November 7, 2007
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STAFF EDITORIAL | KEEPING IT GREEN WITH BABY STEPS | SEE FORUM, PAGE 4 TUDENT IFE THE SINDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY L IN ST. LOUIS SINCE 1878 VOLUME 129, NO. 31 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2007 WWW.STUDLIFE.COM Engineering faculty petition for Dean Sansalone’s removal v Citing communication issues and controversial e-mail, tenured faculty unites BY SAM GUZIK Dean Sansalone to review the e- concerned in some sectors.” school of engineering have ex- SENIOR NEWS EDITOR mails and background behind The rift with faculty and stu- pressed frustration at the lack them,” wrote Chancellor Wrigh- dents has been compounded by of effective communication be- Just over a year into her ten- ton in an e-mail to Student Life. a perceived lack of communica- tween the administration and ure, engineering dean Mary “Dean Sansalone apologized tion over changes to the School the rest of the school regarding Sansalone has come under fi re for the unfortunate impression and by the perception that policy changes. for the methods she used in created by the e-mails.” Dean Sansalone’s actions are Many of Sansalone’s biggest implementing several contro- Of 66 tenured engineering unilateral. changes were implemented and versial changes in the School. faculty members, 29 signed the “The environment is one announced before signifi cant Many faculty members have petition and an additional 14 of terror, everyone is scared,” feedback could be received. expressed concern about an expressed their support verbal- said Bia Henriques, a graduate In many cases, contradictory e-mail from Dean Sansalone ly, according to sources within student. “Staff and professors rumors developed regarding that appears to suggest a policy the School of Engineering and don’t know when they are go- the planned reforms and were whereby students from South Applied Science. ing to come in and not have widely circulated until one or Korean private schools would In addition, 10 senior and re- their position available any- another was confi rmed by the not be admitted to the School tired faculty signed the petition more, which has happened in Dean in a formal announce- of Engineering and Applied Sci- and three others expressed ver- the past.” ment. ence. bal support. Sansalone defended the “I don’t think there is a prob- In an e-mail to Student Life, Upon receiving the petition, changes she made, citing the lem with the plan. I think the Sansalone stressed that the re- the Chancellor convened a com- need for reforms to achieve the faculty and the students re- marks had been taken out of mittee of three faculty mem- engineering school’s strategic ally do support the vision of context from “a broader discus- bers outside the engineering plan. the dean,” said Sean Mueller, a sion about the School of Engi- school to review the faculty’s “When I came to the school graduate student in chemical neering wanting its fi nancial concerns and Sansalone’s per- there were a number of key engineering. “We realize that aid given to students who most formance. challenges that needed to be changes are going to occur, but need fi nancial assistance.” The committee, which was addressed fairly quickly—some the way that the changes have In reaction to the lack of con- made aware of Sansalone’s e- real fi nancial challenges, some occurred hasn’t been accept- sultation with faculty over sig- mails, supported her and the issues around accreditation,” able.” nifi cant changes to the School Chancellor affi rmed its conclu- said Sansalone. “This isn’t to Sansalone meets with mem- and over the controversial sions. excuse lack of communication, bers of the student body and e-mail, tenured professors in “With any new person work- but sometimes it wasn’t all that the administration in multiple the School circulated a petition ing to create or bring reality to a easy to communicate all the de- forums including Dean’s meet- calling for Sansalone’s removal new vision, changes occur, and tails.” ings, formal events and dinners STUDENT LIFE ARCHIVES and presented it to Chancellor for some, that’s diffi cult,” said with freshman engineers. Dean of Engineering Mary Sansalone poses with a hardhat at a ceremony Mark Wrighton in August. Chancellor Wrighton. “The pace Student Discontent “Bringing about opportuni- welcoming her to the University in 2006. Since her arrival, the changes “Even before the review com- of change, the nature of change she has implemented in the Engineering School have sparked controversy mittee was convened, I met with has caused some people to be Students at all levels of the See SANSALONE, page 3 within the administration and student body. In aftermath of fi