Student Life Archives

What is Washington University in the age of iPods, reality television and Paris Hilton? What was it ever? Well, when I first visited the school during my senior year of high school, I remember remarking to my mother how oddly thin and “normal” all of the students appeared to be. But, then, I had visited during spring reading week, so I am sure that all of the freaks that currently haunt my dreams were most likely in hiding. On second thought, I am not sure the tempered excitement of any regular day would have bowled me over in the first place. Yet, it must be said (though I am not the one to) that there is something often desirable about the even-keeled, slower-paced lifestyle the Midwest has to offer. And, yes, I was paid by Admissions for that last statement.

The bigger question, of course, is what is Washington University now that it has garnered some amount of acclaim and, dare I say, prestige? Well, an imperialistic empire, for one. I mean, Christ, have you seen one institution more excited about building bigger and fancier buildings in your entire life? We’re like a freaking McDonald’s with franchises, or at least a European power dominating an African culture in the 19th century-though I am not sure how much we’re focusing on the enlightenment of our natives.

Whenever I hear talk of buying and building on the land of Fontbonne, or of constructing across the way on Washington Avenue, I can mentally prepare a list of people who should never have been admitted and could save us from conquering this new, nay, gently worn world of St. Louis. Rather, the powers that be should work on the people in my salon, mall and movie theater at home who ask me what school it is I attend even after reading my sweatshirt and pitying me for doing no better than a community college.

And if I hear someone say that we’re just Ivy League students without the Ivy League status, I will have to send a mass email (or Facebook message, as it appears to be done today) and ask, “Oh really, is that why this was your second choice school?” On that note, that, sir, is a goal for the future incarnation of Washington University. Let us convert all of those “second choices” (or thirds, fourths, or “I hadn’t really heard of it but I sent the application because I just wanted the mail to stop and I didn’t get in anywhere else”), and make this a unified body of people who at least pretend they weren’t dejected when Columbia or Duke turned their backs.

Maybe I have been too harsh. Maybe the student body is something of which I should be proud, and the school is more than a mere factory for Pepto Bismol-pink buildings. But that seems a tad too nice, and then who would be entertained? I won’t be the bearer of a brighter tomorrow. That’s a dream for another day, another decade.

While many students are recovering from their Friday nights, members of Service Across Generations (SAGE) are where the real party’s at: the University City Manor Nursing Home. Every Saturday morning, the group hangs out and occasionally rocks out with the nursing home’s residents.

One of Campus Y’s 16 programs, SAGE engages in weekly one-on-one interactions with the nursing home’s residents and incorporates music, arts and crafts and other activities into its visits.

“The residents are really cool,” said senior Jeff Chou, program leader for SAGE. “Some of them get jealous when we go to visit other residents. They like to show us off to their friends. I think they all really enjoy our visits because a lot of them don’t have family who can visit them or don’t have family at all.”

Each of the residents received private concerts Saturday. With Chou on guitar and the group sharing vocals, residents enjoyed the likes of the Backstreet Boys, Matchbox 20 and Jewel.

“I like singing for the residents, and I’ve played the fiddle for them before,” said junior Nicole White. “The reaction we get really differs from resident to resident. Some of them really enjoy it. Some of them start laughing when we sing.”

The first stop was Jim’s room. Jim was enjoying a breakfast of Hershey’s chocolate and watching a Humphrey Bogart film when SAGE arrived. Due to a considerable generation gap, the group was unable to comply with his request for tunes by Woody Guthrie but managed a rousing rendition of one of Jim’s favorites, Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again.”

After treating his visitors to his own cover of Arlo Guthrie’s “Gates of Eden,” Jim wished the volunteers “good luck on exams” as they moved on to their next stop on the tour.

“It’s really fun talking with the residents,” said senior Crystal Garcia. “After talking to them you get close to them, and they’ll tell you how much you’ve brightened their day. It’s fun getting to know them, because they’re very interesting people, and they say very interesting things.”

Case in point: Miss Walker was anything but a passive audience. After the musicians struggled through a Howie Day song, she directed them through “Amazing Grace” and then offered some helpful advice.

“That was wonderful, but I didn’t hear you, OR you,” said Miss Walker, pointing out two of the singers. “When you all come back, you two there are doing solos or a duet for me.”

