September 12, 2008 Students Watch As God Goes on Trial
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MO ROCCA STUDENTS: GO LOOK, LISTEN, SURF Students raise awareness Politlical satirist protests self, VOTE over social issues and comments on campus con- Michelle Obama looks back on the col- the election, and hold a struction and Sarah Palin. lege days and weighs in on the election process for students. moment of silence for the ONLINE seventh anniversary of the INSIDE PAGE 3 9/11 attacks. PAGE 6 STUDLIFE.COM Sthe independentTUDENT newspaper of Washington University in St. Louis LIFE since eighteen seventy-eight Vol. 130 No. 10 www.studlife.com Friday, September 12, 2008 Students watch as God goes on trial conservative commentator and public look at their own beliefs from a critical WU students speaker Dinesh D’Souza. perspective and are willing to expose Hitchens, who regularly writes col- their beliefs to the fi re of fair criti- watch Hitchens, umns for magazines like Vanity Fair, cism,” Murata said. “The sole purpose The Nation and The Atlantic, wrote is not to get anyone to think a certain D’Souza debate the book “God Is Not Great: How Re- way, although that may happen. The ligion Poisons Everything” last year. ultimate goal is to get people to search deity’s existence The book was a nominee for the 2007 for the reasons why [they] believe National Book Award. what they believe.” D’Souza has also written several The group is dividing its activities Puneet Kollipara best-selling books, including “What’s into three seasons, the fi rst of which News Editor So Great About Christianity.” is called “Is Science at War with Re- MICHELL KNIGHT | STUDENT LIFE “I think the Fixed Point Founda- ligion?” According to Murata, the de- tion’s idea was that we have a lot of bate’s topic made for a perfect opening Washington University students debates on issues but in some sense event. trekked to the Grand neighborhood of this is the underlying issue, the divid- D’Souza argued that Christian- St. Louis on Wednesday night to watch ing line between belief and nonbe- ity explains certain things that a non- a debate of godly proportions. lief, and a lot of other issues spin out religious perspective cannot explain, The Fixed Point Foundation, a of that,” D’Souza told Student Life. including the creation of the universe Students take a stand Christian think tank, hosted “God on “There used to be this kind of debate in and morality. D’Souza also argued for on campus. One of the most popular booths was Trial,” a debate on the existence of a America 100 years ago, but somehow atheism’s responsibility for 20th cen- School organizations This semester, rallies, discussions, that of the Roosevelt Institute: a na- higher being, at the St. Louis Powell it went out of fashion. And so they’re tury totalitarianism and brutality. voter registration tables and speakers tional, student-run, private policy think- Symphony Hall. The Foundation, trying to bring it back.” By contrast, Hitchens argued that encourage political such as Carl Bernstein will constitute tank that tries to generate public policy. which also serves as a teaching re- Several student members of a new a god is not necessary to explain the part of the effort to engage the Washing- Students lined up at the booth to answer source for churches and the religious group on campus, The Forum, attend- origins of the universe and humanity. activism ton University community in the elec- questions about the policies of the two community, intended the debate to ed the debate. According to The Fo- He added that the Christian God and toral process. candidates in exchange for Ted Drewes examine the merits of belief in theism rum’s president, sophomore Stephen religion itself represents tyranny and Sophie Adelman The rally was open to both graduate frozen custard. As participants vied for and Christianity. Murata, the group was organized to exploitation. and undergraduate students, and groups icy treats, they were grilled about for- Representing the atheist perspec- promote discussion among the student Sophomore William Dahl, vice Contributing Reporter were granted free reign to advocate for eign policy, environmentalism and the tive was journalist, commentator, body about important issues while tol- president of The Forum, felt that the their causes in the most creative ways economy. literary critic and prominent atheist erating those of all backgrounds. group’s attendance at the debate was possible. “[The goal is] to get people to start Christopher Hitchens. Representing “Everybody is welcome to come Among smells of spray paint and “We really wanted to give students thinking about what policies they’re vot- the Christian perspective was author, as long as they’re ready and willing to See GOD, page 2 cartons of free Ted Drewes, students an opportunity to show their passions,” ing for, as opposed to what candidates gathered