Student Life | April 7, 2008

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MONDAY, APRIL 7, 2008

Macias to become University provost v Will step down as dean of Arts and Sciences after this semester

BY BEN SALES SENIOR NEWS EDITOR Edward Macias, executive vice chancellor and dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, will step down from his post to become provost of Washington University. He will begin his tenure as provost in January 2009 after a six-month sabbatical beginning in June.

The decision was announced on Friday afternoon.

Chancellor Mark Wrighton said that Macias’ experience and successful track record at the University make him a good fit for the new position.

“Dean Macias is our most experienced academic leader and has been key to the rise in quality and impact of Arts & Sciences,” Wrighton wrote in an e-mail to Student Life.

“He has contributed very significantly to the expansion of the faculty and has strengthened support for the faculty.”

Macias’s new position will expand his current role as executive vice chancellor for

academic affairs of the University. As provost, Macias will serve as the University’s chief academic officer, overseeing the University’s educational and scholarly sectors and working to improve their programs and quality.

In that capacity Macias will coordinate with the academic deans, as well as with the University’s chief investment officer, Kim Walker, and executive vice chancellor for administration, Hank Webber, to supervise the University’s budgeting sector.

Wrighton said that Macias’ new position would allow him to better focus his tasks.

“In relinquishing his duties as dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences he will have much more time to focus on the University’s entire academic enterprise,” Wrighton said. “He will be responsible for working closely with me and the deans of our schools to build the quality and impact of our academic mission.”

The University has not had a provost since 1995, when Macias last served in that role. He took on the job

of dean of Arts & Sciences in that year.

Macias said that the position of provost is necessary in order to facilitate coordination between the University’s many sectors.

“The University is completing a process of strategic planning for the future,” Macias wrote in an e-mail to Student Life. “The plans outline many new initiatives which will require all of us to work together in new ways.

This implementation can be encouraged and strengthened by a close working relationship between the provost and the academic leaders of the schools.”

Macias plans to focus on interdisciplinary programs and international studies in his new role.

“We must always strive to improve what we do,” Macias said in a University press release. “I’m looking forward to working closely with the schools and the central administration to encourage and implement our academic priorities.”

One of Macias’ principal roles as provost will be su-

pervising the implementation of the “Plan for Excellence,” a ten-year, University-wide project focused on improving education within each of the University’s schools, as well as administrative streamlining and cooperation between schools.

“Dr. Macias will be important to the execution of our new plans in the era ahead,” Wrighton said. “I am very grateful to the commitment Dr. Macias has made to take on such an important assignment, and his involvement as a key leader here strengthens my confidence of our continuing success for all of our schools and the University as a whole.”

The administration plans to announce the hiring of an interim dean of Arts & Sciences soon, who will begin serving on July 1. The University will also launch a nationwide search for a new, permanent dean of Arts & Sciences.

Macias joined the University faculty in 1970 as an assistant professor of chemistry and became a full professor in 1984. Since then, he has served in several administra-

MATT LANTER | STUDENT LIFE

Edward Macias, pictured here at the 2008 tuition forum, will step down from his current position as dean of the College of Arts & Sciences to take the job of provost of Washington University in Jan. 2009. tive roles including chair of the department of chemistry and director of the summer school program.

With additional reporting

by Perry Stein and Kat Zhao.

SU Treasury surveys student opinion on budgeting

Sleeping Beauty

BY DAN WOZNICA STAFF REPORTER The Student Union Treasury has conducted a campuswide survey of student opinions on how funds should be allocated in the general budget for the 2008-2009 school year; this budget will be the fi rst of its kind to be conducted in this way.

The idea for the survey came from sophomore William Osberghaus, a Student

Union (SU) Treasury representative and chair of the Student Groups Activities Committee (SGAC). Osberghaus says that he came up with the idea because he believes the Treasury can benefit from new methods of gauging student opinion.

“I thought it was a good idea to get student body input if we’re going to represent the student body,” Osberghaus said. “We should know what the student body wants and how they want their student

activities fee to be spent.”

The survey was conducted via an e-mail sent to the student body and linked students to a Web site with questions asking students to prioritize different ways to spend the student activities fee. Students could respond by ranking their agreement or disagreement with different ideas. According to Osberghaus, about 850 students responded to the survey, 700 of whom completed it in full.

The survey included a wide range of questions.

Some of the issues included the amount of money given to large university programming groups like the Gargoyle Committee, Campus Programming Council and Team 31; whether the University should invite a smaller number of well-known speakers or a greater number of lesser-known speakers; and

See TREASURY, page 3

BLOC housing gets more competitive

BY TIFFANY FRYE CONTRIBUTING REPORTER

LILY SCHORR | STUDENT LIFE

In front of Olin Library, this green patterned bed, titled “doppeltes bett” (German for double bed) will be in place until Wednesday, April 9.

Designed by Junior Zoe Hillenmeyer and funded by the Art School Council Installation Fellowship 2008, this bed is a concept piece representing three different ideas: the blur of boundaries between public and private space (especially on college campuses), the lack of person-to-person contact here and in the United States in general and the whimsical, surrealistic ideals that stand before us in our minds and memory but remain unattainable.

The bed also reflects Hillenmeyer’s understanding of Germany itself and offers a critique of university life.

Cadenza on location in Chicago Cadenza looks into the Chicago Shakespeare scene along with a slew of other Wash. U. students. See how “Othello” plays on Navy Pier.

Cadenza, Page 5

The Village BLOC housing program has grown in popularity and has experienced a continuing rise in interest from students since its inception in 2001, according to Dan Sepion, a residential college director on the North Side.

“The Village was designed specifically for this program; when the buildings were being built, the planning of the program was in process,” Sepion said.

According to Sepion, Residential Life (ResLife) established BLOC housing as an additional way to enrich the Village community while permitting upperclassmen to carry on the living and learning environment of the South 40. “[ResLife is] on the cutting edge of living-learning communities in the Village and on the South 40,” Sepion said.

ResLife witnessed a partic-

ularly sharp increase in BLOC applicants this spring.

“There was a hard push on advertising. We distributed magnets and attended floor meetings,” Sepion said. “It grew more than we’d expected.”

The buildings in the Village were built in the late ’90s for the purpose of BLOC housing, which was known as Village Interest Housing until the name change in 2006.

This year, 270 of the 310 beds in the Village, which include Village House and Lopata House, will be devoted to BLOC housing. Sepion, who was on the approval panel for the BLOCs, did not have any particular number in mind to allot to the BLOCs when the housing process began.

“We knew, of course, that there could not be more than 310 people housed in BLOCs, but that took care of itself. We cut out quite a few of the BLOC applicants,” he said.

Bears stay ahead of the rest The women’s track squad continued their home-field dominance over the weekend. See how well they did and where the men finished.

Sports, Page 7

The BLOC application process includes a petition and an interview.

According to the Village’s Web site, prospective BLOCs are expected to have a clear plan for how “Village Housing will benefit the BLOC” and demonstrate the BLOC’s “potential for contributing to the Village community and the greater Washington University community.”

BLOCs are assigned in Round One of the housing selection process, before the rest of applicants submit petitions.

“The BLOC system requires some foresight,” sophomore BLOC resident Melanie Mohn said. “As long as everyone knows that that’s how it works and that it’s an option, I don’t think it’s a problem that some people are assigned housing before others.”

Mohn lives in the “Music Appreciation in St. Louis” BLOC. There are twenty people in

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her BLOC, and they coordinate one large event per semester and usually one smaller event monthly to explore the music scene in St. Louis.

