STUDENT LIFE THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF WASHINGTON UNIVERSIT Y IN ST. LOUIS SINCE 1878 Find out what Britney Spears, the Pro-Life movement and sculpture have in common in Forum. Page 7.
Not sure why that girl is giving you a menacing glare in Olin? Brush up on your library etiquette in Scene. Page 5.
VOLUME 127, NO. 79
Senior Forum Editor Daniel Milstein puts Cornell in their place in Forum. Page 7.
Check out snapshots from this year in sports on Page 10.
FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 2006
WWW.STUDLIFE.COM
Art Prom banned from Magic House v Drunken behavior prompts eviction, banning from local children’s museum; SU cancels future funding By Shweta Murthi Contributing Editor Advertised as “Wash. U.’s biggest, most unpredictable party,” this year’s Art Prom lived up to its billing, but not as organizers intended. Art Prom goers allegedly engaged in “excessive consumption of alcohol and other behaviors unacceptable to the University,” according to an official statement released by the Office of Public Affairs. According to an employee of the Magic House, the local children’s museum that served as the party’s venue, excessive vomit was left in multiple locations, parts of exhibits were stolen and alcohol-soaked carpets required professional cleaning. Beer cans were found floating in the Magic House’s pond and three couples were caught having sex. The museum has decid-
ed to no longer host college events that involve alcohol. The treasurer of Art Council, Chelsea Krause, apologized for the students’ behavior, but felt that some of the events were “blown out of proportion.” “Only one couple was having sex in the elevator. The rest were only minor acts of nudity on the couch,” said Krause. The Art School Council faces possible judicial action from the Judicial Administrator for the April 1 event, after the Magic House claimed approximately $700 in damages for stolen items and destruction of property. The staff of the Magic House, all high schoolers, had to stay into the early morning hours to clean up the mess. The presence of an open bar was not agreed upon in the contract with Art Prom organizers, according to a Magic House employee.
The University stated that it “deeply regrets” the events of the Art Prom and “future funding for next year’s ‘Art Prom’ has been withheld by Student Union as a result of this incident.” The Art School Council, however, may still appeal for funding for Art Prom in front of SU Treasury next year. More than 600 students showed up for the event, themed “Agent: Astronaut.” Although only 300 students were anticipated, announcements that tickets were being sold at the door nearly doubled the turnout. Although the Art School Council has apologized to the Magic House and paid full restitution, the Magic House has officially created a policy to not host college events with alcohol. “There were no attempts
ART PROM, page 3
RACHIT PATEL | STUDENT LIFE
Magic House employees found excessive vomit on the carpets and beer cans floating in a pond following Art Prom on April 1, 2006. Allegedly, three couples were also discovered having sex.
Alpha Phi and Sig Ep raise SU takes money out of current budget for University Center $24,000 for charity By Ben Sales
Senior Staff Reporter In preparation for the new University Center’s opening in 2009, Student Union has set aside $30,000 in funds from next year’s Student Activities Fee. The money, which will fund new facilities and equipment for the building’s Student Union (SU) office, is one of many installments of funding that will come from the Student Activities Fee over the coming years. Although the funding will not directly benefit the students from whom it is coming, SU President Paul Moinester says this is the only fair so-
COURTESY OF SATYAN KHANNA
Sigma Phi Epsilon and Alpha Phi’s pirate ship facade helped them raise $24,000 for charity during this year’s Thurtene Carnival.
Staff Reporter News Editor While many fraternities and sororities vied for the coveted Burmeister Cup, members of Sigma Phi Epsilon and Alpha Phi achieved a different goal: charity. The pair ultimately raised $38,000 for the Thurtene carnival, $24,000 of which went directly to St. Louis SCORES, a charity that brings soccer, poetry and community to urban youth in the St. Louis area, according to senior Satyam Khanna, who was in charge of fundraising for Sig Ep. “Alpha Phi and Sig Ep have won the chancellor’s cup for the last seven or eight years,” said Khanna. “Our overall goal was just to donate to charity, and donate a lot to charity. We also wanted to beat our own goal…we ended up shattering it by $10,000.” The duo employed a wide variety of methods in order to accrue such a large amount of funds. Members sent letters out to other members and to their parents, as well as to alumni, asking for donations. Members also sold magazines to friends and family and stood outside Schnucks in order to raise funds. Community businesses purchased advertisement space on the program for their performance and donated gift certificates. And, most importantly, they pinched pennies. ““We were really tight on spending as well, which is something new for us. Our treasurer, Craig [Wilen], was able to map everything out ahead of time,” said Khanna.
