The academic year 2005-2006 marked one of unexpected change for both the Washington University campus and the nation. Hurricane Katrina’s devastation of the gulf coast region largely shaped a year of charity and change.
Some students returned to campus in late August with news that the homes they had left were damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. The disaster hit close to the Washington University community as students from the Gulf Coast region learned of displaced friends and family members. Despite early warnings from the government, Hurricane Katrina and the flood that followed, heavily devastated the gulf coast region including Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
Many college students, faculty, and workers displaced by Katrina found shelter at Washington University. In the fall semester, the University welcomed students from Tulane and Loyola whose colleges were closed due to extensive damage by the hurricane. Among the displaced students were freshmen from Tulane who had to evacuate during their move-in day. In response to the disaster, the University offered financial aid and health services to students who were affected by the Hurricane. Unlike other universities, they did not plan to return displaced students’ tuition to their home universities in New Orleans.
From a capella concerts to the EnCouncil’s Bayou formal, many student groups initiated campus-wide fundraising efforts to help rebuild the gulf coast region and support its victims. For some students, the relief effort went beyond campus initiatives. Many University students joined other college students from around the country in a weeklong spring break trip to New Orleans where they volunteered to help rebuild broken homes for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
In other fundraising events around the year, Dance Marathon raised $58,000, and Relay for Life surpassed last year’s fundraising goal of $250,000.
The University also announced several significant changes, starting with the decision to set the new wage floor at $8.25. The new minimum wage standard was a reaction to the Student Worker Alliance’s sit-in at the admission office last April, where students demanded that the University raise the employee minimum wage to meet the city’s living wage standard.
Hoping to increase public transportation for commuting students and workers, the University announced that it will start offering free Universal Metro passes for any undergraduate, graduate, faculty and staff at Washington University. The Metro pass will be valid for MetroBus and MetroLink, which is expected to be fully functional at the beginning of the 2006-2007 school year.
The University also moved forward by revealing a new plan for a university center. The new university center will replace the current Prince Hall. Despite protests led by St. Louis preservationists, Prince hall is scheduled for demolition in the summer months.
For parents of Washington University undergraduate students, the next change announced by the University was not welcoming news. Chancellor Wrighton’s letter to parents detailed next year’s tuition hike of 5.5 percent, equaling $32,800 for the 2006-2007 school year-the biggest marginal increase in six years.
In health news, Student Health Services (SHS) relocated from its main campus location in Umrath Hall to Forsyth dormitory on the South 40. The relocation cost about $2 million, but has provided SHS with significantly more space.
Most recently, the University announced that it has renamed the Hilltop campus to the Danforth campus to commemorate William Danforth, former Washington University chancellor who has made significant financial contributions to the University over the years.
Emory University’s “declaration of war” against Washington University shocked this campus in mid-September. Emory students vandalized both Washington University’s campus and their own, attempting to pass off the vandalism on Emory’s campus as retaliation by Washington University students. Spray-painted messages in yellow and blue read: “WU girls are ugly- Emory University”, “Emory own U”, and “George Washington is dead” on the underpass between the main campus and the South 40.
The act came two days after the Emory student newspaper released an op-ed piece, which demanded Emory students to start a rivalry with Washington University students. The student who authored the letter wrote on behalf of Emory’s Department of War, a newly created branch of their Student Government Association. For a university in which rivalry with other schools is minimal, and school spirit low, the war initiated by the Emory, briefly ignited school camaraderie.
For the Assembly Series, the University welcomed several prominent speakers including eminent American scholar and public intellectual Cornel West and Jonathan Kozol, an authority on the American public school system.
In the engineering school, students showcased their new Vertigo dance floor, which was later displayed at the Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis. They also will welcome Mary J. Sansalone from Cornell University next fall as the new dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
The spring 2006 semester also brought new changes to the Mallinckrodt center. Students said goodbye to Taco Bell and ushered in Bon Appetit’s new Asian-themed concept with lukewarm reactions.
Washington University students’ affair with alcohol and drugs continued this year. In one incident, an intoxicated student fell out of her window in Wheeler dormitory. The University cancelled Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity’s housing contract after police found marijuana during their search of the house. Most recently, the Magic House, a local St. Louis children’s museum, banned Art Prom after discovering $700 in damages by intoxicated students. Currently, Student Union has blocked funding for any future Art Proms.
On a more positive note, Sigma Chi received word that they may move into their house again after a two-year expulsion for hazing. Greek Life has also formed a new Council of Community Standards in an effort to better handle judicial matters.