Mohn says she and her friends never really considered the option of non-BLOC housing in the Village.

“The BLOC system is basically the reason we moved to the North Side. [It] makes it easier to coordinate a lot of people—especially more than six,” she said. “[With the BLOCs] you are guaranteed to live close, probably even on the same floor. It is much harder to coordinate living with more than six people on the South 40.”

Mohn did note, however, that many sophomores were dissatisfied because much of the available housing in the Village has been taken by the BLOC program, a complaint with which Sepion sympathizes.

See BLOC, page 2

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STUDENT LIFE | NEWS

STUDENT LIFE

MONDAY | APRIL 7, 2008

Former UN weapons inspector speaks out, lays open the “threat” of Iran

One Brookings Drive #1039 #42 Women’s Building Saint Louis, MO 63130-4899 News: (314) 935-5995 Advertising: (314) 935-6713 Fax: (314) 935-5938 e-mail: editor@studlife.com www.studlife.com

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Copyright 2008

NEWS EDITOR

Editor in Chief: Sam Guzik Associate Editor: Indu Chandrasekhar Managing Editors: Andrea Winter, Trisha Wolf, Brian Stitt Senior News Editor: Ben Sales Senior Forum Editor: Jill Strominger Senior Sports Editor: Joshua Goldman Senior Scene Editor: Michelle Stein Senior Cadenza Editor: Cecilia Razak Senior Photo Editor: Lucy Moore Senior Graphics Editor: Michael Hirshon News Editors: Perry Stein, Kat Zhao, Puneet Kollipara, David Song News Manager: Teddy White Forum Editors: Tricia Wittig, Tess Croner, Dennis Sweeney, Bill Hoffman, Aditya Sarvesh Cadenza Editors: Stephanie Spera, David Kaminsky, Aseem Garg Scene Editors: Shayna Makaron, Lana Goldsmith, Brooke Schachner Sports Editors: Johann Qua Hiansen Photo Editors: Lionel Sobehart, Jenny Shao, Evan Wiskup, Matt Lanter, Lily Schorr Online Editor: Scott Bressler Design Chief: Dennis Sweeney Design Editors: Zoë Scharf, Brittany Meyer, Nicole Dankner Copy Chief: Brian Krigsher Copy Editors: Danny Bravman, Rachel Noccioli, Meredith Plumley Designers: Jamie Reed, Kate Ehrlich, Kim Yeh, Susan Hall, Liz Klein, Niki Dankner, Alyssa Anzalone-Newman, Sophia Agapova, Evan Freedman, Chris Maury, Courtney LeGates, Mia Feitel, Joe Rigodanzo Staff Manager: Willie Mendelson

Former United Nations Chief Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter spoke at Washingon University on Friday in an informal lecture and discussion titled “Is Iran a Nuclear Threat to the World?”

Although he is a Republican who voted for George W. Bush in 2000, since 2002 Ritter has become a well-known critic of the current Bush administration, particularly of its claims and decisions made throughout the war in Iraq.

Ritter argued that the threat of Iran as described by the Bush administration is nothing more than a front, a political tactic to rouse American citizens in support

of opposition against Iran. He claimed that the administration is operating on the superficial basis of a potential nuclear threat posed by Iran, while its actual reason for opposition is the threat of a difference in ideology.

“Maybe the driving force for American policy has nothing to do with Iran’s nuclear program, per se, but rather with how the U.S. ideologically positions itself vis-à-vis to the current regime in Iran,” Ritter said. “But [the administration] can’t infl ame the American public with talking about the theocracy. [The administration] has to talk about the mushroom cloud, the potential of global catastrophe, regional Holocaust.”

Ritter served as the chief

weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991 until 1998 as a part of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM). The commission had been assigned to seek out and destroy all weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq as well as any WMD production efforts.

Before his tenure as weapons inspector, Ritter had served as a U.S. Army private and later an intelligence officer in the Marine Corps.

He graduated in 1984 from Franklin and Marshall College, where he concentrated on the history of the Soviet Union and received departmental honors in history, which helped earn his position as lead analyst for the Rapid Deployment Force in

Iranians, I am a fi rm believer that the Iranians won’t give up their enrichment program,” he said. “We can continue the policies which we embrace today, which speak inevitably to confl ict with Iran, or we can seek to change the policy direction we’re having, which will manifest itself in substantial reductions of war potential.”

Ritter’s appearance was made possible by the combined efforts from the departments of International and Area Studies, Jewish and Islamic Studies and Asian and Near Eastern Studies as well as student groups, including the College Democrats, Muslim Students Association and the Washington University Peace Coalition.

the Marine Corps during the Soviet Union’s war of Afghanistan.

Ritter resigned from his post in UNSCOM following a 1998 ordeal in which Iraqi officials denied the weapon inspection team access to certain sites. He claimed that the failure of the U.N. Security Council to respond effectively to the officials’ lack of cooperation, along with other inconsistencies of the council, gave him proper cause for resignation.

Ritter’s lecture on Friday ended with an appeal to diplomacy in dealing with the issue at hand with Iran, instead of maintaining the current policy of opposition.

“If we don’t sit down and actively negotiate with the

Professor identifies potential for breakthrough drug

Student Life is a publication of WUSMI and does not necessarily represent, in whole or in part, the views of the Washington University administration, faculty or students. All Student Life articles, photos and graphics are the property of WUSMI and may not be reproduced or published without the express written consent of the General Manager. Pictures and graphics printed in Student Life are available for purchase; e-mail editor@studlife.com for more information. Student Life reserves the right to edit all submissions for style, grammar, length and accuracy. The intent of submissions will not be altered. Student Life reserves the right not to publish all submissions.

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If you wish to report an error or request a clarification, e-mail editor@studlife.com.

Washington University Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics Enrico Di Cera and a team of researchers at the School of Medicine have engineered and patented a modified enzyme that could safely treat heart attack and stroke victims.

The work of the researchers centers on thrombin, a protein that promotes blood coagulation and blood clots, but also activates protein C, a potent anti-coagulant that has the op-

BLOC v FROM PAGE 1 “We understand that, and we’ll work with them to fi nd housing,” Sepion said. “We’ve crunched the numbers, and we can ensure that at the end of the day there will be housing for everyone.”

Sophomore Eric Duffy was

NATIONAL Three bodies found near illegal dump site Kansas City police officers and crime scene investigators combed through the area where multiple dead bodies were found earlier Sunday. Three bodies were discovered yesterday in an illegal dumping area near 4501 Emanuel Cleaver Boulevard, east of Elmwood Avenue. A Kansas City Water Department worker helping volunteers during an annual cleanup of the Blue River discovered the fi rst body about 9:30 a.m. The man was using a backhoe to remove trash and debris from a wooded area near the river bed when he found what appeared to be a human body, Sgt. Tony Sanders, a Kansas City police department spokesman, said. The man called 911 and homicide detectives went to the scene to canvass the area for evidence. Shortly thereafter, they discovered a second body under some nearby ground cover. They discovered the third body about 12:45 p.m. (MCT)

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of thrombin, is devoid of procoagulant activity but retains its anti-coagulant function required for thrombolysis.

Di Cera and the team also collaborated with researchers at the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU).

“We did the structural work and then we joined forces,” Di Cera said.

OHSU began testing WEthrombin in baboons and discovered that it was more effective and safer than either activated protein C or heparin, which is widely used as an anti-coagulant in clinical

practice. Heparin administration also comes with a record of safety issues, including the contamination of stocks produced in China.

