Accidental Alert Activation Causes Student Concern
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the independent newspaper of Washington University in St. Louis since 1878 VOLUME 134, NO. 38 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013 WWW.STUDLIFE.COM MORE OSCARS BROOM CLOSET BEER CLUB The final Up close and personal with the installment Washington University band (Cadenza, pg 7) (Scene, pg 10) MEN’S BASKETBALL (Sports, pg 5) Accidental alert 10TH ANNUAL WASHINGTON WEEK activation causes student concern Resulting confusion raises questions of campus emergency preparedness MICHAEL TABB EDITOR-IN-CHIEF happen if it wasn’t fake.” “We heard the sirens going off Wednesday morning’s false in class but just thought they were emergency announcement left some building alarms,” sopho- students confused and worried more Sydney Kapp said. “I didn’t after a staff member taking an have my phone or email open in online test set the system off by class, so I didn’t get a notification accident. that there was an emergency until An undisclosed Washington much later. It’s a little disconcert- University employee was taking a ing that I was so unaware because computer-based test to check her it might be bad if it were real.” knowledge of the school’s year- The University’s emergency old Alertus emergency response sirens went off at about 10:28 system when she accidentally a.m., and the “all clear” signal switched out of the test and sent was sent at around 10:31 a.m. out a real university-wide alert. Some students did not receive Within 90 seconds, sirens were email alerts until after 10:50 a.m. MICHAEL TABB | STUDENT LIFE going off across each Washington The school’s emergency web- A horse-drawn carriage waits outside the Danforth University Center in celebration of George Washington Week. University campus. While the site temporarily crashed due to The week of programming in honor of the University’s namesake was first held in 2003, coinciding with the Univer- “all clear” signal was sent only an influx of visitors. sity’s 150th anniversary. The carriage rides were sponsored by sophomore honorary Lock and Chain. two minutes and 15 seconds later, “It’s hard to say this now, but it the text message and email alerts, really was beneficial in the long which a third party releases peri- run,” Steven Givens, associate odically over about half an hour, vice chancellor for public affairs, arrived to students at differ- said. “We learned a lot today… Approaching SU elections face ent times and sometimes in the most importantly that our web- wrong order—informing people site couldn’t handle that amount of a campus threat after they of traffic at one time.” lack of candidates, empty seats were told everything was safe. “We can start reacting to that “I was freaked when I got and put a better system in place,” NEWS STAFF “The last two SU execs have be responsible for, which is a lot the texts [that] there was an Givens added. been uncontested, and their level of of money. There’s a lot to do with emergency,” sophomore Masha Outside the website malfunc- Campaigning for Student Union productivity, in my opinion, hasn’t it and a lot of opinion in the office Popelyukhina said. “I heard the tion, every other part of the elections begins on Monday but been any different from the slates about when to use it and how to do sirens and got them in the right University’s emergency alert sys- only one slate has declared inter- when they were once contested,” so, and students should know where order, but…I do think it’s impor- tem worked properly, said Matt est for executive positions—and the Nicks said. “These are very serious their officers stand in terms of that tant that all these things function Arthur, director of incident com- slate has yet to find all necessary roles and big time commitments, so money. When you run opposed, no well in case there is a real emer- munication solutions. members. as long as the people who decide one really cares about your opin- gency, which could easily be the The school’s email, text The slate, headed by presiden- ultimately to do it are ready for the ion on what to do with the money case. I think this little fake emer- tial candidate and current Vice time commitment that it takes, it because they don’t really have a gency opened eyes to what could SEE ERROR, PAGE 3 President of Administration, junior can be an excellent exec.” choice,” she added. Matt Re, has not yet selected a But 2010-11 SU President DeBaun said recent internal candidate for Vice President of Morgan DeBaun, whose Open changes to SU might be potential EMERGENCY AT-A-GLANCE Finance. Slate beat Nate Ferguson’s Bold causes of decreased interest in exec- 90 SECONDS If another slate does not run, it Slate three years ago, argued that an utive positions. will be the third uncontested exec uncontested slate is likely to run a “I ran for president because I had Time for all sirens to race in a row. less powerful campaign. control over the budget, and I knew activate Current SU President, senior “I think the fact that these teams there were things I wanted to do Julian Nicks said that if the vice aren’t up against any competition with that. That’s a rule that’s now president of finance position on will definitely affect how they run,” been changed. Now the old team 2 MINUTES, 15 SECS the running slate is not filled before she said. “The point of an election writes the budget rules for the new Time until all-clear campaigning begins on Monday, is to give students a voice and so team,” she said. “It’s made a pretty the Constitutional Council will have they can feel empowered to make big impact and might be why some to decide how to proceed. a change. When there is a choice, people don’t want to run. It’s as if ~30 MINUTES Nicks said competition in the people are forced to take sides and George Bush was writing the plan election is not indicative of a suc- make judgment calls, and the opin- for [Barack] Obama to use—it just Time until student cessful SU executive slate. He was ions and decisions that the team has doesn’t make much sense. I think notification complete the only student to run for SU to make must be explicit.” ! President for this year. “SU has roughly $2 million to SEE SU, PAGE 2 Agent who brought PSY to America talks networking JOANNA YOON building relationships that have Ziyi Zhang and director Ang Lee. a particularly magnanimous per- which he shared his life story. CONTRIBUTING REPORTER been crucial to both his career and When security blocked Lee, he pre- son to those around him. Growing “When I was looking for an personal life. Lee, who moved to tended he could not speak English up in Seattle, he would frequently internship last summer, I realized I Despite Time magazine’s America at the age of two, mainly and went into the ceremony. deliver his mother’s home-baked was networking for one purpose— “D-” grade for Korean pop artist works as a middleman bringing That night, the foreign film won cookies to neighbors. to secure something. But that didn’t PSY’s “Wonderful Pistachios Get foreign artists to America. He also the Oscar for Best Art Direction. When Lee’s father developed a feel right. [Lee], albeit through TV, Crackin’” 2013 Super Bowl com- owns a restaurant in Seoul that At the after party, Lee met the brain tumor five years ago, he was inspired me to think about long- mercial, “Gangnam Style” was one opened three months ago. Sony executive who would set the treated immediately because of term relationships rather than of the most popular songs of 2012. Lee’s involvement in the enter- stage for the rest of his career. help from Lee’s friend Tom Sherak, focusing on short-term goals, as And with more than 1.3 billion tainment industry began somewhat Lee said his successful intro- a partner at Revolution Studios and well as generously giving to oth- views, it is the most viewed video spontaneously. He was travelling duction of PSY to American pop an active sponsor of fundraising ers without expecting anything in in the history of YouTube. after he graduated college and culture was not the result of his for multiple sclerosis research and return,” Sull said. Kyu Lee, the agent behind the happened to be in Los Angeles business acumen but of his con- therapy. With the help of the Korean South Korean singer’s success, the same week as the Academy nections with professionals in the “It is good to make those rela- Student Association and Alpha spoke to Washington University Awards. When his friend invited industry. Braun, for instance, is tionships now because it is better Kappa Psi, Sull was able to bring students on Monday night about him over to watch the award show, a good friend of comedian Kevin to ask friends than strangers, and Lee to the University. He hoped his experience in the entertainment he decided to go see it live instead. Hart. As a result, PSY appeared friends are able to help you bet- students would “take back a fresh industry. As the founder and CEO “We are in LA. Why don’t we go at the 2012 MTV Video Music ter because they know you more. perspective on how to best prepare of Kino 33 Entertainment in Los and watch it? Why do we have to Awards, which Hart hosted.