Saint Louis University’s Student Government Association (SGA) faced a controversial meeting on Wednesday evening as the issue of reforming the organization came into business. SGA has been battling this issue since the beginning of the academic school year and attempts to make the student organization more efficient than it has been in the past. However, until now, these attempts have been fruitless. This week’s meeting was a milestone in advancing towards effective reformation, as SGA presented the Senate bill describing potential future modifications to the senate body.

“We took into consideration what the students have said and since modified the bill,” stated Vice President of Diversity and Social Justice and Co-Chair of Association Reform Task Force (ARTF) Amelia Romo.

The ARTF has been working to evaluate and present the most effective options for an SGA reorganization and presented their results to the senates with an optimistic outlook for future efficiency. The reform bill cuts current 62 senate seats to 43. In doing so, SGA hopes to provide a more effective student organization while still providing a representation for each and every SLU student.

The meeting consisted of much debate and questioning about the various seat reforms and SGA President Vidur Sharma reminded the attendees to be “soft on people and hard on issues” when presenting their arguments. Some of the reform ideas faced more opposition than others, and the retention of the two Black Student Alliance (BSA) seats was one of these such issues.

The two BSA seats on SGA and their place in the organization have been questioned in the past and this year was no exception. One of the modification options eliminated these BSA seats, but was faced with strong opposition from a variety of student voices.

Brittany Kendrick, a BSA Senator, reminded her fellow senators of BSA’s history with SGA. In 1969, the group organized a “sit in” protest in Ritter Hall as a result of feeling neglected as a race at SLU and wanting an effective representation and voice at the university. They successfully secured a position on the Student Government Association after this protest and BSA today has no intention of erasing this historical and monumental protest by revoking their seats on SGA.

Kendrick mentioned a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. concerning realists, pessimists and optimists – the most productive of the three being the realists. She called on her fellow senators to acknowledge the importance of having BSA as well as Diversity Leadership Cabinet (DLC) seats in SGA, saying that racial, religious, sexual and other controversial issues are faced by students every day.

Adding four DLC seats was another significant reform that the ARTF came up with, and is an addition in which many of the senators showed enthusiastic support. The four DLC seats would consist of student senates that represent a variety of diversity issues, including socioeconomic status, race, sexuality and religion.

The Graduate Student Association will also gain more representation through the SGA reform bill and looks to have two seats in the future SGA senate body.

Senators celebrated the finalization of the bill and intend to vote on the final form of the bill at next week’s meeting.

“This is a really huge thing…for what it means for SGA and the university in the future,” said Sharma.

Pumpkins aren’t just for carving, as Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology showed Saint Louis University on Saturday, Nov. 2. Sometimes, it’s more fun to build a trebuchet for them and launch them across a field – which is exactly what Parks student participants did at the Fifth Annual Great Pumpkin Launch.

The event provided an amusing outlet for the Parks students to put their engineering skills to use and to compete in a friendly and entertaining atmosphere – not to mention to make use of all of the remaining Halloween decorations.

“The [Pumpkin Launch] was very enjoyable — we got to destroy pumpkins and hang out with friends,” said participant Cory Seidel, a junior in Parks College. “I decided to participate because it sounded like a lot of fun and was something I always wanted to do.”

This year’s Pumpkin Launch consisted of six different teams, all of whom assembled homemade trebuchets designed to efficiently launch their pumpkins across Tegeler Field. They were judged in the categories of distance and accuracy and were allowed at least three shots that tested the effectiveness of their designed trebuchets. Depending on their strong suite, the teams could use their final shot(s) in whichever of the two categories they felt luckiest.

This year’s winning team, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), not only enjoyed bragging rights but the ultimate prize as well: a golden pumpkin. The team gets to claim the pumpkin for a year, until next year’s launch.

“For the most part, this year’s [trebuchets] were not as strong as last year’s, but they definitely were a lot more accurate,” stated Manuel Posso, President of the Association of Parks College Students (APCS).

Last year’s Pumpkin Launch included an impressive distance of about 200 ft. from one of the team’s launch, while this year the farthest was about 75 ft. With two more teams participating than last year, however, the event still proved an entertaining spectacle for the audience.

