STAFF EDITORIAL | HEAD TO THE POLLS AND VOTE | FORUM, PAGE 6 TUDENT IFE THE SINDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY L IN ST. LOUIS SINCE 1878 VOLUME 129, NO. 20 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2007 WWW.STUDLIFE.COM Students to vote on proposed Medical school amendments in SU special election BY ELLEN JONES tel, president of Student Union be responsible for a different as- SU’s goals and responsibilities. STAFF REPORTER (SU), the proposed changes will pect of SU: administration, pro- SU has been working hard to policies leave increase effi ciency, particularly gramming, fi nance and public increase awareness about these Student Union is hopeful within the executive branch. relations. SU’s hope is that the issues on campus. that students will have voting “The way it is right now changes will help balance and “[We’ve] tabled in Mallinck- on their mind when they log seems completely hierarchical, better defi ne the roles of SU of- rodt and created a Facebook into their WebSTAC accounts on which isn’t how it works at all,” fi cials. group in support of the election,” new parents Wednesday and Thursday. A se- said Patel. “This will place every- “Vice president is the heavi- said SU Treasury Representative ries of revisions to the Constitu- one else on the same level and est role right now—this will split Brent Rubin. “[We] want to make tion of the Student Union will be give more specifi c roles.” that up,” added Patel. sure that the whole student awaiting their approval as soon The proposed changes were According to the current SU body is aware of the potential as they log in. fi rst suggested by a task force constitution, two-thirds of the changes.” Of the proposed changes, the made up of fi ve members of SU, voting student body must vote Even so, it is not likely that wanting most signifi cant one calls for the including Paul Moinester, former in favor of the changes before many students who are not in- restructuring of Student Union’s SU president. they can be implemented. volved with SU will bother to executive branch, replacing the The task force’s recommen- SU also hopes that students vote. BY ANDREA WINTER “I have gone through it traditional president, vice presi- dations were approved by the SU will vote in favor of including a “Turnout for SU elections is NEWS EDITOR twice—it’s sick days and va- dent, secretary and treasurer legislature last semester, but are new mission statement and vi- generally not very heavy,” said cation days,” she said. “You design with a newly developed awaiting approval from the gen- sion statement in the Constitu- Rubin. “I hope that this election This is the second in a se- basically use them all up in president and four vice presi- eral student body. tion. These statements, which will have better turnout because ries of articles examining the order to have time to recover dents format. Each of the four vice presi- can be read on WebSTAC and the status of women in academia physically and to take care of According to senior Neil Pa- dents in the new scheme would SU Web site, aim to better defi ne See SU ELECTIONS, page 8 at Washington University. a dependent infant and then you go back to work. It does At Washington University, not improve the quality of the it’s better to become a new work that gets done when you parent at the Danforth Cam- [go] back to work that soon.” Sustainable garden helps students pus than at the School of Because faculty at the Medicine. medical school must use sick While tenured and tenure- and vacation days for their grow food and raise awareness track faculty of either gen- parental leave, departments der on the Danforth campus often allow new faculty to are entitled to a semester of draw from their future sick BY JOSH HANTZ house here. Food is so funda- paid parental leave when they and vacation days, according NEWS EDITOR mental to everything about have a new child either by to Gray. people, and I felt I was discon- childbirth or adoption, there Many faculty members at The Burning Kumquat isn’t nected and incredibly ignorant is no formal paid parental the School of Medicine com- really going to burn anything, of the things I ate.” leave granted to faculty at the plain that the current poli- as the name suggests. But this As he learned more about medical school. cy’s requirement that people new student group is starting the process, he decided that “As far as paid leave, there must exhaust their sick and an herb and vegetable garden starting a small farm would be is no guarantee of a materni- vacation days is a source of next to the Alumni House in a great way to “reconnect to the ty