STUDENT LIFE
THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF WASHINGTON UNIVERSIT Y IN ST. LOUIS SINCE 1878 Not excited for WILD? Looking to do your Friday night drinking somewhere else? Cadenza has options for you. Page 10.
Forum brings you an all-Emory extravaganza. Read up on WU students’ plans for rivalry, revenge, and other hijinks. Page 4.
VOLUME 127, NO. 11
Check it out! Cadenza unveils two new regular features, “Listen Up!” and “On This Date,” for your reading pleasure. Page 7.
Cadenza staffers check out the drum circle on the Loop in Part 2 of an ongoing feature. Page 8.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2005
WWW.STUDLIFE.COM
Engineering dean to step down By Sarah Kliff and David Tabor News Staff Christopher Byrnes, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, has announced his resignation from that position, effective June 30, 2006. He will continue to teach as the Edward H. and Florence G. Skinner professor in systems science and mathematics and will take a sabbatical during the 2006–’07 academic year. Byrnes has served as dean for 15 years, the third-longest tenure the engineering school has seen in the last century. He led the school through a series of expansions that included the addition of a department of biomedical engineering in 1997, as
well as an environmental engineering science program in 2000. The School of Engineering and Applied Sciences has experienced a dramatic rise in the number of undergraduate applications during Byrnes’ tenure. More than twice as many students applied for admission in 2005 as in 1994. Chancellor Mark Wrighton praised Byrnes’ work during his long tenure as dean. “Chris Byrnes has made lasting contributions to the School of Engineering & Applied Sciences, Washington University and to the greater St. Louis community during his tenure as dean,” said Wrighton. Byrnes’ academic career has
been highlighted by a series of prestigious awards and appointments, and his work has garnered him an international reputation among those in his field. In 2005 he was awarded the W.T. and Idalia Reed Prize, one of the most prominent awards available in the field of differential equations and field theory. William Darby, dean of the engineering graduate school and vice dean of student affairs, described Byrnes’ impact on the school as “phenomenal.” “There have only been eight deans in the history of the engineering school, and I think if you would look at the deans who are going to go down in history of the engineering school, of
PROFESSORS SHAVE HEADS FOR KATRINA RELIEF
the University, of St. Louis and of the field, Chris Byrnes is going to stand near the top of the heap,” said Darby. While Darby was surprised at Byrnes’ resignation, he did see it as a natural progression in his career path. “I think it was a surprise but not a bolt out of the blue,” said Darby. “I think that for some time Dean Byrnes has missed doing research and missed teaching. And if you’re dean you don’t get much time to do that.” Darby noted that Byrnes’ recent Reid Prize recognizing his lifetime achievements could have been a catalyst for the announcement of his resignation. “I think if you receive a life-
time achievement award, you ask if that means I’ve achieved e ve r y t h i n g I want to achieve in my lifetime,” Christopher said Darby. Byrnes “He works with colleagues around the world in Rome, Stockholm and Texas. I think he’s seeing that the opportunity to work with these collaborators is getting smaller and smaller.” Byrnes joined the faculty of Washington University in 1989 as chair of the department of systems science and mathemat-
Mentor program grows By Helen Rhee Staff Reporter
DAVID BRODY | STUDENT LIFE
After having his own bushy hair cropped short, Associate Professor of Mathematics John Shareshian shaves the head of John McCarthy, professor of mathematics, in front of a crowd of 40 students and faculty in Cupples I on Mon., Sept. 19. The professors agreed to have their heads shaved as part of a hurricane relief fundraiser organized by math students that raised $1,885.50. “We kicked Subway’s butt,” said third-year graduate student Brad Henry.
ics after previously teaching at the University of Utah, Harvard University and Arizona State University. He also has held visiting appointments at universities in Europe, Japan and the former Soviet Union. In 1998 the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology awarded Byrnes an honorary doctorate in technology, one of engineering’s highest honors. He is also a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and in 2003 was awarded a best-paper award from that organization. Chancellor Wrighton will soon appoint an advisory committee to begin the search for a successor to Byrnes’ position.
