MEN’S HOOPS 6 SPORTS, PAGE THE STREETS 3 CADENZA, PAGE ZONOSCOPE 3 CADENZA, PAGE the independent newspaper of Washington University in St. Louis since 1878 Wednesday, February 9, 2011 Vol. 132, No. 49 www.studlife.com Washington University in St. Louis Declaration of majors, Without Palin, minors goes paperless abstinence panel draws small crowd CHLOE ROSENBERG & Sexuality. “After getting her ousted, SADIE SMECK you should have the decency to NEWS EDITORS come to the event.” In spite of low attendance, Girod More than half of Graham thinks the panel was better without Chapel was empty during a panel Palin. on abstinence Monday night. “The fact is that she is not absti- The low attendance was a nent and has not gone to college, I sharp contrast to what students don’t see what she had to say that had expected only two weeks ago, would have been better than what when Bristol Palin was approved these people had to say,” Girod by Student Union Treasury to be a said. member of the panel. The panelists discussed top- After hundreds of members of ics ranging from sexual health to the Washington University com- unwanted pregnancy, as well as the munity voiced their complaints, possibility of being an abstinent in the Student Health Advisory college. Committee (SHAC) decided to Troy Woytek from the Catholic withdraw Palin’s invitation. Student Center spoke about the mer- The panel was conducted its of being abstinent as a student. instead with representatives from “Wash. U. students are smart... Student Health Services, the to believe you are not capable of Students in select programs in the College of Arts & Sciences can now declare their majors and minors Catholic Student Center, Planned making smart decisions sexually... through the WebSTAC academic portal. Previously, these students had to collect signatures from both their Parenthood and the Washington is frankly an insult to you,” Woytek major department and four-year adviser and leave a copy of the form in each respective office. University School of Medicine. said. The panel focused on educating The representative from Student SADIE SMECK an e-mail to an administrator in the and there,” Corcoran said. “It’s like students about maintaining sexual Health Services discussed options NEWS EDITOR department to set up a time to meet a welcome step forward into the 21st health. for students who have unintention- with the student and finalize the century.” Some attendees attributed the low ally become pregnant, or who have A new feature of WebSTAC will declaration. Under the current system, stu- attendance to the fact that Palin was contracted sexually transmitted allow students to declare their majors “It’s a very high priority to create dents must deliver signed forms to not speaking. Many thought that infections. and minors online. more occasions where we can just both their major department’s office the people who protested against According to Student Health The transition to declaring online have more time to talk and have a and to the office of their school. Palin coming to campus should Services, 50 percent of STIs are is designed to save both students and face-to-face conversation,” McLeod Students are interested in this new have attended the panel. diagnosed in people between 15 and department administrators the time said. method. “It is probably a lot smaller than 24 years of age. it takes to fill out and deliver the cur- While the pilot program is still in “I haven’t declared yet. I have, the Palin event would have been. Write to Chloe Rosenberg at rent paperwork. effect, students must be “activated” like, nine days to do it. It’d be a It’s a bit disappointing actually,” CHLOE.ROSENBERG@ The program is in its pilot phase by a department administrator in lot easier for me, a lot less stressful said senior Candace Girod, editor STUDLIFE.COM and is being tested by a few Arts & order to declare online. than running around campus try- of X-Magazine, the bi-annual pub- Write to Sadie Smeck at Sciences majors, including psychol- The move to a paperless system ing to figure that out,” said Jordan lication of the Student Forum on [email protected] ogy, anthropology and International for coursework at the University has Fischer, a sophomore who must and Area Studies. been gradual over the last 15 years or declare his history major before the The new system is set to launch so, McLeod said, beginning with the Feb. 16 deadline for Arts & Sciences for Arts & Sciences and the School shift to online course registration. sophomores. Inventors of surgical of Engineering on Feb. 18. “Our hope is to move to a system Some students, like freshman Ana The Olin Business School and the with virtually no paper processes, MarkdaSilva, thought that the pro- Sam Fox School of Design & Visual although this probably