Student Life Archives

Dan Daranciang

Tell us about your background-where you were born, where you grew up, your family, and your education. Did you attend college and/or job training? Where?

I was born and raised in Durham, a small town in the North of England best known for its magnificent Norman cathedral. I attended public schools (in the American sense of that term) before studying philosophy, politics, and economics at New College, Oxford University. After a three-month tour of the US with the British National Debate Team and a brief stint as a management consultant in London, I entered graduate school at Harvard, where I completed a Ph.D. in Political Science. While at Harvard I worked as an assistant senior tutor in Lowell House and as an assistant dean in the Summer School, which set me on the path to my current position at Washington University.

What brought you to Wash. U.?

My wife, Lola, is a medical student at Wash. U.

What is your favorite memory of working as a dean?

Finding out that my students have earned national recognition (and a lot of money!) through success in scholarship competitions.

What was your most memorable project while attending college?

Playing the cello in a terrific chamber orchestra, especially the term when we performed “Metamorphosen” by Richard Strauss.

Is there a guiding principle in your life?

I take moral philosophy seriously; it’s important to me to be able to provide consistent and compelling justifications, to myself and others, for my choices and actions.

Can you name some of your past works and achievements?

I was a Frank Knox Fellow at Harvard, which is similar to being a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. My Ph.D. dissertation explores the goals of education policy in liberal states and their implications for religious schools.

I won various debate competitions in high school and college. I was a semi-finalist at the World Universities Debating Championships in 1998, and I subsequently judged at the World Schools Debating Championships for six years (on five different continents).

What is the best thing about being a dean?

Working with individual students on all aspects of their undergraduate education. Given my broad interests in education policy and philosophy of education, I’m glad to have a roving brief.

Something interesting that many people don’t know about you is…?

I’m fascinated by North Korea, televangelism, and the MTV-culture.

What do you hope to accomplish in the coming year?

Many things. But above all I hope to help every one of my advisees to find and pursue an intellectual passion.

Dan Daranciang

The responsibilities of a student government president are numerous. As David Ader continues through his second term as Student Union president, Student Life examines how well he has met his own expectations, as well as those of the University community at large.

Ader has incorporated “his own values, personality, expertise and leadership style to guide and lead the student government,” said Jill Carnaghi, assistant vice chancellor for students, who advises the Student Union (SU) Executive Council weekly.

Ader, who was elected by a margin of 42 votes in the spring of 2004, previously served as an SU senator and as the Senate Chair of Academic Affairs. He ran unopposed for SU president his second term.

“I think I’ve done a good job,” said Ader. He added that he needs improvement on “day-to-day things,” but said, “I’ve got tons of great people around me. Our team has done a great job.”

Ader is the seventh SU president Carnaghi has worked with.

“David’s second term is really different from his first,” she said. “From spring two years before up until fall of last year, Student Union was really consumed in planning the presidential debate. They did way more than just be involved in the debate-they actually provided a variety of political forums to educate student voters on the various issues. They did an exceptional job from the start of the school year through the election.”

Ader also sees the 2004 debate as an inspiring event.

“It was amazing to see the campus get so energized,” said Ader. “Everyone was rallying around the debates.” Ader saw the coordination of the events surrounding the debates as one of that week’s highlights. “A lot of student groups were getting together” to plan events, he said, adding that most of the students participated in the programs “whether interested in politics or not.”

Ader feels that the retooling of SU has been one of his greatest accomplishments while in office.

“We want [a Student Union] that students feel represents them, that they feel comfortable going to share concerns,” said Ader.

He continued that efficiency is “always a tough issue.” In order to make SU and the student groups it represents more effective, Ader placed a moratorium on new groups in 2004, which has since ended. He also oversaw the renovation of SU’s Internet activity, redesigning the Web site-which Ader called “a resource for students and student groups to get things done”-and sending out a weekly email to students.

“We wanted to.get things settled in-house and make sure we could handle them in an efficient manner. We’re poised to do that,” he said.

Pamela Bookbinder, who ran against Ader during his 2004 campaign and who now serves as SU’s vice president, agreed that SU has been trying to stay more connected with the student groups it represents.

“We’ve been working to make SU more personable,” said Bookbinder, who chairs the Outreach, Retention and Improvement committee. “We’ve kept in touch with students as to how to get involved.”

