BASKETBALL SHAKE UP | BEARS PREPARE FOR CHAMPIONSHIP GAME | SPORTS, PAGE 6
STUDENT LIFE
THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS SINCE 1878 VOLUME 128, NO. 57
WWW.STUDLIFE.COM
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2007
Reel Big Fish returns to campus Take TAT: HIV
protein combats cancer BY LAURA GEGGEL NEWS EDITOR
COURTESY OF EAR SHOT MEDIA
Matt Wong, Ryland Steen, Aaron Barrett, Scott Klopfenstein, John Christianson and Dan Regan make up Reel Big Fish, who will be playing at W.I.L.D. on April 27. BY SHWETA MURTHI NEWS EDITOR Ska-punk band Reel Big Fish will get reacquainted with Washington University when they play this spring’s W.I.L.D. concert, nearly a decade after performing in the Gargoyle. Their booking agency, The Agency Group, confi rmed that the band would take the stage at the University on April 27, 2007. “I want to make it clear that Reel Big Fish is not the main headliner. I don’t know if we’re having them as co-headliners, or as the main opener, but they will be the second
band of the three slots,” said sophomore Randy Lubin, cochair of Team 31. “We could either get one pretty big band, which would cost between $50,000 to $55,000, or we could go for two bands that were slightly smaller than that. We hope that with two different big groups, it will have the chance of appealing to a larger crowd.” Lubin explained the selection process for choosing Reel Big Fish, which came up as a suggestion several times through Team 31’s online request form. “Team 31 really wants to appease the needs of the students. We strive to have
a balance of rap and rock. I think that was evident in the Guster concert with Rahzel opening for them.” “For the spring, people wanted a concert with more energy, so going into this concert, we looked really hard in trying to meet that. We looked at rapper Jibbs before the offer fell through.” Other bands that Team 31 considered for the spring concert include rap groups Lupe Fiasco and Gym Class Heroes, both of whom were considered before Reel Big Fish. Team 31 is still working on confi rming a hip-hop opener for the spring concert.
“We had a couple of problems with trying to get rap on campus. One of them is that a good rap act costs a lot more than a rock act of the same popularity and it would take up a much more significant proportion of our budget,” said Lubin. “Another problem is not only does the date have to work out, but [the band] has to have enough incentive to route their tours through St. Louis.” Reel Big Fish has released seven albums, starting with “Turn the Radio Off” in 1996. They gained mainstream pop-
See WILD, page 2
Engineering Week shifts focus BY SARA RAJARAM STAFF REPORTER Today, the annual Engineering Week arrives on campus with an entirely new take. The Engineering Council has removed many old events due to their time-intensive nature, and it has replaced them with programs designed to draw more students. The changes are motivated by the dwindling participation in these programs. “We’ve had events where only EnCouncil members participated,” said sophomore Jessica Alspaugh, EnWeek co-chair along with sophomore Lee Cordova. EnCouncil cut the design competitions and the egg drop, both of which required much preparation time and were not popular to students outside of the Engineering School. “We had lots of prizes, lots of people organizing the events, but at the end of the day nobody came,” said Cordova. Some students agreed that the competitions were unnecessarily time consuming, but felt that EnWeek needs to maintain its focus on science.
“I wish EnWeek had more programs geared specifically towards engineering students,” said freshman Kirthika Vijayakumar, a biomedical engineering student. “Events like the Date Auction and the golden mouse competition are great ideas but they are not unique to science.” According to Cordova, EnCouncil has worked on projects in the past that served as “publicity stunts.” Last year the project was an 8 foot beaver constructed out of duck tape, and it was placed in front of the Bunny. However, EnCouncil has decided to stray away from such large displays this year. “It was cool and it got a lot of publicity, but it was very taxing on time,” said Cordova. “Instead, we want events that could create tradition. We want something simpler.” The only events that will return from past years due to their strong participation are the Golden Mouse scavenger hunt, a duct tape competition, an airplane competition, and capture the flag. In the scavenger hunt, students must follow five clues
See ENWEEK, page 3
Francis Fieldhouse’s long legacy What do former President Clinton and Spike Lee have in common? Both have spent time in the Francis Fieldhouse. Get the building’s entire storied-history. Sports, Page 8
EITAN HOCHSTER | STUDENT LIFE
An EnCouncil member hangs a pirate flag from Sever Hall to inaugurate EnWeek on Sunday, Feb. 18.
