in which people are systematically being denied their First Amendment right to freedom of assembly, then there are grounds for further action.”

This legal action might take one of two forms. The ACLU could either bring a civil suit against the Secret Service, claiming Gordon and Ramsey were denied their civil liberties, or it could seek an injunction to prevent the Secret Service from continuing to create special protest areas.

For its part, the ACLU did not specify whom the legal action would be directed against or what course it would take, but said that for now it will be looking into cases of this nature.

“If this (specially designated protest areas) continues to be a trend, there will possibly be legal action,” the ACLU said through a spokesperson.

The question of how exactly this case involves First Amendment rights is what much of the trial may involve.

“The critical question is whether the restriction of the protest to a specific spot-‘the specially designated protest area’-squares with the First Amendment,” said D. Bruce La Pierre, a WU professor of law. “If the original limit on the location of the protest is valid, there would not seem to be any separate First Amendment defence to the charge that Gordon failed to comply with a police officer’s order to go to the designated protest area. Civil disobedience is effective precisely because individuals are willing to pay some price for violating the law.”

For now, Gordon is in limbo. Her next court date is not until April 14, and no formal action can be taken until then. She is, however, happy with how things are turning out.

“In the end, it was probably not a bad outcome,” said Gordon. “After we were arrested, they let the protests continue at that site, so I feel like we accomplished something.”