SAGE’s next gig was with Miss Clay, who was delighted to forgo Saturday morning cartoons for some live music. Dolled up in her spring finest and a pair of slippers, Miss Clay was serenaded with “Brown Eyed Girl.”

Miss Clay was sure to let the volunteers know how much she enjoyed her concert.

“If you don’t come back, I’ll have to come looking for you,” she said. “You’ll turn the corner and there I’ll be.”

Throughout her two years of involvement with SAGE, senior Lakeesha Moore has particularly enjoyed her time with the perpetually lively Miss Clay.

“Miss Clay calls us her children,” said Moore. “We call her Mamma Clay. It’s simple things like that, simple pleasures that I’ll remember.”

With just enough time for one last gig, it was obvious where the volunteers needed to go for their finale.

“We better head over to Miss Mosbey’s room so she doesn’t start yelling,” said Chou. “Sometimes we hear her yelling ‘where are they?’ before we even get to her.”

Although blind, Miss Mosbey recognized all the regular visitors and made sure they were seated comfortably before she made her request for “just any kind of song.” SAGE sang a late-90s medley of Three Doors Down and Jewel before she began to doze off during Third Eye Blind.

After graduating this spring, Moore will fondly remember her involvement with SAGE.

“I think it’s great that the residents allow us to spend time with them,” said Moore. “The fact that we’re able to come into their space, talk with them, get to know them, and sing to them is really a privilege.”

For those interested in becoming involved with SAGE, contact Lakeesha Moore at [email protected].

I have been in Guatemala for a little over a month now. My experiences in Antigua, Guatemala and other parts where I have traveled have been unbelievable learning experiences. Not a day has gone by in which I have not seen or experienced something new.

Guatemala is a remarkably beautiful country. I live in Antigua, Guatemala, which is ringed by three immense volcanoes: Volcan de Agua, Volcan de Fuego and Volcan de Pacaya. I have also traveled to Lake Atitlan, the Pacific Coast, the rain forest, Rio Dulce and the Caribbean Coast. In every place I have been awestruck by the beauty of this country. But in the end, I think my experiences here will be much more valuable to me than my photos of the beautiful vistas.

I came to Guatemala to take classes and to volunteer in my spare time, but I think I have learned more from my time volunteering here than I ever could have learned in a classroom. I have had the amazing opportunity to go into the villages of the poorest of the poor, the ones who live on a dollar or less a day, and to talk with them. I also have had the opportunity to talk to individuals who witnessed, and some that were even wounded, by the civil war that raged here in Guatemala a little more than a decade ago. I have learned about the poor of the world and the civil war in Guatemala at Wash U, but no book, no professor, no movie could ever compare to actually meeting, seeing and talking with the people behind the numbers. For me, this has been the best part of my abroad experience.

It is always fun to travel and see amazing sites like the volcanoes of Guatemala, the tropical rain forests, the truly amazing Mayan cities and the beautiful Caribbean. But I think the greatest part of studying abroad is the experience of meeting and getting to know the people who have had very different experiences in life than many of us in the United States. I am truly in awe of both the beauty of Guatemala and the beauty and resilience of its people.

NAME: Helaine Schiller
AGE: 19
MAJOR: Economics
HOMETOWN: Cooper City, Florida
POPULATION: 27,939

What was it like growing up Cooper City?

I knew everyone in my neighborhood. It was fun because we had a Founders’ Day parade, which I was in, and there are fun events that the whole town gathers for. Everyone goes to the same high school. It’s the kind of place where everyone complains that there’s nothing to do but go to the mall, but you just have to make your own fun.

So just how small is Cooper City?

It’s small enough where you can ride bikes almost everywhere. I remember always going to visit my friends by bike. There’s also an unincorporated area within Cooper City, and I used to ride my bike there to feed the horses. Once in a while you’ll see someone on horseback riding down the street.

Any small-town quirks?

If you do anything remotely notable, the mayor will send you a personal letter congratulating you. Once I was in the newspaper, and she sent me a very nice letter. Basically, if you get an A on a paper, you’re getting a letter from the mayor.

What is the night life like?

Here’s a basic Saturday night in Cooper City: going from one party to the next as the cops come and break each one up.

Are you near the beach?

I’m 20 minutes away. It’s beautiful. I really took the warm weather for granted. I miss the sun so much. Florida has palm trees, the beach and blue skies. I want to go home!

What do you think of the St. Louis winter?