res, Despite confusion, fund provides California students relieved resources for new BY MARLA FRIEDMAN STAFF REPORTER groups When junior Jayce McQuerter received a phone call from his BY GREGG RE cally does not sanction student mom saying that the California CONTRIBUTING REPORTER groups that have been active on wildfi res were approaching his campus for less than a semester house, he felt the frustrations The campus enrichment or do not hold regular meetings of being far from home. fund, created this year by Stu- and events. He tried to gather informa- dent Union and under the control The fund has existed in a tion about the fi res on the in- of the Student Senate, will allow limited form in past years. In ternet, but his attempts failed new projects and newly formed 2006, the $7,500 executive proj- due to user overload. As strong student groups to receive fi nan- ects fund provided resources for winds fueled the fi res through- cial resources. those without student-group sta- out the week, everyone from “[Some initiatives] fall through tus. In 2005, the fund contained his home town of Encinitaf was the cracks,” said Student Union $10,000. forced to evacuate. President Neil Patel. “The campus Johnson said that SU will ad- “The fi res were in a half cir- enrichment fund solves that.” vertise the new, larger campus cle around the entire coast, so A debate last week in the Sen- enrichment fund more exten- there wasn’t really anywhere to ate raised some questions about sively than the executive proj- go,” said McQuerter. “My family the fund. Normally, the Student ects fund. kept going to different places Group Activities Committee “We plan on sending out an until those places themselves (SGAC), not the Senate, recogniz- email and [posting] fl yers,” he MCT were also evacuated. They just Fire fi ghters with the Orange County Fire Authority keep an eye on the approaching fi re last week. Some Wash. .U es student groups and assigns said. “A lot of students in the kind of played it day by day.” them a general level of funding. past brought concerns to the students from the areas affected by the disaster report that it has been diffi cult to focus on school-related activi- “We don’t want to undermine Senate, but there was no money See WILDFIRES, page 3 ties knowing the fi res are displacing their family and community members. the authority of the Student in the budget. We wanted to ex- Activities Committee,” said SU pand that, and now it’s being ad- Treasurer Marius Johnson. vertised more.” The Senate debate also raised So far, the Senate has received Sarsgaard returns to alma mater questions over the constitution- two requests for resources from ality of the fund; under the con- the fund. BY ELLEN JONES head,” “Shattered Glass,” “Gar- ing his time at WU, the actor “Family Guy” creator Seth Mc- stitution, only the Treasury can The Burning Kumquat, a STAFF REPORTER den State” and “Kinsey”. His studied English Literature and Farland, was held in April 2005. allocate funds. group that plans to start an herb latest fi lm, “Rendition,” is in helped found Mama’s Pot Roast, Although Sarsgaard is look- The $22,000 fund was estab- and vegetable garden on the When actor Peter Sarsgaard theatres nationwide. the University’s longest-run- ing forward to returning to lished for non-student groups South 40 next semester, and D- was a student at Washington “I’ve been talking to people ning improv comedy group. campus and addressing the stu- and individuals who need one- Bears, a driving service for intox- University, he saw Kurt Von- for a while about doing this, “When we were looking dents , he admits that this isn’t time funding for their projects. icated students, have petitioned negut speak in Graham Chapel. looking to give back to my little around for people to speak, Pe- his usual routine. Ordinarily, the Treasury allo- SU for funding. Thursday night, he returns to old institution,” said Sarsgaard. ter’s name was one of the fi rst “[Lectures] are not really my cates funding from its $2.1 mil- The Senate has passed resolu- campus to deliver a lecture of The lecture, sponsored by to come up because of his his- thing,” said Sarsgaard. “I’ve lion budget to the more than 200 tions supporting each petition, his own. the Congress of the South 40, tory here”, said Eric Wu, advisor asked that there be a micro- student organizations at Wash- allocating $1,600 to the Burning A St. Louis native, Sarsgaard has already generated a great to CS40. “Luckily we were able phone for the audience. That’s ington University that have been Kumquat. made his fi lm debut in 1995, in deal of excitement campus- to bring him in”. what I’m used to, being on stage approved by SGAC and require Johnson has not yet allocated the Tim Robbins’ fi lm “Dead wide.