Student Life Archives

In a recent edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Classical Music Critic Sarah Miller cited Washington University as having “[an] embarrassing selection of dubious performance spaces.”

The critique was sparked by a performance by the Eliot Trio-a group that includes pianist Seth Carlin, a music professor at the University, and two musicians from the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. The Trio performed in Steinberg Auditorium this past Saturday.

Steve Givens, assistant to the Chancellor, said the University is often criticized about the room’s lack of adequate acoustics.

“We’re obviously aware that we don’t have any prime performance spaces as far as music goes,” said Givens. “[But] we’re landlocked. There [are] only so many more buildings we’re going to be able to build, and we have to set priorities [for] what we have room to do. We don’t want this [campus] to become so crowded that there’s no grass or places to park.”

According to Music Department Chair Robert Snarrenberg, the number of performance spaces on campus is not as great a problem as the fact that each venue is used for many other things.

“Given the range of student performances, one large performance hall (Edison Theatre) isn’t enough,” said Snarrenberg. “There’s a need for a second performance hall. None of the spaces we have are designed for music performance.”

Of five performances being held on campus next month, three will be in Graham Chapel, with one each in Steinberg Auditorium and Umrath Hall. While Snarrenberg called the acoustics in Graham Chapel acceptable, senior Vivian Park disagreed.

“I’ve been to some of the a cappella concerts in Graham Chapel, and while they’re amazing, the chapel’s acoustics-or lack thereof-can take away from the full effect of their performances,” she said.

Sophomore Amy Schwarz noted the high caliber of the University’s music programs, citing the graduate program in vocal performance as “incredible.” She said that it is time that the University sees the programs’ significance.

“[The University will] never be truly on par with schools such as Yale and Northwestern until it realiz[es] that music is important to both the development of the individual and the development of the university,” said Schwarz.

Givens explained that the lack of adequate performance venues on campus involves a lack of donor interest, not a devaluation of the performing arts.

“When we build, we do so with the help of donors,” said Givens. “The new Sam Fox Arts Center came [into being] through several generous donations from the community. Many times it’s what other people are willing to help us pay for [that is a deciding factor in] what we build. It’s certainly not that we don’t appreciate the performing arts-up until now we [just] haven’t found it possible to build a premier concert hall.”

Snarrenberg believes the University needs both a large concert hall and smaller recital halls if it intends to match up to the high-caliber institutions it currently aspires to emulate and compete with.

Both Schwarz and freshman Aaron Lewis believe the University’s performance spaces are not only lagging behind other private institutions, but public universities as well. They cited the new Touhill Performing Arts Center at the University of Missouri in St. Louis as a facility that “puts everything on [the University’s] campus to shame.” Last spring, performances of the University opera “The Most Happy Fella” were forced off campus into the St. Louis Art Museum because of insufficient facilities on campus.

Lewis, who came to the University with a primarily performing arts background, was shocked when he discovered that the facilities at his old high school were better than those on campus.

“My public high school is home to a beautiful, state-of-the-art, 671-seat performing arts center that looks like an Italian opera house,” said Lewis, reflecting on Edison Theatre’s failings. “I miss it, because while the University puts on many wonderful shows each year-and I have had a blast working in the theatre here-our talented vocalists and actors are not being presented in a manner fitting to the caliber of their performances.”

Snarrenberg commented that the acoustics in Edison are so dry that there is no resonance in the hall.

“The performers on stage really can’t hear each other playing, which is one reason [the Music Department] doesn’t use it very often,” he said. “We need something designed for music that can also be used for other things. Unless [a new building] is designed for music, it won’t be much of a change.”

Snarrenberg believes the current state of performance spaces on campus also limits musical groups in their rehearsals.

Lewis, who is a member of the Mosaic Whispers, said that a cappella groups are not allowed to practice in the music buildings while any classes are in session-which often forces them to practice late into the night, after classes have finished for the day.

“I have requests to the administration going back 40 years [that include] plans for music spaces,” Snarrenberg said. “Some of the initial plans for Edison Theatre included those for music spaces, [but they] didn’t make it.”