It’s my roommate’s job to tell me if I’m dressed appropriately. I have no concept of dressing for cold weather. She’s been slacking on her job too, so I’ll come back completely numb sometimes. I’ll wear flip-flops, and then I have to stand in the shower and run hot water on them because I can’t feel my feet.

Where you born in Cooper City?

I was born in Miami. We moved when I was 5. Just in time for kindergarten.

Did you like Cooper City right away?

All the houses in the area have the same style with Spanish tile roofs. And there are a lot of pink houses. When my parents were looking for houses, I saw the pink houses and I was sold. The fact that were living among pink houses was, for some reason, really cool for me back then.

Are there any alligators around?

Yeah, and flamingos, too. There have been some alligator sightings, so we’re not supposed to swim in the lakes. If you see one, you’re supposed to run zigzag because it confuses them.

What do people do for fun in Cooper City?

The big thing to do is to hang out at the Wendy’s and the Dairy Queen. They call it “Club Dub.”

Did you spend a lot of time at “Club Dub?”

No, but I did spend a lot of time making fun of people who did hang out at “Club Dub.”

What’s the first thing you’re going to do when you go home for spring break?

Eat my mother’s meals. And go to the beach and just lie outside in my backyard in the sun.

It would be pointless to write about what it’s like on this campus now-after all, we’re all here. We know about the new Bear’s Den, weekends on the Loop and life in St. Louis. What else is there to life at Wash U than what we students already know?

In fact, there’s a plethora of information about life on the Wash U campus, and it can’t be found on the South 40 or in Brookings. Where can you find this information? College guides, those weighty, dictionary-sized books we lugged around junior year in high school, the ones from which we memorized statistics and descriptions, choosing without really knowing what would be our “perfect school.”

From the Princeton Review to US News and World Report, you’d be hard pressed to find a college guidebook that doesn’t have something to share about our beloved institution.

So, what are they saying about us?

The general consensus is that we like our alcohol. As The Yale Daily News’ Insider’s Guide to the Colleges reports, Wash U is “the quintessential work hard, play hard environment.”

A student interviewed by the Princeton Review described us as “the dorkiest students in the world getting [drunk] all the time.”

The Insider’s Guide also says Frat Row is the place to be on weekends-for everyone. The guide describes Greek parties as primarily “hook-up events,” but does report that there are a number of “committed couples” found on campus, even in the fraternities.

According to both guidebooks, when Wash U students aren’t partying it up Greek-style, we’re exploring the lovely city of St. Louis and all it has to offer. Students “find St. Louis incredibly accessible and appealing,” says the Insider’s Guide.

We are also over-involved in extracurricular activities-intramural sports, Campus Y, a capella, improv groups and the Congress of the South 40 are among the favorites, says the Insider’s Guide.

As far as the student body itself, The Fiske Guide to the Colleges says we’re “more laid back than those at comparable schools,” albeit “relatively homogenous” racially.

Wash U’s student population is made up of “NRA members from the Midwest and rich Jewish girls from Long Island and gay male activists,” reports a student interviewed by the Princeton Review. According to the guidebook, interracial and homosexual couples are hardly ever seen, but no one objects to the idea of their existence “in principle.”

In 2004, only 10% of the student body came from Missouri, and 50% hailed from over 500 miles away-quite different than the Wash U of the 50s and 60s. Our relatively new national pull, reports all the books, is helping the school live up to its reputation as the best private university between Chicago and L.A.

Each guidebook also had a lot to say our academic environment. As much as we like to party, prospective students are also being told we like to work.

“Wash U is a lively, stimulating place that combines Midwestern values and intellectual curiosity,” The Insider’s Guide reports. “Students often recall giving standing ovations to their ‘phenomenal professors’ for lectures.”

Sixty percent of us earn a major and minor, two majors or are dual degree students, something that is not common at other universities. The consensus among all the guidebooks is that Wash U is a fantastic place to learn, and that students are quick to take the opportunity as far as they can.

Life on the South 40, The Fiske Guide says, is like living in a hotel. The Princeton Review agreed, reporting that staying on campus is a popular option. Maid service and private bathrooms make the decision to move out on one’s own tough.

As for food, the reviews were varied. The Princeton Review said dining at Bear’s Den and Center Court is “repetitive and pricey,” but a student interviewed by The Fiske Guide claimed “the food is better than home!” The jury’s still out. But, remember, you’re a Wash U student. Make the decision for yourself.

