STAFF EDITORIAL | ON THE ENGINEERING SCHOOL CONTROVERSY | SEE FORUM, PAGE 4
STUDENT LIFE
THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS SINCE 1878 VOLUME 129, NO. 61
WWW.STUDLIFE.COM
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2008
Sophomore brightens campus with a colorful bounce
Quadrangle enacts new approach to maintenance BY PERRY STEIN NEWS EDITOR
MATT LANTER | STUDENT LIFE
Morgan Grossman-McKee finds the key to spreading joy, interest and excitement in brightly-colored bouncy balls. Displaying some of them outside Brookings Hall, Grossman-Mckee hopes giving these nostalgic rubber toys to people will inspire high spirits. BY ANN JOHNSON STAFF REPORTER He can be found in public spaces, greeting strangers and offering a little bit of joy to those who will lend him an ear. However, sophomore Morgan Grossman-McKee is no preacher, politician or philosopher—he gives out bouncy balls. This math and economics double major simply believes “life is not random enough” and says he enjoys handing out roughly one-inch-wide, brightlycolored spheres of pure fun. In carrying out his mission,
Grossman-McKee has resurrected a vending-machine favorite for many a stranger and University student, in all its childhood glory. Apparently the rules for enjoying the childhood staple change as an adult. No toy withdrawal or sibling rivalry is necessary to enjoy a good bouncy ball. For enthusiasts like GrossmanMcKee, they are available on the Internet, in every color and style. In 10th grade he realized he could get the balls on the Internet and increase his childhood bouncy ball collection exponentially. But his excitement for
thousand-ball bags, at only 10 cents a ball, left him with more rubber trinkets than a single person can do anything with. So he set out to share his childhood love with others. He hit the streets and passed them out to individuals, families and anybody who didn’t seem too frightened. “It helps to give to groups; they are less intimidated—it can be a less threatening situation,” said Grossman-McKee. He even used his collection for intellectual purposes in a high school senior project on the physics of the bouncy ball.
It is easier to pass them out at the University than at home, he conceded, because people here know he is a student and not a random man wandering around. Last year he handed out bouncy balls at Ursa’s on Wednesday nights, but because he lives off campus now, Olin Library and Hilltop Café have become his target areas. “Ursa’s was better because people were hanging out instead of working,” said Grossman-McKee. In the library, he explained, people are not usually
See BOUNCE, page 2
Student site makes cramming easier BY TEDDY WHITE NEWS MANAGER A group of Washington University students are revolutionizing education with the recent launch of their new Web site, Schoology. Schoology provides an online venue where students can share class notes, help each other with classes through online tutoring and make money at the same time. When students join Schoology’s system of virtual education, they have the ability to download the class notes that others have posted on the Web site for free. To provide incentive for students to upload their notes, 90 percent of the Schoology advertising revenue will be distributed to the contributors. “No one is going to post their notes if they are not getting compensated,” said Jeremy Friedman, one of the four juniors who founded the Web site. Schoology uses an algorithm that takes a number of different factors into consideration, including the number of times that a posting of notes is viewed, to determine the distribution of compen-
sation. The notes are rated by readers on a fi ve-star scale, which, according to Friedman, “forces people to upload legitimate, quality notes.” Friedman conceived Schoology’s concept in March 2007, and up to its official launch this past Tuesday, the site has been constantly revised and improved with the help of cofounders Greg Mervine, Ryan Hwang and Tim Trinidad. “We’ve remade the site so many times, each time weeding out components to make it simpler to use,” said Trinidad. Schoology also offers an innovative system of online tutoring, whereby students can sign up to tutor others in various subjects for a self-selected rate that is paid by the minute. Students can contact the tutors through the Web site’s chat system. Past customers rate tutors and customers then decide whether the tutor will provide a worthwhile service. “Students can get a feel for what the tutor knows,” said Hwang. “They can ask basic questions to see if the tutor is really an expert in what they say.”
