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n Low attendance numbers con-

cern SU Treasury

By Dan DaranciangStaff Reporter

Last week the Student Union (SU) Treasury called in Barbara Rea to defend the Assembly Series against out-right cancellation or a severe reduction in funding due to an apparent lack of student interest in the program.

Rea, director of major projects and special events, is in charge of the logistics for the Assembly Series, a weekly series of lectures that has brought speakers such as New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, author Salman Rushdie and political commentator Ann Coulter to campus. Rea is the pivotal person through which stu-dent groups bring speakers to campus. After screening their requests, she refers the groups to the SU Treasury to hammer out a budget.

“We get a very, very generous allocation that has been very constant over the years,” Rea told the SU Treasury on Oct. 19.

However, SU has recently grown concerned about low student attendance at the lectures, which are scheduled at 11 a.m. every Wednesday, a time when many classes are in session. SU also believes that a lack of effective ad-vertising for the series is to blame for poor attendance.

SU Treasury minutes show that each speaker has cost Washington University several thousands of dollars.

Although no decision was made at the Oct. 19 meet-ing regarding the Assembly Series’ budget, the issue remains open for discussion.

By interrogating Rea, SU appeared to be seeking blame for what have been seen as ongoing problems with low attendance and mismanagement of the events by the student groups that choose to sponsor speakers.

Sophomore Judson Clark, budget committee co-chair, asked Rea whether she had observed a downturn in at-tendance. Rea said that while hard numbers do not exist,

SU considers withdrawing Assembly Series funding

n Danforth expressed con-

cerns to president before

accepting appointment

By Mary BruceNews Editor

On Friday night the newly-appointed ambassa-dor to the United Nations (U.N.), John C. Danforth, spoke at Graham Chapel on the importance of the U.N. and its relationship to the United States. Speaking to an audience of students and faculty, family and friends, guests of the chancellor and members of the media, Danforth discussed the multilateral condition of the United States in the

context of the war in Iraq. Before President Bush appointed him as an

ambassador to the U.N. on July 1 of this year, Danforth served as the U.S. senator of Missouri for 18 years and, more recently, as a law partner with Bryan Cave LLP, an international law fi rm based in St. Louis.

While speaking at Washington University, Dan-forth discussed the importance of the U.N. and his belief in U.S. multilateralism.

“I believe in an engaged foreign policy for the United States, and I believe in the United Nations,” said Danforth.

Although he exhibited unwavering support for the U.N., Danforth was quick to point out the res-ervations he had in taking the job and his under-standing of how many Americans today may ques-tion the multilateral position of the U.S. Danforth called attention to the fl aws of the U.N. as well as its overlying benefi ts as an institution.

Danforth told a story that showed both the current administration’s faith in the U.N. and his previous doubts about its role.

According to Danforth, when formally asked by the president to accept his current position, he “said to him, ‘Mr. President, the word on you is that you want to go it alone and that you don’t re-ally believe very much in the United Nations and I would like to ask you, before I accept this position, your feeling on this.’ I didn’t want to waste a day of my life doing something that he thought was ir-relevant,” explained Danforth.

Danforth said the president assured him that the U.S. “can’t win war against terror without” the U.N.

Having affi rmed his confi dence in the U.N., Danforth discussed the importance of the U.N.’s peacekeeping function and his hopes for future peace in Sudan.

He said the U.N. can and should play a pivotal role in achieving peace in Sudan.

“If the world walked away from the Sudan, it would very likely result in chaos again,” said Dan-forth.

Ambassador Danforth discusses U.S. multilateralism, United Nations

The Bears defeated Carnegie Mellon 21-16 at home on Oct. 23. With this win, the team captured its fourth consecutive UAA crown title.

DAVID BRODY | STUDENT LIFE

Jack Danforth speaks at Graham Chapel on Oct. 22 of the genocide in Sudan and the challenges of multilateralism.