What will you wake up to? You might not have your normal morning at KWUR week. So Many Dynamos (left) will be among the bands hitting campus this week. Cadenza, Page 5
Imagine a molecule so small and sneaky that it can slip into a cancerous cell and deliver a trigger for cell death. The molecule, called TAT, has baffled scientists for a decade, and it comes from HIV. TAT itself does not cause cell death. Gleaned from HIV’s protein envelope, this tiny molecule can drag entire viruses into cells. Researchers can produce stores of TAT (transactivator of transcription) by using protein synthesizers, but although they have decoded its genetic structure, they are unsure of exactly how TAT manages to bypass cell membranes. “We still are at the very beginning of understanding how one protein from HIV is able to perform this amazing task of dragging much bigger molecules than itself inside the cell,” said William Hawkins, assistant professor of surgery at the medical school, Site Cancer Center member and senior writer for the study. TAT can tow molecules up to 1,000 times
its size. The idea for a cancer treatment involving TAT arose when Hawkins met with professor of anesthesiology Rich Hotchkiss, who was trying to use TAT to save cells from apoptosis, or cell death. Hawkins wondered if he could use TAT to destroy, instead of save, cells. Hotchkiss had armed TAT with a domain of BIM, a regulator of the apoptotic pathway. Over-expression of BIM triggers a sequence of events that leads to cell death. If researchers can increase concentrations of BIM in specific cancerous cells, then tumors can be slowed or suppressed. The paper, “TAT-Bim Induces Extensive Apoptosis in Cancer Cells,” published in January’s Annals of Surgical Oncology, is the beginning of a larger research project, said Research Instructor Jonathan McDunn. “What we published so far is a demonstration that this growth helps slow the growth of a tumor. What we’re looking for now is
See HIV, page 3
B-school dean steps down after 25 years BY TROY RUMANS NEWS EDITOR Gary Hochberg, associate dean in the Olin School of Business, announced his intent to step down from his position in an e-mail sent to the business school community by Dean Mahendra Gupta on Friday. Gary Hochberg has served 25 years at Olin as associate dean for the undergraduate program. Under his leadership, the BSBA program and student body have experienced tremendous growth in quality and diversity. “This program is an incredible source of pride for Olin, its alumni, and indeed, the entire University,” said Gupta, in his announcement. “So, it’s with mixed emotions [that] I announce that Gary has asked to begin transitioning to a new role at the Olin School.” Hochberg will not actually be stepping down for some time, however. He decided that this should be announced early so that a successor could be chosen and brought into the University well before he steps down. “I decided that rather than get to a point where I’d feel I really wasn’t prepared to continue to working fully, that it would make sense to find my successor while I was here full-time so we would be able to have a smooth transition, without any loss of momentum for the program,” said Hochberg. “There are a lot of things going on around the school
INSIDE: Forum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Cadenza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Sudoku . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
that are exciting but are going to take some length of time to fully implement. I don’t anticipate working all that much longer,” said Hochberg. “One of the funny things that happens when you’ve been in a job 25 years is that you end up being 25 years older than when you started.” Kenneth Harrington, director of the Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, has worked closely with Hochberg during his time at the University, especially in building the entrepreneurial program when it was still a nascent part of the school. “He’s been fantastic. He’s really been a major help in terms of our undergraduate entrepreneurial nature, and all the design of that,” said Harrington. “I couldn’t have done it without him, and really getting to meet with other folks on campus. He’s just been great for me.” The search for a successor for Hochberg has just begun, so very little is currently known about the direction it will take. A committee will soon be formed by Gupta to start the search. For his part, Hochberg will still be a figure in the business school. He intends to concentrate more on the specialized master’s programs in accounting and finance. “[Those programs] are, at this stage, new and quite small. We’re enthusiastic about them and think they
See HOCHBERG, page 3
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