STUDENT LIFE
THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF WASHINGTON UNIVERSIT Y IN ST. LOUIS SINCE 1878 The University’s diversity deficit, S.D.’s proposed abortion ban and the LGBTIQAA acronym are all under fire in Forum. Page 5.
Is Student Life’s ROTC coverage lacking a critical edge? In Forum, one graduate student expresses his concerns. Page 6.
VOLUME 127, NO. 60
People magazine—entertainment or vice? Laura Vilines explains her People addiction in today’s Friday Features section. Page 4.
Nading and Wallis: these rising freshman stars know how to have fun both on and off the court. See Page 10.
FRIDAY, MARCH 3, 2006
WWW.STUDLIFE.COM
University to give Metro pass to faculty, students and staff
Heart surgeon sues WU for age discrimination By Mandy Silver News Editor
DAVID HARTSTEIN | STUDENT LIFE ARCHIVES
Once MetroLink construction is completed, University community members will be able to obtain passes from the University allowing them to ride the rails for free. By Shweta Murthi Staff Reporter In an e-mail to students on Wednesday, Chancellor Wrighton announced a new collaboration between the University and Metro Corporation that will provide free Metro Universal passes to promote public transportation. The Universal pass will give full-time students and eligible faculty and staff ac-
cess to the MetroLink, MetroBus and current University shuttles starting July 1, 2006. “People can use it for commuting, community service projects or internships,” said Steve Hoffner, assistant vice chancellor for students. “We thought it was really an excellent opportunity to try to deal with the issue of the ‘Wash. U. bubble’ and getting students more involved in the St. Louis
region.” Interested students will be able to request the passes from the University beginning this summer. Since student ID cards are not compatible with the ticketing system used by Metro, separate passes will need to be issued. Washington University will pay Metro for the free Universal passes. Hoffner affirmed, “Some of the funds will be sav-
Darfur crisis speakers call students to action By Austen Faggen Contributing Reporter Near the end of the town hallstyle meeting that addressed the crisis in Darfur, Sudan, Dr. Ruth Iyob, an associate professor at the University of Missouri—St. Louis, looked to the crowd of nearly 200 and gave a call for action. For some who attended, the crimes against humanity in Darfur may at first have seemed far off until Iyob made it plain that Washington University is responsible for ending the chaos in Darfur. “We are the ones!” said Iyob. “We don’t believe in our power. We are too busy playing on ma-
chines… It might take two years [to effect change in Darfur], but it’s already taken three.” The Wednesday night meeting brought together three expert panelists, the University community and the broader St. Louis community to organize the region’s initiatives for raising awareness and provoking legislative action to bring security to the people of Darfur. In 2003, the recently united rebel movements, Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudanese Liberation Army, revolted against the Sudanese government. The government responded by arming and providing military leadership to the
ings from the elimination of the shuttle routes and the rest comes from the central fiscal unit of the University, so there’s no student fees involved at all.” While passes are not provided for part-time students, those students can purchase a Metro student pass, which provides the same services as the free Universal pass, for $110 per se-
See METROLINK, page 2
Several months before Dr. Joel D. Cooper’s 65th birthday, he was approached by Washington University’s Chairman of Surgery, Dr. T i mot hy Eberlein. Eberlein indicated to Cooper that because he was turning 65, he would Joel D. Cooper have to relinquish his title as chief of the division of cardiothoracic surgery, a position Cooper had been previously assured of retaining for a 10-year period. On Sept. 30, 2005, Cooper left his position and filed a lawsuit against the University, alleging that he was subjected to age discrimination and retaliation upon refusing to retire. Cooper said that although it is standard policy for deans and chairmen of departments to retire at the age of 65, the medical school does not have the same mandatory policy for division heads. In 1997, when Cooper was first named chief of the division, he was identified by Harvard University as one of two finalists in a search to fill an opening for chairman of surgery. At that time, Cooper was considering Harvard as a potential career path, and had a discussion with Dr. William Peck detailing what he
See SURGEON, page 3
PURIM MASQUERADE BALL
pastoralists adjacent to Darfur. Since then, more than 400,000 Darfurians have been killed and 2.5 million have been displaced. Iyob continued to focus her audience on their responsibility to lead an international reaction to the terror in Darfur. “We have a credibility gap as Americans…I suggest you and I, as Americans, take control of this,” said Iyob. Peter Takirambudde, executive director of the Africa division of Human Rights Watch, wasted no time capitalizing on the emotional response evoked by Iyob’s message. He empha-
See DARFUR, page 3
could expect if he stayed at Washington University. “Dr. Peck and I discussed whether there would be any impediment to maintaining my position as divisional chief for 10 years, at which time I would be over the age of 65,” said Cooper. “He assured me there was no impediment.” Following this conversation, Cooper withdrew from Harvard’s search process. Cooper said that Peck, who was extremely supportive of his desire to protect himself and his family, made arrangements for a financial retention package. “I made sure to specifically ask Peck about my age. After receiving certain assurances, I decided I wanted to continue my career at Washington University,” said Cooper. In September 2003, Cooper explained that a series of events began to dramatically change his relationship with the University, foreshadowing the explicit request for his retirement in 2005. In the summer of 2004, it was suggested to Cooper that he give up his position as divisional chief under the provision that his salary and his position as an endowed chair would be protected. Pressured by his department, Cooper agreed. According to Cooper, the promises made to him were not kept, forcing him to bring suit against the medical school. “I received a letter in De-
RACHIT PATEL | STUDENT LIFE
Juniors Amy Stewart and Ilana Wolgel attend the Purim Masquerade Ball in Umrath Lounge last night. Purim is a festive Jewish holiday celebrating the failed extermination of the Jews in Persia.
