February 20, 2008
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CHECK OUT THE WEB | MORE ON GONZALES ONLINE | WWW.STUDLIFE.COM TUDENT IFE THE SINDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY L IN ST. LOUIS SINCE 1878 VOLUME 129, NO. 57 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2008 WWW.STUDLIFE.COM Gonzales appearance sparks political discourse WU to Gonzales demonstrators don jump- raise low- suits, show up en masse income aid v Protest subdued compared to other Gonzales appearances BY DAVID BRODY AND BEN SALES STUDENT LIFE STAFF BY SAM GUZIK Carnaghi, assistant vice chan- SENIOR NEWS EDITOR cellor for students. “They’re do- Washington University ing it in a respectful way. They students from families earn- Dressed in orange jump- organized [the protest] and I ing less than $60,000 will no suits, bearing signs and chant- give them a lot of credit.” longer be expected to take out ing anti-Gonzales slogans, more Even though the protestors’ student loans, the University than 100 Washington University actions did not prevent Gonza- announced yesterday. students and members of the les from speaking, some stu- Both newly admitted stu- St. Louis community protested dents expressed frustration dents and returning students former U.S. Attorney General about their choice to take action will be eligible for this new Alberto Gonzales’ speech on within the speech. aid. Tuesday night. “I think that while I would The University will instead “In a few minutes, former At- support anyone’s right to pro- provide those students with torney General Alberto Gonza- test, there was a more appropri- grants that will not need to be les will speak about civic duty,” ate time to voice disapproval repaid. These grants will be sa id De n ise L iebe r ma n , a profes- at the forum beforehand. It is funded by increased spending sor of political science, during a rude to interrupt him and it from funds garnered by the rally that preceded the speech. violates my right to hear him,” endowment, as well as unre- “He has a right to speak, but we said Jason Friedman, a junior. stricted University resources. have a right to speak back.” “More people should have taken “This is a part of our on- During his remarks, Gonza- advantage of the forum. I com- going commitment to ensure les addressed the protestors, mend him for doing it; not very that Washington University re- asking them to consider how mains an institution that can they would act if they were the See PROTEST, page 3 provide an educational experi- President facing an imminent SCOTT BRESSLER | STUDENT LIFE ence for students with moder- threat. Gonzales’ speech also ate fi nancial backgrounds,” detailed the imperative for civic said Chancellor Mark Wrigh- action, even for those who don’t ton. “We decided to reaffi rm vote. our commitment to providing “[The protestors] are saying fi nancial aid.” they disagree with something According to Vice Chancel- and they want to change some- lor for Finance Barbara Feiner, thing. But it is not enough to the new initiative will cost an protest,” said Gonzales. “Many additional $2.5 million, in ad- who complain the most do not dition to the approximately even vote.” $60 million that is currently While the formal protest spent on fi nancial aid. remained in an area outside While Wrighton regards the the main entrance of the 560 new policy, which will take ef- Building, there were several oc- fect this fall, as experimental, currences during the speech it- he expects the University to be self meant to draw attention to able to sustain it during the the discontent over Gonzales’ coming years. speaking appearance; these ac- “The commitment that we tions did not disrupt the fl ow of are announcing today is one the speech. that we anticipate will contin- On three occasions during ue on into the future,” he said. the speech, individual mem- “We have to look at this over bers of the audience yelled out a longer time frame. With the the phrases “liar,” “traitor” and realization of gains over sev- “perjurer” before walking out eral years, we fi gured that we of the building while Gonzales could sustain this.” was talking. The permission to enact this “Perjurer, you broke the law, further endowment spending you should be in jail,” shouted DAVID BRODY | STUDENT LIFE came from the University’s one student who left during the Demonstrators congregate outside the 560 Building on Delmar Blvd. to protest a speech by the former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales (pictured Board of Trustees. speech, whose name was not The University’s announce- available. above) on Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008. ment comes in the wake of a In