Ader attributes much of SU’s streamlining to the separation of the Senate and the Treasury. Enacted three years ago, the split allowed them to “focus on student groups and their needs,” he said.

Although the reorganization made the Senate a more “political” body, as most financial concerns are brought before the Treasury, Ader said he tries to keep things out of the scope of politics.

“SU is not a governing body, but a service organization,” he said. “We’re not here to tell people what to do. I think of SU more as a business. When politics are a huge part [of the process], nothing ever gets done.”

Yet some see the emphasis on organization as a deterrent from SU’s other functions. Junior Aaron Keyak, a former senator who currently serves as the treasurer of the College Democrats, would like to see SU function more as a representative of the student body’s views and concerns than as a service organization.

“Our student government should go out there more actively,” said Keyak. “Student government should be an aggressive advocate for the student voice. [Right now] the government is more of a bureaucracy than a representative of the student voice.”

He added, however, that SU has run more efficiently since Ader’s election.

“People appreciate the changes. And a treasurer and a senator, it has improved by leaps and bounds,” said Keyak. “Ader and the rest of the board are very accessible to talk about things.”

Nonetheless, Keyak believes SU is not doing the best job of reaching out to its constituency.

“They should find out what the student interest is,” he said. “The current student government doesn’t believe in that. They are more about being on the back burner. When the students are talking about issues, there is no reason why the student government can’t deal with them seriously. If you don’t do that, you are not really doing your job as well as you could be.”

Despite Ader’s efforts to minimize them, politics came into play in one of his more controversial moments. When his vice president, Katie Leikhim, went on medical leave for the entire fall semester of 2004, Ader urged her to resign. Controversy arose within SU when, after complying with Ader’s request, Leikhim later said, “It wasn’t my idea.” Shortly thereafter, in the middle of elections for a replacement vice president, Student Life reporters were forbidden to keep notes of the proceedings.

Ader points to the newspaper’s handling of Leikhim’s resignation as a basis for the decision to bar note-taking, saying that the discussions had shifted to the personal details of the nominees and that “Student Life couldn’t handle personnel issues.” He also said that anyone who wanted could observe the proceedings without taking notes.

As for the current hot issue on campus-the rivalry with Emory-Ader said that while the Emory students’ “intentions are good,” he didn’t understand “how you can artificially create a rivalry.”

Ader said that his goals for the rest of the year include preparing for the new University Center and providing a legal music download service for students on campus. Additionally, he hopes to find more ways to get students involved in SU.

“More effort can always be put into outreach,” Ader said.

Ader added that after two years on the job, people are always approaching him with new ideas.

“It’s become my identity,” he said.

Dan Daranciang

As students walked to class yesterday, they passed an immense display of approximately 2,000 white cardboard tombstones, each bearing the name of a fallen U.S. soldier and an Iraqi civilian. The tombstones, which covered the grassy expanse between Graham Chapel and the Women’s Building (west of Olin Library), were on display from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. yesterday not only to honor fallen soldiers and innocent civilians but also to remind people of the enormous impact of war on human lives.

Graduate student Adam Shriver conceived of the idea for the display and organized the event. Junior Samantha White, Professor of Philosophy Marilyn Friedman, and several other students worked the information tables surrounding the display throughout the day.

“Myself and some other students recognized that many on campus have been opposed to the war, but there haven’t really been any huge displays of activism, so we decided [to do this],” said Shriver. “There are also lots of people who don’t think the war is a huge deal. Two thousand sounds like a very abstract number, but when you see a visual display, it hits home more. We want to honor the fallen soldiers and raise awareness about what a huge impact the war has really had.”

Shriver has also advocated for the formation of a new Peace and Justice Group on the Washington University campus. He envisions the group as a forum to educate people about what war is like and stated that the group would probably “invite veterans to campus to speak about experiences or have people who have been in war zones describe what goes on there.”

The ultimate goal of such a group would be to raise awareness about accurate descriptions of war.

“Students need to get out there and be active,” said Shriver. “To get a serious movement going, people have to be willing to join groups or vigils or public displays of their dissatisfaction. People must make their opinions known to put pressure on others to change.”