An added bonus and sense of accomplishment that the participants and spectators could revel in was in knowing that the event’s proceeds go towards St. Louis local charities. Vice President of Finance for APCS, Safi Islam, added to this list of positive outcomes from the event.

“It’s a great team building exercise where you get to know and learn a lot about your fellow Parks students.”

APCS President Posso mirrored this sentiment when describing his interaction with the event.

“I think that the Pumpkin Launch is a wonderful way to teach lesswons about engineering design, creativity, innovation, craftsmanship and teamwork,” Posso stated. “The beauty of it is that a big part of it is the fun factor, and I truly believe we learn better if we enjoy the learning process. This is APCS’s way of fostering the engineering spirit among SLU students.”

Briana Kagy / Chief Illustrator

People may know St. Louis to have extravagant Mardi Gras celebrations, but one experience with the city’s Halloween festivities and it’s clear that the St. Louisans are serious about the spooky holiday. From family-friendly activities to a St. Louis Halloween tradition and some serious haunted houses, St. Louis puts a unique spin on this time of the year.

For some of St. Louis, Halloween is a year-round activity. While many people are accustomed to only temporary Halloween stores and activities, St. Louisans can enjoy aspects of this holiday whenever they please. In addition to a select few Halloween costume shops that are open year-round, the city also plays host to some authentically haunted attractions—the most popular of which might be the Lemp Mansion.

Although people are welcome to visit the Lemp Mansion at any point in the year, a certain fascination with the haunted building definitely becomes more prominent around Halloween time.

The building, an early 1860s structure, has been said to be haunted since the 1920s by its first owners, the Lemp family. The family immigrated to St. Louis from Germany in 1838 and became some of the first people to pursue the invention of lager beer, an industry which earned their lineage millions of dollars. This fortune, however, soon became tainted with familial death and the mansion was eventually witness to three Lemp suicides.

This grotesque ending to the Lemp lineage has resulted in a hauntingly authentic St. Louis attraction. CNN rated the Lemp Mansion last year to be in the top ten haunted attractions in the world.

“People are very intrigued by it,” stated Vice President of the Lemp Mansion Patty Pointer. “They see orbs or capture sounds, or sometimes deadlock the doors which then open by themselves.”

Affiliated with this attraction is the Lemp Brewery Haunted House, an acclaimed authentic haunted house experience as people are taken underground into the caves and caverns of the old Lemp Brewery. But even more famous than this haunted experience is St. Louis’s prized haunted house, The Darkness.

Located in Soulard, The Darkness is a two story haunted house that features over 50 actors and everything from 3D images to a Monster Museum. It has been featured on the National Geographic and Travel channel, as well as on USA Today, Fox News and other various media.

Perhaps one of the more innocent and family-fun Halloween activities, however, is the telling of trick-or-treat jokes. A St. Louis tradition, this interesting addition to a trick-or-treater’s agenda challenges them to tell a joke before receiving their candy.

“Growing up, a big part of my Halloween was coming up with a really good joke to tell,” said student Mary Fitzpatrick. “I didn’t find out until years later that the joke part was local to St. Louis only—I thought everyone did that in order to get their treat.”

A St. Louis Halloween can also include a trip to the Six Flags Fright Fest, a celebratory trip to Boo at the Zoo, a Halloween Bash in the Central West End and many other festive activities.

HALO celebrates Dia de los Muertos

John Schuler / Photo Editor
Dancing: Two students celebrating at the Dia de los Muertos event, hosted by HALO.

Saint Louis University’s Hispanic American Leadership Organization (HALO) brought a little holiday variety to campus on Wednesday evening with their Día de los Muertos celebration. A Hispanic tradition, Día de los Muertos is celebrated on Nov. 1-2 as a way of commemorating deceased loved ones.

“This celebration is significant because it honors the loved ones who have passed on,” stated Rebecca Guzman, treasurer for HALO. “The important thing to remember is that it is actually a celebration of a loved one’s life. It is a time to remember the past while looking forward to the future.”

HALO hosted their celebration a couple of days early to ensure decent attendance and an enjoyable outdoor atmosphere, and they invited students, faculty and staff to partake in the festivities. The event took place on the outdoor patio of the Busch Student Center from 7:30-10:30 p.m. It included festive dancing and a live DJ that played Hispanic music. An offering table with favored food and drink of the loved ones who have passed away.

