Student Life Archives

Scott Bressler

After weeks of debate, the executive members of Ashoka, the undergraduate Indian Students Association, decided to change to a South Asian Students’ Association (SASA). Ashoka decided to change its name after complaints from South Asian minorities, who felt alienated by the idea that Ashoka catered exclusively to Indian students.

“Culture is shared throughout the seven countries that encompass South Asia. We’re not talking about specific nationalities,” said Ashoka co-president, junior Mansi Shah. “So we wanted to open the doors to more people and be more inviting.”

Ashoka executives recounted the story of a Pakistani student who wanted to have a fundraiser for earthquake relief in Pakistan. Although she felt that Ashoka was the closest group to approach culturally, she felt unable to turn to Ashoka due to its status as an ISA.

“We’re also going to listen to the minority’s voice. If a person wants to address an issue, we’re going to be there to help them get resources and bring the general body’s attention to it,” said sophomore Kushal Patel, treasurer for Ashoka.

Executives felt that the trend of Ashoka’s programming was already heading towards a South Asian organization, because of events like South Asian Awareness Week and a Diwali skit about Partition between India and Pakistan.

“The interest is there and I think that by changing the name, they will be more approachable,” said senior Samira Sihabdeen, a Sri Lankan student. “For other South Asian students, the numbers aren’t there, so for us to start a group on our own isn’t feasible.”

“I think that, coming in as a freshman, having the term ISA [Indian Student Association], as opposed to SASA, definitely wasn’t as welcoming. Especially as a freshman, when the groups are based on titles, it might be somewhat of an offset,” said Sihabdeen.

While the debate of ISA versus SASA had come up in years past, Ashoka made new efforts to get input from general body members through online forums, questionnaires and personal interactions with executives.

Some of the members in the forums questioned whether the expansion of the organization would jeopardize the quality of the programming.

“We shouldn’t add any events unless there’s an interest in them. I don’t think they have to have forced programming,” added Sihabdeen.

Others were upset at the idea that Diwali, Ashoka’s big-ticket cultural show, would probably need to change its name, to have less religious connotation than the eponymous Hindu festival of lights.

“It’s not the name that brings people together, it’s the quality of the show,” said Ashoka Co-president, junior Charu Agrawal. “We did a lot of research and a lot of colleges said that it didn’t hurt then publicity-wise to change from an ISA to a SASA.”

Although they faced some opposition from their members, Ashoka executives said that their response was generally positive.

“When I talked to our advisor, Dean Glore, she was really open to the idea, and thought it followed the trend that’s currently happening in our country today. She was very supportive,” said Shah.

The change follows a precedent set three years ago by the Chinese New Year Festival (CNYF) changing its name to the more inclusive Lunar New Year Festival (LNYF). The new LNYF show incorporates aspects of Korean and Japanese New Years.

“The reason we wanted to change to LNYF was because the name CNYF confused a lot of people. They asked, is it only for Chinese people? Or are you only doing Chinese events?” said senior Mike Yang, coordinator for LNYF and former member of Chinese Students’ Association.

“LNYF now includes most of the east Asian countries. It’s a more broad title, because it goes by the lunar calendar and we can include many different cultures.”

Overall, students seemed to embrace the trend of inclusiveness promoted by Ashoka. In the fall, Ashoka plans to include dances and fashion shows from other countries to be representative of more South Asian countries.

“I’m not Indian and most of the groups that claim to be South Asian are actually more Indian, so I felt kind of awkward joining them,” said sophomore Nyda Mukhtar, an international student from Pakistan.

Regarding Ashoka’s affiliation change, Mukhtar agreed that, “It’s nice. I’d be slightly more interested in joining now.”

Washington University hosted its Undergraduate Research Symposium this past Saturday in an effort to highlight the independent academic achievements of students. The symposium was the second of its kind and was the first that included students from all of the University’s schools.