He recommended that interested students become involved with the “Instead of War Coalition” (www.insteadofwar.org), a very active group that hosts numerous events in the St. Louis community, including a vigil each Sunday night.

Despite fire hazard notices sent to the University last year that recommended the installation of sprinkler systems in several buildings on the South 40, such action has not been taken.

According to the Washington University Police Department web site, all of the new residential buildings built since 1995 and four renovated buildings have automated sprinkler systems. However, old dorms including Rubelmann, Umrath, Beaumont, Lee, Hitzeman, Hurd, Shanedling, Dauten, Rutledge, Liggett, and Myers are currently without sprinkler systems.

“One by one, [the old dorms] are going away,” said Dean of Students Justin Carroll. “I don’t believe sprinkler systems have been added because the older buildings do not have to change. The newer ones do have sprinkler systems.”

Koenig House, formerly on the fire hazard list, was torn down and replaced with a new building of the same name.

Carroll added that there are other fire safety initiatives that decrease the chance of injury.

“A requirement for freshmen floor meetings is to go over basic fire safety, and fire drills are also part of the fire safety education,” he said.

Carroll also noted the fire safety postings in dorm hallways and on bulletin boards. Additionally, students can contact Paul Landgraf, a University health and safety professional, if they have questions about fire safety.

“There are improvements made in fire safety programs on a continual basis at Washington University,” Landgraf wrote in an email to Student Life. “This year Residential Life and Environmental Health and Safety implemented an interactive fire training presentation for the 118 residential advisors. Residential Life, Washington University Police Department and Environmental Health and Safety established in August 2005 a new poster program unique to public safety.”

Landgraf noted that the posters are being placed in lounges and other common areas on the South 40, and will address different issues throughout the year.

Ed Comeau, a nationally recognized fire safety expert and activist, explained that fire safety remains a critical issue on many campuses.

“Sprinklers are not a common feature [on college campuses], but it is getting better. The majority do not have sprinklers,” said Comeau.

The Clayton Fire Department (CFD) has jurisdiction over all of the buildings on the South 40, and they often conduct fire safety inspections of the buildings on the South 40 and Hilltop campus. They have sent the University several notices since December that include a recommendation to install sprinklers in the older dorms, but cannot force the University to install sprinklers in these buildings because they were erected under a different code.

In addition, some of the older University-owned apartments do not have fire alarms.

“While the older apartment buildings do not have fire alarm systems because they were not required when built, these buildings are all in compliance with the University City fire codes,” wrote Landgraf.

Jim LaVenture, assistant fire chief and CFD fire marshal, affirmed that whether not the buildings comply with fire codes depends on when they were erected.

“It depends on when they were built,” LaVenture said. “All of the new buildings have sprinklers. If you changed the occupancy, then building sprinklers might apply. For example, if a building goes from business to mercantile-if the use [of the building is changed]-the building is treated like new.”

According to LaVenture, buildings with sprinklers provide significantly more protection to their inhabitants.

“There is a great track record in fully sprinklered buildings,” he said, noting that there are rarely instances of a large number of people losing their lives in buildings that are equipped with sprinklers.

Older buildings, however, are under a different fire code that does not require them to have sprinklers.

“The codes changed sometime in the ’80’s, and the codes [continue to] change on a three-year cycle,” LaVenture said. Local jurisdictions do not have to apply the new codes to the older buildings.

Despite skirting the CFD’s recommendations to install sprinkler systems in the old dorms, the University has responded well to other issues concerning fire safety that are included in the notices that the CFD distributes.

“[The University] responds well to maintenance requests and to things that need to be done without capital expenses,” said LaVenture. “They are good about correcting maintenance violations. Under contract, we inform them of what needs to be corrected.”

If the University should decide not to follow their recommendations, it would have to release an indemnification notice to the city-in other words, the city would no longer be liable for damages caused by the University’s failure to meet those recommendations.

The University’s Princeton Review Fire Safety Rating, which measures how well a school is prepared to prevent or to respond to campus fires, improved to 87 from last year’s 80.

“The scores have improved because some new residential buildings were built with sprinkler systems that were not reported last year,” wrote Landgraf. “Also, it was recognized that fire safety training being done by the University was not previously reported to the Princeton Review and it is now included in their assessment.”