“The offerings tables that people make are devoted to those who have passed, to receive when they come back to earth that night,” said HALO Vice President Jennifer Carrillo. “It is important to remember that death is not the end but just another part of the cycle of life and therefore should be celebrated and not mourned.”

By inviting the public to join in their event, HALO hoped to bring a greater understanding of the holiday to others, since it is a

commonly misunderstood Hispanic celebration. People often think that Día de los Muertos is like Halloween for the Hispanic culture and the organization wished to bring light to the misconception at their event.

Hispanic culture and the organization wished to bring light to the misconception at their event.

“Many of our members are Hispanic and this [holiday], which is largely celebrated in Hispanic culture, is a way to give our members and the SLU community a chance to celebrate with us, and learn a little more about [it],” said Carrillo. “It is also important for others to have the opportunity to try new things and learn about other cultures.”

Guzman also commented that this SLU event was a way to “foster a stronger community on campus” because it could inspire those who learned about the holiday to share their newfound knowledge with others. Carrillo provided an introduction at the event that explained the holiday and the significance of the various foods and decorations, which included marigolds, sugar skulls, pan dulce or sweet bread and Mexican hot chocolate.

Some members took this celebratory time to learn about and experience these exciting aspects of the Hispanic culture, while others took it as a time to reflect on loved ones.

“This event is especially important to me because I will celebrate the life of a dear loved one who passed away less than a year ago,” said Guzman. “It is important to me to celebrate it because it is a way of reconciliation with the easily deniable fact of death. It is a special moment of truth, love and hope for the future.”

This is the second year HALO has brought this Hispanic celebration to SLU, as last year was reportedly a huge success with a great turnout of people. HALO wants to continue celebrating this significant Hispanic holiday in the future.

Saint Louis University students educated themselves on matters of immigration reform at Monday’s One World Event in the Center for Global Citizenship.

With the growing national concern over the immigration system and the pressing comprehensive immigration reform bill, SLU’s One World Magazine appropriately chose this time to host an interactive presentation concerning the different perspectives of immigration reform.

“We thought it was really important to bring this conversation to SLU on a local level because it has been so hotly debated, and October has actually been deemed ‘Immigration Month’,” stated One World Magazine Campaign Director Anna Dore. “Although the government shut-down has kind of taken over the news, the immigration reform is still very much a pressing issue, and we wanted to emphasize that we need to keep the conversation going about it.”

The goal of the event was to educate students on the comprehensive immigration reform on a more local, national and global level.

It included insight from six different speakers’ perspectives, so as to promote the most unbiased presentation on the subject as possible.

Students heard from a politician, human rights activist, border patrol agent, local enforcement officer, church leader and an economist. These perspectives all discussed the current state of immigration in the U.S. while providing their own personal opinions on the issue.

“We wanted to cover all sides of the issue, but the issue of immigration is so complex that it is hard to have a 45 minute conversation about it,” stated Dore. “Although the different perspectives were all different, what they all had in common was that reform to the immigration system is necessary.”

The One World editorial team had researched these different sector perspectives and used this information to create short monologues for the speakers, which highlighted the different viewpoints on the topic.

“We kept [the monologues] short enough to keep people’s attention and simple enough so that everyone could understand the perspectives,” said One World Editor-in-Chief Mary Shannon. “We tried to make it so that the person speaking was emphatically trying to feel what that person would feel. So individually, there were certain opinions, but together the spectrum of them was as unbiased as we possibly could have presented them.”

Students who attended the presentation were also able to interact with the topic through an activity in which they were invited to mark their ancestral history on a large map, so as to provide a representation that conveyed the message of worldwide immigration.

“We all have a history of immigration in our blood, but what brings us all here?” asked Shannon. One World wanted to encourage their audience to consider this question when regarding immigration reform.

The end of the presentation was possibly the most insightful part of all, however, as 16-year-old high school student Naomi presented her viewpoint on the topic.

Naomi is an undocumented immigrant, but through Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) she was able to receive a social security number in order to attend high school.