“I’m Henry VIII I am, I am...” Cadenza reviews “The Other Boleyn Girl,” a medieval chick flick starring everyone’s favorite British king. Cadenza, Page 3
Users of Schoology can add money to a prepaid account, which can be used to pay for tutoring services. The account balance is automatically transferred by the minute to the tutor’s account at the rate that the customer agrees to pay. The customer can end the tutoring session at any time after the fi rst minute so that no additional funds are transferred. Individual tutoring sessions can also be merged together into large group sessions. There are already more than 100 registered tutors available on the Web site, and the founders are pursuing the services of professional
tutors as well. The educational service capabilities of Schoology are not limited to tutoring. Students can use the “job request” feature that allows them to request help for a specific task including math problems and proofreading papers. Another user can provide the job request for a set price, whereupon the customer has the ability to ask for clarifications before either accepting or declining the help. Schoology’s founders credit Burchan Bayazit, professor of computer science and engineering, for helping
See SCHOOLOGY, page 2
COURTESY OF RYAN HWANG
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Although situated in a prime location for Washington University off-campus residence, many Quadrangle Housing apartments are almost 100 years old and in need of renovation and maintenance repairs. Receiving significantly more maintenance requests than Residential Life housing, Quadrangle Housing will enact a new policy on April 1 stating that all maintenance requests will be addressed within 72 hours. “We think the residents that we have deserve that kind of service. We want to make sure we address it to make sure that nothing is falling through the cracks,” said Ralph Thaman, executive vice president and general manager of Quadrangle. Established by the University, Quadrangle Housing is a nonprofit corporation that owns and manages off-campus apartments for student and faculty housing. Quadrangle is independent of Residential Life and its residents receive no Residential Life services. Quadrangle owns over 1,200 apartment units. With this many residents, Thaman said that there will be some who are not satisfied with the maintenance service included in their rent. Junior Katie Seidler said that when her oven in her Quadrangle apartment on Pershing Avenue needed repair, it was fixed in a timely fashion. “When I moved in I did actually ask about the age of the appliances and was told that they were old, but I was ensured that maintenance was covered and they would take care of everything,” said Seidler. “They did it in a very timely fashion.” Seidler, however, said that she had trouble after she requested
maintenance for a larger project, the broken pilot of her water heater. “Maintenance is really the thing that I would complain about, and the quality of work is really not the issue; it’s about the followthrough,” said Seidler. “The issue is communication in terms of follow-through. Sometimes there are projects that aren’t just a one-shot deal. You have to keep pestering them.” Junior Stephen Hmiel, who lives in a different building on Pershing Avenue said that he has experienced similar maintenance issues. He had been missing a window in his apartment since he moved in mid-August. He said that he placed numerous maintenance requests and encountered obstacles until maintenance removed a window from an unoccupied apartment two floors above and installed it in his apartment in the beginning of February. Hmiel also had an issue over winter break when the building lock of his front door broke. “It took them over a week to fix that, which I thought was a glaring error since it was a security issue,” he said. Despite these instances, the most recent survey of Quadrangle Housing residents stated that none of the participants cited any current or ongoing maintenance problems. Thaman said that because of the age of the apartments, maintenance issues are expected. “We have more maintenance calls than you would expect because of the older buildings,” said Thaman. “It certainly is different than Residential Life. Residential Life is primarily in the South 40 which is basically new buildings.” According to Thaman, a customer service area receives the
See QUADRANGLE, page 2
Concealed carry garners student support nationwide BY KAT ZHAO STAFF REPORTER In light of the shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University (NIU), students across the nation have assembled in support of policies for concealed carry of guns on college campuses. The group known as Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC) has garnered more than 18,000 members, becoming the largest non-profit student organization advocating the right to carry concealed guns for safety and security reasons. Some Washington University students, like College Libertarians President Mitchell Port, identify with SCCC’s goals. Port sees support for concealed carry in the Second Amendment. “The right to bear arms is a fundamental right, and being
INSIDE: Cadenza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Forum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
able to protect yourself is extremely important,” said Port. The state of Missouri grants concealed carry licenses, but the University prohibits carrying firearms on its campus, except in the case of licensed police officers of the Washington University Police Department. “Basically, as a private university, [the University] can set its own rules,” said Port. “We think it would be better, and we encourage [the administration] to consider concealed carry.” According to a description on SCCC’s Facebook page, students comprise 90 percent of SCCC’s membership while parents, faculty and others make up the remaining 10 percent. “When we started, it was pretty much just a group on
See CONCEALED, page 2
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