“Other anti-coagulants are very good, but don’t have the same safety profi le,” Di Cera said.

Di Cera is now submitting a grant application to the National Institutes of Health and getting approval from the Food and Drug Administration for human testing—a process that could take up to two years.

In the meantime, Di Cera is working on removing the af-

fect of thrombin entirely.

“WE-thrombin is excellent, but it’s not the endpoint of the process,” he said. “We’re taking a very comprehensive approach. It’s very rewarding, and we’re very happy. A basic observation 10 years ago in the lab has brought something to fruition.”

Di Cera received his M.D. from the Catholic University in Rome, and in July 1990 came to the University, where he has done continuous research on thrombin and heart disease.

denied housing in the Village, which he attributes to having a bad lottery number. Instead of seeking other on-campus housing, Duffy found housing off-campus through an online source.

Arian Hassanalizadeh, a current freshman who will be living in a BLOC called the “Melting BLOC” with a focus on diversity and sports, says he

was surprised that his BLOC was approved, since most of the BLOC housing is allotted to incoming juniors.

According to Sepion, while 70 percent of the BLOC residents next year are incoming juniors, they do not have priority for BLOCs. Sepion suggests there are more juniors in BLOCs because more of them apply.

Hassanalizadeh considers the BLOC system a good arrangement. His BLOC will have a ping-pong table, a big-screen television and $50 per person fee to fund events. “[We would be expected] to put on events for the school such as movies and dinners,” he said.

Hassanalizadeh was motivated to seek BLOC housing

because he did not want to remain in his residential college.

“If I didn’t want to live in my [residential] college, it’d be tough to figure out and get what you want. [My friends and I] just all wanted to live together. So we thought, ‘Why not form a BLOC?’” Hassanalizadeh said.

CORRECTION INTERNATIONAL Fighting resumes in Baghdad, 3 American soldiers killed The U.S.-backed Iraqi government Sunday began deploying Shiite Muslim volunteer fighters in neighborhoods dominated by the rival Mahdi Army militia of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr.

In the heavily fortified Green Zone, where U.S. and Iraqi officials live and work, rocket attacks killed two U.S. soldiers and injured 17, at least five of them seriously. Rocket attacks on a U.S. base in southeast Baghdad killed another American soldier and wounded 14. In some Mahdi Army strongholds, new government-backed militiamen were manning checkpoints with Iraqi National Police and others were piling up sandbags in anticipation of possible attacks.

(MCT)

An article on Friday, April 4 (“Political groups maintain activity in between primaries”) misspelled the last name of a member of Students for Barack Obama. The student identified in the article was Jessie Sarber, not Arber. In addition, the same article incorrectly stated that Paul Begala will be speaking on April 19; he will, in fact, be speaking at 6 p.m. on April 9.

Student Life regrets the errors.

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CONTRIBUTING REPORTER

posite effect.

Di Cera describes thrombin as “an enzyme with a schizophrenic personality,” capable of distinct and opposing functions depending on the context.

“There’s a delicate balance between coagulation and anticoagulation,” Di Cera said.

“The problem is pushing the equilibrium too far in one direction, which can lead to bleeding. We’re walking a very fi ne line.”

The researchers have found, however, that WE-thrombin, a rationally engineered variant

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Senior News Editor / Ben Sales / news@studlife.com

MONDAY | APRIL 7, 2008

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STUDENT LIFE | NEWS

Brazilian culture comes to WU

BY KAT ZHAO NEWS EDITOR This week, Washington University students can get a taste of contemporary Brazil as the University celebrates its first Brazil Week with music, dance, film, discussion and cultural learning.

The creators of Brazil Week are Assistant Professor of Anthropology Derek Pardue; his wife Selma Vital, a lecturer in Romantic Languages and Literatures; and Latin American Studies major Landen Romei, a senior who met Pardue while she was writing her thesis.

“It’s a faculty and student collaboration,” Pardue said.

“My wife and I had this idea since we got here last year.”

Through Brazil Week, Pardue hopes to reveal a side of Brazil that people outside of Latin America may not know.

“For the most part, it’s to expose people at Wash. U. and the community at large to different things about Brazil,” Pardue said. “We will have events that speak to many contemporary issues.”

Pardue has invited Professor John Burdick of Syracuse University to join a panel discussion that will occur Monday from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in Wilson 214. Burdick will address the issue of racial quotas and affirmative action in a culture as diverse as that of Brazil.

“Brazil has a terribly diverse population but has never dealt with it at a higher or systematic level like in education. Affirmative active is a very contemporary, very hot topic right now,” Pardue said.

In addition, Pardue will be speaking on the subject of community radio at Monday’s panel while Vital will act as the moderator.

“For the last few years, there has been a crackdown from the state [of Brazil], criminalizing community radio that hasn’t been officially recognized,” Pardue said. “These are very community-oriented programs.

They are really poignant, because big radio doesn’t speak to a lot of their concerns.

There are issues like, ‘What does a democracy mean on the ground?’”

Romei also hopes that the

MCT

Capoeira is a dance, a fight, a form of self-defense, and above all, a fun way to keep fit. This Thursday in McMillan Cafe from 6:30 to 8 p.m. the capoeira group Cordão de Ouro will perform this tradition. week of events will dispel stereotypes and allow students to see a region that they may ignore.

“It’s a part of the world that we don’t have much information on,” said Romei. “[We want] to get across that Brazil is not 100 percent poverty stricken, cannot help itself and is a third world country. It has the fifth biggest economy in the world.”

In addition to the panel, the Brazilian film “The Year My Parents Went on Vacation” will be shown on Monday from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in Lab Sciences 300. The film is set in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of São Paulo in 1970—at a time when the Brazilian National Soccer Team was competing for the

World Cup while the country’s government changed from a democracy to a dictatorship.

Another film, to be shown on Thursday from 6:15 to 8:30 p.m. in Wilson 214, is called “In Search of the Promised Land,” a documentary about modern slavery in Brazil. The film will be presented by its director, Alexandre Rampazzo, and its producer, Tatiana Polastri.

Tuesday’s events will feature a Brazilian dance and music workshop at 6 p.m. in the Gargoyle as well as a concert at 7:30 p.m. put on

by SambaBom, a local Brazilian music group.

For those unfamiliar with capoeira, a workshop on the dance will be held on Thurs-

TREASURY v FROM PAGE 1 whether or not the University should pay for student groups to travel to conferences and competitions across the country.

According to Osberghaus, the survey will help settle issues that are often debated in the Treasury.

For example, early analysis of the survey suggests that a majority of students approve of funding student groups to travel, an issue which has long been contested in Treasury’s allocation of funds.

“The survey will also make the Treasury more efficient,” Osberghaus said.

Of the students who completed the survey, a majority ranked campus speakers and

concerts as most valuable to them in terms of SU funding allocation. Regarding concerts, it appears from early estimates that most students would like to see equal or greater funding for concerts between the Gargoyle and W.I.L.D. Student reactions to the survey have varied, though most seem to think that it is a good idea in theory.

Freshman Tolya Kuznetsov considers the survey to be a successful method of gauging student input, but thinks the polling could be expanded over time to better represent the student body.

“I think they could use more surveys throughout the school year itself to more spe-

cifically decide what they want to spend funds on,” Kuznetsov said.

Sophomore Melissa Goodwin also feels that the survey is a good idea but believes that the method in which it was conducted could be improved in order to maximize student involvement. She says she did not complete the survey because she did not notice it in her inbox.