another instance, a group decision made by Harvard Uni- of students that had left the pro- versity last year to distribute test to listen to the event chose In speech, Gonzales exhorts students to take on civic duty grants to families making less to turn their backs on Gonzales, than $180,000 a year. While rather than applaud him. BY PERRY STEIN “We truly live in a coun- these protesters did not dis- about 600 tickets were given the University announced last The largely respectful treat- NEWS EDITOR try where dreams come true. turb the speech and only away before the event out of month that it did not expect to ment that Gonzales received This is why I believe Ameri- turned their backs to him in- an approximate 1,000 avail- see a signifi cant rise in schol- broke with his reception at some After a several months of ca is worth fighting for and stead of clapping, Gonzales able tickets. arship funds, now more of the other university appearances. hype for Alberto Gonzales’ dying for,” said Gonzales in did acknowledge them by al- While most students said endowment is available. For example, while speaking at speech on campus, the for- his speech. “She [my mother] luding to the challenges that they did not expect him to “We wish that we had more the University of Florida, stu- mer Attorney General calmly never dreamed I would take face the United States in the address any of his actions in the way of our endowment dents dressed in orange jump- walked onto the stage of the her from the cotton fields to war on terror. that he has become infa- dedicated to fi nancial aid, suits and black hoods walked 560 Building, wearing a tra- the Oval Office.” “It is not enough to pro- mous for, such as the alleged but this is a good start,” said onto the stage and stood next to ditional suit with an Ameri- Included in the audience test,” said Gonzales. “What illegal authorization of tor- Wrighton. the former attorney general as can Flag pin, to a mixture of were members of the College choices are you prepared to turing, College Republicans The grants may also be he spoke. cheers and jeers, and deliv- Democrats, Peace Coalition make to bring abut change?” Public Relations Officer available to families with in- “I think its great. We’ve got ered a 24-minute speech of and other campus detrac- Despite the anticipation, Brinton Callaghan said that comes slightly higher than students on both sides and his American dream to Uni- tors dressed in bright orange members of the College Re- $60,000 on a case-by-case ba- probably in the middle,” said Jill versity students. prison jump suits. While publicans said that only See SPEECH, page 3 sis. “We’re going to do what it takes to honor our commit- ment,” said Director of Student Financial Services Bill Wit- Medical student attends AIDS summit, focusing on women brodt, regarding the amount of money to be spent. “It is 5 and Feb. 18. to those who have none, edu- The students and profes- students, because we com- hard to predict because there BY MIN WANG She was joined by three cating about current issues sionals met with members of pose the future of medicine are so many variables.” CONTRIBUTING REPORTER other students from the Phy- from a medical perspective Congress and congressional and other fields. It is encour- But Wrighton encourages sicians for Human Rights to break misconceptions and staff to inform them of the aging to see that politicians families to apply for the grant Several students, includ- Chapters in Florida, New change policy,” said Jia. plight of women and educate do care about what we have regardless of their exact earn- ing a student at the Wash- Hampshire and Minnesota There were more than 30 them on the problem of AIDS to say,” said Jia. ings. ington University School of to discuss the topic of HIV/ experts on the subject of in Africa, particularly sub- Physicians for Human “It’s not a black-and-white Medicine, recently attended AIDS, women and human women and AIDS present Saharan Africa. Rights is using the Washing- cutoff,” he said. “Any student a summit in Washington, rights. at the event, many of whom Of the experience, Jia ton, D.C. summit to launch a that feels a fi nancial challenge D.C. discussing the impact The event, which was or- have worked both domesti- spoke of the difference she new platform on the femini- being a part of our community of HIV and AIDS in Africa. ganized by Physicians for cally and internationally to felt that she and the others zation of the HIV/AIDS pan- should feel comfortable com- Shijing Jia, a student at Human Rights, included ex- bring relief to those affected were making. demic. ing to talk to us.” the School of Medicine and perts on women and AIDS by the illness.