The symposium was held during the afternoon at the Athletic Complex (AC) during the afternoon and included 75 diverse participants, more than double last semester’s number.

According to Dean Henry Biggs, director of undergraduate research, the diversity of the event was part of what made it so succesful.

“In the past you’ve had these small symposiums, where one department has a symposium and all of the people from their own major go to that symposium, and it’s very lightly attended,” he said. “Here somebody in the romance languages can get views on their research from someone in archeology.”

After a presentation by keynote speaker Aaron Mertz, a graduate of the undergraduate class of 2006 now studying at Yale, undergraduate students were given a chance to present their research while defending their claims and theses to spectators and specialists in the students’ respective fields. The symposium was also free and open to the public; additionally, more than 175 high schools were encouraged to send their students.

The students presented their research through oral and visual presentations, using posters and charts to convey their proofs and hypotheses.

Several students presented their research as a capstone to their work, but some found that their conclusions provided relevant material to local or global issues.

Charlene Ng, a biology major who did her research in the psychology ward, said that she thought her findings could benefit interested students.

“I just thought my research about schizophrenia was pretty important,” said Ng, a junior. “I thought that undergraduates would benefit from the information and get involved in research.”

Other students entered into their research to pursue career opportunities, such as biology major and junior Cassie Sadinski.

“Undergraduate research actually set a position [for me] with the Infectious Disease Department at the [University] Medical School,” said Sadinski. “I presented clinical epidemiology studies at the ICUs in Barnes-Jewish Hospital.”

Though several factors contributed to the growth of the symposium, one of the most influential developments was the hiring of Aline Holtz, who was recently hired by the administration as a grant specialist. Holtz took on the symposium as one of her central projects for this year.

Sadinski agreed that Holtz’s work in Undergraduate Research was effective.

“I think the Office of Undergraduate Research is letting students know who they are,” she said. “I didn’t know who they were until this year.”

Ng added that the symposium’s success was due to the enthusiasm of the presenters and the organizational abilities of the administration.

“Everyone is getting into it,” she said. “It was planned pretty well and people [were] free at the end of the year.”

The symposium, which debuted this past January, was the first umbrella presentation of its kind at the University, but other symposia of its kind have taken place in the past in specialized fields.

The novelty of this year’s exhibitions was that they brought research from different fields to one room.

Sadinski found the diversity of topics exciting.

“I was surprised and impressed by the wide spectrum of research at Wash. U.,” she said. “They had so many topics, from natural sciences to social sciences to a dance thesis.”

In the future, the research symposium will look to expand by incorporating other disciplines and by partnering with the Career Center to allow students to highlight their internships as well as research.

“What we’re really hoping to do is to get more from all five colleges,” said Biggs. “I’m always hungry for more collaboration. I’d love to see more art research in there. I think there is room for much more growth.”

Scott Bressler

To view an exclusive online slideshow of the concert, please click here.

Student Life sat down with WILD headliner Reel Big Fish on Friday afternoon in the green room. Front man Aaron Barret and trumpeter John Christianson took most of the questions, but the rest of the musicians chimed in occasionally. The Reel Big Fish became popular in the early 90s, but has continued touring and releasing albums.

Student Life: Thanks for taking the time to talk with us.
Aaron Barrett: Why don’t you sit down. It’ll make us feel more comfortable and you’ll probably get closer to real answers.

SL: How often do you guys play for college campuses like this?
AB: Recently always. We believe that the children are the future, if you teach them well. You need to show them all the beauty they possess inside.

SL: So what are you teaching?
AB: How should I know!? That’s the school’s job. Our job is to teach them it’s the school’s job.
John Christianson: Every year we do college season. It started out as just five or six, but now it’s a lot-it’s more than I have fingers.

SL: This band has been around for a while now and you’re still touring. How do you keep your music fresh?
JC: We rotate new members. Members are like tires. Seriously though, we just keep playing and having fun. The music is really timeless. It’s so relevant to life in college. So many of the things in Reel Big Fish’s music happened to me in college.
AB: I think it’s “The Beer Song.” And the Baseketball movie. That’s why people still know who we are.