“Lot of people just delete mass e-mails,” said Goodwin.

Although Goodwin did not fi ll out the survey, she still cares about spending decisions made by SU Treasury.

“Some things are given too much money, and other things aren’t given enough,” she said.

day in McMillan Café from 5 to 6 p.m., followed by a demonstration from 6:30 to 8 p.m. featuring the capoeira group Cordão de Ouro.

Originating in a time when the white elite and slave masters of Brazil prohibited their slaves from the practice of martial arts, capoeira became a form of alternative Afro-Brazilian resistance, as well as a cultural symbol in modern times.

“Capoeira is something

very contemporary, but at the same time something very historical,” Pardue said.

Pardue is teaching a course this year called “Race, Class and Gender: Cultural Readings of Brazil and its Cities,” the first class at the University to focus solely on Brazil. Before teaching at the University, Pardue lived in Brazil with Vital while studying the Brazillian hiphop movement.

Overall, Pardue says he

hopes to attract an audience with a whole range of interests to this year’s Brazil Week.

“These are all contemporary debates that link Brazil and the United States in some way,” he said. “I want people to come away with a set of really current debates that are going on in Brazil that are familiar in some way with our own lives.”

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Senior Forum Editor / Jill Strominger / forum@studlife.com

STUDENT LIFE | FORUM

FORUM

MONDAY | APRIL 7, 2008

Our daily Forum editors: Monday: Tricia Wittig pewittig@artsci.wustl.edu

W

allow student group leaders to find out, on their own initiative, whether plans are still in place for the reserved space.

Student group leaders can contact each other on their own time and find out if the space is still scheduled to be used. This will facilitate the crucial communication between campus groups that will allow more successful and transparent programming.

The second problem with Event Services’ system is the lack of outdoor venues for student programming.

Event Services rents outside space in four areas: McMillan Courtyard, Bowles Plaza, the Women’s Building Lawn, and the Brookings Quad. There are a far larger number of outside spaces on campus.

For example, the Olin Business School, the Law School, and the Engineering School

each have outside areas that should be reservable, and there are many more areas unconnected to specific schools that Event Services make available to students.

As the spring arrives, we become more aware of the programming potential of every outdoor area on campus; to limit reservable spaces to four narrows the opportunity substantially and unnecessarily for student groups’ outside programming.

Events Services needs to increase its transparency to student groups, empowering them to cooperate among one another in their use of reserved spaces; they also need to increase the amount of available outdoor space for student programming, so that student groups can have more diverse and visible events.

The myth of free markets

BY ZACHARY STEINERT-THRELKELD STAFF COLUMNIST

I

f the fi nancial turmoil of the past few months taught us anything, it is this: government matters.

In a strong rebuke to libertarian economists and ideologues on the right, our government has demonstrated its role as the foundation of all-market action. Whereas rich bankers and their political puppets clamored for government withdrawal from economic life—“Privatization!

No regulation! No taxes!”— these same figures now fi nd themselves being saved by it.

Andrew Ross Sorkin, a business writer for the New York Times, states it best: “Adam Smith’s invisible hand has a puppeteer: the Federal Reserve.”

As most people have pointed out, we do not fully comprehend exactly what transpired in the previous months, so I am not ready to judge the Federal Reserve and our government on the quality of their intervention.

I am not writing to eviscerate President Bush for supporting a bail out of Wall Street but then arguing against interfering with individuals’ mortgages. I am not writing to warn about moral hazard (where people increase their risky behavior knowing they will be bailed out) and I am not writing to lambaste Wall Street for its arrogance, hubris, naïveté, ahistoricism, brashness or stupidity. (I assume bankers are too smart to actually believe their own drivel.)

Though all of these are valid points, my point is that the health of any economic system depends directly on benevolent government intervention.

Here is a brief summary of the events to which I refer.

Americans have enjoyed historically low interest rates throughout this decade, prompting a golden age of corporate profits and a housing boom. Thanks to fi nancial illusions, good marketing and a consumer ethos, millions of Americans were pushed into homes they could only afford if the value of those homes continued to rise. The mortgages on these homes are known as “sub-prime loans,” and they were bundled with other fi nancial products into collateralized debt obliga-

Friday: Tess Croner tacroner@artsci.wustl.edu

We welcome your submissions and thank you for your consideration.

Renovate Event Services an event in the reserved space, there is no punitive system in place to rebuke the student group for having reserved desirable space and not using it during the reserved time.

This cyclically perpetuates the problems within the system, causing student groups to feel the need to reserve spaces even farther in advance to avoid being preempted by other student groups. Earlier reservations should ideally lead to better planning, but in reality they cause a misuse of space—for many groups, timetables and logistics change even in the very days preceding events, and apprehensively early reservations do not accommodate these kinds of changes.

Event Services should report the name and contact information for a group reserving space to those inquiring about the space. This policy would

sweeney@wustl.edu

To ensure that we have time to fully evaluate your submissions, guest columns should be e-mailed to the next issue’s editor or forwarded to forum@studlife.com by no later than 5 p.m. two days before publication. Late pieces will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

STAFF EDITORIAL

ashington University’s Event Services makes it much harder than necessary for student groups on campus to reserve space. Though Event Services is not the only body on campus that controls space, it rents out the most desirable spaces. Because of its function as a solely event-facilitating group, it ought to have the best system in place to produce active student group programming and participation on campus.

The first problem with Event Services’ system is a lack of accountability.

When a student group calls Event Services and asks for a certain space, if it is reserved, they will be told only that—they will not be informed of the specific group that has reserved that space. If the anonymous student group does not hold

Wednesday: Dennis Sweeney

Tension between religious freedom and equality irresolvable

H

this would be difficult to ow would you feel enforce, because sexual if women were preference is less salient excluded from a than sex or gender —but Washington Unithe principle is the same. versity facility in order to What is to be done if accommodate the wishes of respecting the religious bea religious minority? Some liefs of one group requires might laud the University’s an infringement on the commitment to religious freedoms of others? and cultural If religious freedom pluralism, while conflicts with equal others would treatment, someprobably object to thing has to give. what appeared to Some might object be discrimination to Sullivan’s comand the unacceptparison, pointing able encroachout that the Muslim ment of religion women’s requests into the lives of Bill Hoffman were reasonable, others. while a request by While merely a Christian or Muslim men thought experiment here at to exclude gays from male Wash. U., the issue is not at locker rooms would be irraall imaginary for students tional and disrespectful. at Harvard.

I might agree with these Recently, Harvard adpeople that the women have ministrators decided to a better case here, but that establish “women’s only” isn’t really the point. hours at one of Harvard’s three gyms in order to reThe desire of Muslim spect the beliefs of female women to avoid exposing Muslim students, who don’t their hair and forearms to wish to be seen in immodmen is not based on reason, est workout clothes by men. but religious and cultural Mondays from 3 to 5 p.m. beliefs (which is not a critiand Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8 to 10 a.m. are now off-limits if you’ve got a Y chromosome.

Before examining the significance of this event, it is important to first point out what is not at issue.

First, what is important about this event is not that a university is making an effort to accommodate religious views and practices. No one is (or should be) upset by the presence of the Catholic Student Center or the provision of kosher meal plans at Wash.