Givens said that the University is currently commissioning a study of Steinberg Auditorium to determine if it could be made more suitable for music by changing the acoustics of the room so that it more closely resembles a concert hall.

“Just because it’s bad now doesn’t mean it can’t be made better,” said Givens. “Space-wise we think it’s ok, but we realize it needs to be made acoustically and aesthetically better.”

In a lot of ways, Hadas Metzger is a typical Washington University student. A Jewish, Islamic and Near Eastern Studies major, she lived in Liggett her freshman year and rushed Delta Gamma.

However, Metzger is not your average 19- or 20-year-old college student. She recently turned 29 and has just returned to St. Louis and the University after an extended time overseas in Israel. Still adjusting to being back in America, she is not even sure whether she is a junior or a senior.

“Technically, I’m a [University] College student this semester,” said Metzger. “I have no idea why, although next semester I should be a senior in [the College of] Arts & Sciences.”

Metzger, who changed her name to Hadas from Laurel, first attended Washington University in 1993. As the date of her graduation neared, it looked as though she might not be permitted to graduate.

“I didn’t take advantage of the opportunities here at all,” she said.

Metzger walked at graduation, but did not receive a diploma.

After graduation, she returned home to Kansas City and tried her luck at entering the work force. Without a degree, though, she found her options extremely limited and was constantly moving from job to job.

“I can’t even count how many jobs I had,” she said. “I was a DJ, worked in retail-you name it, I did it.”

It was not until 2000 that Metzger’s life gained any real direction. When a close friend recommended that she spend some time in Israel, she went online and discovered the Graduate Studies Program at the World Union of Jewish Students in Arad, Israel.

Just months later, Metzger found herself enrolled in the seven-month program, immersed in Zionist Studies, Religious Studies and Hebrew.

After the program ended, in the midst of the intifada, Metzger decided she had not had her fill of Israeli life. She stayed with WUJS for four more months, working for them as a marketer.

Metzger then bought an apartment and became an Israeli citizen. She voted in Israeli elections. Soon after leaving her job at WUJS, she was offered a job teaching English at the Wall Street Institute in Beer Shiva.

For two and a half years, she taught English to adults at the Institute. Because the school did not permit any Hebrew to be spoken, she found it difficult to become fluent enough in Hebrew to pursue any other occupation.

After nearly four years in Israel, Metzger decided to return home and complete her college education.

“I know I deserve to be here,” she said of returning to college. “I want my diploma to say ‘Wash U’.”

While Metzger is content to be home and excited to be completing her college education, she passionately misses Israel.

“My worst day in Israel is still better than my best day in America,” she said.

Once she has completed her degree, Metzger intends to apply to a Rabbinical school to become a Conservative rabbi-a future she says she has been running from since she was 13.

Finished running, Metzger has finally accepted her destiny.

Less than 24 hours after the New Hampshire primary ended in a resounding victory for John Kerry, many of the Democratic presidential candidates have turned their attention to a new prize: Missouri and its 88 delegates.

Kerry, John Edwards and Al Sharpton all made stops in St. Louis on Wednesday, with most of the other candidates expected to visit the Show Me State before next Tuesday’s primary. Among those is Howard Dean, who will appear at the Missouri History Museum around 2:00 p.m. this afternoon.

The Missouri primary is one of seven primaries and two caucuses being held next Tuesday and has the most delegates to send to the Democratic National Convention of any of the Feb. 3 contests. Initially, the Missouri race was widely ignored because most analysts expected Dick Gephardt to win his home state. Gephardt’s withdrawal from the race after his fourth place finish in the Iowa caucuses has made the contest much more wide open.

The front-runner

In a quick one-liner, Kerry, fresh off his second upset victory in two weeks, summarized the mantra of all the Democratic candidates while also showing his ability to connect with the voters of Missouri: “This is the Show Me State, and we’re here to show George Bush the door!” As with most of his speech, delivered on Wednesday at Forest Park Community College, this declaration was met with a roar from the capacity crowd.

