THE;.,LA\AlRENTIAN Vol. CXXV, No. 2 LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY'S STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1884 WWW.LAWRENTIAN.COM Inside Beck encourages political engagement Emily Gonzalez tion that typically emphasizes "the ers," as well as general News Editor major." research that indicates Emily Passey Beck also cited Provost and Dean the more students dis­ A&E Op/Ed Editor of the Faculty David Burrows' recent cuss political issues In the first convocation for the essay in which he discussed lib­ outside of class, the 2007-2008 Lawrence University eral education's goal of transform­ more likely they will Convocation Series, President Jill ing "autonomous people" into those ultimately vote on Beck discussed the urgent need who are "skilled and engaged" and Election Day. for political activism in students capable of making "informed deci­ To contribute to and the community in her speech, sions." the growing trend of "Educating Citizens, Supporting Students' Political Engagement and Getting out the Vote." Beck began by addressing the problem of the increasing political apathy among the general public, Happy accidents grace the particularly among youth. She ques­ tioned whether Lawrence, as a liberal walls at Wriston. arts college, has "lived up" to the Photo by Nick Olson (Upper Right) President Beck spoke on political engagement in her first >>seepage 7 goal of promoting both politically convocation address of the year. (Lower left) Associate Professor of active leaders and "just citizens" in History Edmund Kem and Professor of Music Howard Niblock. the community. Indeed, Beck stated that she is According to Beck, research "not interested in your choice of FEATURES shows that only around one-third candidate," so much as she encour­ of the general public follows public resourc ­ es, Beck ages that everyone become more affairs regularly and that among politically informed. students ages 18-24 this rate is even announced the imple­ Beck also announced that she lower. will be leading a seminar course in However, Beck also acknowledged mentation of How then can the Lawrence com­ My Election Decision, a new Web site both the winter and spring terms of that students frequently devote time 2008, called "President's Seminar." to local community work, something munity encourage "issue-oriented" designed by a team from Lawrence voters? Especially since elections are led by Arno Damerow, instructional The goal of the seminar, as Beck they see as making a "tangible" dif­ stated, is for students "to become ference, as opposed to government nearing, Beck noted, "What kinds of technologist for ITS, and a team political engagement can we expect from the University of California at informed about what [their fellow] or political involvement, which they Lawrentians feel are their priori­ generally view as more distant. from independent-minded people?" Irvine. Beck offered several solutions to The site, which will begin this ties, [and) become more multi-issue Beck suggested that another pos­ students." sible reason for the lack of political these questions, many of which she fall, is intended to help voters better intends to put to use this year. The understand the issues in the 2008 The class, a university course, awareness among students is that will consist of 12 students who will Getting to know Professor president observed that a growing election. It will also organize state­ college facul ty "receive little incen­ come together with Beck to discuss tive for going outside of their [own) number of popular websites have ments and points of view without Bertrand Goldgar. been produced for young voters, mention of specific candidates or and learn about the national issues areas" by discussing political issues at the heart of the 2008 presidential >>seepage 2 in class. such as Rock the Vote, MoveOn.org, parties. Although the site remains and Declare Yourself. "blind" through its presentation of campaign and issues that are impor­ In light of these issues, Beck tant to Lawrence groups. questioned how we should fit "the Beck quoted recent studies that unbiased material, students may still education of citizens in our com­ show how these sites are increas- discuss their choices of candidates SPORTS munity" into a liberal arts educa- ingly "necessary to reach young vot- with others through online forums. See Convo on page 3 (OnStrudiOn Update Katy Hillbo for the committee, "The campus Lawrence thinks U-CAN StaffWriter Center Should be for Students, by Deborah Nixon vices, graduates, academics, credit The campus center construction students." for The Lawrentian transfers, and student life. site gives the impression that the Even though the design for A special link outlines a list of campus center is part of the earth the campus center has long been Lawrence University has recently activities and facilities unique to a itself. decided, the committee is still find­ joined hundreds of private