“My roll was ‘every dollar we spend is a dollar we waste fundraising.’ We cut about 50 percent from last year without really compromising anything,” said Wilen. Emilia Epperly, the Thurtene chair for Alpha Phi, echoed Khanna’s sentiments. “Our goal every year is to donate a lot of money. We try to keep our expenses down on our façade so we can donate because that’s kind of the whole point,” she said. Khanna felt that charity is often overlooked at the Thurtene carnival. “Everyone in our fraternity loves Thurtene, it’s the heart of our year, but I think that the carnival would benefit the community more if we incorporate fundraising into it more. A lot of sororities and fraternities don’t donate at all, because it’s not required.” Epperly agrees. “They have the competition to get student groups excited and to get them to participate, but I feel like there’s too much emphasis on the competition aspect, and not enough emphasis on the charity. That’s why so many groups spend lots of money on their façade and not so much on charity. I think Thurtene should emphasize that, while it’s great to win, this is what we’re here for.” Khanna and Epperly both noted that even they had challenges in motivating members to help donate, as they knew it would not improve their chances of winning the Burmeister cup. “The challenge was motivation. It had to come from
people’s hearts. We were raising all this money for charity, but we knew we wouldn’t get any recognition for it,” said Khanna. Aside from the changes that could be made to the competition, both felt that fraternities and sororities could increase charity donations fairly easily. “I would defi nitely hope that they would think ‘well, we could spend this much amount of money by making it more ornate, or we could donate more to children’s charity.’ I think a lot of people waste too. They don’t stay within their budget, or look around for the best price. That’s something we really tried to do this year,” said Epperly. Khanna also mentioned that taking such a stance towards Thurtene could do much to improve Greek Life’s image in the eyes of Washington University, considering the mounting tension this past year. “An easy thing for us to say is, ‘look, we did Thurtene carnival, and raised 30-40k every year. We can mobilize 600 people to raise money for charity’...nobody else in the school can really boast about that,” said Khanna. “I think it would look great to the administration if everyone got involved.” “In the end,” said Public Relations Thurtene Chair Felipe Macia, “it is about the community.” “The purpose of the carnival is not about money...[We’re] most successful in our outreach to the community.”
that current students have a responsibility towards future students’ enjoyment of campus facilities. “How do you feel about parents saving for their children’s education?” he said. “This is the same way. We think that it is completely unfair of us to push the University Center cost to people four years down the road.” In addition, both Moinester and Lewis said that the funds will go only to facilities for SU, meaning that though the funds from the fee will not benefit current students, they will be sure to go to the needs of future
See SU, page 8
120 students still without housing By Josh Hantz
By Troy Rumans
lution. “There is no other way to get that money,” said Moinester, who presided over the SU budget allocations this past week. “It is distributing the cost over the longest period of time.” Moinester said that otherwise, a withdrawal of over $100,000 would need to be taken from the budget in 2009, leaving almost no money for that year’s programming. “It is unfortunate that we have to do it but it has to be done,” he said. “It is the fairest way to do it.” SU Treasurer Jason Lewis compared the move to college tuition management, saying
About 120 Washington University students are still without housing assignments as of yesterday, down from more than 200 after the end of the second round lottery. So far, all groups have been able to stay together, but that may change during the upcoming week. “There has always been a pool of unassigned people,” said Rob Wild, associate director of Residential Life. “We make as many people happy as we can.”
Wild attributes the unusually high number of unassigned students to the popularity of four-person suites this year. For the last two years, sixperson suites have been the most popular. He says it’s too hard to predict which size students will go for. “I’d love to hit the number exactly but that’s impossible,” he said. “It varies from year to year.” To help ease the problem, ResLife is moving some groups already assigned to dorms on the South 40 to offcampus apartments, the students’ original fi rst choice.
This has been especially common in Gregg Hall according to Wild. ResLife’s initial goal was to have everyone assigned to housing by today, but the deadline has been extended one week in hopes of keeping more groups together. There are enough spaces to accommodate all students who want to live on the 40, but not necessarily in their desired groups. Wild sympathizes with these students, but admits the system isn’t perfect. “It’s a tough time of the year not to know about hous-
See HOUSING, page 4
WITH YOUR PANELS COMBINED, I AM CAPTAIN PLANET!
DAVID BRODY | STUDENT LIFE
Senior Matt Klasen (L), junior David Hall (C) and junior Jonathan Lane (R) install solar panels on the roof of Olin Library on Wednesday morning. The panels, designed by PowerTomorrow, provide one kilowatt of electricity. Students can monitor the solar panels’ output at ceq.wustl.edu.