WEDNESDAY FEB. 23, 2005 Vol. 126, No. 55
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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
Metro’s edict: No parking n The cost of progress: Administrators, students protest surprise decision to eliminate parking along U. Drive; WU promises affected students free permits By Rachel Streitfeld Contributing Editor
Riding its way to victory: the WU Equestrian Team team placed second overall in its home competition this weekend. Learn all about the team in today’s Sports.
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A discrepancy over parking rights put the University at odds with the St. Louis transportation company Metro this week. Students living on a stretch of University Drive learned last week that they could not park on the street for the next month while Metro moves in heavy construction supplies. As of early yesterday afternoon, Washington University officials knew nothing about the restriction. “There has been little to no communication between Metro and the University, and it’s really not fair to students,” said Assistant Director of Building Services Jim Severine. By yesterday evening, Severine had obtained a 24-hour reprieve from Metro to deal with the situation, but he said that deliveries would start up again on Thursday. Only the street space in front of 6639 to 6811 University Drive will be affected by construction deliveries, which Metro will bring in from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Students will still be allowed to park on the street on weekends and after 4 p.m. on weekdays. Severine said yesterday that students living in the affected area would be given temporary green parking permits, which would allow them to park in Lot #4, east of Brookings. Students can pick up the passes—usually reserved for University employees—this
morning in the Village office. A spokesman for Metro explained that the transportation company in fact controls the rights to the road. “That portion of the street there is actually privately owned,” said Cathie Farroll, the project communications manager for MetroLink Cross County. “Metro obtained a construction easement, which gives us the right to use that property anytime we need to.” Farroll said Metro, which paid for the easement, would try to limit the restriction to only 30 business days. If they fi nish sooner, she said, they will lift the parking restriction. Severine said he doesn’t expect the company to fi nish early. “I kind of take that with a grain of salt,” said Severine. “[Bad weather] could delay some of it. And you’ve seen how construction has been so far,” he said, alluding to numerous setbacks in the MetroLink expansion project, which is set for completion by May 2006. As for students, disregarding the warning could prove hazardous to their vehicles. “The contractor may have vehicles towed away because it won’t be safe for the vehicle to park there,” said Farroll. “Or they’ll attempt to do the work there, and the vehicle will be in danger of being crushed.” Students learned about the prohibition
STUDENT LIFE ARCHIVES
Due to the continued construction of the MetroLink extension, students living along University Drive learned recently that they will not be allowed to park in front of their apartments for at least a month. Students and University administrators say the move caught them by See PARKING, page 4 surprise.
Home from
War One soldier’s tale of life in Iraq— and his journey back to St. Louis
Homosexuality and religion came together Monday night in a forum led by campus religious representatives. News reviews the discussion.
EMILY TOBIAS | STUDENT LIFE
PAGE 4 By Sarah Ulrey Senior Scene Editor
More than a year after it began, the Environmental Initiative has failed to bring systematic change to the Hilltop Campus, writes the Editorial Board in Forum.
PAGE 6 INDEX News Forum Classifieds Crossword Sports
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orporal Hugh Tychsen trained his weapon on a vehicle being inspected at a highway checkpoint eight miles outside of Fallujah. He looked like he was talking to himself, but he was actually recounting his day to a tape recorder tucked in his shirt. Back on base, he sent the tape to his girlfriend, Margaret Ryan, a preschool teacher in Webster Groves. During the 10 months Tychsen spent in the Sunni Triangle, he recorded countless hours of his experiences with the Marines. Word of roadside bombs, encounters with insurgents and the mushroom clouds from not-sodistant mortar shells all reached home in self-edited versions via tapes, letters and phone calls. Everyone from his platoon, a group of 30-40 soldiers, came home alive, and he was never injured, but he consciously held back discussing the more troublesome realities of modern warfare. “I’m kind of elusive about talking about everything,” Tychsen said. “War
Tychsen poses with an Iraqi family that is waiting for news about an injured family member who was being operated on by Marines.
Tychsen mans a .50 caliber machine gun turret just before leaving on a patrol.
HUGH TYCHSEN | COURTESY PHOTOS
See WAR, page 3
‘In the Works’ to showcase Latino culture By Shweta Murthi Contributing Reporter Washington University’s first student-organized Latino symposium will showcase works submitted by recipients of the Annika Rodriguez scholarship tomorrow night from 7–9 p.m. in Whitaker Hall. Theatrical performances and live Mariachi music will also be showcased during the program, which is titled “In the Works: An Exhibition of Latino Contributions.” The symposium, cosponsored by the Annika Rodriguez Scholars program and the Association of Latin American Students (ALAS), hopes to attract members from around the University community to celebrate Latino culture. “We’re really excited to have it at the University to show all the neat work that students are doing and to highlight Latino contributions in general Latin American studies,” said Julia Macias, coordinator for the Annika Rodriguez Scholars program. “We are giving the University a chance to look at some of these issues in a different way and bring all parts of campus together to celebrate these works.” Students from all schools in the University were invited to submit works that represented Latino contributions. “Any student was eligible,” said Macias. “We accepted anything from multimedia to biology research, from an engineering project to a play.” The symposium received over 20 submissions for display this year, ranging from thesis papers to architecture projects. The diverse group of submissions was evaluated based on the contribution each submission made to the Latino community. The 22 submissions selected for the symposium include oil-on-canvas paintings, children’s books, media mixed with Greek mythology and a presentation on Latino representations in film. Ilan Stavans, a professor of Spanish and political science at Amherst College, will deliver the keynote address at the event. He works with issues including Latin America, Latinos in the U.S. and Judaism in South America. Planning for the symposium began over a year ago in the Annika Rodriguez Scholars program, which has traditionally provided scholarships to Hispanic students who show outstanding involvement in leadership and the community. Although the Scholars program recognized the students’ achievements, the program was looking for a way to exhibit those accomplishments to the University. “The symposium was an idea that started over a year ago,” said Macias. “We are part of the Rodriguez scholarship, so we wanted a way to display or share some of the neat projects that the students are
See IN THE WORKS, page 5
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