When Amy L. DuVall got off of the Metro in Washington, D.C., something on the saxophone case of a street performer caught her eye. It was a bright pink Vintage Vinyl sticker. Amy immediately thought of the popular store on the Loop in St. Louis and of her college days at Washington University.

DuVall was an engineering student and went straight into law school after graduating in 1995.

DuVall grew up in Iowa but decided to branch out from her friends and attend college out of state.

“Going to Wash U was the biggest positive experience of my life,” she said. “I left home to go to Wash U and I learned so much, and I am still in contact with some of the great friends I made there.”

DuVall lived in Eliot, which was recently torn down.

“It makes me feel old to see it go,” she said. Also, the Umrathskellar, once a popular place for burgers, is now the Subway. Still present, however, are the Bear’s Den chicken fingers.

“Those chicken fingers are the one food thing that I remember to this day!” she said.

What hasn’t changed at Wash U is the faculty’s commitment and dedication to the student body, she said. She recalls feeling overloaded with engineering homework and problem sets and sitting down with Dean Russell, who calmed her and reworked her schedule, helping her continue on her track and not give up.

“Wash U is a great place and they’ll take care of you there,” she said. “My 10-year reunion is coming up this year and I’m looking forward to it.”

Melissa Parsons, also a 1995 alumna, recently moved back to St. Louis and was amazed and amused with the changes at Wash U. She recalls more activism on campus, including group hunger strikes and fasts in response to Bosnia and even topless marches to protest nudity as a strictly sexual element.

Parsons remembers when a teacher in the art school was not invited back, and students petitioned and protested until they were allowed more involvement in committees for appointing faculty.

Alcohol was another brewing issue on campus. Her freshman year held the typical array of Frat Row parties until the national spike in deaths and alcohol-related injuries drew negative attention to Greek Life, causing a crackdown on drinking. With wristbands and invitations required for parties on the Row, the drinking scene moved to the dorms. There were more ambulances on the South 40 during her sophomore year. The epidemic of alcohol related incidents spanned through to her senior year.

Besides alcohol lacking on the Row, Parsons notes the lack of technology that Wash U students now enjoy.

“There was no MetroLink, the shuttles were very unreliable and we also didn’t have e-mail, if you can believe that,” she said. “Engineers started getting e-mail my junior year, but the school obviously felt no need for art school students to have e-mail.”

In the mid-90s, students formed a panel to help determine what the University needed to do to move forward. Parsons’ husband, a 1996 graduate, was a part of this panel. There were lasting effects of this student involvement.

“It’s so exciting to be back and seeing what things have happened on campus,” she said. “Chancellor Wrighton has done a great job following through with some of the panel’s ideas.”

When Wash U’s current students were learning how to read and ride bikes and the Rubik’s Cube and Michael Jackson’s jackets were major trends, the average person was even more likely to think Washington University was located on the Pacific coast or the nation’s capital. However, according to a few former students, Wash U was not as different 20 years ago as one might expect.

The University was well out of its “streetcar college” phase by the 80s, and had successfully recruited students from across the country and many foreign nations. However, in the early 80s, Bruce Bikson, Class of ’80, sensed “a significant us vs. them feeling,” on campus. Bikson explained that “being form Kansas City, everybody from the East Coast was a New Yorker, whether from Baltimore or Boston,” Bikson said.

The 80s was an important period of expansion for the University, which The Hatchet cited as the nation’s 14th wealthiest university in 1982. The current Athletic Complex opened in the middle of the decade, and was a major selling point for Wash U at the time. Still, many students said the campus felt smaller and more contained, with more green space.

The South 40 was dominated by the Eliot and Shepley towers, which were the most popular dorms on campus, and by a wooded area where WGE Residential College is currently located. Park and Mudd, which students considered the “new” and novel dorms when they were erected at the end of the decade, were other desirable housing spots.

The Greek scene was big in the 80s and frat parties were raucous, according to students and faculty. Jeff Mishkin, Class of ’85, remembers parties as wild as Animal House, which was released in the late 70s and was still a popular movie among Wash U students in the 80s.

Thursday nights brought many students to “The Rat.” The current site of Subway, in the 80s the Umrathskeller was home to a bar with live music and a great grill. Students remember bands, beer, milkshakes and burgers that were good enough to stick in the minds of both Mishkin and Rob Wild, Class of ’93.

