F R I D A Y MAR. 25, 2005 Vol. 126, No. 63
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STUDENT LIFE T H E I N D E P E N D E N T N E W S PA P E R O F WA S H I N G T O N U N I V E R S I T Y I N S T. L O U I S S I N C E 1 8 7 8
Student defecates in RA’s dorm room By Rachel Streitfeld and Helen Rhee News Staff Lee 3 resident advisors walked in on a nasty surprise last Friday night: someone had broken into and vandalized their rooms, reportedly defecating in at least one RA’s room. Police are offering $500 for any information regarding the incident. “The vandalism was out of the bounds of any sense of decency,” said Washington University Police Chief Don Strom. “It was disgusting. The behavior was totally unacceptable and inconsis-
Cadenza tells us what’s overrated and underrated. Do you agree with their selections?
PAGE 8 The editorial board and Chancellor Wrighton weigh in on the theft of Wednesday’s Student Life.
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By Sarah Kliff News Editor Alpha Phi has started to take action to remedy problems that arose at its formal at City Museum last Friday by offering to perform service or donate fundraising for the museum. However, City Museum officials do not plan on accepting this offer. At the formal, hosted by City Museum, multiple members of the sorority were publicly intoxicated in front of other City Museum guests, including a group of Girl Scouts. In a letter written to the City Museum by Chapter President Jessica Schaffner, Alpha Phi apologized for its actions. “We recognize that our actions were inappropriate and unacceptable, and jeopardized the integrity of your organization,” said Schaffner. “And for this, we express our deepest regrets. Please know that it was never our intention for these events to take place and we intend to make whatever reparations your organization feels comfortable with.” The letter then offered Alpha Phi’s service to the museum in whatever way the City Museum found appropriate, suggesting working at the museum or donating money through fundraising. Although
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EMILY TOBIAS | STUDENT LIFE
These copies of Student Life were found in a trash can outside of Holmes Lounge early Wednesday evening. Hundreds of copies were either stolen or thrown away earlier in the day.
Student Life stolen from newsstands By Rachel Streitfeld Contributing Editor
In an effort to raise the level of the conversation, the RAs in the William Greenleaf Eliot (WGE) residential college sponsored a lecture on Wednesday by Barbara Baumgartner, a professor of women’s studies at Washington University, on the role pornography plays in society at large. “I heard Professor Baumgartner speak three years ago, and thought it was very thoughtprovoking,” said senior Jessica Hahn, another Shepley RA and the person behind the event.
Newsstands across campus stood empty Wednesday after hundreds of copies of Student Life were stolen and stuffed into nearby trash cans sometime during the morning. Papers were yanked from at least nine buildings on the Hilltop campus, including Mallinckrodt, Holmes Lounge, McMillan and Cupples I. Yesterday afternoon, Student Life staffers discovered neat stacks of papers dumped in trashcans • R E W A R D • in Louderman, Lab Sciences, the Psychology building and in Holmes Lounge. Wash i ngton University police said yesterStudent Life is offering a $250 reward day they were for information leading to the proceeding identification of the individual(s) rewith an investisponsible for the theft of Wednesday’s gation. “We’ll follow newspaper from bins around the Hilltop up on any leads campus. Please e-mail all information or anything to tips@studlife.com or call (314) 935that we come 6713. Names of tipsters will remain across,” said confidential. WUPD Lieutenant James Roth. “It could be criminal, or it could be referred to the Judicial Administrator.” Student Life General Manager Andrew O’Dell estimated the total fi nancial loss to the paper at around $3,000, including printing and advertising costs. Student Life is offering a $250 reward for information leading to persons responsible for the theft. “This is very serious and it’s no different than stealing a car or a laptop,” said O’Dell. “We hope by offering a reward, individuals with knowledge of the theft will come forward.” In the policy box, located in the Forum section of every Student Life issue, readers are informed that the fi rst copy of the paper is free; additional copies cost 50 cents. “The size of the reward is commensurate with our perception of how serious a crime this was,” said Student Life Editor in Chief Jonathan Greenberger. “It indicates that we are very serious