OCR::/Vol_104/WLURG39_RTP_20020211/WLURG39_RTP_20020211_001.2.txt -9 %'r~”6»755’ p RIvI“"IP V; Wt INsii)E ‘ VA’): SPECIAL V..-\.{.I?.l\"I‘INl?.’S DAY ISSUE. T112: RING-rm: PHI wru. Rl%'S1L='l\'1E€ l’(iB1l('.'A’£‘I()l\" MARC:-r 4. £’.’sift‘?_Ii.7I:Ji-I. ‘F .oi_C1€‘ OF W2*S.HlN<;'t‘t‘>N Arm Let. U :<:v:aas:'i‘Y Sim: 1897 C13 0N1’. Rl1ii“T€‘}"3“l“ HM72‘l’H'l.\‘h‘I.l.%.£'l)t§ PH1 N3“ I = ’ r‘-5-'«: ..;.«.+-..-."WI.~'i’i)“i.*§‘3ii”‘ W FEB l 2 2D02.PrN1<:>Ns 3 \7(/’&l.m-?. 5 SPORTS 6 SL::5il; (LIV, No. ltx1M;zt'>N. \"rR<;t\n 24-I50 :\l0Nl)AY. l?'r.sr:r:.-sI~ ‘~\r:.r<~.MM H x. ' It a» x 9»./A 3. ‘...'£..*. ‘tx»...»*‘ “‘¢A«:e:«€'.._ . 7» ‘WYQQWV t3: 5* v A 2.. 2.2. it: Wt . ta... .. s ‘W E «ii E’) To”: =,.~ «i GQVAE Wilfj M DJ Jonas onday, February 11 K {».v.n.«?<-ta-. )f4§O«fl$O\9\ stem: sash. _ a ,,,,.,;r *0‘? lgflm '5: E‘ we '-* » " ‘ fair. ..M\,, W OCR::/Vol_104/WLURG39_RTP_20020211/WLURG39_RTP_20020211_005.2.txt PAGE 5 ‘EC. BY JOHN F. ZINK 1972 STAFF WRITER The Executive Committee, meeting Monday night, heard arguments by committee members and spectators for and against the proposal that Wash- ington and Lee go coeducational in the future. After the various opinions were voiced on the sub- ject, a vote was taken endorsing coeducation, nine to three. - Steve Robinson, President of the Student Body, stated that he was in favor of the move toward coedu- cation. Robinson said that coeducation is essential to maintain the high quality of education at Washing- ton and Lee. One representative raised the question of whether or not it was proper for the Executive Com- mittee to make a statement concerning the subject of coeducation before the matter comes up before the entire student body in the form of a referendum dur- ing the spring. Robinson then asked for remarks from the audi- ence. One student said that the objection raised against coeducation on the basis that it would disrupt the course structure was unfounded. He pointed out that the courses are in a constant state of change re- gardless of coeds or not. He also voiced the opinion that a move towards coeducation would improve the financial position of the university by making it a more attractive recipient of government and private dona- tions. Objections to coeducation were raised by Mike Brittin, sophomore representative. Brittin stated that there were no immediate plans for the expansion of campus facilities. He stated that the increase in stu- dents would add too many students to an already over- extended student body. Other objections were that the admission of women would hurt the science courses, make the Honor Code unenforceable, cause the alumni to lose their identity with Washington and Lee, and would cause W&L to lose an aspect of its uniqueness. Representative John McCarthy stated that the Ex- ecutive Committee’s function was not to lay out a plan for coeducation. He said “There are many ways to implement the coeducational idea.” McCarthy also stated, “The point now is to come out with a state- ment; to get the student body behind this issue is the only way to get it going.” Glenn Azuma, agreeing with McCarthy, said, “The Executive Committee must lead the stu- dents.” ‘ Rick Gray, Executive Committee Secretary, stated that the E.C. should act as an educational body; the student body should know all of the facts and fig- ures. Lock Handley, Senior Law Representative, said, “We should discuss it (coeducation) in public in order to be fair to those who hold the minor- ity opinion.” Several members of the au- dience voiced support for co- education. One student said that “We are limiting ourselves as a university.” He stated that by going coeducational, the education we receive will be complete. Another student stated that as it stands now, the supposition is that is that the male/female relationship is rather unimportant. He continued, “You (Executive Committee) do have powers of suggestion to the faculty and student body. This is a matter which requires your attention.” John McCarthy, urging a formal statement, said “We ‘A Beautiful Mind’ challenges perceptions, Russell Crowe’s John Nash struggles with genius, mental instabilities in Howard’s visually attractive, we HE RING-TUM PHI W &LIEE OTHER OBJECTIONS [TO COEDUCATTON] WERE THAT THE ADMISSION OF wOMEN WOULD HURT THE SCIENCE COURSES [AND] MAKE THE HONOR CODE UNENFORCEABLE... MATIIIEwC0URsEN&CATIImNEGUY W&LIEEFDIIORS EMAI;dTIsNw@\IIUE1I&aIYc@wInH1I in ““"""\.‘?