SL: What can you tell me about your performance at WILD? You’re going to be out there with Cut Chemist and OK Go.
JC: That’s another fun thing about college shows. There’s always a real great collection of artists there.

SL: You guys clearly have a pretty good rapport with each other. How does that affect your stage presence?
JC: At a Reel Big Fish show, the fans are totally involved. We are totally talking to the audience and involving the audience. We’re not just turning our back on the audience and being above the music. We’re trying to get everyone involved.

SL: What are some of your influences?
JC: We all like different bands. Ask anyone and they’ll give you a long list of bands that have nothing to do with each other. And we all like comedy.
Ryland Steen: That’s the cool thing about this band. Someone will just say, “Hey, check this out,” and turn you on to some new type of music. In one room people will be listening to hip-hop and in another it will be old-school ska. It’s really neat.

SL: You have mentioned humor a few times. What is your sense of humor?
RS: We get a weird joy out of the awkward silence. It’s like a shot in the arm. Once we get that first bit of silence we just try to prolong it and see how long we can go for.
AB: We take ourselves to the edge of personality suicide and stand there for as long as we can. We wait to see if we can do something that would possibly make sense to people and have them laugh. And if they don’t, we fall off the cliff and die. But that’s a really great feeling, keeping people confused for a good 10 minutes and then in the end they laugh.

Scott Bressler

This summer, while most fourth-year medical students prepare to start their residencies, Leana Wen will be making preparations of a different sort.

In June, she will be traveling to Africa with New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof to focus on health and education issues, food insecurity, AIDS and other development topics.

Wen will be traveling to Rwanda, eastern Congo and Burundi as part of Kristof’s annual Win-a-Trip contest in which he travels with a student and teacher to spread awareness of issues in Africa.

“I wanted a way to tell my patients’ stories,” said Wen. “I’ve been abroad, I’ve seen lots of suffering and injustices in the world and I thought that being on a trip with Nicholas Kristof would be the perfect way to communicate with the public about social justice issues.”

Wen describes her impression of Kristof over the phone as “thoughtful” and “deliberate.” She also praised his style of visiting leaders, cities, villages and people in the places he visits.

“He seems to be an eternal optimist,” she said.

Kristof selected Wen from more than 2,000 applicants who were narrowed to less than 30 finalists. With input from his assistant Winter Miller and several others at the New York Times Web site, he ended up with Wen.

“I thought it would be interesting to have someone along who knew medicine and could comment intelligently on health conditions that we encounter,” wrote Kristof on his blog.

Wen, too, said her medical prowess made her a more attractive candidate.

“I know that I was chosen specifically for my health background and I’m sure that we’ll be visiting hospitals because health is such a big part of life,” she said.

Born in Shanghai, Wen enrolled in California State University, Los Angeles when she was only 13-years-old. She graduated summa cum laude with a degree in biochemistry in 2001 at the age of 18. Wen left medical school temporarily when serving a one-year term as the national president of the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) in Reston, Va., the largest national organization for physicians-in-training.

“I entered medicine because I wanted to make an impact at a larger level, not just for the individual patient, but also for my community and for society,” said Wen. “Treating a patient is part of a larger issue of public policy and public health.”

Wen hopes to use her medical knowledge and apply it to a broader context.

“Somebody who is doing public policy should have a medical perspective as well,” she said. “I’m looking for ideas for how to communicate more effectively with younger generations-college students, graduate students, high school students.”

After returning from her trip, Wen plans on studying at Oxford for two years as part of a Rhodes scholarship and then doing her residency in emergency medicine.

Kristof also chose alternative high school teacher Will Okun to join Wen and him. Okun teaches in a low-income neighborhood in Chicago and has a special interest in writing and photography, according to Kristof.