U. Furthermore, a moment’s cism by any means). thought about the schedulOnce we start evaluating of breaks for all univering the validity of religious sities makes it obvious that, claims based on what we right or wrong, Christianity believe to be reasonable, is accorded a special stareligious pluralism is no tus—our between-semester longer achieved. break does not occur durMy aim is not to argue ing Passover, Yom Kippur for or against such pluralor Ramadan. ism (though I believe it is Second, attempts to coa worthy goal), but rather opt this incident into the to point out that we cannot larger “clash of civilizaresolve the issue by merely tions” narrative about the appealing to what we beWest and Islam are nothing lieve to be reasonable. In but sensationalistic. both of these cases, either As Harvard student Sahil someone is unfairly excludK. Mahtani pointed out in ed or someone’s religious the political magazine The beliefs are not respected, New Republic, the adminisand this conflict is not easy trators responsible for the to resolve. policy acted largely indeWhat do I think about pendently of Muslim stuthe Harvard decision? I’m dents, who were unaware of on the fence, but pragmatic what was happening until it concerns lead me to believe was nearly finalized. that it is probably all right Mahtani is right to say when all is said and done. that “this clearly wasn’t There are two other Harvard ‘capitulating’ to gyms at Harvard, and men Islam, considering how will only be excluded for minimally Muslim students six out of the 70 weekly were involved in the decihours of the gym’s operasion.” The journalist and tion. blogger Andrew Sullivan, However, pragmatism with whom I often agree cannot resolve the philoand respect, is therefore sophical issue, and I’m mistaken when he declares not sure that my position this to be an imposition of would allow me to object to “sharia at Harvard.”

Sullivan’s hypothetical.

Sullivan does, however, Bill is a senior in Arts & raise an interesting point when he asks, “What’s next? Sciences and a Forum editor.

He can be reached via eRemoving all gay men from mail at forum@studlife.com. the locker room?” This comparison fails in some respects—for one thing,

“How would you feel if women were excluded from a Wash. U. facility in order to accommodate the wishes of a religious minority?

MIKE HIRSHON | STUDENT LIFE

tions (CDOs).

People thought these loans were safe because ratings agencies gave them the lowest risk ratings possible. Everyone was happy: marginal people got homes and bankers collected huge fees.

Since these mortgages went to marginal customers, not everyone could pay them and defaults increased as house values started to fall.

This basically started in the summer of 2007, and panic ensued as bankers realized they did not know the actual value or safety of those loans.

As loan defaults increased, bankers realized that these CDOs were spread everywhere, so everyone, whether involved with hedge funds, investment banks or brokerages stood to lose an unknown amount of money.

These “known” unknown losses have caused bankers to fear giving new loans, which led to the “credit crunch” we always hear about.

It even caused one fi rm, Bear Stearns, to collapse when its clients feared it did not have enough collateral

and started demanding their investments back.

The Federal Reserve and (to a lesser extent) the Treasury Department have been proactive in stemming this fi nancial crisis.

Since October 2007, they have aggressively lowered the key interest rate to its lowest point in years; offered to exchange $400 billion of Treasury securities, considered one of the safest investments in the world, for the risky mortgages; and it both orchestrated JP Morgan’s acquisition of Bear Stearns and provided $30 billion of collateral to facilitate the deal.

In other words, our government has directly interfered with the operation of fi nancial markets, a fact President Bush acknowledged and supported at the March 14 meeting of the Economic Club of New York.

I have mixed feelings about these actions: they have temporarily calmed markets, but the Federal Reserve will soon want for tools if it continues to rely on them.

It is too soon to know

whether Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman and a student of the Depression, has saved the day.

My point is that the belief in a free market is a politically expedient ideology abandoned at the earliest convenience.

Free-marketers’ rhetoric revolves around mythological keywords such as fairness, efficiency, meritocracy or equality, but this most recent panic reveals that year-end bonuses and second homes are the real motivators.

Henry Paulson, the Secretary of Treasury who has been instrumental in these Wall Street rescues, reveals the tension in this rhetoric when he says, “People who speculated and bought investment properties in hot markets should take their losses just like day traders who speculated and bought soaring tech stocks in 2000.”

Paulson was the CEO of Goldman Sachs before taking his current job.

Zachary is a senior in Arts & Sciences. He can be reached via e-mail at zsteiner@gmail.com.

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Student Life welcomes letters to the editor and op-ed submissions from readers.

Editorials are written by the Forum editors and reflect the consensus of the editorial board. The editorial board operates independently of the newsroom.

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Why do we do this? Because Google and other search engines cache our Web site on a regular basis. Our thought is this: once an article has been published online, it’s too late to take back. It is irrevocably part of the public sphere. As such, removing an article from our site would serve no purpose.

Senior Cadenza Editor / Cecilia Razak / cadenza@studlife.com

MONDAY | APRIL 7, 2008

CADEN Z A Next time,

STUDENT LIFE | CADENZA

5

n. a technically brilliant, sometimes improvised solo passage toward the close of a concerto, an exceptionally brilliant part of an artistic work

arts & entertainment

I’m going bear baiting

Wash. U. students travel to Chicago to see new Shakespeare theater

BY CECILIA RAZAK SENIOR CADENZA EDITOR The Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) does not want anyone to think it is a venue for the paragon of high art.

In fact, it has purposefully set out to display that its shows are anything but fodder for the super-elite; it is set in the midst of one of the most popular destinations in Chicago, and therefore is quite accessible to the lowbrow.

It even lured a few Washington University students to its shores this past weekend.

Set closer to the waterfront of Lake Michigan than the fabled Globe Theatre was to the Thames in London, the CST has more in common with Shakespeare’s old haunt than just a playwright.

It is perched on Navy Pier, whose Web site boasts that the location is the Midwest’s “most popular destination.” Just walking along the lakefront demonstrates

how much fun the Pier can be. There are rides and ice cream, blaring music, bandstands, party yachts leaving and arriving at every hour and swarms of fanny-packladen tourists. Like the Bankside of 1600s London, it is a place of revelry and boasts a distinct lack of any need for critical thinking.

This is just where the CST wants to be.

“It is important to remember that [Shakespeare] inhabited a world that can, to us, seem indecent, vulgar and brutal,” Pauline Kiernan says in her book “Filthy Shakespeare.”

In 17th century London, taking in a play was hardly the pastime of the upper crust, and a potential theatergoer was just as likely to pick up a prostitute or watch a bear get mauled to death by dogs (a popular spectator sport called “bear baiting”) than to see a Shakespeare play.

“Around the corner from

the Globe Theatre was a brothel,” Kiernan relates, one of many, and bear-baiting spectacles and public hangings were often more popular choices for an afternoon’s entertainment, though no cheaper than a play.

And so the CST has placed itself in an analogous location, surrounded by “low entertainment,” although in comparison to 16th and 17th century Southwark, Navy Pier’s Ferris wheel and McDonald’s restaurant might seem downright cultured.

The CST was not always found amid the rabble of society. Its relatively new venue (the theater relocated in 1999 from the Ruth Page theater on Michigan Avenue) has been a cause of contention for many patrons.

“The fear was that moving into a venue associated with tourism and a gigantic Ferris wheel would rob Shakespeare of the elite cultural capital that many subscribers thought they were purchas-

ing when going to the theater,” Beth Charlebois, associate professor of English at St. Mary’s College of Maryland and guest lecturer for the CST, said.

“It was viewed as a demotion, even though the physical space is lovelier, much more professional and polished, but tome thought something was irrevocably lost, that Shakespeare was being adulterated,” she said.