‘.W+‘\ my ( ». ;~' ""3 g COLRTESY or CALYX AHH, THE GOOD 0L’ DAYS. (Top) Signs like this one adorned the colonnade in 1973 when students, faculty and trustees debated the admission of women to W&L (Above) In the 50s W&L gentlemen had to Search for dates at other local colleges and universities such as Sweet Briar, Hollins and Randolph-Macon. (Left) Despite the less than convenient methods, everyone still managed to have a ball. Partygoers enjoy live music at the 1937 Fancy Dress Ball COURTESY or Cour CHEER FOR WAS moron AND EE should make it an important issue. We should either _say that we are for it, or that we are against it.” With that statement, Glenn Azuma, Vice-President of the Executive Committee, made the motion that the Ex- ‘ ecutive Committee endorse the concept of coeduca- tion at Washington and Lee. Be- fore the vote could be taken, however, Lock Handley asked if he could give his reason for an affirmative vote. Handley said “Our society is changing, one change is in the way men and women look at each other; an all male school does not fit into this change.” Handley continued, “I would rather see this school fall flat on its face going in the right direction,-than for it to con- tinue a type of ‘game preserve’ for male chauvinism. We are avoiding our responsibility if we do not realize the trend today.” President Robinson then called for a vote on the Azuma motion; the motion carried in favor of coeducation nine to three. Robinson also stated that at next week’s meeting there would be a similar discussion of re-instituting required English courses. As one can see, there was a significant interest, among the men of the Washington and Lee student body, in opening the University to women as early as 1972. In I/Tefall of the same year, the trustees and students ofDartmouth College voted to become a coeducational institution. However, Washington and Lee waited anotherfourteen years until decid- ing in favor of the university accepting women in I986.—-Supplementary information provided by Catherine C. Guy, W&Life editor. From the archives: the Ring- tum Phi, February 2, 1972 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2002 '~'<; The guy next door: Rats no more BY SAMLAGRoNI#STAI«“~d1zREs=rNDHrr Some time this week you’ll probably run into a breed of cadet that hasn’t shown its face all year. You can tell who they are by their unusually short hair; haircuts that make the rest of us cadets look like Art Garfunkel. These guys are our fourth classmen. They used to be rats, but now they’re full-fledged members of the corps of cadets. And for the next 5 months or so they’ll be jerks. It’s true. During the ratline, most of the bald little guys are meek and humble. There is a very heavy ham- mer that drops on those who aren’t. But things change once they push through the mud. They get to grow their hair, wear black belts and nametags instead of white. And they get the privilege to walk around like normal human beings. They also become arrogant. And there is a reason for that. Over the weekend they have undergone a rite of passage that has been with VMI for as long as our longwinded alumni can remember. It’s called Breakout. Breakout, always capitalized so it’s not to be con- fused with any kind of acne condition, is one of the three big events during a VMI cadet’s life. The other two are Ring Figure our junior year (that’s where we get those massive rocks that get us mistaken for Mafia dons and Super Bowl Champions, another column for sure) and graduation, when we actually leave promising never to return, and show up two years later to buy spider logo P.J.’s. for our kids. But Breakout is the first landmark. It’s a ceremony that’S been through several evolutions. It’s now a team- building, confidence—building exercise that forges an intense bond between classmates. In the 50s it used to be an excuse for upperclassmen to beat the living shoe polish out of rats with belts. But we have grown a bit more civilized since then. When my father was a rat, back in the wilds of the freewheeling, freeloving 70s, they sealed the rats in Crozet Hall (that’s where we eat). And they literally broke out of barricaded doors and ran to Barracks pushing through crowds of up- perclassmen to get to the fourth floor “breaking out” to the status of upperclassmen. Crowds of rats pushed up the exposed staircases tussling with sophomores, juniors and seniors. Legend has it that some poor kid once took an acci- dental swan dive into our concrete courtyard. My father did his part by distracting upperclassmen holding rats back, while one of his buddies dumped a bucket of poop on his head. We don’t do that anymore, as hilari- ous as that is,.I mean a bucket of poop that’s awesome! (I said poop, I know. This is a family riewspaperafter all, kids.) A few years after my dad ran to the top floor the practice was thought to be a little on the dangerous side (and a messy cleanup) and was stopped. Breakout was changed to a rush up a great big muddy hill, not as dangerous as shoving matches on stairs, but it has a throw back to the past. It’s covered in