Courtesy of Tammi CooksCorrection Appended
The 2005-2006 academic year was 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 greeted by the news that the homes they had left were damaged or destroyed by the hurricane.
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 schools, the University did not plan to return displaced students’ tuition to their home universities in New Orleans.
From a cappella concerts to the EnCouncil’s Bayou Formal, many student groups initiated campus-wide fund-raising 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 fund-raising events during the year, Dance Marathon raised $58,000, and Relay for Life surpassed its fund-raising 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 admissions office during April 2005, when 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 would start offering free universal Metro passes for any full-time undergraduate, graduate, faculty or staff member of Washington University. The Metro pass is valid for MetroBus and MetroLink and became fully functional at the beginning of the 2006-2007 school year.
The University also moved forward by revealing a plan for the new Danforth University Center. The University Center will replace the former Prince Hall. Despite protests led by St. Louis preservationists, Prince Hall was demolished in the summer of 2006.
Chancellor Wrighton also wrote a letter to parents detailing the 2006-2007 academic year tuition hike of 5.5 percent, to $32,800-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 House, now Dardick House, on the South 40. The relocation cost about $2 million but provided SHS with significantly more space.
Most recently, the University announced that it would rename the Hilltop Campus to Danforth Campus to commemorate William Danforth, former Washington University chancellor, who made significant financial contributions to the University over the years.
Emory University’s “declaration of war” against Washington University shocked this campus in mid-Sept. 2005. 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 owns 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 that exhorted 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 the school’s 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. It was also announced that Mary Sansalone from Cornell University would join the school in 2006 as the new dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
The spring 2006 semester also brought new changes to the Mallinckrodt Student Center. Students said good-bye to Taco Bell and ushered in Bon Appétit’s new Asian-themed concept with lukewarm reactions.
Washington University students’ affairs with alcohol and drugs continued. In one incident, an intoxicated student fell out of her window in Wheeler dormitory. The University canceled Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity’s housing contract after police found marijuana during their search of the house. More recently, the Magic House, a local St. Louis children’s museum, banned Art Prom after discovering $700 in damages by intoxicated students. Student Union then blocked funding for any future Art Proms.
On a more positive note, Sigma Chi received word that they were allowed move into their house again after a two-year expulsion for hazing. Greek Life also formed the new Council of Community Standards in an effort to better handle judicial matters.
Correction: A photo used on Monday, May 5 with the article “Sophomore year: Katrina, charity and change” was mistakenly attributed to David Song; in fact, the photo was taken by Tammi Cooks. Student Life regrets the error.