Naomi’s DACA standing, however, is set to expire in November — at which point she must reapply for this to see whether or not she will be able to stay in the United States.

“I think everybody was really able to relate to her the most,” said Shannon, “because even though she speaks fluent English, studies with her peers [and] has dreams of her own, she can’t go to college [in the U.S.].”

The One World Event was a stepping stone in their “Be an Informed” campaign, as this event was specifically targeted towards being an informed American and was shaped around their message of being more aware of our nation’s issues.

The immigration reform presentation included feedback postcards on the seats of all of the attendees, and One World reporting having received a lot of positive commentary.

The editorial team hopes to create another meaningful event for next semester.

This week’s Student Government Association meeting proved highly productive as senators approved two bills and were updated on current academic advising matters.

Lisa Israel, Director of Academic Advising and Support, addressed SGA about the academic advising department and its role in student retention and success.

“Advising here at SLU is decentralized,” stated Israel. “We have eleven offices, both primary and secondary, that work in different schools and colleges to better serve students in the advising process.”

Israel explained this decentralized advising department model to senate and the department’s desire to get the advisee to advisor ratio down to the national standard. She stated that the Student Success Center has hired 65 percent of their staff in just the last year, both filling vacant positions and creating new ones.

She stated that research has shown an appropriate academic advisor-to-advisee ratio to be 300 to one, and that the medical school was over this ratio last fall with an approximate 440 to one ratio. With new funding, however, they were able to hire two new advisors and lower this ratio to 255 to one.

The department’s new focus is on the Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology, as their ratio is about 48 students too many per advisor. Israel informed SGA, however, that Academic Advising and Support was anticipating this issue and has already requested for the appropriate funding for this advising department.

Further issues addressed at the meeting included the academic advisor turnover rate, after senates expressed concern towards the amount of advisors that a student might go through during their four years at SLU. Israel expressed sympathy over this issue that students might experience, and said that SLU is looking at many different options that will hopefully appeal to future advisors and increase their retention rate.

SGA then addressed and passed two different senate bills. The first looked to seat and confirm the 2013-2014 members of the Upperclassmen Scholarship Selection Committee, while the second created a task force that will investigate and discuss the optimal restructuring of SGA.

To conclude the meeting, SGA President Vidur Sharma addresses the senates in his State of the Association Address.

“This year is a time of transition for the University. I have a very positive outlook and am excited for what we will be able to do for the University, and hopefully you do too,” he said. “So SGA, let’s improve the SLU experience and do our part in advancing the University this year.”

Cultural differences provide the fuel for worldly conflict as well as the beauty for every day celebrations.

“I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the culture of all lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.”

This quote, once uttered by Indian nationalist Mahatma Gandhi, was reiterated by Rudolf Heredia during the Center for Intercultural Studies Forum on Friday, Sept. 27 at the Saint Louis University Center for Global Citizenship.

The forum consisted of insight from four panelists on the topic of intercultural dialogue as they discussed the possibility of its success and important place in the modern global community.

“Is intercultural dialogue possible?” Dr. Michal Rozbicki, the coordinator of the event and director of the Center for Intercultural Studies, asked at the start of the forum. While the panelists concluded that it is possible, they also agreed that the challenges and factors of successful intercultural communication are extensive.

“Even within one culture there is a lot of differentiation,” said Rozbicki. “Dialogue is able to open doors and offer the other side [a chance] to learn about some else’s experience.”

Kara McBride, one of the panelists and an associate professor in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages, echoed his idea. She emphasized the time and effort that must be put in to overcome differences in perspectives and interpretations through a pet-owning analogy.

“You have to spend some time with dogs to understand what they do with sticks,” McBride said.

As an international university and a home to two new intercultural projects, the Center for Intercultural Studies and the Center for Global Citizenship, SLU functions as a catalyst for intercultural communication every day. According to Professor of Anthropology Chad Huddleston, such diversity creates a need for patience and cultural competency.

“It is important to create understanding between different groups… to communicate not just with language but with all cultural aspects in a way that is culturally appropriate,” Huddleston said. “[However] to be completely holistic in this understanding is probably impossible—you can’t know everything, but you can try to be at least somewhat aware.”