Since fewer students had cars and there was no shuttle system, getting into the city was harder, leading many students to complain about feeling isolated on campus. Some students relied on the one resource they did have: their feet. Wild remembers frequent trips to Cicero’s on the Loop, and walking to Forest Park to watch the St. Louis Blues play at their old venue.

Wash U had achieved a reputation for being an elite university, and according to political science professor Marvin Cummins, students were happy with the quality of education the school offered at the time.

“I remember studying in the library on a Friday night thinking there was no way anybody at Harvard was working harder than I was,” Cummins said.

Mishkin remembers the Business School students partying much more than he and his fellow engineers.

Many former students claim that the biggest difference was the lack of computers. While Wild and many of his peers brought typewriters to school, some, like Mishkin, had computers. Mishkin remembers receiving his first computer while in college, a first-generation IBM PC with no hard drive that cost almost $5,000.

The big trend in television was soap operas, and Mishkin claims that many female students would organize their schedules around major events on their favorite shows. As for fashion, some students still dressed in three-piece suits and bell-bottoms, though disco was certifiably dead by this time.

And, of course, “there were a lot more mullets in 1989 then there are now,” said Wild.

The upper floor of Wohl used to be home to three separate food service locations and sandwiches were available at the Gargoyle. Wild claims that the food quality was about half of what it is now, and he said the choices were limited.

After the high tide of young activism in the 60s and 70s, the 80s was a relatively calm period politically for most Wash U students. Though there was some anti-Reagan sentiment on campus, politics did not play a big part in student life.

Despite the advances in technology, hairstyles and major physical changes on campus, some things about college never change. Mishkin described his college experience compared to his life in the “real” world: “It was a great time, just being in college. Just an easier, calmer life, you’d only think as far as your next exam, and what you were doing next weekend, and how you could sleep an extra ten minutes and still get to class.”

Was Wash U the disco-hoppin’, party-never-stoppin’, research university in the 1970s that it is today? Not exactly, but it was a center for political and civil rights activism in the Midwest, and was in the midst of developing into a top-tier school.

Fall 1970: Wash U was, as one alumnus says, a “very politically charged” campus. A few months earlier, students burned down the ROTC building in a protest against the Vietnam War. When Nixon was elected, one Student Life article described “frustration, disgust, and despair” as the “pervading sentiments of WU students.”

Though the campus is somewhat less homogeneous today, Mark Baum-Baicker, Class of ’74, says he “can’t remember a person who wasn’t liberal” when he was a student.

This dominant view throughout campus resulted in a barrage of anti-war and anti-administration activism. There were protests, sit-ins, break-ins and bomb threats. As one trustee said, “the very existence of the University was at stake,” when William Danforth became chancellor in 1971. From there, the school was faced with the necessity to complete a crucial transition and turnaround. They started an aggressive fundraising campaign, and successfully reached their $60 million goal in 1976, giving them hope for the future.

Despite the student-administration problems around campus, alumni agree that the education they received was “phenomenal.”

Baum-Baicker said that Wash U was “a very good school when I was there, but it didn’t have the reputation it does now.” Perhaps it is because of this lack of reputation that he says the school was, “full of great students, but the academic environment was not as serious as it is today.”

The campus was similar, with one big difference: the law school building.

“The law school won all these architecture awards, but everyone on campus hated it,” says Baum-Baicker. “It was a joke on campus” and “stood out like a sore thumb. It was an atrocity, it really was.”

Food was poor and so was personal grooming.

Baum-Baicker remembers all the guys sporting beards and long hair.

Intramural sports were “huge” for students. So big, in fact, that they sometimes had their own set of team rankings in Student Life.

Regionally, a “tremendous number of people were from Eastern and Midwestern cities, but only a scattered number of people were from the West coast,” Baum-Baicker said.

On the weekends, there was a less vibrant social atmosphere around campus than there is today. Lipkin described Clayton as being, “a kind of sleepy place,” while Baum-Baicker recalls the Loop as being, “just Blue Hill and a few Chinese restaurants.” However, there were more theaters and bars around campus, which students frequented. In addition, on-campus music was big.

“We had concerts on campus fairly frequently, especially during Freshman Orientation. The scene was definitely different than today’s WILD though,” he said.