cow pies. The “Hill” as we reverently refer, is the culmination of a week’s worth of physical activity. Marches, workouts and lots of yelling, lots and lots of yelling. When I started this column there were 400 or so rats outside my door scream- ing as loud as they could in what we call a sweat party. It’s not what it sounds like: a cocktail get-together in a smokehouse. But freshman mainly doing as many push—ups as they can while upperclassmen scream at them. They last about 25 min. total. The rats had several this week. They’ve had a bunch more since August. It’s like pledging on crack. But Saturday afternoon, it all ended. We’re just wait- ing for the next batch. expectations BY MICHEAL GEORGE STAFF WRITER Ron Howard’s ‘A Beautiful Mind’ challenges the perceptions and expectations of its audience and tries to answer the age old and oft—disputed question: “What is reality?” Based on the life of Nobel Prize winning mathematician John Nash, ‘A Beautiful Mind’ examines one man’s struggle to find meaning in the com- plex mathematical systems of our world and to overcome the madness within himself. I expect this film will win the Os- car for best picture of the year. It is a complicated and visually rich work, which explores the bound- aries of human understanding. Al- though the film may not be my per- sonal favor- ite, it cer- tainly fulfills many of the criteria to win an Academy Award this year The film follows Nash from his impressive stud- ies at Princeton, where he developed his groundbreaking Game Theory of Economics, to his downward spiral into paranoid schizophrenia and sub- sequent detachment from reality. (‘A BEAUTIFUL MIND’) IS A COMPLICATED AND VISUALLY RICH WORK, wHIcH EXPLORES THE BOUNDARIES OF HUMAN UNDERSTANDING. Starring Russell Crowe and Jen- nifer Connelly, the film is filled with powerful emotionally driven per- formances. Crowe and Connelly certainly have done some of the best work of their careers in this film. Crowe con- tinues to shine as an actor as‘ well as to dazzle his audi- ences with his i m p r e s s i v e ability to take any part and mold it into his own. Connelly, as Nash’s faithful wife Alicia, delivers one of the most poignantly convincing perfor- mances I have ever seen on screen. Her quiet strength and compassion serve as an anchor to Crowe’s harrow- ing descent into schizophrenia. Along with an excellent sup- porting cast, which includes such strong actors as Ed Harris, Christopher Plummer, and Judd Hirsch, Ron Howard’s ex- pert direction adds to the tone and beauty of the film. Already a great storyteller, Howard’s slow and me- HOWARD’S SLOW AND METHODICAL DIRECTION BRINGS A REAL SENSE OF DEPTH TO THE FILM. HE SEEMS TO MOVE EVERYTHING IN SLOW MOTION, IN ORDER TO PORTRAY. . a .THE BEUATY OF MATHEMATICS. thodical direction brings a real sense of depth to the film. He seems to move everything in slow motion, in order to portray to the audience the beauty of mathematics in na- ture. This can be seen in numer- ous depictions, from patterns in the stars to complex reflec- tions of light in drinking glass. Every moment seems to be an exami- nation of the beauty and complex design of na- ture. I’m not a math student, so cer- tain aspects of the film went way over my head. However, the basic concepts were quite clear to me. I don’t want to give too much away to those of you who have not yet seen it, but not everything in the film is as real as it may appear at first glance. By questioning percep- tions and expectations of real- ity, ‘A Beautiful Mind’ reaffirms a basic truth; that our reality comes from those who love us, and that the beauty of nature pales in comparison to the beauty of love. ’ CORTESY OF l»lP.l/WWW LTU l/-paced film; prooves Oscar material tenders. Z53/BEAEllUl.MlND.llTM '1' or Hrrpzllwww.STARPULSE.COM/MovIEslBEAUTIEUL_MIND,_A/ LIVING IN A WORLD ALL HIS owN: Russell Crowe (left and below) as brilliant mathematician and schizophrenic John Nash loses his touch with real- ity and is helped back to life by his wife, played by Jennifer Connelly (below). A Beautiful Mind ap- pears to be one of this year’s leading Oscar con- This film is a compas- sionate and fascinating examination of the power and devastation of mental illness, as well as one man’s emo- tional, physical, and mental struggle with it. A Beautiful Mind has received rave reviews, and is still playing in movie theaters nation- wide. OCR::/Vol_104/WLURG39_RTP_20020211/WLURG39_RTP_20020211_006.2.txt MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2002 Generals stru Mi3cFrRRARA/ITieRiug-mmPlii IN THE PAINT: Freshman Ian McClure (22) drives down the lane as sophomore Hamill Jones battles for position in W&L’s 6 1 -53 win over Mary Washington at the Warner Center. HE RlNG—TUlv1 PHI JEiaviYlizANi