Huddleston provided the example that, regarding international students, he must take into account the fact that they may have been taught to act differently in a classroom setting than American students. While some cultures encourage and demand classroom participation, others frown upon and may even punish such participation from the students. This simple difference stresses the importance of an awareness and competency when regarding another culture.

On a larger scale, St. Louis City faces the growing necessity for a cultural awareness and dialogue. The International Institute of St. Louis is a local agency that works to help in this endeavor by fostering intercultural communication and providing assistance to immigrants in adjusting to the city society.

The institute serves a representation of up to 75 ethnicities on a regular basis, a number which highlights the immense diversity within the city. SLU itself plays host to students that span over 73 foreign countries, showing that Friday’s forum can be seen as applicable within both the SLU community and the broader scope of a local and global society.

“Cultural competency speaks to the continual need to develop and understand oneself within the context of others,” said Patrice French, program coordinator of the Cross Cultural Center. “It is never ending, changing and growing as individuals and society changes.”

Saint Louis University ensures that no student leader will be overlooked or forgotten with its new Student Leader Hall of Fame located in Grand Market. A dedication on Saturday, Sept. 28 honored the distinguished students and student groups represented in the new hall and commemorated their many accomplishments.

The event invited Family Weekend participants and the SLU community to celebrate the unveiling of the hall with a ribbon cutting ceremony and a small reception. Vice President for Student Development Kent Porterfield and SGA President Vidur Sharma did the honors of cutting the ribbon and speaking at the dedication.

“What does it mean to be a student leader? It means procrastinating your academics to ensure everything is in order for those you serve,” stated Sharma in his speech.

For 22 years, SLU has recognized and awarded student leaders for their service at the annual Leadership and Service Awards. The new Student Leader Hall of Fame is a way to commemorate a few of these individuals and distinguished student groups with honorary plaques.

“Student leaders make plenty of sacrifices to provide leadership at the university, [and] student life at SLU is largely influenced by [their] work,” said Sharma. “From organizing social events at the university to service opportunities in the community, it is the leadership of students that defines the student experience at SLU.”

Sharma later commented on the pleasure of seeing past recipients for the Leadership and Service Awards present at the ceremony and the inspiration they have provided him throughout the years.

SGA and the Student Involvement Center played a large part in the creation of the hall, as the idea was initially a result of conversations between the two concerning new ways to honor individuals that have greatly impacted the SLU community.

“The new Student Leader Hall of Fame will celebrate students who have contributed greatly to the history, growth, and achievement of SLU spanning over the last 22 years,” said Porterfield. “[It] represents the University’s recognition and appreciation of student leaders’ numerous contributions.”

The hall does not currently display all nine of the Leadership and Service Awards, nor all of the recipients of the awards dating back to 1992. Future plans for the hall look to incorporate a plaque for each of these awards as well as some sort of representation for each recipient. One such idea includes the installation of a touch screen virtual display that would feature each recipient as well as their picture and a short biography.

“Our hope is that this Student Leader Hall of Fame would be a ‘stop on the tour’ for prospective students and would highlight the wonderful work of our student leaders,” commented Porterfield on the future finished project.

Each plaque in the hall currently holds enough space on it for the new recipients over the next three to five years.

Porterfield expressed hope that the space, as well as the hall in general, will provide a sense of motivation for those who see it.

“It is important to inspire students in the future to live up to the high standards that these past student leaders have set,” stated Porterfield.

Student Government Association meeting was host to special guest Bill Kauffman as he addressed his role as Interim President for Saint Louis University and responded to the group’s questions. With a light atmosphere and open dialogue, the meeting hinted at a hopeful future and healthy relationship between the students and president.

Kauffman began by assuring SGA that he was there for them and was dedicated to the university.

“I really care about the institution we share,” stated Kauffman. “I want you to know that the senior executive staff of this university is dedicated to your success.”

The president also expressed his desire for a clean slate from the students and his goal to eliminate “some of the noise that [SLU] has had over the course of the past year.”

“We can remember our history, but let’s not live in it,” Kauffman said. “I have great confidence in what this year can be.”