See DANFORTH, page 2

Liberal political commentator and author Arianna Huffi ng-ton speaks as part of the Assembly Series on Sept. 15. SU is considering cutting its funding of the speakers series.


See FUNDING, page 2

M O N D A YOCT. 25, 2004V o l . 1 2 6 , N o . 2 3

Sunny72° / 54°

w w w. s t u d l i f e . c o m

INSIDEINSIDE

Four for four: the Bears defeat Carnegie Mellon

University to take their fourth

UAA football championship in as

many years.

PAGE 5

What do you think about the

new Greek alcohol policy?

Forum has two sides of the story.

PAGE 4

Trick or treat: Scene has your

guide to all things Halloween

– everything from candy to

costumes.

PAGE 8

News ForumSportsClassifi edsScene

INDEX

13568

887

ELECTION COUNTDOWNDAYS UNTIL ELECTION DAY

DAYS UNTIL THE INAUGURATION

PRESIDENTIAL RACE: WHO HAS THE EDGE?

49%48%

BUSH-CHENEY

KERRY-EDWARDS

Source: ABC News daily tracking poll of likely voters, taken Oct. 20-23; see abcnews.com.

SU: Students silenced in alcohol debateBy David Tabor and Liz NeukirchContributing Editor and Senior News Editor

A Student Union resolution passed at Wednesday’s Senate meeting condemned the approach taken by the Greek Life Offi ce in deciding to issue the recent mora-torium on alcohol at fraternity-related events. The resolution criticized the Greek Life Offi ce for failing to consult with relevant student leadership before issu-ing its decision and called on it to do so before making signifi cant policy changes in the future.

The resolution noted that the Greek Life Offi ce had contacted neither the leadership of the Greek com-munity nor the University Alcohol Committee before making the decision. Each of those bodies, the resolu-tion argued, exists in part to facilitate cooperation and discussion between students and administrators on policy matters.

The resolution also noted that Student Union had been “approached and involved with similar changes in alcohol policy in the past.” However, they were not contacted about the recent ban before the decision was made.

“We have these safeguards for students to be in-volved at the highest levels of the decision-making process,” said sophomore Aaron Keyak, the Arts & Sciences senator who sponsored the resolution. “When parts of the administration…don’t involve students, that doesn’t speak highly of the type of community that the administration claims to want to have.”

Keyak noted that one of the reasons he decided to attend Washington University was that he “understood that they took the student voice seriously.”

“With this kind of unilateral decision-making, it’s hard to take [that] seriously,” he said.

Director of Greek Life Karin Johnes and Director of Campus Life Jill Carnaghi were unable to be contacted for comments Sunday afternoon.

Junior Pamela Bookbinder, speaker of the Senate, noted that the resolution addressed the Greek Life Offi ce’s decision-making process, not the actual deci-sion.

“We didn’t say ‘what you did banning alcohol is wrong.’ What this resolution is saying is that ‘they way you went about this is wrong’ by not consulting any students,” said Bookbinder.

The resolution came at the end of a lengthy Sen-ate meeting dominated by discussion of the alcohol moratorium. With Karin Johnes, director of Greek Life, absent from the meeting, however, much of the discus-sion lacked administrative response.

“We just thought that it’s not necessarily appropri-ate for us to come to a decision whether alcohol should be banned or not,” said Bookbinder, noting Johnes’ ab-sence. “We really couldn’t get any more answers.”

Bookbinder then explained that, given this fact, the Senate felt that commenting on process would be more appropriate than commenting directly on the ban.

See ALCOHOL, page 2

Excerpts from the

Senate’s resolution:

“THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, the Student Union Senate of Washington University demands that the Greek Life Offi ce consult the appropriate bodies of the student government, including the Greek Community and this body, when making signifi cant policy changes,

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that such disregard for the institutionalized safeguards, which include signifi cant student representation, shall be avoided in the future.”

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