Washington University’s Residential Peer Mentoring program, which places residential tutors in dormitories, has recently expanded to three residential colleges. Freshmen living in the Brookings, Eliot and Crow Residential Colleges can now seek academic help just steps from their front doors. “The first year, the program started in Brookings Residential College. We started off with two residential peer mentors. They were for chemistry and calculus,” said Jill Stratton, assistant dean of students for faculty programs and academic initiatives at the Office of Residential Life (ResLife). “[The] second year, we expanded to Crow Residential College [and] this year we added William Greenleaf Eliot Residential College.” Upperclassmen mentors, who are chosen through a rigorous selection process, live among underclassmen and offer help to freshmen who are taking classes in their areas of expertise. Currently, nine mentors provide assistance in general science courses, mathematics and writing. “There are activities to help you grow personally, but there are also programs to help you grow academically,” said Stratton. “The whole idea of the program was that students
will seek out mentoring work groups [for] convenience.” Stratton emphasized the importance of integrating peer mentoring services into the lives of South 40 residents. “We want to make the Residential Peer Mentoring program the fabric of the South 40 community,” said Stratton. “From the very beginning, freshmen [have been] joining study groups. They have access to the people who can help them enhance their learning.” Mentoring services are only available to freshmen living in these three residential colleges. Although mentors are primarily designed to help freshmen residents in their own residential college, they are available for students who live elsewhere. The program began three years ago with an initiative by Harvey Fields, an assistant director at Cornerstone who has been the forefront of their academic mentoring program. Stratton, who is also responsible for running faculty programs on the South 40, joined with Fields to create a program that would enhance the academic environment within the South 40 residential area. The Residential Peer Mentoring program is one of the ways in which the University has tried to expand the philosophy of community learning throughout the campus. “The Residential Peer Mentoring program is a result of
collaboration between Residential Life and Cornerstone,” said Fields. “It comes out of the primary philosophy of Washington University: We want all of our underclassmen to succeed academically.” ResLife and Cornerstone continue to collaborate on the program today. Cornerstone pays the tutors based on both the hours they put in each week and how many workshops they hold. ResLife takes care of the housing process, allowing mentors to select suites in their designated building before the general housing lottery. According to Fields, a yearend assessment indicated that students who did utilize the Residential Peer Mentoring service really found it helpful. Senior Lindsey Brodell is a second-year residential mentor for the Brookings Residential College. She is responsible for general chemistry and biology. “I personally found it helpful for myself. In order to help other students, I must reiterate the information that I learned from freshman chemistry. It is a great review for the MCAT,” said Brodell. “I think that once you become an upperclassman, you lose the importance of basic science, but mentoring has allowed me to relate the importance of basic science to advanced science.” “They can’t escape from getting help,” she said.
Emory, WU officials make light of rivalry By Mandy Silver Contributing Editor Both Emory University and Washington University administrators are chalking up this weekend’s incidents to unrefined college humor rather than vandalism. Washington University’s Assistant to the Chancellor, Steve Givens, and Emory’s Vice President and Deputy to the President, Gary Hauk, have confirmed brief and informal discussions between the two schools about the initiation of a “special rivalry.” “The proposal for the socalled ‘Department of War’ came up last spring,” Hauk said. “It was proposed by the president-elect, now Student Government Association (SGA) president. His idea was something we felt we wanted to support to try to generate spirit on campus.” When asked his opinion concerning the Department of War’s “attack” on the University’s campus, Hauk reprimanded Emory students for their lack of creativity rather than the act itself. “Whenever I’ve tried to talk about pranks or practical jokes with students, I’ve tried
to suggest that there are ways to do those [pranks] that are imaginative, creative, intelligent and suggest the high intelligence of college students, rather than merely the low intelligence of pranksters,” Hauk said. Givens, though less lighthearted than Hauk, expressed a similar opinion of the events. “We don’t view it as vandalism—it’s prankish,” Givens said. “If they had painted on a wall we don’t normally paint on, that would be something different. This is something we will overlook.” While Hauk and Givens both viewed the rivalry as a positive addition to campus spirit, they had different thoughts on the “war” terminology that students have used. “We haven’t heard of anyone around here who is interested in continuing this ‘war.’ We don’t like the whole imagery of war anyway,” Givens said. “War is a little strong.” Like Givens, Hauk endorsed the idea of beginning a rivalry, but he was unenthusiastic about the SGA’s choice of creating a “Department of War.”
“When [SGA President Amrit Dhir] mentioned that he wanted to call this the Department of War both President Wagner and I tried to deter him from using that nomenclature because we are in the middle of a war,” Hauk said. “Men and women are dying— men and women the same age as many students. It seemed to be in some ways a tactless approach to what could be a fairly spirited and otherwise harmless endeavor.” Yesterday afternoon, University Police Chief Don Strom said that a police report had not been filed with WUPD regarding the painting of the underpass. However, if a report were to be filed, he noted, those involved could face significant consequences. “Depending [on] who is involved, there’s a number of options that could be pursued,” Strom said. “If it was someone affiliated with our campus, it could range from the Judicial Administrator to a prosecutor in an off-campus setting. If it was somebody involved from another university setting, we could work a similar process with them.”
DAVID HARTSTEIN | STUDENT LIFE
Off the Row, a student-run business on campus, took a cue from the war with Emory in its advertisement along the underpass. At the top of the advertisement, Off the Row claims, “Emory was my safety school.”