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Vol. XCV No. 1
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A student voice of Saint Louis University since 1919
Thursday, September 3, 2015
Welcome Class of 2019 and returning upperclassmen!
New marketplace is student-
Big box ‘blue and yellow’ comes to Midtown
Ryan Quinn / The University News
IKEA: The IKEA opening on Vandeventer Avenue has the largest solar panel rooftop of any other building in Missouri. By EMILY HIGGINBOTHAM Associate News Editor
For years, the makeup of the Midtown area has consisted largely of various uninhabited, red-bricked buildings that were once a staple of St. Louis industry. However, a new addition to the district has brought not only a vibrant contrast in color, but also a promise of new life and vigor to the chockablock, traditional Midtown scene. After breaking ground
By BALEIGH JORDAN Contriubor
On the dying hours of Oct. 12th, 2014, hundreds of activists gathered in the Shaw neighborhood of St. Louis to march in the names of VonDerrit Myers Jr. and the others, who, like him, had recently suffered controversial deaths. A short trek up Grand Boulevard and a small turn onto SLU’s campus led them directly to the clock tower, a move that sparked a week full of discussion over race and diversity
in June 2014, the 380,000 square-foot IKEA, emblazoned with splashes of bright blue and yellow, will be opening its doors to the public on Sept. 30 at 9 a.m. The furniture and houseware retail chain stands at the corner of Vandeventer Avenue and Forest Parkway, just one block from SLU. Unlike the IKEA locations in neighboring states—both of the Chicago-based Ikea stores are located in suburban areas—St. Louis’ store is centrally situated in the city.
“Reflecting our Swedish heritage, we do not shy away from urban settings where we can implement the IKEA concept without sacrificing the store concept,” said U.S. Public Affairs Manager for IKEA, Joseph Roth. Another reason for a Midtown location, Roth explained, had a lot to do with the involvement of the development group, Cortex Innovation Community, and their vision for the Midtown area. “It represented an op-
issues that exist on campus, in the St. Louis area, and across the nation. “You would have seen students, you would have seen activists and organizers who were not students, some local people, people from around the country, you would have seen faculty members, you would have seen administrators,” said Dr. Jonathan Smith, Special Assistant to the President for Diversity and Community Engagement. “It wasn’t simply a group of people who agreed, but at any given mo-
ment there were … protestors and counter protestors … throughout the week any moment that you walked out to the clock tower you were probably likely to find a discussion between two people who really disagreed.” Smith’s position as Special Assistant to the President was created in response to the occupation of SLU’s campus, and its creation was one stipulation from the Clock Tower Accords- a list of goals created by members of the faculty, staff, administration, and student body
portunity to be part of an exciting and dynamic redevelopment effort in the heart of Midtown St. Louis,” said Roth. In 2002, Cortex was founded with the focus of creating a technology and innovation district in the Forest Park Southeast and Central West End neighborhoods. Since then, the group has completed construction on 1.5 million square-feet of new and rehabilitated space, which has added up to $500 million in development costs. The entire Cortex district is a 200-acre region in the Midtown area. “When the founders looked at the map, they said: ‘Well, the obvious place would be in this area, in this old industrial area between the medical school and SLU.’ And that is where they decided to advance the development plan,” said president and CEO of Cortex, Dennis Lower, who has been with the company since 2010. The decision to start a development in this part of St. Louis was a purposeful one, according to Lower. A specific benefit of developing this area would be to gain from the leverage of these various institutions and their assets. See “IKEA” on Page 3
following the events. “The university was moving on some of those issues, but I think one of the things that the clock tower accords did was to really pull into clear focus some of the things we had been moving on … but now [the accords] pulled us into a position to move on them with a greater sense of urgency,” said Smith. The Special Assistant to the President for Diversity and Community Engagement is meant to shepherd the Clock Tower Accords
made, student-tailored By TIM WILHELM News Editor
Frugality and urgency govern the student marketplace of textbooks, living arrangements and the myriad other items that dominate day-to-day college life. Offsetting these restraints are the stark realities of often exorbitantly priced textbooks, tuition expenses and demanding schedules. Ever resourceful, students are bound to find helpful alternatives, but experience proves that the demands and costs are unrelenting. Shai Hatsor, an MBA student at Washington University, and Tristan Thomas, a SLU junior majoring in mechanical engineering, have, with the help of interns Eyal Ben Abraham, Adi Dommaraju and Tom DePriest, developed Quadzilla, a site that they hope will provide a safe marketplace for students seeking to buy and sell with ease. Thomas, whose interest in entrepreneurship grew through SLU’s Center for Entrepreneurship, met Hatsor, who received his bachelor’s degree in computer science in Israel, at a job fair last May at T-REX, a “coworking space and technology incubator”. Quadzilla has since become the product of a year’s research, development and coding. “My interest comes out
into existence and to make sure that the process of implementing them is as effective and efficient as possible, all while providing a comprehensive and concise vision for increasing SLU’s community engagement and practice of the Oath of Inclusion. That vision also takes inspiration from the Jesuit mission in order to fully engage with the communities around campus, an engagement that includes improving educational systems or investigating health and health disparities in the
of an interest in entrepreneurship,” said Thomas. “What [Hatsor] needed my help with was with what I wanted to get experience in, which is seeing how entrepreneurship really works at a very early stage, which is where we were at the very beginning of the summer ... I mean, it’s been a pretty great learning experience.” For Hatsor, conceptualizing the site (previously called CampusBuzz) involved looking at existing platforms,— such as Craigslist, Facebook and Google Spreadsheets— building off their advantages and compensating for disadvantages, which include potential safety concerns surrounding Craigslist (meeting the vendor in person to complete the transaction); the unstructured, decentralized nature of Facebook groups; and the free-for-all editing capabilities behind Google Spreadsheets. Aiming for consolidation, Hatsor introduced an element of familiarity by limiting the site to St. Louis-area students and preserved what he sees as the safety and functionality of Facebook. His vision was one of “engagement with similar, trustworthy people.” After a survey of 400 Wash U. students revealed a 90 percent approval for See “Quadzilla” on Page 3
surrounding areas. “In many ways, I’ll be concerned with looking at how we, as an institution, can become better at creating an inventory of what it is that we do … so that we are better partners with the communities around us,” said Smith. Both of Smith’s parents were involved with civil rights protests during the ’50s, including the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1956, all of which have influenced See “Assistants” on Page 3