won’t happen gram was already in place. mesh win Olin Cup Arts will transition to the WebSTAC anytime soon,” McLeod said “Honestly, I already thought that system by the fall of 2011. Sharon Corcoran, coordinator for WebSTAC had that. It seems conve- MICHELLE MERLIN was also in the medical field. Its According to James McLeod, vice undergraduate studies in the psychol- nient.” MarkdaSilva said. SENIOR NEWS EDITOR three founders created PulmoCad, chancellor for students and dean of ogy department, has already helped One challenge Corcoran said she computer-assisted diagnostic the College of Arts & Sciences, the several students declare majors and might have with online program is The 25th annual Olin Cup busi- software that helps in the early new system will cut down on errors minors online. The students, she keeping track of which students she ness plan competition concluded diagnosis of lung cancer. and miscommunications, demand said, responded positively to the has already met with and which she with a winning project from the In the past, ideas for websites less time of students and faculty pilot program. Corcoran is hopeful has not. However, she does not antic- biomedical field. and even ear buds have won the advisers, and be more eco-friendly. that online declaration will eliminate ipate any significant problems. Nalin Kutta, a student at the competition. With the launch of the program, the bothersome delays of the current “We tried to make it easy to use,” Washington University School The Olin Cup has also seen students will be able to log onto system. McLeod said. “We hope that the of Medicine, and Matthew an upswing in environmentally WebSTAC and add majors and “It’s making everything work more students find it a time saver, and we MacEwan, a doctoral student in friendly ideas, according to Luscri. minors under the “Major Programs” quickly and more efficiently with less certainly want to cut down on any biomedical engineering, won for This year, an idea for windmills tab on the left-hand side. Once stu- paperwork and less traipsing around mistakes.” their company idea, NanoMed. in residential areas was proposed, dents select a major or minor online, on the part of students, trying to get Write to Sadie Smeck at NanoMed creates a synthetic as well as one for a food recycling the system will automatically send signatures and delivering forms here [email protected] surgical mesh of electrospun nano- service. fiber materials that are capable of Luscri is pleased that the appli- repairing and replacing the tough cants to the Olin Cup have been protective membrane surrounding steadily increasing over the years. Students confused by occasional the brain and spinal cord. “Part of that is because now “I think that the students pre- is a great time for entrepreneur- sented it as the best opportunity in ship, part of it is the dynamic of water cup charge at Einstein Bros. the competition,” said II Luscri, our students here, and the fact that the student services coordina- our programs across campus are KELSEY TIMES free cup at others. room, so I decided to go to Einstein’s tor of the Skandalaris Center for interdisciplinary, so it’s for anyone CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Students are not charged for water to get something to drink,” Gamble Entrepreneurial Studies. “The pre- in any program,” Luscri said. “It’s cups at Bear’s Den, the Danforth said. “When I asked the cashier for sentation was top notch.” a competition that’s not easy to Students looking to quench their University Center, the Village eateries water, she told me that they would This year’s Olin Cup hosted 49 win, but going through the process thirst at the new eatery in Simon Hall or Subway. have to charge me 25 cents.” ideas, the most in the competition’s is great for anyone interested in are taking a gamble. Freshman Jordan Gamble stopped Submitting to the payment, Gamble 25 years. entrepreneurship.” Einstein Bros. Bagels, which by Einstein Bros. for a drink between used her Campus Card points, and Kutta and MacEwan will receive opened Feb. 4 in the Olin Business classes. She was surprised when she her receipt showed the charge as $50,000, which will serve as seed Write to Michelle Merlin at School, has charged students 25 cents was asked to pay for her water. money for their start-up company. MICHELLE.MERLIN@ for water cups at times but provided a “I forgot my water bottle in my SEE WATER, PAGE 2 The second-place winner’s idea STUDLIFE.COM HOUSING FAIR FEBRUARY 10 >>10 A.M. - 3 P.M. >>> DUC SECOND LEVEL STOP by the FAIR to REGISTER to WIN an iPod TOUCH CONTACT BY POST CONTACT BY EMAIL CONTACT BY PHONE ONE BROOKINGS DRIVE #1039 [email protected] NEWSROOM 314.935.5995 #330 DANFORTH UNIVERSITY CENTER [email protected] ADVERTISING 314.935.6713 ST.