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STUDENT LIFE
THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS SINCE 1878 VOLUME 129, NO. 11
More juniors stay on the Forty BY BRITTANY FARB STAFF REPORTER It is considered Washington University tradition for students to migrate from the South 40 to the North Side at the beginning of their junior year. But as upperclassmen settle into their North Side suites and apartments, many of their classmates still remain on the south side of campus. When juniors received their South 40 housing assignments last semester, many were not pleased. Junior Leah Bressler was among the unhappy juniors assigned to live in Eliot House. “[My suitemates and I] did have pretty awful lottery numbers,” said Bressler. “But we didn’t think we would have any
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trouble getting at least the Village House or Lopata, especially since all four of us are going abroad in the spring.” Junior Rebecca Stainman is also among the group of unlucky juniors who were assigned to live in Eliot. “You would think it wouldn’t be hard for an upperclassman to get their first or second choice for housing,” said Stainman. Junior Marguerite Burkham and her suitemates were equally surprised with their Eliot housing assignment. “We all recognized that there was a housing crisis last year,” said Burkham. “But we also expected to be housed with other juniors this year.”
University Center to be named for Danforths v Eco-friendly building will serve students, offer “fun room”
See JUNIORS ON 40, page 3
University Lawn Service recruits record-high number of guest workers BY DAN WOZNICA CONTRIBUTING REPORTER As controversy brews around the nation about the hiring of guest workers from abroad, TopCare Lawn Service, Inc, the University’s landscaping service, has drawn attention for being St. Louis’ leading employer of H-2B guest workers. TopCare’s employees, whose duties include lawn care, litter pickup, snow removal and trash hauling, are representative of a growing number of non-U.S. citizens being recruited seasonally to work under temporary visas. All of the approximately 36
full-time employees who currently keep the grounds of the University work under contract for TopCare Lawn Service, Inc. Washington University has used TopCare’s services since 1992. In the last fiscal year, University resource management spent $2.7 million on its contract with TopCare. “They provide a good service and they treat their employees well,” said Paul Norman, grounds manager for the University. According to the United States Labor Department, over 2,700 guest workers were approved last year to work under H-2B (non-agricultural)
See GUEST WORKERS, page 3
MATT LANTER | STUDENT LIFE
Chancellor Wrighton is set to announce today that the new University Center, seen here under construction, will be named in honor of the Danforths. The new building will be environmentally friendly, meeting LEED-NC Gold standards. BY SAM GUZIK SENIOR NEWS EDITOR Chancellor Mark Wrighton will announce tomorrow that the new University Center is to be named in honor of Chancellor Emeritus William H. Danforth and his late wife Elizabeth “Ibby” Danforth. “It is a privilege to be in a position to honor them in this way, and no one else has been considered,” said Chancellor Wrighton in an e-mail to Student Life. “Dr. Danforth remains very active in the life of the University as a member of the board of trustees and is a great St. Louisan continuing to make enormously important contributions to our community.” Dr. Danforth served as Chancellor from 1971 to 1995, immediately prior to the tenure of Chancellor Wrighton. He and
his wife are seen as the University’s “first family,” as evidenced by the dedication of the Hilltop campus to the Danforths last year. Chancellor Wrighton also unveiled more details of the University Center’s plans, including a second-floor “fun room” designed as a place for students to hang out and relax. “It’s meant to be a social spot on campus,” said Student Union President Neil Patel. “[It is meant] to give the students a place where they can relax and lounge.” According to Patel, the room will include chalkboard paint walls on which students can write all over and post messages, arcade style games and comfortable chairs, including one that will also function as a musical amplifier. The room, which was de-
signed with student input by Communication Arts, Inc., will be comparable in size to Whispers; it will be divided into three sections by garage doors that can be raised or lowered as needed. The William H. and Elizabeth Grey Danforth Center, as the new building will be known, will also house dinning areas, student group offices and the Career Center. Priced at $41 million, the building has been designed to be environmentally friendly and will be Leadership Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)NC Gold certified. “We have the opportunity to be a leader, and because we build structures with long anticipated life times, the ‘payback’ in operations expenses makes the extra capital needed for LEED certification a wise invest-
ment,” said Wrighton. “At the same time we will have the immediate benefit of lowering the environmental consequences of our new buildings.” Notably, Chancellor Wrighton added that all future buildings on campus will be built with some level of LEED certification. As part of its LEED certification, the Danforth Center touts improved water and energy efficiency and the use of recycled materials throughout the course of construction. The first University construction project to receive LEED certification was the Earth and Planetary Sciences building; however, the Gold certification which the new Danforth Center hopes to achieve is the highest attempted on campus so far. —With additional reporting by David Brody
100K surplus to fund University Center, other projects BY PERRY STEIN CONTRIBUTING REPORTER
CLAIRE HENDERSON | STUDENT LIFE
TopCare employees work outside of Wohl Center Thursday afternoon. TopCare Lawn Service, Inc. is drawing attention for being St. Louis’ leading employer of H-2B guest workers.
A whole new world Soccer stars Fox and Noll left behind the roaring crowds of Division I to play in Wash. U.’s Division III. Learn about their experiences Sports, page 6
In addition to its $2.1 million budget, this year Student Union will have an additional $130,795.50 to spend from its carryforward account. Extra money that student groups do not spend of their allocated budget is placed in to this account and transferred to the next year. “It is literally the amount of money that student groups end up not spending,” said Student Union President Neil Patel. While there is a carryforward account every year, this year’s represented a drastic increase from the $45,825.07 in
last year’s account. “When budgeting for the next year we never know what the incoming class will be so we use historical data to predict the number of undergraduates,” said Student Union Treasurer Marius Johnson. “There were many more freshmen last year than predicted and since the overall budget is a direct product of the number of students, the amount of revenue received was higher than budgeted for.” Although not all of the money has been spent, $7,000 of it has already been used to increase the number of professional newspaper publications delivered to campus each day.
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According to Patel, last year there was a high demand for more newspapers, and students this year said they have noticed the additional newspapers available on campus. “I’ve noticed that you’ve been able to fi nd a lot more full newspapers rather than just sections,” said sophomore James Farner. “When you’re on campus you can lose track of what’s going on outside your own world. Newspapers are a good way to keep up.” Another $22,000 of the money has been allocated to pay for space in the 560 music building located on the Loop. The Washington University a cappella groups, as well as some oth-
INSIDE: Fo rum.................... 4 S p o r t s .................... 6 Cadenza. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 S u d o k u .................... 9
er student groups, will be using this space. “We struck a deal with the managers of the building so the student groups don’t have to pay the bills themselves,” said Johnson. An additional $5,000 has been paid to various student groups to account for money distribution errors. According to Johnson, the remainder of the carryforward funds has been committed to the University Center, unless an emergency arises. This money will be used to furnish student group spaces in the Center. “Each year the people who
See UNIVERSITY PICTURE, page 3
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