This is exactly what the theater wanted to distance itself from, and despite its detractors, the CST has done very well in its new location—well enough that it lured a group of Washington University Shakespeare students to Chicago to take in the CST’s penultimate showing of this season’s “Othello.”

When asked about the show, one student responded, “It was good—well staged— but a little overwrought, and I didn’t like their interpretation of Iago. But who am I to complain? It’s Shakespeare.”

MCT

ost of the time our Old Movies column focuses on just that: movies which are old. But this week, we’re going to use it to refer to movies that are fresh out of theaters, newly on DVD and deserve a second look from those who skipped them when they were in theaters. Each of these films came out in the later half of 2007 but were overshadowed by some of the very best movies of the decade. — BRIAN STITT.

M

‘Southland Tales’

I

’m not recommending this movie outright. I will actually say that I didn’t especially like “Southland Tales.” However, I found it endlessly fascinating as an attempted piece of satire and as a testament to the ability of some directors to get funding for movies that just don’t make sense.

“Southland Tales” is writer/ director Richard Kelly’s followup to his cult favorite “Donnie Darko.” This one is a very loose retelling of the Book of Revelations, set in an alternate Los Angeles of the near future. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson plays Boxer Santaros, a beefy action-film star married into a political family with some aspirations of his own. He’s sleeping with a porn star (Sarah Michelle Gellar), harboring delusions of grandeur and has helped her write a screenplay that may or may not predict the end of the world.

In order to research his role for the film, Santaros schedules a ride along with police officer Ronald Taverner (Sean William Scott), but in fact gets his twin brother (also Scott), who has been manipulated by an extremist group vaguely affiliated with the teachings of Karl Marx.

Throw in a government with complete oversight over all communication due to an expanded Patriot Act, a German corporation that has created a form of free universally available energy and a musical number featuring Justin Timberlake lip-syncing to a Killers song and you’ve got all the background to “Southland Tales” that makes even a little bit

of sense.

The real key to “Southland Tales” for me is not its satirical qualities (it has a few admirably humorous moments, but not enough to make it truly successful) or even its place as a puzzling failure of intelligent sci-fi.

I mark this movie out as one worth watching and exploring because of the fact that Richard Kelly was able to attract money and stars to a project that never even tried to have a cohesive plot.

His movies are not pretty or arty enough to appeal to the David Lynch set, and yet he has made a movie that can only reach anything approaching a storyline with an audience that has read his graphic novels and listend to commentary tracks on his director’s cut of “Donnie Darko.”

For those who have seen “Southland Tales” or choose to do so after reading this article, the FAQ page on IMDb.com is a great resource for those who choose not to read the fake script for a movie that Buffy playing a porn star pretended to write. Or something like that. Either way, I suggest going into “Southland Tales” completely oblivious to the world it attempts to inhabit.

It is fascinating in its ineptness and yet held my attention like a good pair of pliers.

After having your mind blown, then read all about how it was booed at Cannes and how the distributor felt cutting 20 minutes out of an already stupefyingly confusing movie would help it sell better. It’s really a fascinating story.

Old Movies: New Movie Edition ‘The Mist’

E

motional horror movies can often be a tough sell. “The Shining” worked due to Jack Nicholson’s star power and credibility, not to mention Kubrick’s dually fascinating and disturbing imagry. “The Mist” doesn’t have that. “The Mist” has Tom Jane and a director who makes the movie in an old-fashioned style unpalatable to modern audiences.

But if you can get past the mediocre acting (it’s arguably meant to be so) and cartoonish computer effects (another possibly purposeful move) “The Mist” is a terrifying fi lm about the monsters lurking in our own psyches and societies.

Without giving too much away, “The Mist” tells the story of a small New England town weathering a crisis brought on by a mysterious and dangerous mist. Many of the townspeople barricade themselves inside the local grocery store, shutting out what may or may not lurk outside. And yet it is what is already inside that is truly frightening.

‘Wristcutters: A Love Story’

W

ith a bleak subject matter and strange sensibility, it’s easy to see why “Wristcutters: A Love Story” sat on the shelf for so long before being lightly released last fall.

The story follows a young man, Zia (Patrick Fugit of “Almost Famous”) who is so depressed about breaking up with his longtime girlfriend that he kills himself. Upon doing so he discovers that there is life after death, and it sucks.

He, along with everyone else who ever has committed suicide, lives in a barren world approximating resembling the Mojave Desert mating with New Jersey. Nobody ever smiles and there’s never anything fun to do. Whether this is a form of punishment or just a product of a landscape populated entirely by the depressed is never explained, as are very few of the particulars about the workings of this world. Can these people die? They can have sex, but can they reproduce? These questions are unimportant to the filmmakers, because they are out to tell a love story.

Zia gets a job at Kamikaze Pizzeria and actually makes a friend in despondent Russian musician Eugene, whose entire family has

joined him in suicide. After hearing a rumor that Desiree, the girl who drove him to death, has also killed herself, Zia recruits Eugene to embark on a road trip to the other side of their world in hopes of finding her.

“Wristcutters” deals in very dark territory, but it never wallows in sadness. Eugene and Zia have very funny conversations, eventually enlivened by a pretty hitchhiker, Mikal (Shannyn Sossamon), who feels she doesn’t belong there. The entire movie has a very strange sense of humor, but it never laughs at the seriousness of depression or suicide. In fact, it shows that even in a barren wasteland where people seem incapable of happiness, life still can be worth living.

Writer/director Goran Dukic employs a very quirky style of filmmaking with strange colors and oddly brilliant casting choices (Tom Waits is perfect as a mysterious leader of a small commune).

Not everyone will be able to get past the film’s lighthearted attitude or its bizarre fantasy, but it bears many of the best elements of Michel Gondry movies without the preciousness.

“The Mist” is a fi lm about despair and the dangers that accompany it. As the people in the store become more aware of what the mist is and what it carries, they turn to those who shout the loudest as their leaders. The bickering and infighting over the best course of action are made all the more frightening by the fact that we, as an audience, do not know the right answer but we watch this group go down a path we can be certain is the wrong one.

While there are some elements of this movie that may turn off a lot of viewers, it is truly a treasure for those who appreciate a classic horror film in the vein of “The Thing” or Romero’s zombie movies. It understands that, while the supernatural serves well as an initial threat, true terror stems from distrust and despair amongst people who need to cling to hope most of all.

(Side note: A feature on the disc DVD shows the film in black and white, which was writer/director Frank Darabont’s original intention.)

6

Senior Scene Editor / Michelle Stein / scene@studlife.com

STUDENT LIFE | SCENE

MONDAY | APRIL 7, 2008

SCENE

(Political) Opposites Attract

BY BROOKE SCHACHNER SCENE REPORTER

W

ith the 2008 presidential election getting closer by the day, the Washington University campus is abuzz with talk of politicians and pundits. Many students are politically active, belong to groups such as the College Democrats or the College Republicans and voted in the Missouri primary on Super Tuesday.

When the College Republicans made the controversial decision to invite former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to speak as part of the Assembly Series, there was a loud response from the College Democrats, as well as from the Peace Coalition.

As a result of the particularly intense campaign season—in which Democrats are fighting both Republicans and themselves—it seems that more than ever students are identifying with a particular candidate and party.

However, what does all of this partisanship do to friendships? Can Person X, an active Democrat and Barack Obama supporter, and Person Y, who campaigns for John McCain and interns for a Republican congressman, really live together without fighting about politics whenever the topic comes up?

