Kate CarlisleCiting incidents that raised serious questions about safety at the Beta Theta Pi house, Wesleyan has declared the fraternity residence off-limits to all university students. The decision, announced Sept. 10 by President Michael Roth and Vice President for Student Affairs Mike Whaley, came three days after a sophomore woman was seriously injured in a fall from a third-floor window at Beta. “We have lost confidence in the ability of the fraternity members to manage social and residential activities at the house and abide by university policies,” Roth and Whaley wrote in an email to the campus community. “Wesleyan has an…
Lauren RubensteinExperienced programmers and tech newbies alike gathered Sept. 5-7 for WesHack 2014, a two-part conference that included a daylong tech crash course for students, alumni and friends, and a 48-hour “Hackathon” app-development competition. WesHack was founded in May 2013 by Julian Applebaum ’13, Evan Carmi ’13 and Anastasios Germanidis ’13, who, shortly before graduation, “decided Senior Week would be even more fun if they stayed awake for 36 hours writing software to solve the pressing problems of Wesleyan students,” according to the WesHack website. In fall 2013, WesHack 2.0—a second Wesleyan-themed Hackathon and day-long intro tech bootcamp for students and…
Brian KattenFive notable Wesleyan athletes and one long-time coach will be enshrined in the seventh class of the university’s Athletics Hall of Fame. In total, the Hall, established in 2008, now includes 37 individuals and 11 teams. Joining the Hall of Fame Oct. 17 will be: Joe Barry Morningstar '39, a three-sport standout (football, basketball and baseball) for whom Wesleyan's annual men's basketball outstanding player award is named; Cochrane Chase '54, a tremendous football and wrestling talent during his undergraduate career; Marion J. Stoj, M.D. '74, a high-scoring forward in men's soccer who earned All-America honors; Thomas Vincent Reifenheiser III '94,…
It was called "the war to end all wars." Causing the downfall of three major empires, and eclipsing all previous wars in its destruction, World War I changed the course of global history. And decades before television and sophisticated print advertising, it changed the way conflict was marketed to the American people. A new exhibit, Call to Action: American Posters in World War I, at the Davison Art Center, displays dramatic posters that recruited soldiers, celebrated shipbuilding, called women for war work and even urged homemakers to prepare alternative foods in support of the war effort. "The best illustrators of the day were…
The following message was sent to members of the Wesleyan community on Wednesday, Sept. 10: To the Wesleyan Community: We write to announce that the Beta Theta Pi residence at 184 High Street will be off-limits to all Wesleyan students effective Monday, Sept. 15, 2014. The students currently living there will be provided with alternative university housing. The decision to prohibit students from using the Beta house is based on the long history of incidents there. Most recently, during a party at the house a student fell from a third floor window and was seriously injured. We have lost confidence…
Chakravarti explains the personal history behind Obama's cautious response to Ferguson
Olivia DrakeUncover the hidden stories of East Asia’s religion and folklore at a new exhibit, "Not of This World," at the College of East Asian Studies' gallery. To inaugurate the new College of East Asian Studies, students curated this exhibition of the most compelling artworks from the college's collection. "Not Out of This World" is on display Sept. 10-Dec. 5 and features aesthetically pleasing pieces that reveal spiritual worlds filled with love, betrayal and faith. A ghost woman who searches for her husband, an immortal trapped in a peasant’s body, and a wheel that spins prayers are examples of the East Asian artwork displayed that weave the supernatural with mystical elements.…
"A World of Dreams—New Landscape Paintings" by Professor of Art Tula Telfair will be on exhibit Sept. 16 through Dec. 7 at the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery. The exhibit's opening reception will be held 5 to 6:30 p.m. Sept. 16 at the gallery. "A World of Dreams" includes new large-scale paintings in which Telfair presents monumental landscapes and epic-scale vistas that are simultaneously awe-inspiring and intimate. She combines stillness with motion, solitude with universality, and definition with suggestion in her bold and quiet works. This is her second exhibition in the Zilkha Gallery. All paintings are oil on canvas. "The work…
This year, The Wesleyan Connection will feature conversations with students who perform important work all over campus, and out in the Middletown community. In this issue, we speak with Sean Martin, senior associate director in the Financial Aid Office, who oversees student employment. Q: Sean, please tell us about your role as senior associate director in the Financial Aid Office. A: I’ve been working in the Financial Aid Office at Wesleyan for going on 10 years, and my responsibilities there have expanded over time. One aspect of my job is overseeing all facets of student employment. I spend a good…
The summer of 1964 saw thousands of young people — many from colleges and universities in the North - mobilize to register voters, educate citizens, and support other civil rights work in the Jim Crow South. What came to be known as "Freedom Summer" is credited with ending the isolation of states where racial repression and discrimination was largely ignored by news media and politicians, despite the the landmark Civil Rights Act passed that July. Wesleyan students joined the struggle. "Five Wesmen to Fight Voter Discrimination in Mississippi," said a front-page headline in the Argus. That May, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. had given…
This semester, the Shapiro Creative Writing Center is hosting three master classes taught by award-winning author and poet C.D. Wright. Master classes are open to all poetry-writing upperclassmen free of charge. Each class will last 2.5 hours and include one dinner. The classes will meet Sept. 23, Oct. 14 and Nov. 11, and the deadline to apply is Sept. 12. Wright is currently the I.J. Kapstein Professor of Literary Arts at Brown University where she teaches advanced poetry. Wright was born and raised in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas. She has published over a dozen books, including Rising, Falling, Hovering, Like Something Flying Backwards: New and Selected…
Paul Hanakata '14 was named a finalist for the American Physical Society's prestigious Leroy Apker Award, the highest prize offered in the United States for an undergraduate thesis in physics. He will compete to win the award this month. The Apker Award was created to recognize outstanding achievements in physics by undergraduate students, and thereby provide encouragement to young physicists who have demonstrated great potential for future scientific accomplishment. At Wesleyan, Hanakata received high honors for his Wesleyan thesis titled, "Cooperative Dynamics in Supported Polymer Films," under his advisor, Francis Starr, professor of physics and director of the College of Integrative Sciences. In…