outside the Danforth Univer- Campus Y Director Deb Salls said. they’re voting for,” junior Stephanie sity Center for the Take a Stand Rally: Projects ranged from the elimina- Chalifour, a member of the Roosevelt an afternoon of outreach programs from tion of water bottles on campus to the Institute, said. numerous activist, advocacy and politi- environmental education of elementary In honor of Sept. 11, a moment of cal groups. school children. silence was held after the speeches, but Organized by the Campus Y in con- The event showcased numerous little emphasis was placed on the rally’s junction with the VP Debate Program groups, including the College Demo- relevance to the events of seven years Planning Committee, Student Union crats and Students for Barack Obama, ago, as the rally’s leaders wanted to fo- and the Gephardt Institute for Public which provided T-shirts and spray paint cus on the years to come. Service, the rally was organized to cre- to students so they could create their ate a higher level of political awareness own wearable endorsements. See ACTIVISM, page 2 Med School faulted for nuclear waste disposal Ben Sales treat prostate cancer by washing them radioactivity, but action will be taken Senior News Editor down the sink instead of recovering against those responsible at the discre- them according to protocol. tion of Barnes-Jewish’s administration. The University reported the inci- In addition, relevant staff will receive The Nuclear Regulatory Commis- dent to the commission immediately training on how to manage radioactive sion has fi ned Barnes-Jewish Hospital after it took place. materials and the equipment used in and the Washington University School Although the incident occurred at their handling. of Medicine $3,250 for their inappro- Barnes-Jewish, the University is tak- “Both Washington University priate disposal of nuclear waste last ing joint responsibility because its staff School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish May. oversees the radioactive surgery unit. Hospital are committed to correcting After performing surgery on a pa- Barnes-Jewish will be paying the fi ne. the root causes leading to the loss and JOY WANG | STUDENT LIFE tient on May 7, 2008, employees of The seeds did not constitute a to preventing a similar situation in the On Wednesday night at the Powell Symphony hall, journalist, commentator, literary critic and prominent atheist the Barnes-Jewish Hospital disposed health or safety hazard due to their future,” read a statement by the Medi- Christopher Hitchens (right) and conservative commentator and public speaker Dinesh D’Souza (left) debated the of two radioactive iodine seeds used to short radioactive life and low level of cal School. merits of belief in God or in a higher power. EARLY MORNING CROQUET Three sororities open for fall bids Kelly Fahy “Sororities are not allowed to go Contributing Reporter over 115 unless formal recruitment pushes them over. They aim to start at the 110 to 115 range before going into formal recruitment,” Lucy Mor- This fall, three of the six sorori- lan, coordinator for chapter develop- ties at Washington University have ment in the Greek Life Offi ce, said. chosen to participate in the Univer- After formal recruitment before sity’s fi rst open bidding process to the spring semester, the chapters are increase membership. expected to have 140 to 160 mem- The campus membership quota bers. for each sorority was raised from 90 While the three sororities that to 115 last spring, based on a calcu- chose to participate in the bidding lation of the ideal size for chapters at may be smaller than the others, the the University. sorority member said that the differ- As a result, Alpha Phi, Pi Beta ence in size is due not to popular- Phi and Chi Omega have chosen to ity but to national recruitment stan- have open bidding for sophomores dards. and juniors interested in joining their “Every sorority manages its sororities, according to a sorority numbers differently,” she said. “The member who asked not to be identi- three sororities that decided to take fi ed because she is not authorized to advantage of it did so not because of speak about open bidding. dwindling membership but because The sorority member said that it was a good opportunity to get the open bidding option was open to more sophomores and juniors.” all six sororities, but that the three Morlan added that this also pre- remaining ones—Alpha Epsilon sented sororities with an untradi- Phi, Kappa Kappa Gamma and Del- tional way of attracting members. LUCY MOORE | STUDENT LIFE ta Gamma—chose not to participate “A lot of sororities think ‘this Three recent graduates of Wash. U. played croquet on the grass in front of the Women’s Building on Wednesday. Though fall is approaching, and cooler weather in the process because they were not with it, members of the University community continue to enjoy the warm weather.