Freshmen Aditya Sarvesh and Shubho Sadhu live on the same floor and are good friends. Sarvesh is a Republican and works for the McCain campaign, while Sadhu considers himself a Democrat. While both admit that their conversations can turn into debates, they feel that it is beneficial to have a

friend who can explain the other side of a particular issue. “[Politics] doesn’t get in the way. We discuss it,” Sadhu said.

Sarvesh and Sadhu feel that having a friend who is politically opposite allows them to be more open to competing

The pair became close friends after living on the same freshman floor last year.

Cohen is an active Republican and Rushman is a member of College Democrats who worked for the Clinton campaign. Though they estimate that they talk to each other about politics “every day,”

It seems that their different viewpoints have become a source of humor for the pair.

“I still think he needs to come over to the right side, and by the right side, I mean the left side,” Rushman said jokingly.

Rather than getting angry, Cohen merely laughed in

stereotypically-liberal college mold.

Sophomore Ted Simmons, a conservative who admits he has debated his friends on political issues, complains that a general liberal bias felt at Wash. U. can make him uncomfortable.

“I’ve felt awkward in class-

MCT

ideologies.

Sarvesh is currently a Forum editor, though at the time of his interview he was not a member of the Student Life staff.

Sophomores Michael Cohen and Annie Rushman echo these sentiments.

both concur that this never gets in the way of their friendship.

“Even though our differences are very apparent, we manage to get along and never seem to fight,” Cohen said.

“We just talk,” Rushman said.

response.

These two friendships are proof that, instead of fighting, political opposites can get along and help each other understand their differences.

Unfortunately, politics still proves to be a sensitive topic for people who do fit into the

es, mostly. People assume that because we’re in college, everyone must be liberal,” Simmons said. He also divulges that politics can get in the way of getting to know people.

“I would say people expressing their political beliefs [have] made me think less of them,” Simmons said. “It’s more people parroting sound bites they pick up, and this goes both [Democrat and Republican] ways.”

Junior Charis Fischer, the president of the College Republicans, agrees with Simmons about the political

atmosphere at Wash. U. “The campus defi nitely leans left, and I don’t think anyone would disagree with that,” Fischer said.

She feels that this inclination can be a problem when it limits discussions. “[Professors] don’t encourage an atmosphere of dialogue as much as they should—they present their opinion and move on with the lecture,” Fischer said. “Of course not all of my professors have been this way, but it’s discouraging that so many of them have neglected discussing other viewpoints.”

However, Fischer also agrees with people like Sarvesh and Cohen. She believes that talking to people with different points of view is favorable in the long run.

“The vast majority of my friends are liberal, and I really enjoy discussing politics with them,” she said. “I think it is beneficial to have friends who have different opinions, because then you are forced to think more deeply about your own beliefs.”

Discussions about politics can turn from friendly to feisty very quickly. Fighting about political beliefs can damage otherwisehealthy and thriving friendships.

However, while there are some cases of political fighting between friends, most students manage to keep discussions civil. In fact, most agree that talking to someone with opposing political opinions makes them more open to understanding the other side’s views.

Washington University students are not the only students capable of bipartisan relationships. After all, Democratic strategist James Carville and Republican consultant Mary Matalin have been married for almost 15 years.

Senior Sports Editor / Joshua Goldman / sports@studlife.com

MONDAY | APRIL 7, 2008

STUDENT LIFE | SPORTS

7

SPORTS

Women’s tennis places first at Midwest Regional TRISHA WOLF MANAGING EDITOR Washington University’s (113) 24th-ranked women’s tennis team pulled off a stunning upset Saturday, defeating 13th-ranked Gustavus Adolphus College (138) in the Midwest Regional Invite third-place match, culminating a weekend of solid play at the important midseason tournament. “We came together and fought really hard,â€? Jaclyn Bild, a freshman, said. “This weekend gave us a lot of conďŹ dence and showed other teams that we were right there with them.â€?

In the 5-4 upset of Gustavus, freshman Karina Kocemba pulled out two close wins to lead the team to victory. She defeated Sierra Krebsbach 6-2, 4-6, 10-7 at second singles and then teamed with Bild to clinch the match with a 9-8 (7-4) victory at third doubles. Over the weekend, Kocemba compiled a 5-2 record. “The match was very exciting. It all came down to the tiebreaker with Karina Kocemba,� sophomore Allison Dender said.

Bild, who had a 6-1 record this weekend, and classmates Kalee Cassady and Kristin Fleming notched the other wins in the Gustavus upset, winning at third, ďŹ fth and sixth singles, respectively.

The Bears began the weekend with an easy win over St. Mary’s University (11-4). Junior Erin Swaller, Dender and Fleming brought home wins at ďŹ rst, fourth and sixth singles, respectively, while Swaller and Cassady, Bild and Kocemba, and freshman Elise Sambol and junior Ania Tchergueiko swept doubles competition. Kocemba,

Bild and Cassady were leading their singles matches, though the matches remained unďŹ nished because the team had already clinched victory.

To close play Friday, the Red and Green upset No. 23 University of Chicago (9-5) 5-3, a UAA rival to whom the Bears lost 5-4 earlier in the season. Kocemba, Bild, Cassady and Sambol all notched fairly easy wins at second, third, ďŹ fth and sixth singles while Bild and Kocemba brought home the lone doubles victory at number three. Swaller suffered a close 2-6, 6-4, 11-9 loss to Chicago’s Marissa Lin, one of the top players in the Midwest, at number one singles. “It was the most exciting moment of the tournament,â€? Bild said. “Just beating them was great. They are our biggest rival.â€?

Wash. U. suffered its only loss of the tournament in the semiďŹ nal match against No. 5 DePauw University (13-2). The team fell 5-3 after several close matches.

Bild and Dender won in straight sets at third and fourth singles while Sambol pulled out a 3-6, 6-0, 10-4 win against Kristine Lewry at sixth singles. Cassady suffered a heartbreaking 6-4, 67 (2-7), 10-5 loss at ďŹ fth singles.

The Bears failed to pick up a single doubles win, though Swaller and Cassady were leading 6-5 in an unďŹ nished match.

Wash. U. has little downtime, as they play Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Tuesday afternoon in Edwardsville, Ill., before returning home Saturday to play Coe College and Rhodes College. Play begins at 9 a.m. at the Tao Tennis Center against Coe and resumes at 3 p.m. versus Rhodes.

Track continues success

DAVID HARTSTEIN | STUDENT LIFE

Junior Alli Alberts attempts her final jump Saturday morning at the Wash. U. Select Meet on Francis Field.

BY JOSHUA GOLDMAN SENIOR SPORTS EDITOR Washington University Track and Field continued to dominate on the Bushyhead track this weekend. In the third of four home meets, The Washington University Select, the women defeated second-place Greenville College by 122.5 points while the men placed fourth, 56

points behind winner Illinois College. “It worked out nice [being at home]. The weather was great, and you stay a little more rested,� senior Corey Kubatzky said. “We’re really about the team.

A lot of people think that track is an individual sport, but we really value teammates and cheering, something that other teams

don’t really have,� junior Danielle Wadlington added.

Junior Allie Alberts opened the meet strongly for Wash. U. with a second-place ďŹ nish in the high jump. She also came in seventh in the long jump and won the javelin throw, accumulating 20 points for the team.

Senior and All-American Morgan Leonard-Fleckman and junior Jessica Lane ďŹ nished ďŹ rst

and second in the pole vault. Junior Erika Wade placed fourth in the long jump, juniors Aubrey Edwards and Liat Rome ďŹ nished second and fourth in the discus throw, and Edwards placed third in shot put after winning the hammer throw.