In discussing the search for the university’s new president, Kauffman stressed the importance of the students’ involvement with the process and their engagement in the opportunity to move forward. Included in this involvement is a hopeful visit from the Presidential Search Committee, who would listen to SGA’s ideas on what the student body is looking for in their next president.

Kauffman also touched on the university’s most recent events, which included SLU’s new harassment policy as well as the new sexual assault and relationship violence policy. He added celebratory comments towards the dedications of the new Center for Global Citizenship, Scott Law Center and the Student Leader Hall of Fame and

encouraged the group to visit and appreciate these new developments.

The president then discussed the new office of chairman structure for governing the university and mentioned the collaboration of efforts involved from select administrators.

When answering SGA’s questions, Kauffman reminded the group that he was new to the position and would do his best to address their concerns through collaboration.

“I have pledged to the university to try to be accessible,” stated Kauffman. “I want to be available to you. If there is a need, members of this body, let me know about it. Regarding the search committee and their communication with faculty, SGA learned that the committee fully intends to communicate with both faculty and students alike so as to reach the university’s needs with the new president. Kauffman also assured the students that a limiting of power and management of budget are not being overlooked and will be keys to a successful future.

Following the question and answer session with Kauffman, SGA progressed their meeting onto the issue of spot funding directives.

There is an SGA open forum for senate reform on Monday, Sept. 30, concerning possible alterations to the structure of SGA

The meeting then addressed the first passing of a senate bill, which amended the name of the Information Technology Services (ITS) Committee.

Following the bill to rename the committee was the first funding bill, in which the ITS committe was granted $250 in Special Projects Funding.

Design by Bri Radici and Laura Thomson

After a 10-year partnership with Chartwells Dining, Saint Louis University will begin searching for the best food provider to satisfy their future appetite.

“We expect to receive proposals [from future providers] on Sept. 30,” said Evelyn Shields, Student Development Director of Business and Auxiliary Services.

Chartwells Dining Services contract is set to expire by the end of the school year, at which point their contract will either be renewed or a new provider will take over. Should a new provider be selected, Shields assures that the transition will be seamless as always.

SLU’s partnership with Chartwells began in June of 2002, after previous food provider Sodexho’s contract was terminated after 15 years at SLU.

“For the past 12 years Chartwells wholeheartedly focused on becoming a part of the SLU community,” said Jason Fitch, resident district manager of Chartwells Dining.

Since its inception in 1997, Chartwells has expanded to serve nearly 250 campuses in the U.S. Their tagline, Eat.Learn.Live, promotes a commitment to building strong bodies, sharp minds, and the foundation for a longer and healthier life.

Whether or not SLU students invest in this promotion, however, remains to be seen.

Last year, SGA surveyed students on their food habits and preferences. When asked how satisfied students were with the current dining program on campus, a majority of students claimed to be neutral on the topic, while 30% claimed to be dissatisfied and 24% responded that they were satisfied.

“[Our] primary concern is to ensure the next contract is awarded to a food provider that prioritizes student concerns and is receptive to adapting to the current needs of students- even within a contract,” said SGA President Vidur Sharma.

The survey also indicated that the majority of students crave a wider range of ethnic foods on campus and would prefer an all-flex meal plan.

“The results will be used to evaluate what currently is and is not working under the existing contract, as well as to determine what students prioritize most in the next contract,” said Sharma.

SGA will continue to play a role in the proposal and decision-making process until a suitable provider has been established.

Chartwells feels that they fulfill that role and have been enhancing SLU’s campus since the beginning of their contract.

“Chartwells has delivered continual enhancements to dining operations including the opening of Au Bon Pain, the introduction of Billiken Fest and the implementation of industry-leading sustainability programs,” said Fitch.

Other changes Chartwells has implemented include the addition of SLU’s vegetarian Terra Ve cafe and the new International Caffe in the Center for Global Citizenship. There are now 24 Chartwells eatery sites at SLU.

These additions to SLU’’s campus, however, do not quite compare to the one that has seemed to touch the students’ hearts: the staff.

SLU’s food service staff has become a part of the University’s community as well as a part of the students’ daily lives. What will become of the current employees is an issue that will not be overlooked.

“There is a great affinity between SLU students and the current Billiken Dining staff,” said Sharma. “SGA would like to see as many staff retained as possible between contracts.”