Standing before an oversized American flag, Kerry reiterated the familiar themes of his candidacy. He spoke about the need for affordable prescription drugs, blasted President Bush for changing clean air and water standards, and pledged to reform the No Child Left Behind Act.

Kerry spoke extensively about the steps he would take during the first 100 days of his administration, promising to ask the United Nations for help in Iraq and to issue an executive order barring government employees from working as lobbyists for five years after they leave the public sector.

David Eisenberg, a Washington University senior, said that Kerry’s speech on Wednesday had its intended effect, as he went from “leaning towards Kerry” to “definitely Kerry.”

“I thought he had a real presence about him, and he was a very good speaker. I felt like he could beat Bush,” said Eisenberg.

For Pam Bookbinder, a sophomore, seeing Kerry in person had the opposite effect.

“He was not as charismatic as I thought he would be. He sounded very scripted and uptight, and it sounded like the same speech he gives everywhere,” said Bookbinder, who plans to vote for Howard Dean on Tuesday. “Kerry just didn’t hit it for me.”

Bookbinder and senior Danny Kohn were both nonplussed by the announcement at Wednesday’s rally that former Senators Jean Carnahan and Thomas Eagleton were endorsing Kerry.

“It’s exciting that everyone’s coming to Missouri now that Congressman Gephardt has dropped out, and it seems like Kerry is doing the best job to get the Missouri politicians to come behind him,” said Kohn. “But to me, endorsements don’t seem to mean much, especially when you consider how many Dean got and where he is now.”

The Southerner

An hour after his scheduled arrival time on Wednesday night, Edwards stepped from a black SUV onto Delmar to greet the large crowd waiting to hear him speak at Blueberry Hill. Members of Edwards’ campaign staff estimated that in addition to the 300 people crowded in the downstairs Duck Room, 500 waited upstairs, with another 1,000 on the street. Edwards briefly addressed the crowd on Delmar using the microphone from a nearby police van before heading downstairs. His speech was broadcast throughout Blueberry Hill and onto the street.

Missouri Lt. Gov. Joe Maxwell, who endorsed Edwards after Gephardt dropped out of the race, introduced the presidential candidate. Edwards took the stage to cheers, which grew louder when he expressed his admiration for Gephardt, whom he called “one of the finest human beings I have ever known.”

“There are two Americas,” Edwards began. “People who can afford health care and those who can’t.” The dichotomy between the haves and the have-nots became the theme for Edward’s speech, in which he also juxtaposed “two economies”-the economy of those who are financially secure and that of those who are not-and “two governments” -one made up of political insiders working for interest groups, and the other made up of “anything left.”

Edwards moved on to discuss his memories of growing up in Georgia with “whites only” signs, speaking of his sixth grade teacher, who refused to teach in an integrated school, explaining that this impacted his view of civil rights. “This is not an African-American issue,” Edwards noted, “This is an American issue.”

Throughout his speech Edwards spoke of the political pundits on TV and mentioned the strategy involved in picking a candidate who has the potential to beat President Bush. One of the strengths of his campaign, Edwards claimed, is that he can beat Bush everywhere, even in the Republican-dominated South. “The South is not George Bush’s backyard-it is my backyard, and I will beat Bush in my backyard,” he asserted, jokingly attributing his ability to win Southern votes to his North Carolina accent.

Junior Katie Koecheler, who was unable to get into Blue Hill due to the 21-and-up age restriction imposed at night, listened to Edwards from the street. “Well, he’s done really well in the past two weeks, and if he continues to do well in the coming primaries, especially those in the South, I think he has the potential to win the nomination,” she said.

The Reverend

Sharpton also appeared in St. Louis on Wednesday, beginning his day at the University of Missouri at St. Louis and ending it at the Gateway Classic Center. Sharpton was in St. Louis back in August to protest the MetroLink’s tenth anniversary. Sharpton claimed at the time that Metro, which operates MetroLink, had not hired enough minority contractors to work on the MetroLink extensions.

additional reporting by Justin Choi