about tracking down the perpetrators of this crime.” Though O’Dell could not compile an exact total, the stolen papers numbered in the many hundreds. In an area with as much student traffic as Mallinckrodt, Student Life deliverymen distribute at least 1,100 copies of the paper three mornings a week. Every Student Life paper stand in Mallinckrodt was empty yesterday afternoon. Chancellor Mark Wrighton said he was “dismayed” about the thefts in a letter to the editor (see page 4). “While I don’t always agree with what is written in Student Life, I believe that it is important to have campus and student news available to students from an independent source,” Wrighton said. “When there are differences of opinion on important issues, as there will always be, it is crucial to have forums for constructive debate.” On its Web site, the Student Press Law Center (SPLC) calls newspaper theft “a terribly effective form of censorship.” The organization has reported eight cases of newspaper theft at universities during the 2004-2005 academic year, all of which involved a student or groups of students hoping to suppress a
See PORN, page 2
See PAPERS, page 2
See ALPHA PHI, page 2
$250
DAVID BRODY | STUDENT LIFE
On Monday, preparations for the Final Four in St. Louis began to fall into place, literally piece-by-piece, with the laying of the floor inside the Edward Jones Dome. “We’ve been doing it for 4.5 hours, and we are halfway done—so it will be an eight-hour day,” said Mike McEntee, one of the workers who was helping to install the pieces, around noon on Monday. The floor consists of 203 four-by-eight foot pieces and 14 four-by-four foot pieces, according to Mary Hendron, the director of public relations for the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission. Each piece has both a number and a letter on it, creating a grid that the workers follow in the assembly. When asked how heavy the pieces were, McEntee replied, “I’m not sure; they are pretty heavy, that’s all I can say. [It takes] four guys [to lift each piece].” - Emily Tobias
Prof screens graphic porn films to provoke conversation Contributing Reporter
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City Museum Director Elizabeth Parker appreciated the intentions of the sorority, she did not foresee Alpha Phi helping City Museum for multiple reasons. “We are going into our busy season and the time it would take to teach them would probably be more than we can manage,” said Parker. “It’s very sweet for them to offer, but we’re probably not going to do it unless they are absolutely insistent or Washington University wants it.” Alpha Phi, said Parker, should focus more on fixing things on campus rather than off. “It seems very appropriate that they are sincerely regretting their behavior and I would imagine they have really felt the opinion from their peers and Washington University faculty for the way they presented themselves,” said Parker. “Very nice of them to offer [to help at City Museum], but I think the most work they need to do to make things right on campus and with Washington University.” Since Friday night, Parker has received many phone calls from parents of Girl Scouts who witnessed the sorority’s behavior. She received one call from a University faculty member, whose daughter was present at the Museum. According to Parker,
FINAL FOUR FALLS INTO PLACE
By Brad Nelson
Monday
See DEFECATION, page 2
City Museum to Alpha Phi: Thanks but no thanks
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT Due to the theft of most copies of Wednesday’s edition of Student Life, many readers missed that issue’s content. As a service to those readers, we are reprinting a selection of stories from Wednesday’s issue on page 3 today. Please visit studlife.com to read all the stories you may have missed.
tent with behavior expected of the Washington University community.” Student Life agreed not to print the names of the Lee 3 RAs due to the sensitive nature of the situation. The RAs asked Lee 3 residents not to speak to reporters. The Residential College Director for Lee, Urisonya Roberson, also declined to be interviewed. Strom alluded to past confl icts between the RAs and students on Lee 3 as a possible motive for the crimes.
Plenty of people watch pornography – the industry grosses $10 billion a year, more than the revenues of NBC, ABC and CBS combined – but few people actually talk about it. “People have a preconceived idea of what images of people’s bodies means, they’re either negative or positive, but I don’t think people think about what that actually means” said senior Anisa Baldwin Metzger, a resident advisor in Shepley House.
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