colleges school. For Lawrence, this list includes The foundations are integrated ing ways to keep students involved. and universities participating in a Freshman Studies and Bjorklunden. so tightly into the surrounding land­ They are planning an informational new website created as a helpful col­ Concerns about a school's sur­ scape that the construction looks session for freshmen that will allow lege search resource for prospective roundings are settled through links Football gets a win over more like a natural phenomenon them to become more acquainted students. · to the school's campus security mea­ Illinois College. than the $35 million man-made proj­ with the new campus center and its The National Association of sures and current security report. A progress so far. Details, including >>seepage 8 ect that it actually is. The steps are Independent Colleges and Universities link to information on the surround­ literally carved into the clay at the lighting styles, have yet to be decid­ launched the site, called the University ing community, such as the Oty of bottom of the site, and the founda­ ed and will involve student input. and College Accountability Network, Appleton website, is also provided. tion and first level look as if they are Students are also encouraged to Sept. 26. The website, www.ucan­ U-CAN differs from sites like the growing out of the dirt. attend an official concrete-pouring network.org, features information on College Board online search through Weather However, the campus center did event for the campus center, which hundreds of private colleges and uni­ its use of charts depicting the data, not simply spring out of the ground; will be held Oct. 18 at 10:30 a.m. and versities across the United States. rather than simply listing the vari­ it is finally becoming a reality after will include party favors. The event Lawrence is one of the current ous statistics. This method allows 19 years of planning. will be held on Lawe Street, across 440 profiles provided; another 150 students to take a quicker glance at According to senior Nathan from the garden. are expected to be added this week. a school. Litt, member of the Campus Center As well as being sensitive to stu­ Profiles are added as each school U-CAN's outside links, which are Planning Committee, "other projects, dents' opinions, those involved with provides its information. not provided on College Board, also ~ like the conservatory, the renova­ the planning and construction of Each profile contains statistical help students navigate a school's tions of Youngchild Hall and Science the campus center are aware of the information on the respective school website, a task which can be compli­ ~ impact that the campus center will concerning admissions, enrollment, cated and time-consuming. ~I I I I Hall and the construction of Hiett" were deemed to be immediately nec­ have on the environment. Because tuition, most popular majors, stu­ The links concerning a school's Partly cloudy on Saturday essary and consequently "the prior­ of this, Lawrence University is in line dent diversity, and student gradua­ surrounding area are also unique, as and T-showers on Sunday. ity of the campus center moved." for the silver Leadership in Energy tion percentage. most college searches focus almost Once the campus center became and Environmental Design (LEED) Only one written paragraph is exclusively on the campus, but over­ Saturday the main focus, committees were certificate. displayed at the top of each school's look the community as a whole. The campus center project coor­ page, allowing prospective students Erickson emphasized the help­ IHigh 81 formed to meet with the archi­ tects, Uihlein-Wilson Architects of dinator, Lynn Hagee, explained, "We to glance through data without having fulness of the links provided on the llow 65 Milwaukee and KSS Architects of will try to use materials in a 150- to read biased paragraphs. "It's a very U-CAN profiles, particularly "What Wind: S at 15 mph Princeton, N.J. mile radius. 60,000 cubic yards of clear-cut way to find out about colleg­ Makes Us Special," a link which is The committees collaborated soil were removed from the site, es," said Lawrence Assistant Director especially important to the admis­ Sunday with President Beck, trustees, alumni and we're going to reuse the top­ of Admissions Chuck Erickson. "It sions process. IHigh 78 and campus representatives. Most soil. The old bridge will be crushed gets through the glitz." "Lawrence is not a big fan of to create walkways. Also, we saved llow 62 importantly, they worked with stu­ If students want to look beyond rankings. It's another way to capture dents in order to find out what they house bricks from Hulbert House. the many charts and graphs, the what Lawrence is like," said Erickson. Wind: SSW at 11 mph would like to get out of the new This helped the financial picture and profiles also provide direct links to As a class of 2002 Lawrence graduate, campus center.