MONDAY SEPT. 13, 2004 Vol. 126, No. 7
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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
Debate negotiations have precedent By Rachel Streitfeld Contributing Editor In 1992, Washington University got a week’s notice before hosting its first presidential debate, thanks to some last minute presidential maneuvering. High-profile, down-to-the-minute debate negotiations have only multiplied in recent years. “Every time that I can recall, [the debates were] negotiated,” said University political science professor Jim Davis. “They negotiate with each other, and the negotiation, in a sense, starts with what the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) has set up, but the candidates have to agree. They don’t always.” The University seized its first opportunity to host a presidential debate in 1992 when former President George H. W. Bush requested a venue change late in the game. Bush was to debate Democratic challenger Bill Clinton and Independent Ross Perot. The
newly formed CPD, taking over debate planning from the League of Women Voters, contacted the University a week prior to the scheduled date. Although University executives had only a week to prepare, the candidates had been gearing up for weeks. Debate negotiation teams argued about the lighting in the auditorium, the placement of the candidates and the order of their opening statements—negotiators even hashed out the question of makeup. Professor Wayne Fields, who teaches a class on presidential rhetoric at the University, said candidates and their advisers have great control over the nature of the debates, creating a “political environment in which the candidates can say up to a point what they won’t and what they won’t do.” “There’s no way of really requiring [presidential debates],” said Fields. “What happens is, it becomes whatever the handlers of the campaigns are comfortable with.”
With the negotiators in the driver’s seat, debate planning has become a science, with candidates more worried about sound bytes than meaningful policy discussion. “Our interest, the citizens’ interest, is in seeing some kind of exposure where candidates have to speak their minds,” said Fields. “Handlers are the best at controlling the extent to which that has to happen, protecting [the candidates] from anything that might put them at risk.” Negotiation teams stepped in again in 1996, when the cancellation of the scheduled debate at the University between then-President Bill Clinton and Bob Dole went from possibility to reality in less than two weeks. Initial negotiations on Sept. 12 of that year were not about reducing the number of debates from three to two—instead, they mainly questioned whether the Sept. 25 date was conve-
LAURENCE KESTERSON | KRT CAMPUS
President Bush speaks on the campaign trail in Colmar, Penn., last week. The negotations currently ongoing between the Bush-Cheney and Kerry-Edwards campaigns over the number of presidential debates have some See DEBATE, page 3 historical precedent, although their intensity is unusual.
Fashion victim? Ensemble-y challenged? The folks at Scene are here to change all that with the Fall Fashion Guide.
St. Louis job market soars n Local employment opportuni-
ties surpass Atlanta, Chicago
PAGE 10
By Laura Geggel Contributing Reporter
Tired of spending another Saturday night in, cooking with friends? Read Stepping Out.
DAVID BRODY / STUDENT LIFE
Junior Bears running back Heath Hunter looks to elude the Westminster College defense. Hunter carried the ball 15 times for 45 yards in the Bears’ 41-20 win over Westminster on Saturday. The win evened the Bears’ record at 1-1 and gave Coach Larry Kindbom his 125th win at the collegiate level. See page 6 for the full story.
The job market in St. Louis is on an upward bound as it continues to be one of the forerunners in the national job market. Between July 2003 and July 2004, employers created a pproximately 36,000 jobs in St. Louis. John Farrell, public information officer for St. Louis Comptroller Darlene Green, credited the city’s promising economy for the recent job surge. “A financially healthy city is attractive to investors and businesses that create jobs,” said Farrell. “[Comptroller Green] has worked with city officials to put in place measures that protect taxpayer dollars and promote the city’s strong credit rating and stable reserve fund and have created a more favorable economic climate in St. Louis City. This climate has attracted billions of economic development dollars that resulted in a sharp jump in economic activity and job creation throughout St. Louis.” The local job market is growing so fast that in the yearlong period ending this past July, St. Louisans enjoyed more new job opportunities than residents of cities like Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and
See JOBS, page 2
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The comeback kids: men’s football rebounds after last week’s tough loss.
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Grieving taken too far? Justin Ward looks at the continuing reaction to 9/11.
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INDEX News Forum Sports Calendar Scene
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Students tour homeless shelter, parks n Real St. Louis tour shines light
on homeless life By Sarah Ulrey Features Editor Katie Schwarz is an expert at “penitentiary style” dominoes. Tougher and faster paced than regular dominoes, penitentiary style can only be taught by people who know what the pen is all about. A diminutive sophomore from Tallahassee, Fla., Schwarz has never been to jail—however, the friends who taught her the game know what it is like to be locked up. She met them volunteering at the Peter and Paul Transitional Shelter on the south side of St. Louis. During the Real St. Louis Tour on Saturday, Schwarz led Washington University students through areas of downtown St. Louis that are populated by the city’s homeless. Her desire to spread her compassion for the homeless community to other students was one reason she brought together Stone Soup (a University student group that prepares and delivers food to Peter and Paul every Sunday night) and Feed St. Louis (a University student group that delivers leftover Center Court food to various shelters several nights a week) to create the Tour. On Saturday, about 25 students explored the public parks scattered north of Market Street. “This is to get people exposed to poverty and homelessness in St. Louis,” said Stone Soup coordinator and senior Nate Hoesly. “We want to get people involved and excited to help out. Students heard from Donald, a middle-aged man who sat alone on a shaded bench in Kaufmann Park. He said solitude is important to him because it keeps him safe from people causing problems. “I sign applications, I stay out of trouble and stay away from people on drugs,” he said. A huge obstacle in his job search is his lack of a telephone. “How are people going to contact you?” he asked. A few blocks away, across from Downtown’s
STUDENT LIFE
Main Library at 13th and Locust St., the students walked through Lucas Garden Park, known as “Hobo Park” to the homeless and the police who patrol there. In the twilight five people sat on the carved stone benches surrounding a cement pool colored green with grass clippings. Two men read thick hardback books. By the pond a couple shared dinner on a paper plate, while at the edge of the park a young woman stared at the sky as she gently rolled her toddler’s stroller and avoided eye contact with the students. There Schwarz approached another man and asked if he would share his story. This man’s name was Daryll. He wore a Rams hat and held a thick library book. Other than the bag at his side he looked like a typical middle-
aged man. Daryll told students he has a job but is staying at the Salvation Army Shelter down the street until he can get back on his feet. He contrasted his plight with the people on the streets who are there because of drugs and alcohol or just because they like “making their own rules,” explaining that he is hoping to be stable again soon. “You know, this isn’t a career move or anything,” he said. Posted prominently in the park is a metal sign that reads, “Park Curfew, No Loitering 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.”
See TOUR, page 2
SARAH ULREY | STUDENT LIFE
Alex Papulis plays checkers with a resident of the Peter and Paul Transition Shelter. He visited the shelter with Stone Soup, a Washington University group that prepares and delivers meals to the shelters on Sundays.
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