Additionally in the shot put, Rome, junior Jennifer Wu and

See TRACK AND FIELD, page 8

Softball takes second at Hy-Vee Invitational

BY JOSHUA GOLDMAN SPORTS EDITOR Washington University (207) fell to Nebraska Wesleyan University in a 3-2 loss in the Hy-Vee Invitational championship game.

WU 3, Nebraska Wesleyan University 2 Earlier on Saturday, Wash.

U. had a 3-2 victory over the Prairie Wolves after staging a dramatic comeback. Down 2-0 in the bottom of the ďŹ fth inning, freshman Claire Voris entered to shut down the offense and keep Wash. U. in the game.

The Bears offense then came together with a string of hits in the sixth. Sophomore Kerry Kreitman doubled to bring in the ďŹ rst run. Classmate Carter Malouf and junior Lindsay Cavarra followed up with RBI singles to win the game.

Nebraska Wesleyan University 3, WU 2 The tables were turned in the championship match later that day. Nebraska Wesleyan had a strong three-run ďŹ fth inning to overcome a two-run deďŹ cit.

The two-run lead came after senior Amy Vukovich snapped a 0-7 cold streak at the plate

DAVID HARTSTEIN | STUDENT LIFE

Ashton Hitchcock hits her pitch in last weekend’s game against Fontbonne. Hitchcock was named to the All Tournament Team and nearly hit for the cycle against Grinell last Friday. with a single. Vukovich advanced to third on a steal and a groundout by Voris. Senior Karli Stander bunted to score Vukovich for the ďŹ rst run of the game in the third. Sophomore Hitchcock had an RBI double in the fourth to double the lead.

The Prairie Wolves bounced

back to string together six hits resulting in three runs to seal the win. “Close games are always tough to lose because you get caught up reecting on all the little things that made such a huge difference in the outcome,â€? Voris said.

“But I’d much rather lose a close game than win a blowout runrule game. Close games teach you a lot more about the game, about your team and about yourself.�

See SOFTBALL, page 8

DAVID HARTSTEIN | STUDENT LIFE

Sophomore Allison Dender serves during a match against McKendree University on March 27. This previous Saturday, she helped the women’s tennis team defeat Gustavus Adolphus College, winning at fourth singles.

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Senior Sports Editor / Joshua Goldman / sports@studlife.com

MARK PARTRIDGE SPORTS REPORTER On Saturday, March 22, the Washington University men’s and women’s tennis teams, led by coaches Roger Follmer and Kelly Stahlhuth, held the third annual Special Olympics Tennis Clinic at the Tao Tennis Center.

“This event is something that our teams look forward to every year. It’s a wonderful opportunity to perform fulfi lling community service when it’s often hard to fi nd time otherwise,” junior Eric Pollak said.

Co-captain Charlie Cutler agreed: “It’s great when the Special Olympics clinic comes around. We get a chance to really use our sport to do some good. The participants all seem to enjoy it, and it’s a great change of pace in the

middle of a busy season.”

The participants in Follmer and Stahlhuth’s annual Clinic come from all over the state of Missouri to spend the day with the Wash.

U. teams, playing tennis in a safe, fun and instructional environment.

“Thanks in large part to Staenberg and USTA MO Valley sponsorships, this event has consistently been a great success. [Coach] Kelly and I look forward to the Special Olympics Tennis Clinic every year,” Follmer said on Saturday.

Stahlhuth couldn’t agree more.

“The third annual Special Olympics Tennis Clinic was a fun, successful event again this year. It is a wonderful opportunity for any tennis player, beginner or advanced, to come together and

play the sport they love. It is a day of fun-fi lled tennis, exercise and friendship. It is a day that the tennis teams remember, as well as the Olympic athletes.”

The unfathomably cold weather could hardly put a damper on this year’s activities. Despite the falling temperatures, the players, coaches and Olympic athletes played all sorts of games on the courts outside before retiring inside for lunch.

“Although a bit chilly this year, two hours of tennis was rewarded with free t-shirts, Pointer’s pizza and Ted Drewes,” Follmer said.

Since the clinic has ended, both teams have played exceptional tennis. The men are ranked second in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association poll while the women are ranked 24.

TRACK AND FIELD v FROM PAGE 7 freshman Moji Hassan placed fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively.

For the runners, Wadlington and junior Caitlin Molloy placed first and third in the 100-meter hurdles, senior Tyler Mulkin won the 5,000-meter run, freshman Taryn Surtees won the 3,000meter steeplechase and Wash. U. won the 4x400-meter relay.

The women also ran well in the 1,500-meter run, with senior Abbey Hartman, freshman Kelli Blake and senior Lisa Sudmeier taking second, third and fifth, respectively. Sophomore Allison Lee and Molloy placed first and third in the 400-meter hurdles, and Wadlington won the 200meter dash.

“Everybody competed really well,” Wadlington said. She added that when people were asked to raise their hands to indicate a season’s best result, more than half of the team members raised their hands.

“Most people went out and did the best they have ever done this season and in our lifetime,”

Wadlington added.

For the men, the freshman trio of Scott Pettit, Forrest Xiao and Ben Harmon placed first, fourth and fifth in the pole vault, respectively, accumulating 19 points for the Red and Green.

Sophomore Keith England won the javelin throw.

In the running events, freshmen Skyler Moots, Chris Brennan and Dave Spandorfer finished second, fourth, and seventh, respectively, in the 1,500-meter run. Senior Doug Beattie placed fourth in the 100-meter dash, and Junior Nate Koslof came in third in the 800-meter run.

Junior Tanner Coghill won the 400-meter hurdles, and Wash. U. won the 4x400-meter relay.

“It was probably the best meet this year. It will set us up really well for conference, which is our goal,” Kubatzky stated.

The home season ends with the Washington University Quad next weekend, which will be followed by the UAA Outdoor Championships the following weekend in Chicago.

SOFTBALL v FROM PAGE 7 Coe College 3, WU 2 The Red and Green came close, but not close enough, against the Kohawks. Sophomore Cait Hoffman scored off a wild pitch, and classmate Ally Berenter had an RBI double to establish a two-run lead.

With two outs in the seventh, the Kohawk leadoff hitter homered to tie the game. The Kohawks went on to capitalize on a fielding error and scored the winning run in the eighth.

Voris struck out twelve in the loss.

WU 11, Grinell 2 The Bears bounced back from their close loss to Coe with a dominating performance at the plate and senior Kaylyn Eash’s ace pitching.

Sophomore Ashton Hitchcock was red hot, going fourfor-four and nearly hitting for the cycle with a homer, a triple and two singles.

Hitchcock also had to adjust to being a catcher again.

“Though Ashton hasn’t been behind the plate since high school, you’d never know it, and she’s doing an amazing job,” Voris said.

Hitchcock ignited the Bears in the fi fth inning with a 250foot blast out of the park.

Sophomore Megan Fieser drove in two more runs with a triple to right center before capitalizing on an error to score herself. Hitchcock ended the inning with a two RBI single to put the game out of reach.

“We’re focusing more on communicating as a team,” Hitchcock said.

Hitchcock, who hit .538, and Voris, who had a 2.23 ERA, were named to the All Tournament Team.

Wash. U. returns home for a doubleheader against Westminster College on Wednesday beginning at 4 p.m. Red Alert is providing free pizza and a chance to win a $50 gift card.

“It’s really nice to play for the people we love,” Hitchcock said.

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