STUDENT LIFE
THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF WASHINGTON UNIVERSIT Y IN ST. LOUIS SINCE 1878 Washington University students are continually distracted by electronic devices—and that may not be a bad thing. More in Forum. Page 4.
Baseball continues its phenomenal season, moving to 17-4, while softball suffers three losses to the College of St. Scholastica. Page 6.
VOLUME 127, NO. 66
It’s not just at Wash. U. that politicians are using the Facebook to campaign—now state race candidates are doing so, too. Page 4.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29, 2006
Over 150 pounds of food wasted during Sunday brunch
WWW.STUDLIFE.COM
SU televises candidates’ debate By Ben Sales Staff Reporter
GEORGE GENNIS | STUDENT LIFE
v Hybrid Living Group challenges students to cut down on wasteful eating habits By Josh Hantz Associate Reporter Students who went to Center Court’s brunch Sunday may have noticed something out of the ordinary when they put their trays on the conveyor belt. Hybrid Living Committee members were scraping all the leftovers into trash cans to weigh the amount of food wasted per person. This endeavor is part of the Hybrid Living Committee’s (HLC’s) “challenge” to the South 40 to reduce waste. On Sunday, the waste totaled 158 pounds, or more than a quarter ounce per person. “We are calling it a challenge,” said HLC Co-Chair Alex Lowenstein, a sophomore. “We’re asking people to take a look in an upfront, conscious way about how they eat.” The program is also an experiment. “It’s more so a question than anything else,” said sophomore HLC CoChair Debra Stern. “We’re thinking about mass amounts. There are so many people. We want to see what’s going on.” Throughout Sunday’s brunch, HLC’s staff monitored the conveyor belt, scraping leftover food into garbage cans and weighing it on a scale. They then divided the total weight by the 629 customers served during that time to get the amount of food wasted per person. Certain items were not counted toward the total weight, including liquids, napkins and other paper products, and mostly-eaten fruit. But that didn’t stop the numbers from piling up. “Think about how much you waste, just the amount,” said Stern. “Maybe [the wasted food of] an individual isn’t that big, but together it is.”
See LEFTOVERS, page 3
Above: The PerSUnal slate candidates, from left: sophomore Neil Patel (president), junior Bobby Jones (vice president), sophomore Aaron Robinson (treasurer) and freshman Jessica Wasserman (secretary). Right: The Perspective slate candidates, from left: sophomore Paul Moinester (president), junior Jason Lewis (treasurer) and sophomore Susan Land (secretary). GEORGE GENNIS | STUDENT LIFE
‘Black Lights White Tees’ party organizers seek to create interracial remix on campus v Sigma Chi joins ABS and Kappa Alpha Psi to promote interracial interaction By Marla Friedman Associate Reporter Sigma Chi will regain their house this fall after a two-year hiatus, and they are already involved in pioneering a new group on campus. The brothers have worked with Kappa Alpha Psi, a black fraternity, and the Association of Black Students to create an organization called
“The Solution.” The groups started the organization last semester with the following mission statement: “The Solution exists to provide an outlet to cross racial boundaries by creating different constructive environments—such as parties, community service and forums—to foster these relationships.” Sophomore Joseph Brown, a member of Sigma Chi, came up with the idea to start the organization. He attended a diverse high school and is upset at the absence of interaction among races at Washington University. After being one of the only white students at many Association of Black Students (ABS) parties, Brown was inspired to
create settings that will foster intermingling between races on campus. “We want to help people extend themselves and get outside their comfort zone,” said Brown. “We will start social settings so that people feel more comfortable with other races and will continue that trend throughout other social settings so that more people will go to events like ABS parties.” Raumesh Akbari, president of ABS, agrees that students need to embrace events with people outside of their usual crowd. “This is an issue that we feel has always been a prob-
See BLACK LIGHTS, page 3
Mosaic Whispers set to celebrate its 15th birthday with 40 alumni By Shweta Murthi Staff Reporter With five-hour rehearsals every night and a brand new song set, the Mosaic Whispers, Washington University’s oldest co-ed a cappella group, is preparing for its biggest gig yet this weekend. This year, the group’s annual Splash of Color concert will feature a special alumni reunion of over 40 people in celebration of its 15th anniversary. Mosaic Whispers was cofounded by Josh Einsohn and Dan Newman in 1991 to break free from traditional a cappella music and has since increased its repertoire to over seven albums of pop, country, oldies and classic rock songs. “This year we have 40-something alumni coming back and performing,” said junior Aaron Lewis, group coordinator
Will electronic books supplant good ol’ print media? Cadenza has the answers. See Page 10.