Diversity Week a melting pot for student groups By Kristin McGrath Senior News Editor This week, campus multicultural groups showed that they were about more than the song and dance that defines popular shows like Diwali, Black A nthology, Lunar New Year, and Carnival. Tonight concludes Washington University’s first-ever Diversity Week, the largest intercultural collaboration at the University to date. Diversity Week featured nightly programs planned by a team of leaders from the Association of Black Students (A BS), the Association of Latin A merican Students (A L AS), Ashoka, Jewish Student Union (JSU), the Chinese Student Association (CSA) and the Social Justice Center.
“When people go to these cultural [performance] events, some people might think that they’ve gotten their cultural fill,” said senior Raumesh A kbari, president of A BS. “That’s not true. There are other issues beyond the show…A nd the point of a week of events is to show how these things effect all of us and bring people together over common issues.” Diversity Week, although only five days long, has been a long time in the making. Several years ago, members of campus multi-cultural groups met regularly for Diversity Roundtable discussions, which were run by the Office of Student Activities (OSA). When attendance at these meetings began to fall off, the OSA discontinued
them. The Roundtable discussions were revived last October after an event during Campus Week of Dialogue. “A re We A ll Song and Dance?”, a discussion about the depolarization of the multicultural groups at the University, prompted those who attended to revive the collaboration of the Roundtable Discussions. From these renewed discussions came the idea for a Diversity Week during which all events would be planned by various multicultural groups. “Traditionally what happens is that a lot of groups of people, depending on their background and their commonalities, tend to stick together,” said Marci Colb, coordinator for student in-
volvement for the OSA. “I’ve heard from a lot of Wash. U. people that what they really want is for the groups to start intermingling. Whether or not that’s a good thing or a bad thing can be debated and discussed...But I think Diversity Week is aiming to address some of those issues of how can we work better together, what causes are the same, what can we all work towards.” Diversity Week began with “Cultural Labeling,” an event in which participants were literally labeled with signs bearing races, sexual orientations, and socio-economic statuses. “[The event] showed that students have labels that we use to identify ourselves and other people,” said junior Jeri Ni, president of CSA.
“A nd it was good to actively make people realize that we do that sort of thing.” Other events included a Voters’ R ights seminar, a discussion of language and education, and a forum on religion and sexuality. Tonight, Stir-Friday Night, a Chinese and Korean improvisational comedy group, will perform at the Gargoyle to raise money for Relay for Life. When Student Union was unable to grant enough funds for the event, the other groups involved in Diversity Week helped CSA cover the cost. “A whole week of discussion might have been a little monotonous,” said Ni. “Not everyone is the kind of person to go to discussions… Everyone seemed to like the idea [of having a comedy
group] to tie up the week with something lighter and tie together issues discussed throughout the week.” The first Diversity Week seems to have been effective so far for those who have attended the events, said Colb. In the future, attracting attendees outside of the cultural groups who planned them will be a priority. “A lot of the people who go are people who are already in the cultural groups,” said Colb. “I would like there to be more outreach, too, where students, while they’re not going to the individual meetings for the multicultural groups, will go to Diversity Week programs so that knowledge is spreading to people who wouldn’t
See DIVERSITY, page 3