leave other than what one stress. the spring. land” and teach others too. has accrued as sick leave,” “I would like to see some The group hopes to promote The Burning Kumquat has said Diana Gray, associate actual maternity leave and awareness of small-scale sus- yet to decide which vegetables dean for faculty affairs and some recognition that this a tainable practices in farming, it wants to grow, but will look professor of obstetrics and process people go through,” as well as green living in gen- at group input and informa- gynecology. said Hershey. “It’s not vaca- eral. tion from its research com- Tamara Hershey, professor tion and it’s not sickness. It’s “It’s a chance for people to mittee. Washington University of psychiatry, said that she a special situation, and hav- participate hands-on with their Grounds Manager Paul Norman was dissatisfi ed with her pa- ing a guaranteed amount of food,” said senior Ellen Mad- will help them till the land if rental leave experience at the den, who is in charge of the necessary or build raised beds University. See FACULTY, page 2 group’s publicity. “A lot of it in order not to dig it up. has to do with awareness and “We’ll do all the proper DAVID HARTSTEIN | STUDENT LIFE community building. It’s very work up until planting season Ellen Madden, Caleb O’Brien and Felix Dowsley (L to R) work Saturday accessible for anybody on cam- starts,” said Madden. pus.” Once the garden starts up afternoon to raise awareness for the Burning Kumquat, a new student Sophomore Ted Erker, presi- in the spring, the group’s head group dedicated to starting an herb and vegetable garden on campus. New fossils from dent of The Burning Kumquat farmer, Meghan Lewis, will The garden will be located next to the Alumni House on the South 40 and and an environmental studies oversee the watering, weed- will be planted in the spring. major, thought of the idea af- ing, harvesting and other such ter thinking about where food tasks involved in maintaining Africa change comes from. a garden. Everyone, however, its last event and has about 30 “We wanted to be sure we “I realized that I didn’t know is encouraged to take shifts regular members, is fl yering have all the visual stuff set up,” anything about how some of during the week, especially in the campus and plans to hold she said. “And we want to be as understanding of our most common foods grew,” the summer when most of the a hoedown, pumpkin carving low-impact environmentally as he said. “I don’t think I had work is done. and other informational ses- we can. All printed material is seen rice growing in dirt until Currently the group, which sions later in the semester, ac- I started working in the green- had more than 100 people at cording to Madden. See BURNING KUMQUAT, page 2 early ancestors BY KAT ZHAO these 1.8 million year old fos- MASTER DEBATERS: MOTHERLAND v. COLONIES CONTRIBUTING REPORTER sils, we basically doubled that record.” A recent discovery in the According to Pontzer, the basement of a medieval castle discovery greatly challenges has begun to challenge scien- what was thought about how to tifi c understanding of when the map the behavioral complexity fi rst human ancestors migrated to the fossil record. from Africa. “The new discovery forces Together with a team of an- anthropologists to throw away thropologists from around the the old assumptions of what a world, Assistant Professor of species is limited to based on Anthropology Herman Pontzer the analyses of its physical di- has discovered a series of fos- mensions,” said Pontzer. “We sils at the site of a medieval city can no longer say that because in what is now Dmanisi, Geor- it has this brain size and these gia, that predate any previously primitive stone tools, it can nev- unearthed. er get out of Africa.” During previous excavations, Paleoanthropologists began the Dmanisi site has yielded excavating the grounds under- numerous hominid fossils, the neath a medieval castle in Dma- earliest dating back to one mil- nisi in the 1920s. However, the lion years ago. site’s signifi cance was hidden The most recent discovery, until 1983 when a rhinoceros however, revealed that our fi rst horn was unearthed, strangely ancestors to come out of Africa out of place in the Caucasus may have been much older than Mountain region. Findings of was previously thought. surprisingly early hominid fos- “The fossils we found of sils soon followed. LILY SCHORR | STUDENT LIFE one million years old are what “It’s almost unlike any other Seniors Alex Just, from the British National Debate Team, and Sam Levine, from the Washington University Debate Team, face off on Tuesday.