for the Mosaic Whispers. “We have people coming back all the way from China.” Lewis was excited about the new song set, which includes a variety of songs from Coldplay to the Eagles to the theme song from the Sopranos. This year, the group used the theme “Whispers Gone Wild” in their advertisements for Splash of Color. “We were trying to pick something that referred to a little bit of party atmosphere, since it’s our 15th birthday party, while at the same time something that’s a lot of fun and that can have little video clips to move the concert along,” said Lewis. Einsohn, who graduated from Washington University in 1994, is using this concert to coordinate all the alumni who are visiting and arrange them into groups to sing for the Sat-
urday night performance. “The alumni were especially flattered and excited to get to come back,” said Einsohn. “It’s like a big family.” Einsohn fondly remembers his three years with the Whispers. “My favorite memory was the first time that we were asked to perform at Green Eggs and Jam—the annual Greenleafs concert,” said Einsohn. “It was the first time we had performed for a large audience. Nobody was really expecting a lot from us, but we did a really good job which was exciting.” Like its founders, the Whispers’ new recruits are also looking forward to the concert. “I am looking forward to performing for my mom because she’s never heard us sing before,” said freshman
Jennifer Gross. “I’m also excited to hear one of my favorite songs, ‘Only in Dreams,’ being performed.” An alumni brunch is held each year following the concert weekend, where past and present members can recall Mosaic Whispers memories. “Everyone gets up and tells stories,” said Lewis. “That’s the moment that you really feel that you’re part of something that’s a lot larger than your four years at Wash. U.” The Splash of Color 2006 will be held on Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in Graham Chapel. Tickets for the concerts can be purchased all week at Mallinckrodt and Wohl Center as well as at the door. Other groups participating include the Amateurs, the Pikers, After Dark, the Greenleafs and the improv group Mama’s Pot Roast.
In an effort to bring their upcoming elections to a greater part of the student body, Student Union televised Monday’s executive officer debates on WUTV. “It is part of our effort to do more outreach,” said Student Union (SU) President David Ader. “We get the information out there so students can make decisions on their own. People can attach a face to a name.” The debate began with a five-minute introduction by SU Election Commissioner Jordan Katz, who moderated the event. The proceedings then moved to the presidential debate, where Neil Patel of the “PerSUnal” slate squared off with “Perspective” slate candidate Paul Moinester. Patel, a Treasury representative from the College of Arts and Sciences, advocated PerSUnal’s slogan of “Communicate on Campus through Clarity” in his responses, stressing the need for improvement in SU’s dealings with the student body. “I think SU is clicking on a lot of the right cylinders internally,” said Patel. “Our focus is on SU externally. The relationship between the student government and the individual students is of significant importance to us.” Patel said that this included more social programming for the entire student body, as well as increased personal contact between SU’s executives and their constituents. “This really involves getting out of the building and talking to students,” said Patel. “Right now the Student Union offices are... kind of far off from anywhere students would go. In order to get the opinions of students, what we need to do is get out there and be very active.” Moinester, who now serves as Speaker of the South 40, focused on different issues, specifically mentioning the need for greater sustainability in campus facilities. “I really want to work on putting our school on the path to sustainability,” said Moinester, an environmental studies major. “I really want to try to use innovative ways to do so.” Moinester said that this initiative entailed a more comprehensive relationship with the administration in order to examine sustainability on a long-term level. “As president, I would have the opportunity to work with the administration on a closer basis, to make sure that the larger issues are discussed,” said Moinester. “Sustainability is the next technology on campus, and I really hope that the school doesn’t miss the boat.” Following the presidential debate, the candidates for vice president, treasurer and secretary were given chances to discuss their ideas, as well as time to answer questions from a student audience. While each of the candidates focused on their respective positions in their statements, most followed slate lines. “This is somewhat of an apathetic school,” said unopposed PerSUnal vice
presidential candidate and Filmboard member Bobby Jones, continuing Patel’s focus on the student body. “We do not have the school spirit that would be ideal. You just do not see the togetherness. We would like to approach [that] as something we want.” PerSUnal’s candidate for treasurer, current Treasury representative Aaron Robinson, continued in the same vein, advocating what he called a “PerSUnal fund,” or a Treasury fund for individual students to create campus-wide programming. “I want to take the student budget and make it readable and understandable to anyone who cares about it,” said Robinson. “The Student Activities Fee should be focused on students.” Jessica Wasserman, who rounded out the PerSUnal slate as its candidate for secretary, stressed reaching out to students and student groups through more effective and widespread communication. “People do not know the reason why Student Union does a lot of things,” said Wasserman, who currently serves as the external vice president for the freshman class. “We need to be proactive in telling people certain things. That way we increase the trust between people and keep communication open.” Perspective’s candidates, on the other hand, spoke more of internal review of SU, as evident in the remarks of Jason Lewis, the slate’s candidate for treasurer. “It seems that the SU executive board has held their spending standards to a different standard than the student groups,” said Lewis, who currently serves as the junior class treasurer. “I want to make the standards equal across the board, to hold us to the same standards that we hold you.” Susan Land, a senator from the School of Art who is running as Perspective’s candidate for secretary, highlighted internal improvement with her emphasis on innovation in design as a way to improve SU’s relationship with the rest of campus. “Through my experience with graphic design and advertising I can best serve this position,” she said. “The secretary should not only communicate through advertising but also through relationships. In being able to bring the two together you can best serve as secretary.” Although both slates presented very different visions, SU’s current executives were pleased with the debates. “[Televising the debates] is something that should be done every year,” said SU Speaker of the Treasury Harsh Agarwal. “The candidates all touched on the key issues, and it was good to hear that up front.” Ader seconded Agarwal’s comments, and spoke of the slates’ differences as a positive. “[The candidates] definitely bring something different to the table,” said Ader. “Which one is better, or which one Student Union needs more, is up to the students to decide.”